VH1 and MTV, both, were playing “The Reason” at the same time just now. I wonder the odds.

I’m running over the day’s news and a couple of things just caught my eye:
Man Behind Rampage Found Dead
This was stuffed inside the Post about a man in a small town in Colorado having a beef over a factory built in 2000. His method of cooking the beef? Building a homemade tank out of a bulldozer and well, bulldozing a few of the town’s building. The factory, the City Hall, the library, the newspaper office and a store are all in ruins.
Chirac honors American D-Day Spies
This is a good D-Day Anniversary story about the French President awarding an American spy the Legion of Honor. He was a spy that fed incorrect information to a Nazi-sympathizing French agent. D-Day was more than just soldiers running up a beach and it’s good to hear some of the stories about what else happened.
Pope wraps up Swiss trip
Friday, the pope met with President Bush at the Vatican, then he left for a quick two-day trip to Switzerland. The story, from Reuters’ UK site, says that the pope seemed better than he has been recently. What I noted in the story is that the pope flew back to Rome on a commercial jet. How does that work? Does his aide call Swiss Airlines and asks “I need all the first-class tickets you have”? Did the pope take up the entire plane? If not, imagine being one of the few normal passengers on the plane. I’m sure that they chartered a commercial jet but all the same.
Anyhow, just random stuff that came across my desktop.

“You have declared your consent before the Church. May the Lord in his goodness strengthen your consent and fill you both with his blessings. What God has joined, men must not divide.” – Consent, Rite of Marriage During Mass
I am back in Austin slowly getting settled back in and currently, working the front desk at the University Catholic Center for a wedding.
I always enjoy Catholic weddings. I’ve been to a couple of ceremonies conducted by the local Justice of the Peace, one marriage ceremony of a couple exchanging their vows within the Church after a few years of civil marriage. I’ve only been to one Catholic wedding where I knew either the bride or the groom (that’s right Andrea, it was your wedding!). Beyond that, I have been an altar server at some twenty or twenty-five weddings.
By far, the most rewarding position at the wedding would have to be either the priest or the server. While standing upon the altar, in my case holding the book for Fr. Koch, you can feel the love between the couple. This is the happiest moment, so far, of their lives. You can feel the love of God bathing them. They are, through the sacramental marriage, creating a union that mimics God himself. In my short life, I can’t say I have felt that in as powerful of a way as you can while standing a foot away from the couple when they recite their vows.
You can see that they are nervous. They are excited. They are even a little scared. You can see them calming each other down in way that probably only a few or perhaps only their groom/bride could do. In the hours before, as you prepare for the Mass and make sure all the vessels, liturgical books, et al., the groom and bride are rushing around. Everything has to be right. The flowers are late! Where is the ringbearer? Why isn’t Mom here yet? The stress of the wedding event that had been in the works for at least six months is coming to a head.
Once the procession ends and the groom steps off the altar to meet his bride, it fades away. It is such an awesome thing to see that happen, and believe me, in many cases it is quite visible.
Whether there is a crowd of 10 or a crowd of 1,000, once the bride and groom are together, three people remain. The bride, the groom and the priest. It is a little different for everyone but in many cases, you can just tell that all else is forgotten.
On a completely separate wedding note, the couple getting married today was smart. They wanted the service at University Catholic Center but parking is always a problem. So, they told their guests of a secondary parking lot far from campus and had a bus transport them to the Center. I thought it was a great idea.

I was a little late but I registered for Summer 2004 today:
90600 — BIO S213 (Intro Bio: Evolution and Diversity) — 11:30-1, T 3-4
90625 — BIO S214 (Intro Bio: Structures and Functions of Organisms) — 1-2:30, TH 10-11