Talk Matters

In Is Talk Cheap? Thomas Sowell warns that talk matters, words matter, and the ability to express oneself in speech matters tremendously.  He calls to mind the gripping power of Winston Churchill and the enormity of the  impact his powers of speech and expression had on history.  With will and words, Churchill carried the Britons to heights of hope and endurance against Hitler and his juggernaut.

Sowell’s thoughts:

“Talk matters for good reasons as well as bad…..Unfortunately, people on the make seem to have a keener appreciation of the power of words, as the magic road to other power, than do people defending values that seem to them too obvious to require words.

“The expression, “It goes without saying. . .” is a fatal trap. Few things go without saying. Some of the most valuable things in life may go away without saying– whether loved ones in one’s personal life or the freedom or survival of a nation.”

Sowell points to the shell game Obama and his new administration play with words.  Cloaked in vocabulary, this administration hides the blatant reality of legislation that would take away workers’ right to a secret ballot by calling it, “Employers’ Freedom of Choice Act.”  “Choice” what a lovely word.  Where have we seen it go wrong before?

Obama’s budget of deficits is labelled “A New Era of Responsibility.”  Sowell says of Obama, “You want responsibility? He’ll give you the word “responsibility.” Why not? It costs nothing.

Those of you who want your country back, be on the lookout for a Presidential candidate who can handle the language without speaking in the “patrician style of country club Republicans.”  Look, too, for someone with a good non-apologetic offensive.”  According to Sowell, “General Douglas MacArthur gave a one-word definition of defensive warfare: defeat!”

Last and most important!  Look out America!  I believe that the gift of gab that got Golden Mouth elected won’t stop with words.  Deception breeds deception, whether in word or deed.

Lent – Everyday, a Second Chance

crucificionicon2Everyday begins with God’s mercy. Everyday is a new beginning.  As we open our eyes on this day, we begin again.  As long as we are living and breathing this side of the Judgment, the sun comes up on our second chance.

Lent is the trumpeter sounding before the Final Trumpet of our lives.  The noise of cacophony is interrupted with a clarion call “Repent.”

“For He says: ‘In an acceptable time. I heard you, and on the Day of Salvation I helped you.’ Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the Day of Salvation.”2 Cor 6:2

Church Fathers and Lent

As celebrations for Mardi Gras are well underway, my thought is obvious.  For God’s sake and ours, there’s got to be a better way.  The Divine Office for today includes this from the Office of Readings:

“I thought to myself, ‘Very well, I will try pleasure and see what enjoyment has to offer.’ And there it was: vanity again! This laughter, I reflected, is a madness, this pleasure no use at all. I resolved to have my body cheered with wine, my heart still devoted to wisdom; I resolved to embrace folly to see what made mankind happy, and what men do under heaven in the few days they have to live.”

My reflections then turned to wisdom, stupidity, folly. For instance, what can the successor of a king do? What has been done already. More is to be had from wisdom than from folly, as from light than from darkness; this, of course, I see:”   Ecclesiastes 2:1-3
“The wise man sees ahead,
the fool walks in the dark.”   Ecclesiastes 2:14

The Church Fathers showed the Church the way though centuries of attack and heresy.  They speak loudly today as the world speaks heretically louder than ever.  Now the attacks on the Church and Truth are both more blatant and more subtle.  So ready, set, go!  Take on the liars for Lent!

For the “wise man”  looking forward to this time of new submission, here’s the ticket!

