The Annunciation

It's the Feast of the Annunciation today and you can imagine Mary's conversation with Joseph, several months after her meeting with the angel.

"Mary, you're pregnant."

"Don't worry, the Holy Spirit did it."

What a brave young woman. She ran the risk of being stoned to death or, at the very least, being outcast from the community with no means of support. Fortunately an angel intervened again in the affairs of men, and put Joseph straight. Here's a prayer, taken from the concluding Collect of the Angelus:

WE beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts; that, as we have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, so by his cross and passion we may be brought into the glory of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God bless,

LSP

Liberation Theology

There's a lot of worship at the St. Michael's Conference, and there's a lot of teaching, too, with three classes on various subjects after Mass and breakfast. One of the courses is the Blessed Virgin Mary, and I taught the kids that she's the new Eve.

In the garden of Eden, Eve is seduced by an evil angel in the form of  serpent, and eats the forbidden fruit. Her faithless disobedience and pride leads to death. Mary reverses this; her humility and faithful obedience to God's will, as announced by the angel Gabriel, leads to the conception of Christ in her womb and the entry of life into the world.

I reminded the class that an angel, calling itself Gabriel, also appeared to Mohammed. The message of that spirit led, almost immediately, to death. 

One of these angelic messages is liberating and the others aren't. You decide which one is which.  

LSP

The Feast of the Annunciation

Today's the Feast of the Annunciation, and we rejoice with Mary over the message of an angel, Gabriel, which leads to the Incarnation of the Word and the salvation of mankind.

With that thought in mind, I drove North on the Dallas Tollway to visit Front Sight Firearms. They have a good-looking online presence and I was hoping to pick up an Aero Precision, 7.62 lower receiver. Buy it there and then, I thought, and save yourself FFL transfer fees and hassle. I also like to see what I buy before I buy it; old fashioned, I know, but that's me.

It was weird, driving out to far, far North Dallas, and it's something I rarely do. Miles upon miles of corporate headquarters, nestled between behemoth malls, big box stores and endless subdivisions. All bisected by highways; tomorrow's world today.

But  not my world, so it was strange to see. Not necessarily bad, but alien. McKinney was more of the same, neat little strip-malls with frozen yogurt franchises, and roads that aren't potholed. Look right or left, and you can see the subdivisions. Do the houses have plastic siding? I didn't investigate.

However, I did check out the gun shop. Word to the wise, Front Sight isn't what it appears online. They didn't have my lower, in fact they scorned it, which is odd, and the bored, dismissive, gun nerd behind the counter couldn't even be bothered to engage in right-wing gun shop banter, much less sell me anything. So I bought a Magpul flip-up front sight and left the store.

Is there anything good about Front Sight's shopfront? There is. Their prices are alright, (unlike Ray's) and what they have on offer seems good quality. But there isn't much of it. Don't waste your time going there, unless you're in the area and want to see the suburban metrosprawl. That's my advice. But hey, check them out, maybe they have what you want.

A few hours later I was back in the country. That seemed more normal to me, and I liked it.

Have a blessed Feast of the Annunciation, and ask the Blessed Virgin Mary for her powerful intercession.

God bless,

LSP