On a Plain
Fr. Hart continues this week with the Sermon on the Plain from Luke’s Gospel.
He reminded us last week that while Luke’s Sermon on the Plain contains many of the beatitudes or blessings from Matthew and Mark’s Sermon on the Mount, Luke’s Sermon on the Plain includes the maledictions …”woe to those” statements.
Following this stuff is what seems to be (in Fr. Hart’s hands) the central message of the Christian life. While there is no doubt that the most important information coming from the Good News is the coming of the Kingdom of God, the Word Made Flesh, Christ fulfilling the Scripture…what we (those who are “listening”) must do is live the Christian life. We must do that even before we do what I am doing right now – writing about it.
We must live it.
We must not condemn.
We must love our enemy.
We must walk the extra mile or however many stadia it was back then.
We must turn our cheek.
We must not let pride interfere with living the words of the Sermon on the Plain.
Christ is a man, God is a God, of action.
Let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no”.
Love for the Jewish followers of Christ who came to embrace and spread the New Testament, like listening, is an action.
The Sermon on the Plain seems to provide simple guidance for those actions showing that we listen to Christ that we love the Son of Man and we love mankind.
While I find it hard to turn the other cheek, love my enemy…
Hell, I find it difficult not to say nasty things back to friends when they piss me off…
Truth be told there is much from the Sermon on the Plain that seems to be beyond my capacity to inject in my daily life.
Ironically, Fr. Hart told us that the Desert Fathers thought Christ set a fairly low standard for Christian love/life with the Sermon on the Plain. His example was a good one. Fr. Hart said: “A beagle will love you no matter what you do to it.”
It’s been weird not writing in the blog. I haven’t written anything since Thursday night. Alex was sick this weekend. Too bad for the poor kid. We were going to have a family snow outing today. He puked and had diarrhea last night. He splashed a fair amount from his first barfing session on my arm.
He was so cute and told me how sorry he was.
I said: “You’re sick boy, you can’t help it.”
As I cleaned him up in the tub I reminded him of the last time he puked – we had to leave Holy Saturday Mass early because I could tell the boy was sick. He almost never fakes it. If he acts sick, something is wrong.
Anyway, I said: “I got you home and you ran to the bathroom. You tried to get your pants down and as you did you threw up into the bathroom sink. I got there just in time to help you with your pants…just in time for you to shoot diarrhea at daddy.”
He laughed and said, “I was like a poop gun.”
“You sure were Alex. And it didn’t end there. Once you stopped throwing up in the sink we tried to sit you on the toilet. I sat next to you and felt so bad for you as I cleaned myself off. You looked at me like you were about to say something, and threw up on me.”
“Wow,” said Alex, “at least I didn’t poop on you this time.”
“The night is young, son.”
Some baseball thoughts before I sign off for the day.
This looks to be a drama-filled baseball season for the two Chicago teams. The Cubs have made free agent moves and are looking to steal back public relations momentum built up by my beloved Sox. Hard to believe that one year removed from a World Series victory, and Kenny Williams has engendered the kind of ill will he has from Sox fans, even – to a certain extent – me.
I am a little pissed at Kenny not because he is talking about how out-of-whack the market is for pitchers.
The market is out of whack for pitchers.
But the tough talk for Buehrles was way the fuck out of line. While Kenny backed away from those statements, they still leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Sorry, Mark Buehrle will always be more of what a WhiteSox player/guy/contributor than Kenny W. I think Kenny Williams is amazing, but the game Buehrle pitched against the Angels will be with me as long as I live. He stood tall with the game tied at 1 and getting no run support from his team.
But if you are one of those douche bags who want to say ‘See the Sox can’t act like a big market team because they are already going back on the cheap’ – let me say here and now, stuff it dumb ass you don’t know what you are talking about.
The last big Market type of team that acted that way to win it all was the Red Sox in 2004. The Cardinals did not make the big splash in free agency last year, the WhiteSox did. Where did that get them? The Sox behaved like a mini-New York Yankees in the off season following the World Series. They got 90 wins and not much else. I loved the team last year by the way. But the acquisition of Thome and the trade for the greatest five inning pitcher I have ever seen did not get the Sox back to the playoffs, which was all I wanted last year.
The biggest move the Marlins made in ’03 was firing their manager.
See, by picking up all the pitchers, I think the Sox are trying to be like the Twins and the Marlins and the Angels and the Athletics.
You say ‘But the Sox are from Chicago, they should act like a major market team’
I say HOW ARE THE YANKEES DOING? They spend more friggin money than anyone, the Red Sox too….I didn’t think either of them had a realistic shot of winning it all last year. I liked the Tigers or the stupid fucking Twins more than either of the AL East fat-sacks when it came down to winning it all.
The Cubs are interesting. In some ways, they are more interesting to me than the Sox this coming season. They should be improved over a 60-some win season last year. But if they do not pull the bullpen together they could find themselves in the same crappy position the Sox were in (the 2nd half) of last year. Once the Sox got through the biggest joke in baseball, padding their record with wins over the hapless NL Central teams, they got jobbed by every good team that got into their bullpen. Dumpster has never been the same since AJ went yard and won the garbage-on-the-field game. But if the Cubs can’t get good ole Neil Cotts turned around, D’Ohman (if they still have him), and get contributions from Kerry W out of the pen they are in the shit no matter how well they do at the dish. When it rains, it really pours when your bullpen is weak. Of course Howry and Eyre ought to be ready to go. Maybe I am talking out of my ass and should have every reason to be hopeful for the boys in blue and their bullpen.
