Celebrating Mass for the first time

Last Saturday we celebrated the Roman Rite with the revised translation for the first time. I had been practicing a little bit for a couple of weeks, but right before Mass I felt my heart racing. During Mass since then I have felt like I did when I was newly ordained. Hopefully this will restore in me a renewed sense of awe and reverence for the Mass. How does this feel to all of you in the pews? As a priest, I sometimes forget what it is like to attend mass for the people. So, what is your experience of the Mass over the last couple of days.

Funeral

Yesterday, Tuesday November 22, I concelebrated the funeral Mass of Mother Mary of the Angels. The sisters had to rearrange their chapel so that they could maintain their cloister, and welcome the 50 people who came to the funeral. Fr. Edmond Kline, their chaplain, gave a great sermon. At the end of the Mass the people had to leave so that we could carry her body outside and to the burial plot. Only priests are allowed into the cloister, so we had the privilege of carrying the casket through the gate and to the place of burial. It had rained the night before, so the ground was very wet. With every step we took we became a little bit taller as we collected mud on the bottom of our shoes. Mother is the first sister to have died, and her plot is the first on their property. There is no grass, there is no fence. It was bare earth with a hole in the ground. After the prayers we lowered the casket into the ground with ropes, and then we had to leave quickly. We were in the cloister as an exception to the rule, for this special occasion. We left the sisters there next to the grave of their mother. She had taken a vow of poverty many years before, so death took her body, but she had already given everything away a long time ago. She began to draw close to Jesus a long time ago, and death allowed her to realize the union for she has longed. For me, this experience is a reminder to get rid of those things that hold me back from Jesus. I pray for her soul, and when she enters heaven I ask her to pray for me.

Dedication of a Church

Today we remember the Dedication of St. Peter and St. Paul Churches in Rome. The first St. Peter's was built in the 4th century under the reign of Constantine. St. Paul's was also built in the same era. St. Peter's was replaced with the current church. It took 100 years to build and was dedicated on this day in 1625. St. Pauls had a devastating fire in 1823, and it had to be rebuilt and dedicated. The history of these buildings should remind us of the importance of the work of God's grace in our souls and in the Church. The amazing thing is that Our Lord passed the faith onto the apostles and today we strive to receive the faith, to live the faith, and to pass it on. The gift of mercy that Jesus entrusts to the Church must always be something alive and active. Jesus gives us the Church, his body, as the place in which we are nourished, and also as the place in which we are to be active in bringing others to the knowledge of Jesus.

What is a priest?

To live in the midst of the world without wishing its pleasures; To be a member of each family, yet belonging to none; To share all suffering; to penetrate all secrets; To heal all wounds; to go from men to God and offer Him their prayers; To return from God to men to bring pardon and hope; To have a heart of fire for Charity, and a heart of bronze for Chastity To teach and to pardon, console and bless always. My God, what a life; and it is yours, O priest of Jesus Christ. —Lacordaire

Where are you going?

Last night I was called to the Carmelite Cloister to anoint their Mother Superior. I had the privilege to enter the cloister and give her all that the Church can offer to the dying. All the sisters were kneeling around the bed praying for her. I am not sure if she passed away. Please pray for her, and I would say, ask for her prayers. One of the titles of the Blessed Mother is "Gate of Heaven." Truly the Carmelite Cloister is a gate of heaven and all those sisters stand ready at the gate with their lamp burning. This was a wake up call to me to turn my eyes towards my final end, and to embrace that the only purpose of a priest is to help others to get ready for the "Gate of Heaven."

The problem

Today is All Souls Day, I receive confirmation every day of the distance between Jesus' command to love as he loved and my own attempts to love which are so mixed with selfishness. Once in a while I experience the great freedom and power of loving as Jesus did, of forgetting about myself, of doing only what the Father wants. But this is the exception to the rule. These moments are so rewarding and joyful that you would think that I would repeat them, cling to them, desire to only to do the Father's will. I am reminded of Chesterton's definition of insanity. "To crawl inside a box, paint stars on the inside and call it the universe." So life is cramped and depressing and like a chain when I fail to forget about myself, when I can see no farther than my reaction to the world and not see the world itself.

