Mark has another think.

Popped over to Lisa's blog to leave a message to the effect that I'd had a stab at answering her question, but Keir had already said:

Well, it's a question of opinion, not a dogma of faith. Theologians are still open on that question, and more importantly, so are the Catholic Bishops.

I've never met Keir, but I have no particular reason to distrust him that I can think of, so I thought "If it's still an open question then 'why did my church use a bidding prayer that talked about Mary's labour pains?!'", back at the start again.

So now I have a different answer. I still think that it's reasonable to assume that Mary suffered from labour pains, but, being informed that I have no particular reason to the defend the notion (should perhaps check it out - no offence to Keir), am equally happy to suppose that she didn't. Now as to the bidding prayer...

I didn't really think up this idea so much as apprehend it rather rapidly from a cursory google search; mightn't your prayer have been allegorical? I mean that, by looking about some of the language used about Mary the Mother of the Church, it's a pretty easy transition to make to see Mary's "labour pains" in your prayer actually as the afore-mentioned sword which Simeon prophesied, piercing her soul at Jesus' passion as she [articipates in the borth of the Church.

On the other hand, if it's new-fangled literalism on your church's part, perhaps you should kick nudge up a fuss.

The Blessed Virgin Mary and labour pains

Mark does a religious post again.

Lisa says:

Perhaps someone clever could help me with this one[.] I thought that in Genesis, God gave Eve labour pains as a punishment for original sin... If Mary was born without original sin, then, she wouldn't have labour pains... So, why did my church use a bidding prayer that talked about Mary's labour pains?!

If I seem to be saying that I'm clever, it's the fault of Lisa's phrasing.

By the same token, Simeon could not have prophesied that "a sword [would] pierce [her] own soul too", neither could Jesus have made expiation for our sins, they not being his to expiate. But I don't think we really have a paradox on our hands.

I expect you're fairly reconciled to the notion

that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.

The injustice of life is a long-standing truism anyway. Unless Mary was specifically protected by God, she obviously will have suffered under illness and the like. And - I just browsed my CCC to double-check this part - though sin is a personal act, it does damage beyond the person; to God most obviously, but to mankind in general, thus Mary. On the other hand, it doesn't do to get too used to the idea:

The word of the LORD came to me: "What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel."

Still, we know that Jesus himself was tested just as other men are, and took our sins on himself, and this was surely a necessity in the plan of salvation. It would be very surprising therefore, if the Virgin Mary, the most blessed creature of God, but still a creature should somehow become more "aloof" from sin than God himself.

"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

And similarly, the works of God are shown in the life of Mary who, though sinless by the grace of God, suffered as the whole of creation does, but remains obedient to our Lord.

Howzat? You wouldn't believe how long that took me to write - my computer kept crashing.

-----Original Message-----
From: Zofia Bajorek [mailto:[...]]
Sent: 20 December 2004 11:52
To: [...]
Subject: RE: .

oh...well im glad is is well...
did you do anything nice at the weekend?

Well, went home, saw the extended family, ate a lot of pudding and lasagne and tomatoes of the variety which I believe is known as "cherry" drank some badger champion ale, had a quick look into who the doctors of the church were and started reading something by Pope Gregory the Great about how it's not easy being Pope (let alone green), decided we would record some christmas songs on an eight-track, went to mass and wandered round after the service in Dad's church. And listened to Jeeves and Wooster.

An interesting few days at work with the (hype) build-up to Christmas the shop has been getting busier. A fact not helped by the new display case getting damaged in transit and me attempting to put the very awkward screw back into the clock movement I was returning to its case.

On my way back to Camberley today with Mark driving a borrowed car, my technical services were called upon when David wished my assistance with photocopying the worksheet we use at the shop. I started to sort out the parental difficulty with getting photos from the digital camera to the computer, when I was briefly interrupted by the welcome arrival of Adrian and Emma. I soon managed to resolve this problem. Last of all today I managed to (hopefully permanently) solved the 'no sound on playback' problem for the video in the front room.

I just love coming back to a relaxed, peaceful household :)

Apparently, people find it odd that someone would take a teapot home with them on the bus.

Well now. Something's happening at work anyhow. I'll probably lose PCFE, which is the bane of my life at present and be absorbed into education salaries. Wendy (my line manager) expects that the work allocation of the group I'm moving with, to do colleges and grant-maintained schools, might actually be a bit light to begin with. Which sounds like a nice idea - but it won't last. Potential light at the end of the tunnel then.

And as the Minute Waltz fades away, I prepare to listen to the dulcet ramblings of Sir Clement Freud whilst trying not to fall asleep midday.

I wonder what the best sort algorithm for my PCE lecturing claims would be? I also wonder if Quizilla has a "What sort algorithm are you?" quiz...

Stockport County vs Sheffield Wednesday

Living in Manchester has it's advantages - it's only a bus ride to Stockport, so I went and saw my first "home" game of the season.

We dominated the game, and never looked like losing, helped in a bid way by Stockport being rubbish. We won't get any more straightforward wins than this. Unfortunately, the problems with the team are still there. After going 1-0 up at the end of the first half courtesy of a much improved (thank you Mr Sturrock) Proudlock, Wednesday did their best to self destruct. Anyone who's watched the Owls in the last few seasons will have seen it before: withdraw into your own half, and whenever you win the ball, just lob it upfield to the halfway line or so, where the opposition will pick it up and resume the attack. Fortunately it wasn't long to go until 1/2 time.

2nd half we came out and played like we had for the majority of the first half - dominant, and much the better team. Until we scored, of course. 50 minutes in, two goals up, and Wednesday draw back. Fortunately, we weathered the (self-inflicted) storm, despite several scary moments (including an amazingly bad backpass from Heckinbottom - setting a forward up for a one on one with our keeper!). We did come back into the game more towards the end, and had clearly won it after the third goal.

Overall it was a good performance. If we can play the same game when we're winning as we do when we're losing or drawing, I reckon we'll make promotion.

Not blogged for a while, but I've been a little busy! First night of the show is tomorrow (today if you account for the fact that it's after midnight), and I'm really looking forward to it.

The technical rehearsal on Sunday night was about the most stressful thing I've done, and I ended up going home with a splitting headache. As it was mostly for curtains, lighting, sound, etc, much of the dialogue in the longer scenes was cut, leaving little time for costume changes, and I was on the go all night. I took so long trying to get changed that I missed an entire dance!

Tonight was great. I was able to be much more organised, I had plenty of help with my quick changes (three of them!), and the whole show's looking good. Excellent antidote to the previous night.

For those of you who've no idea what show I'm on about: click here
Look forward to seeing people at the show.

Eyeliner is evil.

I discovered that accountants have far more paperwork than I had thought yesterday, when I was helping David's accountant to move offices. Even with eight people working on it took a long time. I ran out of steam at about 3PM, having started at about 9AM and spending a lot of time carrying records. There was a break for lunch at Pizza Hut which I enjoyed. However when David came to get me back to town so I could get to the resident's meeting, there were a few obstacles. In order, a photocopier in the only entrance, Friday traffic jams and rain, so I decided against jogging and arrived only 10 minutes late.

However there was one bit of good news, I should be able to get Internet access at the Foyer at last, although I suspect that there will be some competition from other residents.

A good day's exercise and I'm not exhausted today, yet.