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Showing posts from 2015

Lincoln and the Real Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving Day something happens inside the soul of a mother and father. The quickening of the heart, the immediate sense of euphoria, and the propensity for the face to break into a profound smile are all the result of the moment parents see their children after they have been gone for considerable time. The radiance of the moment of reunion is a real phenomenon, and though emotionally driven, these sensations provide for us an example of what "Thanksgiving" looks like. The turkey, the dressing, and even the pumpkin pie are peripheral aspects of the "internal feast" celebrated by those who come together as family and as friends. Strip away the expectations that parents have for their children. Strip away past conflicts. Strip away all of the examples wherein the children disappoint their parents and what you have is the child laid bare and as naked as they were when they were born. It is this child on the doorstep, returning after a time away, perhaps like t

Good and Evil Like Soup and Sandwich

M y pen-pest, Luce, gave me some rambling advice last week regarding the entire hubbub going on in the world. He touched on Pope Francis, gay marriage, the end of the world, the Planet Nibiru and the ancient question of tasting evil. He writes: Dear Deacon: I am so happy that the world is evolving the way it is. I like the way Pope Francis says something and it seems to morph into what I like. I like the fact that it upsets some and gladdens others. Isn’t that the essence of fun? It’s like a great food fight.   The supreme court is very much “dead on” regarding allowing people to be happy in their choice of life partners and I love the fact that the Church, while seeming to hold to its antiquated stand, embraces the rainbow of love that you all have wanted since my first conversation with Eve in the garden. You know, as Pope Francis said, “who am I to judge!” I’ll be in Philly when he comes hoping his words will continue to be taken hostage for the good of my oppressed. I’

The Devil and Same Sex Marriage

Luce, aka the devil, sent me the following note regarding the recent same sex marriage U.S. Supreme Court decision. It seems the devil revels in our unhappiness but is never completely happy. He writes: Dear Deacon Tom:    I am not totally pleased about the same sex marriage decision by the Supreme Court.   I regret reading the dubiously disagreeable dribble drafted by Justice Anthony Kennedy in his majority opinion: “ No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family.” Yuck, people.    Yet I must admit that it was ingenious of me to have influenced its drafting. This decision will gloriously cause incremental unrest among believers. That a Catholic drafted the opinion is the pièce de résistance . Of all the Catholics on this Court, (and there are nine), I’ve been keeping very close tabs on Justice Kennedy who is the least dramatic of all. While Justice Antonin Scalia is truly entertaining, I depend

iPodalatry

It has come upon us in an expected unexpected flash.   We are within its sphere of gravity. It is a world in which “everything” has become of paramount importance because every event is apparently “proximate” in what I call this world of the “new idolatry.” And so we have become a world of gossipers and unwary exhibitionists upon these new articles of worship that presents us with social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter.   The internet and satellite communications have presented to our faces the most horrific stories in graphic detail. The resulting chatter about those stories is firmly implanted in the palm of our hands. The mostly negative vibrations over time quickly desensitize us from the originating pain, suffering, trauma, and shock suffered by the now one dimensional “peeps”   inside the screen to which our eyes appear to be seamlessly mesmerized. New words have been invented such as “blogs”, “aps”, “peeps,” ‘flash mobs”, “tweeting”, “texting” and even “sexting

The Devil's Disparate Desparateness

Dear Deacon Tom: I gather you were not too pleased with my last response. However, I don’t aim to be popular (at least not on the surface of things.) Things are heating up in the world today. Even so, I try my best to influence your species to do “the right thing”. So before you “write me off”, please know I am very persistent. I’m a pest so to speak. How can I convince you to join the world crowd in accepting the inevitable “new world order” within your souls? They can’t all be wrong. You ask: “And what is that new world order?” Well I am here to tell you that the new world order is not reflected on CNN or Fox News, but rather it’s in the palm of your hands. It’s in every Facebook message, text or email you receive. It’s in every dollar that is paid over the internet. It’s in every sense of security that you have when you conduct your business in Myber (Cyber) Space. Agreements no longer depend upon a human handshake, solemn oaths, written contracts with real signatures, and face

What's in Luce's Favor? The Devil Responds

Dearest Deacon Tom: You are pretty brash to confront me directly. Everyone mistakes me for the enemy. Not true! Actually, I am swirling around you in an effort to keep you from deluding yourselves. The delusion is there is some great messiah who will somehow come and rescue your species from what seems to be an inevitable and incurable tendency to self-destruction. My solution has always been the same: power, honor, riches, and pleasure are good for success. It’s when you think they are vices that your world unravels. For hells sake let me make this a better world for you. I can demonstrate the key to having the greatest life you can. You just have to trust me. I tell no lies. But now I'm being blamed for what you call atrocities in the Middle East.   I am not the author of political correctness when it comes to radical Islam; I think the author is some former graduate of Harvard who I really can’t claim credit for simply because he’s accomplished a lot on his own and doing

The Luce Letters 3: The Simple Immensity of Love You'll Never Get

Dear Luce: I take a risk by communicating directly with, you, “the devil”. You wonder: “Can I gain the Deacon’s allegiance?” No, Luce, I’m not that stupid. Granted, you are immensely more intelligent that me, you cannot read my thoughts, Luce. You work with the statistical odds and get humans to believe you are omniscient. You are not. You cannot “incarnate” into this realm though you would like us to believe this as though you are equal to the God-Man from Nazareth. You feign the “victim” very well.   As “spirit” you do not know what bodily “feelings” really are. I, on the other hand, am both flesh and spirit.   You invented “scapegoat-ery,” giving reason, basis, and justification for your proffered illusion of self-misery.   Instead, you are like a black sunspot. You explode into electromagnetic havoc and chaos but “feel” nothing. You convince miserable “underlings” to join your ranks so they might fall off the edge of the fake “flat-edge” world you paint.