Blumudus

Pseudo-Homilies From a Layman -7- Easter Sunday

Finally, the most important celebration, which defines the heart of our faith. The Resurrection of the Lord The Mass of Easter Day (Year A) The Resurrection of Christ is the cornerstone event. In order to better appreciate its importance, consider this quotation from St. Paul, who clarifies what’s at stake here (1Cor 15, 17-19): …if Christ has not been raised, your faith is pointless and you have not, after all, been released from your sins. In addition, those who have fallen asleep in Christ are utterly lost. If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are of all people the most pitiable. With this,…

Pseudo-Homilies From a Layman -6- Holy Saturday

The Holy Week is so marvelously full of nuggets of truth and surprises… Too bad most people are too busy to attend the celebrations. Holy Saturday At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter (Year A) I’ve never actually liked the Holy Saturday mass. Don’t get me wrong, far be it from me to pretend to define how a liturgical calendar should unfold, and this time I really mean it. But… Let me voice a feeling I bet others, ignorant as me, share. I remember the time when, as a teenager, I was already within the ranks of mass readers. The choices for the Easter Vigil readings took me…

Pseudo-Homilies from a Layman -5- Holy Friday

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion Of all the possible topics to explore in this richly detailed account of the Passion, today I’d like to dwell on the words of Jesus who, when interrogated, maintains a superior, almost defiant attitude. One of the guards slaps Jesus in the face to punish his insolence, exclaiming: «Is this the way you answer the high priest?» And Jesus, evidently unfazed, replies: «If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?” Here he is, Jesus the young protester (!), in whom – unworthily and recklessly – I have always identified. Since I was…

Pseudo-Homilies From a Layman -4- Holy Thursday

Let’s see if I can pull this off: 4 articles to be published for the Holy Week, possibly somehow being concise. Holy Thursday -Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper Too many interesting topics today! I’ll save any comments on the institution of the Eucharist for another occasion. Deserves a proper dissertation. We’re presented with this unique event, Jesus washing the feet of the Apostles, which I’d describe as quite modern, indeed fashionable. And this episode steals the show a bit from all the rest, especially considering it’s the subject of today’s reading, from the Gospel according to John. A message that evaporates Take a truth that is profound but…

Pseudo-Homilies From a Layman -3- Palm Sunday

In this third article I will dip my foot in the heart of the Holy Week which is about to begin, but only momentarily, then I’ll steer to a different takeaway message. PALM SUNDAY: PASSION OF THE LORD – YEAR A Today I want to focus only on the introductory reading for this festivity, leaving for another day the magnificent account of the Passion, so full of ideas and inspiration. People acclaim Jesus as a great prophet; while he’s entering Jerusalem the crowd prepares the way for him by spreading tree branches on the street (hence our traditional use of palms and olive trees for the celebration). Many…

Pseudo-Homilies From a Layman -2- Lazarus

A second installment of my experiment: a commentary on the Sunday readings from a different perspective. Nonetheless I reiterate my opposition to giving space to the laity in Mass or the possibility to hold a sermon. That’s to be reserved to priests, despite the current state of affairs, where conformism and selling out to the enemy are common sights in homilies. As was the case last Sunday, this fifth of Lent presents us with a detailed and sensational story from the Gospel of John, the last one in chronological order. 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT – YEAR A A most extraordinary miracle: a poor sap who’s been dead for days…

Pseudo-Homilies From a Layman -1- The Blind Born Man

Introduction I came up with this reckless idea: introducing my take on the readings for the Sunday masses, a quasi-homily if you will. Particularly questionable because I’m verbose, while the goal of homilies should be clarity and conciseness. Furthermore I don’t have much time and I’m a procrastinator. We’ll see. Why the Pseudo-Homilies From a Layman? While I am strongly against allowing lay people to preach during Mass, I do hope I have something meaningful to say in these pages, which represent an entirely different context. At any rate, this will be an interesting personal journey. It’s hard to do worse than those priests who regularly inflict some 20-minute tirades…

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…

A Christmas for crucifixes

Getting tired of same ol’ same ol’? Looking for something unique to decorate your Christmas living room? There you go: A rotated Nagorno-Karabakh flag, morphed into an impromptu Christmas tree. OK, that’s a stretch. Also… A bit off topic? Perhaps you’d feel more comfortable around the classic iconography, which includes Coke Santas, coniferous trees covered with strings of Chinese LED lights and multicolored balls, the whole shebang drenched in red and green hues… The Republic of Artsakh, as it is called, is one of those states that don’t exist; more precisely, it doesn’t exist since 1991, when they voted in favor of their independence. The corresponding mountainous region…

Trump vs. Biden: is the incumbent underdog gonna make it, again?

I believe Trump’s gonna win the re-election, polls notwithstanding. A quick recap: last time around, I was one of the first few people to anticipate Trump’s victory, just days after he entered the 2015 Primary race. Being Italian I couldn’t vote, but -next best thing- I at least bet on the outcome (they had to pay my bet 31-to-1). I gave some of the reasons in advance, although I postponed indefinitely explaining the real, deepest motivation for my conviction. This time I’m really not 100% convinced: I still have some limited respect for the sense of decency of some of the mainstream pollsters, despite the fact that after the 2016…

Biden vs. Trump: a reality check

Check your premises. Let’s examine the issues methodically, focusing on something simple, verifiable and straightforward, then considering the ramifications. I’m an outsider, living in Europe, and I believe looking at things from a distance may help. Scene from the last Presidential Debate: Biden shouts confidently: “I never said I oppose fracking.” Trump complains and says that’s on tape. Biden challenges him to show the alleged tape. After the debate, of course the Trump campaign obliges. Case closed, right? This reminds me of what David Wood says about Muslim apologists: they make up stuff that sounds ludicrous to anyone in the know, but their astounding confidence is the only thing that…

Toxic feminism, just a random specimen among many

The Medium platform still pushes one-sided content in my email. I now mostly ignore it, after I wrote https://blumudus.com/2018/medium-sucks/ … But today I decided to give it a chance. This time the first article that they promoted was titled: “Why as a Liberal I Read Fox News to Know Who’s Actually Going to Win in November” and it piqued my interest. The incipit of the article: “Remember how bad it felt on election night 2016 when we all realized Hillary had lost?” LOL!!! Anyway, the photo of the author seemed crazily stereotypical, so I clicked to see what else she wrote. The list is hilariously bad, confirming every cliché about…