The Sabine Women

The invitation said it was for ALL, especially the ladies.  Everyone was invited to the Roman Festival. Even the Sabines came.  They were eager to see Rome and the celebrated festivities.  Everyone wore their finest.

Romulus was proud of the city he founded.  He invited all the surrounding regions around Rome.  As the villages walked down the street waving to the cheering crowd, then the Romans sprang their plot.  The Roman youth broke out and seized the virgins, especially the beautiful Sabine girls.

This story comes from Livy, The History of Rome, Bk 1, CH 9.

Another story about the Sabine Women is told. The episode of the rape caused a war between Rome and the Sabine men.  Since many of the women were now married and mothers of Roman babies they were caught in the middle.  Their husbands found their fathers and brothers.  The Sabine women intervened and the fighting stopped.

The rape and war has been the subject of many works of art.  It is quite a story.

Spiritual v. Political Constructs

How do I explain a spiritual construct to a nine-year-old?  My granddaughter told me that she didn't want to be Catholic any more because girls can't become pope.

I blame her teacher from last year.  She had to do a report on Vatican City and she was told that women couldn't  vote, which isn't true.  Nobody votes in Vatican City. I told her that but evidently it didn't stick. 

But about girls not able to be pope.  She's applying a political construct to a spiritual one.  How do you explain that to a child?

The pope is a pastoral position.  The pope is the head of the church family.  The pope is the Vicar of Christ.  The pope is the successor of Peter.  All these positions are male.

I think I'll wait until she is a teenager to tackle why girls can't become pope.

Something's Wrong

When you don't eat for 4 days and you gain weight, then there must be something medically wrong with me.  I was on a liquid diet, Tuesday.  Wednesday I had a colonoscopy, so I didn't eat at all.  That procedure threw me for a loop because I was languid all day; I barely ate.  I was very dehydrated and sipped water all day.  Since I was in the bathroom constantly from drinking water, I suspected a UTI, but thankfully no.  I was just sick. Friday I didn't eat breakfast because I was going to my T.O.P.S. meeting to get weighed.

I gained a quarter of a pound! 

Papers For Sale!

John Waters in his article, "The End of the News," in First Things, bemoans the decline of real news--trustworthy reporting.

If you have read my posts about the proliferation of fake news, then you know I wholeheartedly agree.  What I want is a respectable news source to come forward and take dominance in the news reporting. Hopefully, the public will leave the sensational, click-bait sites and prove that people want the truth.

Waters takes a different view. He wants the fake to fake itself to death.  When everyone is fed up and doesn't read anymore, then we will see what will arise out of the ashes.

Cats Bring Glory to God

Christopher Smart was an eighteenth-century poet.  He didn't have a happy life.  He spent many years in an insane asylum.  While there, Smart's constant companion was his cat, Jeoffry.  Smart considered that everything praised God, including his cat, Jeoffy, just by existing.  Here's an excerpt from Jubilate Agno, about Jeoffrey.

For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God, duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For is this done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.
For he rolls upon prank to work it in.
For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.

Look for the Good

Every storm cloud has a silver lining.  So they say.  We have to believe it.  We need to.  This came to mind when I was listening to Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac for today, September 2, 2019.  

He was talking about the 1666 Fire of London. It was horrific.  I imagine many thought it was the end of the world.  Everything was made of wood.  Even the lead roof on St. Paul's Cathedral melted and flowed down the street.  Imagine!

It lasted for days,  There weren't that many human casualties but the rat population was decimated.  That's the silver lining--the rats were carrying the plague and in the previous were killing off the people.  Now the plague was gone.

Do you think the people knew that?  They were probably in shock over the devastation from the fires.

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository

Last and Stupid

Because of this parable, my friends were last and stupid. 

LK 14:1, 7-14

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees,
and the people there were observing him carefully.

He told a parable to those who had been invited,
noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table.
"When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet,
do not recline at table in the place of honor. 
A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him,
and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say,
'Give your place to this man,'
and then you would proceed with embarrassment
to take the lowest place. 
Rather, when you are invited,
go and take the lowest place
so that when the host comes to you he may say,
'My friend, move up to a higher position.'
Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. 
For every one who exalts himself will be humbled,
but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." 
Then he said to the host who invited him,
"When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers        

or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

What happened is that my friends and I went to Mary Magdalene Day at Boston College and somehow we among the last to enter the conference hall.  We needed four seats together, but it seemed that everyone was saving seats at their tables.  We couldn't find anything so we took the very last table in the corner.  

Just before the Talk was to begin, some officious person came to our table and suggested that we move upfront because no one else was sitting there.

Now I know Jesus' parable predicts this would happen but...

We didn't know this person.

What if that table was for the speaker and other dignitaries?

So we convinced ourselves that we were fine, just where we were.