Back to the team that matters to me – I don’t mind that Kenny said all Sox players who have contracts expiring are welcome to test the free agent market. I think guys play better in the last year of an undervalued contract than in the first year of a big deal.
Maybe it is smart to let Z pitch for next year Cub fans.
As much as I love Jermaine Dye and think he is everything that is right about baseball, it does not make sense to sign or promise him anything at this point. The Sox need to see what is left in the tank. The same is true for Buehrle. I just wish Kenny wouldn’t have said that he was as good as gone a few weeks ago.
I can’t wait for the first baseball to be fired in anger.
He reminded us last week that while Luke’s Sermon on the Plain contains many of the beatitudes or blessings from Matthew and Mark’s Sermon on the Mount, Luke’s Sermon on the Plain includes the maledictions …”woe to those” statements.
Following this stuff is what seems to be (in Fr. Hart’s hands) the central message of the Christian life. While there is no doubt that the most important information coming from the Good News is the coming of the Kingdom of God, the Word Made Flesh, Christ fulfilling the Scripture…what we (those who are “listening”) must do is live the Christian life. We must do that even before we do what I am doing right now – writing about it.
We must live it.
We must not condemn.
We must love our enemy.
We must walk the extra mile or however many stadia it was back then.
We must turn our cheek.
We must not let pride interfere with living the words of the Sermon on the Plain.
Christ is a man, God is a God, of action.
Let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no”.
Love for the Jewish followers of Christ who came to embrace and spread the New Testament, like listening, is an action.
The Sermon on the Plain seems to provide simple guidance for those actions showing that we listen to Christ that we love the Son of Man and we love mankind.
While I find it hard to turn the other cheek, love my enemy…
Hell, I find it difficult not to say nasty things back to friends when they piss me off…
Truth be told there is much from the Sermon on the Plain that seems to be beyond my capacity to inject in my daily life.
Ironically, Fr. Hart told us that the Desert Fathers thought Christ set a fairly low standard for Christian love/life with the Sermon on the Plain. His example was a good one. Fr. Hart said: “A beagle will love you no matter what you do to it.”
It’s been weird not writing in the blog. I haven’t written anything since Thursday night. Alex was sick this weekend. Too bad for the poor kid. We were going to have a family snow outing today. He puked and had diarrhea last night. He splashed a fair amount from his first barfing session on my arm.
He was so cute and told me how sorry he was.
I said: “You’re sick boy, you can’t help it.”
As I cleaned him up in the tub I reminded him of the last time he puked – we had to leave Holy Saturday Mass early because I could tell the boy was sick. He almost never fakes it. If he acts sick, something is wrong.
Anyway, I said: “I got you home and you ran to the bathroom. You tried to get your pants down and as you did you threw up into the bathroom sink. I got there just in time to help you with your pants…just in time for you to shoot diarrhea at daddy.”
He laughed and said, “I was like a poop gun.”
“You sure were Alex. And it didn’t end there. Once you stopped throwing up in the sink we tried to sit you on the toilet. I sat next to you and felt so bad for you as I cleaned myself off. You looked at me like you were about to say something, and threw up on me.”
“Wow,” said Alex, “at least I didn’t poop on you this time.”
“The night is young, son.”
Some baseball thoughts before I sign off for the day.
This looks to be a drama-filled baseball season for the two Chicago teams. The Cubs have made free agent moves and are looking to steal back public relations momentum built up by my beloved Sox. Hard to believe that one year removed from a World Series victory, and Kenny Williams has engendered the kind of ill will he has from Sox fans, even – to a certain extent – me.
I am a little pissed at Kenny not because he is talking about how out-of-whack the market is for pitchers.
The market is out of whack for pitchers.
But the tough talk for Buehrles was way the fuck out of line. While Kenny backed away from those statements, they still leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Sorry, Mark Buehrle will always be more of what a WhiteSox player/guy/contributor than Kenny W. I think Kenny Williams is amazing, but the game Buehrle pitched against the Angels will be with me as long as I live. He stood tall with the game tied at 1 and getting no run support from his team.
But if you are one of those douche bags who want to say ‘See the Sox can’t act like a big market team because they are already going back on the cheap’ – let me say here and now, stuff it dumb ass you don’t know what you are talking about.
The last big Market type of team that acted that way to win it all was the Red Sox in 2004. The Cardinals did not make the big splash in free agency last year, the WhiteSox did. Where did that get them? The Sox behaved like a mini-New York Yankees in the off season following the World Series. They got 90 wins and not much else. I loved the team last year by the way. But the acquisition of Thome and the trade for the greatest five inning pitcher I have ever seen did not get the Sox back to the playoffs, which was all I wanted last year.
The biggest move the Marlins made in ’03 was firing their manager.
