The Last Day of the Year

Okay, I have one last question that's been on my mind for quite awhile. I'm reluctant to bring it up in Confession as I, well I think it sounds ridiculous. But it's on my mind. And if it's on my mind, it's....,,well....on my mind.

Here goes. Don't laugh. The problem is........"I enjoy reading Protestant materials some of the time". Remember, you said you wouldn't laugh. I'm not exactly sure why I do it . My working hypothesis is that I just want to.

Tomorrow starts a new year. Lord, let me decide to live it with commitment and compassion. Let me stop this whole small minded stuff whining about what was done to me. Let me replace it wit h what has been done for you.

CHRISTMAS EVE

I do have a Christmas story for you. It's not "The" Christmas story, but it'll have to do.

Cranky Guy had a gift certificate to use. He got it the other day at Church. It was to a bookstore. As you might not know, this kind of thing pleases Cranky tremendously. He came home with all kinds of ideas about what he was going to buy. Then he began to sort through the online catalog. At first, he identified $157 worth. But this raced way past the gift certificate.

He began to ratchet back. With his trusty calculator, he trimmed it to #47.50. But then Cranky began to think. Did he really want the books? Should he think more? Would he use the books again? Should he buy books his lady friend would read also?

What books would God want him to buy? Poor Cranky got more and more confused. So he turned off his computer and made some coffee.

He doesn't have to finish this off immediately. It's important but not urgent.

Maybe tomorrow we can find out what he did.

Knowing God or Knowing About God

Do I know God, or do I know about God? It’s easy to reduce God to an intellectual construct to be described, developed, and defended. He’s suddenly a great deal like a listing of the Northern Generals during the Civil War. Their strengths and weaknesses can be calculated, weighed, evaluated, compared and shared. But you and I are hard-pressed to claim actually knowing them. For they have all been dead for over one hundred years.

It’s the same way with God. I can come to know about him and what he did without having a genuine relationship with Him. That can be deadly. Do I get into Heaven when I only know about Him?

Oh, I do hope I know him better than I know you.
Or you know me.

I depend so much on grace. It's like He gave me pre-approved credit card. But those things do run out. Does grace run out? Does mercy? Is the answer different when I presume on His Grace and Mercy? Please, does it stop when I die? Do I take a draft with me to cover expected and unexpected departure expenses between my death and the Beatific vision?

If Purgatory is what it says in the Catechism, looks like most people are going to spend some time there. And it looks pretty inviting from my perspective. That is, unless there are more Catholics immaculately conceived than I thought there were.

Explaining Cranky Guy.

It's tough to do. He was someone I met decades ago in school. We kept bumping into each other. He wanted me to "loosen up" and go with the flow. I wanted him to get converted.

I was fresh out of ideas for blogging. Cranky wasn't. Cranky always has ideas. Some of them are even acceptable if they can be filtered. On his own devices, he sometimes rolls over the edge. But I've always been able to reel him in. At least so far.

I saw his listing of a favored theologian. Slick.

I have some names for you, too.
----Christ, The Life of the Soul by Columba Marmion
----Lift Up Your Heart by Fulton Sheen
----Anything by Rainero Cantalamessa. The spelling is wrong, but the guy is good. Sr. Loretta keeps a fresh supply of his work in her toy store.

Be understanding of Cranky. You'd like him if you got to know him. Unless there is a ground swell of sentiment against it, I'll invite him back some time.
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