New Year's Resolution

"My people and I have come to an agreement. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please." Frederick the Great 1712-1786

The Sacrament of Marriage vs. Cohabitation

By David G. Bonagura, Jr.

For years countless heroes, Catholic and not, sung and unsung, have labored courageously to save the institution of marriage from the onslaught of those who seek to redefine it. Behind this vociferous public attack from without, marriage is struggling against another, more insidious attack that threatens its continued existence from within: cohabitation. Unlike same-sex unions, which are visibly and obviously different from natural marriage, cohabitation shares many of the trappings of marriage: chores, bills, sex, and even children. The similarities have enticed many prospective brides and grooms to try cohabitation first: according to Our Sunday Visitor, today more than half of first marriages begin with cohabitation, which has led to a 1100 percent increase in cohabitation nationally since 1970.

But cohabitation is not marriage, and it is not a sacrament. The difference lies in the essence and purpose of each. Cohabitation is an at-will agreement to share a roof and a bed for as long as both parties are satisfied. Unlike traditional marriage, which requires legal registry and witnesses because of its public dimension, cohabitation is a private affair. While marriage publicly declares that two individuals have united to raise children for the common good, cohabitation, in the analysis of Prof. Robert George, values sex as an instrumental good – as a means to some other good for two individuals who remain autonomous in every way except their address. Due to the prevalence and tacit acceptance of cohabitation today, many couples who enter into this state do not have malicious intent; some do not even suspect that it is wrong. Nevertheless, the decision to cohabitate says that one has placed himself or herself and his or her sexual desires ahead of everyone and everything else, including the cohabiting partner.

The sexual revolution has labored mightily to discredit, dismiss, and bury the Church’s understanding of marriage and sexuality, the final societal bulwark against complete sexual libertinism. The revolution has seduced Catholics as much as the general population. It is no secret that most Catholics continue to ignore the Church’s teaching against birth control, that more engaged couples are foregoing a Church wedding, and that many of those who are married in the Church have consummated their union long before they approach the altar. Against such realities, the Church can do little more than put forward her vision of marriage in the hope that it will be heard. Thoughtful reflection may well find the Church’s teaching refreshing – and compelling.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes marriage as a creation of a loving God who has called men and women to love as the fundamental purpose of their existence. Since men and women are created in the image and likeness of God, “their mutual love becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves man.” The union of husband and wife reflects the union of God with His people, and, in the analogy of St. Paul, the union of Christ the bridegroom with His bride, the Church.

Marriage, then, is a sacrament established by Christ, who enabled married couples to overcome the burden of original sin by personally granting the couple “the strength and grace to live marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God” (CCC 1615). The grace of the sacrament unites a couple by virtue of their mutual consent in an indissoluble bond so that they may “help one another to attain holiness in their married life and in welcoming and educating their children” (1641). From the grace of the sacrament comes the capacity to love, to forgive, to comfort, to support, and to nurture each other on all occasions, in every season. Like the grace of baptism and confirmation, both newlyweds and golden jubilarians can call upon and strengthen the grace of marriage through prayer, through the sacraments of reconciliation and Eucharist, and through natural activities – from romantic dinners to painting the house – done in a spirit of mutual love and charity.

The sexual union of the spouses, intended for procreation and for strengthening the bond between them, is the physical expression of the essence of marriage: the complete gift of oneself to another. In their wedding vows, couples freely promise to love each completely, exclusively, and faithfully in hope that their marriage will bear the fruit of children. Christopher West, who has synthesized for popular audiences Pope John Paul II’s “theology of the body,” a profound meditation on the meaning of the complete gift of self in marital union, describes each sexual act of married couples as a renewal of wedding vows. For this reason the Church teaches that sex belongs only in marriage, for only then is the act free, total, faithful, and fruitful. This is also the reason for the Church’s condemnation of artificial birth control: it prevents, whether through physical or chemical means, the free and total giving of self that bears fruit in another human life.

The visions of sex and marriage offered by the Church and by cohabitation could not be more different. Pope John Paul II often said that the Church only proposes; she imposes nothing. We remain free to choose – or not – the revealed path to authentic love.


David G. Bonagura, Jr. is associate editor of The University Bookman. This is the fifth column in a series on the sacraments of the Church.

Midnight Mass Second Reading

The grace of God has appeared, saving all
and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires
and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age,
as we await the blessed hope,
the appearance of the glory of our great God
and savior Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness
and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.
Titus 2:11-14

Great King, from heaven's high throne descending low,
In Bethlehem's stable born in cold and woe,
Thou shiverest in a manger, Babe Divine,
Much hast Thou born for sins: how much for mine!
St. Alphonsus Ligouri

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Picture of US Soldiers at Christmas Mass in St. Peter's in 1944

"Christmas is not a fairytale for children, but rather God's answer to the drama of humanity in search of peace." Benedict XVI

John Paul II; We love you!

Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.

4th Sunday of Advent

Pope Benedict XVI has insisted again and again, faith and reason are not opposed. Faith “broadens reason.” St. Augustine point of departure was not the contrast between the two cities; it was the interaction between grace and rationalism. And for Augustine and the Catholic tradition, grace is not a concept or an abstraction describing a divine power granted to man by Christ, but Christ himself, his Incarnate Person, the man who died on the cross and rose again. Our task is not to struggle to be both rational and full of faith, but to share Christ’s life through the Church now and experience the harmony between faith and reason broadened by God’s love for us in Christ and our love for Him.

St. John of the Cross

"The blind man who falls will not get up again in his blindness, and if he does, he will take the wrong road."

Go here for a good article about rose vestments (not pink ones)

Confession Can Change the World

Posted by Webster
To set this world spinning the right way round, I think we Catholics might need to do just one thing: Start going to confession again. Then take our kids to confession. Once a month would be OK, once a week even better. Don't believe me? Listen to me brag about my fourth-grade CCD class.

I'm sure you could change the world if you could just get your kids alone to go to confession, as my fourth-graders did today. Stand and watch as each of them prepares in silence, goes nervously through the door into the sacristy, and comes out again with a huge grin and a “whew,” then settles down on a kneeler to say penance. You yourself would start going to confession again just because the whole thing is so impressive, so moving—and the kids look so happy when it's over.

Last week, we prepared for the Sacrament of Reconciliation by going over what you say and conducting a collective examination of conscience. I gave each child a piece of paper and a pencil, read them a series of questions, then told them after each question to write down any sins that occurred to them. Of course, their notes were "for their eyes only." Here are some of the questions:

Do I think of God and speak to Him by praying each day?
Do I use the Lord's name with reverence and love?
Do I attend Mass on Sunday or on Saturday afternoon?
Do I obey my parents and teachers quickly and cheerfully, or must I be reminded many times?
Do I obey the rules of home and school?
Am I kind to everyone?
Did I hit, kick, or in any way hurt others on purpose?
Do I make fun or say mean things to anyone?
Do I tell the truth?

There were more such questions on the list given to us CCD teachers to help our students prepare.

My kids have never been anything like this serious in any previous class. These kids chatter for a living. Suddenly, not a word. Last week, as I read the questions, they were hunched over their crib sheets like law school graduates over a bar exam. It was that intense. Biting their lips. Biting their erasers. Jiggling their feet nervously. And barely saying a word. Which is about as amazing as an entire amusement park going stone silent all at once.

I was very proud of the fourteen, out of sixteen, who showed up today. They could have blown it off, found any excuse to miss it. But I honestly think they wanted to come, even when they thought they didn't. Even C., who was waiting nervously in his mother's car as I walked up to the parish school building, where classes meet. His mom said he was nervous about confession and had lost his workbook for the second time. I crouched down to speak through the car window and tell C. that when I had my first confession two years ago, I was nervous as heck. I think I even used the word heck.

When attendance had been taken, Father Barnes led the way to the chapel in the convent next door to the parish school. He told the boys to remove their hats when entering the convent and showed boys and girls how to genuflect on their right knees before sitting in their pews. He asked them to be silent and prepare themselves while waiting their turn, and most were pretty good about keeping silence. Denise, the other fourth-grade teacher, and I counseled kids who looked especially nervous. Otherwise, there was that amazing, eerie phenomenon of thirty nine-year-old children sitting quietly for half an hour.

As each child came out of the sacristy, he or she pulled down the kneeler at their pew and said their penance. Then we walked back to our classrooms. I asked the children if anyone felt worse now than they did before confession. No one raised a hand. Who felt better? Everyone. Every single child.

Each child had an opportunity to talk about the experience. Then we ended with a prayer.

Question

Should I tell those students who failed to attend Mass for the Immaculate Conception to not go to communion?
Missing a Holy Day of Obligation is a mortal sin.
It is not the child's fault if his parents did not take him to mass.

