The last Open Thread of the year. The usual Open Thread rules apply: be concise, be charitable and, above all, be amusing!
Open Thread
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Drip, pour over, mocha pot, percolator, French press… but my favorite is cold brew -easy to make if you have kegs available for home brewing and nitrogen on tap, it’s also the most dangerous.. delicious and cheap when home made but the caffeine content is much higher then that of regular coffee. kegged cold brew is much more dangerous than beer.
I’ve had a couple of coffees this AM, and the thought just occurred to me that V2 is starting to look a lot like communism..
“It just hasn’t been tried (or implemented) yet.”
Utopia will appear once it’s “enforced without any rival rite, and any and all traditions have been removed”.
This mornings 4:30 plow truck run was made possible by a hot dark roast Mystic Monk coffee.
The 2001 Dodge Ram 1500, Swiss cheese edition, is still pulling its weight, thanks be to God.
Swiss cheese via Leelanau county road commission and tons of salt. 😎
End of year status report.
I received the following from the kids and grandkids at Christmas: a submarine t-shirt, the Latin edition of Cicero’s In Catalinam, a huge crucifix from the cathedral in Manila (the family is all Filipino), and a leather Bible carrying case for one of my many study Bibles. I guess they’re all trained right, Deo gratias!
I fractured the left support rod of the seat for my stationary bicycle after 13,300+ kilometers of use over the past two years. Gloria Deo! Yes, I got a new one.
Checkup with the doctor was fantastic. She said that if everyone followed her advice as I did, then she could cure heart disease and diabetes. A1C was 4.98. Everything else was in spec except (perenially) LDL. She said I am NOT to increase my exercise routine or change my diet because the condition is genetic. A new med is now prescribed. Am unhappy about that, but as long as I can row 7 km and bike 25 km per day, then as a diabetic cardiac patient, I got no room to complain (and lots to be grateful to God for). My AA sponsor once told me that after the heroin, cocaine, and alcohol abuse, every day I continue to live is gravy. The Lord is my strength.
All my family and even the dogs love me (and I them). Is there any greater wealth?
So, the denizens of NYC will have a new mayor and a new archbishop very soon.
Isn’t that special?
Will the new (I didn’t know my chief of staff was married to a man) bishop kneel to muslim Caesar?🤡
First of all, I pray everyone will have a blessed 2026!
One lesson I had hammered into my head in 2025: The Roman Catholic Church is the only hope for humanity. The more people understand it’s only in the Catholic that the fullness of God’s teaching resides, where Jesus live fully, and where true happiness is found, the better off the world is going to be.
***First of all, I pray everyone will have a blessed 2026!***.
You too Matthew…blessed ’26.
And yes, to all of your comment.
Merry Christmas still and a Happy prosperous New Year to all.
Remain in Me and I in You. Responding to God as a Person by Rev. Wayne Sattler’
A beautiful gift.
When God created man He could not give man infinity. So, God gave man immortality. God gave man an eternity.
Rev. William Slattery authored a book entitled Enchanted by Eternity. It is a fascinating subject.
New Year’s Advice – Epistulae Morales 84:12b-13
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Praeteri istos gradus divitum et magno adgestu suspensa vestibula: non in praerupto tantum istic stabis sed in lubrico. Huc potius te ad sapientiam derige, tranquillissimasque res eius et simul amplissimas pete. Quaecumque videntur eminere in rebus humanis, quamvis pusilla sint et comparatione humillimorum exstent, per difficiles tamen et arduos tramites adeuntur. Confragosa in fastigium dignitatis via est; at si conscendere hunc verticem libet, cui se fortuna summisit, omnia quidem sub te quae pro excelsissimis habentur aspicies, sed tamen venies ad summa per planum.
Past those steps of the rich and the grand entrances suspended by a great gesture: you will not only stand there on a precipice, but on a slippery one. Rather, direct yourself to wisdom, and seek its most peaceful and at the same time most ample things. Whatever things seem to be prominent in human affairs, although they are small and appear lowly in comparison with the most humble, are nevertheless approached through difficult and arduous paths. The path to the pinnacle of dignity is a crumbling one; but if you wish to climb this peak to which fortune has placed itself, you will indeed see all things beneath you that are considered the most sublime, but you will nevertheless arrive at the summit by a level surface.
My mom has decided to discontinue chemotherapy and will begin hospice care. If she goes to a hospice, Medicare covers everything and she will have 24 hour care. We talked about it Tuesday evening. I have accepted what is happening. Mom has had anointing of the sick and Communion. I have prayed for and will pray for a peaceful and holy death.
Within the past week, I posted a statement on a Polish History and Culture group on the wasteland known as Facebook. The amount of nastiness I got back in responses was obnoxious.
The Communists in Poland threw off socialism in 1989, which is almost 40 years ago and one would have to be well over 40 to remember Communism. It is apparent that a significant number of young Poles have the same dour outlook on life as their counterparts in Western Europe. JPII warned of this in 1991.
2025 is over. Good bye and good riddance.
Groypers are cultists!
PF.
Your family is in my prayers tonight.
…for the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on your mom and the whole world.