December 2016

New Evangelists Monthly - December 2016

New Evangelists Monthly - December 2016

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...about this eBook

A Blessing Prayer for My Country

Pauca Verba by Fr. Stephen Morris

Between Deceit and Truth

Amazing Nearness by Shannon

Did Catholics change the Bible?

Catholicism and Adventism by Stephen Korsman

10 of Our Traditions for Advent and Christmas

Campfires and Cleats by Chris Capolino

Purgatory 101: Everything You Need to Know About the Church Suffering

BIG C CATHOLICS by Matthew Coffin

Satan Didn't Make Me Do It

A Catholic Citizen in America by Brian Gill

Tree-Huggin' for a Reason!

Catholic Conundrum by Christina Nagy

The Seemingly Harmless Path to Schism

If I Might Interject

Treasured connections

by Ellen Kolb

Year of Mercy Comes to a Close; Christ's Mercy Flows

by Virginia Lieto

All right then, have it your way

Catholic Deacon by Deacon Scott Dodge

Deciding for Themselves

Shifting My Perspective by Claire McGarry

Saint Teresa of Calcutta Through the Lens of a Friend

joy of nine9 by Melanie Jean Juneau

Restore My Sight

FranciscanMom by Barbara Szyszkiewicz

Among the (living) Saints

With Us Still by John Schroeder

Welcome to Secular Advent

by Tony Agnesi

Part II Family and Confession by Fr. Larry Richards

by Vijaya Bodach

Ours, not Mine

Creo en Dios! by Susan Stabile

A Tree, a Tax Collector, and a View of God

God-Haunted Lunatic by Rick Becker

The Sword of Hatred

Journey to Wisdom by Larry 'T' Smith

Do Something - He Is Still Thirsting For Your Love

Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation by Michael Seagriff

Advent: disarmament and waking from the dream of separateness

Hermano Juancito by Hermano Juancito

To What Purpose November 8?

The Contemplative Catholic Convert by Rich Maffeo

Have Mercy!

by Carolyn Astfalk

Abortion Horrendous

A Spiritual Journey by David Wong

Advent Cartoon

Plot Line and Sinker by Ellen Gable Hrkach

Advent: Being P.A.R.A for God

CatholicSoup by Vinny Carr

You Wove Me In My Mother's Womb

Making It In Vermont by Lisa Laverty

St. Francis of Assisi - The Founder

by David Torkington

How do you justify baby-baptism, after all that?

Catholic365 by De Maria

Four Sure Ways to Win Your Spouse's Heart

Little Douglings by Carissa Douglas

Remarkable Contrast

Beware Yon Dragons! by Fr. Chori Jonathin Seraiah

Question - am I responsible for the Goofy People who like me?

Quiet Consecration by Leslie Klinger

Gifts of the Heart

Bible Meditations by Barbara Hosbach

America: Is This One Last Chance?

Renew The Church Blog by Thomas and Deborah Richard

From Darkness, Light

Miss Alexandrina by Alexandrina Brant

Our Life Is God's Gift to Us!

A Moment From De Sales by Fr. Richard DeLillio

We Need to Talk About Breastfeeding

Under Thy Roof by Kirby Hoberg

Don't Hit the Snooze Bar

Walking the Path by Christian Miraglia

Around the Table

Theologyisaverb by Elizabeth Reardon

My Friends are Heathens

Erin McCole Cupp by Erin Cupp

How to Make an Advent Wreath in 4 Steps

A Catholic Newbie by Lyn Mettler

The Mystery of Christ In Us!

Bartimaeus' Quiet Place by Bartimaeus Timeo

Dear Thanksgiving Moms

CF Family by Allison Howell

Don't Tell

Every Day Catholic, Deanna Bartalini by Deanna Babineau

Ludwig van Beethoven, the World's Greatest Composer

The Koala Mom by Bonnie Way

After the Election: feasts and fence-mending

Mere Observations by Jeff Walker

The Road Less Traveled

bukas palad by Fr. Adrian Danker

The Dream of Gerontius

Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman by Fr. Juan Velez

Deacon Allen Tatara Witness for Christ

Deacon Allen Tatara Witness for Christ by Deacon Allen Tatara

Gift of Today

On the Road to Damascus by Robert Collins

The Billable Hour and the death of the soul

Catholic Book Report by Aaron Martin

The Great Pew Slither

Sweeping Up Joy by Alicia

Who Did I Help?

Do Not Be Anxious by Tom Smith

Peace

Grace to Paint by Sister Maresa Lilley

God would not be God if he were God the way you would be God

Boldly Catholic by Rick Rice

A beautiful gift (and how I'm stubborn)

Into Your Will by Jen

Days of Gratitude: Cubs Win!

by Kim Padan

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New Evangelists Monthly is an informal, dynamic, crowd-sourced “meta-magazine” showcasing the best posts faithful Catholic bloggers publish each month. Here you will find many different, but faithfully Catholic viewpoints, insights and perspectives.

Contributing authors submit their very best piece from the prior month between subsequent first and second Saturdays. Readers are welcome to visit anytime, even while contributions are still being accepted for a new issue. Back issues are available in the archive.

eBook editions such as this are available within a few days following submission deadlines (the second Saturday of each month). eBook formats include .mobi for Kindle users, .epub for most other eBook readers and .pdf for everyone else.

For the latest edition of New Evangelists Monthly, or for more information about this New Evangelization initiative, visit us at:

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A Blessing Prayer for My Country [at Pauca Verba]

These nineteen months have been a terrible political time for many people in the United States: fights for domination, failing fact-checks, demonization, threats, arrogance, dirty-ness, false promises, self-betrayal, pandering, superficiality, manipulation, even violence. Priests hear a lot: I am not alone in feeling we have gone off into darkness.

But I don't like staying stuck in bitterness, so I created this Prayer for My Country - imagining that (like St. Joseph Cupertino) I can fly. But in my day-dream I fly beyond the church ceiling, up and into space, and there, hovering, I pray blessings over the nation.

The community of Trinity be yours.
The Father's imagination be yours.
Christ's countenance,
Holy Spirit's life-breath be yours.

Gabriel's All-Hail be yours.
Anna's, Who am I? be yours.
Heaven's good-will angels,
Magi's guiding star be yours.

The Salvation-bearing hand of Christ be yours.
The dignity of  Mary be yours.
Joseph's integrity,
The Baptist's repentance be yours.

Mary's Bethlehem welcome be yours.
Christ's embrace of children be yours.
The humility of Zaccaheus,
The inner freedom of the Samaritan be yours.

The new-seeing of Bartimaeus be yours.
Christ's courtesy towards women be yours.
His Gethsemane consciousness,
The water-wash from his side be yours.

Joy of the myrrh-bearers be yours.
Thomas' change of heart be yours.
Christ's ascent to higher things,
The un-burdening of Paul be yours.

The bread-breaking of apostles be yours.
The Gospel-love of Francis be yours.
The sick-carrying strength of Aloysius,
Drexel's love of the littlest be yours.

The medicine of Martin be yours.
The God-love of Tekakwitha be yours.
The violence-stopping witness of Telemachus,
Emma's healed temper be yours.

This contribution is available at http://paucaverba.blogspot.com/2016/11/a-blessing-prayer-for-my-country.html
Copyright is retained by the contributing author (follow above link for info on this piece).

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Between Deceit and Truth [at Amazing Nearness]

Is truth a matter of opinion? If it is, we are in trouble. Chaos is the natural result.

It seems the news coverage post election offers resounding proof that the triumph of “personal truth” only leads to fragmentation and chaos. Dialogue in the pursuit of truth has been replaced with “a difference of opinion” not to be reconciled.

There is a battle being waged between those who believe in objective/universal truth and those who argue for subjective/personal truth. The battle cry of the latter, ironically, sounds something like “it is true universally that there is no universal truth.”

If you are confused by this illogical assertion of a truth that there is no such thing as real truth, then you are not alone. Shockingly, many Catholics have fallen prey to this fallacy (heresy).

The culture’s love of subjective truth seems inextricably linked to a false interpretation of freedom. Personal truth allows me to “create” truth that justifies my choices. In fact, there is no such thing as wrong/sin because my personal truth accommodates all of my vices and is oh so convenient.

When pressed to choose the good in a challenging moral conflict, personal truth always rides in to the rescue, reinterpreting the choices to give me permission to make the easy/popular/expedient choice. I am now “free” to follow my personal truth, especially if I refer to it as “following my conscience” – sadly, a common refrain of Cafeteria Catholics.

In a postmodern world, the new age movement reduces truth to feelings and impulses devoid of responsibility. The result is chaos. An infinite number of competing truths demanding to be recognized is sure to lead to anything but peace in society and in the family of God. Truth must be liberated from the chains of individual interpretation.

In his 2005 homily at Mass before the Conclave that elected him Pope, the then Cardinal Ratzinger, explained, “To have a clear faith, according to the creed of the Church, is often labeled as fundamentalism. While relativism, that is, allowing oneself to be carried about with every wind of “doctrine,” seems to be the only attitude that is fashionable. A dictatorship of relativism is being constituted that recognizes nothing as absolute and which only leaves the “I” and its whims as the ultimate measure. . . Adult and mature is a faith profoundly rooted in friendship with Christ. This friendship opens us to all that is good and gives us the measure to discern between what is true and what is false, between deceit and truth.”

Make no mistake, the “dictatorship of relativism” is self-deceit. We lie to ourselves as Catholics when we declare our personal truth must be followed in contradiction to declared doctrine. Both faith and reason acknowledge that Catholic doctrine is the truth of the Creator, which governs His creation.

The voices of popular culture are loud and ever distracting. The noise is deafening.   The faithful are led astray and seduced by things that entertain. The secular world forsakes truth, which forms us in virtue, in order to pursue the easy and comfortable. Society has become confusing and disordered in this way.

Chaos is not only “complete disorder,” but by definition, it means “confusion.” When truth is “random” and “unpredictable” according to personal subjective interpretation or popular sentiment, confusion dominates our lives. Chaos replaces truth.

What an inheritance we Catholics have! The fullness of truth in the teachings of the Church and the person of Truth in our Eucharist! Why then does confusion dominate the minds of so many of our brothers and sisters in Christ? Why is there conflict among the faithful regarding truth? You have to look no further than questions about abortion or contraception to see the divisions. Let us speak honestly about this lack of unity and begin to address it.

In love, Christ established His Church on earth to protect His beloved children from error and confusion. He established a priesthood to minister grace to His children and a Magisterium, guided by the Holy Spirit, to protect and teach the truth of God. All this because we had a loving Father who wants us to be confirmed in truth and united to both His Will and His Heart.

If we are not reconciled as Catholics to God’s truth, taught by His Church, then we have appointed ourselves as the author of truth and it is ourselves that we worship while our bodies occupy the pew. Our Lord wants more than just our attendance. He wants to be King of our hearts and minds.

Let us pray:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

This contribution is available at http://amazingnearness.com/2016/11/22/between-deceit-and-truth/
Copyright is retained by the contributing author (follow above link for info on this piece).

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Did Catholics change the Bible? [at Catholicism and Adventism]

Someone emailed me and wrote:

The Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 in the Torah match the Ten Commandments in the KJV and all the protestant bibles. That in itself is proof that the Catholic Church changed the Ten Commandments.

One needs to compare the 10 Commandments in the Torah and the KJV to the Catholic Bible too. And when you do, what happens? The passages containing the 10 Commandments are all right there, the same as in the Jewish and Protestant Bibles.

That is proof that nothing has changed.

10 Commandments

The difference is in numbering – and the Jews number them differently to Protestants and Catholics, and most Protestants number them differently from most Catholics … since the numbers are not assigned in the Bible, that really doesn’t make a difference. The content is the same.

As the discussion went on, he raised the issues of the numbering of the 10 commandments, and the claim that the Catholic Church has changed the 10 Commandments.

Catholics and Protestants numbering the 10 commandments differently, something I’ve discussed before. The point was raised that the Jews have one commandment for coveting, and so the Protestant numbering system, which does the same, must be right.

The Jews do indeed have one commandment for coveting – but, just like Catholics, the Jews differ from Protestants in their first and second commandments. The Jews combine verses 3-6 into one commandment, while Protestants split them into two commandments (first and second). For the Jews, verse 2 is a separate commandment, the first, and verses 3, 4 and 5 make up the 2nd commandment. For Catholics, verses 3-6 are one commandment, the first.

Let’s look at the start of the 10 Commandments in Exodus, with the Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic divisions explained:

Jewish numbering:

Exodus 20:1-5 (KJV) – [1] And God spake all these words, saying,
First commandment: [2] I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Second commandment: [3] Thou shalt have no other gods before me. [4] Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: [5] Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; [6] And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Third commandment continues with verse 7.

Protestant numbering:

Exodus 20:1-5 (KJV) – [1] And God spake all these words, saying, [2] I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
First commandment: [3] Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Second commandment: [4] Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: [5] Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; [6] And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Third commandment continues with verse 7.

Catholic numbering:

Exodus 20:1-5 (KJV) – [1] And God spake all these words, saying, [2] I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
First commandment: [3] Thou shalt have no other gods before me. [4] Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: [5] Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; [6] And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Second commandment continues with verse 7.

Still life with Bible, Vincent van Gogh

In Exodus, the commandments against coveting are joined in one, whereas in Deuteronomy, they’re split between wife and possessions, as a parallel to the commandments against adultery and stealing.

Let’s look at how the commandments on coveting finish off the counting:

Jewish numbering

Deut 5:21 (KJV) –
Tenth commandment: Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Protestant numbering

Deut 5:21 (KJV) –
Tenth commandment: Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Catholic numbering

Deut 5:21 (KJV) –
Ninth commandment: Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife,
Tenth commandment: neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

So we’ve really got 3 different ways to count the commandment, and unless someone can show me where in the Bible (Jewish, Protestant, or Catholic) the numbering is given, no one system of counting them is superior to the others.

In fact, there is no “Catholic” numbering system and no “Protestant” numbering system, because Catholics officially use both, and both are used by different Protestant churches. Western Catholics and Lutherans, for example, use the numbering commonly considered Catholic, while Eastern Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and most Protestants use the numbering commonly considered Protestant.

Those who gripe about numbering are not basing their complaint on the Bible, which doesn’t assign numbers, but rather they dislike one numbering system amongst others based on it seeming to be Catholic.

Summarising the commandments

When Catholics draw up a summary of the 10 commandments, the first commandment is usually abbreviated and cut to the first words – “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Some people use this to accuse the Catholic Church of simply snipping out Exodus 3:6 and Deut 8-10.

10 Commandments

They are not able to (or don’t want to) differentiate between the 10 commandments themselves and a summarised list to make them easy to remember. This seems to be because of an anti-Catholic bias they have. The full 10 commandments are found, in full, in the Catholic Bible and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. What they seem to think is the Catholic 10 commandments is simply an abbreviation intended to allow easy memorisation of them.

Take a look at Protestant lists designed to make memorisation of the commandments easier. They generally say “Thou shalt not covet” instead of citing the entire Exodus 20:17 or Deut 5:21. They generally say “Keep the Sabbath day holy” instead of citing the entire Exodus 20:8-11 or Deut 5:12-15.

Ironically, Adventists themselves have got abbreviated versions that are a) easy to memorise, and b) easy to fit onto images of stone tablets, and they frequently make these same claims, accusing us of changing the 10 commandments, when they can really only accuse us of having a convenient summary of them, just as they do.

Ángel Manuel Rodríguez of the Adventist church’s Biblical Research Institute has the following to say in an article, Counting Commandments:

In conclusion, it really doesn’t matter how we count the commandments as long as we do not modify in any way their sacred content.

This contribution is available at http://blog.theotokos.co.za/
Copyright is retained by the contributing author (follow above link for info on this piece).

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10 of Our Traditions for Advent and Christmas [at Campfires and Cleats]

Despite the ads and commercials telling us that the Christmas season is here, 

we actually have this wonderful, preparatory, redemptive span of time

that tends to get "lost" amid the hustle of December....: advent.

So as we began to decorate the house and strategize the calendar

for December, I decided  to gather ideas in a roundup of sorts of  our family's 

advent-ish and Christmas-y  traditions.

This advent's schedule looks a bit different than it did in  previous years.

As the kids get older and their outside commitments and extra curriculars,

 even within the parish community,

  cast a wider net  and fill more boxes than I'd like on the calendar

I find I have to guard our

family's most precious commodity....time...even more than ever.

Numerous invitations and opportunities will have to be declined

 this month in order to do so......

in order to  widen the margins and crate more white space...

in order  to pray over the advent wreath and read our

Jesse Tree verses. 

Just a few minutes of prayer per night, as a family.

That's all I can hope for and write in on our calendar.

Here's my collection of rituals and reflections

....I can assure you, friends,

especially given my less-is-more rant, above,

that these activities are simple and require little to no prep.

Maybe an idea or two will speak to you

 to adapt into your'own domestic church!
I'd love to get an advent idea exchange going! 
You're welcome to share in the combox a ritual or anything, really
that your family loves!!
Here goes~~~

and the post which stirred a great deal of controversy and deleted comments.....

Hard to believe

This post is an anchor/host of the

 Catholic Bloggers' Network advent 2013  linky...
TONS of awesome posts are linked!

For a concise and awesome

summary of this beautiful liturgical season within our Church,

And of course, while you're there, 

peruse some of Tracy's beautiful family traditions as well.

Pin away and then come back for more, okay?

You.Will. Love. Tracy's. Advent. Collection.

thank you for stopping over and 

spending some of your precious time 

here at my home on the web!

And hey:

Have you signed up to receive my posts in your email inbox?

   If not, just click here to 

quickly and easily  so we can be in touch regularly!

This post contains amazon affiliate links....

If you are shopping at  amazon this Christmas season,

In this way, I will receive a small commission on the purchase.....

a few pennies per dollar.

If YOU are an amazon affiliate, please send me

your link and I will do the same!

THANK YOU!

Until next time,

This contribution is available at http://campfiresandcleats.blogspot.com/2014/11/its-most-wonderful-time-of-year-10.html
Copyright is retained by the contributing author (follow above link for info on this piece).

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Purgatory 101: Everything You Need to Know About the Church Suffering [at BIG C CATHOLICS]

Editor's note: We present this post from last November for your consideration. The time frame for obtaining the indulgences discussed below has passed, however, our prayers for the poor souls in purgatory are always efficacious. 

November is when Holy Mother Church prays especially for the faithful departed who are in Purgatory (the Church Suffering). Below are various links on the state of purification that is Purgatory, beginning with a reflection by Father James Kubicki, "

", in which he quotes Pope Benedict XVI. (What follows is a transcript of the video):

November begins with the Feast of All Saints and is followed by the Feast of All Souls on which we remember all those who have died and are in Purgatory, but the whole month is dedicated to prayer for them. ... As we pray for those who have died, it’s important that we have a better understanding of this process that we have traditionally called Purgatory. It’s not a physical place, because when we die, we leave behind our physical bodies — which will one day be raised to new life with our souls at the end of the world. And it’s not something that can be measured in time. Pope Benedict’s second encyclical, on hope, (

Spe Salvi,In Hope We Are Saved

) says:

It is clear that we cannot calculate the "duration" of this transforming burning in terms of the chronological measurements of this world. The transforming "moment" of this encounter eludes earthly time-reckoning — it is the heart's time, it is the time of "passage" to communion with God in the Body of Christ.

So Purgatory, or the process of purification that most will need when they leave this world, goes beyond our experience of time and space. Think of it this way: You go to a matinee movie, and after two hours in the dark theater, you emerge from the theater into the bright sunlight afternoon. What happens? You have to squint. Your eyes can’t take in the bright sunlight because they have become accustomed to the darkness of the theater. That’s what Purgatory is like. Depending on how much we have become accustomed to the darkness of the sin of this world, it will require a process by which we are able to see the light of Christ. So let’s pray for the souls of the departed. May the light of Christ shine upon them to heal them and bring them to the full vision of Christ Himself.

_____________________________

The

Catechism of the Catholic Church calls Purgatory

a "purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of Heaven," experienced by those "who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified" [CCC 1030]. It states further: "this final purification of the elect... is entirely different from the punishment of the damned" [CCC 1031].

Sacred Scripture tells us this purification is necessary because nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27). While some may die with their mortal sins forgiven, their souls remain impure due to venial sins and the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.

Every time you attend Mass remember that:

◗ By piously hearing Holy Mass you afford the souls in Purgatory the greatest possible relief.

◗ You shorten your Purgatory by every Mass.

Additional links on Purgatory

You can still gain

indulgences for the poor souls in Purgatory

(see visiting a cemetery each day between November 1st - 8th).

Jimmy Akin asks "

" (Answer, Yes.)

Church Militant

discusses and defends the doctrine.

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori in "

A Christian Duty

" exhorts us to pray for the Church Suffering.

The New Theological Movement blog (defunct) has a number of offerings on the subject, including:

◗

Some facts about purgatory

◗ 

Two Homilies For All Souls: The Nature of Purgatory and How To Not Become A Forgotten Soul

◗ 

Is there fire in purgatory?

◗ 

Prayer, purgatory on earth

◗ 

Why do the souls in purgatory suffer so? An answer from St. John of the Cross

◗ 

If the Holy Sacrifice is of infinite value, why doesn't one Mass empty purgatory?

◗ 

Can the poor souls pray for us?

Also, consider reciting this

intercession for souls in Purgatory

.

Prayer to Release Souls from Purgatory

Our Lord told St. Gertrude the Great, that the following prayer would release 1,000 souls from Purgatory each time it is said. The prayer was extended to include living sinners which would alleviate the indebtedness accrued to them during their lives.

Eternal Father,

I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said throughout the world today,
for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the Universal Church,
those in my own home and within my family.

Amen.

We ought to pray for the faithful departed in Purgatory throughout the year, not just during November. After these souls in Purgatory are in Heaven, they will intercede on our behalf.

This contribution is available at http://www.bigccatholics.com/2016/11/purgatory-101-everything-you-need-to.html
Copyright is retained by the contributing author (follow above link for info on this piece).

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Satan Didn't Make Me Do It [at A Catholic Citizen in America]

Depending on who you listen to, Satan prowls Earth’s surface, lives in the White House, lurks in Hell, or doesn’t exist.

About Satan and devils in general, I think C. S. Lewis made a good point:

“…There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight….”
“The Screwtape Letters,” Preface, C. S. Lewis (1942))

I like most of Gustave Doré’s work. That’s his illustration for Canto XXXIV of Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” Inferno.

Pictures, Symbols, and Reality

I also like some ‘religious’ art. But Bernhard Plockhorst’s “Guardian Angel,” and Bernini’s statue on the Ponte Sant’Angelo, don’t show angels the way they really are.

The first angels in Christian art we’ve found so far are in the Catacomb of Priscilla, in use from the late 2nd to the 4th century.

In art, they started looking like young men with wings. By the 19th century they looked like young women with wings. They all look a bit like the Winged Victory of Samothrace and Nunut as shown on Tut’s pectoral plaque.

‘None of the above’ show what Satan or angels look like. No picture can. It’s a point René Magritte made in his “The Treachery of Images.” It is not a pipe. It’s a symbol, a realistic picture of a pipe. (July 17, 2016)

Angels are “spiritual, non-corporeal beings” with “intelligence and will,” persons who are as real as we are; but with no bodies. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 328–336)

Our word for them, “angel,” comes from Old English engel and Old French angele.

Those languages got it from Late Latin angelus, “messenger;” and that comes from Late Greek ἄγγελος, ángelos. The word goes back at least to Mycenaean Linear B, where it’s pronounced a-ke-ro; or thereabouts.