Immaculate Conception

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy"

* Deliberate failure of the Sunday obligation—The Christian Sunday (the Lord’s Day) celebrates the new life of the world born in Christ’s Resurrection. All humans have a duty, to praise God and give him thanks. Thus all Christians are bound to participate in the Mass, and must partake of the Eucharist at least on holy days of obligation. Deliberate failure to do this constitutes a grave sin (CCC 2181).

The Distinction between two types of sin

All sin is an offense against God and a rejection of his perfect love and justice. Yet, Jesus makes a distinction between two types of sins. We call the most serious and grave sins, mortal sins. Mortal sins destroy the grace of God in the heart of the sinner. By their very grave nature, a mortal sin cuts our relationship off from God and turns man away from his creator. St. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews tell us that "if we sin willfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins" (Hebrews 10:26). The second type of sin, venial sin, that of less grave matter, does not cut us off from Christ. However, venial sin does weaken grace in the soul and damages our relationship with God. A person who frequently indulges in venial sin is very likely to collapse into mortal sin if they persist in their evil ways.

If you want more on this subject go here.

Philipians 1:4-6

Brothers and sisters:
I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you,
because of your partnership for the gospel
from the first day until now.
I am confident of this,
that the one who began a good work in you
will continue to complete it
until the day of Christ Jesus.

Postmodernism

I have been away for a few days. I hosted Thanksgiving. My mother, brother, two sisters, three nephews and four nieces came to visit for four days. I had a great time playing with the kids, but I did not get much done, so it was a great break.

Click here for a helpful website teaching you all about the Feast of Christ the King.

Are you ready?

Go here and find out.

Dedication of our Church

On November 12, 1912 Bishop Hennessey dedicated the Church of St. Patrick in Kingman. We have been worshipping God in this church for 96 years. The celebration of the dedication of a church ranks ahead of all other memorials in the calendar. It is on the same level as a wedding anniversary. The Church is the bride and Jesus is the groom. For us in our community of Kingman Jesus has been a devoted spouse and husband to us. You celebrate your wedding anniversary as a way of renewing your joy at the yes that was exchanged between you. We celebrate the dedication of our Church as a renewal of the yes of the people of Kingman to the love of God.
You are living stones being built into the temple of God.

15 ways to pay attention at mass.

1. Prepare. Don’t go into mass waiting to get blindsided. Find out what the readings are going to be before hand and read them. They can be found many places. They were probably in last week’s bulletin. You can find them in The Catholic Key and easiest of all you can find them on the US Bishops site. Read them before hand. Meditate on the readings. Let scripture speak to you.
2. Arrive early. A sure way to be distracted is by walking down the aisle either right before or after the processional. People should not be wondering why you are not wearing an alb.
3. Pray. What should you do with that extra time?? Sure, visiting with your fellow parishioners is nice but get to your seat 5-10 minutes before mass starts and spend it in prayer. Ask God to be with you during mass and to give you the grace to actively participate in the mass. And if you choose to continue visiting please do it in the entry. The sanctuary is a holy place and people are trying to pray.
4. Sing. During the processional, the Gloria and all of the other parts of the mass. It’s been said that when you sing you are actually praying twice. You don’t have to be Pavarotti to sing as mass (if you haven’t noticed by the singing of some of the cantors!) Don’t be embarrassed. None of us are great singers but we are singing God’s praise and that’s a good thing. That doesn’t mean that you have to belt it out louder than everyone else in the congregation either.
5. Follow along. I’ve heard pros and cons of following along in the missalette. I’ve heard that the lector is breaking open the word of God and we should be listening and not reading. Well, that’s a valid point but there are some of us out there who can comprehend better by reading than by listening. If this is you then follow along. Some churches have the readings in the back of the hymnal. Some have seasonal missalettes for you. Or you can bring your own. They sell them bound or in a monthly periodical called the “Magnificat.”
6. LISTEN to the homily!! Father has got something to say!! He may not be some inspirational speaker. He may have been busy this week and not prepared the best homily but you never know. You can always find some nugget in what Father has to say. Sometimes you may have an “Ah-ha!” moment and you wonder if Father wrote this with you personally in mind. You will think to yourself, “No—it couldn’t be. I haven’t talked to him about this issue I’m having –besides—I’m from out of town and have never met the man!”
7. LISTEN to the prayers of the faithful. For some reason I always find this a distracting time. It’s after the homily. It’s after the creed and my mind is stretched to the limit. Listen to each intention and when say, “Lord, hear our prayer” know what you are asking for. Maybe you will remember the name of a sick person or recently departed to take home to remember in your prayers there.
8. Meditate. If you are still too shy to sing during the collection than spend that time meditating. Think back to the readings. Think about Father’s homily. Or prepare yourself for what is about to come.
9. Repeat to yourself what Father is saying during the Eucharistic prayers. I admit that I get distracted during the Eucharistic prayers. So much is being said. After the priest says something simply repeat what he says in your head. A simple way to become a more active participant.
10. Visualize what is being said during the consecration. Imagine Jesus at the Last Supper. Only he is right in front of you saying, “This is my body.”
11. Appreciate what is going on around you spiritually. Sure, sure, you may be in a church surrounded by your friends and family but much more is going on in the spiritual realm. The mass is a unification of Heaven and Earth. You are in Heaven when you are at mass. It’s more than your wife and kids there with you. There is a giant cloud of saints there with you. Your loved ones who have passed are there with you. Even more than that—you are truly unified with the universal church and you are there with the church from across town as well from the church on the other side of the world.
12. Realize what is about to happen as you walk up to communion. You are about to hold Jesus Christ in your hands. The creator of the universe is about to be put I your hands and you, the created are about to consume the creator.
13. PRAY! The time after receiving the blessed sacrament is one of the best times to pray. Think of it. Jesus is never closer to you than at this moment. Jesus is literally in you. Thank him. Praise him. Offer him your petitions.
14. Stay!! Mass isn’t over after communion! There is still a closing prayer!! Don’t be like Judas who left the Last Supper before it was over!! Sing that final song!
15. Now here is probably the crazy suggestion. Stay after mass and pray some more!! Why rush off?? The parking lot is going to be crazy!! You are not going to get out of there for a good ten minutes anyway.

CHAPTER I

Of the imitation of Christ, and of contempt of the world and all
its vanities

He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,(1) saith the
Lord. These are the words of Christ; and they teach us how far
we must imitate His life and character, if we seek true
illumination, and deliverance from all blindness of heart. Let
it be our most earnest study, therefore, to dwell upon the life
of Jesus Christ.

2. His teaching surpasseth all teaching of holy men, and such as
have His Spirit find therein the hidden manna.(2) But there are
many who, though they frequently hear the Gospel, yet feel but
little longing after it, because they have not the mind of
Christ. He, therefore, that will fully and with true wisdom
understand the words of Christ, let him strive to conform his
whole life to that mind of Christ.

Where have You hidden Yourself,

And abandoned me in my groaning, O my Beloved?

You have fled like the hart,

Having wounded me.

I ran after You, crying; but You were gone.

Let love be sincere;
hate what is evil,
hold on to what is good;
love one another with mutual affection;
anticipate one another in showing honor.
Do not grow slack in zeal,
be fervent in spirit,
serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope,
endure in affliction,
persevere in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the holy ones,
exercise hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you,
bless and do not curse them.
Rejoice with those who rejoice,
weep with those who weep.
Have the same regard for one another;
do not be haughty but associate with the lowly.

People generally quarrel because they cannot argue.

Read this BEFORE you get married

This article appeared in the weekly parish bulletin column of St. Lambert's Church in Skokie, IL. The author is "The Rev. Know It All" the resident apologetics personality of the pastor Fr. Richard Simon.

Here it is in its entirity:

**********************************

Warning:: THIS EPISODE OF THE REV. KNOW IT ALL IS EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE. IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU OR ANYONE YOU KNOW. PLEASE READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE. THE REV. KNOW IT ALL IS NOT OPPOSED TO ALL WEDDING CELEBRATIONS. HE IS NOT TALKING ABOUT YOUR WEDDING
WHICH WAS A TRIUMPH OF PERSONAL SANCTITY AND GOOD TASTE. HE IS PROBABLY JUST HAVING A BAD DAY.

Dear Rev. Know it all,

I visited your church once and am thinking about having my wedding there. How long is your main aisle?

Mary O’burne


Dear Mary,

I am often asked that question, and never quite understand it. Are brides curious about the length of the aisle because they think a longer aisle may give them a few more minutes to back out of the whole thing? Or, as I suspect, does a long aisle
prolong the glorious promenade of which a young girl dreams as she thumbs through bridal magazine as she contemplates her special day, when all eyes focus on her as she approaches her enchanted prince and all the world thinks she’s gorgeous and
knows that she has bagged her man just as surely as a Wisconsin bricklayer bags a deer and ties it onto the roof of his pick up truck? I have certainly seen a few grooms who look like a frightened deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck.
Why is it that weddings cause people to spend so much time, energy and money? And more money.

