Showing the flag in Belfast

This came out of a conversation this evening:

1. How I know what's going on in Belfast isn't "rioting for the sake of rioting" as in Birmingham, etc, awhile back: If it were, the Catholics would be doing it too.
2. How I know the rioters aren't Catholic: They're waving Union Jacks and singing some song I don't recognize as they pass a "Nationalist area".

  Also noted: They all look like kids. But then I'm getting old.

Anticipated

Back. Happy St. Raymond's Day.

This letter to an editor says:

Although the Bible isn’t a science book, it contains references that anticipate scientific discovery by hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of years . . .thousands of years ago the psalmist wrote: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:13). This verse anticipates that we are literally knitted or woven together at the molecular level.

There's more. Under the Law of Moses, Jewish women are unclean, well, pretty much while they're infertile. Someone I pointed this out to said "But they didn't know about women's cycles back then." (They may have had a vague idea, but it seems it wasn't proven until 1905.)  But God knew -- and knew also that a third of the Jews would be killed in the 1940's.

And how did the author of Genesis know the order in which creatures came to existence -- even if he got the timing off by a few million years?

And what are we being readied for right now?

Something else they could use in Newtown

Patriot Guard -- USAF photo

Precision

Real-life exchange:
"How old is her mom?"
"Well, when was the uprising in Hungary? 1956? She'd have been maybe in her twenties then, so . . . you get the idea."

"Now, son . . ."

". . . a lot of people are cuckoo until you need something from them."
                                                                      -- Grandpa Simpson

Keep thinking of this as I get ready to set up Aunt Eunike's Holiday Refuge for the Desperate.

A few things to pray for

. . . in the wake of this. Not a complete list of what's needed, just a few bits of help.

For the families, the survivors, and the first responders:

• people who can be of real comfort to them
• closeness in their families
• sleep as needed
• the ability to forgive
• blessings this Christmas

Variable degrees of explicability

• Pope Benedict has over 300,000 followers and he hasn't even tweeted anything yet
• Someone apparently thought December would be a good time to tear up the road by a shopping mall
• Au Bonheur des Dames (by Zola) is about an eponymous department store that is not, in the long run, conducive to the happiness of the ladies, either those who shop there or those who work there; it just makes money for the man who owns it