The Most Catholic Thing

Tomorrow I will embark on the most Catholic thing I’ve done to date: I will begin the  33-day preparation for a consecration to Mary on the Feast of St. Loius de Montfort. I’m looking forward to the focus and the discipline of this preparation. So many of the events swirling in the air today have reminded me of exactly why I began to be drawn to traditional Roman Catholicism some years ago, setting in motion a series of broken friendships and relationships that still grieve and perplex me to this day.

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I saw my bicyclist friend on the side of the road yesterday morning, in the rainy dark. I lifted my hand and prayed for him as I passed, and I wondered how today’s madness has touched him and his family.

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It will be near 80 degrees the next couple of days here. My winged friends continue their dawn-to-dusk festival, though I still haven’t seen a hummingbird. The feeders are hanging, awaiting their return. Now that will be a feast day.

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I heard that Marty Stuart, Brad Paisley, and Vince Gill played the Grand Ole Opry to an empty house because of the recent virusteria, and I wanted to post a clip of some of their songs, but I just couldn’t in good conscience inflict Mr. Gill’s tearful burblings on my readers. So instead, here is an old Brad Paisley song that’s one of my favorites. A sweet, affecting number, I think Dolly Parton’s harmonizing is one of the best things in her entire career. I hope y’all enjoy it.

~ S.K. Orr