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I can't claim Abraham as an ancestor. My ancestors very likely hadn't even heard of Abraham and Isaac until missionaries arrived, and I've mentioned that before. I have, however, learned a bit about our Lord's family history. That brings me to the Elijah cup my wife and I bought, some years back. Make that decades. My wife and I got it while in Minnesota's Twin Cities, for a brother-in-law's wedding, which puts it in the 1990s. Elijah's Cup in Context "Remember This Day...." Moses, Pharaoh — — The Late Bronze Age Collapse, George Washington, and Me Overheard While Getting Our Elijah's Cup Taking Traditions Seriously (More at A Catholic Citizen in America .) (How and why the Passover Seder began, What I think about Moses, academic fashions, and buying either a properly-prepared item or a cheap imitation.) (I know: this topic is related to Lent, not Advent. But it's what I came up with this week.)

Get-togethers, family and community, are part of the holiday season. Take Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, for example. Thousands of folks, maybe a million or more, turned out Thursday morning, 1 standing in a cold New York City rain, cheering this celebration of consumerism. I could kvetch about folks buying stuff they don't actually need, the rampant waste of helium, or Snoopy being neither at the parade's head nor at Santa's side. But I won't. Fact is, I enjoyed an online broadcast — or is that stream? — of the parade. Watching the parade has become part of my holiday season routine. Instead, I'll talk about another holiday tradition I've enjoyed: family Christmas gatherings at the home of Aunt Jule and Uncle George. They lived, along with some of the rest of the family, in Grand Forks, North Dakota: about a two hour drive north from Moorhead, Minnesota, where I grew up. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Sharing memories of an annual family ...

Wizard of Id's Spook and Turnkey made a good point last Sunday. Gratitude is an option, even when life's bowl of cherries seems filled with pits.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Being grateful is a decision: one that makes sense, even when it is not easy.)

"A False Alarm on the Fourth" Udo Keppler, Puck. (1902) "Uncle Sam — It's all right! There's no fighting! The noise you hear is just my family celebrating!" I like that double-page cartoon by Udo Keppler. And I like his image of America: a family of sorts, where everybody doesn't look just like me, but we can celebrate together anyway. Another Udo Keppler cartoon, made eight years earlier, shows a different attitude. I'll get back to that. I'll also be quoting John Adams, with a little more of the context than you probably see. Declaration of Independence: 248 Years Ago Today Flights of Oratory, Compromise, and a Missed Opportunity "...Our Pleasing Hopes..." and a Persistent Perception Being a Good Citizen AND a Catholic A "Patriot Dream That Sees Beyond the Years" More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Two quotes by John Adams, two cartoons by Udo Keppler. Hopes, perceptions, and an America that is not perfe...

Easter Sunday: when we celebrate the best news humanity's ever had — so far.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Happy Easter! A music video, a few words, and I'm done for the day.)

I'd planned on posting this today, with an 'Easter' post tomorrow. But, although I'm not feeling as awful as I did Wednesday morning: that's not going to happen. It's "nothing serious". Probably the same "nothing serious" that's been plaguing this household for a month and more. My temperature's stayed below the 103° F threshold, so I'm a comparatively happy camper. And that's another topic. Now, about these cards: the first three are Victorian-era, part of this selection.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Three Victorian-era humorous Easter cards, one from the early 20th century. Not what I had planned posting this week, but I hope you enjoy them.)

There's a winter weather advisory in effect until 2:00 p.m. — but most of the snow has already fallen and/or gotten blown around. I gather that three to five inches came down here. That's three to five inches more than we had before. This has been an unusually warm and dry winter, so this snow is welcome. I hope it changes our status from "moderate drought" to merely "abnormally dry". I haven't heard anything about my brother-in-law (February 7, 2024) — so I'll assume that no news is good news, and that he can walk again. Number-two daughter started radiation therapy March 11, so this is her third week of taking maybe three hours out of each weekday.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (A side-effect of radiation therapy. Winter storm and drought. Getting a leaking pipe fixed. Weather, and the week before Easter.)

St. Patrick's Day is a public holiday in Ireland (Republic of and Northern), Newfoundland, Labrador, and Montserrat. It's a day when folks wear something green. I've heard that some even drink green beer. Why anyone would think green beer is a good idea is beyond me, and that's another topic. Chicago celebrates by turning the city's river green. If today's holiday post looks familiar, maybe you're remembering the one I wrote three years back. This one was going to be shorter. But aside from eschewing asides about Ptronius Maxiums, a Roman Emperor whose body got tossed in the Tiber, and Suffolk County's Evacuation Day 1 — fact is, I ended up adding a few paragraphs, and polishing the rest: Pick a Peck of Prickly Problems Protest, Perspectives, and — King Lear?! Previous Prickly Problems "...I am a Sinner" — St. Patrick, Shamrocks and All That Shamrocks Legends and a Forbidden Pit Saints Due Process New and Improved Fo...

"Urbi et orbi" is Latin for "to the city and to the world". Or, rather "To the city and to the world" is English for "urbi et orbi". Either way an "urbi et orbi" message is both for folks living in Rome and for everyone else. There's a plenary indulgence involved, too, and that's another topic.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (What Pope Francis said on Christmas Day: embedded video and a link to the text. And, VERY briefly, how I see what he said.)

