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ST. STEPHAN
BEATITUDES
THE SEVEN
DEADLY SINS SOLUTION
Brethren!
The old year has gone out, and with it our
uplifting contest. I hope and trust it rekindled in
you some knowledge and awareness of sin. Since
there were more than three correct entries, I will
have to choose final winners with the aid of divine
guidance (the Lord will infallibly guide my darts
to the most deserving winners). For those of you
who did not find all the answers, here they
are:
SALVAGE
was the acrostic, to
be found in the first sentence of the third
paragraph of the sermon.
Sloth,
or Laziness, was Sin the First, amply
demonstrated by Lolo Ferrari. The
identification presented some difficulties because
it was a candid picture I took and rather unclear,
but connoisseurs should have had no difficulty in
identifying those Grand Tetons thrusting straight
up in spite of their volume and her supine
position. Who else, or rather, whose else,
could do that? Here is a photograph of Lolo posing
with me (I was attending a papal
conference in Avignon and had popped down to Cannes
for R&R): unfortunately the photographer was
distracted by something and missed most of me,
although part of my halo is still
visible.
Anger
aka Wrath was Sin the
Second, portrayed with a snarl by Minka. Her
anger was due to my taking away her whip for this
photograph. In the accompanying picture you can see
that when I gave her whip back her wrath began to
abate, although she remained high-spirited (would
we wish her otherwise?). Minka normally uses the
whip for self-flagellation, but her services are
also available for penitent sinners like
me. 
Lust
was Sin the Third, and the picture is of Lili
Xene initiating a novice in the cloister. It
was taken by my camera hidden in the cell of Mother
Superior Christene (you did know the X in Xene is
like the X in Xmas, didn't you?). Under the
circumstances it was impossible to aim the camera
perfectly so not all of her head showed, but the
body, even with attachments, is unmistakable. Her
face is more clearly visible in this picture also
taken with my hidden camera: here she is conferring
with a colleague, clearly another Mother Superior
judging from the size of her t- t- t- ...b- b- b-
b- ...mammae; her name sounded something
like "Quaesi"
(the microphone is much less skillfully placed than
the camera).
Vanity,
much the same as Pride, was Sin the Fourth,
illustrated by a double, or perhaps I should say
quadruple, image of Toppsy Curvey. She does
have something to be vain about, as you can see in
this photograph which she granted me the boon of
taking; notice the magnitude despite lack of
support.
Avarice,
which can be interpreted as Greed or Stinginess,
was Sin the Fifth. SaRenna Lee showed us the
greed aspect of it. No one could call her stingy:
generous seems a more appropriate adjective.
Observe the attached image she most generously sent
me for Christmas and see if you don't
agree.
Gluttony
was Sin the Sixth, nicely acted out by Crystal
Storm, whose endow ment
is so vast in the contest picture that she could be
considered the object of gluttony as well as its
subject. I mean, does she perhaps have too much...?
Nawwww. But I'm afraid she really is guilty of the
sin of gluttony: at least she must always have
something in her mouth (witness the attached
image), which can be distracting when I'm trying to
wield the camera.
Envy
aka Covetousness (close to but not quite the same
as
Jealousy) was Sin the Seventh and Last, played out
by Tiffany Towers and a friend. Actually it
is the friend who shows the envy, since Tiffany
clearly has nothing to envy in the department we
are interested in. In fact, this picture which I
snapped in the sacristy one afternoon shows that
she can only envy...herself.
So,
my children, there you have the Seven Deadly Sins.
It is my duty to say, "Go and sin no more." But as
we all know, spiritus promptus est, caro autem
infirma --the spirit is willing but the flesh
is weak. We are all sinners, and we will always be.
So, as your spiritual advisor, I beseech you to at
least carefully choose the sins you indulge in, to
never split infinitives or use prepositions to end
a phrase with, and to control your partaking of
these sins, lest they contaminate your soul and
diminish the joys of life. Exempli gratia,
while we all like money (even in the True Church),
Avarice will blind you to the good things in life.
Envy and Anger towards your neighbors profit you
nothing, and Vanity loses you in yourself. Gluttony
and Sloth will make you unfit for other pleasures
of life, such as -- now let's see, which sin is
left to enjoy? Carpe diem.
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