“Angel” is their job. They’re messengers, agents, for God. By nature, they’re spirits. (Catechism, 329)

“Your Mind Couldn’t Grasp It”

Tissot’s “Abraham and the Three Angels” shows pretty much what Abraham saw: three men. (Genesis 18:2)

One of them was God. The other two show up a little later, in Genesis 19:1, they’re identified as angels, and that’s another topic.

As for why the Almighty looked like one of three men: I suspect part of the reason is what George Burn’s character said in “Oh, God!”

“I don’t like to brag, but if I appeared to you just as God—how I really am, what I really am—, your mind couldn’t grasp it.”
(God, in “Oh, God!” (1977) via Wikiquote)

More seriously — I think part of 1 Corinthians’ discussion of love says how well we see ‘big picture’ realities at this point:

“At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.”
(1 Corinthians 13:12)

Folks had mirrors when 1 Corinthians was written; dark pools of still water for most, mirrors made from metal, glass, or stone if they could afford it. Glass-coated mirrors were an emerging technology then.

Stone and metal mirrors were far from perfect. As a Wikipedia page put it, “…they often produced warped or blurred images….” And that’s yet another topic.

Getting a Grip About “Sin”

In my experience, folks can mean quite a few things when they say “sin.”

When I’ve got my head screwed on straight, I mean an act which offends reason, truth, and God. (Catechism, 1849–1851)

Having a good, or bad, feeling about something may mean that it’s good or evil: or not. Emotions are part of human nature. They’re not good or bad by themselves. What matters is what we do about them, how we use our reason and will. (Catechism, 1765–1770)

I try to avoid (self-)righteous outrage about whatever’s upsetting me at the moment.

When I succeed, it’s no great virtue. I’ve played Dungeons & Dragons, still enjoy rock music, became a Catholic, and that’s yet again another topic.

The point is that I’ve been on the receiving end of moral panic too often to assume it’s necessarily reasonable or justified.

Knowing history helps.

That picture, from Martyr’s Mirror, shows a November 13, 1554 execution. Ursula Werdum and her sister Mary Beckum were killed for being Mennonites. There was a war going on at the time, with the usual tensions.

As I keep saying, I do not miss the ‘good old days.’ (November 6, 2016)

Free Will and Options

Satan is not God’s evil twin. God’s God, everything and everyone else is a created being. (Genesis 1:1; Catechism, 279, 285)

God is the Almighty, infinitely good, and “a mystery beyond words;” beyond time and space, and “here” in all places and all times. I do not fully understand God. I cannot. (Catechism, 206, 230, 268, 284, 300, 385, 639, 647–648, 2779)

God created Satan and all demons, which brings me to the downside of free will.

I can decide what I do or don’t do. I can accept or refuse truth. That freedom includes responsibility for consequences of my decisions. (Catechism, 144, 150, 1730–1742)

As long as I am alive, I can change my mind: repent after I have refused truth or chosen a wrong action. After I’m dead, my options are limited. I can choose life with God, or — not. (Catechism, 393, 1021–1022)

I’m not sure what “repenting” virtue would be called. In my considered opinion, that’d be daft. But the choice is possible.

Satan Has Limits

Satan and other demons are angels who said “no” to God’s will. The choice was/is theirs: willingly serve God, or willingly reject truth and their intended roles. Once they decided, their choice was irrevocable. (Catechism, 391–395, 414)

The problem isn’t “a defect in the infinite divine mercy.” It’s tied in with the nature of their existence.¹ (Catechism, 393)

This should be obvious, but trying to make deals with or control demons is a very bad idea and we shouldn’t to it. (Catechism, 2116–2117)

Demons want us to get involved in their revolt against God. (Catechism, 414)

I don’t see a reason to oblige them, though.

Satan is powerful — but is only a creature, and has limits. “He cannot prevent the building up of God’s reign.” (Catechism, 394–395)

Flip Wilson made “the devil made me do it” a national catchphrase in the ’70s, but didn’t invent the idea. I mentioned Genesis 3:12 last week. (November 6, 2016)

The whole meltdown is in Genesis 3:12–13. You know how it goes: Adam blames his wife and God, Eve blames the serpent, and we lose the lease to Eden.

Human nature hasn’t changed all that much, and we still try blaming others for our own faults. That’s probably what made Flip Wilson’s line so funny.

Psychological projection,² conspiracy theories, and scapegoating; not so much. But I’ll leave that can of worms for another day.

More about faith, facts, and making sense:

¹ St. John of Damascus, about Satan and demons:

² Giambattista Vico apparently identified what we now call psychological projection in 1841, Ludwig Feuerbach said we made God in our image, and Sigmund Freud related projection to his psychoanalytic theory. That’s a vast oversimplification, and still another topic.

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Tree-Huggin' for a Reason! [at Catholic Conundrum]

Yep, this is my tree-hugging bunch!  I am proud to say that my family is honored to be tree-huggers, but not necessarily for the reason you might think!

Today, we began the Advent season by choosing our Christmas tree.  Sadly, our beloved tree farm that we have faithfully visited for years had to close this year, and it seemed that our fun memories of enjoying the special activities that were offered there would end with it.  However, thanks to my dutiful husband, we not only found another fantastic tree farm to search for the "perfect" tree, but its plethora of Christmas themed activities (all free!) included an opportunity to serve those in our military, a notion I find quite significant and gratifying.  

Although the tree in the picture above was not the one we ended up choosing, it's soft needles lured the kids in, and they could not resist a huge hug!  This specific tree happened to be far softer than the others we had scouted out, including several that left painful memories on our hands.  However, these deceptively pretty needles became sharp reminders as to why we consider our devotion to our hardy growing neighbors.  

You see, my little domestic church honors the Tree of Life - the tree of Wisdom and Knowledge.  This is a tree we surely hug spiritually since it is so significant to our creation story.  We also bow to the Tree of Salvation, the cross on which Our Lord died and paid the ransom for our sins.  How could our emotions of love and devotion not pour out when we approach this tree upon which our entrance into heaven has been granted?  Such trees are objects of our devotion because they lead us to our God; we willingly run to "hug" them, for in doing so, we "hug" the Lord Whom we love so much.

So, how about you?  Are you a tree-hugger?  My guess is, you really are!  :)

Let's consider this as we prepare for the coming of a newborn babe who will soon be nestled in a manger made of yet another tree.  

Praise the Lord - and let's prepare our tree-huggin' hearts this Advent season to welcome Him in!  :)

.

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The Seemingly Harmless Path to Schism [at If I Might Interject]

The Path to Schism

I watch the challenges to Pope Francis grow, and see the hypocrisy. Apparently it is all right to question his orthodoxy and his judgment. But if someone challenges his challengers, it is suddenly “abusive.” People believe they are fighting to defend the Church, but overlook the fact that they attack the foundation on which Our Lord built His Church. The end result of such a tactic would be destroying the faith of many, leaving them to think they were the authority of the Church who sit in judgment on the shepherds.

Please spare me the angry retorts in the combox, pointing out the handful of sinful Popes throughout Church history. The fact that such Popes existed does not prove Pope Francis is one of them. The issue in question is whether this Pope has done wrong. Also, spare me refutations against claims that Papal press conferences are infallible. I know of no serious Catholic who believes they are. I believe the attacks against the Holy Father are made up of two fallacies: a Begging the Question fallacy and a Guilt by Association fallacy. The attacks against him assume as true (that he intends a heterodox interpretation of Church teaching) what they actually need to prove, and they assume that people with heterodox views liking what they think the Pope means is proof that the Pope is guilty of heterodoxy or ignorance of doctrine.

I’m not talking about people who merely wish the Pope handled things differently. That happens in every pontificate (I wish St. John Paul didn’t kiss that Qur’an, or that Benedict XVI didn’t use the example of “a gay prostitute with AIDS” for example). I’m talking about people who spread accusations on social media claiming to be faithful Catholics out to defend the faith, but behaving like dissenting groups [*] throughout history—they insist their reading of Scripture and prior Church teaching must be correct, and any difference between them and the Pope and bishops in communion with him means the Pope must be wrong. I’m talking about people who focus on minutiae and miss the big point—like treating Footnote 351 as a Papal document and treating the entirety of Amoris Lætitia as a footnote.

The potential for schism starts small. People post comments of “I miss Pope Benedict,” in response to (often inaccurate) news reports of what the Pope says and does. The unspoken element of the statement is “Pope Benedict XVI never would have done this.” This grows to become “The next Pope will have to address X,” as if Pope Francis is doing things that need to be overturned. With this small seed sown, people have opened themselves up to thinking the Pope must be endured until a “real” Pope emerges. If people continue to focus on this, they can start thinking, “I wish Bishop/Cardinal X was Pope instead,” and even start viewing this person as more authoritative than the Pope.

The more one entertains these views, the more likely that person is to assume the Pope is in error and his critics are correct. Even if a bishop or cardinal has no intention of undermining the Pope [†], those critics who think of everything dualistically turn them into a counter-magisterium whose opinions they treat as teaching while treating the Pope’s teaching as opinion.

When one begins thinking the Pope is heretical, they are tempted into looking on how to remove him from office. For example, St. Robert Bellarmine’s preferred opinion on a heretical Pope is treated as doctrine, ignoring the fact that he considered the opinion that, “the Pope cannot be a heretic, and hence would not be deposed in any case” [§] as “probable” and “easily defended.” He looks into other opinions simply because that is the issue disputed by those who attacked the papacy in general.

At this point, the person is denying the authority of the Pope, based on a begging the question assumption that he is a heretic whenever the Pope says something different from their own view of what the Church should be, substituting the opinions of someone he happens to agree with over the teaching of the Pope, refusing to accept the judgments of the Pope when they disagree with personally held opinions. The problem is, we run into what Canon Law says about schism [751], “schism is the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.” Whether it’s formal schism like the time of the the Protestant Revolt, or by action rejecting the authority of the Pope without formally rejecting the papacy, one at this point has fallen into error.

I’m not going to accuse any specific individual, private or public, of being guilty. It’s not my task to assess conscience and judge souls. I merely wish to warn of the attitudes that deceptively lead one to damnation.

The Path Back (Before It Is Too Late)

If the path to schism is placing one’s own views above that of the Church and assuming the Pope is in error, the path back starts with realizing the possibility that we might be the one in error. We have to realize the possibility that we have misinterpreted what the current Pope has said, or what previous Church documents have taught. We have to realize that we might be guilty of rash judgment, assuming that the Pope is either maliciously or foolishly “changing” Church teaching.

We have to realize that God protects His Church. We have indeed had a few bad Popes in the history of the Church. But they did not destroy the Church, and they did not teach any error as Pope. The accusations against Pope Francis are something unique. If his critics are right, then for the first time in Church history we have a Pope who used his office to teach error. If that is true, then God did not protect His Church. We have no way of knowing who was right in any conflict in the Church. If Pope Francis could teach error, why not St. Pius V? If Vatican II could teach error, why not Trent? It’s only by trusting in God to guide the Pope that we can reject these logical questions. 

We also have to realize that when the Pope teaches, even when he does not teach ex cathedra, we are obliged to give assent. That’s not an opinion, it's canon law.

can. 752† Although not an assent of faith, a religious submission of the intellect and will must be given to a doctrine which the Supreme Pontiff or the college of bishops declares concerning faith or morals when they exercise the authentic magisterium, even if they do not intend to proclaim it by definitive act; therefore, the Christian faithful are to take care to avoid those things which do not agree with it.

can. 753† Although the bishops who are in communion with the head and members of the college, whether individually or joined together in conferences of bishops or in particular councils, do not possess infallibility in teaching, they are authentic teachers and instructors of the faith for the Christian faithful entrusted to their care; the Christian faithful are bound to adhere with religious submission of mind to the authentic magisterium of their bishops.

can. 754† All the Christian faithful are obliged to observe the constitutions and decrees which the legitimate authority of the Church issues in order to propose doctrine and to proscribe erroneous opinions, particularly those which the Roman Pontiff or the college of bishops puts forth.

That doesn’t mean we have to all agree on how to best apply the teachings and instructions of the magisterium, but if we refuse to give assent, we’re no better than those critics of St. John Paul II or Benedict XVI who sought to weasel out of Church teaching. We’re behaving like the Pharisees who sought to evade obligations in the name of piety.

In short, the path back from schism is based on faith in God and offering submission to His Church. Submission is not an easy thing to embrace. We’re all afraid of being trapped into doing the wrong thing. But we need to remember that the saints had faith in God and in His Church, offering submission when there was a conflict. The Holy Spirit did not go on a coffee break beginning in 1958 (when St. John XXIII became Pope). We are still protected, despite what the critics say. 

That doesn’t mean we can be mindless drones going through the motions. Each of us will have to struggle with doubts and fears. There will always be those who misuse the teaching of the Church. What we have to remember is, even with these things, God is still in charge and still with the successor of Peter—even now.

I have no authority to teach of course. I can’t compel anyone to obey what I write here. All I can do is appeal to anyone reading who is tempted to reject the Pope to rethink their attitudes and consider whether they are being misled. 

____________________________________

[*] For example, the people who tried to make Pope John XXII out to be a heretic were the Spiritual Franciscans who resented the Pope’s lawful intervention on how the Rule of St. Francis was to be applied and sought to discredit his authority.

[†] My view of Cardinal Burke and company, and Bishop Schneider is to assume they do not intend to undermine the Pope until evidence is presented showing otherwise. That doesn’t mean I have to approve of their actions or opinions, however.

[§] [Bellarmine, Robert (2015-05-22). On the Roman Pontiff (De Controversiis Book 1) (p. 304). Mediatrix Press. Kindle Edition]. I found this book to be invaluable in putting the saint’s widely quoted words on a “heretical Pope” into context.

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Treasured connections

“What’s the goal of dialogue?” tweeted one of my fellow Catholic bloggers today. Her weekly prompt to a handful of people often yields some good reading for me. My contributions to the linkup aren’t always on point. This week is different. My online friend tapped a vein.

The goal is to connect. I don’t mean that in any poetic or imaginative way. It’s a practical thing.

I spend much of my time dealing with pro-life politics. This has been a tumultuous year. I’ve spent a great deal of time in prayer, not to get “holy-fied,” to quote a sharp-witted friend, but in order to stay focused on what’s Absolute.  Mass, adoration, Year of Mercy meditations, and private prayer guided me in that direction. By and large, my social media feeds didn’t.

It’s been so easy to get lost in the muck. Dialogue has given way to snark and memes. I have tried to avoid that, not always successfully.

A few weeks before the election, I resolved that I was going to spend the morning after the election at a local diner, regardless of the election results. I knew I wanted to be doing something besides moping alone at home. I invited friends. No takers at first. Then on Election Day, text messages popped up: you still doing this?…I’ll be there.

The morning after, I was eating breakfast with three friends and colleagues. I looked around the table and realized that most of my communication with them over the past few months had been faceless and brief: a text here, a tweet there, a few Facebook posts and phone calls. We had stayed in touch. Dialogue? Not so much. I didn’t know how much I had missed face-to-face communication until we sat down together, talking and listening and laughing.

We connected over the eggs and coffee in a way that I hadn’t connected with anyone online during the course of the campaign season. We invested time in each other that morning, intentionally. We listened to each other. Dialogue, connection.

There’s currently a bitter, raw taste to all things political, even close to home. I look back on that breakfast now and realize that even in that safest of spaces, at a table with people whose work I respect, dialogue and connection ensued only because we chose to be present and chose to listen. Let me add: chose to laugh.

The value of presence, listening, and good humor: I will forget it only at my peril as I head back to the State House again next year to appeal to legislators to defend the right to life.

Was there some divine spark that nudged me to that morning-after breakfast? Can I blame all those Divine Mercy chaplets? That might be claiming a bit much. What I know is that an hour at a diner proved to be a blessing and a reminder and a gentle lesson. Pray that I’ll bring that lesson with me when I’m in less-sheltered places.

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Christ's Mercy in the Year of Mercy This coming Sunday, on the feast of Christ the King, Pope Francis will officially close the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. During this past year, what efforts did you undertake to learn more about Christ’s Mercy? Did you seek it for yourself and your loved ones over the past year? I would love to hear about your endeavors. Please share in the comments section. For me, it has been an extraordinary year learning more about the gift itself, as well as Christ’s expectation that we share it with our neighbor through our own willingness to grant it to others.

Over this past year, I devoted one post per month to describe, define and show practical ways of incorporating the various corporal and spiritual works. In case you joined this journey mid-stream, and might have missed a post or two, here’s a recap; with direct links to the associated posts.

Corporal Works of Mercy:

Feed the Hungry/Give Drink to the Thirsty

Clothe the Naked/Shelter the Homeless

Visit the Sick

Visit the Imprisoned

Bury the Dead

Spiritual Works of Mercy:

Counsel the Doubtful/Instruct the Ignorant

Admonish the Sinner

Comfort the Sorrowful

Forgive Injuries

Bear Wrongs Patiently

Praying for the Living and the Dead

Christ’s Mercy is Limitless and Endless

Although the Year of Mercy comes to an official close this coming weekend, Christ’s Mercy is limitless and endless. Don’t think that, if you missed this window, that you are out of luck. For as long as man takes a breath, Christ is ready to bestow His mercy on each one of us. I encourage you to take a stroll through these posts and revisit the meaning of Christ’s Mercy and learn how you can be a bearer of it yourself. Since we can never get enough of it, I’ll have more to say on this topic in my next post.

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All right then, have it your way [at Catholic Deacon]

Yesterday marked the 118th anniversary of the birth of Clive Staples Lewis. November twenty-second marked the 53rd anniversary of his passing into eternity. He died on the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, which was also the day that prescient author Aldous Huxley died. To honor the life of C.S. Lewis, it seems fitting, as we are in the early days of the season of Advent, a time when we think about, prepare for, and look forward to Christ's glorious return, to cite this from his book

The Great Divorce

:

There are only two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way"

What does this mean, or, perhaps more acutely, what might Lewis' assertion look like if it is true? I think Edna St Vincent Millay painted a very poignant picture of what Lewis asserted in her poem

"The Suicide."

Her poem begins with the narrator saying,

Curse thee, Life, I will live with thee no more!
Thou hast mocked me, starved me, beat my body sore!
And all for a pledge that was not pledged by me,
I have kissed thy crust and eaten sparingly
That I might eat again, and met thy sneers

In what way has life mocked, starved, and beaten this distressed person?

Ah, Life, I would have been a pleasant thing
To have about the house when I was grown
If thou hadst left my little joys alone!
I asked of thee no favor save this one:
That thou wouldst leave me playing in the sun!
And this thou didst deny, calling my name
Insistently, until I rose and came.
I saw the sun no more.—It were not well
So long on these unpleasant thoughts to dwell,
Need I arise to-morrow and renew
Again my hated tasks, but I am through
With all things save my thoughts and this one night,
So that in truth I seem already quite
Free,and remote from thee,—I feel no haste
And no reluctance to depart;

In light of the rest of the poem, it seems to me the key phrases here are "playing in the sun" and "hated tasks."

After the seventh stanza there is a break in the poem marking the act of suicide- the passage from life to death. When "the suicide" reaches the other side, she finds herself in her "father's house." When she arrives at the house there is a feast in progress. Looking in on the feast, she notices how shabbily dressed she is compared to those who are feasting at table. Recalling that this her father's house, she summons the courage to knock on the door;

Tattered and dark I entered, like a cloud,
Seeing no face but his; to him I crept,
And "Father!" I cried, and clasped his knees, and wept

There is another break, like the one marking the act of suicide. I find it intriguing that no mention is made of her being invited to join in the feast. After this break she describes her life in the father's house:

Ah, days of joy that followed! All alone
I wandered through the house. My own, my own,
My own to touch, my own to taste and smell,
All I had lacked so long and loved so well!
None shook me out of sleep, nor hushed my song,
Nor called me in from the sunlight all day long

But after awhile she begins to wonder what else is happening, what her father's business is and how she might participate in it:

"Father," I said, "Father, I cannot play
The harp that thou didst give me, and all day
I sit in idleness, while to and fro
About me thy serene, grave servants go;
And I am weary of my lonely ease.
Better a perilous journey overseas
Away from thee, than this, the life I lead,
To sit all day in the sunshine like a weed
That grows to naught,—I love thee more than they
Who serve thee most; yet serve thee in no way.
Father, I beg of thee a little task
To dignify my days,—‘tis all I ask
Forever, but forever, this denied,
I perish"

To which the father soberingly responds:

..."All things thy fancy hath desired of me
Thou hast received. I have prepared for thee...
No pleasure shalt thou lack that thou shalt name. But as for tasks—" he smiled, and shook his head; "Thou hadst thy task, and laidst it by," he said."

In

his homily

at daily Mass just a few days ago (Friday, 25 November to be exact, the penultimate day of the liturgical year) Pope Francis said:

Eternal damnation is not a torture chamber. That’s a description of this second death: it is a death. And those who will not be received in the Kingdom of God, it's because they have not drawn close to the Lord. These are the people who journeyed along their own path, distancing themselves from the Lord and passing in front of the Lord but then choosing to walk away from Him. Eternal damnation is continually distancing oneself from God. It is the worst pain, an unsatisfied heart, a heart that was created to find God but which, out of arrogance and self-confidence, distances itself from God

Pray for the dead, especially those who for reasons known only to them and certainly to God (in some instances, no doubt, only to God), took their own lives. We know that serious mental illness is the cause of many suicides, which certainly inhibits freedom and in some instances, no doubt, prohibits making a free choice. Inhibited and prohibited freedom diminsh or eliminate culpability altogether. Have hope. God, as Popes Benedict XVI and Francis, C.S. Lewis, and Edna St Vincent Millay all tell us, is a kind and merciful Father.

Of far more relevance than theologizing or psychologizing about suicide, especially during Advent, in the midst of what I find to be incomprehensible "holiday" chaos, is to take the opportunity to honestly ask yourself, "Am I seeking to draw closer to the Lord, or am I arrogantly walking my own path and, by so doing, acting presumptuously?" Hell is not, as Sartre famously averred, other people. Hell, to use a phrase of St Augustine's of which Luther was quite fond, is

Homo curvatus in se

that is, "man curved in on himself."

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HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2016 17:11:21 GMT Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Transfer-Encoding: chunked Connection: keep-alive Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=86400 Vary: Accept-Encoding Vary: Cookie X-hacker: If you're reading this, you should visit automattic.com/jobs and apply to join the fun, mention this header. X-Pingback: https://shiftingmyperspective.com/xmlrpc.php Link: ; rel=shortlink X-ac: 3.atl _dfw Deciding for Themselves [at Shifting My Perspective]

Deciding for Themselves [at Shifting My Perspective]

“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”    Exodus 33:19

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURESBack in September, we walked The Freedom Trail in Boston as a family. The weather was beautiful that day; it seemed like the perfect adventure. Although I used to take my kids into the city all the time when they were little, it had been a few years.

My objective was to get us out and moving, seeing some sites on the way. I got so much more than I bargained for.

Like in any city, there were homeless people everywhere. I forgot that my kids haven’t been exposed to that in a while. I was unprepared for their extreme reaction. Mason, especially, was devastated by it. At one point, he froze in his tracks, overwhelmed with grief for them.

I pulled my kids aside and explained that people everywhere went without. Wallowing in pity for them achieved nothing but making themselves sad. Taking action to help was a much better response. That is the whole point of compassion: to strike an emotion in us that motivates us to extend mercy.

I said they could make a difference by feeding the hungry. I opened my backpack and pulled out a box of breakfast bars.  Zack took one and ran two blocks back to give it to a man begging on the street.

When Zack came back, he was grinning ear to ear. He was practically jumping up and down saying, “I feel so good. The guy started eating it right away. I just feel so good!” When we passed a woman in a wheelchair begging, Mason did the same thing. He had the same reaction as Zack. I was so proud of them.

