Weekly Features Post

Issue XXI

Goodness gracious. Whatta day. You ever feel like unseen forces are colluding to keep you from an appointed task? For Eric Scheske, the election of Cardinal Ratzinger was one of the most exciting things he'd witnessed in his life. He wanted nothing else but to watch it, but not today: medical tests at the hospital, get ready for new carpeting in the family room, clients with emergencies, visitation of a deceased neighbor, an office lunch meeting, driving a son on his paper route so he could finish in time for baseball practice, watching his toddler Max for two hours while Mrs. Scheske could attend soccer games, the deck spray guy popping in at 6:30 to talk about an estimate just as Eric sat down to watch TV coverage for the first time.

Whine, whine, whine. Yes. But that doesn't change the fact that it was an incredible coincidence that all this stuff flurries on one of the biggest days of a Catholic's life.

So, enough of that. What are our impressions? We've already conveyed a handful of them (scroll down past the WFP).

But here's are a few other tentative impressions that we formulated while driving kids, watching kids, and feeding kids. If the impressions aren't very profound, blame the kids.

We like the name Benedict XVI. Cardinal Ratzinger has said in earlier writings that he is willing to see the Church grow smaller, if that's what's necessary to preserve Truth and to make the Church stronger. We think the name "Benedict XVI" may have something to do with that.

St. Benedict was the man who founded Western monasticism in the sixth century. As Roman civilization collapsed, St. Benedict retreated and established houses of prayer and study, houses that preserved civilization throughout the Dark Ages. St. Benedict's wasn't a cowardly retreat. It was a shrewd one. . . and a necessary one. We speculate that Benedict XVI may be signaling a willingness for the Church to be an outcast from normal society once again. And when you consider what constitutes "normal" society in Europe and, to a lesser degree, America, we can't say we disagree.

We are all called to martyrdom in some fashion, whether the blood martyrdom of the early Christians or the bloodless martyrdom of St. Anthony and those who followed him into the desert. By taking the name Benedict, is the new Pope telling Catholics to prepare for a retreat, for a time when friends and family will persecute us or, at a minimum, make us outcasts, possibly of the worst kind: the kind that are laughed at? Maybe. Will we be willing to follow?

For the reasons described above, this is an abbreviated Weekly Features Post. We apologize, but family duties call.

Strays
"The second degree of humility is that a person love not his own will nor take pleasure in satisfying his desires, but model his actions on the saying of the Lord, 'I have come not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." St. Benedict, Rule for Monasteries. (Yeah, we're expecting Benedict XVI to relax the teachings on sin so people can indulge themselves more.)

"As for self-will, we are forbidden to do our own will by the Scriptures . . .". Id.

"If a brother who has been frequently corrected for some fault, and even excommunicated, does not amend, let a harsher correction be applied, that is, let the punishment of the rod be administered to him." Id. (sorry, we couldn't resist).

Stoic's Porch
"Be cheerful also, and do not seek external help or the tranquility that others give. A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others." Marcus Aurelius

Last Word
Moirologist: A hired mourner. "Perhaps Andrew Sullivan is just a moirologist."