Faith

I know this site is mostly about firearms, horses and our space faring friends in the ACoC (Anglican Church of Canada) and liturgical dancers and, well, whatever springs to mind. So here's a bit on faith, which the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us is the "substance of things hoped for, the argument of things unseen." (Heb 11:1)

There's a curious interplay of surety and uncertainty in this, to say nothing of the action of the Word drawing us as hypostasis (substance) and argument through our present clouded perspective to the fullness of the beatific vision.

I like these words from Benedict XVI's Introduction to Christianity:

“No one can lay God and his Kingdom on the table before another man; even the believer cannot do it for himself. But however strongly unbelief may feel justified thereby, it cannot forget the eerie feeling induced by the words “Yet perhaps it is true.” That perhaps” is the unavoidable temptation it cannot elude, the temptation in which it, too, in the very act of rejection, has to experience the unrejectability of belief. In other words, both the believer and the unbeliever share, each in his own way, doubt and belief, if they do not hide from themselves and from the truth of their being. Neither can quite escape wither doubt or belief; for the one, faith is present against doubt; for the other, through doubt and in the form of doubt. It is the basic pattern of man’s destiny only to be allowed to find the finality of his existence in this unceasing rivalry between doubt and belief, temptation and certainty. Perhaps in precisely this way doubt, which saves both sides from being shut up in their own worlds, could become the avenue of communication. It prevents both from enjoying complete self-satisfaction; it opens up the believer to the doubter and the doubter to the believer; for one, it is his share in the fate of the unbeliever; for the other, the form in which belief remains nevertheless a challenge to him.” 

And again:

“There is no such thing as a mere observer. There is no such thing as pure objectivity. One can even say that the higher an object stands in human terms, the more it penetrates the center of individuality; and the more it engages the beholder’s individuality, then the smaller the possibility of the mere distancing involved in pure objectivity. Thus, wherever an answer is presented as unemotionally objective, as a statement that finally goes beyond the prejudices of the pious and provides purely factual, scientific information, then it has to be said that the speaker has here fallen victim to self-deception. This kind of objectivity is quite simply denied to man. He cannot ask and exist as a mere observer. He who tries to be a mere observer experiences nothing. Even the reality “God” can only impinge on the vision of him who enters in the experiment with God – the experiment that we call faith. Only by entering does one experience; only by cooperating in the experiment does one ask at all; and only he who asks receives an answer.”

If you're interested in this, see B16's lecture to the theology faculty at Breslau. His use of Thomas, Augustine and other "Masters" is simply outstanding and to my mind well worth reading several times. 

Keep the Faith,

LSP

 

Greece Tanks

Everyone will have noticed that Europe's fiscal policy, and by extension the value of our own fiat currency, is going extremely well, which is why there are absolutely no runs on banks anywhere -- especially not in Greece and Spain.

ZeroHedge refers us to Thucydides "in the vain hope that those who have blindly pursued the policies which have brought Greece to the brink and risks plunging the whole of Europe into the abyss, might consider more keenly the consequences of their actions and change course before it’s too late."

You can read the whole thing here.

What was it that Germany's evil dictator said before Kursk? "When I think of this battle my stomach turns over."

Have a blessed Feast of the Ascension.

LSP

Horsing Around

JB

To celebrate May Day I thought I'd go for a ride, and was pleased to see that JB's put on some needed weight. Being in a new pasture with plenty of grass, and a deworm, have certainly helped. So that's good.

The Terror!

We rode down a dirt road for a couple of miles and Kyrie, what an effort. A herd of cows? Very spooky to this horse's mind. A barking dog? Incredibly frightening. Tall bamboo? Oh dear, bad threat. A butterfly? Time to stop this scary dare and head for home! In brief, a whole lot of work and dangerous with it. A balking, spooked, snaking, nervous as you like thoroughbred might just decide to throw its rider onto the top of a T post, or back into some barbed wire, or anything bad and crazy. Solution? Stay calm, ride on, reassure the horse, keep going forward and move through the resistance.

random gun

A few days later we did it all over again and JB was doing better, perhaps familiarity had dimmed the fearsome terrors of the extremely threatening dirt road. I sensed a positive forward attitude and felt some speed was in order. Canter, all it takes for JB is a whisper and a slight shift of weight and leg to the relevant lead, and off we went.

good horse

She rode very well, working herself out of the spook and being a real pleasure to ride. We went faster on the way back, then turned around and went back up the road several times, just to prove that it could be done.

