Recta Ratio

And I think re-organizing the links will be it for the day for me.

No, my link to your blog has not been wiped out. It is now listed under the category: Blogbud (for fellow members of the Catholic blogging community).

Categories include:

BlogBud (Catholic blogs)
Boston News
Cath News (Catholic News & Opinion)
Cons News (Conservative News & Opinion)
E-Texts
Fun (Miscellaneous)
Funny Pages (comics)
Future Saints (causes for beatification and sainthood)
Images (art, both sacred and profane)
Literary (bookstores and sites about the literary world)
Museums
Music
Orders (& and things like orders, like Opus Dei)
Orgs
Other Blogs (blogs that are not part of the St. Blog's community)
Parishes
Play (Re-enacting-related links)
Polling (Election related)
Pryaers
Retail (stores I like)
Tech
Togs (clothes sources)
Toys (military miniatures collecting)
Vitals (vital documents or reference)

The list was sort of out of control. It needed re-organization badly, and I just could not think of a way to do it, since I seemed to be limited to the plain alphabetical listing. But I thought, "why not sort the links into categories?"

The only thing I did not really want was making the links run onto a second line. I used to strive hard to keep each link to a single line. But it depends on the monitor you are using if the links break or not. The one I was using did not break the links to a second line, and some of them are rather long.

I think it will be easier to use this way.

The Eagles (4-1) take on Pittsburgh today in Pittsburgh.

Patron of women in childbirth (and also of good confessions).

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintg06.htm

It was still pouring this morning at 4, my normal wake-up time, but it had stopped by 6 and we are blessed with crystal clear blue skies now.

Some recipes to relax and "enjoy" the Red Sox/Yankees game with.

Dr. Johnson's Choice
2 cups ruby port
15 sugar cubes
8 whole cloves
2 cups of boiling water,
2/3 cup of Cointreau
2/3 cup brandy
freshly grated nutmeg

1. Heat the wine, sugar and cloves together until almost boiling, stirring until the sugar cubes dissolve. Pour in the boiling water.
2. Add the orange liqueur and the brandy.
3. Pour into heat-proof glasses and grate nutmeg over each glass.

I would use a pewter mug for this.

I prefer this to Admiral's Flip, which is champagne and brandy mixed one for one, and dusted with grated nutmeg.

Now for something to eat. It is a Friday, so forget the meat (even the Fenway Franks). How about this:

Toasted Cheese
1 can Campbell's cheddar cheese soup
1/2 cup shredded cheddar (I like grating Cabot's Private Stock)
a handful of grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter cut into small bits
1/4 tspn Colman's mustard
2 tblspns Worcestershire Sauce
2 tblspns dried onion
1 tblspn dried chives
1 tspn tabasco sauce
a couple of twists of fresh nutmeg
liberal amounts of freshly grated pepper blend
4 English muffins, halved, toasted, and buttered.

1. In a saucepan, combine the soup, cheddar, parmesan, butter, powdered mustard, worcestershire, onion, chives, tabasco, and nutmeg, and some of the pepper blend. Heat on low stirring occasionally until the shredded cheddar, parmesan, and butter melt, and then stir frequently so that it does not stick to the pan.
2. Arrange the toasted and buttered E/Muffs in the bottom of a large baking dish or casserole in a single layer. Pour the cheese sauce over the top.
3. You guessed it: time for more fresh pepper.
4. Stick under the broiler for a few minutes. You don't want them blackened apperciably.

Serves 1 Tom Fitzpatrick or 2 people who are not inordinately fond of cheddar.

Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin would be pleased with these two choices.

I don't think you will need much of a snack, but if you do, might I suggest some apple pie, with a nice crumb topping, and maybe some left-over Cabot's cheddar on the top.

Go Red Sox!

By an impressive 3-1 margin.

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/politics/index.ssf?/base/politics-6/1097853247242650.xml&storylist=electionmi

(can't get the hyperlink-creating thingee to work)

And the poll was conducted at the time of the less than optimal first debate.

A great Carmelite saint and Doctor of the Church.

