Another Day

I had today off.  The boys didn't have school.  Athanasia left the car for me.  WOOO HOOOO! 

The boys and I went to the bagle store up the road and had our traditional breakfast (we haven't had it in months because of my job), read the comics to each other, and talked about the rain.  We also talked about the urge for gun control with a San Jose policeman.  He assured us that he would never obey orders that infringe on the rights of Americans to bear arms, inclundings those the California Legislature is trying to ban.

(I can't believe I'll be divorced on the 22nd of this month.)

After bagels we went by my work so I could return a credit card.  While we were there I let the boys check out the extreme sports - you know, snow boarding obstacle courses, cliff body diving, etc. - on the jumbotron in the lobby.  Then I took them through the car wash (a perk of my job is free car washes.)  They are stil young enough to enjoy being in the car as it goes through the car wash.

(Something is very very wrong.  I am going to be divorced on the 22nd of this month.)

Then we went to Japan Town, where we walked around, peeked into shops,  and looked at the monuments.  After we had been there for a while it started to rain, so we ran back to the car and headed to the MLJK library.

(O, God! What is going on? How can my marriage be ending in just a few more days?)

Basil took all the escalators to the top and back down to the 2nd floor where Anselm (he likes to be called Sam, now) was discovering that scholarly papers had been written about Minecraft.  The librarian helped Anselm find the article in an Australian science education journal, and had a pdf sent to Anselm's email address. (He has an email address?)  It is so weird to me that my "little boy" is already looking at scholarly journals.  It's neat, but I still think of him as my little boy who just yesterday was hunting for snails and worms after the rain.

After the Library (we checked out some books) we went to Mel Cottons where the boys were fitted for .22 rifles and I picked up a 2013 Dept. of Fish and Wildlife guide.  I saw an ad in the guide that said they are looking for game wardens.  I think I'll apply.

(I only met her a few days ago.  How is she throwing me away like this, like so much garbage?  I love her!)

Then we went to the gocery store and I bought the stuff we needed to make peanut butter milk shakes. (They were my Dad's favorite.)   When we got home from the market I made the milkshakes and hambrugers for the boys, like the hamburgers my Mammy used to make for me when I was a boy.

(How can there be even more loss?  Must I say good bye to more people?  I'll never remarry. Two divorces are enough heartbreak for any man.  Oh, my children!  God!  What about my children?)

We read books, we did the dishes, we played cards, we took a nap.  I made them dinner.  Athanasia came home and the teperature dropped to zero.

God, please, do not make me live to three score and ten.  Let me fly away.

Where does Lent come from?

Ever wonder where Lent comes from?  Did it suddenly appear in middle ages?  Is it some kind of pagan thing the church adapted to it's own use?  Nope. It is Apostolic.  Yes, you heard correctly.  Lent is Apostolic.

First century Bishop, successor of the Apostle Peter, the child Jesus set beside him (Luke 9:46-48), and food for the emperor's lions, St. Ignatius of the Church of Antioch:

"These things, brethren, out of the affection which I entertain for you, I have felt compelled to write, exhorting you with a view to the glory of God, not as if I were a person of any consequence, but simply as a brother. Be ye subject to the bishop, to the presbyters, and to the deacons. Love one another in the Lord, as being the images of God. Take heed, ye husbands, that ye love your wives as your own members. Ye wives also, love your husbands, as being one with them in virtue of your union. If any one lives in chastity or continence, let him not be lifted up, lest he lose his reward. Do not lightly esteem the festivals. Despise not the period of forty days [e.g. Lent], for it comprises an imitation of the conduct of the Lord. After the week of the passion, do not neglect to fast on the fourth and sixth days, distributing at the same time of thine abundance to the poor." - Letter to the Philippians, Chapter XIII

Saint Irenaeus, disciple of St. Polycarp who was the disciple of St. John to whom Jesus entrusted the care of his mother, of the second century, makes the claim that the fasting preparation for Pascha (Passover/Easter) was a long standing tradition.

"For the controversy is not merely as regards the day, but also as regards the form itself of the fast, For some consider themselves bound to fast one day, others two days, others still more, while others [do so during] forty: the diurnal and the nocturnal hours they measure out together as their [fasting] day. And this variety among the observers [of the fasts] had not its origin in our time, but long before in that of our predecessors, some of whom probably, being not very accurate in their observance of it, handed down to posterity the custom as it had, through simplicity or private fancy, been. And yet nevertheless all these lived in peace one with another, and we also keep peace together. Thus, in fact, the difference [in observing] the fast establishes the harmony of [our common] faith."

Eventually the Church universally accepted, and established, an inviolate practice regarding lenten fasting still held to by Orthodox Christians.  This acceptance was similar to how Christians accepted the various books of the New Testament.

So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter." (2 Thess 2:15)