Taking a Break, Again

(From NASA/ISS, used w/o permission.)

Like I said a week ago, I'm taking a week off. Maybe two. (September 28, 2015)

I figure I'll reset my 'vacation' clock so it starts today. Writing about last week's tragic mass killing at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, took me away from light reading and serious goofing off. (October 4, 2015)

Then the second half of Synod 14 started yesterday: along with the usual breathless mainstream news coverage.

I'll be writing about it — after it's over, most likely. I'm seriously considering taking the rest of the month off, but like I said before: I can hold my breath, or not write, for a while; but eventually I have to breathe or write again.

About the Synod: I'm not awash in angst, drowning in despair, or wailing like a banshee. That's because I kept wondering how the Catholic Church could possibly have survived for two millennia. Eventually I knew too much, had to join, and that's another topic. (September 13, 2014)

Where was I? Tragedy, writing, Synod, angst. Right. I'm not howling like a banshee because I know that bishops can't rewrite the Decalogue, or change anything else in the deposit of faith. (October 12, 2014)

The Holy Spirit has been holding us up for two millennia, and I don't think that'll change this year. We were around before Rome fell. We've kept going, in spite of wars, plagues, and occasionally-appalling leadership.

Saintly Popes impressed me: but it was the anything-but-saintly ones who helped convince me that the Church had outside help. Human institutions simply don't last this long.(July 13, 2014)

I prefer getting information about events like Synod 14 from outfits that have a clue about my faith:

• NEWS.VA
  • "Pope Francis: full text of remarks at Synod opening"
    Vatican Radio (October 5, 2015)
  • "Synod on the Family: Press Briefing Day 1"
    Vatican Radio (October 5, 2015)
  • "Address of Pope Francis at the Prayer Vigil for the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops"
    NEWS.VA (October 3, 2015)
• Vatican.VA (English)
  • Synod of Bishops

I'm reasonably certain that Synod 14's documents will not boil down to "everything's fine the way it was in 1950: let's all go back then."

I'm also reasonably certain that folks who see 'the good old days' through rose-colored glasses, or their parents' tinted specs, will be shocked and horrified by whatever the Synod does say.

Some may decide that they're the only 'real' Catholics left in the whole world, and set up their very own little mini-church. That's happened before, and that's yet another topic.

Me? I'll read documents — the final drafts — coming from Synod 14, and keep following the Pope. More accurately, I'll keep following the authority our Lord gave Peter, held by the current Pope: and that's yet again another topic.

More, mostly about family, Synod 14, and being human:

• "Sex, Satan, and Me: Getting a Grip"
  (July 12, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Satan, Sin, and Being Human
  • Not Living in the Past
  • Respect, Dignity, and Drunk Driving
• "Holy Family, Not '50s Family"
  (December 28, 2014)
  Particularly
  • Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility: Keillor's Got a Point
  • Looking Ahead
• "Doomsday Du Jour — or — Doing My Job"
  (April 19, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Fizzled Doomsdays
  • A Willingness to Think
  • A Simple Message, and Mark 13:32-37
• "Yeats, Cthulhu, and Synod 14"
  (October 19, 2014)
  Particularly
  • Waiting a Year
  • "Tensions and Temptations"
  • Change Happens
• "Synod 14: What I Expect, and What I Don't"
  (October 12, 2014)
  Particularly
  • The Rules: Simple, not Easy
  • What Not to Expect
  • Same Mission, New Techniques

Taking a Week Off. Maybe Two

I haven't changed much since that I took that 'selfie,' back in January of 2010.

My beard's longer, and more sincerely grey. But my hairline's still relentlessly marching down the back of my head, and I'm still fascinated by what exists within this universe, what exists beyond, and what might exist.

I also keep getting reminded that I'm not a 40-year-old kid any more. Or a 50-year-old one, for that matter.

I'll be 64 in a few days, and am quite likely to last longer than my computer's hard drive.

That piece of equipment, my son tells me, is at the point where it works: loudly. I thought it was rattling more than it had when this gadget was new: and agreed with him, that replacing it before it crashes would be prudent.

We discussed what I'd need, and want; he did a little checking around, and purchased a replacement part. When he arrived, he told me that setting aside an entire day to get the thing plugged in and working would be a good idea.

He figures that the job will take a lot less time: but we both know that stuff happens.

I could have squeezed my research, writing, and art (that's for another blog) into three days, instead of the usual four leading up to Friday: but decided that this would be a really good time to take a week off. Maybe two. Or three.

Actively Goofing Off

Not writing for me is like holding my breath: I can do it, but eventually I have to breathe; or write.

I do need a break, though: particularly since I want to reconsider the schedule I've been on, and want time to doodle, read something other than blog-post-research-related stuff, and goof off.

That 'goofing off' will involve being more physically active. I spend more time at my desk than I should.

If I knew when I'll have the next post done, I'd tell you. Like I said, I'm taking a week off. Maybe two. Maybe more.

But not much more than that. For one thing, there are a few things I want to say about the Pope's trip to America. And I'm quite sure that there'll be something in 'science' news that catches my eye.

Actually, that's already happened. I haven't decided whether I'll follow up on it, though.

I've said most of this before:

• "Sharing a World of Boundless Wonder"
  (July 7, 2013)
  Particularly
  • Vocations, Catholic Style
  • My Main Vocation
  • Using What I've Got
• "Not as Young as I Used to Be: And Never Was"
  (April 7, 2013)
• "Business Not as Usual"
  (January 27, 2013)
• "Taking a Break, Holiday, Leave, Sabbatical, Vacation: Whatever"
  (January 24, 2013)
• "A Change in Schedule"
  (October 2, 2011)

Trade Show Preparation: Is Work Important?

