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.