Leo XIV

We have a new Pope, and as virtually every Catholic blog and/or You Tube channel I've watched has said, our first job as laity is to pray for guidance for Leo XIV. They next said to a T, give him a chance. I agree on both of course.

As you've probably read, we don't know much about him but the early, initial signs are good. I was very pleased, indeed almost ecstatic, that Leo XIV appeared on the balcony of St. Peter's already dressed in traditional Papal regalia. Francis didn't do that, coming out in the white daily 'work uniform' of the Pope (although he did eventually take on the vestments). The new Holy Father gave the formal blessing in Latin; taking the name of a well respected Pope who sought to engage the moderns while sticking to doctrine is a hopeful measure too.  

He appears similar to Francis on certain issues yet more conservative doctrinally. He's Augustinian, and they are as a group significantly further right then the Jesuits. He and Vance seem to have had a spat over ordo amoris, ordinate love, but I'm tempted to argue that that's semantics. As Cardinal Prevost he said in a tweet directed at the Veep that we are called to love everyone, which we are. Yet Vance was arguing that, as we live in a world of limited resources we must prioritize our actions, and that the base principle is that we do what we can for family, nation, and world in that order. I'm quite sure that attitude is in line with Catholic teaching.

Leo praised Francis a lot in his first remarks, yet what do you expect? New Popes are going to laud their predecessors, especially the immediate one. There isn't much to read into that.

So, pray for the Holy Father and let it all play out. I think everything will be all right.

As you've probably read, we don't know much about him but the early, initial signs are good. I was very pleased, indeed almost ecstatic, that Leo XIV appeared on the balcony already dressed in traditional Papal regalia. Francis didn't do that, coming out in the white daily 'work dress" of the Pope (although he did eventually take on the vestments). He gave the formal blessing in Latin; taking the name of a well respected Pope who sought to engage the moderns while sticking to doctrine is a hopeful measure too. He appears similar to Francis on certain issues yet more conservative doctrinally. He's Augustinian, and they are as a group significantly further right then the Jesuits. He and Vance seem to have had a spat over ordo amoris, ordinate love, but I'm tempted to argue that that's a semantic issue. As Cardinal Prevost he said in a tweet directed at the Veep that we are called to love everyone, which we are. Yet Vance was pointing out that, as we are in a world of limited resources, we must prioritize our actions, and that the base principle is that we do for family, nation, world in that order. Leo praised Francis a lot in his first remarks, but as Jimmy Akin opined, what do you expect? New Popes are going to laud their predecessors, especially the immediate one. Probably not a good time to get into this, with you at work and me supposed to be working, ha, ha! But that's my first thoughts in a nutshell.As you've probably read, we don't know much about him but the early, initial signs are good. I was very pleased, indeed almost ecstatic, that Leo XIV appeared on the balcony already dressed in traditional Papal regalia. Francis didn't do that, coming out in the white daily 'work dress" of the Pope (although he did eventually take on the vestments). He gave the formal blessing in Latin; taking the name of a well respected Pope who sought to engage the moderns while sticking to doctrine is a hopeful measure too.

He appears similar to Francis on certain issues yet more conservative doctrinally. He's Augustinian, and they are as a group significantly further right then the Jesuits. He and Vance seem to have had a spat over ordo amoris, ordinate love, but I'm tempted to argue that that's a semantic issue. As Cardinal Prevost he said in a tweet directed at the Veep that we are called to love everyone, which we are. Yet Vance was pointing out that, as we are in a world of limited resources, we must prioritize our actions, and that the base principle is that we do for family, nation, world in that order. Leo praised Francis a lot in his first remarks, but as Jimmy Akin opined, what do you expect? New Popes are going to laud their predecessors, especially the immediate one. Probably not a good time to get into this, with you at work and me supposed to be working, ha, ha! But that's my first thoughts in a nutshell.

Cloyce On The Homefront

Me Pops had an old buddy, I'll call him Cloyce just to give him a name, who owned a small apartment building in the old neighborhood. One day he took a call from a tenant on an upper floor complaining that the married couple in a first floor apartment were making a terrible racket. Cloyce went to investigate.

He walked into the first floor hall just in time to see the husband of the couple in question scramble out of their adobe, hurrying the other way. His wife was in hot pursuit, a pistol in hand.

Seeing that her better half had made an escape, she turned on Cloyce. "What do you want?" the woman demanded, shoving the gun within inches of his nose.

"Bill," Cloyce explained to my Dad, "I spent a year in Korea, most of it right at the front. But I didn't never see the barrel of no gun look as big as the one on that pistol right that minute!"

"I'm just getting some tools from the basement," he told the gun toting mama, his hands extended towards the skies. She let him by, just as the cops arrived. Cloyce was more than ready to turn authority in the matter over to the boys in blue. 

Bait Snake

As most of you likely know by now, I sell and repair drain snakes. They are the steel cable machines used to open various drains. 

We have a shop, colloquially called the Shop or the Old Barn, where we store new units and the ones left for repair. The Shop (or the Old Barn, if you prefer) is well secure. We have four locks on the door, an alarm on the building, and we even run heavy chains with locks through the machines we have on hand inside, all just to make things as theft proof as possible.

