Jesus and the Debt Ceiling

Matthew 14: 13 - 21
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.
14 As he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick.
15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves."
16 Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat."
17 They said to him, "We have only five loaves here and two fish."
18 And he said, "Bring them here to me."
19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

I was reading good old Mike Montaigne the other day and lifted a passage from one of his Meditations/Essays/Sententiae, or pithy scribblings for my pithy scribblings.

Since we cannot match it let us take our revenge by abusing it. Michel Montaigne (1533 - 1592)

Old Michel was talking about the all too human impulse to make light of another's accomplishments, genius, or good nature. Mike was not really talking about revenge at all. In fact the quotable quote came from an essay altogether different than revenge.

I was challenged by a reader to identify the quote, because the reader stated that he or she was a Montaigne Scholar and that the quote was not Montaigne's.

Your Montaigne quote is a fabrication. Please, find for me in his 107 essays where Montaigne said that -- you just took it from some quote website and assumed it's accuracy. He never said anything like that, and I know, I'm a Montaigne scholar.

Beyond that, your essay is completely incomprehensible.

and it goes on with Progressive screaming points about religious nuts and right wing monsters. As to it being incomprehensible, hey get it line. However, getting all pissy and preening at the get-go and acting like you sign my paychecks is no way get me to buy the first round, there, Abner.

Well, Old Hoss, you will find this one of the 107 essays under the Rs - On Raccoon Abatement, Racing Etiquette, Raisins D'tre, or Redemption, I forget which one. I am not a Montaigne Scholar, just a guy who reads and happens to be a legendary sexual athlete who can crack a rack of eight ball.

The point of the quote has much to do with the above Gospel passage from Matthew - The Tax Man! Matthew was a Roman paid tax collector, before he took up with Joshua Bar Jospeph - Jesus in Aramaic.

In this passage Matthew recounts the miracle of the loaves and fishes. I like the opener here," Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart."

There are crowds of people, who will later demand that Pilate crucify him, following Jesus around and it is time to chow down. Jesus ordered his disciples to feed the crowds rather than send them away - Pete and lads brought it up. Okay feed them.

It worked out.

To do what is not possible requires humility*. Modern Man, armed with Smart Phones and Twitter App'd, knows. He can Tweet Timmy Geitner and even the President. Every Man a Prospero and a Chris Matthews!

Last night, the House said no to Harry Reid, after Harry Reid said no to the House of Representatives. Bill Maher and HBO can prove that faith in God is really bad, because that might make man go over the heads of government for answers to problems of our own making.

Jesus told his disciple, "you give them something to eat." He knew that they would come up with nothing themselves and finally, relented, like a Dad who has ordered his son to fix the garage door that the teenager broke himself, knowing full well the kid can not get it done, but needed to try for himself. Jesus, called the crowd to Him and distributed the food. It worked out. Matthew, like any good tax-man, is short on the specifics when telling us anything. This is where we humble ourselves and turn to God, not for a quick fix and a Happy Meal, but to learn to cope with the mess we find ourselves in.

Jesus taught us to handle the Debt Ceiling. We need to look back and within to find the tools. The channel locks in this set is humility and fear of God. Miracles are tough work

Montaigne had it right when he said, "Since we cannot match it let us take our revenge by abusing it."

Make a mockery of Faith and blame someone else - George W.Bush, Raccoons - anything to make it someone else's troubles.

I read Montaigne, Jugs and Ammo, the Gospel of Matthew, and the New York Times, because I need all the help I can get.

* The Angelus Bell used to ring in parishes on south side when I was growing up, or aging, As to my growing up the jury is still out on that one.

Mom or a nun would say,

The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
Us
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

then All of us:

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death.

Nun, or Mom

Behold the handmaid of the Lord.

Us

Be it done unto me according to thy word.

Us All

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death.

Nun or Mom.

And the Word was made Flesh.

Us
And dwelt among us.

Us All

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death.Nun, or Mom

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
Us

That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Nun, or Mom

Let us pray. Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that, we to whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an Angel, may by His Passion and Cross, be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord.
All

Amen.

Mom * Dad was at work), or Nun if stuck. At Little Flower we went home for lunch.

Okay eat, wash up and get your asses back to school. No watching Bozo!