• Our Lady Of The Pruned Tree Branch?
  
  Another one of those "Mary Sightings." Some folks in Cleveland have found an image of the Blessed Virgin in a piece of wood in their backyard:
  

  Donna Vicarrone says it's truly a miracle that she found an image of the Virgin Mary in her backyard. Vicarrone and her husband were clearing out tree branches for a new sitting area. The beauty of one of the branches caught her eye so she kept it. But it was her husband who first saw Mary's likeness.
  
  Since then, the Vicarrone's have shown the tree branch to a local priest and to a local prayer group and they all agree it looks like the Blessed Mother. The Cleveland couple have not yet decided what they will do with the image, but they are hoping to display it somewhere people can view it.

  
  
  I've written about these kind of Mary sightings before, and my take on it then was that these kinds of things were probably harmless and that they had the potential to be good things if they inspired more reverence. Since I wrote that, my attitude has changed a little bit. I've gotten to the point where things like this make me a little uncomfortable.
  
  These days, my personal religious practice involves a great deal of devotion to Mary. I had something of a personal epiphany about Mary a while back, and I've come to love and admire her very much. She means a lot to me and I try to keep her example in the forefront of my mind. I'm at the point now where I almost see these kinds of "Mary sightings" as a bit of a distraction. Mary's life is a wonderful example of Christian devotion and obedience to God. It bugs me a little bit when things like this happen because I don't like the idea of her becoming simply a pop-culture icon. Please keep in mind that all of this is just my opinion and I don't mean to present myself as an authority… I'm just one more sinner trying to follow Christ.



• The Passion Of The Billboard
  
  The Unseen Blogger posted this picture the other day:
  
  

  

  
  
  It's a billboard encouraging people to vote no in a municipal election regarding alcohol sales.
  
  Unseen found the billboard distasteful:
  
  

  Does anyone else, as Christians, find this campaign completely inappropriate and offensive?
  
  What's next? Invoking the name of Christ for jaywalking? Littering? "You crucified Christ again by not recycling that aluminum can!!!" …
  
  Christ's sacrifice was the ultimate sacrifice anyone could make. It should not be trivialized for the sake of self-righteousness.

  
  
  I'm in totally agreement with my bandaged buddy about this. I think it's terribly insulting and that it really trivializes the passion of Jesus Christ. I'm particularly upset that Jesus is presented on the billboard with such an accusatory expression on his face. I don't think that the people who came up with this campaign understand the real point of the passion of our Lord at all. I'm not fit to judge them, of course, I know that… but my impression is that they see the image of the crucified Christ as a valuable tool for use in political propaganda. It's my belief that using Christ to achieve any kind of personal or political objective is blatantly taking the Lord's name in vain.
  
  I'm going to make a further comment that is based on a speculation on my part, so please forgive me for that. My speculation is that this billboard was most likely put up by Christian Fundamentalists… and most of the Christian Fundamentalists I've known have told me that they consider crucifixes to be improper because a crucifix is a "graven image." Look, I can't define irony… but I know it when I see it.



• Spider-Man 3 Stuff
  
  WARNING! Spidey-related links and videos below may contain spoilers!
  
  What appears to be a legit teaser trailer for the next Spider-Man movie has leaked. Well, the trailer itself might not be legit, but it looks like it has some legit footage from the as-yet unfinished film. Watch it below, and then read my comments under the video.
  

  OK, gut reaction: I'm underwhelmed by the trailer.
  
  Looks like they've gone Hobgoblin for Harry Osborn instead of Green Goblin 2. I'm fine with that. In fact I predicted it.
  
  I'm very disappointed by the images of Venom in the trailer. He just doesn't look right. In the comics, Venom is a huge, hulking thing. In this he looks more like a skinny vampire or something.
  
  No peek at Sandman in the trailer? What's up with that?
  
  A lot of info about the movie is supposedly leaking all over the net. Who knows how much of it is real or not. As of right now, my hopes are pretty low. My gut tells me they're trying to cram too much into one movie. They'll never top Spider-Man 2, and I'm actually starting to dread this film.




• United 93
  
  I've posted a review of United 93 at film geeks if you want to read it. Rhodester has also posted a brief story about a friend of his with a personal connection to that flight. Interesting stuff.
  
  
• This Week In Catholicism
  
  In a recent column, Pat Buchanan argues that the abhorrent trend of political correctness is threatening to make Catholicism an unacceptable faith in the political arena. I thought his point of view and the story that inspired it were interesting. By the way, even if Catholicism is under attack here at home, it seems to be growing in South Korea.
  
  
• Live Metallica
  
  A while back I mentioned that Metallica has been doing a new old-school sounding song at recent concerts, and that they've been focusing on their older material live, even playing every track on my favorite Metallica album at recent concerts. Well, if you're willing to shell out a few bucks, you can go download authorized recordings of those recent shows. Personally, I'm unwilling to spend the money, so if you purchase and download those shows, send me a note telling me how they sound. Of course, I'm not suggesting that you send me copies of the shows themselves. Why, that would be wrong! And we all know that Lars wouldn’t approve.



• Bloggery
  
  Chad Is Not Enough is a blog by a fellow new convert to Catholicism. A Catholic Life clued me in to Chad's blog. Sometimes I come across a new blog and just like it right off the bat. This is an instance of that, and I can see me reading Chad regularly.
  
  For more than a year now I've been reading another blog, A Southern Catholic Convert… but the other day I noticed that her blog was gone. I thought it might be a blogger issue, but I noticed today that her blogspot URL has been grabbed up by a new person. I guess I'll take the link down until I find out what this new person is all about.
  
  I mentioned that my old blogspot URL was grabbed up recently. I wish the guy (or gal) who grabbed it would post more so I can get an idea of what he or she is all about, too.
  
  A spambot comment at Where Have You Gone Ronald Reagan ended up leading to a fairly funny comment thread.
  
  Oh, I also found another Catholic blog, Per Christum, with some good stuff by some good contributors. Go check it out.



• Funny… I don't Look Like Famke Janssen
  
  Thanks to a link provided by Wolverine…I mean Rey, I was able to find out which X-man I am:
  

  
  Most Comprehensive X-Men Personality Quiz 2.0
  created with QuizFarm.com

  
  This particular quiz was far more exhaustive than the one I took a year and a half ago. That one said I was Hank McCoy. I didn't agree with that one and I don't agree with this one, either. The X-man that I'd want to be is Kurt Wagner, the devout Catholic mutant known as Nightcrawler. This stupid quiz said I was Phoenix instead and said that my wife was Nightcrawler… which is dumb because my wife is clearly Kitty Pride. Stupid quiz.

Labels: Blogs, Faith, Metallica, Movies, Music, News, You Tube

Permalink -- Posted by Darrell at 19:47