One can easily infer from the title that I am listening to Russian Orthodox Chant at three o’clock in the morning. I missed Mass on Sunday. Shoulder pain was raging and sitting in a low-backed pew would have been difficult. Still I should have gone. Recovery is never easy, as I have written before.
I’ve spent a lot of time wrestling with chastity. I want to think I am entitled to have sex in whatever iteration of sexuality I choose, such as sex with any partner who will have sex with me. Every sexual fantasy I have or write about is OK to act out. I can write erotica that contradicts Catholic teaching on sexual conduct. And I can point to the moral sexual decay of the Catholic clergy and religious, brothers and sisters, to rationalize my own sin. Let me make it clear. I don’t commit adultery, but I am a rat’s nest of impure thoughts. If I walk away from my current state, I will walk toward God.
Poverty. Choosing poverty is absolutely counterintuitive to how we live our lives. Yet John The Baptist chose poverty, for starters. The Dominicans and Franciscans are mendicant orders. They ask for money from us to get by. Choosing poverty in our culture is even more of a contradiction of its values than choosing chastity.
Obedience. This is the hardest thing to ask of a human being. Obeying authority figures does not come naturally
OK. I’m tired again. I’ve probably lost a few followers of this blog. If that is the case, so be it. I will be sorry if you leave.
Dispatches From Dystopia 
💋. Hope you’re feeling better.
Thanks. Moist heat and ibuprofen are the order of the day. Swim later.
Sounds like a good plan. Russian Orthodox chanting. That was a cute ball. Are you Russian?
No. i’m not. I studied Russian in high school fifty years ago. I remember some. And a lot is coming back. The liturgical music is beautiful, but it is chanted in a language called Church Slavonic, comparable to Latin.
A dead language? Hmmmmmm. So interesting. I’ll now have to go find some to listen to. 😋
Not really a dead language. Just limited in how it is used. Jesus, for example, spoke Aramaic. There are Arab Christians who use Aramaic in their liturgy.
Why would you lose followers for writing about the cognitive dissonance of being faithful to your religion and having sexual desires which fall outside of what that faith preaches? This is the struggle of many. Hope you were able to get some good sleep and are feeling better.
Thanks for putting it in those terms. I did get to sleep. I do feel better.
You’re welcome. 🙂 Seems your up again?
Yes. I just woke up. I was
I was sleeping soundly and had at least 5 hours of solid sleep. I may go back to sleep, now that my bladder is empty again. Pain isn’t bad at all.
Yep, I”m in the “why would you lose followers?” crowd. The church teaches what it believes (so to speak.) What that means and how to live it is the journey, isn’t it? Of course, I’ve been awake since about 3 am, so I may be a bit punchy…
Glad your pain wasn’t too bad and hope you got some more sleep!
Thanks. Nice to be accepted. Then again I’m pretty accepting of people, so why should I be surprised when others are accepting of me?
Now that I’m up, I see where Afghanistan and Sri Lanka have a match going on in World Cup.. Nice to see Afghans involved in a peaceful pursuit. Makes one wonder, just what the situation actually is on the ground over there.