Neanderpundit

Wife, to husband:”I don’t know why you always pull through to the parking space on the other side. It’s twice as hard to back out and if someone comes up behind you, you’re blocked in”
Husband to wife: ….

Partner and I had a conversation about a similar discussion he had with his girlfriend. At least Partner was sharp enough to spot the signs of impending dumbassery and not get married to her.

is a time when Catholics renew their commitment to their baptismal vows. See, when all the Christians in the world were Catholics, it was likely to get you killed to convert to Christianity, so it wasn’t taken lightly. And even when being a Catholic could get you killed for other reasons, such as when protestants, eager to be good Christians, burned catholics at the stake, and other equally nasty things.

So becoming a Catholic was dangerous, difficult, and for the most part, was done in the 40 days directly preceeding Easter. The symbolism that surrounds it, of course, is clear. The 40 day Biblical fast was practiced by Moses, Joshua, Elijah, and finally Jesus. There is no theological dogma about “Giving things up” for lent, and no sin attached to not doing so; the point is not to “Give up” a vice, nor to “be virtuous” during that time, lent has nothing to do with vice or virtue, at all.
Lent is a time of personal sacrifice aqnd reflection, and the personal sacrifice is attuned to drawing your mind closer, more often, to the creator. The purpose of voluntary privation during lent, which is again not a church sanctioned activity nor is it a theological imperative, is to change your routine in a way that, for 40 days, allows you to concentrate less on worldly matters and be reminded to think about your creator. Certainly, there are people who use this time to try to shed a vice or develop a virtue, and if they do, according to Professor Hale, they are HYPOCRITES!!! IN any event, that isn’t the purpose of any of this. The point is to reach in your desk at noon for your lunch, and remember that it is not there, and realize that you stopped eating lunch. There is, of course, no vice involved in eating lunch, nor any virtue to be acquired by not eating it. The whole point is that a measure of privation gives you an opportunity to dwell, at least hopefully, more on the passion of the Christ than on your stomach grumbling. It is an echo of those ancient biblical fasts, done in a way that allows us to live our daily lives. Since this is not a matter of dogma, and is simply a tradition established and practiced by Catholics down through the ages, it is, at least in my mind, free of interference, for the most part, by men who would subvert it. This is one of the reasons it is hated, lied about, and disdained by calvinists and their ilk.

The city water line goes through the well pit, and the temp in the well pit dropped early am, so we had a frozen pipe which thankfully did not leak. MR B reminds me that as often as not, a light bulb will provide adequate heat to prevent this, and he is spot on, we used to do that out at the house in cedar lake. Anyway, i have water with no other associated heartache, thank G-d.