Retreat!

 

I know, "retreat" sounds bad, like some kind of defeat, but this was good, a retreat  with the local chapter of the SSC (Society of the Holy Cross) at Camp Crucis, just outside Granbury. It's a fun drive if you take the country roads, 22 and 144 through Whitney, Meridian, Walnut Springs and Glen Rose, with long stretches of empty two lane highway running through the hills.

Not so long ago this was bandit country, the notorious haunt of outlaws and bootleggers and it still has, I always think, a frontier feel. You can imagine Indians on the hills and sure enough they were there, but now Granbury's home to marauding hordes of tourists instead of Commanche war bands and the camp's pleasantly distant from that.

Our schedule was simple, Morning Prayer, Low Mass, Evensong, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and a series of meditations on the priesthood. Plenty of time to have fun with fellow clergy too, all united in a common love of the Faith. And no, there weren't any priestesses performing transing liturgical dance to the beat of a unicorn's hooves. That's not allowed. 

Then, all too soon, it was time to head back to the Compound, uplifted in spirit. It was good to get away.

God bless,

LSP

Huge Hat Small Gun

some fool with a hat

Sometimes extremely large hats seem to go together with smallish guns... but I just got back from a preaching engagement in Dallas. The theme? The two thieves who were crucified alongside Our Lord. They serve as types of sinful humanity and were bad outlaws, which is why they were crucified. One repents, so there's hope for us all.

When I was invited to speak at this Lenten series and told that the theme was on various aspects of the Stations, I said, "Sure, I'll talk on the thieves." The Senior Warden looked at me and said, "I thought you would."

I find that vaguely unsettling.

God bless,

LSP