Feria

My cat woke me up this morning at around 5:45 A.M. by digging into my ear with her tongue. She finds my ear wax tasty. De gustibus non est disputandum - There is no accounting for taste. Actually, the sensation of cat's tongue in your ear isn't as disconcerting as you might imagine. Just goes to show that I am a sick, sick man.

Today is a "Feria," meaning that no particular feast is being recognized in the Christian calendar today. So it's just a normal day in normal time. I've spent much of it chipping away at various non-urgent projects. Who doesn't enjoy crossing things off the "to-do" list?

Last night I went out with friends for Korean BBQ. It's been a long time since I've eaten this way, but we all got the hang of it pretty quickly. The basic idea is that you cook your food yourself on a grill in the middle of the table. It quickly becomes a cooperative project to flip things that need flipping, take stuff off that's done, and put more meat and fish in place. We had a real method going. Delicious and fun. Probably not a bad way to do a team building exercise!

I hear that Benedict is allowing priests to do the Latin Mass at their own discretion (they will no longer have to ask their bishop's permission). Seems to me that despite his assurances the move will undermine the authority of local bishops yet more and replace it with the authority of Rome. Also in "What are they doing?" category: Benedict restated some of the annoying things he said in Dominus Iesus a few years ago. Only the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox can properly be called "Churches" in his (infallible) view. I think these trends in the RC Church reveal deep deep problems in their communion. No doubt in a few decades they will face the same kinds of threats of schism faced by the Anglicans now, though along different fault lines. Sigh.

-t