The average American wedding costs almost $29,000, according to “The Wedding Report”, a market research publication. $29,000!” Oh, by the by, the usual donation to the church is about $200.00. That $200 goes to the church, not to the priest. The usual gift to the priest is a hearty handclasp. The usual cost of the photographer is
$2,000.00. All this tells me that the photographs are one hundred times more important than the grace of the sacrament, in most peoples’ estimation. The usual fee for the DJ is $1,500.00. I am consoled by this. It means that painful,occasionally obscene music loud enough to cause brain damage is only 75 times more important than the grace of the sacrament.

You must be thinking why is this guy so down on weddings? I am down on some weddings because I am very “up” on the sacrament of matrimony and really in favor of marriage. That’s why the modern method of marrying and the wedding industry
make me crazy. They militate against marriage.

Here is the heart of my complaint. IT IS STUPID TO SPEND MORE TIME AND MONEY
PREPARING FOR THE WEDDING THAN YOU DO PREPARING FOR THE MARRIAGE!!! I have known people who are still paying the credit card bills generated by the wedding years after the marriage is over.

The Modern Method of Marriage, a Reprise. The following is taken from my own experiences and things people have told me (outside of confession, you’ll be glad to know.) Here goes.

A young man and a young woman meet and have a few dates. They go for a weekend at a bed and breakfast where they bed one another, and then have breakfast. If he isn’t too much of a jerk and she isn’t too picky, they are then an item. She goes to the doctor gets a prescription and goes on to a more permanent form of birth control. At some time during this stage, the uncomfortable meeting with the parents happens. Everyone is polite and “supportive.” Secretly the father of the young woman who knows exactly what’s going on, contemplates buying a gun and the mother of theyoung man begins gossiping with whomever will listen about how her little boy could do better.
After a while, if things hold up, they begin to have the conversation about taking their relationship to the “next level” by which they mean shacking up,
as we used to call it. Now, I think it’s called moving in together.

Mom and Dad buy housewarming gifts in an attempt to, once again, be supportive. They don’t want their little dears to hate them and besides, it’s what everyone is doing these days, so it can’t be wrong. They have vague thoughts about getting married at that point and mom explains to grandma and to friends at church that they are
just doing it to save money for the wedding. At this stage an engagement ring may appear. At some point, when they think about getting the house and the kids, because that’s what you do, they decide to have the wedding. They rent the hall and then go see the priest. He tells them there are four other weddings that day and they
respond, “but we’ve rented the hall already.”

Someone suggests a garden wedding if the church is occupied. The priest says we can’t do garden weddings. (More on this later.) The young couple begins to complain about how narrow minded the Church is with all these rules and regulations. They eventually pick a date. Then the bottom drops out.

It seems the groom is not Catholic. He was baptized in the First Reformed Church of the Druids, though he never practiced. This means there must be a dispensation for the marriage,another irritating Catholic invention, and the wedding date cannot be confirmed until the dispensation is received. The bride goes back to her doctor, this time for a prescription for valium. Her mother joins her on this visit. Finally the
dispensation is granted, The groom’s druid will do one of the readings at the wedding, the loans are taken out, the banns are published. Then there is the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The best man comes to the rehearsal drunk out of his mind, the groom only slightly tipsy. The bride is furious at everyone for some reason known to her alone. Probably because the groom is far more interested in drinking and watching the football game on hishand held computer thing than he is in gazing lovingly into her eyes in anticipation of the great day. In fact they haven’t been, well... friendly in weeks. It is, after all, football season.

The special day comes, the best man is still drunk, the groom is hung over, no one knew about that interesting tattoo that the maid of honor had way low on her back, now revealed by the plunging back of her dress that is held up only by wishful thinking. Grandma, upon reading the logo of the maid of honor’s tattoo, has fainted.

Somewhere in all this the vows are exchanged, and quite a few of the wedding party receive their first Holy Communion that day, however one of the ushers
puts the host in his suit pocket not having a clue what it is. (This actually has happened to me twice.) The pictures have been taken. The noise level in the church reaches that of an English soccer match after the riot has broken out. The children are jumping off the altar and the priest is scowling at everyone. Now on to the pictures in the forest preserve, a “must” at every wedding. There the wedding party is attacked by mosquitoes, one of the children falls into the lagoon and the bride is having a hard time smiling for the photos. The best man passes out. On to the reception.

The bride loses it because the shade of fuchsia in the floral center pieces clashes with the shade of fuchsia in the wedding party’s outfit. The groom adjourns to the bar where the game is on the television. The wedding dinner is served as music is played at a mind numbing volume. Grandma is better now. She has turned off her hearing aid. The priest is seated with the pious relatives in plaid suit coats and leaves shortly after the grace before meals. The best man makes the toast which drones on about how he loves the groom and one begins to wonder. The college roommate/maid of honor does the same for the bride, going on for fifteen minutes about how she knew the bride would find eternal marital bliss the moment she met her in the third grade and they have been like sisters ever since.

Then at some point, there is a video presentation of embarrassing photos not unlike the ones that are now shown at wakes. The bar opens up again.The music reaches levels that cause blood to drip from some peoples’ nose and ears. The joyous event ends with the bride and groom being the last to leave the hall. They are slow to go up to the room they have rented in the hotel because nothing new or beautiful awaits them there. The groom promptly falls asleep, being heavily sedated already, and, as he snores away, with his shoes still on, our blushing bride, having shed her dress of virginal white, thinks back on this day, her special day, the most important day in her life, the day she has dreamt of since she was a little girl.

They will stay an extra day at the hotel, but cannot afford the time or money to go on a honeymoon because on Monday they will both be back at work in order to pay off the colossal bill that their special day has incurred. For some reason, the bride is depressed. Perhaps she is realizing that the high point of her life is now past and the rest of it will be spent with the lump that is now snoring beside her with whom she has never really had a serious conversation, except about the proper shade of fuchsia for the floral centerpieces. So it is that we celebrate the marriage of Christ and His Church in these enlightened and tolerant times.

Remember, none of these things happened at your wedding, thank God and don’t think from reading this that I am down on marriage or even weddings. I love a wedding celebration when there is something to celebrate. Also, it is never too late to begin again by taking Christ and His gospel seriously.

PLEASE SPEND MORE TIME AND MONEY PREPARING FOR THE MARRIAGE THAN YOU DO PREPARING FOR THE WEDDING.

Yours,

The Rev, Know it all


P.S. Garden weddings. They look good in all the bridal magazines but they are just opportunities to feed biting insects and suffer from sunburn. It is however amusing to watch the bridesmaids sinking in the mud as they try, after a few margaritas to maneuver the newly laid sod in spiked heals. The bride is generally exhausted from not having slept for three weeks as she worries about the weather reports which are promising a 50 percent chance of typhoons and earthquakes that day. And destination weddings. Don’t get me started on Destination Weddings! You want to be married with just your closest friends on a beach in Maui. That means that Grandma can’t go because she hasn’t flown since the Hindenburg Disaster, and is thinking of cutting you out of the will, and all the friends and relatives who aren’t with you on the beach in Maui realize they aren’t very close to you after all. And I haven’t a clue how long the aisle is here at St. Dymphna’s.

Pope's prayer intentions for November 2009

The Pope's general intention is: "That all the men and women in the world, especially those who have responsibilities in the field of politics and economics, may never fail in their commitment to safeguard creation."

His missionary intention is: "That believers in the different religions, through the testimony of their lives and fraternal dialogue, may clearly demonstrate that the name of God is a bearer of peace."

a good article

Go here for a good article.

boiling

Here is a terrible article to get your blood boiling this morning.

A Question

"Have you ever thought about being a Catholic?”

Have you ever said these words to anyone? Try it, and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

Mercy

Stop by any Catholic parish to experience God's mercy and forgiveness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession). If you haven't been in a while, this handy guide will help you prepare.

Before entering the Confessional or Reconciliation Room:

Begin with prayer, placing yourself in the presence of God, our loving Father. Seek healing and forgiveness through repentance and a resolve to sin no more.

Review your life since your last confession, searching your thoughts, words and actions that did not conform to God's love, to his law or to the laws of the Church. This is called an examination of conscience. Here are some questions to help you. They are based on the 10 Commandments.