But no matter how much the boys tried to convince Jocelyn to try it, she was just too scared. I reminded them she was only six years old. They had to let her decide for herself. Yet, just an hour later, I found myself trying to force Jocelyn into giving against her will.

She had been chosen by some street performers to join their little routine. They actually gave her $20 for participating. When they refused to take it back, I told Jocelyn she needed to give it to someone who truly needed it. She flat out refused, saying she wanted to buy herself a toy.

In less than sixty minutes, I went from extreme pride in my sons, to extreme disappointment in my daughter. I wondered where I had gone wrong with her. I thought I was parenting and teaching my kids the same. Apparently not. The more I pushed, the more Jocelyn cried and refused to give the $20 away. I finally had to put the money in my pocket and let it go.

That $20 bill has sat on our kitchen counter for the past two months. Every now and then, I’d ask Jocelyn if she was going to donate it. Each and every time, she’d said no; she wanted it for herself.

So last Wednesday, when my kids were making get well cards for their Auntie Helen, Jocelyn completely shocked me by saying, “I want to put my $20 in Auntie Helen’s card. I think it will cheer her up. I think it will make her feel better.”

That’s when it hit me: we all have to give in our own way, to the cause that strikes a cord in us. Otherwise, we’re not giving from the heart; we’re just giving out of obligation, or peer pressure. That’s not mercy; that’s coercion.

Dictionary.com defines mercy as, “something that gives evidence of divine favor; blessing.” The boys blessed those homeless people with breakfast bars because they gave their whole hearts with them. But the homeless people only evoked fear in Jocelyn because she’s still little. She also couldn’t connect with any charities or missions I suggested because they were too abstract for her.

But Auntie Helen has been sending my kids cards for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter and Halloween, every single year, without fail. She also includes a crisp $2 bill that the kids think are so cool. Jocelyn was moved to compassion when she heard Auntie Helen was sick because she loves her. She wanted to give her the $20 bill, not as money, but as her blessing, her divine favor.

My kids continue to humble and teach me. I need to stop forcing them to act as I act. They are their own people, motivated differently than I am. All I can do is teach them about compassion and mercy, and then step back. I need to trust that I have planted those seeds. Then, like Exodus 33:19 says, it’s up to them to have mercy on whom they will have mercy; to have compassion on whom they will have compassion.

Questions For Reflection:

     * Have I taught my kids about compassion and mercy?

     * Do I force my kids to show mercy where I think they should?

     * Or do I allow them to decide for themselves on whom they will show mercy and compassion?

This contribution is available at http://shiftingmyperspective.com/2016/12/01/deciding-for-themselves/
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Saint Teresa of Calcutta Through the Lens of a Friend [at joy of nine9]

The Power of Images To Change Lives

product_thumbnailMarie Constantin, the photographer and author of Finding Calcutta: Memoirs of a Photographer, understands images have power, more power than words alone to impact lives.

It was an image in a documentary film that turned Constantin’s life completely around in the early 1990’s. She was a young journalist, completely focused on establishing her career and partying with friends when an image of Mother Teresa holding a starving person flashed across the t.v. screen with the words, “God didn’t do this; we do it because we do not share what we have”. Suddenly tears streamed down Constantin’s face. The very next day she found herself washing dishes in a soup kitchen run by Mother Teresa’s nuns in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was one photo of Mother Teresa on t.v. which catapulted her into volunteering with the sisters and opened the door to her calling, her vocation.

I recently spoke with Constantin, who has photographed some of the world’s worst slums in Calcutta, Haiti, Nicaragua and Tijuana where she discovered beautiful nuns, serving with joy. “Mother Teresa and all the nuns I was privileged to be around or write about stole my heart forever.  I gave it back in this book”.

Marie Constantin’s Famous Image of Saint Teresa

Constantin stumbled into professional photography accidently. A native of Hartford, Connecticut who studied journalism at the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Constantin did not even own a camera when the Baton Rouge Business Report asked her to take a photo of the bishop. She was thrilled when they paid her fifty dollars for the photo.

When she took photos of Mother Teresa in New Orleans and a year later in Baton Rouge in 1985 , she was still not confident. “I didn’t really understand this woman. I was just starting my commercial business and I was fixated on myself.”

However,  as Constantin reflects back on this photo gig, she says, “Unbeknownst to me, I had taken this beautiful photo”. This photo would become world famous as the official Beatification photo of Blessed Mother Teresa unveiled in front of 300,000 people in St. Peter’s Square. Ironically, that famous photo sat forgotten in a box for almost ten years.

While volunteering at the soup kitchen in the 1990’s, a regional mother superior of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity Order asked to see the photos she had taken in 1985 of Mother Teresa. As a result, Constantin was then invited to travel with Mother Teresa when she visited the United States to photograph the Missionaries of Charity’s ceremonies so the nuns could send photos to their families. Constantin traveled to Calcutta three times; she tried to take photos on her first trip, but it was too difficult and invasive.  Twice she hired a guide to set out to take pictures, and twice she decided not to do it.  On her second trip, she just did the work in the different facilities, and her third trip was to make the Come-and-see with the Contemplative branch of Mother Teresa’s order.  Constantin did not end up becoming a nun.

Constantin sent a priest a photo of Mother Teresa for his prayer book.  Years later he was in a meeting where the Vatican was looking for a beatification image.  Nothing they had worked, so he pulled out the image she had mailed to him and that was it. Constantin was stunned.

When Constantin returned to Rome for Saint Teresa of Calcutta’s canonization,  she learned her photo was also on thousands of medals distributed to pilgrims.

Social Justice

Marie Constantin’s self-published book, Finding Calcutta: Memoirs of a Photographer, is much more than a mere collection of photos, it is a love story shining a spotlight on the sacrificial work of nuns who do not talk about social justice but actually live it out.

“I would hope in some way this book will help bring nuns back into the consciousness of people,” said Constantin.

The book is filled with intimate shots of Saint Teresa. By using a long range lens, Constantin managed to capture the real, vibrant Mother Teresa, not the more subdued persona she showed to the public. Mother Teresa and her nuns were down to earth, serving with laughter, without pretension in simple, practical ways.

Constantin hopes to inspire this same type of practical social justice in her readers.

Finding Her True Vocation

Constantin still finds fulfillment by volunteering in the local soup kitchen but God also opened up a way to influence a wider audience.

Although she felt drawn to a consecrated life as a nun, Constantin realized it is difficult for most artists to live in structured communities because most artists express themselves spontaneously. Few artists survive religious life without damaging their core identity; they cannot remain true to their God-given artistic gift, an essential part of who they are, and become part of a corporate identity at the same time.

Gradually, Constantin discovered her calling was not to become a nun but to witness and call attention to the holiness of simple nuns and challenge people to practical social justice through her art, her photographs as well as her personal stories.

Writing With Integrity

Constantin tried to publish her book traditionally but when one publisher wanted to completely change her book so it was more “palatable” to a wider audience she decided to simply write a book for her niece and nephews. Constantin basically wanted to tell them that there might be “horrible stuff happening in the world but we have these nuns, amazing people who are filled with joy even as they give up their lives to serve the poor”.

Initially, Constantin imagined hiding the book in a safety deposit box to be read by her family after she died but God had other ideas. She struck out on her own by self-publishing. At the moment, only 600 books have been sold locally but I think God just might surprise Marie Constantin yet again.

The world really does need to rediscover little, hidden nuns who joyfully lay down their lives for those who have been abandoned.

images copyright : Marie Constantin

FINDING CALCUTTA: MEMOIRS OF A PHOTOGRAPHER, written by Marie Bissell Constantin and published Lulu Press, Inc., is now available on www.lulu.com in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

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Restore My Sight [at FranciscanMom]

Today’s Gospel (Luke 18: 35-43) always reminds me how dependent I am on the sense of sight. I am a very visual person. When someone in the house has lost something, they’ll ask me; I mentally scan the rooms of the house and can usually tell them exactly where to find that missing thing. I’m a voracious reader. I’m a musician. And I’m an editor, so I’m looking at words (and punctuation) all day.

Loss of vision is something I secretly fear. My grandmother suffered for several years with macular degeneration. She loved to read. Every Sunday she spent hours working on the New York Times crossword puzzle while her Sunday-dinner chicken roasted. Each day she prayed her way through a thick packet of prayer cards as she sat at the kitchen table. When she lost her sight, she was no longer able to do any of those things. I spent hours typing the prayers from those cards on my computer, setting them in a large font and printing pages to insert in a binder. That helped for a little while, but eventually she was unable to read at all.

Via Pixabay (2016), CC0 Public Domain

Soon after my grandmother died in 2002, one of the Secular Franciscans began to lose her sight to the same disease. I remember Jean attending each fraternity meeting, chiming in when it was time to state our prayer requests with the same words each time: “For good vision.”

Jean didn’t regain her ability to read the small print on prayer cards, but the wisdom she’d share at our meetings as we learned about living our Secular Franciscan vocation proved that she hadn’t lost all vision. Stripped of her ability to watch TV and read, Jean had keen insight about what really mattered.

Do I focus on what’s most important? Or do I let the things I see around me cloud my vision?

This contribution is available at http://franciscanmom.com/2016/11/14/restore-my-sight/
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Among the (living) Saints [at With Us Still]

I’m quite sure my buddy Jim had no intention of sounding like a Holy Elder when our paths crossed on the church parking lot…just as 6:30 Mass was letting out this morning.

‘Who ARE all these people?’ he grumbled, half-kiddingly. ‘And why are they getting in my way?’

It was an inside joke for us daily-Mass regulars: A holy day tends to swell the early-morning congregation considerably…touching off a traffic jam that inevitably delays progress toward that first cup of after-Mass coffee.

A heavenly encounter brewing…

Hence Jim’s semi-serious complaint.

I couldn’t help but notice, though, how he’d more-or-less quoted the scripture passage we’d heard proclaimed just a few minutes earlier, in the first reading from the book of Revelation:

Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me,
“Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”

And I thought about the people I’d just seen inside…

…how my heart had been lifted to recognize the face of a dear friend in the crowd—another 6:30 Mass regular—back for the first time following a many-months-long convalescence…

Or another: A woman I’d met a few years back in RCIA, who’d since moved to Dallas following a job transfer.

Or another: The wife of a friend, wearing her chemo-cap, seeking heavenly nourishment for her ongoing battle against breast cancer.

Or another: The pregnant mother, somehow managing an early-morning smile even with her 4-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter in tow.

All of them, and more. Many more. Perhaps not quite ‘a great multitude which no one could count…’

…but enough to help me recognize how very blessed I am…to have been in their company first-thing this morning.

And: enough to give me a glimpse into the treasure that awaits when our lives are done.

Enough, to let me see that I walk among the saints (or at least, saints-in-training) whenever I go to Mass.

Like the Holy Elder in today’s first reading, I am surrounded by ‘the ones who have survived the time of great distress.’

I share their faith…and participate in the very same opportunity for grace…all of us, living saints, who have confidently

washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.

This is, indeed, a great feast we celebrate today – filled with wonder and blessing and power. Power enough, it turns out, to bring a smile to my lips even before I consume my first cup of coffee.

Praise the Lord…for the parish at first light!

Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.

IHS

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Welcome to Secular Advent

welcome-to-secular-adventAnd do this because you know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed;the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness [and] put on the armor of light.  Romans 13:11-12

Welcome my friends to Secular Advent!  For those of you who are not familiar with the holiday season, it began several years ago and has grown into the biggest secular holiday of the year.

Secular Advent used to begin on Black Friday.  Now it begins with Grey Thursday, right after Thanksgiving dinner, Greed can’t wait for an entire day of giving thanks, especially when we forget who to thank!

The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful, and has nobody to thank.–Dante Gabriel Rossetti

There are other minor holidays during Secular Advent. Holidays like  Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.  Secular Advent continues all the way until Return Unwanted Gifts Week!

For those of you who celebrate the Christian Advent know that Secular Advent is the antithesis of this.

Secular Advent asks us to speed up and spend money now!  Christian Advent asks us to slow down and prepare for the coming of our savior Jesus Christ.

Secular Advent asks us to spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need, under the pretense that “it was on sale!”  Christian Advent asks us to be thankful for what we have and to give to those who have little.

Secular Advent asks us to fight for our rights for the last big screen television at Walmart. We must fight even if it means we have to kill for it, or at least start a riot.  Christian Advent asks us to pray for peace in the world.

Secular Advent reminds us that seven year-old’s need an iPhone 7, an Xbox and Play Station gaming systems.  After all, they deserve it.  Christian Advent reminds us that some children will have no gifts at Christmas.  Wouldn’t it be nice to buy something for a child who has little or nothing.

As for me, I prefer the Advent of our Christian faith.  And, so as not to get caught up in the hype of this secular holiday, here are a few things I am going to do.  Maybe you might try these too:

I’m going to slow down and enjoy the advent season. I’ll enjoy the beauty of winter closing in, snowfall, and family and friends.

As a Catholic, I’m going to attend mass every day  this advent season.  I’ll focus on the coming of Jesus, not only on Christmas day, but his second coming as well.

I’m going to increase my prayer time. , I’ll especially to pray for those who will be sad because they have lost a loved one this year.

I’m going to help someone in need, a family member, a friend or just a name from the giving tree or Salvation Army list.

My protest will be a quiet one, a silent one.  I will just choose not to take part in the madness.  Instead, I’ll try to concentrate my thoughts and deeds on throwing off the works of darkness and putting on the armor of light.

Please join me this Advent.

***This is an rewrite of a story that originally appeared on December 1,  2013***

This contribution is available at http://tonyagnesi.com/2016/11/welcome-to-secular-advent-2/
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Part II Family and Confession by Fr. Larry Richards

Father Larry Richards – I bought BE A MAN for Max when he began high school. He is nearly there. And now he gets SURRENDER. Do yourself a favor and get his books and CDs for the men in your life.

No Bible, no breakfast; no Bible, no bed. Pull out your Bible – it is your instruction for life. Love one another. You are not a disciple of Christ if you pray and fast but don’t love one another. But love isn’t just a sweet feeling. Jesus didn’t tiptoe through the tulips. He spoke the Truth even if people left him. Padre Pio wasn’t a nice guy. But he loved fiercely. Enough to make you want to change your sinful ways. The saints are people who are in love with God and their love overflows to others.

Fr. Larry gave a beautiful lecture on FAMILY, the place where love begins.

F is for faith and forgiveness. Also fasting on bread and water on Fridays for your kids, for the difficult members in your family, for your friends, for conversion. Dads, be St. Joseph to your kids. Be a man of prayer. Pray or be damned. Prayer is how you protect your wife and kids. When St. John Paul II was a little boy, he walked in on his dad in the middle of the night to find him on his knees in prayer. CS Lewis says, “we must forgive one another or be damned.” Forgiveness is an act of the will. It’s not about feelings. On the cross, nobody asked for forgiveness, but Jesus forgave them all anyway.

A is for affirmation. Tell every person you love that you love them. We need it. Every day a kid dies inside because of lack of affirmation.

M is for making memories. Spend time together. Eat dinner together. Take joy together. Family is more important than anything else. Our problems in the US are because we let everything else take the place of family.

I is for intimacy (into me see). If people don’t have it at home, they will seek it elsewhere.

L is for Love. Read Ephesians. Wives are to be submissive to their husbands. She should ask: how can I serve my husband. Husbands are to sacrifice themselves for their wives. He should ask: how can I die for my wife. You are to be slaves to one another. He shared a very personal story that’s in his book, so I won’t repeat it here, but even so, I get teary-eyed thinking about it. Love – it’s powerful. Remember love is not a feeling, but an act of the will. It is to will the good of the other.

Y is all about you. Forget about me; it’s all about you. Remember, God first, others second, me last.  

Father Larry gave a good lecture on confession for adults. So if you have little kids reading over your shoulder, you should probably send them off to play.

“You shall name Him Jesus because He will save them from their sins.” ~ Matt 1:21

People are afraid to go to confession. Don’t be. The biggest problem is that people don’t talk about the sins of omission.

To be in a state of mortal sin, three things have to be present: it’s a serious matter, you have full knowledge, and you consent to the will.

The closer you are to God, the more you realize how bad you are. All the saints believed they were terrible because they could see even their minor imperfections.

You’re sorry because you’re scared to go to hell. This is imperfect contrition because it has an element of selfishness. You should be sorry because you love Jesus and hurt Him.

Final question Matt: 25:35-40. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in ...  Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.  

Pray that you might love well.

We are saved by grace. But we need to cooperate with God’s grace. We can’t earn salvation – that’s Pelagian heresy – because then Jesus didn’t have to die. Neo-Pelagians think it’s 50/50. Wrong. Jesus redeems us but we still have to cooperate.

So, the Examen.

Go through the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes.

1. Love God above all things. You love what you give your time to. Really examine whether you love God with your whole heart.

2. Don’t take the Name of God in vain. All those OMGs have to go. The name of God is holy. Use it appropriately.

3. Keep holy the Sabbath. Sunday Holy Mass is an obligation. It is a mortal sin not to hear Mass on Sunday. Yup. Serious matter. You owe this to God.

4. Honor your father and mother. Do you call them? Do you pray for them? Do you take care of them?

5. You shall not kill another human being. Abortion is murder. Do you know whether you had a boy or girl? Name them. Ask for forgiveness. And you don’t need to confess it over and over because you are having a difficult time forgiving yourself. Your feelings don’t matter when it comes to confession. God forgives the repentant.

6. Don’t commit adultery. That is sex outside of marriage. Sex is holy and reserved only for the married (to each other!) for loving and giving life. Do not use birth control. It is not part of God’s plan. Do not masturbate. It is self-focused. Same-sex attraction – do not act upon it. Fornication is sex before marriage. Don't act upon your sexual feelings. This includes oral sex. In marriage, it is fine, if both husband and wife agree. No part of the body is unkissable. However, it has to end in intercourse so that it can be life-giving. Couples should pray together before having sex. Right now the greatest addiction is pornography and it starts young – 6th grade. Protect your children. If you have a sexual thought, let it fly. Don’t let it make a nest in your head. If you see a beautiful woman, thank God for her beauty. Don’t turn her into an object for your pleasure.

We never got to 7, 8, 9, 10 because people fall into sexual sin very easily now given the permissive culture. We could’ve talked about sex all day long. LOL.   

Jesus pays the price. The priest, in persona Christi, sets you free from your sins. Go to confession. 

This contribution is available at http://vijayabodach.blogspot.com/2016/11/notes-from-marian-eucharistic_15.html
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Ours, not Mine

November 26, 2016 by Susan Stabile

Some six or seven years ago Walter Brueggemann wrote

The great crisis among us is the crisis of “the common good,” the sense of community solidarity that binds all in a common destiny—haves and have-nots, the rich and the poor. We face a crisis about the common good because there are powerful forces at work among us to resist the common good, to violate community solidarity, and to deny a common destiny. Mature people, at their best, are people who are committed to the common good that reaches beyond private interest, transcends sectarian commitments, and offers human solidarity.

Promotion of the common good is a foundational principle of Catholic Social Thought; it has been termed one of the “permanent principles of the Church’s social doctrine.”

From the perspective of the Church’s teachings, the common good involves recognition and advancement of the universal dignity of the human person. Guadium et Spes defines the common good as “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.” This common good–the protection and promotion of the dignity of the human person–must be the primary orientation of society.

Because of the primacy of promoting the common good, Catholic Social Thought demands that it must be the aim of every human institution to promote human dignity, to promote the fundamental rights of persons to life, bodily integrity, and “the means that are suitable for the proper development of life.”

I believe Breuggemann was and is correct that we face a crisis about the common good, that “there are powerful forces at work among us to resist the common good, to violate community solidarity, and to deny a common destiny.”  Those forces are not the result of any single political party or of any one person or groups of persons.  (There is plenty of blame to go around here, and my purpose is not to make judgments about fault.)

We need a re-commitment to the common good.  We must look beyond private interests and work to promote the dignity of all human persons.  This is a mission that is not just for the benefit of some, but for all of us.

This contribution is available at http://susanjoan.wordpress.com/2016/11/26/ours-not-mine/
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A Tree, a Tax Collector, and a View of God [at God-Haunted Lunatic]

“How high does the sycamore grow?
If you cut it down then you’ll never know.”
~ Stephen Schwartz, “”

Back before Rotten Tomatoes was a wireless ubiquity, my family depended on paperback movie guides, and our go-to was the one edited by Mick Martin and Marsha Porter. Like similar resources, Martin and Porter used an easily decipherable rating system, but since their tastes so often matched our own, they became our cinematic oracles when we made our own selections at Blockbuster or the library.

However, there’s another reason we liked their guide so much – one that has lasted into the internet age: the turkey reviews. Instead of assigning a single star (out of a possible five) to the worst of the worst, Martin and Porter substituted a tiny turkey graphic. It was easy to spot as you flipped through the pages, and the associated reviews often made for highly entertaining reading.

That was especially the case when a turkey review was brief – in fact, the shorter the better. “They don’t make them any worse than this,” reads the Martin and Porter review of The Eye of the Snake (1990), and, for The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1981), they wrote that the “only good thing about this film is the title.” Sometimes you’d luck out and come across a turkey review amounting to a single word – “Incoherent” captured up their thoughts on Streetwalkin’ (1985).

Then there’s my all-time favorite turkey, Mr. Sycamore (1975). “A mailman decides to turn into a tree,” Martin and Porter explained. “Peculiar and pointless.” So succinct and evocative, it’s all you need to know. Indeed, it almost makes you want to track down Mr. Sycamore to watch, doesn’t it?

Well, maybe not (and I never have), but it does make you wonder what the filmmakers had in mind – what were they thinking? If you look up the Tomatoes synopsis, it tells of a protagonist postman who chooses arboreal transformation over a dismal future with his domineering wife. Weird, I know, but somebody must’ve thought it was a good idea, and that somebody decided that a sycamore tree was a decent symbol for psychic withdrawal and insulation.

Biblically speaking, that filmmaking somebody couldn’t have been more wrong – that is, if St. Luke has anything to say about it.

Luke’s story of Zacchaeus made an appearance in the liturgy earlier this month, and it got me thinking about Mr. Sycamore. As you’ll recall, Zacchaeus was somewhat diminutive, and so he had to resort to humiliating measures in order to catch a glimpse of Jesus strolling through Jericho. Leaping up and down behind the crowd apparently wasn’t enough, and if he attempted to push through to the front, he probably met with elbows in the face from those who reviled his traitorous tax-collecting occupation.

Nevertheless, Zacchaeus refused to give up, and he scaled a nearby sycamore tree in the nick of time. His eyes and the Savior’s met, and an extraordinary encounter ensued. “Zacchaeus, come down quickly,” Jesus insisted, “for today I must stay at your house.” Joy and conversion followed, and the tax collector’s life was changed forever. “Today salvation has come to this house,” the Lord declared. What’s more, as if to rebuke the crowd who “grumbled” at his choice of pals, Jesus explained that “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”

So, why a sycamore? Was Luke making a symbolic point? Not necessarily. It’s likely one of those lovely details in the Gospels that indicate that a recorded event was an actual occurrence – not just a figurative fiction or a clever analogy invented by the evangelist. That is, it wasn’t just “a tree” that the tax collector climbed, but a specific tree – a particular sycamore in fact, or rather a “sycamore fig” to distinguish it from the non-fruit bearing tree that our postman friend probably turned into. Not surprisingly, the actual tree of Zacchaeus became famous, and there’s an old sycamore in Jericho that locals associate with the Gospel story.

All that falls under what the Catechism calls the literal sense of Scripture, but we’re further invited to consider the story’s spiritual sense. “Thanks to the unity of God’s plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs” (CCC 117).

