A friend's blog

Here is a link to Fr. Jay Toborowsky's blog. It is pretty good. He is much more creative than I am. He lives in New Jersey so creativity is a necessary talent for survival.

http://youngfogeys.blogspot.com/

The Pelican

The Pelican is an ancient image that symbolizes the Eucharist.
The pelican feeds its young with its own flesh.

Snow in March

We have been blessed with snow here in Kansas. The fields were in desperate need of the moisture.
If you can't get to Mass, which means of course that you can't go any place else, then you should read the readings for this Sunday. You can find them at the link to the right.

Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat.
but if it dies it bears much fruit.

Annunciation

Happy Annunciation!
9 Months till Christmas

This is also the 12 anniversary of my ordination to the deaconate.

Godparents

When preparing for your child's baptism remember that one of the two godparents must be a practicing Catholic in good standing with the Church.
He or she must have received confirmation and be at least 15 years old.

St. Joseph

I found an English translation of the text of St. Bernard I quoted yesterday. The text is a passage of St. Bernard's homily "Super missus est", II, 14 (PL 183, 68):

"Why did he wish to leave her? Listen, now, no longer to my opinion, but to that of the Fathers. The reason why Joseph wished to leave Mary is that same for which Peter distances himself from the Lord by saying, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinner; this is also the reason why the centurion left his home while saying: Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. And so, Joseph, considering himself unworthy and a sinner, said to himself that such a great person, whose marvelous and superior dignity he admired, could not deign to live together with him. He saw, with sacred astonishment, that she bore a special quality of the divine presence, and while not being able to understand this mystery, he wished to leave her. Peter dreaded the greatness of the power, the centurion feared the majesty of the presence; Joseph, also, being human, feared the novelty of so great a marvel, the profundity of the mystery: that is why he wished to leave her secretly. You are astonished that Joseph considers himself unworthy of the company of that holy pregnant Virgin, and you notice that St. Elizabeth could remain in her presence only by maintaining a respected fear. She indeed says: Whence is it that God should deem me worthy of this favor that the Mother of my God should come to me? There is the reason Joseph wanted to leave her."

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Go here for a great post about the Irish in America. I wish I had time to find all these interesting tidbits.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

"On Sundays during Lent are Catholics allowed to continue their sacrifices? For example, if someone gave up television for Lent and he did not want to watch television on Sundays either, would it be canonically incorrect for him to continue abstaining from this amusement? Or by the laws of the Church, should he make a point of watching television in order to show the observance of Sundays as not being days of fasting and penitence?"

Again we must distinguish. One thing is that historically the Church never classes Sunday as a penitential day; another thing is the range of healthy and wholesome voluntary sacrifices that many Catholics offer during Lent. Among other reasons, these sacrifices prepare for Easter, make reparation for failings and constitute an act of inner freedom from the attachments toward worldly things.

Because of the voluntary nature of sacrifices, a Catholic is under no obligation to leave them aside on Sunday and may freely observe them during the entire Lenten season.

Indeed, ascetically this is often the best thing to do, since interrupting these sacrifices can weaken the resolution to make it to the end. Some people, however, especially those imbued with a more liturgical spirituality, might find a Sunday interval to be helpful in living the spirit of Lent. It very much boils down to what each person considers as being most spiritually beneficial to his soul and for the good of others.

A Decent Priest?

Anyone reading, go here and read the article. Tell me what you think.

Here at St. Patrick all the people I have met who are not practicing the faith said that a previous pastor told them that they were "going to hell" or that their parents were "going to hell." So they just quit coming to church. I know they make excuses, but what is the right way to open the door to people?

