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Last week's Gospel reading, Matthew 2:1 - 12 , ends with a sort of cliffhanger. "Magi from the east" arrived in Bethlehem, found our Lord's house, and paid their respects.... ...Or maybe not so much — we read Matthew 2:13 - 18 on December 28. I don't suppose we'll see the massacre of the innocents 1 in an animated Christmas special any time soon. It's far from the most cheerful parts of the Bible. That didn't keep folks in Coventry from including it in their Shearmen and Tailors' Pageant . We got " Coventry Carol " from that mystery play.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Death at a Bible study back in 2015, and at Fort Lauderdale airport last week, has been in the news. It's probably not as exciting as what glitterati were wearing and saying at the Golden Globe Awards ; but I figured now would be a good time to talk about those deaths, and decisions More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Statues 1 of Caspar , Melchior , and Balthazar started near the clock in our living room. I took those pictures of them on Wednesday. Their trip to the nativity scene ended today, Epiphany Sunday. We read about "magi from the east" in today's Gospel: Matthew 2:1 through 12 : " 1 When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, 2 behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, "saying, 'Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star 3 at its rising and have come to do him homage.'" ( Matthew 2:1 - 2 ) "Magi" is how μάγοι, mágoi, looks in my native language. That's the Greek version of an Old Persian word that would sound something like "magus" if I tried pronouncing it. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

The Christmas Mass marathon — that's not what it's called — started yesterday with the Vigil Mass. Mass During the Night was next, followed by Mass at Dawn and Mass During the Day. I didn't go to all four, I don't know how many folks do, but I looked up the Gospel readings for each.... "...We heard parts of the Vigil Mass Gospel last week. That's Matthew 1:18 - 24 , when Joseph learns why Mary is pregnant...." More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I'd love to be talking about unambiguously artificial signals picked up by the Allen Telescope Array , or reports of a ship from beyond the Solar System settling into orbit around our moon. But that hasn't happened, and probably won't. Not in my lifetime. Instead, I'll talk about why I don't "believe in" extraterrestrial life; and do not assume that we are alone in the universe. That puts me in the third of folks who aren't sure, and I'll get back to that. My 'Friday' posts are usually about more-or-less-current 'science news.' That won't happen this week. I've read a few interesting articles, and will be talking about them — after the Christmas-New Year's gymkhana is over. This week I'm using material that didn't quite fit into an earlier post. I'll also talk about the Great Moon Hoax, Nicola Tesla and Martians; and what I think about life in the universe. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I don't know why encounters with angels, 1 and God, aren't all alike. Sometimes, like Abraham's meeting with the Almighty and two angels, described in Genesis 18:2 , or Habakkuk's getting airlifted in Daniel 14:33 - 37 , it's apparently much like meeting another human. Other times, like Daniel's interview with Gabriel, it takes days to recover. I suspect that it depends on the personalities involved, and on just how much unshielded power we're exposed to. "The writing on the wall" is still an idiom in my language, meaning "the likelihood that something bad will happen." ( TheFreeDictionary by Farlex ) It comes from a reality check Belshazzar experienced.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Pip's Christmas doesn't have much to do with Christmas, or Advent, but I figured this post should have something that looks 'seasonal.' "...Blessed is the One Who Takes No Offense at Me" We'll be hearing Matthew 11:2 - 11 this morning. The readings still aren't particularly 'Christmassy.' " 2 When John heard in prison 3 of the works of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to him " 4 with this question, 'Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?' "Jesus said to them in reply, 'Go and tell John what you hear and see: " 5 the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. "And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.' " ( Matthew 11:4 - 6 ) Our Lord balanced that rebuke with a reminder of the Baptist's great function in Matthew 11:7 - 15 , and a complai

Here we go again. The headlines are accurate, as far as they go. " Pope Francis Extends Priests' Ability to Forgive Abortion " Elisabetta Povoledo, The New York Times (November 21, 2016) " Pope Francis extends Catholic priests' right to forgive abortion " Tim Hume, Cristiana Moisescu, Lindsay Isaac; CNN (November 21, 2016) I'm pretty sure we'll see a replay of last year's sound and fury over the Pope's 'changing stand on abortion,' expressed in a letter dated September 1, 2015. 1 The reality was nowhere near as horrific or hopeful as many folks apparently thought.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Today is Armistice Day . Over the decades it's been called Poppy or Remembrance Day , and now Americans call it Veteran's Day .... More at A Catholic Citizen in America

I don't have the 'I'd rather be dead' attitude of the deceased in that 2011 Non Sequitur strip. My viewpoint is more like Edison Lee's dad in yesterday's comic. I figure that someone will win the 2016 American presidential election. It'll probably a candidate from one of the two major political parties . I think which candidate wins matters. But I also think that whoever gets the job — America will keep going. There's a great deal more to this country than the national government. That's not what this post is about, though.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