In this regard, I’ve always appreciated the Ignatian approach to Biblical meditation (especially the Gospels) in which we put ourselves into the scene we’re reading about – and not just the character we might naturally gravitate to, but perhaps all of them in turn. In the case of Luke’s narrative, it’s desirable to take up the mantle of Zacchaeus, to picture ourselves surrendering to Christ and radically reforming our lives, but we should also consider ourselves in the guise of the rabble, who block the publican’s line of sight and who dis Jesus when he elects to dine with the despised.

Then there’s that sycamore, almost a character unto itself. I picture it in the backdrop of the narrative, off to the side and part of the scenery – nothing special, just another tree. Up in front, the incarnate deity is passing by, and everyone’s attention is riveted on him. Meanwhile, stage left, there’s the little tax collector, jumping for the tree’s lower branches, and then ascending high above the mob. Far from being a metaphorical hideout as in Mr. Sycamore, the tree of Zacchaeus was a launch pad, lifting the outcast to new heights of levity and love.

That tree is us, I think – it’s the Church – and the sycamore’s humble part in the Zacchaeus story parallels the hidden role we often play in helping others to see Jesus. We’re always on stage when people know we’re Catholic, even when we’re not consciously being “religious.” Since our relationship with Jesus has ups and downs like any relationship, folks may not always see Christ clearly in our behaviors and speech – but that’s OK. We needn’t be spiritual superstars all the time to witness to the Lord. Sometimes (often?) the very human you-cant-take-it-with-you-groupordinariness and frailty of our faith life is just enough for others to clamber up for a vision of God.

Which brings me to one final sycamore reference – in Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s 1936 stage play You Can’t Take It With You. Our kids’ high school put it on in October, and seeing it reminded me of how much I love Frank Capra’s ebullient film version (which garnered five stars from Martin and Porter). It’s a delightful comedy featuring the oddball Vanderhof/Sycamore family and a reassuring portrayal of how grace can operate in even the most turbulent, goofy circumstances.

There’s nothing chichi about the Sycamore household (like the tree they’re named for), and they’ve got internal troubles galore. Nonetheless, they’re a beacon in their community, a ladder of optimistic vision. Theirs is a domestic church that spills over with joie de vivre, and their example of mutual love and loyalty are a healing balm for those around them. It’s as if the Sycamore’s shortcomings are themselves transformed into a source of hope – a persistent hope, as reflected in the concluding dinner prayer uttered by Grandpa Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore):

Well, sir, here we are again. We’ve had quite a time of it lately, but it seems that the worst of it is over. Course, the fireworks all blew up, but we can’t very well blame that on you. Anyway, everything’s turned out fine, as it usually does…. We’ve all got our health; as far as anything else is concerned, we still leave that up to you. Thank you.

Deference. Trust. Gratitude. Peace. These must be among the lofty “ways” and “paths” Isaiah was talking about in yesterday’s Advent kickoff reading (albeit the prophet admittedly draws on a geological image rather than a tree):

The mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills…. Many peoples shall come and say: “Come, let us climb the LORD’s mountain…that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.”

As we begin walking the Advent path of discovery, let’s remember that we ourselves are the Lord’s house – that we are that mountain raised above the hills, regardless of our inadequacies. Like Grandpa Vanderhof, we needn’t worry, for it’s the Lord who does the establishing and saving. All we need to do is make way for those who’ll scramble over us for a better view.
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The Sword of Hatred [at Journey to Wisdom]

Sunday, December 4th, 2016

A Reflection on Romans 15:4-9, N.A.B.

By: Larry T

The second reading for this Sunday is from Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans. Since Paul wrote this letter to a Christian community that he neither founded nor as yet had visited, it is unique among his writings. Even so, Paul’s Letter to the Romans is widely acknowledged as the single most influential document in Christian history because of its profound theology.

⁴ For whatever was written previously was written for our instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

⁵ May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus,

⁶ that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷ Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God.

⁸ For I say that Christ became a minister of the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, to confirm the promises to the patriarchs,

⁹ but so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written:

“Therefore, I will praise you among the Gentiles

and sing praises to your name.”

- Romans 15:4-9 N.A.B.

The substance of all Holy Scripture might well be summed up in verses 5 and 6:

⁵ May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus,

⁶ that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When a scribe asked Jesus “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31 N.A.B.). Does being in keeping with Christ Jesus include loving our neighbor as ourselves?

Has there ever been a time when we have been in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus so that with one voice we could glorify God the Father and the Lord Jesus? Biblical scholars and Church historians will answer: probably not even from the beginning. Saint Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians and 1 John both express utter dismay at the disharmony that arose in the early Church.

Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk, in the Seven Storey Mountain writes:

“It was St. Augustine’s argument, that envy and hatred try to pierce our neighbor with a sword, when the blade cannot reach him unless it first passes through our own body.”

Merton went on to write:

“In so far as men are prepared to prefer their own will to God’s will, they can be said to hate God: for of course they cannot hate Him in Himself. But they hate Him in the Commandments which they violate. But God is our life: God’s will is our food, our meat, our life’s bread.”

One of the elements of wisdom is recognizing that which is unchangeable in the face of a culture which insists that it is changeable. This will never change: true followers of Jesus cannot be hate driven; it is God’s will that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. This, too, will never change: the sword of hatred aimed at our neighbor will damage our personal relationship with our God. Saint Paul’s prayer/plea (v. 7) is that we welcome one another as Christ welcomed us, for the glory of God.

Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and even atheists, however imperfect in their faith or belief, who follow the Second Greatest Commandment can accomplish what no president, congress, army, or police force can: they can heal the rifts which are tearing our nation and world apart. 

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Do Something - He Is Still Thirsting For Your Love [at Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation]

Thank you Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan for another opportunity to re-publish our favorite posts on Worth Revisiting.

Let me share my heart's passion:

Do Something - He Is Still Thirsting For Your Love 

(Originally posted on August 11, 2014)

Do you become upset when you see our Lord ignored or disrespected?

I hope so!

I frequently write about the lack of reverence toward, and belief in, our Lord’s Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament and His on-going thirst to be loved by each of us. If you are interested, you can read some of my past posts on this subject here and here.

In fact, I even wrote a book, I Thirst for Your Love – one which author, speaker and ETWN host, Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, has highly recommended. This is what she has written:

"Tender, earnest, and heartfelt—I Thirst For Your Love is an excellent collection of beautiful poignant Eucharistic reflections. Author Michael Seagriff believes we have lost the sense of the Sacred and offers countless reasons for us to pause and ponder Jesus’ Sacred thirst for our love. I highly recommend this book." 

Donna-Marie is not alone in her support for this book. Catholic Radio Host, and Author of Lord I Hurt!, Refresh Me, Lord! and Embracing Edith Stein, Anne Costa shared the following:

"As I was reading [this book] I just kept thinking how urgent is this message. You say it with clarity and charity. Anyone reading this book will not be able to resist the 'wooing' of our Saviour to His wounded heart. As a woman, the holy gift of my receptivity resides and is invigorated by His Eucharistic presence. Jesus in the tabernacle is our only hope, quenching His thirst our single aim."

Over the years I have witnessed nearly every type of irreverence to the Eucharist one can imagine. My most recent experience is inexplicable, heartbreaking and shameful:

The tabernacle had been removed from this Church’s beautiful marble altar. It had been there so long, the outline of its shape was still readily visible on the marble to which it had been affixed. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords had been evicted from His earthly home and replaced with a wicker basket containing artificial flowers.

Is there any wonder why so many Catholics no longer believe?

The duty to help reinstate a sense of awe, amazement, respect and love for His Eucharistic Presence rests with each of us.

My little book, I Thirst for Your Love, will not bring these practices to a halt. But it is a start, a way of bringing attention to this pressing issue, of challenging liturgical abuses, and encouraging prayers and acts of Reparation to our often abandoned, ignored and waiting Lord.

By purchasing copies of this book, you will not only help this on-going struggle to educate and promote belief in our Eucharistic Lord. You will also be providing much needed financial assistance to the Benedictine Monks of Perpetual Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament who will share in any profit generated by sales of this book. The vital charism of this religious order includes praying before our Eucharistic Lord for the sanctification of all priests. Their Prior, Dom Mark, has contributed five outstanding articles to this collection.

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Advent: disarmament and waking from the dream of separateness [at Hermano Juancito]

Notes in English for a homily I will share tonight at the Vigil Mass of the First Sunday of Advent in Dolores, Copán, Honduras, inspired by Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton, in a year filled with death.

This year the municipality of Honduras has experienced at least six violent deaths: the killing of the mayor, the woman and her two children killed in a murder by arson in San Antonio Dolores, the couple who were killed by machetes in their home in Pasquingual.

It has not been a year of peace, but the prophet Isaiah gives us a vision of peace - on the Lord's mountain: 

“they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks… they shall not train again for war.”

How far is this vision from our reality? But what shall we do?

In the poor neighborhood of Philadelphia, where Shane Clairborne lives with a Christian community, they witnessed the killing of a nineteen year old in the block where Shane lives. Their response was inspired by this passage of Isaiah and they began a campaign to turn weapons into gardening tools,

making shovels out of AK-47s

. The movement has spread throughout the world.

This is an important first step in a world where weapons abound. This is a first step.

There is a need for nations to pound their weapons into instruments of peace, starting nuclear weapons of mass destruction. In fact, on October 27 this year, the United Nations voted to launch negotiations for a treaty abolishing nuclear weapons. Both France and the United States worked behind the scenes to oppose the move, and together with other nations including Great Britain, and Russia opposed it.

But what even a treaty is not enough.

As Dorothy Day wrote in the September 1938 Catholic Worker, we need “a disarmament of the heart”:

Today the whole world is in the midst of a revolution. We are living through it now – all of us. History will record this time as a time of world revolution. And frankly, we are calling for Saints…. We must prepare now for martyrdom — otherwise we will not be ready. Who of us if … attacked now would not react quickly and humanly against such attack? Would we love our brother [or sister] who strikes us? Of all at The Catholic Worker how many would not instinctively defend [themselves] with any forceful means in [their] power? We must prepare. We must prepare now. There must be a disarmament of the heart.

I think St. Paul has much to teach us in this regard. Writing to the Romans, living in the heart of a violent and oppressive empire, he urged them to a heart-felt conversion:

Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ…

This is how we can begin disarmament.

But this disarmament, this conversion, takes place when we wake up. As Paul wrote, 

“it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.”

Perhaps the first step to wake up is what happened to Thomas Merton on the corner of Fourth and Walnut in Louisville, Kentucky, where, as he put it in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, he woke from a dream of separateness:

In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness….This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud…. It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, though it is a race dedicated to many absurdities and one which makes many terrible mistakes: yet, with all that, God Himself gloried in becoming a member of the human race. A member of the human race! …There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun…. There are no strangers! … If only we could see each other [as we really are] all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed…. I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other….

When he begin to see the presence of God in others, when we realize that we are all one and responsible for each other, then we can begin the conversion, the disarmament of the heart that will open us to welcome the disarmed world that God promised to Isaiah and to us who worship the Prince of Peace.

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To What Purpose November 8? [at The Contemplative Catholic Convert]

Anyone with a modicum of understanding of the God of Scripture knows God delivered us from judgment on November 8. He answered the prayers of multiple thousands of Christians and other God- fearing Americans. Our national sins of abortion and flagrant sexual immorality alone – not to even mention our other national sins – our sins stink to the highest heaven just as Sodom’s sins sent their stench to God’s nostrils (Genesis 18-19). 

Yes, God had mercy on us this time by not giving us what we deserve.

At this point we ought to be reminded of St. Paul’s comment to the church at Rome: “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)

Christians and other God-fearing Americans ought to take serious and measured heed of what the apostle wrote.

The Church has enough to repent of to keep us on our knees for the next four years. And I IMPLORE US to not sit back now and think our work is done until next time. Such an attitude would be very unwise and very costly.  God is not One to be mocked.

Perhaps that is one reason the Holy Spirit made it easy for us to find model prayers of repentance. I call it the DEN prayer models: Daniel,Ezra,Nehemiah. Look at chapter 9 in each of the three Biblical books and you will find model prayers in which every pastor, deacon, priest, bishop, rabbi, and Sunday School teacher/catechist could lead their congregations. And the DEN prayer models also can serve as templates for individual prayers as well.

You and I must not fail to recognize and openly acknowledge the gift of grace (Grace: God giving us what we do not deserve. Note the difference in the definition of Mercy I listed at the beginning) – we must not fail to recognize and openly acknowledge the gift of grace God extended to us on November 8. We must not be like the ten lepers healed by Jesus – of whom only the one returned to give Him thanks. (Luke 17:11-19)

Christian, and you who fear the God of the Bible, God still calls us to national repentance. We kill 3500 babies in the womb each DAY in American abortion centers. We have elevated sexual perversions to the law of the land. We have turned our backs on the truly needy among us (I use the phrase “truly needy” on purpose). We are carelessly and cavalierly permitting our children and grandchildren to be taught God is merely an ancient myth useful only within the four walls of a church or synagogue. We have enthroned the ‘dollar’ to the place of worship and shoved the Creator to the periphery of our day to day lives. And those are only the beginning of our sins for which God will judge us if we do not repent.

What the prophet wrote in 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 still holds true, and may God help us to never lose sight of that promise – AND that implied warning: If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

God has done His part. He has granted us His mercy. Now we must do our part.

 Christian, and those of you who fear God – how then will we live?

What a somber and sober choice lay now before us.

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Have Mercy!

Can you hear those words delivered by John Stamos, aka Jesse Katsopolis? I can. In fact, it seems like everywhere I’ve turned these last months, I’ve heard and read “Have mercy.”

Maybe it’s me. Did you ever notice how once you discover something or purchase something, it’s everywhere, bringing on either affirmation or remorse? More than likely, nothing’s changed but you; you’re now attuned and alert to whatever it is. Maybe that’s what’s going on with me and mercy. Or maybe there’s something to this Jubilee Year of Mercy. Or maybe God’s trying to tell me something.mercy-leaves

The older I grow, the more my personal justice scale tips toward mercy. I’d like to think it’s due to maturity. Perhaps wisdom. More than likely it’s that at midlife, my interest in mercy rather than justice has become personal.

Personalizing mercy is how, many years ago, I reconciled my opinions about capital punishment to the Church’s teaching (helped along by Pope St. John Paul II). When my earthly life ends, I’m a hundred percent certain it’s mercy I’ll be seeking, not justice.

I can’t say I took full advantage of Pope Francis’s gift of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which concludes on November 20. I came to it rather late, pushing myself to release Ornamental Graces during this special year. It’s only one of the books I’ve read recently in which mercy is a dominant theme. In the last month alone, I can think of three other mercy-themed books: The Wood’s Edge by Lori Benton; The Promise of Rayne by Nicole Deese; and the forthcoming ‘Tis the Season by Olivia Folmar Ard. Each of these books tackle forgiveness and mercy among family members and family. And, as in Ornamental Graces, being merciful with oneself.

I’ve also enjoyed a nonfiction book based on St. Faustina’s Divine Mercy devotion, Divine Mercy for Moms by Michele Faehnle and Emily Jaminet. This book is perfect for the busy mom trying to incorporate divine mercy into her life and that of her family’s by simple, do-able actions.

In a world in which we’re quick to judge, on the eve of a contentious presidential election, I think we could all use a little more mercy in our lives. The bumper sticker says, “If you want peace, work for justice,” but if you want mercy, show mercy. And seek it out.

How have your views on justice and mercy evolved over time?

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Abortion Horrendous [at A Spiritual Journey]

       You see above the football stadium at the University of Michigan, my alma mater. It is the largest such stadium of all the colleges in the US, with a seating capacity of 107,601. 

         Based upon the number of abortions reported to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US, it is projected that the total number of known abortions from 1970 through 2016 will exceed 46 millions. So if you replace all the football fans in the Michigan stadium with an equal number of aborted babies, you'll need at least 460 stadiums, that's right, 460, to accommodate all of them! ~ truly mind-blowing. Anyone who knows the love of God can see that abortion is a horrendous evil. May God have mercy on us all.

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HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2016 17:11:34 GMT Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Transfer-Encoding: chunked Connection: keep-alive Vary: Accept-Encoding Vary: Cookie X-hacker: If you're reading this, you should visit automattic.com/jobs and apply to join the fun, mention this header. X-Pingback: https://ellengable.wordpress.com/xmlrpc.php Link: ; rel=shortlink X-ac: 1.atl _dfw Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=15552000 Advent Cartoon [at Plot Line and Sinker]

Advent Cartoon [at Plot Line and Sinker]

copyright James and Ellen Hrkach. Please do not use without permission!

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Advent: Being P.A.R.A for God [at CatholicSoup]

This time of the year there are so many things that demand our readiness and preparation. Like Thanksgiving or black Friday and family visits. It’s the holiday season and so much of it requires that we are ready for everything that’s about to happen. The turkey has to be prepared, the famous green-bean casserole in the oven, pies out to cool and the table set. It’s the time of the year that we’re all on our toes, preparing, getting ready for a time away from our busy lives with the people we love. Not only is it a time of preparing for the seasons in our homes, but it’s also a time of preparing in the Church beginning with the season of Advent. 

In Advent, a word translated to mean ‘arrival’ or ‘coming’ from the Greek word

Parousia,

we are entering a waiting room, a room that prepares our hearts and our souls for the coming of a King. The King comes to us in three beautiful ways. One, in the liturgy of the Word when we open the scripture. Two, in our hearts when we experience the living God in our lives and have personal encounters with him and lastly, the King comes to us in the Incarnation when we remember Jesus’ birth in the Nativity at Christmas AND at Mass during the celebration of the Eucharist where we re-visit that moment of the Word becoming Flesh and experience the Incarnate God who

humbled himself

for our sake becoming fully present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist. We can experience Christ in the Word, in our Hearts and in the Eucharist and all He asks is that we be ready.

During this season of Advent, the gospel tells us to always “be prepared” and to “be alert” comparing the second coming of God a thief in the night so we should “be ready” and “Stay awake”. Just a few days ago, I felt the invitation to participate in the

PARA

(Prepared, Alert, Ready & Alive) of the spiritual life. I was walking on a popular street in Santa Barbara. Walking aimlessly for I don’t know how long, looking up and around, window shopping and caught up in just the motion of walking. It wasn’t until a homeless man recognized me, grabbed my shoulder and as I turned he open his arms and embraced me with a hug. It was then that I realized where I had been. I was up in the clouds not really paying attention to the people I was walking past.

What that man did was bring me back down to earth where the real connection and relation happens and he helped remind myself that I always need to be prepared to encounter God in each moment and through each person of my life. It was a lesson of

PARA

for me and It parallels with our own seasons this time of the year. That we should be prepared to meet God in our own prayers or encounters the same way we go to dinner prepared to eat. And we should be ready to greet God when he comes this Christmas the same way we greet our family and friends when they visit. So in this Advent season, I ask God to give all of us the grace to be prepared, alert, ready, and alive to experience God in every moment of our lives. Amen.

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You Wove Me In My Mother's Womb [at Making It In Vermont]

I am amazed by the human spirit.  I am amazed by you.  Each and every one of you, whether you are at your best or you are at your worst.  I had an epiphany a little over a week ago on Saturday morning. It was a rare, slow start, sleep in till 7:30 instead of 5:30 morning and I was downstairs getting the littlest Laverty’s some breakfast.  I was thinking way back to my early 20’s when I had recently graduated from college and felt such a huge disconnect between who individual people are in reality and the facades that are put on throughout the day.  Nothing seemed to make sense.  Why do we dress up for work?  How does a teacher put on her teacher voice and act a certain way and then come home and act another?  How do I drape myself in a persona and make it work for me when all I want is to be “real”.  It was a big turning point for me deciding between, as I have written on the “About” page of this very blog, “getting messed up in the muck of this world, or …moving to Vermont.”   Ha ha oh oh oh the irony!!!  Can’t even stand it 🙂

Anyway what I couldn’t articulate then, I have been given a language for now through my catholic faith, and that is;  we are imperfect people.  We are lovely and self giving, and jealous and self righteous.  Doesn’t matter if we are 2, 22, or 92.  We are all and part at any given moment, in any given situation, around any given person.  That is our lot in this world.

We are not perfect.

There is a peace that comes with knowing every single one of us has limitations, that we grow, we learn, we are humbled, we persevere, but never do we reach perfection.

I find comfort and space for love in that fact we are all in that same boat.

When I was 13 weeks pregnant with my 6th son I went in for a routine ultrasound, my husband had to work and wasn’t able to go with me, so I went alone.  Immediately after the ultrasound I met with a high risk OBGYN because of some concerning markers they found.   This Dr. told me that the baby I had just been watching squirming around on my ultrasound minutes before, had fluid on his neck and that it was was likely due to a chromosomal disorder.  What I heard was blah blah blah blah, trisomy this, trisomy that,  blah blah blah, bad, bad, bad.

Honestly I can’t remember all that she told me, but I know it didn’t sound at all good.  She offered me a very new at the time blood test to determine what may be going on with my baby.  I was shocked and sad when it dawned on me that the urgency she was showing about me having the test done had more to do with having time to abort than anything else.  I felt horrified honestly, that it was an option, that my baby one instant was valued and the next wasn’t.  I asked about waiting to check possibly at my 19 week ultrasound and she told me that one of the possibilities was that my baby could be dead by then. The medical student in the room with us offered me tissues, but I did not cry.  I remember clutching the cross necklace I wore to the appointment and holding onto my faith like the center of a spinning wheel.  I left without agreeing to any testing.

When I went back for my 19 week ultrasound the fluid in my 6th sons neck had resolved but they saw 3 markers for Down syndrome giving us a 1 in 3 chance that our baby had it.  The new non invasive blood test the earlier OBGYN told me about, was again offered, this time, I agreed to it.  Although there was no question this baby was loved and wanted no matter what, I also saw merit in preparing myself for something I was very unfamiliar with.  When I got the call a week later from my midwife she told me the news that my son did in fact have Down syndrome and offered her condolences.

As if someone had died.

We are imperfect people.  Medical professionals, neighbors, friends who don’t know what to say… Me too, I know I say the wrong thing often just in an effort to say SOMETHING…

We are not God.  We are not each other.  All we have is grace that we can extend to others and humility to nurture in ourselves.

I love my 3 1/2 year old son with Down syndrome.  I absolutely do not feel burdened by him.  I feel like when I was being told his life was not worth living, it was a lie.  A well meaning lie, but a lie none the less.

Looking back at my early experience with a pregnancy with a child with Down syndrome, I do wish the health professionals I met had a more balanced understanding of Down syndrome, beyond a list of cant’s and won’ts, and will most likely be’s.

I recognize these people are human and burdened with their own limited experiences.  I want to do what I can to show them and other very human professionals like them the gift of my child with Down syndrome, the child that God wove into my womb and knew with precision all of his inward parts.  And I want to help that new mom pregnant with or having just given birth to her beautiful child that has Down syndrome to know it too.

When Gus was just a month or two old I found a brand new Facebook Group for moms of kids born in the same year as Gus that have Down syndrome.  For nearly four years we have gathered together almost 150 of us in our Facebook Group to share insights and joy, successes and strategies, through sickness and health and sadly even tragedy.  We post pictures of our babies, ask questions, and support each other across the country and even on the other side of the world. The women in this group made me feel from the start like I was not alone and like Down syndrome was just another side of normal, which I believe it is.

Well some of these amazing women saw the need of families with a new Down syndrome diagnosis as well as education for medical professionals and they decided to be the change and started the Down Syndrome Diagnosis Network or DSDN for short.  After the success of our Facebook Group they have added about 2000 women to their own birth year Facebook groups so they be supported like we have been.  Some other things DSDN does are:

Ensure physicians are educated about how to deliver a diagnosis

Support network of families through:  Welcome Gifts, Memorials, Care Gift Cards, Scholarships

Reach hundreds of new families joining the Ds community each year

It is an awesome awesome organization.  I would love to help them grow.

