The Airplane, Hippies Are Thieves

You learn a lot at the St. Michael's Conference, and one of the things that I learned was that one of our faculty members had been a dancer for the Airplane at the Fillmore. She's a Franciscan now, but back then was in with Grace Slick and the gang.

She told me she'd been invited to join a commune, somewhere in San Francisco, but turned the offer down when she discovered that she would have been the only member with a car, a job, and a check book.

Grace Slick

This illustrates the old adage that Hippies are thieves, and when you run the numbers they don't add up.

Standing on the Runway Waiting for Takeoff

Speaking of the Airplane, the liturgy can be compared to a flight of planes that sets off on a mission. Sometimes one or more of the planes gets lost and starts to spiral out of control, who knows where they will end up. Perhaps they will disastrously make a wreckage of not only themselves, but the entire mission. 

Rescue the Mission

Then, when the craft lose altitude and threaten to bring the whole endeavor of the Mass to a groaning, grinding, inchoate crash, cool hands are needed and the mission needs to be brought back on track.

This can be done. 

As you were, carry on,

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

St. Michael's Conference 2015

I'm teaching at the St. Michael's Conference, Southwest, and get to be MC at the event's liturgy. We have a lot of that, daily Morning Prayer, Solemn High Mass, Solemn Evensong and Compline. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament too, on Wednesday; so there's no shortage of worship.

We have 84 kids this year, and 26 counselors and clergy. It's a bit of an Anglo-Catholic "Basic", or boot camp, and very powerful.

But there's no trans naming ceremonies, no  Gaia goddess worship, no clown liturgies, no goofy nuns getting Wiccan around peace poles, no liturgical dance, or whatever.

There is the Faith, and I'll post more as I get the time.

God bless,

LSP