* Do I pray to God every day? Have I thanked God for His gifts to me?
* Did I put my faith in danger through readings hostile to Catholic teachings or involvement in non-Catholic sects? Did I engage in superstitious practices: palm-reading or fortune-telling?
* Did I take the name of God in vain? Did I curse or take a false oath?
* Did I miss Mass on Sundays or holy days of obligation through my own fault? Am I attentive at Mass? Did I keep fast and abstinence on the prescribed days?
* Did I disobey my parents and lawful superiors in important matters?
* Did I hate or quarrel with anyone, or desire revenge? Did I refuse to forgive? Was I disrespectful?
* Did I get drunk? Did I take illicit drugs?
* Did I consent to, recommend, advise or actively take part in an abortion?
* Did I willfully look at pornography, entertain impure thoughts or engage in impure conversations? Did I use artificial means to prevent conception?
* Was I unfaithful to my spouse? Did I engage in sexual activity outside of marriage?
Did I steal or damage another's property? Have I been honest and just in my business relations?
* Have I been responsive to the needs of the poor and respected the dignity of others?
* Did I tell lies? Did I sin by calumny, or detraction, of others? Did I judge others rashly in serious matters?
* Have I envied other people?

During the Sacrament:

* The priest gives you a blessing or greeting. He may share a brief Scripture passage.
* Make the Sign of the Cross and say: “Bless me father, for I have sinned. My last confession was…” (give the number of weeks, months, or years).
* Confess all of your sins to the priest. The priest will help you to make a good confession. If you are unsure about how to confess or you feel uneasy, just ask him to help you. Answer his questions without hiding anything out of fear or shame. Nothing that you say to the priest will ever be revealed. Place your trust in God, a merciful Father who wants to forgive you.
* Following your confession of sins, say: “I am sorry for these and all of my sins.”
* The priest assigns you a penance and offers advice to help you be a better Catholic.
* Say an Act of Contrition,* expressing your sorrow for your sins. The priest, acting in the person of Christ, then absolves you from your sins.

After you've left the Confessional or Reconciliation Room:

* Complete the penance you received.

*Act of Contrition (please note this is one option):

God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of your grace to confess my sins, do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

Despair is a sin against the virtue of hope. Sloth is more an opposition to fortitude. I see the good, but it is difficult, so in my sloth I fail to act for the good I see. It could be something small like getting out of bed to go to mass, or it could be something great like becoming a missionary. Fortitude is necessary no matter how advanced in the spiritual life we are. It moves us to the next level, whereas sloth keeps us stagnant or can even move us backward.

Budget Deficit

How do we reduce our nation's budget deficit?
1. Pull all of our troops out of Iraq and quit funding all independent contractors in Iraq.

Fallen away Catholic

I have been trying to understand those who leave the Church. What is there thinking? Is it something like this?

I know better, there's something about the Church that is wrong, I don't need that anymore.

St. Teresa Of Avila

Go here for a great post about today's saint.

Let nothing disturb you,
Nothing frighten you.
All things are passing.
God never changes.
Patient endurance attains all things.
Whoever possesses God lacks nothing,
God alone is sufficient.

NOVO MILLENNIO INEUNTE

"Your face, O Lord, I seek" (Ps 27:8). The ancient longing of the Psalmist could receive no fulfilment greater and more surprising than the contemplation of the face of Christ. God has truly blessed us in him and has made "his face to shine upon us" (Ps 67:1). At the same time, God and man that he is, he reveals to us also the true face of man, "fully revealing man to man himself".

Jesus is "the new man" (cf. Eph 4:24; Col 3:10) who calls redeemed humanity to share in his divine life. The mystery of the Incarnation lays the foundations for an anthropology which, reaching beyond its own limitations and contradictions, moves towards God himself, indeed towards the goal of "divinization". This occurs through the grafting of the redeemed on to Christ and their admission into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life. The Fathers have laid great stress on this soteriological dimension of the mystery of the Incarnation: it is only because the Son of God truly became man that man, in him and through him, can truly become a child of God.

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.

Nobel Peace Prize

President Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize!? I really can't believe it. Did you know that Mahatma Ghandi never won it. Pope John Paul II never won it.
How did a bunch of Scandinavians develop such a famous award. They must have had a very good agent and pr department.

More Chesterton

“It is very hard for a man to defend anything of which he is entirely convinced. It is comparatively easy when he is only partially convinced. He is partially convinced because he has found this or that proof of the thing, and he can expound it. But a man is not really convinced of a philosophic theory when he finds that something proves it. He is only really convinced when he finds that everything proves it. And the more converging reasons he finds pointing to this conviction, the more bewildered he is if asked suddenly to sum them up. Thus, if one asked an ordinary intelligent man, on the spur of the moment, “Why do you prefer civilisation to savagery?” he would look wildly round at object after object, and would only be able to answer vaguely, “Why, there is that bookcase . . . and the coals in the coal-scuttle . . . and pianos . . . and policemen.” The whole case for civilisation is that the case for it is complex. It has done so many things. But that very multiplicity of proof which ought to make reply overwhelming makes reply impossible. There is, therefore, about all complete conviction a kind of huge helplessness. The belief is so big that it takes a long time to get it into action. And this hesitation chiefly arises, oddly enough, from an indifference about where one should begin. All roads lead to Rome; which is one reason why many people never get there. In the case of this defence of the Christian conviction I confess that I would as soon begin the argument with one thing as another; I would begin it with a turnip or a taximeter cab.—GKC, Orthodoxy, Ch. 6

25 years

In 2010 my parish will be celebrating its 125th anniversary. This has me thinking about our history and what happened at our centennial 25 years ago. One of the most important things of 1985 was the baptism of children and adults. So I made a list of all the baptisms of 1985; there were 30 of them. Sadly few of them live in Kingman and of those few practice the faith.
My pastoral goal for 2010 is to contact all 30 of these people, and attempt help them in their faith.
You all can help me by praying for them and for me. St. Therese of the Child Jesus will be of help to us.

Pope's ptayer intention

October 2009
General: That Sunday may be lived as the day on which Christians gather to celebrate the risen Lord, participating in the Eucharist.

The Saints of October

Special emphasis: the Rosary

1 Theresa of the Child Jesus
2 Guardian Angels
4 Francis of Assisi
6 Bruno
7 Our Lady of the Rosary
9 Denis
9 John Leonardi
14 Callistus
15 Teresa of Avila
16 Hedwig
16 Margaret Mary
17 Ignatius of Antioch
18 Luke
19 Isaac Jogues and companions – North American Martyrs
19 Paul of the Cross
23 John of Capistrano
24 Anthony Claret
28 Simon and Jude

JP II's first encyclical

THE REDEEMER OF MAN, Jesus Christ, is the centre of the universe and of history. To him go my thoughts and my heart in this solemn moment of the world that the Church and the whole family of present-day humanity are now living. In fact, this time, in which God in his hidden design has entrusted to me, after my beloved Predecessor John Paul I, the universal service connected with the Chair of Saint Peter in Rome, is already very close to the year 2000. At this moment it is difficult to say what mark that year will leave on the face of human history or what it will bring to each people, nation, country and continent, in spite of the efforts already being made to foresee some events. For the Church, the People of God spread, although unevenly, to the most distant limits of the earth, it will be the year of a great Jubilee. We are already approaching that date, which, without prejudice to all the corrections imposed by chronological exactitude, will recall and reawaken in us in a special way our awareness of the key truth of faith which Saint John expressed at the beginning of his Gospel: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us"1, and elsewhere: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life"2.

Who can be ordained?

There is abundant scriptural support for the unbroken practice of the Catholic, Orthodox and Oriental churches to ordain only males. Consider: The Old Testament priesthood was only male. Yet, women served in leadership as judges (rulers) and prophets: Deborah in the book of Judges and Anna in the Gospel of Luke. Many queens of Israel had real political power, for good and bad.

We see the same pattern in the New Testament. Jesus only called men to serve as apostles, from a larger group of followers that included both men and women. Meanwhile, women were prominently associated with Jesus. The apostles, following the Lord’s example, are reported only laying hands on males as deacons, presbyters and bishops, a practice the church continues to this day.

Still, women were prominent in church leadership. Acts and Romans describe this; and Paul said there is neither “male nor female” in Christ. This is a conundrum for those who insist male-only clergy means the denigration of women. Could it not be that they are sharing the mistake some clergy make, and seeing holy orders as more about power than about service, more entitlement, instead of gift?

The question remains: Why did Jesus only call men as apostles? We don’t know; we can only speculate. Some say it was because he chose not to defy social expectations or the power-structure. Yet scripture shows him repeatedly doing both till he was executed. Others assume Jesus would have done differently had he lived at another time. He very well might have; but as God, Jesus chose to enter the world at that specific time and place.

Finally, some say the apostles imposed their own bias, “Because they were men.” It could be, but that explanation has several problems. This assumes Jesus actually wanted to have women apostles and clergy – something there is no evidence for. But this claim defies plausibility for another reason.

