Pseudo-Homilies 17 – Laborers are Few

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A   What could be the common thread of this Sunday? Here’s what connects the promise of God, the Father, to Moses on one side, and the calling to the apostles by Jesus on the other: the existence of a plan of salvation. God chooses a special people; Jesus tells his followers they shouldn’t just go in the world and preach to the entire humanity: they should instead focus on that very same people, the Israelites. But why? We can always play the mystery card, but the explanation we usually give ourselves, which I gave too, and it’s valid, is the one that involves a…

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Disturbances in the Force

A teeny weeny incident from last Sunday Mass. I won’t reveal the nickname I gave to this modern, ugly church, since I hope the fate implied in the name itself won’t materialize, eventually. It’s a hot August day. The front door is wide open, to give some relief to the faithful sitting in the pews. Most women are shaking the ventagli (fans) in their hands, since proper electric fans are banned due to Covid-19 (risks associated to air circulation are quite erratic and subjective, these days). Side note: in Italy there’s a document, called Green Pass for some reason, that is required in order to access a certain number of…

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Shattered Christmas, 20 Years After.

This short story represents the sequel to last year’s Christmas tale, Shattered Christmas; I’d strongly encourage you to read it first. Opening. Searching my folder, trying to make sense of all this mess. Photos of Nicole: remnants of another blue Christmas. Oh, who cares about Nicole. You want to go, then go! No one was holding you back. I’m trashing the photos. Where am I headed? Two years. It’s been two years. Reminiscing about my old self. Look at me, staring at the yellow wall, the flash message blaring “Connection refused”. In a week I’ll be back in Italy, in ***, my hometown. To participate in the funeral ceremony for my father. Crazy…

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Describing the next political crisis in graph terms

Plus some obligatory ramblings about Islam. A comment posted under my article discussing the fickle behavior of voters inspired me to further elaborate on the nature of the political crisis ahead of us (Europeans, at least). The idea being: we’re facing a phase of instability, characterized by erratic election results but no significant choices being made, other than letting the current course continue unabated (top-down economic policies, EU mega-state “integration”; restrictions on freedom of speech, especially for non-Muslim religious groups; moral decay, gradual abolition of the family, culture of death; ethnic substitution through immigration). I compared the current situation, with many changes of direction but no real movement, to the…

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When even the Pope yelds: Euthanasia for a civilization

We are part of a grand scheme   The election of Pope Francis was a shock to me, second only to the death of my closest relatives. When I heard the name “Bergoglio” proclaimed from the balcony, I felt like I had been teleported to a parallel universe, to the other side of the mirror; a place where everything seems slightly out of place. Just slightly. Don’t get me wrong. This event may represent just a step of a wider process: the long and gradual decay of western civilization. But non-Catholics may miss the importance of the Church in Rome as a force capable of halting -or at least slowing down- the fall. The last…

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Chef Cracco, a 1500€ dinner and the EuroSocialist decadence

Carlo Cracco is a famous Italian Top Chef, better known for his TV appearences as a judge in MasterChef Italy. A controversy erupted in the social media in occasion of a New Year’s Eve prestigious dinner in Venice: 60 fortunate revelers had the privilege to pay 1500 Euros to get to an exclusive party dinner with performers, gondolas, fireworks etc. Cracco’s name was used to promote the event, but apparently he didn’t even go there: he only instructed chefs to serve one of his signature dishes. Critics hiding behind a keyboard were fuming. Here’s the bottom line. Proceeds: 90 thousand Euros, of which 10 thousands were given to Cracco to sign…

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Martin Luther a sort of Christian Icon? Not In My Name

What would you say if you were a Lutheran? Today in Catholic countries we celebrate All Saints’ Day. Yesterday the Pope went to Sweden to open this ill-fated year of celebrations for the 500th of the so-called Protestant Reformation. As a Catholic representative, of course. Now, to better grasp how absurd all of this is, try to put yourself in the shoes of a Lutheran (if you are not already a Lutheran, that is). Please appreciate the behavior of the Pope and his entourage of sycophants/commentators/self-appointed-spokespersons, as seen from the perspective of someone who’s coming from a distance. Consider the implications of the photo I put here above. This is not…

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Airplane meals and decadence

Signs of the times. We are going to fly Qantas. On the airline website you have the opportunity to file any special meal request. Having no peculiar needs, I had never considered this option before. I expected to find a list of meal types aimed at people with health problems and related dietary restrictions, including allergies/intolerances (nickel, crustaceans, nuts…), low sodium meals… But I failed to anticipate that problems come mostly from the mind, not from the body. Of course you get at least the diabetic and coeliac options, plus, unexplicably, babies from 0 to 11 months and from 2 to 11 years (sounds like toddlers between 11 and 24…

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The Pope from the end of the world. And a Catholic Church split between doomsayers and downplayers

…But today Catholics are facing a new fear: the idea that there’s no path for resistance, that things have changed so much that this time the Church isn’t gonna make it. This would be a sign of the End of the World; a world so profoundly corrupt it cannot function anymore. There are two distinct, disturbing trends developing. On opposite sides, and yet showing a striking similarity in a crucial element: fatalism. Two models we could describe as follows: A. Downplayers: “move on, nothing to see here” types, who insist there’s nothing you should do, beyond praying of course. B. Doomsayers: those who can find the Antichrist anywhere and everywhere……

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The Old Establishment Crank beat the Fresh Populist: does it matter?

Renzi and Bersani

A guy beat another guy in a Primary: big deal! Here’s a quick recap to understand some aspects of Italian politics; we can use what follows as a starting point, departing from there to get into more general stuff. In Italy the Partito Democratico (the most important party, founded in 2007) tried to mimic the US Democratic Party even in the choice of the name. It’s actually the inheritor, through a complicated series of transformations, of the defunct PCI (Italian Communist Party). Many things changed through the last 2 decades, but a strong sense of partisan commitment and a political apparatus that takes no prisoners are still a mainstay, a…

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