See, by picking up all the pitchers, I think the Sox are trying to be like the Twins and the Marlins and the Angels and the Athletics.
You say ‘But the Sox are from Chicago, they should act like a major market team’
I say HOW ARE THE YANKEES DOING? They spend more friggin money than anyone, the Red Sox too….I didn’t think either of them had a realistic shot of winning it all last year. I liked the Tigers or the stupid fucking Twins more than either of the AL East fat-sacks when it came down to winning it all.
The Cubs are interesting. In some ways, they are more interesting to me than the Sox this coming season. They should be improved over a 60-some win season last year. But if they do not pull the bullpen together they could find themselves in the same crappy position the Sox were in (the 2nd half) of last year. Once the Sox got through the biggest joke in baseball, padding their record with wins over the hapless NL Central teams, they got jobbed by every good team that got into their bullpen. Dumpster has never been the same since AJ went yard and won the garbage-on-the-field game. But if the Cubs can’t get good ole Neil Cotts turned around, D’Ohman (if they still have him), and get contributions from Kerry W out of the pen they are in the shit no matter how well they do at the dish. When it rains, it really pours when your bullpen is weak. Of course Howry and Eyre ought to be ready to go. Maybe I am talking out of my ass and should have every reason to be hopeful for the boys in blue and their bullpen.
Back to the team that matters to me – I don’t mind that Kenny said all Sox players who have contracts expiring are welcome to test the free agent market. I think guys play better in the last year of an undervalued contract than in the first year of a big deal.
Maybe it is smart to let Z pitch for next year Cub fans.
As much as I love Jermaine Dye and think he is everything that is right about baseball, it does not make sense to sign or promise him anything at this point. The Sox need to see what is left in the tank. The same is true for Buehrle. I just wish Kenny wouldn’t have said that he was as good as gone a few weeks ago.
I can’t wait for the first baseball to be fired in anger.
posted by edP | 1:26 PM
8 Comments:
Aw, sorry the lil man isn't feeling well. Hope his poop gun runs out of ammo soon.
But, yay baseball!
The "love your enemies and turn the other cheek" is my favorite! It's the most difficult and most rewarding teaching. Although not delivered with the same sense of gravity as Fr. Hart, I'm sure, our pastor across town at the St. Mary did a fine job of it today.
The Cubs and the Sox are very similar in a couple ways--both should have solid bullpens and good hitting. Where they diverge markedly is in the rotation. The Sox are solid up to the 5th starter (but who isn't?), whereas the Cubs have Z and four question marks (yes, even Lilly. While he may get out to a fast start because the league hasn't seen him, they'll reel him in eventually). As usual, their whole season rests on Prior and Wood, and we all know what that means. I love love the Erstad signing. He's going to start on Opening Day in left and not relinquish it the rest of the season, guaranteed. As for Dye, I agree with you, Ed. A long term deal just isn't wise.
Man that is the worst when you’re firing out of both ends. Hopefully it was some bad Peter Pan Peanut butter, then you can get paid.
I would have commented earlier but I keep falling asleep, just like real church. Sorry and maybe I am alone on this one. I don’t buy into the meek shall inherited the earth, turn the other cheek and all that nonsense. I think it was a Swartschof that said, “God forgives it’s up to me to arrange the meeting” or something like that.
In a utopian world a lot of that stuff is nice. So are rainbows and bunnies. Most of that crap will make you dead or a slave. Sorry I see monsters and think they need to be killed not loved and forgave.
If it said something about killing your enemy but not hating your enemy. I could get behind that. Hate is a wasteful emotion. Some people just need killin though. Or even the opportunity to have the debate of good and evil is luxury.
In WWII we thought we were fighting for the very existence of our nation. We fire bombed civilians and dropped two H bombs on civilians. This was our “Greatest Generation” and they just. In war now you are expected to die instead of harming one person you are not absolutely sure is evil.
I am pretty sure Satan is involved with the Cub’s not winning. Bartman was one of his agents. It makes sense. Has anyone seen Bartman since then? Totally a fallen angle sent to spread doom.
Now if you will excuse me I have ancient writings I need to transcribe onto my wall and then hide with fresh wall paper.
Don’t know why that got so twisted. I must be in a mood.
I hope young Alex is feeling better today. This age range is so difficult on the kids as far as the germs. Thankfully they grow out of it.
I know I'm a sucker and I'm just setting myself for another kick in the twins, but check out this site below. There are some pretty good things going on with this team and the NL Central is DEFINITELY the worst in baseball…..
http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2007/02/cubs_news_2_20.php#more
Potential lineup:
Soriano (or better yet, trade Jones for Finley and have Finley - Soriano as 1 and 2)
J. Jones
Lee
Ramirez
Floyd
DeRosa
Barrett
Cedeno
Pitcher
Middle infield scares me still, but this is a lineup that will score a shitload of runs!
Can baseball start now please!
Sorry to post this here but it's the only place I know to start baseball talk.
Go Cubs!
What of Ceasar Izturus(sp)? The Cubs can't dump a guy with a name that cool, can they?
His chant can be in latin!
Ave caesar! (Hail Caesar)
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