These men sacrificed position, endured persecution, and ultimately met martyrdom. As observant Jews, they adapted painfully to having non-Jews accepted on an equal basis. They endured the shock of seeing their Messiah not overthrow the Romans but be murdered shamefully by them. Yet, we are told that they could yield and bend to all that; but not on women clergy?

There is one more aspect of Scripture that, while not “proving” the issue, may shed light. Throughout scripture God is described as a “husband” to Israel, his “wife.” And when Jesus comes, he calls himself “the bridegroom.” One way the church understands the ordained minister is that he serves as a living icon of Christ as the bridegroom.

For these and other reasons, in 1994 Pope John Paul II declared infallibly that the church had no authority to do otherwise than to call males to ordained ministry.

Rev. Martin Fox

Priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati

How often we hear a boy say, “I wish I was a man!” And if we ask why, we often learn that it is because he wants to be able to do as he likes. He is tired of having to obey his parents, and be guided by them. He thinks he knows better than they do what is best for him.

Such a boy is already going wrong, and only wants the chance to break away from the restraints of home. He is not a manly boy. He is often a forward, foolish boy, who can be easily led astray, and who will sooner or later come to grief.

When a manly boy wishes to be a man, it is not that he may have his own way, but that he may be better able to help his parents and be more useful in the world. It is not that he is tired of being a boy, but he is willing to give up youthful pleasures for the sake of those who have done so much for him.

Kingman County
Origin of Name: In honor of Samuel A. Kingman (1818-1904), member of the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention, chief justice of the Kansas supreme court, briefly state librarian, and first president of the Kansas State Historical Society.

A Good reflection

Go here for some good things to think about

Padre Pio

Go here for a great post about today;'s saint.

Joke

Dear Tech Support:
Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources. In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity. Applications such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0, Hunting and Fishing 7.5, and Racing 3.6. I can't seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I'm thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but the uninstall doesn't work on Wife 1.0. Please help!
Thanks,
A Troubled User

REPLY: Dear Troubled User:
This is a very common problem that men complain about.

Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING. It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0. It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed.

You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony-Child Support. I recommend that you keep Wife 1.0 and work on improving the situation. I suggest installing the background application "Yes Dear" to alleviate software augmentation.

The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway.

Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean and Sweep 3.0, Cook It 1.5 and Do Bills 4.2.

However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5. Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0.

WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system.
Best of luck,
Tech Support

Remind your protestant friends of this

Chesterton wrote the following, as far as I can tell, completely unremarkable observation: "Of course it is in any case utterly unhistorical to talk as if the New Testament were a neatly bound book that had fallen from heaven. It is simply the selection made by the authority of the Church from a mass of early Christian literature."

lapsing

Yesterday was the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross. Today is Our Lady of Sorrows. The Passion of our Lord should be on our mind every day. This is the time of penance, the time to receive God's mercy so that we will have no need to fear the time of God's justice. The Blessed Mother was uniquely united to the passion. She experienced it more deeply than any other person.

Last Sunday and this coming Sunday we hear Jesus predicting his passion. He trains his disciples to embrace the cross as the way of salvation.

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.

A Great website

Go here for a great website that has all the catechetical resources you will ever need.

Things to know

Every Catholic should know the following:
1. The Lord's Prayer
2. The Creed
3. The 10 commandments
4. The seven sacraments
5. The works of mercy
6. The seven principal sins
Take out a sheet of paper and give yourself this quiz.

A good idea for penances

Here is a good story about spending your time wisely.

a little Chesterton

"Once abolish the God, and the government becomes the God."

Smiling monk

Go here for a great story.

Go here for an inspiring story

“Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself.” This is just one of many of Pope Benedict’s decisive statements on the unique good of marriage and the family, recently gathered into a new volume of USCCB Publishing’s “Pope Benedict XVI

Movie

I saw the movie, "Hurtlocker" a few days ago. It is about American soldiers in Iraq who diffuse bombs. I enjoyed the movie. There is foul language and violence, but it really shows what the men go through over there. It is very intense.

A good article

Go here for a really good article.

PJ O' Rourke

From his book "Driving Like Crazy"
What was the difference between the South and the rest of America? There wasn't any. The South was the rest of America . . . what we've had all along in this bizarre, slightly troubling, basically wonderful country - fun, danger, real friendliness, energy, enthusiasm, and brave, crazy, tough people . . . Put us all together and we're the biggest, baddest sons of bitches anywhere . . . Nobody's eating roughage, running marathons, and taking yoga classes down there. People still drink, smoke, still have guns, and still believe in a personal God who listens to them. They're not worried about the future. This country didn't come from people who worried about the future. It came from people who whipped the future's ass.

"God did not ask us to follow Him because He needed our help, but because He knew that loving Him would make us whole."-- St. Irenaeus

The humanity of Christ is the way by which we come to the divinity
St. Thomas Aquinas

From St. Josemaria Escriva

The Way #174 "Don't say, "That person bothers me." Say, "That person sanctifies me."

a good quote

"I always wanted to live and believe the Sermon on the Mount, but usually got told that it did not mean all that I thought it meant, and that I needed to be practical. I would read the Scriptures longingly, trying to imagine how wonderful it would be not to worry about anything, safe and secure in the presence of Jesus all the time. Miracles would be normal. Love would be natural. We could always give and never lose. We could be lied to, cheated and stolen from, and yet always come out ahead. We would never have to take advantage of anyone, or have any motive but to bless other people. Rather than always making contingency plans in case Jesus didn't do anything, we could count on Him continually. We, our lives, and all that we preach and provide would not be for sale, but would be given freely. . . .There would always be enough!"

Rolland Baker, Always Enough

New website

I just found this website. It looks like it has a lot of good food for thought.

http://essays.quotidiana.org/

Sunday's second reading

Brothers and sisters:
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.
All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling
must be removed from you, along with all malice.
And be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,
as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us
as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.

Great events

The Holy Family Conference - This Friday Saturday and Sunday

St. John Vianney

Go here for a good article about the patron saint of parish priests.
Please pray for me.

Sunday's second reading

Most priests will be talking about the Gospel and the Bread of Life discourse. So I thought I would give little space to the second reading. Ephesians is very beautiful and you should all read it.

Here is Sunday's excerpt.
Eph 4:17, 20-24

Brothers and sisters:
I declare and testify in the Lord
that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do,
in the futility of their minds;
that is not how you learned Christ,
assuming that you have heard of him and were taught in him,
as truth is in Jesus,
that you should put away the old self of your former way of life,
corrupted through deceitful desires,
and be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
and put on the new self,
created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.

You will notice that the lectionary omits versus 18 & 19.
Here they are:
darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart, they have become callous and have handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every kind of impurity to excess.

You may want to read it through in your own bible. I find it interesting that the editors of the lectionary chose to omit the passage that speaks of licentiousness and impurity. These are messages that we need to hear.

St. Ignatius of Loyola

Go here for a great post about St. Ignatius of Loyola.

From the Furrow #503

Forgive my insistence: the instrument, the means, must not be made into an end. If a spade were to weigh a hundred weight instead of what it should, the laborer would be unable to dig with it. He would use up all his energy humping it around, and the seed could not take root, for it would remain unused.

Ego veni ut vitam habeant, et abundantius habeant.
John 10:10
I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly.

St. James

cornerstone inscrription

I need help choosing an inscription for our new building's cornerstone.

Here are a couple
Royal College of Midwives: Vita donum dei (Life is the gift of God)
or
AMGD - to the greater glory of God

It will, of course, be in Latin

fallen creatures

We are all creatures. We receive our being from the creator, God.
Because of original sin, which is exacerbated by personal sin, we are not in a state of friendship with God. Sin cuts us off from the sustenance that God wants to give us.

The person in a state of grace receives all that he needs from God. Having received these gifts he can make good use of them for himself and his neighbor.

The person at enmity with God, because he no longer receives from God, is very unstable. So he must look at the goods of the world as something to be taken and used for himself. He cannot afford to be generous because his sin has cut off the supply that was coming in from God's goodness.

Before the fall Adam and Eve were naked and felt no shame. There was no lust in them, no taking of what can only be a gift.
After the fall they were naked so they hid themselves. Experiencing their vulnerability they had to protect themselves. Love (a gift) is turned in to lust (taking what sin has made man incapable of receiving).

Receiving Communion

I personally believe that kneeling is the best posture for receiving Holy Communion. I think we will see a day when this practice is restored.
Obviously veils for women would be great. That will be a much more difficult thing to accomplish.

From the Catechism: on prayer

In the battle of prayer, we must face in ourselves and around us erroneous notions of prayer. Some people view prayer as a simple psychological activity, others as an effort of concentration to reach a mental void. Still others reduce prayer to ritual words and postures. Many Christians unconsciously regard prayer as an occupation that is incompatible with all the other things they have to do: they "don't have the time." Those who seek God by prayer are quickly discouraged because they do not know that prayer comes also from the Holy Spirit and not from themselves alone.

