POOR BROWN RECLUSE

        This is the first time I've felt sorry for a brown recluse spider.  Minutes ago, there was one in our bathroom sink.  So, of course, I pulled a rubber band out of my pocket and shot it, knocking it into a myriad of broken parts all over the sink's floor.  That would have been okay, except that one of the parts was violently quivering, as if in terrible pain.  That is really sad.  Poor thing.

       Most of the spiders in our house are brown recluses.  Their name is appropriate, for they try to stay well out of our way.  In the 31 years we've lived here, to our knowledge we've never been bitten.  

RACE CARS AND DRIVERS IN THE EARLY 1900s

 when you really did not want to flip upside-down.

 

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH BREASTFEEDING

 The toilet is not the place for a mother to feed her child.

 

 

Our Blessed Mother nursed our Lord Jesus at the breast.

 

 

There is absolutely nothing indecent about this.

If you think there is, you need to pray about it.

 

 

"Like newborn babies,

crave pure spiritual milk,

so that by it you may grow up

in your salvation."

 

I Peter 2:2 

 

 

 

 

I DO NOT LIKE NETFLIX

 

       I do not like Netflix, and will not mourn its death.

       Our son Andrew introduced Micki and I to a series he had begun watching - "Designated Survivor" - and we watched it together, after Andrew got to it for us on the Roku gizmo.  It was a great show and held our interest and even enthusiasm, giving us a lot to talk about between episodes.  Its characters were good, the plot was profound, with action that kept us on the edge of our seats.  We really enjoyed its first two seasons.

       Then came the third season.  Suddenly all its characters were cussing and blaspheming like different people, and it was very obvious.  The token gays were introduced, some favorite characters were gone, and new unlikable ones appeared.  The president's young daughter was being taught by a transsexual and the president thought it was sweet.  They showed two men sodomizing in bed - the first time I had ever seen such a thing on screen.  The plot became boring, and the action short and far between.  It was mainly about campaigning.  The characters we had learned to know and like were suddenly morally different people. We watched several episodes anyway, thinking it must get better.  All three of us stopped watching it.  I had even bought a set of all three years of it on DVD in my enthusiasm, and now regret it.

        Andrew researched and found why suddenly the show went bad.  In 2019 the series was taken over from ABC by Netflix.  Netflix controlled the third year.  I'm surprised that the actors put up with it, and why they didn't begin growing donkey ears and tails.

       This is one of the many disappointments from Netflix.  From now on I will be sure to stay clear.

 

 

 

 

 

GATRYSTARISM?

        In the late 1970s, after realizing the ridiculousness of Baha'i and thinking I could come up with something better myself, I finally came up with Gatrystarism.  The word meant, to me, "Love Truth Harmony," and this religion described God as that: The Harmony of Love and Truth.  In a sense, it turned out to be a play on the Trinity, although I didn't notice it at the time.  After formulating a bunch of ideas and arranging them into some sort of form, I proudly explained my new religion to Micki.  She listened patiently, then said quietly and simply, "If you can believe in that, why can't you believe in Christianity?"  Micki has always been very wise.

       It was then that, following the enthusiasm of some friends, I read C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, the seven books pictured above.  Not only did they illustrate Christianity in a fun way, but they made my Gatrystarism as ridiculous as any alternative I attempted.  

       After struggling through adventures with a variety of Protestant heresies, I explored Catholic apologetics and finally Theology and Sanity by Frank Sheed.  By then I was praying the Rosary in private places along my mail route.  By the grace of God, on Easter Vigil 1989, I joined the Church that Jesus Christ founded, and have not regretted it since.

______

 

       For fun, if you see an Alexa (or for that matter a computer), ask it who founded the Methodist church, the Presbyterian church, the Baptist church, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, etc. etc.  Then ask it who founded the Catholic Church.  It's fun.