Reflections in the Snow

I've spent the past two days digging out from the big snow. Happily, the heavens dumped only about six inches unlike the massive snows of 2009 and 2010 when we were engulfed with about twenty inches of the white stuff. 

I remember well the 2010 storm and blogged about it at the time. My husband and I were out on the John Deere, snowplow in place, every 2-3 hours trying to keep our long driveway passable. At every round the driveway got narrower. Fortunately, the snow stopped before the width shrank to a path. Our long driveway made the clearing a Herculean task to free the car, but we succeeded. Definitely an accomplishment that we could not repeat today, fifteen years later!

Mind you, I'm not complaining. I enjoy snow (in moderation) and have many memories of rollicking with happy kids on unscheduled snow days when school was cancelled and all was right with the world.

Are You on the Bridge or in the Tunnel?

[Take a trip across the 23 mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel as a metaphor of life's journey. Turn off the sound if you don't want to listen to the obnoxious music in the video.]

Some images are perfect metaphors for life's journey. Before Mass today, I was reading the morning devotion from Benedictus, Psalm 142, a pretty gloomy reflection:

For the enemy hath persecuted my soul: he hath brought down my life to the earth. He hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been dead of old: and my spirit is in anguish within me....

The image that popped into my head as I read this was the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. (I have a weird brain!)  If you've never driven that route, it's a 23-mile bridge/tunnel, mostly above water but with two mile-long tunnels taking you deep under the bay. I've been through it once years ago and don't really have any desire to repeat the experience, although it is an impressive engineering marvel. 

Is the SSPX "Out of the Boat?" A Modern Parable

Recently I had a conversation with a priest in which we were discussing the situation with the SSPX. He described them as being "out of the boat." I've been thinking about that metaphor for several days and, really, I don't think it's true.