I intended to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe on her feast last night but never made it back to my computer screen. First, a story. While I was an undergraduate at UD, one year the seminary adjoining the school invited the university "community" to 6:30 am mass of Our Lady of Guadalupe, followed by breakfast at the seminary. They invited ethnic dancers from a Mexican parish to come as well. Which would have been a nice touch, but for the fact that the celebrant (this was the 80s) invited these dancers to do their essentially pagan Aztec dance as a liturgical dance during the canon. No one could believe it, least of all the dancers themselves, whom you could see glaring back and forth at one another, torn between what was liturgically proper and what the priest was asking them to do. Eventually they danced on the altar a dance that in Mexico would only be done outside the Church. My seminarian friend summed it up at breakfast: "6:30 am: Mass of Our Lady of Guadalupe. 7:15 am: Re-dedication of the chapel."
My family always seems to receive special graces on either December 8 (Immaculate Conception) or December 12. For example, in stories that are too long to get into, twice when impending moves to new digs seemed doomed by sour real estate transactions, the doomed contract was resolved suddenly and unexpectedly --on the 8th and the 12th respectively. Last night, we got to tour the White House Christmas decorations (a minor perk of being a political appointee), and I was thanking Our Lady for that treat when I got to thinking about what the President might owe to Our Lady. Which brings me to a pop quiz. (You can read the answers by highlighting the invisible text with your cursor.)
- What happened December 8th, 2000 that changed the fate of the world? The Supreme Court ruled in Bush's favor in Bush v. Gore, stopping the highly selective vote "count" taking place in Florida.
- What happened December 12, 2000? FL secretary of state Katherine Harris sealed the election for Bush.
I'm not arguing that Bush is a President chosen by God, mind you. But His mom seems to like him. Incidentally, when did the War on Terror --with strikes on Afghanistan-- begin? (Click to read the answer).October 7, 2001, Feast of the Holy Rosary.