"Women don't want to hear what men think. They want to hear their own thoughts in a deeper voice." Jeff Foxworthy

A good article

Here is a great article for those going to college and the parents who are sending them.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

A glance at ancient physics
Although at the time of Christ's birth Hellenic science had produced nearly all its masterpieces, it was still to give to the world Ptolemy's astronomy, the way for which had been paved for more than a century by the works of Hipparchus. The revelations of Greek thought on the nature of the exterior world ended with the "Almagest", which appeared about A.D. 145, and then began the decline of ancient learning. Those of its works that escaped the fires kindled by Mohammedan warriors were subjected to the barren interpretations of Mussulman commentators and like parched seed, awaited the time when Latin Christianity would furnish a favorable soil in which they could once more flourish and bring forth fruit.
(Why can't we write this way anymore?)

Tattoos

What are the purpose of tattoos? Why do people get them? It seems that more and more people are getting them. What is this all about?
The purpose of a sign is to communicate something. What is being communicated.
In past generations you would only think of military men getting a tattoo to mark their belonging to a certain branch.
I tend to think of tattoos as a grasping for significance in one's life. I want my life to mean something. I want my body to indicate some reality that is greater.
In baptism we are marked by the sign of the cross. For the Christian this mark of baptism gives significance to our bodies and to our souls. The body of the Christian is a 'Temple of the Holy Spirit.' If this Christian awareness exists in a person then their is no need for other markings on the body.
It seems to me that the modern person, for whom this Christian awareness does not exist, is grasping to express a sacramental reality.

Home

My father and I returned home from Denver yesterday. We had a great trip with my sister's kids visiting my other sister and her kids. We went swimming every day and to the zoo and to the imax theater and to the Pirate's Cove water park, and my sister Stephanie taught my dad and me about the joys of a high fiber diet.

Happy 4th of July.
I am leaving tomorrow for Denver and won't be back until Friday night. You probably won't see any posts this week.

Gettysburg

Go here for a great post on confession

Year of the Priest

On June 19 Pope Benedict XVI began the "Year of the Priest." My plan is to do several posts about the sacrament of Holy Orders. If you have any questions about the priesthood you can leave them in the comment box.

An excellent article

Go to the First Things website to read a very good article.

St. Josemaria Escriva

"God wants his children to be on the offensive. We cannot stay on the defensive. Our business is to fight, wherever we may be, as an army in battle array."
From the Furrow #790

Rest in Peace

Please pray for the souls of three St. Patrick's parishioners.
Bernice Sieler
Mary Mathis
Marie Grieving

a day late

we remember St. Josemaria Escriva, who died on June 26, 1975. He is best known as the founder of the Opus Dei movement, which is based on the idea that our sanctity can be achieved through the performance of our daily work. Even the most mundane tasks, such as scrubbing the floor or collecting garbage become supernatural when done for the glory of God.

We can learn a lot from the teachings of St. Escriva. Often times we look for a magnificent or elaborate way to serve God, while ignoring the many little tasks that await us each day. Doing each of those ordinary tasks well will do more for our salvation than the large task that never comes along.

Where are the men in your parish?

I'm looking for:
1. Men who go to Mass and have gotten other men to go
2. Men who were away from Mass for years and what got them back to the pews
3. Women who have gotten men (husbands, brothers, sons) to go to Mass
4. Insights into why so many men don’t go to Mass; what's their problem, what turns them off?
5. Suggestions on how to get men to go

Try to keep suggestions somewhere between "take them by the ear and pull" and "tell them that a smoking pit of sulphur awaits if they don't!"

Year of St. Paul

The Year of St. Paul concludes on Monday June 29. One year ago I encouraged everyone to read the letters of St. Paul. St. Jerome says, “Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ.” In case you did not follow my good instructions I have put together a small list of scripture passages for you. There is a great wealth of truth in the letters of St. Paul. Words that will lead us to eternal life in the next world and to peace in this world.

Romans 8:31 “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

1 Corinthians 13:13 “Faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.”

Galatians 4:6-7 “As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father! So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.”

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.”

Philippians 1:6 “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Colossians 1:24 “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church.

1 Thessalonians 5:14-18 “We urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, cheer the fainthearted, support the weak, be patient with all. See that no one returns evil for evil; rather, always seek what is good both for each other and for all. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.

2 Thessalonians 3:10-11 “If anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.
We hear that some are conducting themselves among you in a disorderly way, by not keeping busy but minding the business of others.”

1 Timothy 1:12-16 “I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man, but I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief. Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life.”

2 Timothy 1:6-10 For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God. He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made manifest through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed preacher and apostle and teacher.”

Titus 2:11-13 “For the grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age,
as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ.”

A very good story

Go here for a great story!

Philipians 3

Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!
Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

A green vestment on Sunday: Haven't done that since February
It is nice to have a regular Sunday. We have the long seasons of lent and Easter and then Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi. Now it is officially summer, since I am wearing a green chasuble on Sunday.

Sacred Heart and IHM

Yesterday, Friday, was the Feast of the Sacred Heart. Today, Saturday is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Mary shared fully in the joy of the incarnation. She also share fully in the passion of Jesus at the cross. Therefore she shares fully in the glory of God in Assumption and Coronation.
St. Paul teaches us that if we die with Christ we will also reign with him. As much as we do not like to talk about the cross is the way to glory. Tomorrow we go back to the Sundays in Ordinary Time. Do not forget to offer up your sufferings as the ordinary way of the Christian life.

St. Cyprian c. 258 AD

All Christ did, all he taught, was the will of God. Humility in our daily lives, an unwavering faith, a moral sense of modesty in conversation, justice in acts, mercy in deed, discipline, refusal to harm others, a readiness to suffer harm, peaceableness with our brothers, a wholehearted love of the Lord, loving in him what is of the Father, fearing him because he is God, preferring nothing to him who preferred nothing to us, clinging tenaciously to his love, standing by his cross with loyalty and courage whenever there is any conflict involving his honor and his name, manifesting in our speech the constancy of our profession and under torture confidence for the fight, and in dying the endurance for which we will be crowned - this is what it means to wish to be a coheir with Christ, to keep God's command; this is what it means to do the will of the Father.

The only honest reason to be a Christian is because you believe in Christ's claim to be God incarnate. The only honest reason to be a Catholic is because you believe the Church's claim to be the divinely authorized Body of this Christ.
Peter Kreeft, Catholic Christianity

A prayer for marriage

Look down with favor, O Lord, we beseech Thee, upon these Thy servants, and graciously protect this, Thine ordinance, whereby Thou hast provided for the propagation of mankind; that they who are joined together by Thy authority may be preserved by Thy help; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Who can receive Holy Communion?

1. those who are baptized Catholics
2. those who have reached the age of reason
3. those who have fasted from all food and drink for one hour.
4. those who are not aware of having committed a mortal sin.
Many years ago people would go to confession as often as they intended to receive Holy Communion. They were perhaps too strict, seeing a mortal sin in almost every action of life. Today people go to communion frequently without giving any thought about the state of their soul. Some people receive Holy Communion every week without going to confession for several years. This is a deplorable practice. It is not uncommon for people to skip Mass, destroy the reputation of their neighbor through gossip, commit adultery and fornication, even cooperate in murder and still think nothing of receiving Holy Communion.
Before we approach the Blessed Sacrament we should remember the words of St. Paul,
“Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.” 1 Corinthians 11:27 -29

Why do we genuflect in church?

We genuflect in church as a sign of worship of God who is present in the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle. We do not genuflect to the cross. We should genuflect with reverence and knowledge of what we are doing. It is understandable if old age or the frailty of the body prevent a person from genuflecting. Those who are able ought place their right knee on the floor before entering the pew. If your skirt or dress is too short or tight to genuflect properly then you should not wear it to Mass since it is immodest.

From an old book - on the "Rectory"

A priest's house should be a perfect model of the Christian home. There should be nothing in it smacking of luxury or worldly desire: peace and sobriety should reign in it supreme.

moving my brother

I helped my brother move his books from the rectory at St. Patrick in Wichita over to St. Paul's at Wichita State. Aren't I a good brother?
If you are looking for some free books now is the time to hit up your priest friends who are getting transferred. When moving you begin to hate your possessions and want to get rid of them. You can capitalize on this feeling by offering to take the books off their hands.

