Jeremy Flynn

[James Martin, SJ @JamesMartinSJ]

Let us now praise holy women.

Like millions of others, I found myself surprisingly sad over the death of Dolly Parton. Of course, like those same millions of people, I was a huge fan of this woman with an outsized musical talent. She was a regular voice on the radio from my earliest years; I vividly remember eating Wheaties as a 13-year-old on a school morning and hearing her plaintive cri de coeur, “Jolene,” on the pink Bakelite radio that sat on our kitchen counter.

Dolly was a fixture in pop culture through my teenage years with tuneful hits like “I Will Always Love You” and “Here You Come Again” in the 1970s. A few years later, “9 to 5" summed up a whole era of office work when I was working in an office myself.

Her voice spoke, or sang, for itself; but growing up, I was only dimly aware of her prodigious writing talent: she was the composer of 3,000 songs, many of them covered by other artists. And I always enjoyed her sunny disposition and, especially, her confidently pushing back against people who would reduce her to a cartoon.

But only later in life did I became aware of her tremendous charity and big heart: giving away thousands of books to children in need (and “babies”: I love the idea of giving a baby a book); offering countless acts of charity to residents in Sevier County, Tennessee, her hometown; quietly helping a struggling singer or artist or writer or anyone; and being an early supporter of the LGBTQ community, when that could prove deeply unpopular.

The universal mourning may come from that last quality, which you could call charity or compassion, but you could also call holiness. When you read even cursorily about her life, what becomes obvious is a Christian faith that led to a lifetime of kindness and charity, often behind the scenes. This helps to explain the great sadness that greeted her death.

And it reminded me of someone else.

Think of how often we read about Jesus in the Gospels being pursued by crowds. Early in the Gospel of Mark, we read that Jesus’s “fame” spread throughout Galilee, with crowds waiting at his door in Capernaum. It’s not just the healing that people wanted; it was the innate desire to be near holiness: to be near compassion, near acceptance, basically, near love. Holiness calls to us, because it’s a quality of the divine and is one way that God draws us closer.

We saw in Dolly Parton something more than talent, something more than wit and something more than even charity; we saw holiness. Thank you, Dolly, for teaching me about the Christian life. And may you rest in peace with the God you loved and served so well.

[Daniel Hannan @DanielJHannan]

An apt day to remember that Dolly Parton once recorded a cover of Stairway to Heaven - and, in defiance of every moral law in the universe, she absolutely owned it.

[Jeremy Flynn @JeremyDFlynn04]

@AndyManar https://t.co/ngDVRyoiOZ

[Jeremy Flynn @JeremyDFlynn04]

Absolutely.

[Super 70s Sports @Super70sSports]

Sometimes I think we just value the wrong things as sports fans. Willie McGee hit 79 homers in 18 years and he was more fun and exciting than a clown car full of 30-homer steroid freaks.

[Mars Area SD @MarsAreaSD]

💙💛⚾️ Mrs. Ingoldsby, JJ Wetherholt’s 5th grade teacher, found this gem for his MLB debut today. The students had to write what they wanted to be when they grew up. So proud of him for living out his dream and knocking it out of the park in his very first at-bat! #marsproud

[Status Coup News @StatusCoup]

🚨"This is nuts! What the f*ck is going on, this is insane! ICE is just trying to scare people; they tell you it's only immigrants—it's f*cking anybody!" -furious Minneapolis resident tells our @ZDRoberts after ICE shot a man in the leg tonight. LIVE NOW ⬇️

[Jeremy Flynn @JeremyDFlynn04]

👏👏👏

[Super 70s Sports @Super70sSports]

In 1969, Congress was planning to cut PBS’ funding until Mr. Rogers explained what he did on his show. Game over. An American treasure and great human being.

[Jake Broe @RealJakeBroe]

Essentially this is what Gavin Newsom's team has been doing to MAGA the last month and they are losing their minds.

@GavinNewsom @iGardon @GovPressOffice

[IDOT_Illinois @IDOT_Illinois]

The @ILStateFair is just days away! Starting at 5 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, traffic will flow one-way counterclockwise. Eastbound and westbound turn lanes from Veterans Parkway to Eighth Street will be closed. Normal traffic resumes at 6 a.m. Aug. 18. https://t.co/Xs0RipyLc6

[Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump]

Remember that I predicted a long time ago that President Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly-not skilled!

[San Diego Police Department @SanDiegoPD]

You stayed classy, San Diego. Thank you to the thousands who demonstrated peacefully today.

No arrests, and no incidents.

#SanDiegoStrong #OneTeamOneMission

[USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service @USDA_APHIS]

THIS JUST IN 👉 @USDA issues permit for Santa’s reindeer to enter the United States: https://t.co/RP8NBQUcWr

#APHIS #USDAAPHIS

[Brian Krassenstein @krassenstein]

People on both sides of the political spectrum need to listen to this. Please!

[Jeremy Flynn @JeremyDFlynn04]

Yeah. This.

[Jeremy Flynn @JeremyDFlynn04]

@AndyManar Exciting or anxiety inducing?

[Mr. Goodwrench, Illini fan @MrG00dwrench]

This is the week to remind everyone…

[zoë rose bryant @zoerosebryant]

illegal transgender alien

[Jeremy Flynn @JeremyDFlynn04]

👀 @AndyManar

[Quinn @QuinnSTLCards]

Cardinals batters this month:

Paul Goldschmidt
.600/.600/1.000, 347 wRC+

Jordan Walker
1.000/1.000/1.750, 681 wRC+

[Jeremy Flynn @JeremyDFlynn04]

@AndyManar @Cardinals Incredibly depressing. It’s a matter of how much can I stomach to watch each night.

[Former Cardinals @FormerRedbirds]

“So how did you find yourself here?”

“I never know if the Cardinals’ season is over or if there’s a chance they could make the playoffs.”