Mexico

Did I tell you that I got to go to Guaymas Mexico? It was a wonderful trip. It is on the Sea of Cortez about an 8 hour drive from Phoenix. We cooperated with the Casa Franciscana, which is a mission of Franciscans. There are two priests and a brother. They have several people that work there helping the poor. We put a new roof on a lady's house and we helped at a boy's and girl's club in the afternoons. It was really fun playing with the kids. On the Sunday that we were there I was able to celebrate Mass at a local Church. It was good be with the people and work on my Spanish. We also visited an orphanage. it was very sad. There are 30 children and 3 sisters who take care of them. The sisters are tired, the kids are rough and the air was very dry. If you know anyone who wants to get away from the daily grind and really help someone there is plenty of work there. Now I am back in the lap of luxury and needing to get rid of some stuff, both physical things and attachments on my soul. Jesus said in the Gospel today, "Try to enter through the narrow gate."

Long delay

I haven't written on here for a couple of months. It is getting close to the end of October. I feel really disconnected from everything. God continues to give me consolations and so many things to be thankful for.
Since moving to Resurrection I have received the following.
A week long visit from my sister and her two beautiful kids.
A month long visit from a brother of the community of St. John.
Then my mom gave me a dog.
Then things worked out for Jack to live in my basement.
He is a good musician and is pursuing his spiritual life.
Then I got to go to Mexico and spend a great week with parishioners and Franciscans and a very humble man serving the poor, and the great kids down there.
A swim in the ocean and a visit to a music school where poor kids can learn classical music.
I get back from Mexico and spend a week with the priests at the clergy conference.
Then I have my birthday with great friends and my two sisters,
and then 200 people come to mass on my birthday and give me breakfast.
Did I mention that we have 6 solid candidates for RCIA?
So I am greatly indebted to God and to everyone. I'm not sure how to express this gratitude.
God must know that I have no capacity for suffering.

You are Peter!

Virtues

I am beginning a four week series this Thursday on the Four Cardinal Virtues. So I have been doing a little reading to get ready. It is good to read a little St. Thomas to clear away the cobwebs in the mind. When I read St. Thomas things make sense. When I get away from him I tend to rely on my feelings towards things, and you can't help but be influenced by the culture. The world tells us that many things are alright or even good for us when in fact they are bad for us. Or I begin to think according to my actions. I do something without thinking and then I cup with a reason for it. This is the reason conforming to the will. This is very bad and no way to approach the truth.

SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION

From GK Chesterton

Reason itself is a matter of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all.
A fundamental teaching of Christianity is that God created the world ex nihilo, out of nothing. The world was brought into existence by the word of God. It was planned; it is reasonable. For this reason Christians believe the world can be understood. So it is perfectly natural for the Christian to undertake the work of science, that is to measure and seek to understand the world.

In opposition to this is the belief that the world has always existed, that is it was never created. This world view does not engage in the work of understanding the world because there is nothing to understand, there is no plan or order, because there is no word that creates the world.

This is why science flourished and made great gains in the Christian West. Yes, the ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Chinese achieved great things, but these discoveries came to an end, there was no development. Without an understanding of creation one ultimately must give up on the task of understanding the world.

Muslims, in order to preserve the transcendence of God, understand him as creating the world in every instance from his arbitrary will. For if we could understand the world too completely then we would have access to the plan of God, the Word of God. The Muslim rejects that Jesus is the Word of God and his incarnation. God cannot be that close to us. The Christian believing in the word of God believes in the natural law that exists in nature itself and is immutable. The natural law can also be understood by the human mind.

When the modern world rejected the world it did so in favor of reason over faith. But now the world is rejecting reason as well. There is no natural law, the world is only what we want it to be. The world is governed by the will and not by the reason. Because of this young people cannot understand the rejection of homosexual marriage. Because they have no concept of the world ordered by natural law. It is now ordered by whatever we want. The moral order has nothing to do with reason or the natural law. it has been reduced to whatever we feel like doing.

Month of Feasts

August is full of many good saints. Today we kick off with St. Alphonsus Ligouri. He founded the Redeptorists. He suffered many trial, setbacks, and betrayal by his brothers, but he always remained faithful. He teaches us to persevere if faith in the midst of obstacles and sorrow.

Facing East

A great attribute of our parish church is that it faces the East. The people, when they are praying, are facing the risen Christ. From the earliest times Christians have prayed facing the East looking forward to the coming of Christ in his glory.

