John Lennon's 'Happy Christmas (War is Over)' is for me a special song, for it sends me back to X-mas 1992. The song was playing as I received a diary as a gift from relatives. I had tried keeping a diary in the past, but nothing had come of it. After a half-hearted start with this one and many, many days between entries, in 1994 I fell into a serious routine of keeping a diary. It is 2008 and I started my 10th diary earlier this month.
The timing was perfect, for I hit adolescence and all its turbulence in the early 1990's, and really needed a place to vent. I'm glad I kept a diary in those years, for now I can look back and smile at all my diatribes and emotional storms. They really are funny and make me shake my head at the person I used to be. After the waterworks and angst-storms of my teenage years, I went to university and recorded my experiences in Religious Studies, which was my major, and other courses needed to get my B.A. There were other storms and events to record, and in the years since those days, my journals have become very useful. My folks ask me when something in our family happened, I usually have some sort of answer for them.
I had my journal near at hand September 11, 2001, and can recall where I was when I watched CNN give its grim report in the morning hours of that day. Each vacation we have taken, be it to do cross-border shopping, to the lake for summer holidays, or to Cancun (our most recent trip), I documented to the best of my ability. On a more personal level, I have watched as my spiritual beliefs have evolved over time thanks to my keeping a consistent journal. I'm a voracious reader and I have kept notes of books that really piqued my curiosity. Someday, should destiny choose me for notoriety, I will have more than enough documentation to write an auto-biography.
There does not appear to be any end in sight, as I have another empty journal waiting in the wings when my 10th one is full. Nor would I want this to end. Keeping a blog is fun but very ephemeral. Keeping a diary is just as much fun, and is also solid and will not disappear like so much html. It's been close to 15 years since I heard 'Happy Christmas (War is Over)' and received the best X-mas gift I could ever get. It's a gift that truly keeps on giving.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Saints preserve us!
Some people have a favourite saint. My favourite happens to be St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of those who despair. Actually, I just like the name Jude, which I first heard in that eternally wonderful Beatles song from 1968 (first 'really' long song I ever heard, but that was all na-na-na's). Anyway, St. Jude also has a little bit toward the end of the New Testament, and I guess it's the subject matter that makes him the patron saint of despairing people. He was writing to comfort and reassure the Christian people who were facing a lot of despair in those days. It's a noble enough goal and it must've done the job. Hey, he got into the Bible, and that's a feat in itself. Of course, being Jesus' cousin did not hurt either. A few of Jesus' cousins got into the Bible as well, either by being mentioned in the Gospels or they had letters of their own in the New Testament.
Anyway, I've done some not-so-serious thinking about saints, especially the ones who are in the Bible. God, to my knowledge, never said to anyone that so-and-so should be a saint. It's been the popes who have canonized and created saints. I have to assume that guys like St. Jude got in because they are in the Bible or have some connection to Jesus - like blood ties, for instance. Jude was also one of the Twelve Apostles, which adds to his supposed holiness. However, in the early 21st Century, there are people working perhaps much harder than Jude ever did to make the world better in the name of the Church and they will probably never be beatified and canonized.
I'm sort of hoping there's an authority somewhere that's reviewing the histories of these saints, especially the ones in the Bible, just to see if they still deserve the title of St. I understand that Pope Paul VI did do some housecleaning back in the day and removed the title from some saints, but I wonder if the saints that are in the Bible should be checked out to see if they still warrant the title. I don't know if St. Jude still warrants the honorific, but I don't think I'm any authority to make such judgments. I'm still waiting for Mother Theresa to be made a saint. It takes the Church a while to make such decisions.
Anyway, I've done some not-so-serious thinking about saints, especially the ones who are in the Bible. God, to my knowledge, never said to anyone that so-and-so should be a saint. It's been the popes who have canonized and created saints. I have to assume that guys like St. Jude got in because they are in the Bible or have some connection to Jesus - like blood ties, for instance. Jude was also one of the Twelve Apostles, which adds to his supposed holiness. However, in the early 21st Century, there are people working perhaps much harder than Jude ever did to make the world better in the name of the Church and they will probably never be beatified and canonized.
I'm sort of hoping there's an authority somewhere that's reviewing the histories of these saints, especially the ones in the Bible, just to see if they still deserve the title of St. I understand that Pope Paul VI did do some housecleaning back in the day and removed the title from some saints, but I wonder if the saints that are in the Bible should be checked out to see if they still warrant the title. I don't know if St. Jude still warrants the honorific, but I don't think I'm any authority to make such judgments. I'm still waiting for Mother Theresa to be made a saint. It takes the Church a while to make such decisions.
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