I'm at the Catholic Marketing Network's trade show near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this week.

The Writer as Gopher Gofer

The work's a definite change of pace for me. I'm the gopher/cameraman/whatever for the Spiral Light Candle Corp. and Oasis Productions. The sort of gopher I am is supposed to be spelled gofer, but I live in Minnesota: and that's another topic.

Another Week of the Same Old Thing - Sort of

On the other hand, it'll be more of the same for me. I plan - hope - to keep writing about my experience at the trade show. And about what's happening there. I'm keeping a link list to posts in this and other blogs here:

• "Catholic Marketing Network's 15th Annual Trade Show"

Family Vacation, Philadelphia, and a Blatant Plug

The Catholic Marketing Network's trade show has something new this year: a children's area. Here comes blatant plug: If you're on a family vacation, and in the Philadelphia area, other families have been fitting the trade show into their vacations.

I put a schedule of the CMN trade show hours in this post:

• "Families, Vacations, Catholic Marketing Network's 15th Annual Trade Show, Schedules, and a Candle"
  (August 1, 2011)
  Particularly
  • Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show Floor Schedule

Is Work Important?

I'm an American, and have some of the 'work ethic.' I get concerned when time passes, and I haven't produced something. Anything.

That's part of the culture - but is "work" really all that important? That depends on what sort of "work" a person is thinking of.

There's the old crack:

"Nobody, on his death bed, says 'I wish I'd spent more time at the office.' "

There's something to that, I think. But, like I said, I'm bothered when I haven't done something.

To hear some folks talk, you'd think that the Catholic Church would have some rigid rule about work. Like 'work is bad,' or 'work is good.' Turns out, the Church does have quite a bit to say about work. Including this quick list:

• Work as in "faith and works"
  • It's important
    (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1368)
• "Productive" work that's closer to the 'work ethic'
  • It's important, too
  • So is getting paid
  • Or showing a profit, after paying your employees and suppliers
    (Catechism, 2426-2429)
    • Which can lead to conflict
      • but 'nobody said this was going to be easy.'
        (Catechism, 2430-2436)
• Not Working
  • Also important
    (Catechism, 1193, 2172, 2184-2188)

I suppose someone could say that's "vague:" and I've been over that before. (July 18, 2009)

Media, Mass, and Me

I'll probably be doing some of the camera work for live streaming video from the Catholic Marketing Network's trade show. I think they'll have the live feed on livestream.com/catholicmarketingnetwork. There's nothing there now: since it's a live feed, and it's almost midnight here in Pennsylvania.

Work ethic or not, I'm turning in for the night. My gung-ho son-in-law and #2 daughter - well, they're about a quarter-century younger than I am: and that makes a difference.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Trade Show in Pennsylvania, Ecclesiastes, Software, and Schedules"
  (July 26, 2011)
• "Passing Through Status Symbol Land"
  (May 14, 2011)
• "Celebrating Mass, Flossing My Teeth"
  (October 20, 2010)
• "Sunday Obligation, Recovering From Surgery, Wild Weather, and Martha"
  (July 17, 2010)
• "Is the Church For Capitalism? Yes: and No"
  (March 13, 2010)

The Dreaded Vacation Mass

My family doesn't do vacations very often, but the few times that we've been away from our usual haunts on Sunday, we've had remarkably good experiences with local churches.

There's the one near Itasca State Park in Minnesota, a small church with a big grotto and an outdoor walk-around rosary; and the time my wife and I were in Massachusetts on a rare business trip, and found an architecturally delightful church with a 'real' Mass - no weird attempts to fit in.

Not everyone has that experience. For the flip(-flop) side of vacation Mass, check out:

• "Welcome to Vacation Mass"
  Doreen Truesdell, The Edge, Catholic Exchange (August 24, 2009)

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A tip of the hat to newadvent, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this.

Going on Vacation? Take God Along

The Zenit article starts out with "Benedict XVI is proposing that the way to live an authentic life is by leaving moments for God, as much during work as during vacation...."

It's a good idea. My family doesn't take vacations all that often: a matter of economics, rather than belief or preference. When we have, though, we didn't think about not carrying on with our usual devotions.

At the very least, a decade or so of the Rosary is a pretty good way of passing time when driving between two points.

On the rare occasions when we were away from home on Sunday, finding a church to attend for Mass was pretty simple: looking them up ahead of time helped.

And, again at the very least, we saw some rather nice places that way. There was a small church north of Park Rapids, Minnesota, with an outdoor walk-around rosary - and one of the nicer 'Lourdes' grottoes I've seen. Then there was the business trip to the Boston area, and one of the nicest-looking small churches I've seen.

The point is: devotions and worship are - or should be - a part of life for practicing Catholics . At work, on vacation, or whatever you're doing. In my experience, the yoke really is easy, and the burden light. (Matthew 11, 30)

Vaguely related posts:

• "Being Christian, Being Catholic: No Half-Measures"
  (May 20, 2009)
• "Being Counter-Cultural in 21st Century America"
  (March 17, 2009)
• "Dying to Ourselves, Dying to Self: Not Exactly a Feel-Good Religion?"
  (March 3, 2009)
• "Conservative? Liberal? Democrat? Republican? No, I'm Catholic"
  (November 3, 2008)

In the news:

• "Pope: Don't Forget God on Vacation"
  ZENIT.org News Agency, via EWTN (June 3, 2009)