The priest and the people together ought to face one direction, offering one prayer to the Father. When I face the people during the Eucharistic prayer I feel like I am entertaining them or doing something for them to watch. If I could stand with them facing the same direction it would indicate that the prayer is offered to the Father.

Facing the East

Because the Mass is so necessary and fundamental to our Catholic experience, the liturgy is a constant topic in our conversation.
That is why when we get together, we so often reflect upon the prayers and readings, discuss the homily, and – likely as not – argue about the music. The critical element in these conversations is an understanding that we Catholics worship the way we do because of what the Mass is: Christ’s sacrifice, offered under the sacramental signs of bread and wine.
If our conversation about the Mass is going to “make any sense,” then we have to grasp this essential truth: At Mass, Christ joins us to Himself as He offers Himself in sacrifice to the Father for the world’s redemption. We can offer ourselves like this in Him because we have become members of His Body by Baptism. We also want to remember that all of the faithful offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice as members of Christ’s body. It’s incorrect to think that only the priest offers Mass. All the faithful share in the offering, even though the priest has a unique role. He stands “in the person of Christ,” the historic Head of the Mystical Body, so that, at Mass, it is the whole body of Christ – Head and members together that make the offering.
Facing the same direction:
From ancient times, the position of the priest and the people reflected this understanding of the Mass, since the people prayed, standing or kneeling, in the place that visibly corresponded to Our Lord’s Body, while the priest at the altar stood at the head as the Head. We formed the whole Christ – Head and members – both sacramentally by Baptism and visibly by our position and posture. Just as importantly, everyone – celebrant and congregation – faced the same direction, since they were united with Christ in offering to the Father Christ’s unique, unrepeatable and acceptable sacrifice.
When we study the most ancient liturgical practices of the Church, we find that the priest and the people faced in the same direction, usually toward the east, in the expectation that when Christ returns, He will return “from the east.” At Mass, the Church keeps vigil, waiting for that return. This single position is called ad orientem, which simply means “toward the east.”
Multiple advantages:
Having the priest and people celebrate Mass ad orientem was the liturgical norm for nearly 18 centuries. There must have been solid reasons for the Church to have held on to this posture for so long. And there were! First of all, the Catholic liturgy has always maintained a marvelous adherence to the Apostolic Tradition. We see the Mass, indeed the whole liturgical expression of the Church’s life, as something which we have received from the Apostles and which we, in turn, are expected to hand on intact. (1 Corinthians 11:23) Secondly, the Church held on to this single eastward position because of the sublime way it reveals the nature of the Mass. Even someone unfamiliar with the Mass who reflected upon the celebrant and the faithful being oriented in the same direction would recognize that the priest stands at the head of the people, sharing in one and the same action, which was – he would note with a moment’s longer reflection – an act of worship.
An innovation with unforeseen consequences:
In the last 40 years, however, this shared orientation was lost; now the priest and the people have become accustomed to facing in opposite directions. The priest faces the people while the people face the priest, even though the Eucharistic Prayer is directed to the Father and not to the people. This innovation was introduced after the Vatican Council II, partly to help the people understand the liturgical action of the Mass by allowing them to see what was going on, and partly as an accommodation to contemporary culture where people who exercise authority are expected to face directly the people they serve, like a teacher sitting behind her desk. Unfortunately this change had a number of unforeseen and largely negative effects. First of all, it was a serious rupture with the Church’s ancient tradition. Secondly, it can give the appearance that the priest and the people were engaged in a conversation about God, rather than the worship of God. Thirdly, it places an inordinate importance on the personality of the celebrant by placing him on a kind of liturgical stage.
Recovering the sacred:
Even before his election as the successor to St. Peter, Pope Benedict has been urging us to draw upon the ancient liturgical practice of the Church to recover a more authentic Catholic worship. For that reason, I have restored the venerable ad orientem position when I celebrate Mass at the Cathedral. This change ought not to be misconstrued as the Bishop “turning his back on the faithful,” as if I am being inconsiderate or hostile. Such an interpretation misses the point that, by facing in the same direction, the posture of the celebrant and the congregation make explicit the fact that we journey together to God. Priest and people are on this pilgrimage together. It would also be a mistaken notion to look at the recovery of this ancient tradition as a mere “turning back of the clock.” Pope Benedict has spoken repeatedly of the importance of celebrating Mass ad orientem, but his intention is not to encourage celebrants to become “liturgical antiquarians.” Rather, His Holiness wants us to discover what underlies this ancient tradition and made it viable for so many centuries, namely, the Church’s understanding that the worship of the Mass is primarily and essentially the worship which Christ offers to His Father.
Bishop Edward J. Slattery

