Here’s a weird Olympic fact for you: Both Chad Hedrick and Apolo Anton Ohno practice, excercise, and diet only twice a year for their Olympic events. It’s true. Two times a year they get up early, hit the ice skating track for six or seven hours, do some cardio and weight work, then get a healthy meal and get to bed at a reasonable time. The other three-hundred sixty three days a year they wake up at 11am, watch TV and eat chips till about 6pm, then hit the bars and party all night.
Now I know most of are just staring at this in slack-jawed disbelief. You’re probably saying to yourself, “No one can compete at that high a level and excel without intensive disciplining of body and mind. There’s no way, Tommissar, that they could just neglect their formation for such long stretches and still hope to do all the things they need to do.”
You would be right, I made that all up.
So, why did I do that?
According to current Church discipline (at least as defined by the USCCB), there are only two obligatory days of fast and abstinence: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (although it is “hoped” that this will continue through Holy Saturday).
Now you tell me, what kind of shape will you be getting your soul into by practicing some basic mortifications for two days? If it’s praiseworthy for someone to give so much (and as some say, perhaps too much) in order to succeed in sports, how can we do less in order to bring ourselves closer to God?
Fasting is a basic part of any Catholic’s spiritual training. It gives us control over our passions and our bodies. Is fasting hard? Yes. Then again, so is getting up at 5am and practicing figure skating for six hours, or running ten miles a day before heading to the gym to spar for an upcoming fight. Those things are not easy either, yet, with repeated work they become more tolerable. Eventually, they even become enjoyable.
Christ asks us to take up our cross and follow Him. He never says, “You just sit there, I’ll take care of this all by Myself. Don’t go straining yourself, now.” What He does promise, however, is that once we do take up that Cross, it’s not going to be as tough as we thought. When we do do His Will, and go about it in the right way, what seems to the world to be a burden is really seen to be a joy. Remember that bit about the yoke being easy, and the burden light? Where do you think that came from, the sky?
Well, it did in a way, but I digress.
Like the athletes practice and exercise in order to compete, we need to do the same with our regimen of prayer, penance, and fasting. Instead of going for the gold, we seek to gain heaven. Christ has already done the heavy lifting for us, through his suffering, Passion and death. However, we must cooperate in the work of our redemption. We have to get off the couch. Remember also, that we’re not facing other competitors, but Satan, who goes about prowling like a lion seeking who he can devour. That’s some pretty stiff competition, so we all need to bring our A-game. Lent is the place to start training.
Consider what you can do in this upcoming Lent, but consult a good priest first. Like any exercise, you need to build up your endurance before trying more advanced ones.
As for me this year, let’s just say I’ll be seeing less cheeseburgers, chicken pot pies and coffee or soda, and more rosaries and spiritual readings.
Good luck, and train hard. I’ll keep all of you who try in my prayers.
Do you have a cat you want to share with us all? email Der_Tommissar at goowy dot com
Do you have a cat you want to share with us all? email Der_Tommissar at goowy dot com
For those of you who didn’t feel like downloading the file of that “campaign contribution” I’ve got it up on google video. Now it can play right in the frame here. Here ya go.
Do you have a cat you want to share with us all? email Der_Tommissar at goowy dot com
From a ton of sites all around the blogosphere:
The University of Washington’s student senate rejected a memorial for alumnus Gregory “Pappy” Boyington of “Black Sheep Squadron” fame amid concerns a military hero who shot down enemy planes was not the right kind of person to represent the school.
Student senator Jill Edwards, according to minutes of the student government’s meeting last week, said she “didn’t believe a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce.”
Ashley Miller, another senator, argued “many monuments at UW already commemorate rich white men.”
Senate member Karl Smith amended the resolution to eliminate a clause that said Boyington “was credited with destroying 26 enemy aircraft, tying the record for most aircraft destroyed by a pilot in American Uniform,” for which he was awarded the Navy Cross.
Smith, according to the minutes, said “the resolution should commend Colonel Boyington’s service, not his killing of others.”
Please feel free to use the following form letter, and pass it to your friends:
Dear Senator/Congressman _______________,
I am writing you to express my strong support for the return of the draft. I strongly urge you to do everything in your power for this to come back into being.
It is my understanding that in the past it was claimed that the draft disproportionately affected the poor and minorities. I further understand that a reason for this was due to draft deferments being given to those in college. In my plan, there would be no burden for the poor at all. I want those drafted to be selected only from the ranks of our college students. Since it appears that the poor do not go to college, they will not be subject to the draft at all.
Now I know you guys love having loopholes in everything, so I know that you would want to have some sort of deferment built into this new draft. I have thoughtfully provided for this. You may provide draft deferments for any student whose major does NOT contain the words “Studies” “Art(s)” “Theory” “Womyn” “Queer” or “Social”. In other words, please put students with those majors at the top of the list.
Oh, and don’t forget grad students. Make sure you get grad students in there too.
I know another objection is the affect that conscripts could have on the combat capability of our current units. I do not suggest you place any of these draftees in any type of a combat role. Lord knows I wouldn’t trust those kids with a staple gun let alone an actual weapon, nor would I expect our military to do so either. Aren’t there latrines that need to be dug in Afghanistan? Don’t we have sandbags that need to be filled, or concrete mix that needs to be spread? This has the added benefit of working around those pesky “conscientious objector” types. My only recommendation would be to keep these individuals away from anything dealing with food or water, given the average level of hygiene displayed by this subgroup.
In order to lower the expenses for these new recruits, and to give them some valuable experience amongst diverse cultures, I heartily recommend they be made to spend each night among the indigenous peoples. Since this type of student loves to learn about other cultures, let them sleep in a strict Islamic culture each night. Who says the draft can’t be educational? Of course, additional security would have to be in place when these soldiers reenter our military facilities.
In an effort to stress their noncombatant role, I believe these drafted individuals should be given pink uniforms and referred to as the “Pink Corps” or pinkos. As an American, I think it is time we put the pinkos to work for our security.
Finally, I would like to bring up the delicate subject of our “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. For the purposes of our draftees, I believe this will need to be changed to, “Don’t Ask, Really Don’t Care”. There will be a number of students who claim to have alternate sexual proclivities in an effort to dodge the draft. Anyone who has studied deconstructive literary theory can tell you, however, that in reality these are the people most eager to serve! I ask only some tolerance for them as they seek to fulfill their obligations with dignity and honor. Some of these folks might also provide video or photographs of such alternative acts prior to induction. The only fitting thing to do with such material would be to distribute them to the locations where those individuals would be living and working in Iraq and Afghanistan. After all, diversity is a two way street! It will be just one small way in which these people will bring tolerance across the globe.
War zones, as we all known, are very dangerous places. A number of the people drafted may sadly never return. However, that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.
I’d like to thank Julie D. for having pity on Rick Lugari and sending people to give him a reason to live vote for him in best Presentation. Congratulations also to Julie for winning best blog by a woman. Someone in Vegas just made a ton of money on that one.
I’m pretty happy that the Express fared pretty well against the professional Catholics that it faced in each category. Mind you, I wish I was a professional Catholic; that would rock hard. I really wouldn’t mind going on speaking engagements and writing books and so forth as a living. Maybe I should work on that.
Finally, I just want to say to all of you who didn’t vote for me:
What were you thinking?
I’ll be praying for you.
Back to cat blogging:
Jay Anderson gives us our first cat submission.
Do you have a cat you want to share with us all? email Der_Tommissar at goowy dot com
I don’t want to get melodramatic or anything, but if I don’t win in at least one category in the Catholic Blog Awards I will be switching over to cat blogging. No offense to the cat bloggers now, no offense.
Mr. Frisky is ready for play and mischief!
Do you have a cat you want to share with us all? email Der_Tommissar at goowy dot com
I know most of the folks who come here say to themselves, “You know, I’ve never really seen someone take a bribe. I wonder what that looks like. Could the Donegal Express help me out with that?”
That’s what I’m here for, people. I’m all about helping you.
Save this link (you want broadband for this one, kids) and watch former New Mexico State Treasurer Robert Vigil accept a $10,000 bribe campaign contribution. This is a chunk of an actual FBI surveillance film made by an informant. Since Mr. Vigil is currently arguing in court that the money mentioned is a campaign contribution, I figured I’d be fair and label it as such.
At the same time, the FBI didn’t get a DOJ proseuctor to indict him on accepting “campaign contributions”. I may be wrong, but I don’t think most campaign contributions are given in folded up envelopes in cars parked in the middle of nowhere either. I think most times you write a check and hand it to a really perky eighteen year old wearing a straw hat who then gives you a bunch of bumperstickers and lawn signs. This usually takes place in like, a campaign office or at a fundraiser with really bad food.
I guess they just decided to cut out the bad food and the lawn signs and reduce the bribe campaign contribution to its bare essentials. I guess you can call it a deconstructionist campaign contribution.
A civics note to kids thinking about a career in politics: You may get in trouble if you take a campaign contribution from a guy in a car who says, “Don’t expect more from me until I get some business.” Apparently, it’s an ethical gray area.
If you want to read up on it, you can always check out The New Mexican. They just reported it. They didn’t take any bribes campaign contributions or anything.
Even though Der Tommissar and I strongly disagree about some very fundamental issues, I still think he’s a fabulous enough darling to win one of your dear little Catholic Blog Awards. Be a sweetheart and vote for him, will you?
Lord knows I don’t want to tell people how to vote, but being the helpful sort that I am I want to make sure they make an informed decision. With that in mind, I’ve consulted one of the Great Works of Art to help people in making that decision.
The Work in Question, of course, is Caddyshack. So please feel free to use my Caddyshack Guide to the Catholic Weblog Awards to help you make your decisions.
That means I’m surrounded by a large Hispanic and Indian population. If I can’t spot some albino monk trying to sneak up on me in this environment, I deserve to get whacked. Therefore, the blog is open again.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers during this trying time in my life.
Welcome Catholic Weblog Awards Visitors!
If you’re considering me for Best Political Blog, take a look here for my work.
If you’re considering me for Most Bizarre Post, try here and here.
Yes, I’ve xxx’d out part of the hostname and IP address in order to keep His Excellency’s identity confidential. Oh, oops.
Now, what is usc.urbe.it?
That’s right, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
And what do we know about the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross?
The Pontifical University of the Holy Cross realizes the desire of St. JosemarĂa Escrivá, Founder of Opus Dei, to set up a center for university studies in Rome that would serve the whole Church by means of a broad and thorough work of research and formation in the ecclesiastical sciences, cooperating, according to its special function, with the mission of evangelization of the Church in the whole world.
Think they’re mad that I called them a bunch of pansies?
If you’ll excuse me, I need to buy some blonde hair dye and gather my family.
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