Category: Odds & Ends

“Even now, thirty years later, I could still go to that remote path in the Black Forest, not far from Basel, and find again the tree beneath which I was struck as by lightning…. And yet it was neither theology nor the priesthood which then came into my mind in a flash. It was simply this: you have nothing to choose, you have been called. You will not serve, you will be taken into service. You have no plans to make, you are just a little stone in a mosaic which has long been ready. All I needed to do was ‘leave everything and follow,’ without making plans, without wishes or insights. All I needed to do was to stand there and wait and see what I would be needed for.”

English Translation: Peter Henrici, S.J. “Hans Urs von Balthasar: A Sketch of His Life.”

Open Source Shakespeare, a Web site created for my graduate thesis, is available for your perusing. It’s in “beta” condition, meaning it’s not quite finished. However, I wanted to get some comments about it, so be nice. Also, maybe when Google spiders Catholic Light, it will start indexing OSS because of the link in this post. I submitted the URL several days ago, and Google still hasn’t visited.

Literally. I’m not talking about a metaphorical, political earthquake — I mean I felt the building tremble a little bit. I figured it was some kind of machinery in the building that was vibrating, but nope — apparently it was an earthquake, 4.5 on the Richter scale.
That makes at least five quakes I’ve been in: three in California (not a big deal, I know), but the last one was a year ago in London, which set off the hotel’s alarm system at 2 a.m. and scared the living crap out of me.

A woman goes to the post office to buy stamps for her Christmas cards.
She says to the clerk, “May I have 50 Christmas stamps?”
The clerk says, “What denomination?”
The woman says, “God help us. Has it come to this?
Give me 6 Catholic, 12 Presbyterian, 10 Lutheran, 21 Baptists and 1 Anglican.”

From Norway’s Aftenposten:

The image, 11 meters (36 feet) high, hangs over the entrance to the capital’s main downtown shopping center. The giant Christ welcomes shoppers with outstretched arms , and what appears to be a halo over his head.
“To be honest I didn’t react to it so negatively at first glance. It is a reminder to shoppers about what Christmas is really about, namely, that God gave his son Jesus Christ to us all,” said dean Olav Dag Hauge.
What he didn’t notice the first time was that the halo shining behind Jesus’ head is a compact disc.