St. James

Today is the Feast of the Apostle St. James the Greater. It is my feast day, but don't feel obliged to bring me gifts. I am currently planning a trip to visit his tomb in October of 2012. I hope to take 30 people with me.

It is also the anniversary of the promulgation of Humanae Vitae. In this encyclical Paul VI reaffirmed the continual teaching of the Church that contraception is a moral evil. This is a teaching of the natural law. The encyclical is only 16 short pages. I encourage you to read it.

Here is a short excerpt.

Married Love

9. In the light of these facts the characteristic features and exigencies of married love are clearly indicated, and it is of the highest importance to evaluate them exactly.

This love is above all fully human, a compound of sense and spirit. It is not, then, merely a question of natural instinct or emotional drive. It is also, and above all, an act of the free will, whose trust is such that it is meant not only to survive the joys and sorrows of daily life, but also to grow, so that husband and wife become in a way one heart and one soul, and together attain their human fulfillment.

It is a love which is total—that very special form of personal friendship in which husband and wife generously share everything, allowing no unreasonable exceptions and not thinking solely of their own convenience. Whoever really loves his partner loves not only for what he receives, but loves that partner for the partner's own sake, content to be able to enrich the other with the gift of himself.

Married love is also faithful and exclusive of all other, and this until death. This is how husband and wife understood it on the day on which, fully aware of what they were doing, they freely vowed themselves to one another in marriage. Though this fidelity of husband and wife sometimes presents difficulties, no one has the right to assert that it is impossible; it is, on the contrary, always honorable and meritorious. The example of countless married couples proves not only that fidelity is in accord with the nature of marriage, but also that it is the source of profound and enduring happiness.

Finally, this love is fecund. It is not confined wholly to the loving interchange of husband and wife; it also contrives to go beyond this to bring new life into being. "Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the procreation and education of children. Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute in the highest degree to their parents' welfare." (8)

Looking ahead

Monday July 25 is the anniversary of Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae which he proclaimed in 1968. It is important to remember that he was not stating something new. He was reaffirming the constant and continual teaching of the Church. For him to have done anything else would be to betray the truth that had been handed on to him.

St. Mary Magdalen

Today is the Feast of St. Mary Magdalen. Since the title of our parish is the Resurrection we do not have a specific patron saint. Mary Magdalen is the most obvious choice. She is the first witness of the Resurrection.
She is a good example to us in that she does not discover her true self until she has an encounter with Jesus. When he calls her name then her intelligence is restored and she comes to the knowledge of Jesus.
Lord Jesus, call my name, heal my intelligence so that I may know, love and serve you.

Catholic Dads

Go to this link to read a good article about the father of Pope John Paul II.

An inspiration for all dads and also all single parents.
Even though he had great sorrow over losing his wife he did not allow this to be the end of his life or the life of his son.

Anniversary of our Dedication

Dear Resurrection Parish,
Tuesday is the anniversary of the dedication of our Church.

Here is the preface for the day's liturgy.

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give You thanks.

Your house is a house of prayer,
and Your presence makes it a place of blessing.
You give us grace upon grace to build the temple of Your Spirit,
creating its beauty from the holiness of our lives.

your house of prayer is also the promise of the Church in heaven.
Here Your love is always at work,
preparing the Church on earth for its heavenly glory
as the sinless bride of Christ,
the joyful mother of a great company of saints.

Now, with the saints and all the angels
we praise You for ever:

from the rule of St. Benedict

Of the Kinds or the Life of Monks

It is well known that there are four kinds of monks. The first kind is that of Cenobites, that is, the monastic, who live under a rule and an Abbot.

The second kind is that of Anchorites, or Hermits, that is, of those who, no longer in the first fervor of their conversion, but taught by long monastic practice and the help of many brethren, have already learned to fight against the devil; and going forth from the rank of their brethren well trained for single combat in the desert, they are able, with the help of God, to cope single-handed without the help of others, against the vices of the flesh and evil thoughts.

