Level Wise

Yesterday I put up an entry suggesting that the tsunami and divine chastisement may not be completely unrelated. It was really the continuation of a discussion on Amy Welborn’s blog, and that context was important. The connection between earthly calamities and the divine will is certainly worth discussing, but after reading one more account of the disaster yesterday — something about beaches full of children being swept out to sea — it occurred to me that I’m not really up to the task.

My post might have been interpreted as rejoicing that a notorious haven
for sex tourism and child prostitution was devastated by the tsunami, no matter the “collateral damage”. Truth be told, there was something like that going on. But there is such a thing as looking too hard for the silver lining. Were some of those children mine, I would probably like to strangle armchair theologians pontificating on their weblogs about the meaning of it all just now.

My love and tender one are you
My sweet and lovely son are you
You are my love and darling you
Unworthy, I of you

Your mild and gentle eyes proclaim
The loving heart with which you came
A tender helpless tiny babe
With boundless gifts of grace

King of Kings, most holy one
Gone the sun eternal one
You are my God and helpless son
High ruler of mankind

My love and tender one are you
My sweet and lovely son are you
You are my love and darling you
Unworthy, I of you

Merry Christmas

“To most men loneliness is a doom. It is imposed upon the criminal as the heaviest of punishments; carried to extremes we know it will drive him mad; nothing seems to unman a man as the loneliness of a prison cell. Even for those who are not criminals, nothing so wrings pity from a human heart as the sight of another who is utterly alone. Loneliness to men is the very ghost of life, dogging their steps, haunting them at every turn, from which they are always trying to escape. It cannot be fought, it cannot be avoided, yet there is nothing many more dread for themselves, or see with more concern in others.

Men — especially married men — should refrain from dreaming about a Perfect Wife. The wife God gave you is perfect for you: that should be enough. Nevertheless, if I had to describe the Perfect Wife, her characteristics would look like this …

First and foremost, the perfect wife will be a Catholic who is serious about pursuing holiness. She’ll make frequent use of the Sacrament of Penance and will get the children to a mid-week Mass whenever possible.

The perfect wife will also be feminine. In the immortal words of Rogers and Hammerstein, she’ll be a “girly, womanly, female, feminine dame”. She’ll be neither “frumpy” nor “flashy” in her dress and conduct, but simple and elegant. She’ll wear her hair and her skirts long enough to be pretty.