Faith + Reason = Truth

Listening to an audiobook biography of Christian Dior [don't ask], its appeal is far greater as a biography of life in France during the 1st half of the 20th century than as that of just one man from boyhood to the pinnacle of all that life has to offer.  If you have any interest in Paris, Normandy, or the south of France; high society or common life; turn of the century, roaring 20's, wartime or peace; working for the Man or starting your own business; or anything to do with any of the arts, it's a fascinating and well-written book.
The thing that I wish we would do as everyday people in all walks of life, which the elites as well as the artists did long ago and presumably still do, is get together on a regular basis at someone's home or other meeting place to cut loose together, to talk, to express their grand ideas and hopes and dreams, to rail against the negatives while taking things further and actually making plans to change the world.  For some, this conjures the idea of "happy hour" or "poker night" or "GNO," but I'm obviously thinking of something a little different here.  Maybe less drunken rambling, more clarity of thinking and expression; less gossip, more conceptualizing and idea-spawning; less hunting and sports, more philosophy and culture; less bitching, more world changing.  I don't know.  Just a thought that it would have been cool to have taken part in that type of in-person idea exchange, and that it still would be!

The less destructive it is, the harder it is to give up.  If you gamble and bring financial ruin upon yourself, then it's obvious to you and to everyone you know that you need to stop.  If you fly into drunken rages or endanger people's lives when you drink, then clearly you have a problem recognized by many others.
Sometimes the vice is not so evil or wrong though.  Maybe it has caused you to miss out on something, or to act in a regrettable way, once or twice or several times over a period of years.  Maybe your most trusted loved ones and confidantes actually counsel you that you don't have an issue, as far as they can tell.  But deep down, it Is an issue for you.
That's a tough thing to give up.  But it may be even more meaningful to do so than one of the blindingly awful behaviors outlined above, since the only ones holding you accountable are yourself and God.  Oh, and since you may not be the sternest disciplinarian when it comes to yourself and your habits, you really do need to bring God into this conversation.  It makes all the difference!
If you want to strengthen your relationship with God and with yourself, try giving up something that other people really don't think that it's absolutely necessary for you to give up; try giving up something that, in fact, would be a bit baffling to your friends if they knew of your decision.  You can get a tiny sense of what that's like during Lent if you're Catholic, but to tell your Father that you're done, forever, with that thing, and to know that you are, has the potential to transform your life in ways that would never have occurred to you when you initially worked through the decision process.

Seriously, I couldn't make this up!  You long-time readers know that I like to check in with other news outlets from around the world to get fresh perspectives, knowing that the Jerusalem Post or Russia's Pravda or even the Financial Times is going to have different top stories than CNN or any U.S. newspaper.  But just now, I was shocked by this story right on the front page of Pravda's English language site.  Here's the opening paragraph:

Bad news for me personally, as well.  Dallas never seemed to me to be as much of a high-value target as the Northeast, D.C., the West Coast, Chicago, or NORAD; now, however, we've apparently made the top 5 list:

"Inga Foksha, an analyst with IK Aton, did not hesitate to name five targets, the destruction of which would jeopardize the USA’s existence.

The first strike should be made against the offices of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in Washington, Dallas and Chicago. 'This company handles depositors’ funds. If it disappears, and if banks have no guarantees, the people will panic and will rush to cash their deposits,' Foksha said."

