After I said the 1st Mass of Sunday, a member of the congregation asked me to bless his new gun. Some clergypersons would have been upset by that because they think guns are evil. I don't think they are, obviously, and was only too pleased to bless this gun, which was a WWII M1 carbine, like the ones that were used to fight the fanatical Japanese in the Pacific.
The theme continued after the 2nd Mass of the day, when another congregant asked me to go out to his compound and bless his guns. I agreed, of course, and asked if he was still building guns on the AR platform. He assured me that he was and I asked how much they cost.
"How much do they cost, you know, ballpark."
"That depends, but around 1900."
"If only I had that kind of cash."
"Hey, don't worry. I'll sort you out."
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| Lee Enfield Jungle Carbine, Nairobi |
Let's see what "don't worry" really means, but whatever the case, I'm clearly developing a firearms ministry. My homily on the powerful typology at work in Elisha raising a dead boy to life seemed to have rather less traction.
There's a moral in that, somewhere. In the meanwhile, a friend has sent in a photo of a Jungle Carbine, still in use, at Nairobi's National Park.
All hail Karen Blixen,
LSP
