Strange the ways of justification . . .

I find it very strange that when people break rules or even a law, they find a way to transfer the blame without proving their innocence. My husband works in the public sector and they have a rule about the use of the computers in the building. People can call in and reserve a time and ONE hour and they can also have one, more hour if a computer is available. Two women have been finding a way around the rule in order to get on a computer and stay on it for two hours in a row. They call in their reservation, say for five in the evening. They come in at their reserved time, get on the computer and CANCEL their reservation BUT they are now on the computer and can have their FREE hour. Before they get started on whatever they are doing on the computer, they reschedule their reserved time for six o'clock thus they can use the same computer for two hours without leaving. My husband's boss talked to them about having to take their reserved time, get off and wait in line with everyone else to take advantage of another free hour. They were cheating, they knew they were cheating so what was their response to the person in charge? They called him a racist because he was enforcing the rules but was of another ethnic persuasion than them so they pulled the race card. Yes, there are times when prejudice can come into play but it seems so petty to use a serious issue to cheat on allotted time on a public facility's computers. I wonder how the culprits would have felt if THEY were the ones losing out on computer time because another person was pulling the same scam?

How come?

Someone recently sent me pictures of students at a California high school who were flying the Mexican flag above the American flag and the American flag was disrespectfully flown upside down. There were pictures but there was no mention of any chastisement for showing such disregard for the flag of this country. I'm thinking that if students from this country went down to Mexico and did the same thing to the Mexican flag, there might be some recourse to severe justice by that country. Why is America allowed to be treated this way? Where are our elected officials when something like this occurs?

It has also been interesting to hear America being chastised by China for perceived human rights abuses. Lots of pots around lately, calling various kettle black. Strange world we live in these days. It sure makes us pay more attention to how devoutly we say our prayers!

Another season . . .

Summer is arriving as well as returning college students. I'm fetching one daughter from the airport this morning. It is kind of depressing, however, that our current economy doesn't insure there will be summer work for many students this year. Seems unfair that the government has already burdened our children's future with taxes but the economy is such they can't even find work easily now. I sure home the November elections bring in some politicians who have the interests of the people at heart and not their personal greeds and agendas.

Ahead of my supplies . . .

My favorite part of quilting is designing and piecing the top of the quilt. Right now, I have three quilt tops ready for quilting if ONLY I had remembered to purchase enough batting to fill my creations. Guess I will have to spend the day . . . designing another quilt top!

Mother's Day found me being treated to a trip to the fabric warehouse so I have a lot of new fabric and new ideas to work with.

I used to make quilts for the local pregnancy center but found out they are a bit prejudice towards Catholics in that they would not accept any quilts with Catholic motiffs,etc. Okay, I was fine with that but they also put out literature for their faith but do not allow any for Jewish or Catholic faiths. Seems to me that when a young girl is going through a crisis like this, the pregnancy center should have pastors/rabbis/ministers of ALL faiths to refer them to for counseling. This is not the time to get everyone born again.

Anyway, I've slowed down on making baby quilts for now but have the fun of storing all the BIGGER ones I make until Christmas and birthdays require a gift.

Just my opinion . . .

It seems to me that in an effort to bring parishioners closer to Jesus, our bishops are actually making Him less awesome and more matter of fact. Yes, Jesus is our Brother, God is our Father, etc. but shouldn't there be an element of great respect and piety involved with our dealings? We are talking about Divine Beings, Perfect Beings . . . which, we humans, definitely are not. Should be we bringing Them down to our level or should we be striving to come up to their goodness?

Our diocese greatly encourages ALL it's parishes to offer the Blessed Sacrament under both Species even at daily Mass. To me, offering the Blessed Sacrament as the Precious Blood is more likely to lead to disrespect and being common place.

Every morning, I cringe when we come to Communion as there is a flutter among the congregation and the presiding priest as they try to ascertain if there are enough Extraordinary Ministers to distribute the Precious Blood. The grace of the moment is lost as hand signals are exchanged, an EM waves her arms from the altar to get another one's attention, etc.

The EM's often giggle and smile as they offer the chalice calling the known recipient's by name. I actually heard one EM tell the next one in line, "Sorry, I don't have any more. The last person was a pig and drank it all." Did the EM realize that it wasn't just wine at this point? Where was the grace of the moment?

Then, we have the EM's who do not want to finish the chalice after Communion. One of them tends to wander and signal people around the church trying to find someone to complete her 'job'. Another one finishes off the chalice as she strolls back to the sacristy. Often, you can hear laughter as they put away the chalices.

EVERYONE tends to line up for the chalice. Young children are prone to wiping off their mouth across their sleeve. One Mass, an entire chalice of the Precious Blood was spilled all over the EM and the floor. The other EM just said, "Just wipe it up and don't worry." That seems proof to me that she just doesn't know what she is dealing with and has a definite lack in her Catholic education.

I was actually told by a parishioner that I wasn't receiving a 'full Communion' since I abstained from the chalice. Uh, does that mean there were no 'full Communions' for hundreds of years until our bishops decided to go the 'full route'?

It seems to me that there would be a lot more respect if distribution of the Precious Blood was reserved for special occasions. The first and last time I received under both Species was my wedding.

Democracy dying . . .?

The president gave a speech last week and actually said that there comes a point where one has earned enough money. Uh, that sounds very undemocratic and doesn't adhere to the capitalistic mind set of our country. So, what happens when you cross this 'line' of income and you make too much? Do we continue to work hard but hand out the 'surplus' to someone who is not working? If we are working to support a business venture, should we be allowed to only make so much and no more? Eventually, wouldn't that cut back on available jobs in your business if you couldn't expand at will?

It is also interesting to note that the ones who advocate redistribution of income are usually quite well off themselves and I have yet to see them handing over any 'extra' cash.

There are many countries with a history of putting caps on how much a person can make and what he can do with the money he earns and it hasn't been a successful history. Why would our government advocate the same for us?

Scary stuff . . .

It was shocking to watch the news and hear the hoards of illegal immigrants declaring that they deserve free everything and that they are owed this. The mind set of our world today is certainly self-centered. People seem to want the easy way out and if they don't like the work involved, they would just as soon skip that part and live off someone else's labor.

I see this in most every store clerk, these day. You can tell by their attitude that they want that paycheck and are pretty much putting in time in order to get it without undue effort.

It is so refreshing to deal with a store clerk who had decided to do their job to the best of their ability and be cheerful and helpful. You don't find too many these days! I was at Best Buy once and asked one of the clerks about a particular video game. He said he would check in the back. I watched this guy wander off and NOT go to the back and check on our request. He ended up standing a few aisles away. I walked up to him, AGAIN, and he smiled and asked if he could help me! He was so inept he couldn't even remember who he had not bothered to help already!

On the other hand, there is a cashier at the grocery store that not only remembers me but has a cheerful word, a joke, and a smile. There are times I go out of my way to shop there just because I get treated like a human being.

Seems to me that if everyone would look more to how they are appearing to the world rather than how the world should be for them, we might have a lot less problems.