One, maybe two, articles by C. S. Lewis reappeared about a half-dozen years back. Not that they'd been invisible. Collectors had the articles in their copies of The Strand Magazine, but "A Christmas Sermon for Pagans" and "Cricketer's Progress" hadn't made it into lists of work by Lewis. Maybe it's just one new 'Lewis' article. "Cricketer's Progress: A Famous Reputation and What Became of It", was written by a "Clive Hamilton". Sure, Lewis published his first book under the Clive Hamilton pseudonym. But Lewis isn't known as a sports journalist. 1 And that's another topic. Anyway, I'll be talking about "A Christmas Sermon for Pagans" this week. Or, rather, I'm sharing a few excerpts; and talking about whatever comes to mind. "A Christmas Sermon for Pagans": No Longer Forgotten "... 'Objective' Right or Wrong...." "...Nature is ... A Kind of Machine fo...

Several dozen students in the Islamic City of Marawi were allowed to start their First Sunday of Advent Mass in a university gymnasium. Then, when they got to the "Lord, have mercy" part, a bomb went off. Four of them died. Many — I've seen both 42 and 72 reported — were injured. I'll talk about that, along with whatever else comes to mind. I've been running a fever, so this week's post may be — interesting. Well, of course. It's supposed to be interesting. But — you get the idea. I hope. Mass in a Gymnasium Rebuilding: Eventually Prayer and Neighbors An Abrahamic Aside Under the Circumstances…. Getting a Grip — or — Seeing Humanity as “Us”, not “Me” and “Them” The Mystery of the Missing Domain — and Something Serious More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (An Advent mass interrupted by a bomb. Rebuilding a city with several names. Priorities, prayer and neighbors. An Abrahamic aside and an unwell week.)

Quite a bit has changed over the last couple millennia. And some things haven't. One of the things that hasn't changed is human nature: which is good news and bad news, depending on how I look at it. I'd started writing about that, when my oldest daughter and I ran into an all-to-common opinion about religion. The narrator of a video we were watching said that religion was silly. Then he said something like 'isn't that an unforgivable sin?' The phrase is fairly common in English-speaking cultures. It's "Biblical" in the sense that it refers to a sentence in Matthew. Since I'm a Catholic, I do not think the unforgivable sin is using the wrong fork at a formal dinner. I'll get back to that. At any rate, here's my shorter-than-planned review of (comparatively) recent events, along with how I see sin (original, unforgivable and otherwise); and why Advent matters: Politics, Ideas, and Technology: 20 Centuries in 138 Words After th...

Advent doesn't start for another week, but my country's Christmas season is already off to a running start. I've mentioned Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Buckster Bunny and "I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas" before. Maybe I will again, but not this week. This is another 'clip post': excerpts from stuff I’ve posted before.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (A quick pre-Advent review: Deborah, Barak, and Jael,wife of Heber; Judith and editors; examination of conscience. Also the Macy parade and Buckster Bunny.)

This week will be less routine than usual, partly due to Thanksgiving Day. I'll be staying home, and haven't decided whether or not I'll try finding free online streaming of Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. This — and probably my regular 'Saturday' post — will be the text equivalent of a clip show: excerpts from stuff I've posted before. So: Happy Thanksgiving Day, Greetings on November 23, or whatever seems appropriate. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Stuff happens: wealth and poverty, sickness and health. None of that is a sure sign of virtue or sin. What I do with what I've got: that is what matters.)

105 years ago, a bunch of VIPs signed off on stopping the debacle we call World War I. The November 11, 1918, armistice was a very big deal at the time; and still is. Although for different reasons. Here in the United states, we called November 11 Armistice Day until 1954. Then it was re-named Veterans Day. It's related to Remembrance/Poppy Day and Volkstrauertag. 1 Veterans Day was and is a time to remember and honor all who have served in my country's armed forces. That strikes me as a good idea.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (This is a day when we honor those who have served in the armed forces. I look at current events, why armed force can be necessary, and a Pogo comic strip.)

These days, the first Monday in September is Labor Day. Officially, it's when we "honor the energy and innovation of working Americans": and, maybe, unions.... ...Unofficially, it's the last day of summer: when many Americans take vacations and/or pull out of their lake places. I expect to see a familiar boat or two parked in back yards next week.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Why I am staying home Labor Day weekend. Plus a quick look at official and unofficial reasons for celebrating, and a very little history.)

I like being an American. There. I've said it. I like living in a country where freedom of speech is part of our heritage. And where freedom of expression extends even to folks whose ideas aren't approved by The Establishment's current iteration. Usually.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (A quick look at America over the last century: good times, droughts, politics; and getting through anyway. Why being a good citizen matters: to me, anyway.)

Recapping Friday's post: whether Jesus died from cardiac rupture, cardiorespiratory failure or something else, the main point is that he died. Then Jesus was buried. Again, let's remember that he was, in the words of the Munckin coroner in "Wizard of Oz", sincerely dead: More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Jesus was dead and buried. Saturday passed. Sunday morning, some women came to finish what had been a rushed interment. What happened next still matters.)

Here in central Minnesota, palm fronds are part of our Palm Sunday Mass. We generally take them home, fold them into the shape of a cross while they're still green and pliable, and put them somewhere in the home where they'll be visible. Before next year's Lent, we'll return them to the parish church, where they're burned to make ashes for Ash Wednesday. That's the idea, at any rate. Some years, including this one, I forget about bringing last year's back. Letting that upset me is an option. But not, I think, a reasonable one. And that's another topic. Last weekend, my now-grown son asked my wife about the palm fronds he'd brought home from Mass. That reminded me that it's been 11 years since I made a short video, and 10 since I've shared it online. It's a short (4:26) how-2, showing how we fold our fronds. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (How my family folds palm fronds into a Saint Andrews cross, using a lanyard weave....

Today is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week. Lent is almost over. At Mass this morning, we walked through our Lord's last days in Jerusalem, starting with the first century equivalent of a ticker tape parade. Jesus was top of the charts, wildly popular. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Holy Week: Jesus went from top of the charts to torture and execution. Two millennia later, we're still celebrating. Which sounds crazy, but isn't.)