It is hard to carve out painting time within my mothering schedule, but I offered up some late nights this month to paint this Mary and Baby Jesus Peg Doll in honor of the coming Christmas season.

I would love to give it away to one of you!

I also designed a note card featuring the image of the Mary and Baby Jesus Peg Doll Saint I painted (thank you Louisa Larson for the photography) using verse 13 from Psalm 139 “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.”.

It is a pdf printable that will be emailed to you after purchase.  50% of your $5 purchase goes directly to DSDN and helping them help folks just like me 4 years ago.

They would be great as a Christmas Card, but also a Christening Invitation, Birth Announcement, or Congratulations on the Birth of your Baby Card.  The printable is an 8.5 x 11 with 2 approx. 4″x5″ cards on it.  You can buy this paper and these envelopes on Amazon to go with it and you are all set.  The best thing is with the file you can print as many as you want, whenever you want.

PLUS you will be entered to win the actual Mary and Baby Jesus Peg Doll Saint I painted.  It is a 3 inch wood peg doll painted with acrylics with a non toxic finish.  The drawing will be held December 8th, 2016 on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (one day before my 45th birthday).

Here is the link if you would like to purchase the note card pdf: Mary and Baby Jesus Peg Doll Saint Note Card .

Thank you in advance.  Even if you do not actually print the printables and just want an opportunity to win the peg doll, DSDN and I thank you for your contribution.

And lastly here is a little photo shoot of my sixth son Gus with the Mary and Baby Jesus Peg Doll.  He was such a good sport for me, crazy mom with camera…  I am forever grateful for this boy God wove so perfectly in my womb!

Love from Vermont,

~Lisa

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St. Francis of Assisi - The Founder

524px-giotto_-_legend_of_st_francis_-_-06-_-_dream_of_innocent_iii St Bonaventure described God’s love as ‘a shaft of light that flashes out from the divine darkness’,  that suddenly enables believers to see the truth  they have never seen before. For the first time they begin to see the truth about themselves that they did not want to see before. Then it enables them to see the truth about God who they had once created in their own image and likeness and then fallen in love with. This mystical shaft of light fills them with wisdom and understanding that enables them to interpret the truth and then fills them with the strength to do the truth, that they could never have done before.  This is why Francis was able to hear and understand the Gospel reading on the feast of St Matthias when he was told to go out speaking the Good News and calling people to repentance. He was given something else too that he didn’t have before, and that was the inner spiritual strength to do it, as Jesus had done before him.

It was only now that the same people who had mocked him before listened to him as never before. They could see that the charismatic hippie was no more. Instead it was a new man who stood before them, a more balanced and mature man who in some way embodied the goodness of the man in whose name he spoke. In no time at all people flocked to hear him speak and soon many young men asked to join him. The first two to join him were highly respected citizens of Assisi. One was Bernard of Quintavalle an extremely wealthy man, the other was Peter Cattani a secular lawyer who had been made a Canon at the Cathedral of San Rufino. When they asked St Francis what they were to do, he took them both to the church of San Nicolo where all three prayed before opening the Gospels three times in honour of the Holy Trinity to read: –

“If you will be perfect go sell all you have and give it to the poor and you shall have treasures in heaven” (Matthew 19:21).

 “If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 26:24).

“And he commanded that they should take nothing for the way” (Mark 6:8).

Francis was filled with joy and said, “Brothers, this is our life and our rule and not only ours but for all who wish to follow us.” After they had given away all their possessions to the poor they took up residence in a little hut near St Mary of the Angels where they were joined by Giles, who had begun life as a farmer and who would end it as a famous hermit to whom many would turn for spiritual help and guidance long after St Francis had died. In order to obey the word of God they set off two by two to proclaim the Gospel. When asked who they were they replied that they were penitents from Assisi and they preached repentance to all who would hear them. Francis and Giles went to the Marches of Ancona and Bernard and Peter to Florence. When on their return their numbers increased they moved to a few small buildings at a place called Rivo Torto, so called because they lay alongside a brook that twisted and turned like a snake. Then, when their numbers had increased to twelve, St Francis wrote his first rule based entirely on the teachings of the Gospel and, with Bernard of Quintavalle elected as their leader, they set off for Rome to seek approval for their way of life from Pope Innocent III.

Innocent had no illusions about the state of the Church and the need for fundamental reform, but he had so far been unimpressed by the myriad firebrands who had set themselves up to reform it with their apocalyptic followers. Even though he had encouraged some of them to begin with, he usually ended in suppressing or condemning them. Most of them had their own off-beat interpretation of the Gospels and their uncanny habit of antagonising the clergy who they loved to damn to hell in their fiery sermons. Francis was different from these self-appointed prophets of doom for three reasons. Firstly, his simple honest-to-God goodness was quite transparent, unlike most of the self-styled reformers who preceded him. Secondly, he never at any time pointed the finger at anyone else for failing to live up to the ideals he sought to live for himself. Nor would he even think of preaching in the diocese or the parish of any bishop or priest against their will. By instinct rather than by calculation Francis knew that only the humble can speak to the proud and hope to be heard. And thirdly his rule of life was the teaching of the Gospel, the whole Gospel, and nothing but the Gospel, without the bizarre misinterpretations of these prophets of doom.

However, despite all this, when Innocent III read his rule it made him think twice, because he feared that nobody could possibly live by it. If it wasn’t for the words of Cardinal John of St Paul who had already befriended St Francis, and Pope Innocent’s famous dream, things might well have turned out quite differently. The words of the Cardinal were simply these. “If you say that his rule of life is too difficult to live by it is tantamount to saying that the Gospel is too difficult to live by too.” That would of course not only be a criticism of the Poverello from Assisi, but of the man whose teaching he, like the rest of the Church, was trying to follow. If these words made Innocent III pause for further thought then the dream that he had the following night decided the matter.

The dream was of the rather grubby little man, who had presented his rule to him the day before, preventing the walls of the Lateran Palace from falling down. In those days the Lateran Palace was what the Vatican is today, so despite appearances he came to see that the man he had initially mistaken for a swineherd was in fact sent by God to do for the Church what all the prophets of doom put together had failed to do.

To this day there is nothing left in writing of that first rule of St Francis which he and his brothers followed for more than a dozen years. Nor did Pope Innocent III give St Francis anything other than his word to ratify this rule. But that meant nothing to St Francis. If a gentleman’s word is his bond, what of a Pope’s? “Go with my blessing and try to live by it,” he had said to St Francis. He was using the well-proven wisdom of Gamaliel – “If it is of God it will surely succeed, but if it is of man it will surely fail.” If all went well Francis was told to return, for Innocent had work for him to do.

All did go well and St Francis was to return many times to be entrusted by Christ’s Vicar on earth with the work Christ himself had asked him to perform only five years before in the Church of San Damiano.

David is the author of Wisdom from Franciscan Italy – The Primacy of Love which shows how the essence of Christian spirituality is restored by Francis.

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How do you justify baby-baptism, after all that? [at Catholic365]

In a recent discussion about justification and Baptism, a non-Catholic asked me to explain how the Catholic Church can Teach infant Baptism (i.e. baby baptism). The explanation is very simple, if one only takes into account the signs which Jesus performed when He walked with the Apostles.

The usual non-Catholic objections to infant Baptism is that infants can not express faith, nor repent of their sins. In this case, the individual even admitted that infants have no sins from which to repent. Something which, incredibly, most Protestants with whom I've discussed the topic, won't accept. Somehow, because Scripture says that "all have sinned", they interpret that to mean that even innocent babes have committed some sin at some time. Mind boggling.

But that's not the topic of this article, so let's proceed to explain how we know that infant Baptism is efficacious.

Baptism is the Sacrament of faith. And an adult must be able to express his faith in words and in works before he is admitted to the Throne of Grace to receive the regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

189 The first "profession of faith" is made during Baptism. The symbol of faith is first and foremost the baptismal creed. Since Baptism is given "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit", the truths of faith professed during Baptism are articulated in terms of their reference to the three persons of the Holy Trinity.

But infants can not express their faith nor can they repent of any sins because they have not reached the age of reason.

So, to explain baby baptism, all one has to do is see the signs which Jesus performed for the parents who brought their ill and even deceased children to Him for healing. Here are a few:

Matthew 15:28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith[/B]: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

This is the wonderful account of the Canaanite woman. Notice that the child never utters a word. Nor can she. But it is by the great faith of the mother that Jesus cures the child.

Let's look at another account. Note that the faith of the parent does not have to be a strong faith:

Mark 9:21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
27But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

So, in this case, the parents' faith was not great, like the Canaanite. And the child expressed no faith at all. Yet, Jesus saved him in accordance with the parents' wishes.

In the same way, Jesus will save our children in Baptism, in accordance with the faith of the Parents.

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Four Sure Ways to Win Your Spouse's Heart [at Little Douglings]

I headed downstairs the other day to the kitchen for some much needed caffeine therapy. I could hear my husband speaking to my daughter in earnest, "No, don't take that one, I'm saving it for Mommy." I heard my daughter's little voice peep in protest, "But it's the biggest and the bestest!" He answered, "Yes, that's why it's for Mommy."

This sums up one of the greatest secrets to a really happy marriage: Never stop trying to win the heart of your spouse. 

It isn't always in the over-the-top, extraordinary demonstrations of your love, it's in the little everyday things. Although most people have a particular love language that they respond to more than others, here are some ideas that are universally welcome expressions of love and a powerful means of winning the hearts of our spouses:

1. The Gift of Nurturing. If your spouse is showing signs of sleep deprivation, the words, "You should have a nap while I take care of things." provide the same dose of happy as, "I'm going to fly you to a remote island, where you can blanket yourself in the rays of sunlight, as you serenely float on a hammock made of cotton candy clouds (solidified enough to support your weight but digestible for intermittent snacking)". It might mean working hard and making sacrifices to make that nap possible, but it will help woo the heart of your beloved - who is undoubtedly more "wooable" when not sleep deprived. Another way to nurture your spouse is to ensure that they are well fed and not becoming run-down. My husband has brought me food when I've been busy nursing a baby and unable to eat. My heart has grown three sizes, and decidedly belongs to him. 

2. The Gift of Giving Preference. This can be lived out, "a la St. Therese", in very small ways, but when mutual generosity defines your marriage, mutual happiness ensues. It can be in sacrificing time in a shared bathroom, so your spouse has the time they need to get ready, or choosing a show to watch that you know your spouse would really appreciate, or giving your beloved the last of the K-cup coffee flavors you like. It's those little ways in which we bend our will and our preferences for the good of the other that speaks love. I fully admit I'm usually on the receiving end of this, as I still have far to go, but every time I've caught my husband pulling a "Therese", I am slain.    

3. The Gift of Acknowledgment and Respect. Not everyone's love language is affirmation, but when it comes to the marital bond, I promise you it will be strengthened every time the effort is made to acknowledge your spouse for all they do and all they are. It requires that we take our eyes off ourselves, and even if we're not in the best of moods, to admire the gift that we've been given: "Wow. You look more beautiful everyday.", "I think our kids are so blessed to have you as their dad.", "I know you've been working extra hard lately, I just wanted you to know how grateful I am for everything you do for our family." When you are going out to a function, treat your spouse like the hot date he or she is, seriously. Check them out, let the compliments fly, flirt (with your spouse only), and remember what first attracted you to your beloved and admire the ways in which they've grown (not necessarily physically though - but maybe).

4. The Gift of Yourself. Granted all the aforementioned acts of love are "gifts of self", but this one focuses on the effort to be the very best version of yourself as a demonstration of your love. I've noticed that my husband has become more of a gentleman since we've been married. He's careful to consider where I'm at emotionally, physically and mentally before asking things of me, his tone is always respectful and kind. He works hard to learn more about the faith, so he is able to be a spiritual leader for our family. My opinion of him matters more than any other (God aside), and I try hard to be someone deserving of his love. I believe that even the effort to maintain good hygiene and to look your best for your spouse is an offering of love. It says that even though you've committed yourselves to each other, you refuse to let that love become stagnant and you take delight in surprising your spouse, and in winning their heart over and over again.

Please forgive the sappy tone of this post. I admit that when I speak about my husband, it probably summons up the image of white cartoon doves twirling about our home as we gracefully dance around pulling heart shaped boxes of chocolates out of thin air. It's more like Barbie dolls being whipped at our heads, as we walk carefully through Lego infested floors while pulling used diapers out of cupboards muttering, "seriously, who put this here... and how long ago?"  But amidst this messy, busy existence, it's a gift when you know your spouse is still pursuing you, still delighting in you, still trying to turn your head and your heart.

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Remarkable Contrast [at Beware Yon Dragons!]

Well, maybe it is not totally remarkable, but it is a contrast, and that does make things a bit clearer. I have been thinking a bit lately about the modern phenomenon of radical feminism. In case anyone reading this post does not know me well enough to guess my opinion on the subject: I am significantly less than favorable to radical feminism. I have encountered varying forms of feminism (radical, simple, progressive, old-style, etc) in my years, and have never seen it encourage truth, beauty or goodness.

Aside from its positions regarding the murder of unborn children and the promotion of pornography (yes, feminism is highly supportive of pornography, in case you were not aware of this), there is the undermining of the family that is destructive to the very fabric of society. These positions are all at odds with the Church and the Scriptures. Yet, there is something else that I realized recently that makes me say that feminism is an ungodly system of belief.

Feminism is

not actually

at war with overbearing masculine types who promote a chauvinistic or patriarchal society. That is too simplistic. Yes, feminists are

adverse

to strong masculine types (except when they themselves are the strong masculine types!), but that is more of a by-product and not the cause. Feminism (as a system) only resists and attacks men when they speak in defense of a Catholic understanding of masculinity and femininity. Hence, there is something deeper that feminism is seeking to combat, and this is what makes it more pernicious.

Although feminists will often say that they are content for women "to choose" for themselves how to live, this does not reflect reality. When a woman wishes to stay home, take care of the children (even homeschool them), and manage the house while her husband works to earn the sole paycheck, a typical feminist will complain that she has been brainwashed and needs to be enlightened. Although this may sound a bit far fetched, I have experienced it firsthand. My oldest daughter (who just wants to get married, have children, and be a homemaker) is often the source of raised eyebrows when she tells this to people. Some seem to insist that she has to "go to college" (which she has no interest in) and "have a career" (as though being a wife and mother is necessarily unfulfilling).

You see, feminism is not just wanting to recognize women more. In fact, there are some women that feminism would like to eradicate completely (because they consider them bad examples of womanhood). Feminism is definitely at war. Yet, it is not a war that you might imagine, and herein is where we find the amazing contrast. Feminism is not at war with anything masculine, feminism is at war with something decidedly

feminine

. Feminism is at war with the Blessed Virgin Mary herself. This is where it all begins.

The Roman Catholic Church puts forward the Blessed Virgin Mary as a role model for everyone (male and female), honors her above all other saints, and has numerous special devotions to her. Imagine a feminist trying to use the Blessed Virgin as a role model. She is quiet, unassuming, humble, and submissive--all things that are contrary to the heart of feminism. She points away from herself and tells us to "listen to Jesus". She willingly sacrificed her own freedoms for the good of others, and was willing to endure persecution for Christ's sake. It is this type of woman that feminism wants to eradicate from society.

Modern feminism (in all its forms) wants to promote a culture of evil, and its hatred of our Lady is the source of this. Only a few times have we seen this in any direct or outward form (ever heard of a so-called entertainer called "Lady Gaga"?), but Hillary Clinton's recent statements that she wishes to destroy the Catholic Church because it "hates women" shows just how far it has grown. Not only does feminism seek to destroy the order of creation and erase all differences between the sexes, it also wants to create a culture of death. In the name of "health care" (it still amazes me how a phrase that refers to something good can be used to connote murder!) it seeks to legitimize infanticide (born and unborn) through all the various modern methodologies.

Hence, modern feminists seek to promote a womanhood that has sex without conception, and the Blessed Virgin conceived without having sexual relations; quite a significant opposite! In the feminist frame of mind this is getting all the bad results without any of the "fun". After all, feminism, in its quest for personal pleasure (at all costs) cannot cope with someone who willingly chose to sacrifice pleasure for the sake of a greater good. It cannot understand what it means to find power in humility. Once again: feminism and the Blessed Virgin are at complete odds with one another.

No, I am not into patriarchy, but, I do, however, wish to keep men as men, and women as women, so that each can find godliness in the manner that God intended. God created us different, and the recent explosion of "gender identity" foolishness is a total rejection of the created order. The Virgin Mary is the clearest example of a full acceptance of God's choice for one's life ("may it be done to me according to your word"), and we do society great harm if we forget her example.

Feminism will lose this war, but in the process it is going to gain a number of adherents, and create quite a few casualties. Brothers and sisters, learn what it means to be men and women by spending some time reading the Scriptures and the catechism. Parents, make the lines between godly femininity and godly masculinity as clear as possible in your home. Everyone, pray for those who are confused in this area, and beg God for His grace in this confusing time.

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Question - am I responsible for the Goofy People who like me? [at Quiet Consecration]

One thing I have learned during this past election cycle is that I am not the brightest bulb in the box.  Frankly, I take comfort in admitting I was completely wrong about the chance for a Trump presidency because I am in great company.  People like Peggy Noonan and George Will thought he would implode.  Apparently we missed something (a BIG something) and now I am playing catch up on a lot of stuff in order to figure out what happened.

I am blessed with a fairly strong constitution.  I do not need counseling and I am suspicious of the need for things like Empathy Walls or Comfort Spaces for all the people who have been traumatized the election results.  I find myself shutting up about this wailing and gnashing of teeth because I do not want to be accused of 'shaming' people who need help and because I don't want to sound like my late father.  I cannot even imagine what he would be saying right now - or maybe I can, and so am glad I do not have to worry about this year's Thanksgiving Dinner conversation.

I learned something else from this past cycle and that is to not trust any news media outlets.  Apparently, in the past, one could count on the reporters getting out of their chairs and actually searching out the truth of a story but today all we seem to get is warmed over ideas from bloggers and late night talk show hosts on both radio and television.  Edward R. Murrow is turning in his grave and the spirit of Woodward and Bernstein are dead.

This is why when people started screaming about Steve Bannon being a proponent of White Supremacy I did not rush to judgment.  I wanted to find out what I could and the best way I could figure out how to do that was to read the transcripts of some of his speeches and to read some recent interviews.

I really didn't know (and still do not) that much about the man other than to think it is too bad Phillip Seymour Hoffman is dead because he would be the perfect guy to play him in the movie.  I started by reading a transcript of a speech he gave at the Vatican in 2014.  The speech is reported by BuzzFeed and my antenna went up when I saw that this venerable news organization had referred to Raymond Burke as "

one of the most vocal critics of Pope Francis who was ousted from a senior Vatican position in 2014" .  

The tone is set by the reporting - these people gathering for that summit are far-right conservatives and so should be treated with suspicion.

As I read through this particular speech I saw very little to take exception to philosophically but I could see where the culture in America today would be freaking out over what this guy said.  The attitude today is "Western Culture bad,,,,all else good".  I have seen this with my own eyes.  I once saw a Facebook post referencing a strangely titled internet group.  The group (something like HERstory or TRUESTORY or some such revisionist stuff) was trying to convince African Americans that Napoléon conspired with Leonardo di Vinci to make all of the paintings of Jesus show him as a white man in order to wipe out the truth that He was Black.  I remember when I pointed out to an otherwise intelligent and very articulate man that the two people lived in two different centuries I was told that the reason I did not believe the information is because I have been brainwashed by the Euro-centric historicity taught in most school.  I was also told that I was using the evil calendar devised by the Roman Catholic Church.  If I used the JULIAN Calendar, he said, I would see how the evil Catholics had conspired to wipe the truth out that Jesus was a Black man.  When I told him that Napoleon had ruled in 1804 and di Vinci had died in the 1500's, I was ignored.

For this reason I did not leap onto the Southern Poverty Law bandwagon and proclaim Bannon a member of the KKK.  I wanted to try and figure this out for myself - do I like him or not?  I started my own quest for information and it has been enlightening.

If I understand Mr. Bannon correctly much of the values taught (though not often upheld by the teachers) by the Judeo-Christian Culture have been abandoned and that this has left our culture careening towards economic destruction.  He also admits that much of what he proposes in terms of 'Economic Nationalism" can be misappropriated by the far right goofy people (KKK and other White Supremist Types) and used to advance their agenda - an agenda which flies in the face of true Judeo-Christian Values.

It is an interesting speech, and I do not pretend to understand all of it.  Nor do I agree with his dismissal of the weird fringe type as eventually washing out.  I happen to think he needs to publically denounce and disavow them, because now he is the Senior Advisor to the most powerful man in the world.  To not do so is politically dumb at the least, suicidal at the most. 

This got me thinking, however, about the responsibility we all share for the goofy people who may or may not like us.  How important is it for my readers, for instance, for me to state clearly and carefully that I do not hold to any ideas held by Catholics who read my blog who are not in full communion with the Church.  If they think that only those Catholics who attend the Traditional Latin Mass are good Catholics, or only those Catholics who vote Republican are good Catholics or that every woman who had an abortion is going to hell then I disavow them.  They may share my Faith Tradition but they do not share my understanding of it.

If anyone who loves me thinks that Truth is subjective and so carry all the wackadoo ideas that goes along with that - I disavow them too.  It does not mean I don't still love them, however, but they have to know I believe in ALL that the Holy Catholic Church teaches - even the parts that are politically incorrect or that I have not even learned yet.  That is how much I trust Her...and The Holy Spirit.

Come to think of it, if you don't like dogs and cats I disavow you....just to be safe.

As a public confessor (writer) I have to consider the possibility that at least 10% of the people who read my stuff and regularly contact me about what I write might be nutty cookoo.  Am I responsible for them?  Does that responsibility change as my worldly importance changes? Today I am just a small time blogger, one blog among a bazillion blogs, but if, by fluke, I was suddenly catapulted into the stratosphere of fame would I be responsible for the opinions and beliefs held by every one of my readers?

Steve Bannon may or may not be a good guy.  I was put off by his references to 'Dark Power' during an interview and I think he may be a little grandiose (we will govern for 50 years!) but that truly could be chalked up to being a big mouthed man more than anything else.  I do think that, if we could hold to true Judeo-Christian Values, society would be better off.  I do believe that forced capitalism is another form of slavery and I do believe that capitalism must be regulated because of concupiscence. 

Am I ready to jump on his bandwagon?  No more than I am ready to have him shot by firing squad because the far left thinks too many White Supremists like him.

If he is right, and we can rebuild the middle class and the infrastructure without having to start or participate in a world war then that is great....and if he is wrong?

Well, heck - we will be having another election in four years.

Maybe by that time, George and Peggy and I will have learned something.

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Gifts of the Heart [at Bible Meditations]

  As Jesus sat near the Temple treasury, he watched the people as they dropped in their money. Many rich people dropped in a lot of money; then a poor widow came along and dropped in two little copper coins, worth about a penny. He called his disciples together and said to them, “I tell you that this poor widow put more in the offering box than all the others. For the others put in what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, put in all she had—she gave all she had to live on.” Mark 12: 41-44

While Jesus was eating, a woman came in with an alabaster jar full of a very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on Jesus’ head. Some of the people there became angry and said to one another, “What was the use of wasting the perfume? It could have been sold for more than three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor!” And they criticized her harshly.

