When I was younger, my family and I would go to Applebee's to eat dinner every Sunday after mass. I can just remember going there weekend after weekend usually never changing locations. Not sure why we stuck with it, but that will always be a fond memory of mine. This is what I was thinking of when my mom and my sister went to Zea's this past Sunday after Church to go see my brother in action! (He's a servers asst there).
On Monday morning, I went with Mom up to the Mother Theresa's sisters of charity house to volunteer at a summer camp. The sister in charge was from Brooklyn, NY and was tough as nails! It was great to see her in action! I spent most of my time there helping the older boys with their carpentry project (they were building these santuaries dedicated to Mary). I had so much fun helping them out, and I really think they enjoyed the male interaction/bonding. I let them do everything on their own. All I did was simply instruct them on what they should do, give advice, etc, but I usually let them figure it out on their own. My appoval seemed to mean so much to them. I think they just need to be validated for being masculine (i.e. a similar message to Wild at Heart).
That afternoon, Dad, Matt, and I headed to Pecan Island. Got there and went right out to the boat and headed to the marsh. Overall, the fishing was pretty bad. Didn't catch too much while we were out there, but man did we catch a variety of things (low quanitity). We caught redfish, croakers, crabs, mullet, and who else knows. We had the hardest time getting the fish into our boat! All three of us at some point or another had a fish on the line, but just lost it before we could get it in. First time fisherman I guess! Another funny moment was when I caught probably the tiniest fish that we'd caught yet (about 4-6 inches), and Matt took a picture of me "fighting and struggling" with it. We ate trout the first night and Chicken and Deer Sausage Gumbo the next. Great eating. Ate all our meals at the dinner table, TVs off, just talking about religion, fishing, pop culure, and whatever else came up. Good times. Hope us boys can do it again sometime!
Just got back to Nola and headed over to Ben Clapper's house for Bible study. Maccabees was tonight and we got into a great discussion afterwards about the characteristics of purgatory (or if there even is one). So Maccabees is in the Catholic Canon but is not in Martin Luther's reformed canon. Maccabees clearly talks about the existence of purgatory, so the question is, "Is Maccabees truly inspired text (in which purgatory is very real), or is it on the same plan as, let's say, Ben Hur or Huck Finn (in which lesser evidence of purgatory would be available)? Really got into some good stuff. Similar to the end of Matthew when Jesus is talking about the man entering Jesus' temple with a dirty cloak, would we really want to face our God when we are not perfected or purified? Purgatory exists not out of punishment but due to the grace of God and His loving mercy.
We also got into a discussion about Descartes. Descartes is a landmark philosopher because he signals a dramatic change in philosophical thinking during his time. His dramatic shift turned from thinking of human existance in terms of a collective element (being one with all humanity) to a very individualistic one ("I think, therefore I am"). In this same light, one of the hallmarks of the Protestant Reformation was this turn to your personal relationship with Christ, and that all you needed to do to be saved is to personally accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. This, inevitably, disregarded or at least made less manifest the family aspect which defines the Trinity and the Catholic Church.
Just got back from a late-night jog, and feel the blood flowing!
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