Compiled by Church Year. Net

Church Father Lenten Reading Plan Logo

2009 Date Day in Lenten Fast Lite Reading
2/25 1 Epistle to Diognetus: 1-6
2/26 2 Epistle to Diognetus: 7-12
2/27 3 St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter To the Ephesians: 1-7
2/28 4 St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter to the Ephesians: 8-14
3/2 5 St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter To the Ephesians: 15-21
3/3 6 St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter To the Magnesians: 1-5
3/4 7 St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter To the Magnesians: 6-10
3/5 8 St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter To the Magnesians: 11-15
3/6 9 St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 1-7
3/7 10 St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 8-14
3/9 11 St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 15-21
3/10 12 St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 22-29
3/11 13 St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 30-37
3/12 14 St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 38-45
3/13 15 St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 46-53
3/14 16 St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 54-60
3/16 17 St. Justin Martyr: First Apology: 61-68
3/17 18 St. Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church (Treatise I): 1-9
3/18 19 St. Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church (Treatise I): 10-18
3/19 20 St. Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church (Treatise I): 19-21
3/20 21 St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: 1-9
3/21 22 St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: 10-16
3/23 23 St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: 17-25
3/24 24 St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: 26-33
3/25 25 St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: 34-41
3/26 26 St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: 42-49
3/27 27 St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: 50-58
3/28 28 St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: 59-66
3/30 29 St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: 67-73
3/31 30 St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: 74-81
4/1 31 St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: 82-89
4/2 32 St. Athanasius: Life of Anthony: 90-94
4/3 33 St. Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures: Lecture XX
4/4 34 St. Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures: Lecture XXII
4/6 35 St. Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures: Lecture XXIII (1-11)
4/7 36 St. Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures: Lecture XXIII (12-23)
4/8 37 St. Ambrose of Milan: Concerning the Mysteries: 1-4
4/9 38 St. Ambrose of Milan: Concerning the Mysteries: 5-9
4/10 39 St. Leo the Great: Sermon XLIX (On Lent XI): complete
4/11 40 St. Leo the Great: Sermon LXXII (On the Lord’s Resurrection): complete


Click on  compilation of Lenten readings.

Printer-Friendly Version of Outline: Church Fathers Lenten Reading Plan PDF

There is also a heavy duty version of the plan:  Complete Version : Church Fathers Lenten Reading Plan: With Texts


Foundational Basics

Today is about more than hearts and flowers.  Everybody knows it’s crunch time for the U.S.A.  When things get really bad,  the American people have a way of getting back to basics.  The basics start with the foundational underpinnings of our Nation.  Ronald Reagan got it right!  Others, it seems, don’t like the founding fundamentals   They hope for changes that will create an America no one will recognize as America.    Texas Rainmaker and the Anchoress spell it out.

Reagan and Obama in their own words.

Who Has Bewitched You?

Early this morning,  I read these words in the Office of  Readings:

But the time came when He who had set me apart before I was born and called me by His favor chose to reveal His Son to me, that I might spread among the Gentiles the good tidings concerning Him.”  Galatians 1:15-16

My thoughts flew to the issue of Life; God creating each one of us purposefully; knowing us as we are, with all our faults and failings and even our misguided “good” intentions.   Paul had just finished describing to the Galatians his background,  including what had been his well meaning ambitions previous to his conversion:

You know that I went to extremes in persecuting the Church of God and tried to destroy it; I made progress in Jewish observance far beyond most of my contemporaries, in my excess of zeal to live out all the traditions of my ancestors.” Galatians 1:13-15

As I thought about this, it wasn’t much of a leap from there to recalling the arguments and dismissals of those in the pro-abortion camp,  declaring an unborn child as:  no child, no purpose, a blob of tissue, an inconvenience, a mistake (recall President Obama’s words), an economical burden (Nancy Pelosi’s words.)  In addressing the Galatians for their having strayed from the Truth,  Paul says, “O stupid Galatians!  Who has bewitched you?” Galations 3:1.  How much more can these words be spoken to our generation so steeped in secular relativism and materialism.

If God not only had Paul’s personhood in mind before he was conceived,  but also had a plan for Paul, which included His Church, and had a moment in Time set,  in which He would enable Paul to see clearly and become the man He called him to be, then how can we continue to throw away precious life as though God isn’t watching, isn’t caring, and isn’t remembering?  Is Paul’s term, “Stupid,” strong enough to characterize so many so zealous in their war against life in our  present culture of Death?

Congressional Switchboard: 202-224-3121


A number to keep at hand since it does make a difference!

Congressional switchboard: 202-224-3121

A recent Gallup Poll showed that the Mexico City Policy repealed by executive fiat by President Obama is unpopular with approximately 65% of American taxpayers who will be footing the bill for abortions in the third world and made accomplices in the killing of unborn infants worldwide.

You have a choice and the freedom to speak up on behalf of the defenseless whom government is meant to protect.

Tell your senators and congressmen:

  • You want them to codify the Mexico City policy.
  • You want them to deny taxpayer funds to international organizations and agencies that promote or perform abortions overseas so that it will not have to be reconsidered each year during the appropriations process.
  • You do not want to be forced into complicity with abortions through your tax dollars!
  • Our country doesn’t have the right to kill the innocent, here or abroad.