October 8, 2009

Latest Exercise in Pedantry

This morning I am trying to draft a homily for Sunday. In saving the file, however, a problem arises. Now that I have preached through the three years of the Sunday lectionary cycle, when I go to save my document as "28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, B" I find that there is already a file with this name, containing my first Sunday homily as a transitional deacon three years ago.

So what do I call this second homily to be preached on the same liturgical day? "28th Sunday, B-2"? "28th Sunday, B2, 'Keep on the Borderlands,'"? "The 28th Sunday of Year B Strikes Back"?

Well, in hearkening back to mathematics, one of several loves lost in the course of giving my life to this religious quest, I have decided that the file will be named "28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, B′," to be read, "Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, B prime."
at

4 comments:

  1. Buck George10:42 AM

    I have a degree in computer science so I usually over-analyze stuff like this, but I would suggest a scheme that uses a combination of calendar year, liturgical year, and liturgical occasion. In the case you presented, how about week28_B_2009? Using two digits for the week would also keep them sorted in the correct order. For example, week01_B_2009 would always come before week28_B_2009. Just a thought.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brother Charles10:46 AM

    Good idea! By using the two digits for the week I would never have to use 'bogo-sort.'

    ReplyDelete
  3. Warren1:59 PM

    I think I'd always keep the year you first preached that sermon in the file title. I second bucks' idea of YYYY-AWW where WW is the week number, and [A] is a single letter code like O for Ordinary, E for Easter, L for Lent, A for Advent, and C for the Christmas season. :-)

    W

    ReplyDelete
  4. DN4:28 AM

    I, er, just advocate subfolders. Only practically. As far as an anecdote, I like your original solution.

    ReplyDelete

Faithful, or even just thoughtful criticisms are always welcome. Uninformed rudeness to other posters or to the Lord and His Church is not.

I also reserve the right to reject comments promoting things like private revelations and fringe points of view, if it seems to me like they are being presented in a misleading way.

If you raise a disagreement with something I say but I do not respond, please do not feel slighted or insulted, or imagine that this automatically means I disagree or agree with you. It's just that I don't find the comment box to be a constructive medium for certain forms of debate.