A few weeks ago I bought out the remains of an old plumbing store. There wasn't much, but there were some cables I could use or resell. And I bought an old drain cleaning machine which wasn't worth much. In fact, the company which made it is out of business. But I bought it anyway.

Back at the Shop me brother Phil asked incredulously, "What'd you buy that for? We can't get parts or anything. It's obsolete."

"True," I responded, "But you know how there was that old TV show called Bait Car, where the police rigged a car so that they could catch car thieves?"

"Yeah."

"This will be our bait snake. We'll leave it unlocked and if any thief gets this far into our building in a late night robbery attempt, maybe he'll just grab it and leave the rest alone, seeing them locked."

Yes, we have a Bait Snake. Think I can talk Tru TV into a new reality show?

Reading Old School

Yes, I do seem to remember old times all the more as I age. Well, sort of, that is.

I recall reading Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction novel Against the Fall of Night when I was 11 or 12 and being absolutely captivated by it. Yet this morning I can't think of one single fact about the story. Not one plot detail comes to mind. But I remember sitting on the living room couch and being very taken in as I ate Pringles Potato chips and drank Faygo root beer.

So I think what I'll do is order a copy off Amazon. When it arrives I'll stock up on Pringles and grab a few cans of Faygo root beer, burrow myself into my reading space, and try to capture the feeling all over again, 53 years later. 

Can you relive the past? I'm going to try to find out.

Post Dated Cloyce

We have had a lot of interesting individuals come through our Shop door over the years. Some, you had trouble getting money out of them. Not all of those guys were out to con you, though.

One fella in particular, I'll call him Cloyce just to give him a name, has been on open account for better than forty years now. He's slow to pay but he always, eventually, pays. He's a genuinely good guy too. I think he's just undisciplined, kinda the way a kid is undisciplined. The kid means well yet doesn't quite understand how things should work.

A habit of Cloyce's has been to bring a check to pay his bill but then post date it. "Can you hold this for a week, Bill?" he would ask me Pops on presentation of a scrap of at that point worthless paper. And Dad would hold it, knowing that it would be good sometime within the next three weeks.

He's done that to me too. I deal with it because I know Cloyce means well, and also because I genuinely like him. As I say, it's not unfair to say he's almost confusedly childlike in his approach to life. There's a part of me which finds that quaint, or even endearing. I mean that.

Still, getting paid is why we work. Back in September Cloyce came in and gave me a post dated check, asking me to hold it for a few days. I said yes but added, "You know, Cloyce, paying me today with a check I can't cash today isn't really paying me today." Cloyce nodded, and I could almost see that light bulb above his head trying to brighten beyond dim.

Cloyce stopped by the old barn last week to pay his current bill. He wrote out a check. "Look, Marty, I dated it today," he showed me.

"Great, Cloyce, thanks," I replied.

He then asked, "Can you hold it until Tuesday?"

Cue the sad trombone. Yes, I can hold it until then. I actually wonder whether that's his way of making himself pay me, to know in his own mind that a check is out there that he has to, some day, honor. Whatever the reason, I'll surely have my money later next week.

A Pope Joke

Habemus Papam! We have a Pope. An American no less, something I did not expect, who has taken the name Leo XIV.

His background will be analyzed to death in the coming weeks, likely enough by yours truly on these very pages. But for now, I'm going to tell a funny. Don't worry. It's not even PG. And, credit where it's due, it isn't actually my joke.

My number two son is Francis Leo. Upon the announcement of the new Pontiff I texted him, "You might notice the last two Popes have been Francis and Leo."

His response? "Minds will be blown when the next one is Pope Cosgriff!" 

Wouldn't they now!

Delving Deep

...maybe the wisdom philosophy brings isn’t the parent of happiness, which is not that gloomy a suspicion; after all, if only the wise can be happy, the rest of us are in a bad way indeed.

Since the day I finished Death on A Friday Afternoon, which I spoke of in a recent blog, I have been dealing with a frustrating lack of direction in my reading. This despite having gleaned from the book a great calm even with an understanding both clear and muddy (if that paradox can make sense) which calls so strong towards the transcendent that I can barely stand it. I want more reading like that. Yet I'm not sure it's available on this Earth.

A great and welcome diversion has come to me through The Ballpark Book, thanks to my buddy Ron. Reading it is a balm (I assure you I am not trying to overstate the point) which I sorely needed. It's filled with talk about baseball and the classic stadia in which it was and is played. On that level I'm back to reading for enjoyment, and it feels good.

Yet I still want more of what I'll call here heavy reading, the thing which grants understanding yet draws us further towards Truth. Not your truth of my truth; that is no more than a frivolity which borders on hubris, but the Truth. It is there, you know. We can accept it or deny it, but there is no bluff to call, and we deny it at our peril.

In that search I find myself reading old issues of The Underground Grammarian, a delightful series which my friend Paul introduced me to eons ago. The Grammarian, one Dr. Richard Mitchell, speaks in ways which address the ethereal, the numinous, the Truth. I pulled that quote above from one his essays.

We can, if we wish, seek and find that truth. It isn't only for the philosophers but for us all. Don't leave happiness to them. Discover it for yourself.