Easter Sunday Mass, a text message hits my phone.  "What do you think about this music?" - a reference to the folk rock concert breaking out next to the altar.  I succumb to the temptation to respond:  "it's cool."  The reply from my fellow cell phone usage protocol violator came back, "not very Roman Catholic," to which my final response was "no, it doesn't belong here during Mass, but it's still cool and the kids are getting into it!"
The battle between tradition and mass appeal (pun intended) rages every Sunday in parishes across America.  Make Mass fun and entertaining, engage more people, and leave them looking forward to next week?  Or...not.  The worship of God should, in my opinion, be set apart from everyday existence.  Life is already a spectacle tailor-made for consumption by the throngs of humanity.  Why should church be?  Is it that much to ask of us to take 1 hour out of 168 hours each week to step back in time and just do it like it's always been done (or at least like it's been done since Vatican II)?  An electric guitar and rockin' drum beat can get the blood flowing and the knees bouncing, bringing us all into unison with one another and especially with the performers leading us - but not with God.
I recall no Gospel or Old Testament text that instructs us to get a band together to facilitate our communion with the Lord.  In fact, we are told quite the opposite, time and again:  go and find a quiet place, talk to God, listen for the response.  It is there.  Sure, it's probably not the adrenaline rush that a concert provides, but we're all pretty good at mustering our own excitement outside of that hour per week, aren't we?

Plainly and simply, democracy is not now, nor has it ever been, a system that produces the best solutions to tough problems.  It addresses issues in the manner of what the majority of the people desires, whether those people are wrong or right, liberal or conservative, enlightened or ignorant.
My 7-year old son asked me this past weekend, on the drive to go do something we didn't want to do, why we had to go on that day at that time and miss out on the thing that we REALLY wanted to do instead.  I told him that it's what worked best for most of the people, so we had no choice.  He said "then that's not a very smart way to decide things."  And he was right.
We try to get around the shortcomings of majority-based decision making via the genius of representative government, whereby the majority gets to decide who its decision makers are, and then trust that those individuals will make wisest choices that are in the best interests of the nation and its citizens.  But what happens when the people make their choices in resounding fashion, and the elected officials do not act in the best interests of the nation or its citizens?
No need to wonder "what if," because it's happening right now, in everything from government bailouts to multi-trillion dollar budgets to the government-blessed and funded destruction of innocent life on a scale never before experienced in this shining beacon of humanity called the United States, the supposed pinnacle of civilized life in the history of this planet.

Notre Dame erred in inviting the President to deliver its Commencement, and he, in turn, erred in accepting the invitation.  At least, insofar as Notre Dame considers itself a Catholic university.  Despite all of the press, it really is that simple, that cut and dried, that black and white.  Obama's abortion motives were equally effectively obfuscated by the media, his supporters, and him during the presidential campaign.  Many supporters, many of them Catholics, were hypnotized by his eloquently delivered plans to actually reduce the amount of abortions and unwanted pregnancies, pragmatist that he is, through his brilliance (exactly how, I never was clear on, but his supporters certainly bought into it!).
Oh, nevermind that he would do his best and move his quickest to remove any and all restrictions on any and all types of abortion and stem cell research; his policies would actually reduce the number of abortions!  You'll see!  And that part about now requiring medical personnel to perform duties that they hold as morally objectionable, namely abortion, among others?  Well, don't worry about that either - because his policies will reduce the number of abortions in this country!  And, by the way, did he forget to mention that not only would he facilitate any and all types of abortion in this country, but in others around the world as well?  Hey, folks, settle down:  it's all in the name of REDUCING the number of abortions performed around the world!
Notre Dame, you aren't the only one to be seduced by his charisma, his charm, his magnetism, his aura of being something that's somehow better than mere humanity.  You are, however, his most disappointing victim to date.  I would hope that you either offer your sincerest and heartfelt apologies and withdraw the invitation, or that you cease being known as a "Catholic university," as nebulous a term as that is, because it means so much to so many Catholics in America and to the Church itself.  Pragmatism has no place in the search for truth.  Truth is never focused on the wants of the many over the needs of the few, it is not exploitative of tens of millions of innocent unborn lives, and it is never, ever impressed by any office or title or man, even if that man is Barack Obama, the President of the United States of America.  Finally, his hard to pin down, can't quite put your finger on it brand of faith is, well, what can I say?  Except for the fact that I somehow doubt its wholehearted quest for the truth.  As for reason, he has plenty of it, but not of the type that one would hope for in a man who has had the hopes, dreams, and longings of not just a race or even a country, but of the entire world placed upon his shoulders.