Moral of the story? Riding is hugely enjoyable, especially at speed and, as always, patience and persistence pay a large dividend.

Stay on the horse,

LSP

I am the Good Shepherd

Jesus tells us in today's Gospel that He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep, unlike the "hireling" who runs away from the "wolf."

I waxed fiery during the sermon about the apostate hirelings who have either run away from the demonic beast or sided with him in order to lead the foolish sheeple to perdition. Western Anglicanism serves as a handy case study. Under its current gang of heretical pagans pastors The Episcopal Church (TEC) is losing 50,000 annually and its lesser cousin, the diminutive ACoC (Anglican Church of Canada), well, where is it? Mars?

some kind of joke?

After the first Mass we discussed the text a little further over coffee, noting that Christ is both sheep and shepherd, sacrificial victim and eschatological Lord. This prompted the following:

Countryman 1:  "I used to raise sheep, Father."

LSP:                 "Ah hah."

Countryman 1:  "They're dumber than a box of hammers."

Countryman 2: "I was showing a sheep and it ran right off into a  moat. I had to use a lariat to haul it out."

LSP:                  "I see."

Here endeth the Lesson.

LSP

Shoot the .22

I love guns and I love to shoot, it's as simple as that. So here's a quote from Bob Owens via pajamasmedia; he's in favor of new shooters entering the fray with a .22. 

"I’m suggesting you’ll learn faster, and often without imparting many bad habits you have to overcome later, if you learn your fundamentals with a .22 handgun. It’s all about the fundamentals. Even advanced courses boil down to learning to use the fundamentals more efficiently to promote accurate shooting. As former Delta Force operator and noted weapons trainer Larry Vickers has noted: “Speed is fine. Accuracy is final.”

If your goal is to learn to use a long-arm for anything other than wingshooting, I’m going to make a similar, and unsurprising, recommendation. Semi-automatic or bolt-action (your preference) .22 LR rifles are a ridiculously inexpensive entry into firearms ownership, with decent quality new rifles retailing for $200 or less, and used rifles for even less than that. Unlike most other rifles, rifles chambered in .22 LR are also welcome on many “pistol only” ranges that don’t have the ability to safely contain centerfire rifles. Again, practice is key. So where do you get the training you need in order to learn the fundamentals?"

I couldn't agree more. The .22 is great value at every level.

Get out there and shoot!

LSP

St. George for England

Today is the Feast of St. George, Patron Saint of England. He shares that title with St. Edmund and Edward the Confessor, interestingly, and appears to have been a soldier martyr during the reign of Diocletian. Richard the Lionheart consecrated his crusading army to the saint and his Feast, along with its allegorical symbolism and legend, grew to chivalric proportions in late medieval England. 

gun dog

I celebrated the day by slaying my own dragons -- shooting offhand at a steel plate turkey and a steel plate ram at 100+ yards. A 30-06 drilled right through these wicked adversaries, .223 made a crack thwack against them and the lowly .22 seemed to burst on impact. Fun, and good practice to get on target without relying on a rest of some sort.

All for England and, of course, Texas.

St. George pray for us.

LSP

Sporterizing the Lee Enfield - Porch Project Pt. VII

In bits

After a lot of sanding, I managed to finish the old walnut butt stock of the Mk. III. I used the "wet sanding method", in which a fine slurry of thinned oil/lacquer (Minwax Antique Oil in this case) and wood dust is produced by sanding with the grain then wiped gently across the grain. This fills the 'pores' in the wood. The stock is then left to cure for 24 hours or more and... you do it all over again. I found these instructions helpful.

Are we there yet...

There were times when I wondered, apocalyptically, if the grain would ever fill up; a recalcitrant bit of timber. But it did in the end and I polished the thing to 2000 grit, giving it a satin luster. 

That'll do

A lot of work, but I wanted the practice before ordering a new semi-inlet stock set and you never know, it might be good to keep the original military butt. Next step? Bluing the metal; I'm inclined towards a rust blue. More on that later.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Retreat!

