First Published: 2022 November 6
Luke 20:27 “Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to him,”
Today’s readings strike home for me. Mostly to me, the readings focus on legalism.
The Maccabees could be accused of dying on behalf of legalism. After all, is the commandment not to eat pork really more important than the commandment to live? Similarly, in homilies I’ve heard, I’ve generally seen malice attributed to the Sadducees.
The framing is always them trying to trap Our Lord in some sort of a logical quandary. I guess I don’t see an issue with that. One thing that we know for certain about the Lord and His Promises is that they are consistent. If we can reach different answers from different1 starting facts, that is a legitimate concern about the faith.
And so, I choose to see the Sadducees as truly wondering. In the world view that they have, there is no way for this woman to be married to all seven men, but also no way to choose between them. That’s an obvious problem to the resurrection of the dead.
Our Lord’s response is incredibly stunning. Rather than rebuke them, He answers their questions in full. More than that, though, He answers the questions that they were trying to ask as well.
It really reminds me of how one person’s legalistic question is another’s genuine stumbling block to belief. I saw a post recently that said the incredible specificity with which all of our most dearly held beliefs have is a sign that there’s something wrong with the Church. I see it as the opposite: we know better and better what the true Truth is, because we know what is not it.
and true↩︎
First Published: 2022 November 3
First, apparently I never published my last writer’s block post, and instead linked to an older one. Wild.
Anyways, for whatever reason, I can’t think of what to blog about today. I’ve written over 2000 words of my novel, which is nice, and this is my last activity with my computer before I write my poem of the day.1 I guess I could talk about how those are going.
The novel is going interestingly, because it’s not something that I did even the slightest bit of planning about. More or less, the impetus for the novel was a few vignettes that I’d been thinking about, which had no temporal connection. As a result, writing them results in something very much the same.
In the poem, I wrote a meta-poem villanelle the first day and a sonnet the second. Today I’m going to try a free poem, but who knows how well that will go. Huh, just like that, I’m at over 150 words.
which I’ve taken to doing in my journal.↩︎
First Published: 2022 November 2
Today is the Feast of All Souls. There’s an indulgence attached to praying at a graveyard. A friend invited me to go pray at a graveyard with them, and it was really nice. Unfortunately, the rest of today was jam-packed with activities, so I haven’t really had time to sit and reflect here.
More accurately, I don’t have time.
First Published: 2022 November 1
Another month, another monthly reflection.
My goals were:1
Blog daily. Eventually this goal will happen.
Stretch daily. I’m going to stretch right after this, just so I make sure to do it.
Figure out how to repair/improve my accordion case. I made some notes today, and I think I should be able to get some of it done by the end of the month.
Write a poem every day. I did feel like the poems I wrote helped me ease into sleep, and they certainly help me write songs better.
Finish the newest song I’m working on.
Make progress on catching up for BiaY.
Fill in at least 3 more items on my 24 for 24.
How’d we do?
17/31 blogs. That’s more than half, so improvement.
I had about a week where I stretched, so that didn’t go horribly.
Turns out repair was as simple as taping it back together, so I gave up on that project.
I wrote a couple of poems, rough estimate of 12, so could do better.
I not only finished it, I’ve performed it!
Lots of progress, I’m now at day 232.
I added two new points, so I’m on schedule if not my goal
In the next month I’m going to try:
Blog every day. I believe in this month.
Stretch every day.
Write a poem every day. I’m doing a poem a day with some friends, so I’m accountable there.
Finish NaNoWriMo successfully
Make progress towards catching up on BiaY
At least two entries in 242.
Let’s see how we do!
Outside of my goals, I had a pretty good month. I’m making new friends and deepening existing relationships, which is always nice.
with commentary this time because I’m too lazy to fix it.↩︎
First Published: 2022 October 31
Last night went well! I ended up doing my two original songs and Stan Roger’s “Maid on the Shore,” because it’s a little bit spooky, which is good Halloween vibes. I had another person comment that the song seemed incredibly sad, and that I seemed sad while performing it, which is fun. It’s especially fun because they then commented on how not sad I seem otherwise.
I ended up staying later than normal, and played another set. That one was significantly less prepared, so I did two more Stan Rogers songs that I kind of know. It could have gone better but, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I realize I never actually figured out how to end them in playing, so it was awkward.