But a third and most vile class of monks is that of Sarabaites, who have been tried by no rule under the hand of a master, as gold is tried in the fire (cf Prov 27:21); but, soft as lead, and still keeping faith with the world by their works, they are known to belie God by their tonsure. Living in two's and three's, or even singly, without a shepherd, enclosed, not in the Lord's sheepfold, but in their own, the gratification of their desires is law unto them; because what they choose to do they call holy, but what they dislike they hold to be unlawful.

But the fourth class of monks is that called Landlopers, who keep going their whole life long from one province to another, staying three or four days at a time in different cells as guests. Always roving and never settled, they indulge their passions and the cravings of their appetite, and are in every way worse than the Sarabaites. It is better to pass all these over in silence than to speak of their most wretched life.

A new blog to me

I found this blog today. I really like it. Our Catholic Tradition is very rich and beautiful. It is also nourishing to our faith. This blog has some very good ideas about how to make it part of our lives.

Go here to find out more.

An explanation of Psalm 118 by St Ambrose

God's temple is holy, and you are his temple

My father and I will come to him and make our home with him. Open wide your door to the one who comes. Open your soul, throw open the depths of your heart to see the riches of simplicity, the treasures of peace, the sweetness of grace. Open your heart and run to meet the Sun of eternal light that illuminates all men. Indeed that true light shines on all; but if anyone closes his shutters against it then he will defraud himself of the eternal light. To close the doors of your mind is to exclude Christ. Of course he is capable of entering even so, but he does not want to force his way in or seize you against your will.

From Msgr. Pope

Go here to read a great post. If I was praying more I could write stuff like this. Or maybe that is just pride talking in me.

America’s Atheocracy

Jul 4, 2011
James D. Conley

G. K. Chesterton said famously that America is “a nation with the soul of a church.” And he believed the Declaration of Independence formed the substance of our national soul.

But as we celebrate this Fourth of July, we need to recognize that some of the deepest problems in our public life can be traced to our collective neglect of America’s great founding document.

The Declaration establishes our common self-identity as Americans. It tells us that we are one nation under God, a people who believe that all men and women have God-given rights. It tells us that government exists for no other purpose than to defend and promote these rights. All this we find in the Declaration’s preamble, which still has the power to stir us.

America’s founders never intended to establish a religious government, let alone a theocracy. In fact, just the opposite. They specifically disallowed any state-sanctioned religion. Yet the government they did establish was founded on theistic, if not explicitly Christian, principles.

Many observers have identified a deep Christian influence in America’s founding documents—including such luminaries as Chesterton, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jacques Maritain, John Courtney Murray, Martin Luther King Jr., and Blessed John Paul II.

Others see more the hand of the Enlightenment’s philosophical Deism at work.

Whatever its precise Christian pedigree, it cannot be denied that our government was founded upon a belief that human rights come from God, not governments, and that the world is in the hands of what the Declaration called “Nature’s God” and “the Supreme Judge of the World.”

It is true: the Constitution that America’s founders would later draft makes no mention of God. It is also true that this Constitution denies full rights to slaves and women.

But the Declaration’s belief in the divine origin of the human person is everywhere presumed. And throughout American history, this belief has served as a goad to the conscience, inspiring reforms and renewal in almost every generation. It has ensured that injustice, cowardice, and political expediency do not have to have the final word in our public affairs.

The Constitution and Declaration together form the “great wells of democracy” that express “the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage,” King wrote in his Letter from the Birmingham Jail.

America’s founders also shared a belief that religion mattered—not only for the private welfare of individuals but also for the commonweal. Charles Carroll, the Declaration’s only Catholic signatory, put it succinctly in a letter to James McHenry, a signer of the Constitution:

Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime & pure . . . are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.


Unfortunately, in our day, those “decrying the Christian religion” have seized the captain’s seat in America—in the academy, the media, the government and courts. The result is a kind of publicly enforced religious indifferentism, or what recent Popes have called “practical atheism.” The Constitution insists that no religious test shall ever be required for public office. But our society, in effect, now imposes an “irreligious test.” To take part in civic life, Americans must first agree to think and act as if they have no religious convictions or motivations.

