Monday, October 22

Finding out what's not in the lectionary is just as interesting as examining what is.

You should try it sometime: look at the readings for any given Sunday or weekday and find the verses that are skipped. Most of the time, it's all about clobbering enemies. I'm currently working on a devotional for Living Faith , and one of the possibilities is Psalm 149. The text that will be used as the responsorial psalm that day is Ps. 146: 1-6, 9. All sorts of good stuff about praising God. So what's left out? What's in verses 7 and 8, anyway?

And let the two edged swords be in their hands:to execute vengeance on the nations, punishments on the peoples;
To bind their kings with chains, their nobles with fetters of iron;



Oh.

Clear-headed, honest thinking on Islam can be found in the writings of Daniel Pipes. He has an excellent, sobering piece in the New York Post today, and his website contains a wealth of material - this article, for example is one of many that you'll read that will lead you to wonder....was anyone in intelligence been paying attention to threat that was clearly growing before September 11?
Wondering about smallpox? A lot of people are. The answer is: If you're old enough to have that big round scar on your arm, it's no use - the power of the vaccine wore off a while ago. And no, neither you or yours can go down to the doctor and get vaccinated. The (sort of) good news is that even before the anthrax attacks, President Bush ordered that an acceleration of the process to get enough doses of the vaccine for everyone in the country. Here's a New York Times article on the current status of smallpox.