This is a learning experience for me, you might as well come along.
Ever since the night before the Exodus Jews have celebrated a Seder, a supper before the Lord and a story told, the Haggadah.
More Happy Passover from the Anchoress
Happy Passover!
Category Archives: Culture
New Discovery – Older than the Hills
Look what the Anchoress unearthed. It’s a fascinating look back into time with the recently (1994) unearthing of Gobekle Tepe in Turkey/Urfa,craddle of Armenian civilization. Just thinking of people 11,000 years ago expending so much effort in an age without machines to worship or appease their gods, makes me wonder at how dismissive our age has become.
Amid all the archeological information on the Smithsonian site, this comment also caught my attention, reminding me that the societal tensions of yesteryear are deeply ingrained in fallen humankind and with us today, tied closely to our ethnicity and cultural undergirdings:
“It is sad that the article talks about the ‘site in Turkey’. 6000 years ago there was no Turkey. 600 years ago there was no Turkey. This site is ARMENIAN. Just another example of how history is being rewritten! It’s a shame. At least the Western scientific world should be more specific to acknowledge the fact that Urfa was the craddle of the Armenian civilization. Too sad, that’s all.” Posted by Gregov
And this:
Turkey? do you really think that mongols who destroyed some of the worlds oldest heritages have a history as old as this? It’s very sad, this site is Armenian and you must address it properley to people and nation who contributed many many things to humankind’s civilization. if you search in what today call’s it self Turkey, you may find that it has nothing on its own, all of the wonderfull sites belong to Armenians, Greeks, Asurians, Urartu’s and etc. I hope they will correct the title no one can stole other nations heritage and culture this easily as Turks are trying to do . . ” Posted by George
The ecological twists of the story also make me uncomfortable.
“There were herds of game, rivers of fish, and flocks of wildfowl; lush green meadows were ringed by woods and wild orchards. About 10,000 years ago, the Kurdish desert was a ‘paradisiacal place’, as Schmidt puts it. So what destroyed the environment? The answer is Man.
As we began farming, we changed the landscape and the climate. When the trees were chopped down, the soil leached away; all that ploughing and reaping left the land eroded and bare. What was once an agreeable oasis became a land of stress, toil and diminishing returns.
And so, paradise was lost.”
I can see Al Gore hyjacking this as the beginning of global warming.
Cockamamie – Interesting
I admit it; I love words. Here’s what I didn’t know about “cockamamie”:
COCKAMAMIE. “‘Cockamamie’ means something worthless or trifling, even absurd or strange; a ‘cockamamie’ excuse or story is an implausible, ridiculous one. The word may be a corruption of ‘decalcomania’ (‘a cheap picture or design on specially prepared paper that is transferred to china, wood, etc.’), a word youngsters on New York’s Lower East Side early in the century found tiring to pronounce and impossible to spell.” From “Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins” by Robert Hendrickson (Fact on File, New York, 1997).
“Cockamamie is the child’s version of ‘decalcomania,’ dye transfers that youngsters used to put on their hands and arms. Since they were cheap, they soon wore off. So, ‘cockamamie’ first meant anything trifling or second-rate, and later came to mean simply silly or laughable.” From “Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins” by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins, New York, 1977, 1988).
Waste Not – Want Not – Forever
Fr. Scott began his homily with the lyrics of a song by John Prine:
“There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes,
Jesus Christ died for nothin’ I suppose.”
The sorrowful words left you thinking, “What a waste!”
Then came the true story a dying soldier during the Viet Nam War, who, though not a Catholic, asked for the Church’s blessing from the priest by his side. When a man is close to death, and this is his desire, it is one the Church gladly honors. The soldier said to the priest, “Father, don’t let that oil go to waste.” The priest didn’t waste a drop as he anointed the man at death’s door.
Father Scott was saying that in life we make choices that bear on how we end. This particular morning, in the closing days of Lent, Father implored, “Don’t waste Lent! Let’s make it last our entire lives; until we breathe our last breath.”
Invite the Angels and Saints
I’ll be headed out the door in a few minutes to attend the Mass. It amazes me that year after year I have been given the grace to participate in daily mass. It is a great blessing especially since I am no saint. I’m slogging it out here below hoping one day that Jesus will call me and bid me come to Him that with angels and saints I might be with Him forever.
Sometimes at communion, I am overjoyed but most often my feelings are like those expressed by the Little Flower. Would that my response also be as hers.
What can I tell you, dear Mother, about my thanksgivings after Communion? There is no time when I taste less consolation. But this is what I should expect. I desire to receive Our Lord, not for my own satisfaction, but simply to give Him pleasure. I picture my soul as a piece of waste ground and beg Our Blessed Lady to take away my imperfections–which are as heaps of rubbish–and to build upon it a splendid tabernacle worthy of Heaven, and adorn it with her own adornments. Then I invite all the Angels and Saints to come and sing canticles of love, and it seems to me that Jesus is well pleased to see Himself received so grandly, and I share in His joy. But all this does not prevent distractions and drowsiness from troubling me, and not unfrequently I resolve to continue my thanksgiving throughout the day, since I made it so badly in choir. You see, dear Mother, that my way is not the way of fear; I can always make myself happy, and profit by my imperfections, and Our Lord Himself encourages me in this path.”
Praying With The Church – Update
If you have not checked out DivineOffice.org yet, Holy Week is the perfect time to begin praying with the Church with the help of this wonderful ministry. Divine Office is produced by Dane Falkner and some very dedicated and talented people. It’s purpose is to promote “the tradition of praying always through these ancient treasures of the Church, not only to Catholics but to all Christians universally.”
Here are the wonder workers, Dane, Chriss, Denise and Greg:
DivineOffice.org provides daily free podcast of the Divine Office, definitely 5 star! plus iPhone App made available through iTunes (extremely affordable.)
Having a virtual community is great when you know they are real people reaching out to no less than the world. The music, professional presentation of the daily inspirational scriptures, readings and prayers, has enriched my experience of listening to and praying the Divine Office. As I said, Check them out!
Be Holy! 