America today is becoming what I call an atheocracy—a society that is actively hostile to religious faith and religious believers.

An atheocracy is a dangerous place, both morally and spiritually. Cut off from the religious moorings expressed in the Declaration, we risk becoming a nation without a soul, a people with no common purpose apart from material pursuits. Worse, as Chesterton well understood, without belief in a Creator, our democracy has no compelling reason for defending human rights:

The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal. . . . There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man. . . . Every other basis is a sort of sentimental confusion … always vain for the vital purpose of constraining the tyrant.


Our atheocracy has rejected what Chesterton called the dogmatic basis of American identity and liberties. An atheocracy has no ultimate truths to guide it and no inviolable ethical principles by which to direct political activity. Hence, it has no foundation upon which to establish justice, secure true freedom or to constrain tyrants.

We see the consequences of this atheocratic mindset everywhere. We see it most clearly in the case of legalized abortion. Denying the divine origins of the human person, our government has withdrawn the law’s protection from unborn children in the womb—the most absolutely innocent and defenseless members of our human family.

The legal extermination of the unborn is only the most egregious offense against God’s law. In fact, there is apparently no area of life over which our atheocratic government does not feel omni-competent—that government knows best.

This is dramatically clear in the movement to establish homosexual unions as an alternative kind of family. Under pressure from powerful special interests who manipulate the language of “rights” and “freedom” in ways that contradict “the laws of Nature’s God,” our atheocratic government now deems itself competent to rewrite the God-given definitions of marriage and the family.

These are sobering thoughts as our nation celebrates the anniversary of its independence on July 4, 1776. Yet there is a way forward.

We need to restore a government based on theism and natural law. We need to restore the original integral relationship between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Until recently in our history, this connection was taken for granted. If the Constitution was the letter of the law, the Declaration was regarded as the spirit.

In 1841, defending African men on trial for rebelling against slavetraders who had abducted them, John Quincy Adams said: “In the Declaration of Independence, the Laws of Nature are announced and appealed to as identical with the laws of Nature’s God—and as the foundation of all obligatory human laws.” The Supreme Court’s ruling in the case, made famous by the Steven Spielberg film, Amistad, was an important milestone in the abolition of slavery.

America’s future depends today, as it always has, on the choices that faithful citizens will make. God—not government—is the only sure guarantee of human rights and the blessings of our liberty. We need to live as if we believe that. For only a people who believe these truths to be self-evident can build a society worthy of men and women created by God.

James D. Conley, S.T.L., is the Auxiliary Bishop of Denver.

Immaculate Heart of Mary

Sacred Heart of Jesus

hope and sadness

I have many fond memories of Resurrection Parish. When Fr. Carr was pastor here our family would come to Mass here once a month just to hear his thoughtful and well formulated sermons. Fr. Carr gave the sermon at my first Mass. When I was in the seminary I would visit Fr. Coakley in the Summer and he would help me with my discernment. I asked Fr. Coakley to vest me at my ordination.

My mom always expected more from the faith. As a child I never experienced the faith as something small or cramped or limiting. I never remember my parents saying, "we have to go to Mass." It was always something very natural and something that would expand our lives and hearts. Her expectation of more helped us to open our hearts to greater gifts from God.

Sometimes when we expect more this can lead to a critical attitude of disappointment, but the virtue of hope is the longing for more from the one who can give it. Hope is the the natural result of a living faith. Faith is the light of God's Word in our intelligence. Hope is the desire of the heart for what one sees by faith. Certainly there is sadness and disappointment in life, but this sadness is a reminder that we want more, that we desire the eternal. The temptation is to alleviate this sadness by settling for something less. We pretend that something finite, like power, possessions, or pleasure can satisfy our longing. The faith never limits our human capacities, rather faith extends our vision and opens us up to the eternal love of God.

Do not be afraid to hope for more, not even when this increases your sadness. Your thirst can never be greater than God's desire to fill you with His love.

St. Josemaria says

Pride dulls the edge of charity. Ask Our Lord each day for the virtue of humility, for you and for everyone. Because as the years go by, pride increases if it is not corrected in time.

Corpus Christi

How Holy this Feast
Christ's Passion is remembered.
Grace fills our hearts.
And we receive a pledge of future glory.