Obama and Stem Cells

EXECUTIVE ORDER ON EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS ‘A SAD VICTORY OF POLITICS OVER SCIENCE AND ETHICS,’ SAYS CARDINAL RIGALI

WASHINGTON—Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, today called President Obama’s executive order on embryonic stem cell research “a sad victory of politics over science and ethics.” Under the order, for the first time in U.S. history, federal tax dollars will be used to encourage researchers to destroy live human embryos for stem cell research. Cardinal Rigali also cited a January 16 letter in which Cardinal Francis George, president of the USCCB, urged President-elect Obama not to issue such an order. Cardinal Rigali’s statement follows:

“President Obama’s new executive order on embryonic stem cell research is a sad victory of politics over science and ethics. This action is morally wrong because it encourages the destruction of innocent human life, treating vulnerable human beings as mere products to be harvested. It also disregards the values of millions of American taxpayers who oppose research that requires taking human life. Finally, it ignores the fact that ethically sound means for advancing stem cell science and medical treatments are readily available and in need of increased support.

“In his January 16^th letter to President-elect Obama, Cardinal George, writing as President of the USCCB, cited three reasons why such destructive research is ‘especially pointless at this time’:

• ‘First, basic research in the capabilities of embryonic stem cells can be and is being pursued using the currently eligible cell lines as well as the hundreds of lines produced with nonfederal funds since 2001.

• ‘Second, recent startling advances in reprogramming adult cells into embryonic-like stem cells – hailed by the journal Science as the scientific breakthrough of the year – are said by many scientists to be making embryonic stem cells irrelevant to medical progress.

• ‘Third, adult and cord blood stem cells are now known to have great versatility, and are increasingly being used to reverse serious illnesses and even help rebuild damaged organs. To divert scarce funds away from these promising avenues for research and treatment toward the avenue that is most morally controversial as well as most medically speculative would be a sad victory of politics over science.’

“If the government wants to invest in hope for cures and promote ethically sound science, it should use our tax monies for research that everyone, at every stage of human development, can live with.”

Beautiful Meditation by Cardinal Newman

Beautiful Meditation by Cardinal Newman

So much of whatever Cardinal Newman chose to write about cut right to the heart of the matter, and the following meditation is among the most beautiful of all his writing:

God was all-complete, all-blessed in Himself; but it was His will to create a world for His glory. He is Almighty, and might have done all things Himself, but it has been His will to bring about His purposes by the beings He has created. We are all created to His glory—we are created to do His will. I am created to do something or to be something for which no one else is created; I have a place in God's counsels, in God's world, which no one else has; whether I be rich or poor, despised or esteemed by man, God knows me and calls me by my name.

God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes, as necessary in my place as an Archangel in his—if, indeed, I fail, He can raise another, as He could make the stones children of Abraham. Yet I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.

Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me—still He knows what He is about.

O Adonai, O Ruler of Israel, Thou that guidest Joseph like a flock, O Emmanuel, O Sapientia, I give myself to Thee. I trust Thee wholly. Thou art wiser than I—more loving to me than I myself. Deign to fulfil Thy high purposes in me whatever they be—work in and through me. I am born to serve Thee, to be Thine, to be Thy instrument. Let me be Thy blind instrument. I ask not to see—I ask not to know—I ask simply to be used.

I really like this one.

27. Of the Virtues putting Vices to flight.

Where there is charity and wisdom there is neither fear nor ignorance.

Where there is patience and humility there is neither anger nor worry.

Where there is poverty and joy there is neither cupidity nor avarice.

Where there is quiet and meditation there is neither solicitude nor dissipation.

Where there is the fear of the Lord to guard the house the enemy cannot find a way to enter.

Where there is mercy and discretion there is neither superfluity nor hard-heartedness.

St. Francis of Assisi

1. Of the Lord's Body

The Lord Jesus said to His disciples: "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me. If you had known Me you would, without doubt, have known My Father also: and from henceforth you shall know Him, and you have seen Him. Philip saith to Him: Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus saith to him: Have I been so long a time with you and have you not known Me? Philip, he that seeth Me seeth [My] Father also. How sayest thou, Shew us the Father?" The Father "inhabiteth light inaccessible," and "God is a spirit," and "no man hath seen God at any time." Because God is a spirit, therefore it is only by the spirit He can be seen, for "it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing." For neither is the Son, inasmuch as He is equal to the Father, seen by any one other than by the Father, other than by the Holy Ghost. Wherefore, all those who saw the Lord Jesus Christ according to humanity and did not see and believe according to the Spirit and the Divinity, that He was the Son of God, were condemned. In like manner, all those who behold the Sacrament of the Body of Christ which is sanctified by the word of the Lord upon the altar by the hands of the priest in the form of bread and wine, and who do not see and believe according to the Spirit and Divinity that It is really the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, are condemned, He the Most High having declared it when He said, "This is My Body, and the Blood of the New Testament," and "he that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood hath everlasting life."

