Sunday Best: 1000th Catholic Skywalker Post

Wow.

It's seems like yesterday that I was sitting down trying to think of blog handle, wondering if I would have enough follow-through to keep with blogging.

And now, here we are at my 1000th blog post.

I remember when I first started, my good friend Plukarius sent me the Litany of Blog Humility composed by Jeff Miller the Curt Jester:

The Litany of Blog Humility

From the desire of my blog being read
Deliver me dear Jesus
From the desire of my blog being praised
Deliver me dear Jesus
From the fear of my blog being despised
Deliver me dear Jesus
From the fear of my blog being forgotten
Deliver me dear JesusFrom the fear of no page views
Deliver me dear Jesus
That other blogs may be loved more than mine
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire itThat Nihil Obstat may find all my grammatical and spelling errors
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire itThat Google may never list my blog
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire itThat comments always be negative and abusive
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire itThat my commenting system always say “commenting temporarily unavailable”
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire itThat Mark Shea may notice every blog but mine
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire itThat others may be pithier than I, provided that I may become as pithy as I should
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it

Humurous as it was, it does have an important message.

One of the reasons I think that the age of social media has exploded is that we desperately want to be heard, to be known.  Often this can lead to a false sense of closeness and friendship through Facebook, Twitter, etc.  But I would say that this desire to be heard is found in blogging (I can already hear a few of you shrugging your shoulders saying, "No kidding.")

Look, if I wanted to simply catalogue my own thoughts, I would be sitting in a comfy chair with a gel pen and journaling in a leather-bound book with blank pages and a Superman cover.

But for some reason, I wanted to blog.  And the reason is that I thought I had something worth saying that was worth reading.

So what I am trying to say simply, to you dear reader, is "Thank you."

I have so very much enjoyed the fact that you have taken time out of your busy lives to spend a few moments reading these ramblings.  It's meant a lot to me that you have not only read, but commented on posts with your compliments or critiques.

I remember going through my list of Best Directors and have a small group of friends around a dinner table spark a fun discussion from that.  It was a small moment, but it made me so happy that my writing could lead to some small joyfully diverting conversation between friends.

As I said, there is, perhaps, an underlying self-centeredness to blogging.  But I am not so foolish as to imagine my words having any world shattering impact.  Rather, if anything I have written has given you laughter, amusement, or (and I am being very ambitious here) insight, then I am satisfied.

And ultimately, I hope that this blog brings some measure of honor and glory to God.  If anything good has come out of it, it is only by His inspiration.  But I take full responsibility by all of the crap written here.  I hope that somehow engaging the pop culture as a devout Catholic can have a gracious effect on the cultural conversation.

I would encourage anyone who has considered blogging to give it a try.  I have found it incredibly rewarding.  And, heck, if I can do it anyone can!



So below I have links to THE BEST OF CATHOLIC SKYWALKER

1.  Most Read Post - SINNERS IN THE CHURCH
This one surprised me, but according to the records, this is my most read post.  It is a link to an article I wrote for NewEvangelizers.com.  It addresses the complaint people sometimes have about how there are so many hypocrites in the Catholic Church.  You can read the whole thing here.

2.  Most Well-Recieved Post - Manliest Movie of the 1970's: Jaws
I was touched by the nice things people said about this essay.  I put a lot of thought into it, and I think that some of my insights are original.  Anyway, I had a lot of fun reading it.  You can read it here.

3.  Most Popular Essay - Thanks For Nothing

Even though I wrote this and reposted it a few times, I often forget the lesson I was trying to get across about appreciating normal life.  You can read it here.

4.  Most Popular Film Review - Pitch Perfect

I think what made this one so controversial was that I gave it a strong review despite the presence of some rather immoral behavior.  I had one commenter question whether I am actually Catholic or if I am someone trying to fool people into seeing illicit movies.  I actually think the critique is fair and I will begin addressing it soon in a new feature (more on this later ).  You can read it here.

5.  Favorite Film Review - Cloud Atlas

I actually try not to be too nasty in my movie reviews.  Making a film is not an easy process and even the best and most talented people can misstep.  But I HATED Cloud Atlas and I wanted my revenge.  You can read my review here.


Anyway, that's enough navel gazing.  Thank you again for reading.

And I'm just getting started.