June 1979—The Nine Days of John Paul II

June 4th, 2009 by George Weigel

Thirty years ago this week, the Bishop of Rome returned to Poland for the first time since his recent election to the papacy. America’s premier Cold War historian, John Lewis Gaddis of Yale, is not ambiguous in his judgment of what happened next: “When John Paul II kissed the ground at the Warsaw airport on June 2, 1979, he began the process by which communism in Poland—and ultimately everywhere—would come to an end.” Professor Gaddis is right: the Nine Days of John Paul II, June 2-10, 1979, were an epic moment on which the history of the 20th century pivoted, and in a more humane direction.

What did John Paul talk about during the Nine Days? He didn’t talk about politics; indeed, beyond the ritual exchanges of formalities with government officials at the arrival ceremony in Warsaw on June 2 and the departure ceremony from Cracow on June 10, the Pope acted as if the Polish communist regime did not exist. Rather, he spoke over, around, and beyond the regime directly to the people of Poland, not about what the world usually understands as power, but about people power—the power of culture and spiritual identity. “You are not who ‘they’ say you are,” the Pope proposed, in a number of variations on the same theme; “let me remind you who you really are.”

During the Nine Days of June 1979, John Paul II gave back to his people their history, their culture, and their identity. In doing so, he gave Poles spiritual tools of resistance that communism could not match. And he did all that by reminding his people that “Poland” began with its 10th century baptism—with its incorporation into the Christian world. That reminder created a moral revolution that eventually brought down the communist god that failed. For on June 4, 1989, Solidarity swept the first reasonably free elections in post-war Polish history and set in motion an unstoppable chain of events across east central Europe. The Iron Curtain collapsed in Poland, five months before the Berlin Wall fell in Germany.

What can we learn from the Nine Days, three decades later? Several important things, I’d suggest.

The first thing the Nine Days and the subsequent Solidarity revolution teach us is that history doesn’t work through politics and economics alone. The power of the human spirit can ignite world-historical change.

The second lesson from the Nine Days is that tradition can be as powerful a force for dramatic social and political change as a revolutionary rupture with the past. “Revolution,” in the Solidarity experience, meant the recovery of lost values and cultural truths and their creative re-application to new situations. Tradition, according to an old theological maxim, is the living faith of the dead—a lively faith that can move history forward rather than dragging it backwards.

The third thing we ought to learn from the Nine Days and what followed in Poland is that moral conviction can be the lever once sought by Archimedes—the lever with which to move the world. There is nothing more potent in history, for good or ill, than ideas. The history of the 20th century prior to 1979 had been unspeakably bloody because of the power of false ideas and lies. The Solidarity revolution proved that the opposite could also be true, with its insistence on truth-telling amidst the communist culture of prevarication (or, as one famous slogan of the day had it, “For Poland to be Poland, 2+2 must always = 4”).

The fourth thing we learn from the Nine Days and the moral revolution they ignited is that “public life” and “politics,” “civil society” and “politics” are not the same. Rather, the health of politics depends on the moral health of civil society.

And the fifth thing we learn about from the Nine Days of John Paul II is what the Pope later came to call “the subjectivity of society.” Free associations of men and women who are citizens, not subjects, are where democrats are made, for it’s in those free associations that we learn the habits of heart and mind that make it possible for us to be self-governing.

I don't know where the church is located from yesterday's blog, but I can find out.

"God is always present, giving us being." St. Theresa of Avila

another picture

Church for sale

I received this picture yesterday. This church is closing and everything in it will be sold. Amazing!

Pilson Pilgrimage

A few hearty souls will be walking to Pilson on Friday.
Friday: Mass at 6:00 AM - after mass they will head north.
They will arrive in Pilson on Sunday around 2:00.

The feasts of June

June is the month of the Sacred Heart. You could add a prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to your daily prayers.

June 1 - St. Justin the Martyr
June 5 - St. Boniface - apostle to the Germans (there is a nice stained glass window of him at St. Anthony's Church in Wichita.

Jn 21:15-19

After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast with them,
he said to Simon Peter,
"Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?"
Simon Peter answered him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs."
He then said to Simon Peter a second time,
"Simon, son of John, do you love me?"
Simon Peter answered him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
He said to him, "Tend my sheep."
He said to him the third time,
"Simon, son of John, do you love me?"
Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time,
"Do you love me?" and he said to him,
"Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."
Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.
Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger,
you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted;
but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands,
and someone else will dress you
and lead you where you do not want to go."
He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.
And when he had said this, he said to him, "Follow me."

Baptism

Went to Junction City yesterday and baptized Sean Christopher, my sister's fifth child.
Wonderful!

Summer Time

The day after Memorial day is great. The kids are out of school. Graduations and ordinations are over. AHHH!

Anniversary

Today is the anniversary of the death of Fr. Kapaun in 1951.
It is also my 11th year of priesthood.
Congratulations to Fr. Ben Sawyer, who was ordained today at the Cathedral.

Novena to the Holy Spirit

Nine days until Pentecost.

Go here to find a novena to the Holy Spirit

The greatest effect on belief is our conduct. A young person does not fall away from the faith because he read a book and thought the thing out. Faith is weakened when we act against moral truth. As soon as I commit a sin then I must repent which is to see the truth of the moral law, or I must use my mind to justify my sin. The more attached I am to a sin then the less clearly will I be able to see the truth. It is often easier to change the rules to fit my life. Then I don't have to feel guilty.

1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world or the things of the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes,
and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world.
Yet the world and its enticement are passing away.
But whoever does the will of God remains forever.

Chesteron quote

"A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it."

The real problem

The primary problem of the modern world is the practical denial of eternal life.
The secularized world cannot look beyond nature and so it has no use for the Christian teaching in the immortal soul.

What Genesis 1 teaches us

God is absolutely transcendent;
God is absolutely free to create;
God is in no need of a pre-existing matter;
God creates everything out of nothing;
God created only once;
God created a fully consistent realm of matter;
God created for his own glory;
God created man in his own image and as his own steward in the world;
and, finally, just as God worked six days and rested on the seventh, so man too should work, but rest on the seventh day.

New Baby

Congratulations to my sister and her husband on the birth of their 5h child, Sean Christopher! He was safely delivered on Monday morning at 10:48 am.

Having children is a much greater adventure than visiting the Great Wall of China. It is a much greater act of hope than investing in your 401K.

If retired people want their investments to grow then there must be young people taking risks with that money and creating something with it. Children are our greatest asset.

From Archbishop Chaput
"Too many Christians have made peace with that sinfulness, baptized it with the language of personal conscience, and stopped trying to convert anybody -- including themselves.”

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

The gift of wisdom, by detaching us from the world, makes us relish and love only the things of heaven.
The gift of understanding helps us to grasp the truths of religion as far as is necessary.
The gift of counsel springs from supernatural prudence, and enables us to see and choose correctly what will help most to the glory of God and our own salvation.
By the gift of fortitude we receive courage to overcome the obstacles and difficulties that arise in the practice of our religious duties.
The gift of knowledge points out to us the path to follow and the dangers to avoid in order to reach heaven.
The gift of piety, by inspiring us with a tender and filial confidence in God, makes us joyfully embrace all that pertains to His service.
Lastly, the gift of fear fills us with a sovereign respect for God, and makes us dread, above all things, to offend Him.

Happy Mother's Day

Sunday was a good day. I went to Junction City to concelebrate mass for my niece's first communion. The day before the pastor fell and hurt his knee. So had all three of his Sunday masses for him. it was providential that I was there for him.

As I read blogs from around the states I get the sense that there are a lot of nominal Catholics. Even regular mass goers will nod their head to the priest and smile, but they do not really believe what the church teaches about confession, or contraception, or about the need to be in a state of grace to receive communion or about a lot of things.

Here in Kingman people show respect to the priest, but I can't tell if the faith is really getting through. What do you think?

Lessons on manhood

Go here for a great article on how to be a good man.

The result of contraception

Go to this link to watch a very interesting video.