But Jesus said, “Leave her alone! …She has done a fine and beautiful thing for me…She did what she could…” Mark 14: 3-6

Money is no object. At least, that’s how it seems according to these gospel stories. The widow gave what she had. Her gift of a penny was more than enough, and valued by Jesus. The woman who anointed Jesus gave what she had, too. Her expensive gift was not deemed extravagant, but also valued by Jesus.

In God’s economy, it’s not about how much or how little we have to give, but the love and sincerity behind the gift that counts. That goes for the talents we’ve been gifted with, too. We don’t need to worry that our abilities aren’t good enough. We don’t need to worry that we’d be showing off by putting them to use. When we offer ourselves and our abilities to God, we don’t need to worry about other people’s opinions or comments. We don’t even have to worry about the results. Neither the widow’s penny nor the lavish perfume made a huge difference in the worldly scheme of things. But both were precious and appreciated by the Lord.

Every time we overcome shyness, or feelings of inadequacy, or fear that people will think we’re trying to show off to share what we’ve been given, we are doing “a fine and beautiful thing”.

Prayer: Lord, help me recognize my gifts and share them.

Reflection: What are your gifts? Who can you share them with today?

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America: Is This One Last Chance? [at Renew The Church Blog]

President-elect Trump continues to build and staff his Cabinet, but the stunned shock of defeat postponed only briefly a seething rage among the humiliated “progressive” Democrats. They are now regaining a counter-offensive with bold if shallow threats and prideful promises. Meanwhile, I stand amazed at the miracle that – contrary to almost universal expectation and most of the polls and expert predictions – Mrs. Clinton and the Democrats did not win the election.

Yes I believe it was a miracle! I believe God intervened because of the prayers of His faithful ones. When I reflect on the damage that would have been inflicted on the nation by the Clinton machine, the corruption that would have even deeper and established even more firmly in our economy, our systems of justice, of education, of health, of immigration – indeed our democratic republic itself, I see how close we came to the precipice. And the damage would not have been merely secular, and so to speak external. No, the threat was to the very soul of the nation – the meaning of America – the very beautiful and Spirit-led heart of the founding principles and defining documents of the Republic. “One nation under God” was a principle one president away from being erased completely from the conscience of the nation, and God Himself saved us from falling. He held us back from the precipice; He kept us from the fall.

It used to be very different, in the America I grew up in. America was great because America was good, with a simple and beautiful goodness that we received from the hand and the heart of God. Ours was a culture of respect for the moral good, and the truth of divine revelation. We became a strong nation because the fear of God was real among us, and within us. We were not all saints, certainly, but God was acknowledged among the simple and the educated, among the rich and the poor – among the lawful and the criminals as well. Justice was believed in, and honored. Truth was important; hard work was rewarded and crime was punished. It was common for Sunday to be the day for worship, and for prayer, and for family. Priests and ministers were respected, as was marriage, as was one’s name and one’s word and promises. Along the way, America, we have lost a great deal. Where was the Church, as it was all slowly and gradually changing?

Do you know how close we came to losing this nation – to putting this nation of laws, with a Constitution to protect us and our human rights, into the hands of lawless Judges who feel free to make up laws and rights as they see fit? Do you know how close we still are to falling so far from “One nation under God” to a fragmented, shattered confederation of hostile tribes and identity groups under an all-powerful federal rule by whim and imperial fiat? The Lord has been very patient with us, His Church, as the darkness of the world around us continued to grow only darker.

I believe this, however, concerning the Church: He is giving His Church one more chance. He is God and I am not, and I don’t know that I personally would have given us another chance, so prodigal have we been with our blessings. But He is God and He has given us this one more chance to be who we are, and to be what we are sent to be: Light! We are sent to be His holy light in this dark world.

Where has the Church been, through the decades when this nation was in such grave moral decline? The nation morphed from a culture of life to a culture of death – from a predominantly Judeo-Christian nation to a predominantly materialistic and godless one. The light of revealed truth – even the light of the natural moral law – has been receding, dimming, fading into the horizon while an amoral darkness has begun to envelop the country. Barbarism, cruelty, animal-like inhumanity has crept in. And where has the Church been, as this enemy of souls was infiltrating every facet and corner of America? What has the Church been doing, instead of her holy mission? Whom has she been serving, when she was not serving her Lord and God? What have our parishes and pulpits been occupied with, when they were not occupied with the upbuilding of her people in holiness, and nurturing them toward the fulness and the maturity of Christ?

The more pressing question is, what will we do now? Will we seek holiness, as is our vocation? Will we be light, as is our mission? Will we be witnesses, as we are sent to be, of His life-giving Spirit? Will we see the one door open before us – the door that may be the last chance we will have – to seek His will and do it? Will we pray with all our hearts to do His will no matter the cost? Will we offer Him all that He has entrusted to us, in hope that He may use it, and us, for the glory of His work in this His creation? Thy Kingdom come, Father! Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name.

Thomas Richard, 11/21/2016

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From Darkness, Light [at Miss Alexandrina]

This time last year, I was a bridesmaid at the wedding of one of my best friends. It was a happy and glorious occasion indeed, but it had certainly not been a smooth ride. They had originally planned to have a longer engagement, but pushed the wedding forward due to an unexpected gift of another life. Unfortunately, my friend lost her baby, and there is never a nice way to finish that sentence, but…but God moves in mysterious ways, and out of such a terrible happening has been one of the most enlightening years of my life.

Of course, there is never praise to the Devil when he interferes with our lives and tests our faith, but I find that the best way to look at evil is for the strengthening of the soul, a la the Irenaean theodicy.

As Godmother to the angel now in Heaven, I experienced the loss quite severely, and it was one of those moments in life – to use the phrase from the recent Arrival film trailer: “days that define your story beyond your life”. I never realised how much I cared for the child until she no longer walked among us. Of course I was upset; of course I felt angry that death had yet again claimed me and my friends.

I didn’t blame God, though. If I had to blame anyone, it would be myself for questioning the events that unfolded, doubted the love two people have, found fault with the most natural of circumstances.

All things happen for a reason, we are reminded. My friend is blessed that she has already been called to her vocation in this life. And me, through osmosis, came to realise how small we all are in life. From the darkness and the pain came a light and trust in God’s plans that I might otherwise have disregarded.

From evil, if it was, comes the joy to keep moving forward and fighting the good fight.

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Our Life Is God's Gift to Us! [at A Moment From De Sales]

Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat remains to this day a most popular musical.  It tells the biblical story of Joseph and how envy caused his brothers to sell him into slavery in Egypt.

Joseph's brothers were jealous because Joseph had more wit, intelligence and charm. They wished he didn't have any of these gifts. Why? Because these gifts made him their father’s favorite son.

His brothers wanted him destroyed because all his sparkle pointed to their emptiness. This is how envy brings death into our world. It simply blinds us to the gifts we have, making us focus instead on someone else’s gifts.   We just can’t see what is right in front of us--allowing envy to point out what others possess as “what we must have to be happy.”

Jesus showed us a different way.  He treated all people as He wanted them to treat Him.  Jesus saw everyone’s gifts as helping one another to achieve our unique purpose in life.

Jesus knew this from experience.  He was fair, loving, respectful and concerned. His life style was simple, humble and gentle.  He practiced what He preached. Jesus was literally a “breath of fresh air.”

Yet, instead of gaining admiration from the chief priests, Jesus made the chief priests uncomfortable.  And before long their envy of Jesus, brought about His death.

They couldn’t handle His diversity--it just didn’t fit into their way of seeing the world.  They were not able to embrace differences that make everyone stronger and better--so they decided Jesus had to die.

This past Thanksgiving Day with all its family rituals is our moment to put envy out of our hearts and replace it with gratitude to God for giving us everything we have and use--as well as appreciating with gratitude every gift that others have to do the same.

On this day we remember this basic part of living together, i.e., everyone living on this earth has his or her own distinct talents--that only come from God--for everyone's benefit.  And when this happens, God is pleased!

Our Thanksgiving moment is a beautiful time to recall even for a brief, quiet instant that Our life is God’s gift to us--and what we do with it is our gift to God!

St. Francis de Sales:

"If you hold the goods of this world in one hand, hold fast the hand of God with the other. Occasionally turn and see if God is pleased with your use of them." 

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We Need to Talk About Breastfeeding [at Under Thy Roof]

It's assumed that I breastfeed.

Because obviously, right?

I'm home with the kids, I homeschool, we do NFP and cloth diaper.

I had a homebirth for cryin' out loud!

But....nope. No I don't. And apparently that's a problem.

So much of mom socialization is predicated on breastfeeding. It comes up every where!

Give your baby a bottle while you're out, is that breastmilk?

Note your kid hasn't gotten the cold that's been going around, breastfeeding?

Snuggly toddler, is she still breastfeeding?

It's like a years long game of Pop-Goes-the-Weasel.

I know people are asking the question because they think they know the answer, but that's a stupid assumption y'all.

They don't know about the lactation consultants who noted aspect after aspect that might make breastfeeding a little harder - somehow never taking into account what all of those aspects mean when on a single person.

They weren't there for the holy hell that is PPD aggravated from not sleeping well for weeks on end.

Or when I was trying to convince "supportive" friends and medical practitioners that just telling me I can do this, despite the indications that this was not a good situation, is not support.

Truly they couldn't have known any of that. So why the prying? Why does the subject of breastfeeding come up like a society-wide tic?

Breastfeeding was "covered" in birth classes the same way NFP was "covered" in marriage prep - lightly and full of contradictory messages.

It was emphasized that it would take some learning, but wouldn't be a big deal (it's natural so therefore easy, right?). If you ran into big problems you could just call up a lactation consultant. No biggie.

No considerations for body differences. No counseling about mental health considerations. No awareness of the privilege and money needed to allow for the kind of support that gives a nursing pair a fighting shot at getting a good start.

Come on people, we can do better than this!

Somehow we've managed to convince ourselves that those who don't breastfeed do so because they just don't know any better or are selfish. Perhaps worse is the message that every woman CAN breastfeed if she just tries hard enough.

Just. Try. Harder. The three most unhelpful words ever uttered.

To what level of crazy, sick, stressed, and bleeding do we expect a woman to go before everyone is satisfied she has "tried hard enough"? How dare we make that demand?

When I finally made the decision, with my husband, to stop trying to breastfeed exclusively and finally give our baby formula, I felt like an absolute failure. (You can read in more detail some of the circumstances of our first child's birth in

John's birth story

.)

My community let me know I was a failure too.

There are no support groups for bottle feeding. In fact, it became apparent that most of the groups for new moms, in my area, were based around breastfeeding - if they existed at all. Ouch.

At first I took it really hard. When those prying questions came up I would find myself suddenly trying to explain to this

complete stranger

 why I made this really intimate decision.

Because if you don't breastfeed than you should at least be apologetic about it.

I finally called myself on it. I wasn't doing anything wrong by feeding my baby formula, and I needed to quit trying to apologize for it.

I'm going to come out as someone who is strongly in the Fed Is Best camp.

I think formula is not second best, but actually truly fine.

Really really. No qualifiers.

And just because this actually came up in real life, my not breastfeeding does not make me unsupportive of 

you

 breastfeeding. If breastfeeding is what you want, and it's working for you and your baby, awesome. I'm happy for you. What I don't want is the deification of breastfeeding, and breastmilk, that has become so pervasive in "crunchy" circles.

Breastfeeding is great, but I am never going to encourage a woman to breastfeed at the cost of her mental or physical health. That baby needs a mom more than breastmilk. If a person does not matter more than a bodily fluid, there is something seriously messed up with our priorities.

Here's what I'm proposing:

1. Really teach moms how to breastfeed in prenatal classes

(not just why, we're all super good on the reasons why. Trust me, #NormalizeBreastfeeding is well and done on that front.)

2. Empower moms to take the rest they need.

Regular check ins (at home!) from a nurse, and productive counseling, prenatally, to plan for postpartum household help.

3. Empower nurses, birth practicers, lactation consultants, etc. to support a mom who might benefit from bottle feeding.

So many people saw that breastfeeding was not a good situation for me, yet said nothing because they didn't want to be seen as unsupportive of breastfeeding. I would have been so greatly helped from some kind and gentle support to let me off the hook of breastfeeding pressure.

4. Have mom support that has nothing to do with parenting style or feeding method.

Please. Believe it or not, you might find there is more to being a mom then milk.

5. Please stop spreading the click bait "science" articles.

I know you are just SO EXCITED to share that your breast milk might make your kid baby Einstein, but look a little harder at what that "study" actually encompassed before you share. We all learned the basics for telling if something is good science back in grade school, so we can totally do this one y'all!

6. If you're a mom, make an effort to be real friends with someone who parents/feeds/etc. different from you.

Everyone feels like the world is judging them about something in those early parenting months, and it can mean the world for another mom to reach out despite our differences.

7. When in doubt, ask moms about THEMSELVES.

Seriously, treat a mom like a regular adult and you might actually have a nice conversation. I think a lot of the isolation I experienced the first few years was compounded by how little anyone wanted to ask about my life beyond my baby.

I'm writing all of this down, and putting it on the internet, because when I searched google in those deep dark days hoping to find someone, ANYONE, who was feeling the things I was I found nothing. 

If you landed here because breastfeeding is not working for you, know you are not alone! 

If you're here because you want to help someone who is struggling with breastfeeding, thanks for being an awesome person!

If you're here to leave a "Breast Is Best" comment.....bless your heart.

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Don't Hit the Snooze Bar [at Walking the Path]

Have you ever wondered who invented the snooze bar on the alarm clock? The person must have struggled with awakening daily.  For many people this little protrusion on our clocks is a luxury as it adds just a little bit more sleep and we feel so much better. Or do we?

Research

has shown that the interrupted sleep by ways of the snooze bar actually does not benefit us as humans need longer periods of rest,  not those extra five minutes which sometimes double and triple for those who love to reach out and smack the bar down in order to gain some more rest.

Over the last week Jesus has admonished us in Luke's Gospel  not to sleep spiritually, but to awaken, persevere through persecutions, and clean house. John has revealed his interpretation of the end time in Revelations. It seems pretty clear that snoozing is not an option for us.  As humans it is natural to avoid any type of suffering, but we cannot delay what might come in the form of trials that we may have to endure.  Jesus warned the disciples not be taken by surprise like a trap (

Lk

) yesterday. That proverbial snooze button although convenient should not be a way of escape what faces us.

Darkness in itself brings on drowsiness and the same can be said of sinfulness.  It is quite easy to dismiss a sinful action as no big deal. Then comes another one and another. Soon the action is quite like that snooze bar, just push down on it and it will go away. Being trapped in sin is quite painful, just as awakening can be. However, Paul provides hope in his letter to the Romans in which he says, "Let us throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light."  For the spiritual sleeper that can be tantamount to throwing off the sheets and let the sun come in.  Open those shades, the Lord of the light is here.

The readings of today and the past week are a spiritual alarm clock. Many warnings about snoozing and the consequences are quite clear. The events of the past year seem to reaffirm the message of doom and gloom. Despite these signs that are evident in our lives, it is the beginning of Advent, a new year in the Church that provides hope. As Isaiah says,  "In the days to come the Lord's house shall be established as the highest mountain." (

Isa

) From those words of hope let us aspire to not snooze, but to throw off those sheets, leap out of bed,  and prepare for the coming of our Savior by praying for the strength to carry out His holy will this Advent.

And finally I leave you with this from Catholic singer-songwriter Ike Ndolo, who penned the song "Awake, O Sleeper," which I feel is quite appropriate for this day. The lyrics are as follows:

In the darkest times of life

When our lights refuse to shine
You are there, you are there

When we live without hope
You are there, you are there
Don't let your hearts be troubled
Don't let your hearts be troubled
Awake o sleeper
Arise from slumber
Christ is calling your name
In the midst of life's decay
When our lives become like graves
Rescue us, Rescue us
Don't let your hearts be troubled
Don't let your hearts be troubled
Awake o sleeper
Arise from slumber
Christ is calling your name
Awake o sleeper
Arise from slumber
Christ is calling your name
Awake, Arise
And follow the light
Awake, Arise
And follow the light
Awake, Arise
And follow the light
Awake, Arise
Christ is calling your name
Awake o sleeper
Arise from slumber
Christ is calling your name
Awake o sleeper
Arise from slumber
Christ is calling your name

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Around the Table [at Theologyisaverb]

With the approach of Thanksgiving, my thoughts return to the table which I so customarily gathered around in my childhood. There in the small kitchen of my grandmother’s home was a simple maple table with 6 chairs around. To the eye there was nothing unusual about it, but the love and memories that always surrounded it fill me with warmth to this very day. Endless games of dominoes played, many great discussions weighed, numerous pies and casseroles made- family life had encircled its relatively small frame.

On most occasions there was plenty of room, as family would come and go at various times. Sundays after church no one dared miss her homemade fried chicken and mashed potatoes or the dessert cooling on the back porch. And though it was a small home, surprisingly it rarely felt small. Yet for Thanksgiving and Christmas every square inch of space in my Grandmother’s home seemed in use, especially her table.

As one of the youngest generation, I was always at the kid’s table. A fact that for many years I optimistically looked to change. Why you may ask? First of all, we were the last to be seated and fed. More than that, however, was that all of the interesting conversations seemed to happen at the adult table. Here, they shared their joys, sorrows, while supporting and challenging one another to stay the course. They told stories, jokes, laughed and cried.Through it all love, faith and hope remained.

Before you knew it, all my wishing to be included at the adult table became a reality. My cousins and I were home from college and were even entreated to sit for a spell. This was it, I thought, now I am finally regarded as a grown up. What I did not pause to consider, though, was the graced responsibility that being present in these conversations entailed. These were not easy problems with a ready answer, but quite often required more listening than speaking and a great deal of prayer.

Over the years, I have become a solid member at the adult table, now in the upper tier of my family. Looking back, I finally realize what all those years around the kid’s table had been for. Preparation. It was in that time spent with my cousins where we too had laughed, shared, and formed community that we would return to when we would later need to rely on one another.Thus thankfulness is for me found around the table. For more than the delicious food consumed there is the presence and gift of fellowship.

Please take time this season to offer up praise for your place around the table, whether it be at your home or at another’s. Be willing to be vulnerable in your sharing , be generous in your listening, and merciful in your response. And always let prayer and love be your guide.

In Thanksgiving for each of you,

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My Friends are Heathens [at Erin McCole Cupp]

The release of Image and Likeness has me thinking a lot about art as evangelization, perhaps unintentional evangelization, but evangelization nonetheless.

I also finally have a kid who will sing along with me to the radio, and most of the songs I find us both singing are by Twenty One Pilots. (BTW, Disclaimer: their music isn’t mine.  I’m not making any cash off of them. I’m just sharing.)

Is their song “Heathens” art? Is it evangelization? Every time I hear it, I can’t help but think about evangelization, sharing Good News among bad.  Bad? Bad people? Bad news?

Take it Slow

Nobody wants to hear that someone else thinks they’re wrong.  I don’t.  You don’t.  We are wired to defend ourselves, for good or ill. We are social creatures, desiring unity, wound up to shun the one who disrupts it.  If you start off too soon telling someone that you disagree, that bond is likely gone.    Take it slow.

Wait for Them

“True Love Waits,” or so the slogan goes. Do you try to defend God’s love for your “heathen” friends because because you love them or because you just want to be right?

If you love them, you must wait for them to ask you Who you know.

Sudden Moves

Evangelization these days seems like it must take on the flavor of parallel play next to the cage aggressive.  Do you want your friend to associate you with growing trust or a bid for dominance? The former?  Please don’t make any sudden moves.

Abuse

As I work on trying to share Image and Likeness with potential readers, I keep coming face-up against the clashing definitions of love that divide our culture.  Is love the act of making someone feel good? Is love choosing what is objectively good for the person you love, even if it doesn’t feel immediately pleasant? That first definition is so short-sighted that, well… it often drives us into abusing each other, abusing ourselves: mentally, physically, emotionally.

We all live with that short-sighted definition of love.  We’ve all been abused by it.  We’ve all used it to abuse at varying depths.

We are all sinned-against sinners, isolated by the uniqueness of our own experiences.  You don’t know the half of the abuse.

Stay Away

Our culture, which is run increasingly not by objective ideas of justice but by that aforementioned short-sighted definition of love, keeps adding ways to mock into silence anyone who threatens that already shaky definition of love.  They want you to change your mind, to unsee what you’ve seen of objective truth, or at least shut up about it.  If you don’t shut up about it, you’ll make them feel bad, and making someone feel bad is now the antithesis of love.  That’s hate.  Isn’t it?  And hate should be punished.

They tried to warn you just to stay away.

One of Us

To the evangelizers of objective love , all that sounds like pretty bad news.  Not bad people.  Bad news.

Heathen friends are a dangerous place–okay, for themselves, but also for you… but not for the reason you think.  One of the ideas that can creep or take over the mind of someone set on sharing the Good News is this: we have to save The Lost.  Honey, we’re all The Lost.

We’re all behind these bars, bars of our own making.  It looks like you might be one of us.

Please Don’t Forget

But if you knew somebody who knew a way out, even if that way involved hacking away at rocks, bit by bit, then crawling through a sewer… wouldn’t you take it? Wouldn’t you escape?

Wouldn’t you?

You would… but only if you realized that you were in prison in the first place.

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How to Make an Advent Wreath in 4 Steps [at A Catholic Newbie]

If you’re a Catholic newbie like me, you may not have an Advent wreath. In fact, I’ve run across plenty of longtime Catholics who’ve never had an Advent wreath! Problem solved! Just follow these simple steps that even a non-crafty person like me can do easily, and you’ve got a new tradition to hand down through your family. Thanks to St. Alphonsus Liguori Catholic Church for this idea.

Materials (total cost about $10-$15):

Green floral wire

Garland

Decorative items, such as pine cones, ornaments and other wreath stick-in type items

Ribbon

Advent wreath metal frame – Two options you can order online: www.theCatholicGiftShop.com or www.CatholicSupply.com

Advent taper candles (3 purple, 1 rose/pink)

Instructions:

You should be able to find most of the items at your local craft store. The metal frame for the wreath and Advent candles can usually be found at your local Catholic bookstore or online as noted above.

1) Take your metal frame and lay your garland on top. Use the green floral wire to attach the garland to the frame. Make sure your garland is arranged so that the wreath will sit flat on a table.

2) Add the decorative items you selected, such as pine cones or ornaments, to the garland and attach with floral wire to secure.

3) Wrap your ribbon around the garland loosely. Tie a pretty bow on one side. It’s usually easier if you create the bow separately and then tie it on with the ribbon you used to wrap around the garland.

4) Add your candles!

Remember to light your candles each Sunday of Advent. Use a prayer such as this Blessing of an Advent Wreath while lighting each candle. Check your local parish for free Advent materials with prayers, as well.

What is an Advent wreath? The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops says the four candles represent the four weeks of Advent. They say, “The progressive lighting of the candles symbolizes the expectation and hope surrounding our Lord’s first coming into the world and the anticipation of his second coming to judge the living and the dead.”

Happy Advent!

Would you be so kind as to “like” Catholic Newbie on Facebook?

Read More:

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The Mystery of Christ In Us! [at Bartimaeus' Quiet Place]

The Mystery of Christ In Us!
Letting Jesus Live in us and through us

Baptism-of-Christ-xx-Francesco-Alban“As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:27)

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”(Rom.6:3)

“… the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” (Col. 1: 26-28)

Dear Fellow Pilgrims in Christ Jesus,

St. Paul tells us that one of the main themes he proclaims and teaches about the Kingdom of God is the hidden “mystery” of “Christ in us”, the hope of Glory. It is One of the mysteries of the “Good News” that we need to hear more of in order that to grow spiritually in Christ Jesus.

