The Babe Leaped In Her Womb - Older Children of Men Get It

“People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given to them by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being,” he said. “They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves.” Pope Benedict XVI

We had a very nice Mass this morning.  Babies and toddlers were sporting their Christmas togs and jabbering all through the service, which to my old hairy ears is what going to Mass is all about. They do not, as some of my more devout friends and neighbors hold, distract from the sanctity of the Mass, but adorn it.

I am a baby sap from a very long line of Hickey males, who delight in the innocent and encourage the cacophony.  My Grandfather, father and many uncles were like minded "children of men."  Little guys of three were tapped on the shoulders by an Uncle Bud, Mike, Pat, Jack Bart, Sy, or Donnie during Mass with nod to celebrant in all of his liturgical splendor and asked, ' Hey, Pad'jeen. . . How about that guy's dress up there?  What gives with that?  Thinks he's Milton Berle?'

There followed a flow of questions from the targeted cherub concerning the guy up on the altar getting all the attention -" Fa'r Garrady got a dress on, Mom!  Why he got dress, Mom?  Mom, He wear'nah dress!"  There followed good-womanly remonstrances to 'Hush, Clam up, Let it Alone, Pay Attention!'

It is good to go to Mass.  Kids fiddle with Golden books, grab toys from siblings, reach for whatever the hell they see and want but have yet to verbally identify, punch, shove, hug, nap and eat dry Cheerios like they were truffles.  These babies will soon conform into devout little ladies and gents of the pew -midget Moms and Dads and will also Hush, Knock It Off and quiet the human voice and heart at its best.

Suffer the older Squares and and Biddies, but  revel in the reason for God's Being -babies.  God's Will, as understood in Paradise Lost is the promise of Life and that is tied to love between a guy and girl that allows babies to join us in adoring Him.

After Mass, I read the papers.  No joy there.  One goof in the Tribune decided to mock Pope Benedict's Christmas message. That is because the Pope refuses to roll over on what constitutes a marriage - a man marries a woman and go half's on babies.  The goof in the Tribune is as doctrinaire as we Catholics, but his faith is grounded not on rock but on paper - Dewey's thoughts, Windy City Times, Boss Cosgrove's e-mails and Eychaner's currency.

Today's gospel which I had absolutely no trouble hearing above the jabber of many babies and toddlers, is very clear in its language - Mary is expecting a child.  A Babe is leaping in Mary's womb, just like all three of my babies, aged 17-26 in 2012, battered and bumped and treated my wife Mary's innards like an inflatable play zone for the better part of her 'confinement.'

Christmas would not be much with this Immaculate Conception.

Luke 1: 39 - 45 39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechari'ah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."

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Pope Exonerates Jews For Crucifiction: What About Gefilte Fish?

(Newser) – Pope Benedict would like to be clear: the Jewish people as a whole were not responsible for the death of God's only son. The pope makes the sweeping exoneration in his new book, Jesus of Nazareth, excerpts of which were released today. In it, Benedict presents a biblical and theological analysis that explains why such an interpretation—which has been used for centuries to justify the persecution of Jews—is not true.

The statement isn't exactly a new one for the Vatican, which in 1965 released a document that firmly stated Jesus' death couldn't be attributed to Jews as a whole. But Jewish scholars welcomed the pope's argument, noting that the faithful are more likely to read commentary than old church documents, and saying it would help fight
anti-Semitism.

The great Lenny Bruce might have been to blame for perpetuating that hateful canard when he revealed that a note was found in a basement -

Lenny Bruce once said that all his life all he ever heard from gentiles is "The Jews killed Christ." Bruce said he never really believed it until, one year, he bought a house in Lake Ronkonkama, NY which is on Long Island. On the day he moved in, he went down to the basement to clean up. Behind an old bookcase he discovered a note. Bruce read it. It said, "I did it" and it was signed "Morty."

Nevertheless, to quote Mr. Bruce, " We are all the same, schmuck!"

Yes, we are.

Pope Benedict reiterated the two thousand year late exoneration and that should end that historical and theological blame game once and for all.

I have but one beef with Jews - Gefilte Fish. Good Lord! After the Holocaust, Jews turned the desert that was Palestine into a Garden of Eden -alive with orange groves and trees and universal sanitation! They found water where none was to be had.

How can the people of the One True Living God, the folks who brought not only monotheism to mankind, but also the first genuine codification of moral and social law and articulated Justice for widows and orphans throughout civilization, the poetry of the psalms, and most of all dietary sense and sensibilities to Mankind explain Gefilte Fish?

I have eaten pig's ears ( fried 'Listeners'), smoked pig's feet (crubeen), yards of tripe, calves brains, crawdads, snails, locusts, haggis, boudain, smelts, eel, Buffalo carp, chicken feet, and seaweed and all with some gusto.

I know a guy who would eat the crotch out of a mortally slow 'coon that had been hit by a Jimmy on I-57 in August, but he turned his nose up at Gefilte Fish ( געפֿילטע פֿיש).

In my goyish understanding Gefilte Fish is shredded or ground carp, whitefish, pike, or mullet that is mixed with eggs, onions matzoh meal and either stuffed into the skin of a fish, or formed into balls or logs.

There are two distinct varieties and I have tried both: one is sweet because sugar is added to the mixture, or peppery. The varieties identify either the Galitzianer ( the sweet) who originated from Galicia and settled in Ukrainia, Poland, Germany, and Austria, the Litvak ( peppery) from the Duchy of Lithuania.

The Gefilte Fish is often served with a jelly schmaltz concoction.

The Jews have a rich bountiful banquet of belly busting wonders! Bagels, Blinnys, Kugel, pickled roots and vegetables that are God affirming - Abraham put the knife in me for a Kosher Green Tomato!

What Jews do with a leg of lamb would make a Greek weep with envy! Stews with raisins, nuts, and figs, Only a Jew can smoked a salmnon! Soups,God Bless You! The Jews invented Fish and Chips with Salt and Malted Vinegar and captured the hearts and minds of Welsh, Irish, Scots and Brits!

But Gefilte Fish? After centuries of abuse, perhaps this was your exploding cigar of cuisine? Here, Goychik, try this! Man, it would gag a maggot.

Okay, we had that one coming.