That is, you can do without the sermon but never without the prayer.

That’s from a John Donne sermon, 17th century, found in Prayers, selected and edited by Peter Washington, Everyman’s Library, Pocket Poets (Knopf), 1995.

Not to downgrade the sermon, but this I found helpful. The Mass has both prayer and sermon, or homily, of course, with its essence the Eucharistic Prayer serving as climactic. It has the moments of consecration, when everything shuts down, except the bell-ringer, and the priest says the sacramental words — formula, if you will — and people have nothing to do but watch. And pray.

Before and after these solemn moments, however, there is lots going on, intended to foster prayer and prayerfulness but sometimes, I think, preventing it. These are busy moments, serving to keep people on their toes — and successful in that, in large part anyhow.

My own experience, which I generously share with you, gives the lie to that scenario. I have written about kneeling for the canon, for instance, that crucial part of the whole event, remember, and waking up for the Our Father, when all rise to say or sing the words.

And I with nothing to account for from the previous ten minutes.

A few good things to do:

Strategies that will activate the vagus nerve, which induces relaxation and lowers
inflammatory markers, include expressive writing, getting quality sleep, forgiveness practice, time-restricted eating and supplementing with exogenous ketones.

Got that? Get it!

Defense lawyer for accused Oxford MI school shooting parents

Our clients are going to fight these charges. Our clients are just as devastated as everyone else. Bond has to come from a place of legal soundness not emotional reaction which has driven this entire case. And it is emotionally charged.

It is emotionally the worst thing I have ever been involved with and seen. There is no doubt it’s the worse thing the Crumbleys have ever been involved with and seen. There is just so much going on here and we ask the court to set a reasonable bond.

Too much to ask?

Cry from the heart, more a meditation, of a UK writer, which rings bells across the great ocean as well:

If you are anything like me, you’ve struggled to make sense of the times we’re living in. I’m still astounded that not too long ago, a new virus came along, and with it, bans on travelling further than five miles from home, sitting down for a picnic, and visiting other people’s homes. From the very start, it felt like an overreaction, but many seemed, bizarrely, to enjoy the enforced isolation, finding camaraderie with others who would clap for the NHS and display their allegiance to the cause by obeying the rules.
Still, nearly two years later and well after the threat of the virus itself is much better understood, there are still rules which make little sense, such as masks for Scottish schoolchildren, while restaurant goers and clubbers live life mask-free. There are people who are pointing out these inconsistencies, but on the whole people go along with the rules.
Most of us are now living more freely, at least here in the U.K. (though I have some pity for the Welsh with their Covid passes, and I fear life in Scotland will become more constrained too). But we can’t take it for granted.
Daily we are presented with ‘what if’ scenarios – should cases and deaths climb too high, we might be placed under house arrest again. But rather than being a universal punishment, the new measures are more targeted: this time, they’re going for the unvaccinated.
If you thought Donald Trump and Brexit were emotive, divisive issues that tore families apart and made people shun their friends, then the issues surrounding vaccines are taking polarisation to a new level – and no wonder, when we’re being conditioned to view the unvaccinated as the enemy within. Personal experience and anecdotes from friends tell me this is already happening.

more more more here . . .

Determining whether your fears are rational or irrational is one of the most important things you will ever do.

The most famous words of Franklin Roosevelt, America’s longest-serving president, were, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

One wonders if any world leader would or could say that today. We live in the Age of Fear.

All of my life, I thought love and hate were the two most powerful human emotions.

But owing to recent events, I have changed my mind.

I now understand that for most people, fear is the strongest emotion.

In fact, I’ve come to realize that it is possible to get people to do anything if you instill enough fear in them. Specifically, irrational fear.

Fear of COVID-19, for example, is rational. But media and governments induced irrational fears. . . .

more more more here . . .