The Vatican wants to see more Latin and Gregorian chant in Novus Ordo liturgy, along with more Eucharistic Adoration, and better grounding in how to behave in church.

A hearty, "Hear them! Hear them!" from yours truly.

O my God! Source of all mercy! I acknowledge Thy sovereign power. While recalling the wasted years that are past, I believe that Thou, Lord, can, in an instant, turn this loss to gain. Miserable as I am, yet I firmly believe that Thou canst do all things. Please restore to me the time lost, giving me Thy grace, both now and in the future, that I may appear before Thee in "wedding garments."
Amen.

I think there are few people who need this prayer more than I do. I try to say it every day.

Abba Moses asked Abba Sylvanus, "Can a man lay a new foundation every day?" The old man said, "If he works hard, he can lay a new foundation at every moment."

President Bush, by all accounts, did a much better job of projecting a warm, sincere personality to the TV audience. On substance, I would say they tied.

When it comes to Kerry, there just isn't much there there. There is not much likability, not much personality. Even Al Gore was warmer and more human. And when it comes to accomplishments, since burning his medals after Vietnam and spitting in the face of the national war effort, he really hasn't accomplished much except climbing up the rungs of the Massachusetts political ladder and marring heiresses.

Kerry was the Clinton-Lite "Man-With-the-Plan" last night. But so was Gore 4 years ago. Wonkishness seldom gets votes.

I except the instant analysis to say that Kerry won the debate, but I expect the President to rise a little in the polls, to about a 5-point lead by this time next week, unless something big and negative breaks against the President.

About the Red Sox game.

The better.

Some old men said, "If you see a young man climbing up to the heavens by his own will, catch him by the foot and throw him down to the earth; it is not good for him."

Kerry: "How do you ask someone to be the last man to die in a mistaken war in Iraq?"

That was his trademark line about Vietnam, and I would be surprised if he does not recycle it for Iraq. It could be emotionally powerful for those who have never heard it before.

That it would be inconsistent with his current/previous positions on Iraq makes no difference. His position changes more quickly than the day of the week. He holds every position on every issue, at one time or another. His position ebbs and flows with the exigencies of the moment, like Bill Clinton, just perhaps a little more amorphously, a little more chameleon-like.

Another of those royal saints we were discussing a couple of months ago.

John Edwards: 'When John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk. Get up out of that wheelchair and walk again'...

I wonder what side of his family he gets the laying-on-of-hands power from, the Brahmin Yankee WASP side or the Austrian Jewish side.

Thanks to Matt Drudge for the heads-up.

The old men used to say, "If someone has faith in another and hands himself over to him in complete submission, he does not need to pay attention to God's commandments but he can entrust his whole will to his father. He will suffer no reproach from God, for God looks for nothing from beginners so much as renunciation through obedience."

I was busy with Rembrandt, Holbein, Botticelli, della Robbia, Copley, Gainsborough, Peale, Stuart, Fra Angelico, Giotto, Durer, Rubens, Monet, Renoir, Velasquez, and a host of others.

You see it was some sort of Fenway neighborhood celebration, and both the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts were free. I like my culture, and particularly when it is free.

So I double-dipped.

I got to the ISGM at opening, and found many people waiting and starting to tour. The courtyard was lovely as usual, and there was a trio playing there (who obviously could be heard everywhere. The ISGM has never replaced the paintings stolen many years ago now. The frames are still empty. The displays still maddeningly lack any sort of description.

But GTF went to the rescue. "I can't read it. What language is it in?" I heard from next to me. I looked and noticed a family of four puzzling over an open book in a display case, and saw that the document in question was an illuminated book. Then words popped out at me: "Hoc est enim corpus meum." I read it in Latin for them, translated it, and explained the significance. It was a missal, of course, but I have no clue as to its provenance. I nearly fell in love with a Botticelli there, and a della Robbia (I've featured the work of both at Recta Ratio: The Yahoo Club).

I got to the MFA at 1:30, and must say I was disappointed. They are going to open a new wing, and everything that was on display has been truncated for now. The rooms from Oak Hill, the other period rooms, and much of the period furniture, as well as the ship s were not available. Many of the medieval, Romanesque, and Renaissance items I have seen in the past (as recently as 3 years ago) were not on display. But I did see a Botticelli Madonna and Child that I liked even better than the one at the ISGM.