St. Gianna Beretta Molla (1922-1962)
Today marks the death of St. Gianna Beretta Molla, who was canonized in 2004. The following is taken from the Vatican website:

Gianna Beretta was born in Magenta (Milan) October 4, 1922. She diligently dedicated herself to studies during the years of her secondary and university education, while, at the same time, applying her faith through generous apostolic service among the youth of Catholic Action and charitable work among the elderly and needy as a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. After earning degrees in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Pavia in 1949, she opened a medical clinic in Mesero (near Magenta) in 1950. She specialized in Pediatrics at the University of Milan in 1952 and there after gave special attention to mothers, babies, the elderly and poor.
While working in the field of medicine-which she considered a “mission” and practiced as such-she increased her generous service to Catholic Action, especially among the “very young” and, at the same time, expressed her joie de vivre and love of creation through skiing and mountaineering. Through her prayers and those of others, she reflected upon her vocation, which she also considered a gift from God. Having chosen the vocation of marriage, she embraced it with complete enthusiasm and wholly dedicated herself “to forming a truly Christian family”.
She became engaged to Pietro Molla and was radiant with joy and happiness during the time of their engagement, for which she thanked and praised the Lord. They were married on September 24, 1955, in the Basilica of St. Martin in Magenta, and she became a happy wife. In November 1956, to her great joy, she became the mother of Pierluigi, in December 1957 of Mariolina; in July 1959 of Laura. With simplicity and equilibrium she harmonized the demands of mother, wife, doctor and her passion for life.
In September 1961 towards the end of the second month of pregnancy, she was touched by suffering and the mystery of pain; she had developed a fibroma in her uterus. Before the required surgical operation, and conscious of the risk that her continued pregnancy brought, she pleaded with the surgeon to save the life of the child she was carrying, and entrusted herself to prayer and Providence. The life was saved, for which she thanked the Lord. She spent the seven months remaining until the birth of the child in incomparable strength of spirit and unrelenting dedication to her tasks as mother and doctor. She worried that the baby in her womb might be born in pain, and she asked God to prevent that.
A few days before the child was due, although trusting as always in Providence, she was ready to give her life in order to save that of her child: “If you must decided between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child - I insist on it. Save him”. On the morning of April 21, 1962, Gianna Emanuela was born. Despite all efforts and treatments to save both of them, on the morning of April 28, amid unspeakable pain and after repeated exclamations of “Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you», the mother died. She was 39 years old. Her funeral was an occasion of profound grief, faith and prayer. “Conscious immolation», was the phrase used by Pope Paul VI to define the act of Blessed Gianna, remembering her at the Sunday Angelus of September 23, 1973, as: “A young mother from the diocese of Milan, who, to give life to her daughter, sacrificed her own, with conscious immolation”. The Holy Father in these words clearly refers to Christ on Calvary and in the Eucharist. Gianna was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1994, during the international Year of the Family.

great video

Go to youtube and check out this video.

Catholics Come Home "Epic" ( :120)

It is really great. If you like it please leave me a comment.

President Obama's Chillingly Precise Prophecy
The President said today:

"It is the grimmest of ironies that one of the most savage, barbaric acts of evil in history began in one of the most modernized societies of its time, where so many markers of human progress became tools of human depravity: science that can heal, used to kill; education that can enlighten, used to rationalize away basic moral impulses; the bureaucracy that sustains modern life, used as the machinery of mass death, a ruthless, chillingly efficient system where many were responsible for the killing, but few got actual blood on their hands."

Crescent moon

At 6:00 this morning the moon, with Venus right behind it, was beautiful in the eastern sky.

“Even the priest makes mistakes while celebrating Mass.” A Catholic culture knows that the Mass is the most important, most sacred thing that there could ever be; therefore, everything should be practically perfect, right? But, try as they might, priests are human, and they make mistakes. Italians tend to be easygoing (for the most part), and when they see that someone is doing their best, they will excuse unintentional mistakes. After all, “even the priests makes mistakes while celebrating Mass!”

Bishop Olmsted

Happy Anniversary Bishop Olmsted.
10 years ago today he was ordained a bishop. He was with us for a few years in Wichita and is now leading the Diocese of Phoenix.

JP II Quote

John Paul II once wrote to our generation "Never settle for less than the moral and spiritual greatness of which you all are capable." Let's take those words to heart, and live our lives, in Christ, the very source and inspiration for us, who is indeed the greatest hero of all.

Hear Mass daily; it will prosper the whole day. All your duties will be performed the better for it, and your soul will be stronger to bear its daily cross. The Mass is the most holy act of religion; you can do nothing that can give greater glory to God or be more profitable for your soul than to hear Mass both frequently and devoutly. It is the favorite devotion of the saints.
St. Peter Julian Eymard

Five Things Every Catholic Should Know (and many don't)

1. The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is not part of Last Rites. The shift in emphasis from extremunction to Anointing was made over 40 years ago. However, Last Rites has always consisted of Confession and Communion. Don’t wait to call a priest until it is too late for the dying person to receive them. If you do YOU may be depriving them of the chance to properly prepare for heaven.


2. The funeral rites of the Church are not for a “celebration of the life” of the deceased. That is common in secular “memorial services”. The funeral of a Catholic is so that the community can pray that the deceased person may be forgiven their sins and go to heaven. It isn’t accomplished yet. We’re praying for it and we do that with the same prayers for all the baptized. You can personalize your license plates, not a funeral. Personal eulogies are best done at a wake, not the funeral. Besides, reflecting on the resurrection of Jesus is personal to a committed Christian.


3. Fasting for an hour from everything (except water or medication) before receiving Communion is a REQUIREMENT, not a suggestion. That includes breath mints and gum too.


4. Coming to mass each and every Sunday is an obligation binding on all Catholics. If you’re sick or in some way prevented from coming (for example, because there is 4 feet of snow on the ground) then you can stay home. However, skipping mass on purpose is still considered a serious (i.e. mortal) sin. When you do miss mass without a good reason you should not receive Communion again until you go to Confession.


5. Speaking of Confession, it is REQUIRED, not suggested, that you go to Confession at least once every year. Failure to do so is also a serious sin.

This Sunday, April 19, is Divine Mercy Sunday. On this Sunday we hear the Gospel of Jesus appearing to the apostles and giving them the power to forgive sins.

The mercy of God restores us to life. His mercy is an act of creation that brings life to those who are dead.

Come and celebrate Divine Mercy this Sunday.

5:00 PM Solemn Exposition

Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Evening Prayer

6:00 PM Benediction

Happy birthday Benedict XVI

Thank you to Vicky Villareal, Rhonda Harrel, Doreen Molitor, and the 7 high school students who helped to decorate the church for Easter. Your gift of time and talent is greatly appreciated.

Thank you to all the people who have been giving so generously to our building project. For many months we have been receiving gifts that make this project possible. Your generosity is humbling to me and makes me very grateful to be your pastor.

Easter Summary

Happy Easter!

Remember that Easter lasts for 50 days concluding with the Feast of Pentecost.

I am very happy to tell you that four people joined the Catholic Church and our parish during the Easter Vigil.

We welcome: Michael Dumond, Emily Harrison and her two children, Katy and Christian to our parish. Michael lives in the country south of Murdoch. He works in Wichita and custom builds motorcycles. Emily has lived in Kingman for a year. She works in Harper County, and her children attend St. Patrick grade school.

If you meet them, please welcome them to our parish community.

Seven Last Words

Father forgive them, they know not what they do...

We see Jesus on the cross today and hear him forgiving his persecutors, forgiving us. It is a powerful scene, but it is more than just a scene out of our faith history. Jesus’ way is supposed to be our way. Forgive, forgive, forgive, even in the face of the most unreasonable suffering and injustice. Are we willing to forgive as Jesus did?

Today you will be with me in Paradise.

The “good thief” has always been a favorite of mine. Imagine in your last dying moment that you utter a few kind words and are assured by Jesus himself that you will be in heaven with him that day. It would be nice to assume that in that situation I would have taken the path of belief, like the good thief, but there is a much bigger part of me that probably would have been like the unrepentant thief, expecting mercy and miracles despite faithlessness.

Woman, behold your son...

At last a comfort in the midst of all this misery. God gives us a mother for all time. He reminds us that his mother is our mother, who, with a mother’s unconditional love, will open her arms to us when we are desperate, when we are hurting, when we are searching for peace and a way back to the Father.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Despair, despair. If Jesus can feel despair, what hope is there for me? Then again, Jesus’ moment of despair reminds me of his humanness and that gives me hope even in this dark moment. God became man, walked on earth, suffered torture and death beyond our comprehension. My God is fully human and fully divine. My God knows what it means to live this earthly life, and so my God knows my small sufferings and heartaches and will not turn His back on me.

I thirst.

The wretched physical anguish of the Crucifixion is coming to bear. It is almost too much for us to take. Jesus, water poured out for the world, thirsts. And yet in the midst of this suffering, we remember Jesus’ words to the woman at the well, the woman to whom he first revealed his identity: “...whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst.” (John 4:14)

It is finished.

Jesus has completed his mission of redemption. Darkness descends, the earth shakes, the temple curtain tears in two. We see Jesus’ anguish near its end. We should be reduced to trembling at the enormity of his suffering, his gift to us. Unlike his followers who were plunged into fear and despair at this moment, we have the benefit of hindsight. We know what is coming. We know that his Crucifixion was cause for our salvation. His death a victory. His earthly end our eternal beginning.

Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.

Jesus is going back to the Father, back to where he started before time began, but he will not leave us orphans. We patiently wait to celebrate his Resurrection, to rejoice in our unearned windfall. We wait, pray, watch, listen -- hopeful, trusting, faithful. We begin our vigil now, waiting for the darkness to turn to light.