St. John the Baptist

St. Thomas More

St. Thomas More

Today is the Memorial of St. Thomas More.
He is a reminder to us to remain true to the faith in the midst of persecution.

New Name

I am trying to figure out these changes.

From St. Paul

Therefore, that I might not become too elated,
a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan,
to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.
Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me,
but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is made perfect in weakness.”
I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,
in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.
Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults,
hardships, persecutions, and constraints,
for the sake of Christ;
for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Tomorrow

On June 19 I will move into the rectory at Resurrection Parish in Wichita. This is a new chapter in my life, so I changed the blog a little and the name.
I will always cherish my six years in Kingman.
Benedictines make a vow of stability, but diocesan priests do not.
God grant me the grace . . .

something borrowed

Chesterton’s appreciation for tradition (which he called “the democracy of the dead”) was one of the things that shook my brain loose from much of the twaddle of contemporary thought and made me see things in the clear light of common sense. He pointed out that Tradition was not something covered in cobwebs but was rather something that was rooted in the experience of a thousand previous generations of men and women who were quite as smart and full of prayer as my generation of clever people suckled on TV—perhaps even a bit more! He insisted that people be given a vote in how we order our lives, even when they happen to be dead. And he pointed out how much of our lives are, in fact, ordered by and dependent on simple human trust.

This is my last week in Kingman. I will need a new name for the blog or I'll need to shut it down.

Pentecost

Go here to read a good post about Pentecost

Best Books

Go here to read the list of great books.

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!

Mass in Kingman will be held in Church today.

Please pray for Jeremy Huser as he ordained a priest tomorrow.

Three Offices

There are three offices (munera / duties) that define the life of the Church and the life of a priest. We see these in the life of Jesus. Canon Law says a priest is to offer care to all the souls in his parish. This includes non-Catholics. This strikes fear into my heart as I consider the three duties of the pastor.

1. Prophetic - to teach - the first duty of the church and the priest is to proclaim the Good News. By preaching the Word of God conversion is made possible and faith is stirred in the hearts of the people.

2. Priestly - Sanctifying - Jesus offered his life on the cross and from this fountain flows the life of the Church which we receive in the sacraments. The Priest sanctifies the people by providing the sacraments to them. A pastor has the duty to prepare people for the sacraments and to help the people receive them.

3. King - govern / shepherd - The priest is called to govern the people of God. He looks after them in their needs and comforts them in their sorrows. This includes care for the poor and sick.

Holy Orders

There are three levels to the sacrament of Holy Orders
Deacon
Priest
Bishop

When an unmarried man is ordained a deacon he makes three promises.
1. To pray the liturgy of the hours every day
2. To forsake the natural right to marriage
3. Obedience to the ordinary of his diocese and his successor.

The ring has spoken

I am moving to Resurrection Parish in Wichita on June 20.

Advice to priests from the bishop

I would like to propose to you points for a review of priestly life and ministry, which can also serve as an indication of areas where we either need to begin or to strengthen our efforts:
- Am I a positive and cheerful presence to individuals and groups of people?
- Am I kind and gentle in my dealings with others, especially with those who are the “lost sheep” among those to whom I minister?
- Am I patient with imperfections in myself, others, and circumstances of life?
- Am I slow to judge, give the benefit of doubt, excuse the behavior of others?
- Do I have an attitude of gratitude for instead of thinking myself as entitled to?
- Am I attentive to the spiritual and material needs of others, ever ready whatever day or time of day to respond to them, even anticipating them?
- Do I give the time, energy, creativity and resources in my own ministry and in forming collaborators in ministry appropriate to the importance of …
- … making the celebration of Sunday Mass spiritually fruitful for me and the congregation (giving attention to ars celebrandi, homily, music, hospitality)?
- … taking advantage of opportunities for faith formation (for example, when registering new parishioners; marriage preparation; parent sessions for Baptism, First Penance, First Holy Communion, Confirmation; RCIA; PSR; adult education)?
- … giving special care to the sick, dying, grieving, children, youth, newly-married, those preparing for marriage, and inquirers into the faith?
- Do I devote sufficient time to personal prayer, priestly fraternity, relationships with family and friends, study, recreation, exercise, and rest?

Marriage: the core of every civilization

It was one of the more uncomfortable moments in my life.