Tonight I’m playing at the open mic alone for the first time.1 I’m a little nervous, especially since I’m only like 60% sure what I want to play. But, hopefully I get home early enough tonight to relay my time.
I technically did it once or twice in undergrad, but I don’t really know if that counts.↩︎
First Published: 2022 October 31
Luke 19:6 “And he came down quickly and received him with joy.”
I appreciate how last week we heard about the tax collector who knew he was a sinful man, and this week we hear about Zacchaeus, a tax collector, who is called to the faith. Something that stuck out to me in particular is his line “if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” In the homily I listened to, the priest mentioned that he absolutely extorted, which is likely where the other half of his wealth would go.
I, on the other hand, took Zacchaeus at his word. One recurring message these past weeks is the contrast between perceived holiness and actual holiness. “Of course Zacchaeus extorted”, we and the people at the time would say. And yet, what if he didn’t?
Too often I find myself judging, making wild extrapolations from minimal data. To me, at least, yesterday’s Gospel called us to reflect on why we assume the worst from those who we barely know.
First Published: 2022 October 28
Way back in the initial iteration of this blog, I attempted the National Novel Writer’s Month (NaNoWriMo). I think1 that I mostly just tried to hit the wordcount2 in these blog posts. My logic then was that I had far more free time, as I was lacking the obligations of “sport, ensembles, (most of) my instruments, much of the studying, a job, etc”, and so should be able to do it. Today much of that is true as well, and I would really like to see if I can write a novel in a month.
Of course, it’s not going to be good, but I’ve started actively scheduling time in my day to write3, and it’s worked well for creating ideas. I also really have a lot of ideas I want to read, and the only realistic way that will happen is if I become the writer for them. Back then I was apparently writing around 750 words a day, which is far more than my posts lately4. But, having now written a book5, I feel more able to write a long6-form piece of creative prose.
because the past is a mystery shrouded in darkness and memory↩︎
50000 words↩︎
hence more of these posts lately↩︎
which makes sense, since back then I was writing it with the express purpose of chronicling my time in a far-off land↩︎
which I just now realize I don’t know if I ever posted about? Ah I did↩︎
ish↩︎
First Published: 2022 October 27
I find that my life runs better when it’s more heavily scheduled. Often, this means that I have activities planned for particular times, but it’s more than that. Lately I’ve been running into a fair number of friends who I realize I’ve lost contact with in the past few months, not through any malice on either of our ends, but simply because it’s easy to forget people in graduate school.
I don’t want to forget the people who mean a lot to me, so I need to figure out a way to get into the habit of messaging people I care about. I was recently having a conversation with someone where I mentioned that I’ve been called really considerate before because I had written down a reminder, and then remembered the event from it. I don’t think of that as particularly speaking to my care/memory, because it was just me sending a note into the aether, where it eventually came back to me. The person I was talking to is in the camp of extended memory as memory1, and so assured me that not having the memory to remember important things wasn’t important, especially since I had a system to figure it out.
Still, though, I know that I have systems which work. I really just need to use them. Maybe I should just set a reminder to text people every few weeks.
if you don’t know what this means, the tl;dr is basically research shows that when we read something we often remember where we read it, rather than what we read, because that’s more efficient. Some consider the writing to count as memory↩︎
First Published: 2022 October 26
As I’ve mentioned before, I like crocheting Celtic knots. I also like drawing them. One issue I often have with them, though, is that extant knotwork often has motifs other than just an interwoven strand.
A very common motif is some sort of animal shape, which I’ve always struggled to draw. So, recently I decided it would be fun to learn how to draw a dragon,1 so that I could make better2 knotwork.
It went really slowly at first. Every dragon I drew looked somewhat goofy, which I only realized later was because of a lack of details.3 Eventually I figured out how to draw nice4 dragon heads, and even made a convincing knot or two with them. Then I decided to learn to draw wings, for some reason.
I’ve always struggled with wings, probably because of the inherent need for a 3D perspective. For whatever reason, though, this time I drew good enough wings within like 15 minutes of trying, which is fun. Anyways, I’m enjoying the Celtic knot resurgence in my life.