SSC Secretary

One of the things I get to do as an LSP is go on retreat with the Society of the Holy Cross (SSC). A good chunk of that involves plinking at targets of opportunity with other gun priests, including the Society Secretary. Good man, the Sec, and not a bad shot either. A creek bed makes for a good range.

Quite different to SSC retreats in the Old Country.

Just sayin'.

LSP

Anglican Church of Canada -- Latest News!

ACoC Bishop?

In a remarkable turn of events, there appears to be absolutely no news whatsoever about ACoC, the tiny religious organization known as "Anglican Church of Canada." At least no news on this planet, but on Mars the wires are buzzing with an exciting new discovery.

A crack team of number-crunchers in Southern California have decoded long forgotten data from NASA's 1970s Mars missions and came to a startling conclusion. Microscopic life exists on the Red Planet. "I'm 99 per cent sure there's life there. To paraphrase an old saying, if it looks like a microbe and acts like a microbe - then it probably is a microbe, like ACoC," stated expert biologist, Joseph Miller.

Mars Microbe

Unfortunately, bungling NASA boffins boiled the microscopic ecclesial remnants while analysing soil samples brought back to earth from the Red Planet. However, parts of the near invisible church might still exist, as Martian dirt emits large quantities of methane gas. 

This, according to experts, is a near certain sign that ACoC, or at least its Synod, is still in existence.

Stay tuned.

LSP

Piers Morgan, Our Problem

Piers Bans Witch

As I was driving off well before first light to say Mass, my not so smart phone bleeped at me, so I compulsively fired up the email. There was a message from an English reader, taking me to task for suggesting that Piers Morgan be shipped back to the land from whence he came.


This was, he thought, uncharitable of me and possibly unchristian. Piers is our problem, here in the States, suggested the email.


On reflection, I see that my electronic friend was right. Old England has plenty of problems as it is without adding to the burden by sending Piers back. It would be unfair of us to launch the jowly, smug, limo-lib, most hated man in journalism popular media superstar back at Blighty.


We have to deal with the Morgan issue here. In the United States. I was wrong. 


I apologise.


That is all.


LSP

Lugers and Bass

When I was a child, please don't laugh, I wanted a Luger. I thought they looked cool. But I never got one and never fired one; outside of a museum I've barely even seen one. That's because they're ALL at Dallas' Jackson Armory. They have racks of Lugers. They have Lugers on the wall. They have regular, run 'o the mill Lugers and custom, specialty Lugers. They have a plastic box full of Lugers you can pick up and play with. Jackson Armory is, quite simply, the Luger motherlode. Some are cheap (under $1000) some are pricey, and there they are, for all the world to see, just off of Snider Plaza by SMU. Who knew?

JA also has plenty of Lees, Krags, M1s, M1As, custom ARs, swords, Winchester 99s, and hi-cal big game rifles at reasonable prices. You can walk in, browse and check out the weapons without being condescended to. I can't think of a better gun shop in North Texas, especially if you like older guns and militaria. I love Jackson Armory, but more of that in a separate post.

After the Luger shock and awefest I went fishing and caught four Bass. Rare for me to get out the rod, but I always enjoy it when I do.

Cheers,

LSP

A Curious Thing.

Taurus' take on Beretta

Come Easter Monday and, if you're me, it's time for some R&R. So I drove back to the Dallas compound, grilled hamburgers for a few friends and browsed Bachman Pawn and Gun. BPG is on North West Highway and has a good rep, evidently, with Law Enforcement and shooters generally. More of a handgun  shop than anything else, but there were a few Beretta shotguns on the wall.

After checking out the pistols (I want a "9" and a .22) I cast a beady eye at the shotguns. They weren't cheap, over and unders mostly, coming in at around 3k. But here's the thing -- their "hand rubbed" finish was OK, but only just. You could see a fair bit of open grain on the butt and forends.

I was surprised. At 3k you're not going to get at 10k gun, but still, you'd think the grain on the stock would be filled, at least. 

just fill the grain, LSP

This inspires me with confidence for my own project guns.

More of that later. In the meanwhile, check out BPG if you want a Dallas pistol alternative to Rays. Less comedic gunnishness from the staff (whaddaya mean you don't want an AR? Aren't you a Patriot, dammit?!), which is a minus, but better prices and selection. Just don't go there looking for a big selection of rifles, or, er, properly finished shotguns.

Keep pulling the trigger,

LSP