The World of Grandpa Don  

The above quote struck me as being quite profound. The things we hear in church are supposed to govern the way we act all week. Isn't that the reason we go to church ... to reinforce our faith and help us to put it into practice?  OK, some Catholics go because they fear that missing Mass on the weekend will send them to Hell. Well folks, that may be true but it is the wrong reason to go. That is the trouble with making rules ... people show up for mass ... they "hear mass" ... thereby obeying the rule and then thinking they are "saved". The problem is that the reason for the rule is for us to participate at mass and use what we have learned to govern our lives all week. We often obey the letter of the law and fail miserably in its intent. Many will be surprised when they get to the pearly gates and find they have to stand aside and watch Tax Collectors and Prostitutes enter. (In biblical times tax collectors were countrymen in the employ of the occupying nation who got rich on what they could extort beyond the minimum tax ... sounds familiar.)

I find evidence in some of the emails that I receive that Sunday's message is not getting through to us or even that it is being ignored. Is it just that we are careless about what we forward? Or is it that we actually act the opposite of what we claim to believe? When Anne and I became ministers of Communion we were told that we would be held to a higher standard in everything we did by parishioners who saw us outside of church. (I immediately removed the radar detector from my car.) In the early days of Christianity, non Christians were converted on the strength of how the Christians treated each other. We seem to have lost something in the past two centuries. In those emails, I see intolerance, calumny, and certainly not charity. The senders sometimes, unwittingly I hope, align themselves with organizations which may promote their views in some aspects but are quite radical  in other respects.  For my part, I am getting too close to the time of judgment. (and any time is too close). I prefer to join the reformed tax collectors and prostitutes on our way to heaven.

My computer has been slowing down lately and I have been getting some strange error messages at times. I had run across a program called Uniblue Registry Booster and downloaded the Free version. At first it had found over about 200 errors in the registry. That is the part of the memory of the computer that holds all the instructions for running programs and how they interact with one another. I checked with Kevin, my computer guru who told me that it is a good program but 200 errors were not a lot ... just leftover bits of information about programs that have changed or been removed. He didn't think it would be worth the $30 to buy the full program so it could fix the registry. But as I said, I have been getting strange error messages and ... McAfee, my virus protection software has been telling me that it is removing "trojans" from some of my incoming email. I decided to run the Registry booster again and this time it found 1562 errors. I plunked down my $30 and downloaded the full version, then let it work on my system. After it rebooted, there was a noticeable difference in the start up time of the computer itself as well as in the startup time of the programs I use.

By the way, those trojans have been arriving regularly in mail being sent to our web ministry email address. I don't know if that address has found its way on to some automatic list or if the sender is actually targeting religious organizations. In any case it boggles my mind that there are people out there who get their kicks trying to disrupt the lives of others. Why? What warped sense of values motivates them?  They obviously have a talent, a talent which could be put to good constructive use. They don't even see the results of their maliciousness except in a remote way of hearing reports of it. There certainly is no profit in it. At least I would hope not. The thought crosses my mind that producers of software designed to detect and destroy these things may actually produce them to justify their existence. That would be like a fireman starting fires so he can be a hero. But I have heard no reports of this and hope it is not the case. I can only imagine that the Devil now has a computer department. Every one knows that the Devil's motivation is that misery loves company and that he would like to prove that he is right in defying God. He still doesn't get it.

Oh yes, these tainted emails are usually "notifications" that "my" credit card may have been used fraudulently and that I should open the attachment (wherein lies the devilish code) to see if I actually made the purchases listed. But these stupid people give themselves away with a very un-business like greeting and closing ...

Hello there
Dear Valued Customer,
-------
See you later
Stephen Lozano
Manager of Credit Card Fraud Defense

Besides, when a credit card company wants to check for possible fraudulent charges they will use the phone to call

Anne Marie called at the wrong time of the day. When I saw it was her calling I wondered what was wrong, but alas, it was good tidings. Mark had been to a job interview and had time to spend before going for a drug test. He didn't have my phone number but wanted to go to lunch. GREAT! He soon arrived and I put on socks and shoes (in that order) and we were off to Ashford House. All of the Albano boys like that place and so do I. We enjoyed lunch and conversation, finishing just in time for the afternoon opening of the lab on Harlem Avenue after he dropped me off at home.  In any case, it looks like Marc will have landed a position and will need to let his aunt know that he will not be working in the boat yard this winter. By the way, any time any on my Grandkids want to have "Lunch With Grandpa", just give me a call (before 11:30). Grandpa loves it and will pick up the tab. Come individually or in pairs or trios.