By the time I was done with 6 hours of museum walking, I was pretty unhappy on my pins, and made my way, painfully, a few blocks to St. Clement's Eucharistic Shrine for Adoration. Happily, I found the shrine open (I knew St. Francis Chapel was closed for the afternoon because of the holiday). Then to Trader Joe's for a couple of those delicious new Amaretto di Saranno bars, thence home.

Tuesday night.

It was inevitable. All season this seemed to be what both teams were working towards. The other teams in the league were just cyphers, obstacles to be overcome to reach this moment.

They are nearly evenly matched. They are the two best teams in Major League Baseball. And unfortunately, they can never meet in a World Series, as they are in the same division of the American League.

They are also, historically, the most intense rivals since the troops of the US and the now-defunct USSR were aiming at each other over the happily now-forgotten Inter-German Border.

The Boston Red Sox versus the New York Yankees for the American League pennant. It doesn't get any better than this.

Let us just hope it does not end, again, like Waugh's famous "blow falling on a bruise." How about a different ending this time around. The ghosts of 1946, 1967, 1972,1975, 1977, 1978, 1986, 1988, and 2003 need to be exorcised. Victory is the great undemonizer. Lack of victory has been the great problem haunting Boston these many decades. Nothing succeeds like success.

Other Boston teams have been able to te New York teams. The Celtics have a far more glorious history than the Knicks. The Bruins have had more success (at least until the parsimonious Age of Sinden and the Jacobs) than the Islanders or the Rangers. The Patriots these last two years have been more than a match for any team New York can throw at them. It is not the Yankees' money that guarantees its success. It is the lack of victory by the Red Sox. Aggressive pursuit of victory can change all that.

Let us no more talk of a "Curse of the Bambino". Such a thing never existed. Ruth made plenty of money in New York and was probably pretty happy to leave cash-strapped Boston. You might as well speak of the Curse of Sparky Lyle, or Wade Boggs, or Roger Clemens.

Let us hope we no longer need say, "The Boston Red Sox, World Champs: 1918."

We will know more within 10 days.

The holy Syncletia said, "I think that for those living in community obedience is a greater virtue than chasity, however perfect. Chastity carries within it the danger of pride, but obedience has within it the promise of humility."

Afghanistan, with absolutely no experience of elected government, held its first elections yesterday. While it appears there were some difficulties, there was no . The Taliban seems to be so thoroughly routed that it could not stage a major effort to disrupt the elections as feared. Ballots, not ings will decide the fate of the Afghan people.

A peaceful democratic solution is what awaits Iraq, as well, as soon as we wipe out the Saddamite, al Qaeda, Iranian and Syrian-inspired efforts to destabilize that country (and prevent us from using it as a base for the eventual overthrow of those two neighboring pro-terrorist governments).

The Afghanistan result (the actual vote count won't be official for some weeks) is something President Bush and the American people can be immensely proud of.

And in Australia, the staunch US ally John Howard was re-elected, handily turning back an anti-war and anti-US opposition.

God bless the Aussies. Buy some Foster's and some of that licorice with the koala bear on the package (really good stuff).

I was leaving Mass this morning, and saw a fellow on a unicycle.

Now, if a chap want to take a spin on one of those things, that is fine with me.

But this bindlestiff was pushing two infants in a stroller.

At a busy intersection, he almost fell over on his unicycle, and the kids would have sailed into heavy cross-traffic.

Some people are never blessed with children. Others are too recklessly stupid to be entrusted with their care.

Allow me to advert your attention to the Real Presence Association for everything you could want to know about the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

As for the local scene, Boston has several places that offer Adoration. My favorites are St. Clement's Eucharistic Shrine on Boylston Street (a block south of Mass.. Ave) for weekends (Sat. & Sun. afternoons 1-6) and St. Francis Chapel in the Pru (weekdays 1:30-4:30). Both are run by the oblates of the Virgin Mary.