On P. Z. Myers' desecration of the Eucharist

(Taken from Wikipedia, since I'm no storyteller...)
"In a talk show featuring Myers on Catholic Radio International, hosted by Jeff Gardner, Myers confirmed that he had been sent an unspecified number of consecrated hosts and said that he intended to “subject them to heinous cracker abuse.” When asked by Gardner to explain why he must do so, Myers said that Donohue of the Catholic League was insisting that he acknowledge the Body of Christ in the Eucharist. Gardner pointed out that Donohue had no authority to insist that anyone acknowledge the body of Christ in the Eucharist. When Gardner asked Myers who, having the Magisterial authority of the Catholic Church, had insisted that he recognize the Body of Christ in the Eucharist, Myers said that no one from the Catholic Church had contacted him. On July 24, PZ Myers, in his post, "The Great Desecration," wrote that he had pierced the "cracker" with a rusty nail and simply threw it in the trash together with old coffeegrounds and a banana peel. He added a few ripped-out pages of the Qur'an and The God Delusion, and included a photograph of these items in the garbage. He wrote that nothing must be held sacred and encouraged people to question everything."

Is this a big deal? Some atheist deciding that we Catholics are taking something too seriously and deciding to do something about it? At least he didn't kidnap Catholics and demand a miracle else he's start killing his hostages or something :)

But seriously, what is the big deal? I know we Catholics are supposed to revere the Eucharist but that doesn't mean any act against it will cause us to rise up like the Muslims when someone desecrates the Qu'ran or defames Prophet Muhammad. Atheism, however, IS a big deal, especially the religion-hating kind. In fact, hate in itself is a big deal because it colors one's perception- makes one focus on one's ideas of right and wrong to the exclusion of everybody's else. That's why people wrapped up in hate can do anything- they reason that since the world is against them/has hurt them in some way, they are perfectly within they rights to partake in revenge, no matter how extreme. We Catholics (and Christians too) are called to anti-hate (i.e. love). We love everybody no matter how they have wronged us or sinned. We are to love the saint and the sinner in the same manner. I believe this is why no Catholic priest or religious have said anything about the desecration yet. How is Dr Myers' act different from the many many wrongs done to us Catholics? How is it worse than Muslim terrorists targeting Catholic nuns in Iraq?

Harry Potter and the Promotion of Witchcraft

Do the HP books and movies promote witchcraft? IMHO they promote Christian themes far more than Wicca or witchcraft. Why do I say so? 'Cause magic in the HP books and movies are dealt with in a rather scientific manner- to achieve this effect you have to do this and that (utter or think of a specific word, raise your wand, etc.) There is nothing supernatural in the way these acts are portrayed (no summoning demons, no ritual sacrifices, etc.) In fact, the magic-using people of HP's world are pretty much irreligious- there is nothing in the books suggesting religious affiliation. Though there is mention of Christmas and saints, the way these are referred to are more cultural than religious (much in the same way secular Britishers would celebrate Christmas and talk of saints). In fact, the whole culture of HP's people reminds me of medieval Europeans- the superstitious way they treat Old Voldie aka Lord Voldermort, the way the whole Ministry is subverted yet no one peeps a protest, the us vs them way they treat the Muggles, and so on. I wonder how the US magic-using people would have dealt with Old Voldie...
The Christian themes in Book 7 are extremely obvious (from the Bible verses to the "death" and "resurrection" of Harry Potter). What's more, watered-down versions of these themes can be found throughout the whole series. Now (other than in book 7) admittedly these themes are no more obvious than the ones found in most fantasy novels, but the magic found in the HP books and movies are explored in similar ways as the way those novels explore magic. I mean, wizarding schools are quite ubiquitous in the genre, and so are spell-casting rituals. Rowling simply chose to make hers more witch-like.

My Ruminations

Referring to the daily reading taken from Luke 10: 38-42 (about Martha and Mary), here are some of my thoughts on the story:

Isn't the story a familiar one? One sister/relative/friend/colleague does all the work, while the other sits around. And don't we (almost automatically) sympathize with the working one, as if sitting around isn't "work"? 'Cause technically sitting is an action word, which means something is being done, and when something is being done the someone doing the something is working at it. (But I digress. Moving on.)
There is this assumption that the person working hard deserves acclamation and aid (this assumption is especially strong in that person's mind!) and thus has the right to expect others not working as hard as he/she to give aforementioned acclamation and aid. Thus to Martha whatever Mary is doing is of less importance compared to what she is doing, since Mary is just sitting around. What's more, Martha expects that her bustling around serving the Lord is of utmost importance, and the Lord should agree with her (note how she tells Him off for not instructing Mary to help her). Thus she reduced the Lord to the status of a honored guest, no different from any other VVIP. She failed to realize that the Lord was more interested in her attention rather than her service. After all, He came to serve, not to be served. He came to teach and save, not to be lavishly treated like the pharisees and scribes of His time.
Don't we all act like this sometimes? We feel that our hard work deserves something of equal value in return, and we force this assumption on those around us. So if we do not get our just rewards we react negatively. It is as if without that reward we would stop working (at least as hard as we have done before). Our service of God and His church should not be reward-oriented but love-oriented. We give because we love, and if we can't love then we don't give. We sacrifice our time and sweat for others, and if they don't appreciate our time and sweat we shrug it off. Most important of all, we check with God whether what we are doing is right with Him. Are we doing what He wants us to do? Just because an action seems right doesn't mean it is the right thing to do. Martha's bustling around is definitely right, but the right thing to do would have been sitting at Jesus' feet listening to Him. And never ever demand that God acknowledges our work in ways we deem proper.
There is a time for bustling around in service, and a time for sitting down quietly listening to God. Let us pray that He will give us the discernment to know when to do which.