Wherefore [he who has] the Spirit of the Lord which dwells in His faithful, he it is who receives the most holy Body and Blood of the Lord: all others who do not have this same Spirit and who presume to receive Him, eat and drink judgment to themselves. Wherefore, "O ye sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart?" Why will you not know the truth and "believe in the Son of God?" Behold daily He humbles Himself as when from His "royal throne" He came into the womb of the Virgin; daily He Himself comes to us with like humility; daily He descends from the bosom of His Father upon the altar in the hands of the priest. And as He appeared in true flesh to the Holy Apostles, so now He shows Himself to us in the sacred Bread; and as they by means of their fleshly eyes saw only His flesh, yet contemplating Him with their spiritual eyes, believed Him to be God, so we, seeing bread and wine with bodily eyes, see and firmly believe it to be His most holy Body and true and living Blood. And in this way our Lord is ever with His faithful, as He Himself says: "Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."

St. Francis of Assisi

I recently returned to a little book about St. Francis. He has a collection of admonitions. I will post them over the next couple of days.

13. Of Patience.

How much interior patience and humility a servant of God may have cannot be known so long as he is contented. 1 But when the time comes that those who ought to please him go against him, as much patience and humility as he then shows, so much has he and no more.

a great website for you

St. Bonaventure has a great meditation which you can find here.

Take a look around the website. there are many good sermons from the saints.

This story seems like a good way to start Women's History Month. For all four years of the American Civil War, the French-born Jesuit Louis-Hipployte Gache (1817-1907) served as a Chaplain with the Confederate Army. His letters, written between May 1861 and July 1865, describe his experiences with the Tenth Louisiana Infantry. In 1981 Father Cornelius M. Buckley, S.J., collected Father Gache’s wartime letters together in a book titled A Frenchman, A Chaplain, A Rebel. During the Civil War some six hundred women religious served as nurses in the both the Union and Confederate armies. This excerpt is from a letter dated November 18, 1862. It shows the positive effect they had on the largely Protestant populace to whom they ministered:

The presence of nuns working long hours in the midst of the sick, and the care and attention they lavish on them is a constant sermon which, if it does not enlighten the understanding of men, touches at any rate and wins their hearts, and disposes them in a wonderful way to be receptive to a priest’s instruction and receive the faith. Normally it is enough for the sick to see these saintly women at work for a period of three or four days; then they are willing to believe in the ‘sisters’ church.’ For these men the proof of the Catholic Church is the life of the sisters. I have asked some men in the hospitals conducted by the nuns if they would like to be baptized Catholics. ‘Oh, no,’ they’d reply. ‘I don’t like that church a bit! I’ve never seen a Catholic, but I’ve heard a lot about them. The sisters’ church is the church for me!’
‘But the sisters’ church is the Catholic Church,’ I’d say.
‘Oh, I don’t think so. At least nobody has ever said that.’
‘All right, then,’ I’d add. ‘Let’s ask one of the sisters.,’ and I’d call one of the nuns over to the bed.
‘Sister,’ I’d ask, ‘is it true that you belong to the Catholic Church?’
‘Yes, sir, it’s true,’ she’d reply. ‘And that’s the source of the greatest happiness I have in this life.’
‘Well, I declare,’ the patient would say. ‘I’d never have suspected it. I’ve heard so many things… I thought Catholics were the worst people on earth.’
‘I hope you don’t think so now.’
‘Well, sister… I’ll tell you. If you say you’re a Catholic, I’ll certainly have a better opinion of Catholics from now on.’ And the next thing you’d know they’d be asking on their death beds to be baptized into the Catholic Church.