As a lifelong Catholic, I can attest about my need to hear more teaching on this subject. I certainly can confirm my need because I often heard the words above spoken in church but had never fully understood them sufficiently. I failed to realize that what God the Father was saying all along was, that the “Good News” that as preached by the Apostles not only to told us that Jesus, His anointed One, died to pay the penalty of our sins (atonement) to save us, but that He also died so that, Jesus His Son, might live anew in us, His Earthen Temple.

“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life (in Him)”. (Rom. 6:4)

“Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. (Col. 2:6-7)

Living in the Spirit is Letting Jesus Live through you.

Brethren, notice how Paul emphasizes the term “IN HIM”. He does this because our new life is “IN HIM” and “without HIM we can do nothing”. It is in this way that the Father determined to establish His Spiritual Kingdom in the spirit of all who believe, birthing us as brothers and sisters of Christ, with His Spiritual DNA in us, to enable us to act in His Name, literally, so that the Father’s will might be done on Earth as it is in Heaven! Conditioned , of course, on our receiving Him through repentance and Baptism — and through an additional act of faith and love (agape), giving up ourselves to Him so that He could continue living through us!

St. Paul, in fact, urges the Baptized Roman believers about the manner which this additional act of Love may be enacted, namely, by consecrating themselves just for this purpose — to give their living selves to Jesus so He could continue His life in theirs.

Here is how Paul exhorts them on how to let the Spirit of Christ live in them and through them:

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)

So when Paul speaks of our “walking” or “living” in the Spirit, in his other writings, he is referring to letting Christ live in us and through us so that the Father’s will will be done here on this earth as it is in heaven. Here is some of  Paul’s exhortations in this regard…

“… so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Rom: 8:4)

pictures-of-jesus-baptism-holy-spirit“… and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells (lives) in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. …” Rom. 8:8-17

We, indeed may be truly Christian and Catholic, but without this consecration we cannot fully mature to the fullness of Christ to which the Father has called us so we can be His instruments on this earth. The Corinthians believers were indeed baptized but here is what Paul said to them …

“… brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.” (1 Cor. 3:1)

and
“ … for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?” (1 Cor. 3:3)

It is implied by these scriptures, and others, that believers are to derive their holiness not of our works but out of the Spirit of Christ that abides (lives) in us and that it is only by consecrating ourselves to His Spirit in us, that we can be conformed into His Image, and to the renewal of our minds in Him! Works affirm the changes that are being made in us by the Spirit, but our works do not perform the changes. Praised be His Holy Name!

My Own Experience

After years of a spiritually fruitless life, I, by the Grace of God, came to this understanding. And when I yielded myself to His Holy Spirit and encountered Jesus personally, my personal relationship with Jesus grew, and I became more and more detached from the flesh and more and more in consonance with the Spirit of Jesus in me. This encounter and my subsequent conversion permitted me to truly let Jesus “live in me and through me” changing my life forever, and it is the reason, why today, I am able testify to His work in me on this cybernetic medium that the Lord provided.

The problem we all face in growing spiritually is two-fold. First we fail to understand the spiritual meaning and power of the Word of God, and the Father’s desire to activate the Spirit of Jesus in us through His Word. So that in activating the mind of Jesus in us, we may become His instruments to bring His Love into the world in which we live. Secondly, because of our spiritual insensitivity to the dynamics of His Kingdom we fail to make the critical decision we need to offer ourselves to His Spirit as a “living sacrifice” so that His Holy Spirit can begin to transform us into the image of The Son!  “Baruch ha Shem Adonai – Blessed Be His Holy Name!

Why would the Father do it this way? If the Spirit of Christ in us at Baptism why is there need of a special commitment?

The answer is simple, He wants our commitment as a living sacrifice to be an act of Agape Love, an act of the will that has to be freely given. If it were a condition for our salvation, then it would be conditional on us and Not on Jesus’ sacrifice the cross. When we repent, concert and are baptized we freely accept the gift of salvation that is offered without any sacrifice or conditions on our part.

Now, because we have accepted the gift of salvation without any conditions, we are free to give ourselves to the Father without any obligation – this is what makes our commitment a “Living Sacrifice” on our part.

This Christmas, Let Christ Live in You

What I recommend we all do this Advent Season is that each time we receive the Eucharist we meditate on the Spirit of Jesus in us, in our cleaned up inner “human stable”, and praise and thank Him for the sacrifice of His very self (body, soul, and spirit) to the Father, taking on the guilt of all humanity thus paying the price for every sin ever continued by man – including my own, so that we could all be reconciled with the Father as His adopted sons and daughters.

In thanking Him tell Him that, on Christmas Day, as an act of Agape Love, in gratitude for His sacrifice, you will be offering your very self, to the Father, so that He, Jesus, can live and act in you and through you for the Glory of the Father! All you ask is that through the Eucharist, He prepare you to be be conformed by the Holy Spirit to reflect His Image in your Life.

Then, on Christmas Day formalize your commitment and sacrifice of your self so that you set yourself apart to be His forever!

When you hear the Call, all you have to do is say as Mary said, ” I am the servant of the Lord, be it done to me according to your Word” (Luke 1:31))

You can be sure this is the best present you could give Jesus on His Birthday!

Praised be His Holy Name!

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed …continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” (Phil. 2:12-15)

Your Brother in Christ Jesus … Bartimaeus

(© B.R.Timeo and Bartimaeus’ Quiet Place, [2008-2016])

…
Related Links
<> Sweet Yoke of Love
<> Husbands Love your Wives
<> Walking the Walk
<> Discerning the Spirit’s Call
<> Hearing God’s Voice and Obeying It
<> Discipleship: Accepting the Challenge

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Dear Thanksgiving Moms [at CF Family]

When you're shopping for Thanksgiving and see a lady with powdered potatoes and gravy packets, please don't roll your eyes and think she's doesn't know how to cook. She may be very tired from getting up in the wee hours to attach IV tubing to her kid's central line, waiting an hour while it runs, and flushing the line with saline and heparin. Then beginning again seven hours later. Then seven hours later.

When you see a lady with canned cranberry sauce and packaged rolls, please don't assume she doesn't appreciate real food. Her mind may be gripped with worry over her child's lack of appetite and digestion problems, charting every bite and potty visit. Or lack thereof.

When you see a lady with bakery pies and a tub of pumpkin ice cream, please don't imagine she doesn't know that homemade is cheaper. She may be putting it all on a credit card to have something for her family that doesn't require the time and attention she simply does not have.

She loves her family. She wants a decent Thanksgiving. She's worried and tired, though; and sometimes modern grocery conveniences and credit cards are precious. It's the best she can do this year.

Love, Allison

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Don't Tell [at Every Day Catholic, Deanna Bartalini]

This passage from Matthew 9:27-31 comforts and confuses me. Take a look:

As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out,
“Son of David, have pity on us!”
When he entered the house,
the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them,
“Do you believe that I can do this?”
“Yes, Lord,” they said to him.
Then he touched their eyes and said,
“Let it be done for you according to your faith.”
And their eyes were opened.
Jesus warned them sternly,
“See that no one knows about this.”
But they went out and spread word of him through all that land.

It comforts me because Jesus shows his love, care, and mercy.  It confuses me because how on earth can Jesus say, “See that no one knows about this.”?  Would  their family, friends, and neighbors not notice that two blind men are suddenly able to see? But then I think, how often do we change something about ourselves and those around us don’t notice?  I don’t necessarily mean external changes like a haircut or new shirt.  It’s the internal changes people don’t see, the ones that cause us the most struggle, the ones where God works in our souls and we lose something negative and gain goodness from him.

When we have a change of heart or attitude often others don’t see it because of their belief that people can’t change.  Or past experience with a person has shown them that people don;t want to change.  Is it necessary for others to notice God’s work in you?  Not really.  Our faith leads us to trust; our humanness wants to be noticed for our faith but that is not God’s way.  Jesus wants to give us what we need, but he does so quietly.  Rather than sounding the trumpet to tell people how much Jesus has done for you, why not live your life so that it reflects what he has done?  People will notice and believe your actions far more than your words.

I’d like to think that’s the point Jesus was trying to make with the blind men.  Don’t make a big deal about what happened by talking about it. Instead, live your life with gratitude, lead others to Jesus by allowing him to be seen in you. This doesn’t mean telling people all that Jesus has done in your life is wrong.  It does mean that our life needs to reflect him.  We need to walk the talk and have our eyes open if we want to be credible witnesses to Jesus.

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Ludwig van Beethoven, the World's Greatest Composer [at The Koala Mom]

When I was taking violin lessons, I found it much easier to learn a song if it had some context for me. Maybe I’d heard the song already. Maybe I recognized the composer’s name. Maybe the song had a fun title or story behind it. As Sunshine has started violin, I’ve tried to encourage her musical interest by telling her stories about various composers. When she’s learning songs they’ve written, she can think about the person who wrote it. One of our favourite composers is Ludwig van Beethoven.

Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized on December 17, 1770, in Bonn (then part of the Holy Roman Empire, now Germany). He was the oldest of seven children (although four died in childhood). His father was the court musician and an alchoholic. His mother was a devout, gentle woman with a warm heart, who was very close to Ludwig.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s Early Life

Beethoven did not have an easy childhood. His father was abusive. Beethoven’s grandfather had been a prosperous and eminent musician, but Beethoven’s father was only a mediocre singer. He began teaching Beethoven music at a very young age, beating him for every mistake he made. Beethoven learned both violin and clavier from his father. He also took organ lessons from various organists.

Young Ludwig was very good at music. He gave his first public recital at age 7. However, he was less successful at school. He struggled with math and spelling for his whole life. At age 10, Ludwig left school to study under a new court organist and often played the organ during early morning Mass. This teacher introduced him to Johann Sebastien Bach.

At age 12, he wrote his first piece of music, a set of piano variations. Despite this, few people recognized his genius yet. Perhaps his father had pushed him in his lessons because of the example of Mozart’s early talent. Beethoven’s great talent would come later.

A Brilliant Musical Career

When Beethoven was 14, he took a job as Assistant Court Organist to support his family. His father’s alcoholism made him no longer able to work as court musician. Beethoven’s patron, Elector Maximilian (brother to the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire) sent Beethoven to Vienna to study. However, the young musician returned home within a few weeks because of his mother’s poor health.

Beethoven returned to Vienna several years later, at age 22. Mozart was then dead and Haydn was considered the greatest composer in Europe. Beethoven began to study piano under him while also taking lessons with other noted musicians. He became known as a piano virtuoso and was a sought-after teacher, though he never liked teaching. His talent and the support of Elector Maximilian soon won him many wealthy patrons in Vienna, enabling him to live a life of ease.

In March of 1975, he made his public debut in Vienna. He then published three piano trios as his Opus 1. These were followed five years later by his Symphony No. 1. He continued writing pieces while watching Napoleon’s rise to power. Both Napoleon and Beethoven were young men with astonishingly capabilities, taking their worlds by storm. In 1804, Beethoven published his Symphony No. 3 in Napoleon’s honour—but then renamed it when Napoleon was defeated.

The Composer Goes Deaf

While Beethoven’s musical career was, on the surface, flourishing, the composer was hiding a terrible secret. He was going deaf. His loss of hearing began when he was 30 and is attributed to an illness which affected his ears. He began to withdraw from social functions because he couldn’t hear conversations. His deafness also drove him to melancholy and despair:

“O you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you and I would have ended my life—it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me.” ~ Beethoven, The Heiligenstadt Testament, 1802

Beethoven at times found solace for his suffering in his faith. Michael de Sapio notes that some of his “quotations about God—particularly those written during the agonizing onset of his deafness—emphasize his nearness and his understanding of suffering, in language that often recalls the Psalms. Christ is invoked as a suffering fellow-man (if not as Son of God).”

Despite his deafness, Beethoven kept playing and writing music. Perhaps he felt a desperation to get the music out before he could no longer hear it. He saw several specialists for his hearing loss, including a Catholic priest known for his work with the deaf.

As captured so well in the CD Beethoven Lives Upstairs, he was a lonely and short-tempered man. He fought with friends and family and even those who supported his music. He never married, but did take custody of his nephew after his brother’s death in 1815. Theirs was a rocky relationship, however,

A Return to His Catholic Roots

Some of Beethoven’s greatest pieces were written towards the end of his career, including two Masses. He spent two years composing his “Missa Solemnis” in D major. In order to write this piece, he studied old Church music, Latin Mass texts, and liturgical music treatises.

“The resulting Mass was saturated with Catholic tradition, rich with musical-religious symbolism and references to the shape of the rite itself. To cite just a few some examples: fluttering flute bird-calls representing the Holy Spirit, a hovering violin suggesting Christ’s presence on the Eucharistic altar, and imitations of organ preluding during the Eucharistic rite.” ~ Michael de Sapio, Crisis Magazine

However, his Masses are rarely used in liturgical settings, due to their length and individuality. The music draws attention to itself rather than to God.

Performed under proper conditions in the concert hall, [the Missa Solemnis] is a mighty profession of faith in a personal God by one of the greatest geniuses of all times, who composed it in the midst of the growing doubt and impending moral and spiritual disintegration of his age. ~ Catholic Encyclopedia

Ludwig van Beethoven’s Death and Legacy

The deaf composer died on March 26, 1827, after receiving Last Rites. He was only 56. He was given a Catholic burial with a high requiem Mass. All Vienna mourned their beloved composer’s death.

Today Ludwig van Beethoven is widely considered the greatest composer of all time. His body of music rivals the body of literature written by Shakespeare. Beethoven’s influence stretches beyond just the music he wrote.

“The professional orchestra arose, in large measure, as a vehicle for the incessant performance of Beethoven’s symphonies. The art of conducting emerged in his wake. The modern piano bears the imprint of his demand for a more resonant and flexible instrument. Recording technology evolved with Beethoven in mind: the first commercial 33⅓ r.p.m. LP, in 1931, contained the Fifth Symphony, and the duration of first-generation compact disks was fixed at seventy-five minutes so that the Ninth Symphony could unfurl without interruption. After Beethoven, the concert hall came to be seen not as a venue for diverse, meandering entertainments but as an austere memorial to artistic majesty.” ~ Alex Ross, The New Yorker

Beethoven’s music remains popular with musicians around the world. Many of his songs—such as the music for “Ode to Joy” and the opening lines of his Fifth Symphony—are well known. Despite a difficult life, beset by abuse and illness, Beethoven created some of the most beautiful, original music ever known.

Resources about Beethoven for Children

Here are some ideas for sharing Ludwig van Beethoven’s story with your children (these are

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After the Election: feasts and fence-mending [at Mere Observations]

Last night I finally had enough and deactivated my Facebook account. I had removed it from my phone but would check in during the day once or twice. But yesterday even that was too much. I simply got tired of all the fake political news articles being posted. More than that however, I’m tired of being told who to vote for. Friends on the right yelling at me to vote for Trump. Friends on the left doing the same for Clinton. Not often in such nice terms. So I said “Enough”, selected the appropriate buttons on Facebook, and shut ‘er down.

Last week I wrote that on Election Night I was thinking of

…inviting over a few close friends I have on both sides of the partisan divide to break bread, enjoy a libation or two, and sit around the firepit. No phones. No politics. Perhaps taking a break from our conversation to pray a rosary or my leading/teaching them to pray Vespers (Protestants have been known to pray a form of the Divine Office) and in our own way we’d still be sanctifying time with our friendship. Common ground.

Soon after writing this I learned that I would be at my son’s junior high basketball game and therefore unable to do this tonight. But that doesn’t mean I’m opposed to doing so on another night. Indeed I’ve attempted this a few times but have thus far been unsuccessful due mostly to scheduling conflicts. But I’ll keep trying because I do feel it’s important to commune with people in a face-to-face environment. There’s something about “the screen” that makes us all a little crazy.

Someone else is regretting his actions on Twitter during this election process and unleashed this 29 Tweet mea culpa last night. And to further this thought process I recalled reading this entry written in the Magnificat Year of Mercy Companion by Monsignor Gregory E.S. Malovetz for November 4:

She learned at her family’s table. The daughter of Hungarian and Slovak parents, my mother grew up believing there was always room at the table. That belief followed her through all the years as a mother, grandmother, and today as a great-grandmother. There is always room at the table to squeeze in another person at Christmas, Easter, or other occasions. When the number grows from eleven to nineteen people, her response is always the same: “How could I say no?”

Paul’s Letter to the Romans is his longest, written to introduce himself and present his message to them. One of the great themes of this letter is the universal call of Jesus to follow him. Jews and Gentiles alike are offered the invitation to sit at the table.

There is something both touching and challenging when we realize that he can never say no. Anyone with a sincere heart is welcomed. Paul writes he has mercy upon whom he wills (Romans 9:18), insisting that in God there is always the spirit of welcome. The followers of Jesus, to live that mercy, must cultivate a spirit of welcome. We must be willing to confront the hard truth: whom do we exclude not only from our dining tables but from the table of the human family? We can understand God’s mercy only when we are challenged by the question, “How could I say no?”

As this cycle winds down and we prepare to emerge on the other side, no matter who wins we must find a way to put this behind us and come together at table. In the last few months I’ve upset friends on the left and the right for not supporting “the obvious choice”, i.e. their choice. One woman, a Catholic mom and registered Democrat that I’ve known for over fourteen years and whose son I coached in little league unfriended me on Facebook because of the singular political post I wrote about the leaked emails that showed the Clinton campaign and John Podesta were working actively against the Catholic Church in order to create confusion and cause a “Catholic spring”. (I’m not providing links to the Podesta story because they are legion and I’m tired of it.) This upset her so much that this friend who had been averaging 2-3 political posts a day to my zero political posts accused me of “just posting too much political crap” and blocked me. I like to think that her exiting our church next to me after Mass a week later was more uncomfortable for her than for me.

Actually I don’t like to think that. The whole episode is just a sad reminder of how far our civility and discourse as a nation has fallen. While I’m definitely guilty of Pride when it comes to the “Seven Deadlies”, Gluttony is a very close second. Yet I can think of nothing better to do than to pull people together over a good meal, drink and conversation. Oh, and no screens allowed.

Over at First Things in an article named Cocktail Theology, William Dailey writes:

“God gives us wine to cheer our souls,” sayeth the psalmist—and quite right, too. It was no accident that our Lord’s public ministry began at a joyous wedding celebration, one saved by the generous intervention of Christ in providing the greatest vintage ever poured. There’s a conviviality to a shared libation that draws us together, lifts our spirits, and cuts what Walker Percy called “the cold phlegm of Wednesday afternoons.”

So on that note I say “Sláinte!” as we begin to hopefully mend some fences in need of serious care. In addition to this feasting and fence-mending, and as this election falls further back in the rearview mirror, I will strive to do as Fr. Longenecker pledged when he wrote:

I will try to say the Divine Office for the good of the world and Christ’s church. I will attempt to pray the rosary every day for the blessing of my family, my parish and the world and for the defeat of evil. I will attempt to promote the rosary and the Divine Mercy for the salvation of souls and for the good of all people.

*******

Photo source

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The Road Less Traveled [at bukas palad]

Gospel Reading: Matthew 3:1-12 (Prepare the way of the Lord)

Two roads diverged in a wood, and

I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made the difference.

Do you remember a road that you walked down before,

a road that made a difference in your life?

Perhaps, it was

a road in the woods you took -- like Robert Frost whose lines I quoted -– one that led to a surprising discovery.

Or, it was a road to that first day at school or to a new workplace, and with it, a hopeful beginning.

Or, it might have been the road to new friendship marked by love and laughter,

or marriage, with the happiness of a new life shared.

May be, you are looking ahead to 2011 and hoping to take new roads in your life:

from suburban Burlington to exotic Singapore;

from economic uncertainty to steady income.

New roads from suffering to healing, from hatred to forgiveness,

from a year that hasn't been great to the hope of a brighter new year in 2012.

The road we take and walk on.

The road that gets us from here to there.

The road. This is the image today’s gospel invites us to ponder on.

John the Baptist cries out,

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.

This way, these paths are

the road Jesus takes to meet us.

They can also be our Advent road to Jesus.

What kind of a road will this be?

We have a clue in John the Baptist’s call to repentance.

John the Baptist challenged all he called

to repent, to have a change of heart,

to walk the straight and narrow path that leads to Jesus

who will come to baptize with the Holy Spirit.

Jesus who is “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).

He who is the long awaited Messiah,

God's Word made flesh and splendor of the Father.

Jesus who comes to save us

and to bring us into God's marvelous light.

John the Baptist’s message of repentance is difficult to hear;

they confront; they challenge; they call his hearers to make their lives right.

He calls them, and us, to nothing less than taking and walking the road less traveled to God.

But his words are hope-filled.

The road to Jesus is the road to peace.

A peace in which opposites unite, differences are reconciled.

As the Prophet Isaiah tells us in today's First Reading

this is an extravagant peace where

“the wolf and the lamb together eat,”

“the leopard and the kid lie down side by side,”

“the calf, the young lion and the little child play.”

With three more weeks to go before Christmas,

John the Baptist’s challenge is timely for all of us,

and perhaps, necessary for some of us.

He is inviting us to pause and to ask ourselves,

“What is the quality of my Advent journey, my preparation for Christmas, the road I am taking to meet Jesus?

Am I too fixated on shopping for presents and gifts?

Am I too preoccupied with baking cookies and gathering ingredients for the Christmas meal?

Am I simply wallowing in the feel-good Christmas lights and carols I see and hear?

Or, am I not even bothered that Jesus comes to meet me this Christmas time?

If we are honest, we might recognize in John the Baptist’ message

God's voice:

inviting us to change our lives,

to take the road less traveled this Advent.

How can we begin to walk this road?

We can start by re-imaging Advent anew.

More than preparing for Christmas festivities and merrymaking,

this is the season of joyful expectation:

the joyful expectation of coming home.

To prepare the way for the Lord

is to prepare for Jesus’ coming home,

coming home to the one place God wants to be --

with you and me,

in us and among us.

Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us, is coming home.

He is coming home to us by doing something so inconceivable of God:

by emptying himself of his majesty and might to become one like us, human.

And Jesus does this by taking the road less traveled.

And now, we are being invited to take a road less traveled to meet him.

I believe all of us here look eagerly with hope to Christmas,

to Jesus’ coming, to his radiant light dispelling the darkness in our lives.

We can do this because we know Jesus has come,

and we believe Jesus will come.

We know and we believe because we experience Jesus in our everyday life:

in our laughter as the goodness of life;

in our tears as consoling comfort;

in our pain as healing balm;

in our mistakes as words and embrace of forgiveness.

We have these experiences of Jesus through our family and friends.

Indeed, these make our exclamation of reliving again Jesus' birth at Christmas a joyful song like Simeon's:

“My eyes have seen the salvation of our God.”

Now, if the gift we wake up to on Christmas morning

as we're snuggled up in our warm beds, with snow falling around us and the first yawns of our family waking us up,

is Jesus, God's most wondrous gift:

is it not worth then for you and me

to take a walk this Advent to Jesus by transforming our lives?

And wouldn't our first steps be to take the road less traveled?

photo by d l ennis

This homily was preached earlier today at the Vigil Mass for the Second Sunday of Advent at St Malachy Parish, Burlington, Massachusetts.

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The Dream of Gerontius [at Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman]

statueNewman reflects more on the dying Gerontius. His soul has entered another life. It is severed from his body:

“I went to sleep; and now I am refresh’d,

A strange refreshment: for I feel in me

An inexpressive lightness, and a sense

Of freedom, as I were at length myself,

And ne’er had been before. How still it is!

I hear no more the busy beat of time,

No, nor my fluttering breath, nor struggling pulse;

Nor does one moment differ from the next.”

Gerontius sees his death as if in a dream. The soul is aware of what has happened to it, and to its friends surrounding it:

“I had a dream; yes:—some one softly said

“He’s gone;” and then a sigh went round the

room.

