Muselet

MLz Quotary: Apples : “All badness is spoiled goodness. A bad apple is a good apple that became rotten. Because evil has no capital of its own, it is a parasite ... All badness has no real estate of its own.  That's why evil likes to invade, trespass, bully, seduce, deceive; it's trying to get something that doesn't belong to it: evil is greed, jealousy, lust, hauteur, gluttony, vengeance  even laziness is a form of false-lordship, the sloth is one who demands entitlement without contribution. I think that most of the time evil comes tempting us in the subtle guise of moderately good things.  Again, it has no substance of its own; it has to pervert something else in order to act. Evil is evil, no doubt about that.  And yet, thanks be to God, evil cannot prevail; furthermore, God can use ALL things together for good for those who love the Lord. As powerful and destructive as evil is, it is yet a grace that it is not a god, it is a grace that evil is only a lie, a de

Today I am overwhelmed with a feeling and sense of melancholy, even though a very conscious part of me is easily happy.  Some inner thread feels wearily weighed down (but refusing to break) with the weight of a grieving world.  I so often think of the pre-born babies who have been martyred for existing.  When they are annihilated in their mommy's wombs, someone is trying to say "thou shalt not be," or "the world is better if you don't exist."  Could there be anything more untrue?  Existence is Good.  To Be is the first hallmark of God.  We are most Godly when we are most purely and trustingly Being.  I grieve for these sweet little ones who God loved into existence, even if no-one else would love them.  But I rejoice that they are in Heaven w/ the Lord.  They do exist.  That they do not exist just because they have been martyred is the biggest lie.  It is the supreme arrogance to say what or who is not.  God says "let there be," and there is!  God

Do a Google search of "muselet" and you'll find many articles and images dedicated to an amazingly elegantly-designed, yet practical devise that has become a collectible art-form.  The muselet is that ingenious little cage that holds in place a champagne cork.  This "cage" actually has two parts: the metal wire knotted in a particular way designed to aid in easy removal, and the little "boule" which bears the makers mark. When I named this blog "Muselet" I thought I had coined a new word.  As a noun: letter from the Muse, and as a verb: let the Muse speak!  However, it turns out it is a french word for "muzzle"!  This may seem an unfortunately opposite concept.  However, maybe it is not a contradiction, but rather, a sweet little paradox. When something is muzzled, it is restrained.  It need not be entirely silent.  As the muselet keeps the cork in the bottle helping the bottle keep in the champagne until ready for celebratory

I love playing for Mass because I love offering myself to the Lord through music (which is an avenue of great, deep, and beautiful intimacy), AND because I love to, at least in some small way, aid others in their worship, in their hearts and minds, and all of us together as Christ's Body, Christ's Bride. One of my favorite experiences in accompanying the Cantor when singing the Psalms is when I hear the congregation respond w/ one voice, one healthy and whole voice.  By "healthy and whole" I don't mean that we don't have our troubles, but that I can hear in the people's voice together an authentic giving of the Self to the Lord.  I can hear individual voices and I can hear the blending of the voices.  I can hear each singer choosing to lift their voice to the Lord.  And when we're at our best, it seems to me to also convey our willingness to do this meeting-the-Lord WITH each other.  Too often I hear critics of Catholic liturgy bemoaning the fact th