Universal Zeal
For the glory of God and His creation.
Omnium Gatherum - 13:05 CST, 2/22/26 (Sniper)
Video Games
Faith
Prayer Request
This gave me a bit of an ironic laugh: the Digital Foundry people-- both the actual hosts, and their fans-- have spent the past odd-year slagging off the "I'm just going to be honest even though everyone hates me for it" Threat Interactive dude, saying he's been "debunked", that he's "never shipped a game", and so forth.

So now, in February of 2026, to hear them saying the exact same stuff is pretty amusing. I think they owe him an apology. Maybe they should even bring him onboard?

Yes, his responses were not always as gracious as they could have been-- but he felt compelled to defend himself, which I totally understand. It's surreal to have seemingly the entire world attack you for having stated a totally obvious truth. I've been there multiple times in my own life, so I can commiserate.

My new nickname in the family is "Deacon Aspirin"-- I'm sure it has absolutely nothing to do with my dad jokes. My pastor shared a few insights with me today related to his (excellent) homily, and I'm sure he won't mind me passing them on:

  • I asked him about the childlike innocence so many of the Saints always referred to. He steered me towards Matthew 10:16, and the phrase "wise as serpents and innocent as doves". This segues into the next point.

  • During the actual homily, he said something to the effect that God doesn't want us to go back to the state in which Adam and Eve were, before the fall-- rather, He wants us to head into the state in which that original grace was intended to lead. I know words are important so I hope I'm not paraphrasing too much, but I think I'm getting the sentiment across.

  • He explained that it wasn't a loss of innocence which caused Adam and Eve to notice their nakedness-- rather, it was due to the fact that they had distanced themselves from God, and no longer felt His protection. I could relate to this: haven't we all felt like that after sin, at some point (or perhaps many points) in our lives?

On a church-related note, I was asked today to pray for the younger brother of one of our parishioners, who is in seminary formation and who is having doubts or fears-- it was asked for this request to be passed on: please pray for him everyone!

Continuing my quasi-random brain dump, Father reminded us today not to say the "'A' word" during Lent, referring to "alleluia". I looked up the reason, and it's because the word is so associated with joyfulness that the liturgy itself is fasting in preparation for Easter!