Sunday Potpourri No. 30

Ordinary Time

It is easy to forget because the past two Sundays were special feast days (Trinity Sunday on May 22 and Corpus Christi on May 29), but Ordinary Time for Catholics began on May 16, the day after Pentecost Sunday, and will continue until Advent begins on November 27.

The liturgical color for Ordinary Time is green, which suits this Irishman just fine...

"You know green's not really a good color on you, right?"

Fortunately, I'm not a priest...

Requiescat in Pace

This particular date on the calendar is a tough one for me, as we lost a couple of my favorite people on this date a few years apart...

On June 5, 2004 former President Ronald Reagan died at the age of 93 in Bel Air, California.

As a conservative, the two most influential figures in my life were William F. Buckley, Jr. and his dear friend Ronald Reagan.

On June 5, 2012 author Ray Bradbury died at age 91 in Los Angeles.

I have yet to meet a writer who doesn't love Bradbury, and all of us who love to write learned from his matchless ability to blend storytelling skills with impossibly beautiful prose.

I Feel Safer Already

From the pen of Chip Bok, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

When I moved to Wyoming to resume my teaching career in the fall of 1983, I was only dimly aware of the Irish rock band U2. A couple of songs from their 1983 album War were getting a fair amount of radio play, and while I was relocating the band was in the midst of a world tour in support of the album.

Original 1984 VHS tape packaging

On June 5, 1983 the band played a concert at the famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado (near Denver). The concert was broadcast on the NBC radio network in July, and film taken of the band's performance was shown on the Showtime network and on MTV. U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky, a home video version of the concert, was released in the fall of 1984.

In early November 1983, I indulged my fondness for live albums and purchased  
Under a Blood Red Sky, a mini-LP that happened to have a really low price at the local record store due to its having about half as many songs as a regular LP. Unlike the film, which consisted only of the June 5 performances at Red Rocks, the album contained only two songs from that show (the rest were from other performance dates on the War tour).

I enjoyed the album a lot, and became a fan of the band. I've been one ever since.

Today's send-off is the band's Red Rocks performance of "Gloria," which was included on the album and is one of my favorites. It is a song about faith, and I really like the fact that the song includea lyrics in Latin. Enjoy...