Jish mentioned to me this morning that today is both Friday the 13th and Good Friday. Despite the difference in names and supposed meanings, Good Friday is the day Catholics honor as the day Christ was crucified, so I guess it can be considered pretty much a bad day all around, as far as tradition goes. Before non-Catholics think of us as morbid, though, it should be pointed out that Easter is the biggest celebration in the Catholic church, celebrating the day that Christ rose from the dead. And he had to die in order to rise again. At least, that's the way it usually happens.

And that's the Advent lesson for today from your friendly neighborhood lapsed Catholic.

UPDATE: Your friendly neighborhood lapsed Catholic made a major theological mistake. We're coming up on the end of Lent, not Advent. If my mother read this site, she'd be mortified.