If Every Day Could be Like Halloween--The Last Christian Feast

Once again we arrive at a very strange day. Little people, some guised in grotesque attire will arrive at our doors this evening and beg for food, if you can call candy that. What is even more strange is that only the most stingy among us will refuse their request.



What if everyday were like Halloween? What if no matter who came to us on any day, wearing whatever guise they chose, was greeted with joy and a generous response of almsgiving? Why we might all be saints!



So this truly is All Saints Eve. It is a lesson for us to learn. We are not frightened by the guises of the little monsters because underneath we know them to be good little children. But how can we translate this act of charity into a life of realizing that Christ comes to us in his many guises throughout the year, begging from us, hoping that we will look beyond the mask He dons at the time?



"When I was hungry you gave me to eat, when I was thirst you gave me to drink, when I was a stranger you welcomed me, when I was naked you clothed me, when I was sick you cared for me, and when I was in prison you visited me,"(Matthew 25) "When did we see you Lord?" is the reply of everyone...but for some it is in response to what they did and for others it is for what they did not do.



It is appropriate on the Eve of All Saints (and I do think we should give this celebration its American English translation), that we imitate the Saints in their ability to recognize Christ in our brothers and sisters--no matter how they present themselves to us, in the same way we will imitate the giving of the Father on Christmas Eve by playing St. Nick for our children. It is fitting to face the ghoulish nature of life that is ever heading toward death, on this eve to be faced with skulls and other symbols of death so that we may commemorate our dead on the Feast of All Souls. Indeed in our secular calendar of feasts, this is the last Christian feast which ironically comes under its harshest attack not from the ACLU but from other Christian churches--go figure!



Would that everyday could be All Hallow's Eve...and that for each of us, that everyday will be the eve of our being with God and His Saints in His heavenly kingdom.

Ron Zook--Love-Hate Relationship

From ESPN.com: College Football



In Gainesville, the affectionate term for the head football coach is The Zooker. Lord knows, there are a multitude of less affectionate terms floating around out there for Ron Zook.



Saturday, Florida can steal a page from Hollywood and Ronald Reagan. It can win one for The Zooker.



The Gators can win one that might -- just might -- transform a mutinous fan base. Beat fourth-ranked, defending SEC champion Georgia in the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in Jacksonville, and Florida backers could conceivably go from on The Zooker's back to having his back. They just might let him up and let him breathe.



At least until the next loss to Mississippi.

Good at Rejection??

Since I've received so many rejection letters in my writing career, I guess I'm pretty good at writing them. I frequently receive letters from people whose manuscripts I've rejected, as I did today, this one from an award winning writer:



I rarely have the opportunity to say this, but...thank you for the wonderful rejection letter!

Wildfire Turns California Resort Into Tinderbox

One of the stranger stories I watched on the news coverage was a story on the CBS news last night where two fire trucks were parked outside of a very large house. There was some implication that whoever owned the house was receiveing preferential treatment. There was never any mention of who the house belonged to though.



From Wildfire Turns California Resort Into Tinderbox (washingtonpost.com):



"Southern California wildfires turned into an 'Apocalypse Now' as a firestorm raced through the mountain resort of Lake Arrowhead destroying an estimated 250 homes in minutes and leaving officials fearing that the fiery rage would not abate on Thursday. "



Fire officials said the only hope they had for preventing a repeat of Wednesday's disaster on Lake Arrowhead was incoming fog that was expected to creep in from the ocean and envelop the mountains by the week's end.



"The good news is that a little too late the weather is changing on us. ... We will still have trouble (on Thursday) in the higher elevations, but by Friday we will get higher humidity ... and this will help the fire suppression effort," said Andrea Tuttle, the head of the state's Forestry Department.



It was Tuttle who said that the San Bernardino Mountains, the winter playground for nearby Los Angeles, could erupt in flames of Biblical proportions because of a huge infestation of minute bark beetles which killed 70 percent of the trees around Lake Arrowhead and surrounding communities.

The Interview That Wasn't

Questions Larry King should have asked but as usual did not...



From the Weekly Standard--The Interview That Wasn't:



THAT EXCHANGE should have opened the door to some very interesting conversation. King could have asked Schiavo if he is raising children with another woman--a matter finally brought up by a caller near the end of the show--why he should continue to have any say over Terri's care, given that the sanctity of the marriage vows he took are no longer operable. King didn't, of course, which is precisely the reason why people in the center of heated public controversies like to go on his show.



There are a number of questions King should have asked Schiavo:



(1) Why did Schiavo tell a medical malpractice jury in 1992 that Terri would live a normal life span? After Terri's collapse, Schiavo sued for medical malpractice. Under civil law, the longer Terri was expected to live, the larger the verdict would probably be. This fact of legal life could explain why Michael presented evidence to the malpractice jury not only that Terri would likely live a normal life span but also that he intended to be a good and loyal husband and care for her for the rest of his life.



(2) Why did Schiavo have a rehabilitation expert testify in front of the malpractice jury to present a detailed plan of therapy for Terri? Schiavo and his lawyer claimed that Terri is incapable of improving physically, but during the 1992 trial, a rehabilitation plan and its anticipated undertaking provided one of the underpinnings for the jury's $1.3 million award. Of that money, Schiavo received $300,000, lawyers' fees were paid, and about $750,000 was put in trust to pay for Terri's rehabilitation.



(3) Given that the jury awarded $750,000 to be used in part for Terri's therapy, why hasn't Schiavo provided any rehabilitation for her since 1991? When asked by King about the issue of rehab, Schiavo described some early efforts to help Terri, such as an experimental surgery in 1990. But he never identified when this rehab took place.



Which is an important point. The only efforts ever undertaken to improve Terri's condition took place in 1990 and 1991. They had ceased by the time of the malpractice trial in 1992 because her insurance coverage had run out. Indeed, the pressing need to restart therapy was an urgent part of the malpractice case. It could have--and should have--paid to restart the rehabilitation that had been abandoned due to lack of funds.

McKeon Attributes Success to the Little Flower

Sports people are getting evangelized in some good ole Catholicism!



From CBS.SportsLine.com - Loria says McKeon will be back to lead champion Marlins:



"McKeon begins most days by attending Mass. He carries a crucifix and angel medallion in his pocket, and says had it not been for St. Theresa -- a 19th-century nun who had many miracles attributed to her -- he would not have been in baseball.



McKeon said his father wouldn't let him sign to play as a teenager, insisting instead that he go to college. McKeon said he began praying to St. Theresa and eventually his father gave his blessing.



A half-century career has followed, with this being McKeon's first taste of a World Series.



'St. Theresa has always taken pretty good care of me,' McKeon said. "

Pope John Paul II--- Prayer Can Stop War and Terrorism!

From Ananova - Pope says prayer can bring peace and halt terrorism:



"'In the face of war, violence and tension, praying the rosary is a conscious expression of faith,' he said.



'The upsetting attacks in the United States on Sept. 11 and that which they generated in the world afterward can be stopped through the prayer of the rosary, in which one pleads for peace,' his text read by an aide said."