And then I surely heard a priestly voice

Cry “Subvenite;” and they knelt in prayer.

I seem to hear him still; but thin and low,

And fainter and more faint the accents come,

As at an ever-widening interval.

Ah ! whence is this? What is this severance?”

The soul continues its musings:

“Am I alive or dead? I am not dead,

But in the body still; for I possess

A sort of confidence which clings to me,

That each particular organ holds its place

As heretofore, combining with the rest

Into one symmetry, that wraps me round,

And makes me man; and surely I could move,

Did I but will it, every part of me.

And yet I cannot to my sense bring home

By very trial, that I have the power.”

The soul of Gerontius is in a world where time and space is not what we know. The soul says:

“So much I know, not knowing how I know,

That the vast universe, where I have dwelt,

Is quitting me, or I am quitting it.

Or I or it is rushing on the wings

Of light or lightning on an onward course,

And we e’en now are million miles apart.

Yet … is this peremptory severance

Wrought out in lengthening measurements of space

Which grow and multiply by speed and time?

Or am I traversing infinity

By endless subdivision, hurrying back

From finite towards infinitesimal,

Thus dying out of the expansive world?”

At this point the dream of Gerontius begins to unveil the mysterious world of the angels: the Guardian Angels, the Seraphim and the Cherubim, as well as the fallen angels. The soul is aware of its guardian angel taking it to Christ:

“Another marvel: some one has me fast

Within his ample palm; ’tis not a grasp

Such as they use on earth, but all around

Over the surface of my subtle being,

As though I were a sphere, and capable

To be accosted thus, a uniform

And gentle pressure tells me I am not

Self-moving, but borne forward on my way.

And hark! I hear a singing; yet in sooth

I cannot of that music rightly say

Whether I hear, or touch, or taste the tones.

Oh, what a heart-subduing melody!”

Then the Guardian Angel exclaims:

“My work is done,

My task is o’er,

And so I come,

Taking it home,

For the crown is won,

Alleluia,

For evermore.

My Father gave

In charge to me

This child of earth

E’en from its birth,

To serve and save,

Alleluia,

And saved is he.

This child of clay

To me was given,

To rear and train

By sorrow and pain

In the narrow way,

Alleluia,

From earth to heaven.”

This is a picture of the marvelous world hereafter and of the help of our guardian angels. When was the last time you spoke to your Guardian Angel? Befriend him and he will guide you and protect you.

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Deacon Allen Tatara Witness for Christ [at Deacon Allen Tatara Witness for Christ]

October 4, 1979: I remember it well, for it was a day like none other. On this particular crisp autumn afternoon, my family and I headed to Chicago to see Pope John Paul II as he made his way from O’Hare Airport to Holy Name Cathedral. And being the first Pope to visit Chicago and the first and only Polish Pope, he was going to be traveling right through our old Polish neighborhood of Jefferson Park.

We gathered near the intersection of Milwaukee and Lawrence along with what the media estimated to be more than a million others to watch him pass by. There were so many people, we were pushed together tighter than sardines in a can. After waiting for hours, the papal motorcade finally arrived; but due to the intense crowds, all I could see was the roof of his car as he drove by. I wished that I could have found a way to climb up on one of the building’s roofs so that I might have had a better chance of seeing him – or perhaps even him seeing me.

zacchaeusZacchaeus faced a similar challenge. Zacchaeus had a desire to see the Lord. But Scripture tells us that he was vertically challenged (or short) and couldn’t see over the crowd. So he decides to climb a sycamore tree so he can see. Now keep in mind that the only people who would climb sycamore trees were farmers. They would climb these every year to split the sycamore figs to help them ripen. So at that very moment, the mold of class distinctions between people was being broken when this chief tax collector climbed that tree, showing how serious he was about seeing Jesus. Already he was making an act of humility before his own people and the Lord. And his humility was rewarded as Jesus asks him to come down from the tree and tells him that he wants to visit his home.

Zacchaeus was one of those people who seemed to have it all. He was rich and he was a man of position and power. Yet he lacked something in his life that kept him from being whole. But when this little man met a big God, everything changed. So he immediately shows repentance for any injustice that he had ever committed. Yet the townspeople were still grumbling that Jesus was going to stay with him.

Remember that Zacchaeus did not ask Jesus come to his home. Jesus invited himself over. Sometimes welcoming others, not literally into our homes but spiritually into our lives and hearts is not something we have control over. Like Zacchaeus, we may not necessarily be the ideal hosts. Sometimes, like Zacchaeus, we come up short, and we’re not as big as we want to be. We come up short when we make judgments about people, assigning a value to them based on physical appearance. We come up short when we fail to treat others with the dignity they deserve; when we mock or bully others so that we have ultimate power or control over them. We come up short when we refuse to help someone in need because it interferes with our own wants, needs and desires. Let’s be honest with ourselves: we all have made mistakes, we’ve hurt others, and maybe we even have a bad reputation. But that doesn’t stop Jesus from inviting himself into our hearts.

We see from Zacchaeus that just the slightest turning toward Jesus is rewarded many times over. Each of us is invited to turn away from sin in order to taste the sweetness of God’s mercy. We often put limits on God’s goodness, mercy and love, just like the people of Jericho. But God’s goodness, mercy and love for us is never-ending. Jesus is always seeking us out because he wants to have a personal relationship with us. And once that relationship is established, we will be filled with such an immense feeling of joy that we cannot contain ourselves and we’ll want to share that joy with others through our actions.

So will we be persistent in trying to see Jesus even when others may be preventing us or blocking our view? Will we, like Zacchaeus, abandon anything that may be keeping us apart from Jesus? Will we invite Jesus into our hearts and lives and allow him to stay with us this week, next week and always?

It’s time for us to come down from our trees – and to come down quickly. Jesus wants to enter our hearts. Let’s not keep the Lord waiting!

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Gift of Today [at On the Road to Damascus]

John decided to treat his family to a surprise trip to Disney World. He didn’t tell them where they were going. They just loaded up the car and started the twelve hour drive to Florida. John was swamped with questions that streamed in every twenty to thirty miles.

“Where are we going to eat?” his wife would ask.

“Where are we going? How long are we going to be gone? What do I tell my friends?” Mary, the eldest daughter, would ask.

“Are we there yet? How much longer? I have to pee!” Billy, the six year old, would proclaim.

Katherine, John’s two year old, just sat in her car seat signing to herself while watching the scenery pass by.

This is how we are. The older we get the more we worry about the journey we are on. What will we eat? Where are we going? What will tomorrow bring.

In today’s reading we are reminded that tomorrow is promised to no one. Today is a gift to be lived to the fullest. We have a choice on how we spend our time. It is our most precious commodity. Once gone we can never get it back. Money cannot buy us another day. Do we appreciate the life we have been given? Have we thanked God for bringing us on this trip?

“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” – Mark 10:15

We are called to be like Katherine. She didn’t worry about where she was at or where she was going. She didn’t worry about how long she would be away. She trusted completely that her parents would feed her that day, love her, and keep her warm. She did not worry and just enjoyed the journey.

This is what God wants us to be like. He will provide all that we need for today. Sometimes he will give us exactly what we need. Sometimes he will give us an abundance. When we are given more than what we need God provides us to someone else in need. We are to share what we have with them and not hoard for tomorrow. Tomorrow may never come and if it does God will provide for that day as well.

This world has more than enough food that no one should go to bed hungry. There is more than enough clean water so no one has to thirst. There is more than enough love so that every person can feel valued and dignified. This world is hurting but that isn’t because God hasn’t given us what we need for today. We haven’t shared the abundance with all. We hoard for tomorrow or for personal gain.

Tomorrow is promised to no one. Give God thanks and praise for the gift of today. Love as if you will never get another chance to do so. If you wake tomorrow it is because God has decided to provide you to someone in need. Be that gift.

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The Billable Hour and the death of the soul [at Catholic Book Report]

Someone has recently penned an obituary for the billable hour. I’m a lawyer, and I cannot tell you how much I wish it were dead, but I have doubts that it will actually die any time soon. Most law firms are stuck in the outdated mentality that they can only bill in this one way. And it is this lack of creativity and foresight that makes the practice of law unbearable for many.

From a theological point of view–yes, we should have a theological view of this as we do with all things–the billable hour creates a perverse incentive for lawyers as human beings.

 In her article, Billable Hours and Ordinary Time (full article PDF here: billable-hours-and-ordinary-time), Cathleen Kaveny provides a damning theological discussion of the billable hour, essentially concluding that it is incompatible with a Catholic view of time and work.

I believe, however, that this way of calculating the value of legal work does more subtle-and more serious-damage to the attorneys forced to bow to its demands than that inflicted by overwork. The regime of the billable hour presupposes a distorted and harmful account of the meaning and purpose of a lawyer’s time, and therefore, the meaning and purpose of a lawyer’s life, which, after all, is lived in and through time. The account, which ultimately reduces the value of time to money, is deeply inimical to human flourishing. Because large firm life can press many lawyers to internalize this commodified account of their time, they may find themselves increasingly alienated from events in their lives that draw upon a different and non-commodified understanding of time, such as family birthdays, holidays, and volunteer work. The failure of lawyers to participate actively in their family lives and civic communities may not only be attributable to the fact that their heavy work schedules do not give them the time to do so, but it may also be that lawyers imbued with the ethos of the billable hour have difficulty grasping a non-commodified understanding of the meaning of time that would allow them to appreciate the true value of such participation. As a consequence, they may eventually find that work is the only activity that has meaning for them.

I read the article years ago and thought that I could balance work and life to avoid the parade of horribles that Kaveny mentions. But it’s unavoidable, I think. And having worked in a legal position that didn’t require billing hours and a few that have required it, I can say unequivocally that not billing hours creates a far more pleasant working environment–and makes practicing law enjoyable. Now, I practice under the shadow of the clock, balancing quality and efficiency–and not always doing that well.

The billable hour makes a whole industry irrelevant for lawyers. While businessmen may find certain time-saving devices useful (like this: michael-hyatt-shave-10-hours-off-your-workweek), it does not matter to a billing attorney. I may be much more efficient and shave ten hours off my week, but I’d better replace those ten with ten more billable hours to meet my quota.

As I noted yesterday, I’ve turned a corner. The billable hour will not be a way of life forever. When and how I will get out from under it, I don’t know. But I will. And I encourage you other attorneys to do so as well.

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The Great Pew Slither [at Sweeping Up Joy]

This is a recycled picture, but the outfit is exactly the same.  My kids couldn’t figure out the camera this week, so I gave up after 10 pictures of the ceiling fan, just my head, just my torso…you get the idea.

The last time I linked up for My Sunday Best, the title of my post was “Not the Worst Ever.”  While this week wasn’t the worst ever Mass experience we had (there was The Great Diaper Incident of 2015), it’s a contender.  Definitely in the running.  Top 5 for sure.

I was in the back of the church for the last 3/4 of the service because Bea is no longer content to cuddle through Mass.  I was bouncing Bea around, but I wasn’t looking around because I was trying to be prayerful.  Somehow I did happen to catch David receiving the Eucharist and returning to our pew.

Oddly, David was looking around.  Confused.  I assumed he went into the wrong pew or something the way he was awkwardly standing and looking around when he should have been kneeling.

Then I figured it out.  You haven’t lived until you’ve returned from Communion to find your 3 year old tornado missing from the pew. 

Missing.

Gone.

Desaparecido.

I don’t know how David figured out that Moe had taken to the floor, maybe a tip from Elle, the last one to witness Moe’s whereabouts.  David started up and down the pews behind ours (fortunately their occupants were in line) scoping the ground for our slithery snake of a son.  Moe was about half a church back.  Under a pew.

Attention church building committees everywhere:  The best pews in the world are full back, full bottom.  That means if Mom and Dad bookend a pew, there’s no way the kids in the middle can escape.

Moe didn’t come easily.  As I walked up to receive Jesus, I passed David wrestling Moe out from some other poor family’s pew.

Argh.

The homily today was on how we’re called to be radical.  It’s bananas to think about lions and calves being friends, as mentioned in the first reading.  About peace in the world as mentioned in the psalm.  But we’re called to live radically today.  We’re not called to be comfortable.  We’re supposed to John-the-Baptist-it-up.

Then I witnessed The Great Pew Slither of 2016.

Argh.

Turns out that attending Mass as a family is actually pretty radical.  It hurts.  It takes sacrifice.  It’s humiliating.  But it does witness to the fact that we think this is the most important thing we could be doing.  Maybe my life is a billboard to inspire other families to think, “Hey!  Maybe I *could* bring my kid to Mass.  He can’t be any worse than that kid slithering under the pews.”

Maybe we should get t-shirts.  “The Schoney Family:  Making your kids look good at Mass since 2008.”

I guess my conclusion is that we need to be open to the radical-ness that we’re called to.  We can’t all just sell our houses and become missionaries in Haiti.  Even if it seems cooler or more important than the mission we’ve been given.

This week is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation.  An additional opportunity to embrace the radical life we’ve been called to.  We’ll be at Mass as a family.  We probably won’t have bells on, but maybe we can have those matching tshirts ready by then.

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Who Did I Help? [at Do Not Be Anxious]

The Bible Study guys didn’t seem to make much progress.  They spent the entire hour discussing only one sentence:

And all who believed were together and had all things in common;
and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to
all, as any had need.   – Acts 2:45

The discussion quickly got past any notions of communism, and focused on the concept of “community”.  We discussed at length our cultures’ --- and our personal --- collapsing community.  We see it in families which can’t even find time to dine together, and full churches of people who don’t really know one another.  We discussed how “friends,” as spoken of today, are really more often “acquaintances.”  We actually have few friends.  And then we discussed things that friends do, as witnessed by the words in Acts describing the early Church.

At the bottom line, friends freely love one another, without counting the cost.  They freely give of their time and resources.  Each of the Bible Study guys had an example of someone in need they had helped, but all sadly admitted those were rare examples.  It doesn’t come easy to think of others first, especially strangers.

We discussed how sometimes our efforts to help our spouses or children too are unappreciated, and seem to yield no results, and we get discouraged.  Then we thought of St. Theresa and her efforts at helping the sick and dying on the streets of Calcutta.  Did they who may never have heard a kind word or felt a kind gesture in their entire lives respond to her with words of: “Oh thank you, Mother, bless you, or I’ll pray for you?”  That’s unlikely.  More likely she heard:  “Stop it.  Ouch!  Leave me alone!”  She’s thought of as being a saint not because of all those she helped --- the streets of Calcutta are still full of the sick and the dying --- but she’s thought of as a saint because of her loving efforts to help, even if she saw no great results, and because she trusted that God DID see results.

My contribution to the conversation was what happened over the recent holiday, on the day I arrived in Arizona.  One of the first things I did was go to the store to pick up those things I was discouraged from carrying on the plane:  aerosol cans for shaving cream and hair spray.  At the checkout line in front of me was a young couple, both of whom (by their actions, words and facial expressions) seemed to have some sort of mental disability.    And when they went to pay, the clerk told them their card didn’t have sufficient funds to pay the total.  This seemed to confuse them, and then they began to discuss what they “would have to put back.”  So I stepped up and offered to pay what they still owed.  They quickly said thank you, and went back to their discussion, as I paid their balance due.  I didn’t give a thought to their curt gratitude.  As I told the Bible Study guys, I’m not sure they knew or would later remember what had happened.  What WAS memorable, however, was the young checkout clerk’s reaction.  He seemed stunned that I willingly paid some few dollars to help my neighbor in need.  And as I checked out my few groceries, the clerk went on and on about what I had done.  It wasn’t until later, I told the Bible Study guys, that I realized that who I intended to help and who God intended to help through my efforts may have been different people, me to help the shoppers and Him the clerk.  Or, perhaps it was I who was meant to be helped, when God showed me that His intents were so much better than mine.

And so the Bible Study discussion continued on the path of how God uses our good intentions to love, often for better or bigger purposes than we can perceive.  And a lack of gratitude for our efforts, or a lack of results (as we see them) shouldn’t deter our efforts to love.  We just need to act in love, and trust God.

And then we remembered the man from long ago who chose to love in a great way, and no one seemed to understand HIS efforts at love, as He chose to die on the cross.

It was only one sentence in the Bible we studied, but from it we learned a lot, in time well-spent, one Friday morning last week.

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Peace [at Grace to Paint]

6×8″ oil on canvas sheet; use ‘comment’ below to inquire.

I have tried to include some dance movement with each angel in the series of the “Fruits of the Holy Spirit.”

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God would not be God if he were God the way you would be God [at Boldly Catholic]

I love this piece from Meg Hunter-Kilmer over at Aleteia, reminding every believer that there is but one God and we are not Him:

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. We gaze upon him crowned with thorns and worship him on the throne of the Cross and it wouldn’t take much to wonder: what kind of king is this?

What kind of king is born in a stable and laid in a feed trough? What kind of king chooses to become a refugee? What kind of king lives in poverty and dies in agony leaving behind him a nation that largely fails to notice his passing?

The same kind of king whose backward, messed-up reasoning turned the darkness of that Friday into the glory of the empty tomb. The same kind of king who raises the dead and gives sight to the blind. The same kind of king who’s at work in our world right now.

I wonder if we’re not too used to the story to realize what it means. We give out Christmas cards with a sweet little calf standing by an immaculate manger and forget that the first Christmas was anything but pristine. We’re so steeped in Christian imagery that we overlook the shocking condescension of a God made man for the salvation of sinful man.

And if we’re honest, we might be willing to admit that we don’t think much of his plan. Better to come in majesty with trumpet blasts than in decades of obscurity. Better to triumph by sending angels to rule victorious over Satan and his sorry crowd than to claim your kingdom with your life’s blood. Wouldn’t it have been better if Jesus had given more instruction on how the Church ought to be structured, more detail on modern ethical questions, more healing and less talk of sin?

But God would not be God if he were God the way you would be God if you were God.

Most of us probably wouldn’t edit the Incarnation out of history, or even the Passion and death of God. We might be too faithful to criticize the way Jesus conducted his public ministry. But we’ve got plenty to say about what he’s been doing since.

The point of course, and you should finish the piece at Meg's place, is that Christ the King is unlike any earthly king, unlike any earthly leader to which we're all too quick to submit.  

My Facebook friend Deacon Bill Burns, in his published homily for this feast of Christ the King, puts it beautifully I think:

We're in a contentious moment in our nation's history, and unfortunately, I don't think we've gotten the message yet. We keep putting our trust in worldly things, in worldly rulers, even though they fail us time and again. Our own choices, made with the best intentions, often perpetuate the problem. We truly want a solution to what ails us, what ails our country and our world, but we are still too full of the things of this world to let them go and let God be the king of our lives. We won't find a solution until we recognize the brokenness and weakness in our lives and our culture. We can pretend to be strong and self sufficient. We can be proud in the imagination of our hearts, as the Blessed Mother says in the Magnificat. But Christ the King turns all of those illusions on their heads.

Empty us Lord of those illusions... fill us instead with a desire, a passion even, to bend our will to Christ's, even as we ask in His name, amen.

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A beautiful gift (and how I'm stubborn) [at Into Your Will]

You ever feel like God keeps telling you the same thing over and over again, just in different ways? Like He's constantly nudging you to do something?

That happens to me a lot. (I guess I'm stubborn.) Right now I feel like He keeps wanting me to spend more time with Scripture.

Last year, I started praying the Liturgy of the Hours, just Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer. And somehow I stopped doing that, even though I really liked it - probably because I really wanted to focus on a daily Rosary and thought that somehow I couldn't do both.

I know it's called Liturgy of the HOURS but really, each hour takes maybe 10 minutes (Night Prayer is even shorter). So once I realized I really had no excuse, I started praying Morning Prayer again a few months ago. My intention was to add Evening Prayer, but I ended up adding Night Prayer first because it's shorter and the most pleasant way to end the day.

Hopefully I'll manage to throw Evening Prayer back in there, and maybe occasionally some of the other Hours and the Office of Readings, but for now I just have to say that praying the Psalms (which the Liturgy of the Hours is mostly comprised of), as well as the other readings, is really making me appreciate Scripture more. So much, in fact, that I've been feeling those gentle nudges from God to bust out my Bible more often - because sadly, it doesn't happen too much anymore.

And then because I am stubborn, I keep getting the same message in things I read. First, it was in Colleen C. Mitchell's book

Who Does He Say You Are?

Colleen talks about how she's gone through several Bibles in her lifetime because they all became worn from use. What she writes in her Afterword about her thirst for God's Word is just really beautiful. (Seriously, y'all...read this book.)

Then today in the

Blessed Is She's Advent journal

, Elizabeth Foss writes:

"If we want to get to Christmas without falling over in a great, sorrowful heap, we need to cultivate the habit of opening our Bibles."

YES. So, I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to cultivate this habit, other than making sure my Bible is right where I can see it, easily accessible to open whenever I have a spare minute or two. But what I do know is that Scripture should always be what we come back to and that we should remember (I'm preaching to myself here most of all) that it's such a beautiful gift given to us by God Himself.

Let's not waste it.

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Days of Gratitude: Cubs Win!

I really had not planned on doing the #30DaysofGratitude theme this year, because I knew I wouldn’t keep up with it.  Here it is, November 5th, and I am just getting around to writing my first post in 2 weeks.  Where have I been?  Watching and being completely distracted by the most amazing post season in baseball ever!  And I am SO grateful for an incredible ride all the way to a World Series Championship!  WooHoo!

I have written about being a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan married to a St. Louis Cardinals fan before.  My husband’s team has been far more successful in recent years than my Cubbies, but the times, they are a-changin’!  Last year, we outlasted the Cards in the post season (barely), and this year we went all the way in dramatic fashion.  I stayed up late watching every post-season game, but none had my heart pounding like Game 7 of the World Series!  Baseball fans across the country, and even around the world, have commented on the “epic” nature of the Cubs’ victory.  Many of us had tears of joy!

I was wondering…how do I make this post somehow “meaningful.”  What makes it worth writing about?  I have discussed Saints and my Catholic faith, fighting abortion and ministering to the needy.  But isn’t this just baseball?

Yes.  And no.  Ultimately, this is just an exciting end to an exciting sports series.  Sure, I would joke about a Cubs championship being a sign of the end of the world…but we’re all still here!  I never believed in the “curse” of the billy goat because I don’t believe in curses.  Yet, my Facebook chatter includes posts like “There is no goat” and “The goat is dead”.  Go figure.

But if there is anything profound to derive from this, maybe it is the value of fidelity.  Believing in and staying with your team (or your spouse or your kids) through the hard times, knowing someday it will be better.  Or the virtue of patience in achieving a goal.  This year, the Cubs won over 100 games in the regular season; just 4 years ago they lost over 100 games!  Strong leadership, development, and perseverance made this year possible.  Our world is quick to give up and throw things away.  How much more could we achieve if we were more disciplined in creating positive results at home, at school, in our careers…in our prayer life?

30 Days of GratitudeAnd how about that rain delay?  Initially frustrating millions of fans who were already exhausted, that rain delay worked for the Cubs.  They regrouped and encouraged one another in the Clubhouse.  They reminded each other of their talents and skill.  Then they came out ready to win!  For me, there have been times when I struggled to reach something in my life, when suddenly I had my own “rain delay.”  I needed to regroup; to listen to God remind me of my purpose and His call for me in my life.

So yes, baseball is just a game.  But like many things in life, we can learn very important lessons in less important activities.  Besides, God gives us many things in life so that we can experience joy, even fun.  God is Holy…He is not grumpy!  I won’t dare to say He preferred the Cubs over the Indians this year, but He did permit the Cubs to prevail this time around.  I am convinced He is smiling with us!

But who knows.  Having the youngest Championship team in baseball history, the Cubs may have a very bright future.  Just wait until next year!

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