No, this isn't a reflection on Jewish dispersion. But, like, ya know how in the 8th-6th centures BC, the Jewish population was gradually scattered all throughout the Roman empire due to various conquests of their homeland, etc? Yeah? Well, that's how my thoughts have been of late -- scattered and without concentration or organization! There's just so much stuff going on! I'm either doing something, or at home completely wasting time and pretending that I have so much crap to do that I don't have time to do it, when really I'm just eating sixty consecutive clementines and reading football blogs.
So, maybe there isn't as much going on as I like to think. Actually, the real problem for me is that there are so many different things that I'd like to do that I can't actually pick between them, and so I end up doing something to fill in the spaces.
Anyway, writing anything theologically interesting has sort of fallen to the wayside, which I'm going to try and reverse as soon as midterms are over. Again, any topics anyone wants to hear about I'll address. I don't have anything burning a hole through my skull to be written right now, although aforementioned random Calvinist still ought to be addressed sometime.
As a new feature, you can now search this treasure trove of barely updated religious wisdom via witty labels, located at the bottom of the right sidebar. Thus, if you're interested in seeing everything I've written dealing with anything described as, say, "Protestants and other things that make me giggle" (homie joke!), "we have feast days because Catholics like to party," or "Biblicalicious," you can get there much schneller.
In other news, I totally get to sit in on the interviews for our new youth minister this week! Which is going to be sweet. I should probably get out my bishop costume from last year, and see how all potential candidates react when brought before the Inquisition. We have no room for the weak at SKD.
Get this... there's apparently going to be a "Clericus Cup" in Italy sometime soon, featuring soccer teams made up entirely of priests and seminarians. The new Vatican Director for Christian Sport and Recreation (or something... I'm waaaay too lazy right now to go looking up any actual "facts") was all, "Yeah, we could totally have a wicked Vatican soccer team sometime, in like, the World Cup." Which would be hilariously cool, especially if the Pope was on the team. Which I doubt. But for God, nothing is impossible.
Speaking of which, He does some pretty amazing things for me sometimes (i.e. all the time). Like the moment I think everything I need is right beyond my grasp, He reminds me that He's the one doing the reaching, not me, and He'll hand me whatever I need right as soon as He thinks the time is right.
Oh man, today I also discovered how easy it is to become attached to really stupid things. I was cleaning my room, which is notoriously filled to the brim with little bits of crap, and I was trying to come up with things that I could, you know, get rid of. But it was the hardest thing ever, even despite the fact that all the stuff I was thinking about throwing away was worthless. But for some weird reason I had an intense psychological attachment to it. I really think I have a disorder, judging by the effort it took to get rid of some of this stuff. For instance, a rough draft of a 9th grade history paper... couldn't part with it until the bitter end. A magazine cutout of a beaver, that wasn't even extremely cute... nearly saved it. A bunch of broken hair clips... BROKEN hairclips. So much other stuff... it's just nuts. And the stuff that I kept... even knowing that I'll never use it, ever.
Which got me thinking about how, if we can get attached unduly to broken hair clips, how much more we can get attached to things that we think are so much more important... success, wealth, popularity, certain other people. It all reminds me of The Great Divorce, when all the people in Purgatory had to get rid of those things that were keeping them back, like the man with the little lizard on his shoulder, and, most importantly, the lady who was so attached to her son that it was keeping her out of heaven. Which is almost a scary thought... we can "love" other people so much that it actually keeps us from loving God as we ought to. It's not love, really, then, but it sure can feel like it. I dunno, I guess I was overly thoughtful while cleaning my room today, instead of just mindlessly ploughing through the mountains of weird trinkets.
"Life's been good to me so far." I can't say I disagree.
I read a book on John Paul II over the last couple of weeks, a reflection on his life by Peggy Noonan. I admit, I was skeptical, as warm-and-fuzzy books of the sort never do much for me, but I enjoyed reading it. It's a good thing I like the current pope so very, very much, or I'd be much more mournful at our old pope's passing. As it is, though, I'm just happy that there's another great saint praying for all of us down here.
I've been actually rather amazed recently at a series of introspective insights. Normally, I sort of live with the minimal knowledge of my own existence, but I think I'm starting to understand myself a little bit better now. It's not all pretty, but it's what I've got for now.
As you can probably tell, I really don't have much I want to say tonight. No driving point, which sucketh to write and to read. Again, I'm in that in-between mode. I have a laundry list of things I'd like to do, books I'd like to ready, and so on, but I can't pick one and just do it and be content with it, so I'm here rambling my life away. Plus, there's just stuff on me mind in general.
I should go. I'm going to go pick something and do it! Good for me.
