Important SCCB News Items

Erin Manning/Red Cardigan has a couple of news items everyone should be aware of. First of all, her lawnmower died. So if you have an extra one, please ship it to her primary residence immediately.

Secondly—and she begins this one with the word "CAUTION", so pay attention—she is going on sort of a summer blogging partial semi-hiatus vacation kind of thingy. So I'm designating myself to pick up the slack for And Sometimes Tea here at Est Quod Est. If you've been reading her blog and you need an extra dose of blogginess, kick in on over here where we're just getting started with Summer Party 2013, 24/7.



So "clench up" everybody!

Refresher course.

Retreating

Starting at 9:00PM tonight, I'll be doing my annual Lenten retreat. I'll be back on Sunday evening.

I've got a piece of paper with the names of the regular commenters here, so consider yourselves being prayed for by this sinful man. I hope you'll pray for me also so we can all "give the ol' Devil a black eye" as I heard it put once on a gospel station.

Couple more things: Mark Shea posted what I consider to be a very sincere public apology on his blog today.

And the obligatory humorous link: Top 11 Things Causing Al Gore to Spend $30K a Year on Electricity.

Canadian Bakin'

Angus Daily is the Scrappleface of the SCCB with posts like this one. Excerpt:

"The environment is something that is going to affect all of us," said Rev. Richard Matthews, "it's something that will affect our children, and our children's children. If they make it to full-term of course, but abortion's a separate issue. The real issue is if we don't do anything about the environment now, our descendants (if they make it out of the womb) tens of thousands of years from now will have a temperature increase of .000372 degrees Fahrenheit. Can you even fathom that consequence?"

The Canadian Catholic Church is the world's most eco-friendly Church body. Many of it's members are encouraged to recycle twice as much as normal during Lent.

Sister MM on "Me Time"

It's fat Tuesday, but let's not overdo it. That goes for all of us.

Check out another Sister Mary Martha lenten post, this time she takes on "me time" among other things:

One reader is considering giving up her 'me' time for Lent. I didn't realize Catholics had any 'me' time that didn't involve prayer and/or fasting. Live and learn. I guess Jesus had some 'me' time out in the desert, but Satan showed up and ruined it. Right during His bubble bath.

Sister Mary Martha on Lent

Best thing I've ever read on what to give up and the correct attitude about it. Favorite parts follow, but you should read the whole thing:

If you want to lose weight or quit smoking, do it on your own time. [emphasis hers] Lent isn't about looking better in your jeans or avoiding emphysema, although we wish you the best on both those counts.

Lent is about giving up something that will be a daily reminder of the fact that it's Lent. Then while you're thinking about the fact that it's Lent, maybe you'll remember what Lent is all about.

[snip]

And don't try to sidestep your plan. If you've decided to eat your oatmeal plain, with no brown sugar or milk or raisins or anything, and then you eat eggs half the time for breakfast, shame on you, you slacker. No one let up on Jesus.

Yeah, you slacker! You go, Sister. People who try to give up cigarettes just end up being grumpy and becoming a mortification to everyone around them. This is serious advice from a spiritual offensive coordinator, delivered straight, no chaser. You want to get to Heaven don't listen to me, listen to Sister Mary Martha.

St. Blogs Parish Member

Congratulations are in order -- to me. Contra Pauli is now a member of St. Blogs Parish webring, so everyone has to behave themselves, OK?



OK?!?

Acronym

Sometimes I come up with something so witty that I snicker about it all day long. When I acidentally discovered that the acronym for So-Called Catholic Blogosphere was SCCB, I was literally stunned at my own brilliance. Get it? Get it?

Not to be confused with the USCCB.