New season, new coach, new team.
Hoping it will all turn out alright.
Spring 2023 Soccer
the boy
Curriculum Night
Tonight, I took the Boy to curriculum night at his zoned middle school. We're still not sure if he's going to the charter middle school L attended (he's grandfathered in) or if he's going to the zoned public school. Right now he's leaning toward the latter: he's interested in music, and he wants to play in band, which is not something the charter school offers.
We spoke to the band director for a while, talked to the strings teacher, looked at the instruments, talked about the advantages of each.
"I think I'm leaning to this school," he said.
"My only concern," I said, "is that the academics at this school won't be at quite the level as the charter school."
The Boy expressed that he's okay with that, suggesting once again that he's not such a smart guy as someone who needs those "high-level classes."
K and I don't know where this idea comes from. He gets great grades; he scores well on standardized tests -- he just doesn't see himself as a gifted person, certainly not as a thinker. He sees himself as perfectly academically average.
He couldn't be more different than his sister...
Playoffs
Last Game of the Regular Season
The Boy had his final regular season game today. Coach had him in the entire first quarter, and he got a rebound that he put back up for a basket.
That's one basket a game for the last three games.
Sunday Games
The Girl has slowly disappeared from this site though not for lack of interest on my part. She's reticent to have photos taken; she is often not at home in the evenings, either at practice, the gym, the library, or just going to visit friends; the things we talk about don't result in cute exchanges anymore but just honest sharing with each other -- when she's willing to share. She is, in short, a typical sixteen-year-old, and her withdrawal from this site mirrors a bit of a withdrawal from family life into her own, growing life.
So when she accepted an invitation this evening to come downstairs and play a board game with E and me, the temptation to take a picture was great, but I knew it would ruin the moment. K probably did, too, and didn't even try a stealth shot. Instead, the three of us sat and played Sequence, chatting about nothing of any significance, just spending some time together. I played without a care, randomly placing my pieces with only the occasional intent -- usually to block L's pending sequence. She won anyway (she always wins board games), and though I would have played another, neither child was interested.
"Are they both just humoring me?" I thought as they walked away.
Toppled
The Boy's basketball team took down an undefeated team in today's game. K and I didn't know that they were undefeated until the end, but I suspected: with about half of the third quarter remaining, down 14-8, a boy from the opposing team seemed like it was all he could do to keep back the tears, and he continued in this state until the end of the game. The Boy's team lost their first game just a couple of weeks ago, so we know how that stings.
As for pictures -- only one. From long ago.
Looking for a New Home
E's Cub Scout adventure is nearing its end. He and the other boys in his pack who are interested in moving on to Boy Scouts are checking out various troops. Tonight, they visited one about a mile from our house.
It's his top pick at the moment.
Today
Experiments
The Boy and I were experimenting with the new phones.
Mine was somewhat less flattering.
Definitions
“I was just here a little while ago,” E lamented as we neared our parish church for basketball practice tonight.
“Why?” asked N, genuinely perplexed. N is a dear friend but not a member of the church.
“For religious education,” the Boy explained.
“What’s that?”
“It’s like school,” E said.
“What do you learn about?”
“Church.”
“That wasn’t a very informative answer,” N pressed.
“Well, we learn about,” the Boy pauesed for a moment before finishing, “well, it’s about everything church.”
“That still doesn’t tell me much,” N insisted.
“Well, today we learned about sacraments,” E clarified.
N thought for a moment before admitting, “I don’t know what that is at all.”
When I was N’s and E’s age, I, too, would have had no idea what a “sacrament” might be, and I certainly would have no idea what it’s supposed to do. According to the Catholic Church, sacraments are “outward signs of inward grace, instituted by Christ for our sanctification.” Even if someone told me that, I doubt I would have understood what any of that might mean.
Outward sign? Simple enough.
Inward grace? Not sure what “inward” means here, and even now as an adult, it's not clear. I suppose it's meant to be juxtaposed with "outward" to create an appealing bit of parallelism. But are we talking internal medicine "inward" or are we talking mental inward? Or are we talking spiritual? Of course, that doesn't even exist, but if they meant "spiritual" why not say "spiritual" instead of "inward"?
I certainly wouldn’t know what “grace” means here. I would have known "grace" from a basic Christian idea of forgiveness, but beyond that, I'm lost. And what's an "inward grace"? Are their other kinds of grace? What does the Catholic Encyclopedia say?
Grace (gratia, Charis), in general, a supernatural gift of God to intellectual creatures (men, angels) for their eternal salvation, whether the latter be furthered and attained through salutary acts or a state of holiness. Eternal salvation itself consists in heavenly bliss resulting from the intuitive knowledge of the Triune God, who to the one not endowed with grace "inhabiteth light inaccessible" (1 Timothy 6:16). Christian grace is a fundamental idea of the Christian religion, the pillar on which, by a special ordination of God, the majestic edifice of Christianity rests in its entirety. Among the three fundamental ideas — sin, redemption, and grace — grace plays the part of the means, indispensable and Divinely ordained, to effect the redemption from sin through Christ and to lead men to their eternal destiny in heaven.
Source
Look at all those links -- they're all articles to offer further explanation about the various ideas.
“Sanctification?” No idea then as now. The Catholic Encyclopedia lists "grace" as "sanctifying grace" and has an article on the related topic of justification but nothing on sanctification. It's all just a confusing mess when you really look at it:
Since the end and aim of all efficacious grace is directed to the production of sanctifying grace where it does not already exist, or to retain and increase it where it is already present, its excellence, dignity, and importance become immediately apparent; for holiness and the sonship of God depend solely upon the possession of sanctifying grace, wherefore it is frequently called simply grace without any qualifying word to accompany it as, for instance, in the phrases "to live in grace" or "to fall from grace".
I suspect most adult Catholics wouldn’t be able to explain it beyond the memorized explanations they might have learned in religious education. Push these ideas a little and they begin to slip and slide for the average believer; shove and heave on these ideas and they begin to crack for the average parishioner.
Apologists would explain that this is due to “insufficient catechesis.” But eventually, even the most expert catechist is going to run out of answers. Or they're going to begin saying stuff like the quotes above, which sound elevated and sophisticated but which, when really examined, are empty and relatively meaningless -- when someone pushes back hard enough.
N, however, was content to sit in ignorance.