There's trouble everywhere, and that's not news. It's not new, at any rate. "Your princes are rebels and comrades of thieves; Each one of them loves a bribe and looks for gifts. The fatherless they defend not, and the widow's plea does not reach them." ( Isaiah 1:23 ) "Yes, I know how many are your crimes, how grievous your sins: Oppressing the just, accepting bribes, repelling the needy at the gate!" ( Amos 5:12 ) How come the world is such a mess, and has been at least since we started keeping records? More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

(From Diliff, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) Authority, superstition, and misapplied technophilia (it's a real word ) rate at least one post each: but that'll wait until another day. Days. This time I'll take a quick look at all three, and then say why I don't believe in Progress with a capital P — and don't yearn for the 'good old days.' More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

One woman decided to take a road trip after learning she had a terminal illness. Another switched careers. Both choices make sense, given the circumstances. This year's World Food Prize goes to a team who developed a new sweet potato, scientists found a virus with spider genes, and there's a lively difference of opinion regarding human life span. We've learned a lot since my youth, and there's a great deal left to learn. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

(From BBC, via Wikipedia, used w/o permission.) ("I find that nothing's ever exactly like you expect...." ( Professor Richard Lazarus )) A mad scientist's lot is not a happy one. All he wants is to redefine being human: and the next thing you know, he's eating guests at his victory celebration. Doctor Who's The Lazarus Experiment doesn't have much to do with The Devil Bat and The Brain That Wouldn't Die , apart from featuring a mad scientist — and science gone horribly wrong. Some movies, like Fantastic Voyage and Things to Come , present science and technology as useful. But "tampering with thing man was not supposed to know," as Mr. Squibbs put it, keeps the plot going for quite a few; like Altered Species , They Saved Hitler's Brain , and Island of Lost Souls . Reticence, reasonable and otherwise, regarding new ideas isn't new.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

(From Radomir Vrbovsky, via Wikipedia, used w/o permission.) (دروازه ایشتار, Ishtar Gate, eighth gate of Babylon's inner city: a reconstruction using original bricks in the Pergamonmuseum , Berlin, Deutschland.) Prophets had their bad days, too — like Habakkuk, from today's first reading ( Habakkuk 1:2 - 3 , 2:2 - 4 ): " 1 How long, O LORD? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you, 'Violence!' but you do not intervene. "Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and clamorous discord. "Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision Clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. "For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late." ( Habakkuk 1:2 - 3 , 2:2 - 3 ) This was about 26 centuries back, and not a good era in our Lord

I think social justice is a good idea. I'd better explain that. I think acting as if people matter is a good idea: all people, not just the 'right' ones. I'll be talking about "the poor of the land," private property, the universal destination of goods, and a job that's not even close to being done. There's nothing wrong with prosperity, by itself. As 1 Timothy 6:10 and Hebrews 13:5 say, it's love of money that gets us in trouble. Some Saints, like Francis 1 and Claire , both of Assisi, were poor. Others, like Elizabeth of Hungary and Sir Thomas More , were anything but.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Scientists working with ESA's Gaia space observatory published the first part of a three-dimensional sky map this week. It'll be the most comprehensive all-sky survey done so far. Not unexpectedly, this year's 'ET calling' headlines gave way to something slightly more down-to-Earth. We may eventually pick up an artificial signal from the stars: but that burst of radio noise from the direction of HD 164695 was almost certainly due to a clerical error of sorts. It wasn't our first false alarm, and I doubt it will be the last. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Airliners were flown into New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon 15 years ago today, killing nearly 3,000 folks whose chief offense had been living in an American city and going to work Tuesday morning. The 19 immediately responsible died with their victims. They were waging Osama bin Laden's religious war against the United States. Osama bin Laden is dead now, and so are a great many others: perpetrators and victims; Christians, Muslims, and folks who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. On top of that, about 1,800,000 folks were stopped last year, while trying to get into Europe. Some may have had ulterior motives; but most were trying to stay alive, fleeing because their former homes had become a war zone. It's the biggest problem of that sort Europe's had since the 1940s. Quite a few folks are upset: partly because most of the refugees hadn't had opportunities to fill out all their paperwork before entering Europe. More at A

Mother Teresa of Kolkata /Calcutta gets canonized today. Here's how she described herself: "By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus." (" Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), ," vatican.va ) She established the Missionaries of Charity in 1950 and died in 1997, but the Missionaries of Charity are still around: giving “ wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor ." Their facilities don't look much like Mayo Clinic here in Minnesota, or Bumrungrad International Hospital in Thailand; and that's another topic. One of these days I'll probably ramble on about Saints, miracles, and canonization. But today I'll say that a Saint is someone recognized by the Church as someone who practiced heroic virtue and is currently dead, and leave it at that. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 828 , and s

I think the universe is billions, not thousands, of years old; Earth isn't flat; Adam and Eve aren't German; poetry isn't science; and thinking is not a sin. If you've been reading my posts, you know why being a Christian doesn't interfere with my interest in science. Feel free to skip the rest of this post. It's mostly about reading the Bible, the universe, and getting a grip. I'll be back next Friday, 1 most likely talking about Proxima Centauri b , a planet orbiting the next star over from ours: in Proxima's habitable zone. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .