The Daytona 505

Somehow this race is getting screwier and screwier!

Where exactly is the finish line now?

1. The race ending under caution use to revert back to the last completed lap, now we have to wait while scoring loops and video are reviewed to match exactly when the caution flag is thrown--which ultimately is up to NASCAR. If fans thought in the past certian drivers were being favored, this may ultimately prove to be a disaster for the sport.
2. Why throw the caution flag when the accident is on the back stretch or anywhere in the last five hundred feet of the race? Just let the drivers come to the finish line and finish the race. The Busch race yesterday was a total disaster on this count. Today wasn't much better. The flag was thrown when the car spinning was all by itself.
3. Good thing Tony Stewart thought aloud last week that someone might get killed, little did anyone suspect that he was the one who planned on doing the killing. I like Stewart, but I agree with Matt Kenseth that putting a driver to the back of the back on a restrictor plate race isn't punishment enough. Tony's drive below the yellow line to put Kenseth off the track should have got him parked for the day.
   
4. I've watched football games played in the fog, first time I've watched a NASCAR race on television that was almost impossible to see at times. Reminded me of the early 60's when a snowy picture set was the norm. Wonder what this looked like in high definition?
5. I used to like restrictor plate racing but it has gotten to the point with the endless rule changes that what you have now is not racing at all...they had that at one point and they lost it. Hopefully they'll go back to it at some point.
   
6. So in the end the car that cheated and had the crew chief suspended won the race. Why not suspend the car--who cares if the crew chief isn't there. Obviously didn't hurt them none, they went from last to first. Hope they were able to get the window fixed before it goes back through post race tech.
   

Fallen State of Man Requres a Savior

Pope Benedict's Angelus today...

From AsiaNews.it :

"Sin prevents humanity from “advancing swiftly” in brotherhood, justice, peace and holistic development. Even if all these values are upheld in “solemn statements”, there is something which “blocks the… journey”. In today’s Angelus, taking his queue from the gospel of today’s Mass (VII Sunday of Year B), which narrates how a paralytic was healed by Jesus, Benedict XVI said “only Jesus can truly heal” the sick man. “Man, paralysed by sin, needs God’s mercy, which Christ came to give him, so that healed in the heart, his entire existence can blossom once again,” said the pontiff.

“The paralytic is an image of each human being who is prevented by sin from moving freely, from walking in the path of righteousness, from giving his best. In effect, evil, nestling in the heart, ties man with straps of deceit, anger, envy and other sins, and little by little, paralyses him.”"

Good Day for Amy and Moi on Amazon's Top 100 Catholic Bestsellers

As of Saturday Evening (2/18/2006):

#5 The How-To Book of the Mass: Everything You Need to Know but No One Ever Taught You

#21 The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ to Your Life

#41 Here. Now. A Catholic Guide to the Good Life.

#65 Loyola Kids Book of Saints (Loyola Kids)

#66 How To Get The Most Out Of The Eucharist


By the way #21 The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ to Your Life is a Lenten Devotional (you can search inside the book, for a sample read "Day 14", Ash Wednesday is only a week and a half away!

Cardinal Karl Lehmann

From Yahoo News:

Cardinal Karl Lehmann delivers a speech during the traditional carnival award ceremony 'Wider den tierischen Ernst' (Against Deadly Seriousness) in the western German city of Aachen February 11, 2006. Friedrich Merz, former financial spokesman of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU), received this year's decoration 'Wider den tierischen Ernst', which is awarded every year to persons in public life showing humanity and a good sense of humour.

On 6/6/06-The Beast is Released?

Movie called The Beast is being released with great hoopla on 666...the premise of which is that a Christian high school student investigates the disappearance of her scripture scholar father who has "discovered" that Jesus never existed--no small feat, I might add. Christian fundamentalists are the enemy in this film. As someone has said it is the antitheseis of The Passion of the Christ.

You might want to arm your people with Amy's Prove It! Jesus (Prove It!).

For others I would suggest opening your Bible to John 6:66 and reading and reflecting on who the beast might really be.

On a side note, I remember a scripture scholar saying some years ago that the shroud of Turin couldn't be the true shroud of Jesus because (and I think you'll enjoy this) it matched the Gospel accounts to closely--anyone who has studied the bible at the graduate level will appreciate that and anyone who maintained their faith through the process won't agree with it.

How To Focus More on Lent... this Lent

Ash Wednesday is just a week and half away!

Daily Meditations based on the Gospel Reading of the day from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday…

• For Use as a private Lenten Devotional
• For Use as in a Group Bible Study
  
  National Catholic Register
  Weekly Book Pick February 2005
  

For launching into Lent, Clare Siobhan recommends "The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ to Your Life" by Michael Dubruiel.

And from those who've used it and plan to use it:

We just finished studying your book "The Power of the Cross" – ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!!!!!!.
It was soooo Catholic and thank you for speaking the truth. We have a lot of Catholics out there (including myself) who missed these lessons over the last 20 years. We have made Catholicism what we wanted it to be. Not how is really is. I believe your book opened the eyes of a lot of the ladies in the group.

Vickie Loftis, Women's Bible Study, San Juan Del Rio Catholic Church, Switzerland, FL

“The Power of the Cross” will be our text for adult education classes during Lent. Keep on writing!

Pastor, Saint Patrick Catholic Church, Sarasota, FL

Ferder and Heagle

Interesting tale of a nun and priest who have been at the center of much silliness in the Catholic Church and may even be responsible for sowing some of the chaff amidst the wheat...yet joyfully continue along the path.

From The Seattle Weekly:

As they turn to walk toward their offices from the lobby, Heagle gently sends Ferder forward by putting his hand on the small of her back. It is an intimate gesture, born of a relationship that spans some 30 years. The twoare so obviously close that some have observed they seem like husband and wife. Ferder says the relationship is celibate but acknowledges their "deep, deep friendship." They live and work in the same house, teach together, and write books together. Together they belong to what they call a "support group" of friends who socialize and take trips, composed of three priests and three nuns. It seems as close to marriage as a nun and priest in good standing can get.