Outside of St. John the Evangelist Cathedral in Milwaukee, where I, as archbishop, was celebrating Sunday Mass on an otherwise magnificent Wisconsin autumn day, were a couple dozen very vocal protestors, representing some off-brand denomination, shouting vicious chants and holding hateful signs with words I thought had gone the way of burning-crosses and white hoods.

This frenzied group, taunting the people as they left Mass, were rabid in criticizing the Catholic Church, especially her bishops, for our teaching that homosexuals deserve dignity and respect.

To be more precise, this group was yelling at us because, they objected, the Catholic Church was so friendly, welcoming, and defensive of gay (they used other foul words) people. They waved placards explicitly quoting and condemning #2358 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which affirms the dignity of those with same-sex attraction, and warns against any form of prejudice, hatred, or unjust discrimination against them, and insists that homosexual acts, not persons, are not in conformity with God’s design.

Never have I faced such a vitriolic crowd, blasting the Church for simply following the teaching of Jesus by loving and respecting people regardless of anything, including their sexual orientation.

When a reporter asked me for a comment, I replied, “They’re right: we do love and respect homosexual people. These protestors understand Church teaching very well.”

I’ve been recalling that episode often of late, because now I hear Catholics, — and, I am quick to add, Jews, other Christians, Muslims, and men and women of no faith at all — who have thoughtfully expressed grave disapproval of the current rush to redefine marriage, branded as bigots and bullies who hate gays.

Nonsense! We are not anti anybody; we are pro-marriage. The definition of marriage is a given: it is a lifelong union of love and fidelity leading, please God, to children, between one man and one woman.

History, Natural Law, the Bible (if you’re so inclined), the religions of the world, human experience, and just plain gumption tell us this is so. The definition of marriage is hardwired into our human reason.

To uphold that traditional definition, to strengthen it, and to defend it is not a posture of bigotry or bullying. Nor is it a denial of the “right” of anybody. As the philosophers remind us, in a civilized, moral society, we have the right to do what we ought, not to do whatever we want. Not every desire is a right.

To tamper with that definition, or to engage in some Orwellian social engineering about the nature and purpose of marriage, is perilous to all of us. If the definition of marriage is continually being altered, could it not in the future be morphed again to include multiple spouses or even family members?

Nor is it “imposing” some narrow outmoded religious conviction. One might well ask just who is doing the “imposing” here: those who simply defend what the human drama has accepted from the start, a belief embedded in nature and at the core of every civilization — the definition of marriage — or those who all of a sudden want to scrap it because “progressive, enlightened, tolerant culture” calls for it.

Sadly, as we see in countries where such a redefinition has occurred, “tolerance” is hardly the result, as those who hold to the given definition of marriage now become harassed and penalized.

If big, intrusive government can re-define the most basic, accepted, revealed truth that marriage simply means one man + one woman + (hopefully) children, in a loving family, then, I’m afraid, Orwell’s works will no longer be on the fiction shelf. As someone commented to me the other day, “Wouldn’t it be better for our government to work on fixing schools than on redefining marriage?”

And resistance to this rush to radically redefining the ingrained meaning of marriage cannot be reduced to an act of prejudice against people with a same-sex attraction.

I am headed west. I will see the ocean and puget sound, hopefully some whales, but most importantly my sister and her family

St. John Bosco

"In all the miracles of healing performed by Our Divine Savior, we must admire the remarkable goodness which caused Him to heal first the sickness of the soul, then that of the body. He teaches us the great lesson that we must first purify our consciences before turning to God for help in our earthly needs."

The giving to God that honor, reverence, veneration and service, which we owe Him as our Creator and our last end, is called worship. It may be performed either by internal or external acts, and hence our worship may be internal or external. Yet our external worship, in order to be worthy of God, must necessarily be the outward manifestation or expression of the inward feelings of our soul; otherwise, it would be mere mummery or hypocrisy.

That we owe to God both internal and external worship, is an obvious truth. Worship consists in acts of adoration, prayer, obedience to God's will, and love for Him. Now, the duty of performing these acts flows necessarily from the relations which exist between us and God. God is our Creator and our last end.

Since He is our Creator, we are bound to acknowledge His infinite power and majesty, and His supreme dominion over us. We are therefore obliged to adore Him. We must acknowledge our entire dependence on Him; hence arises the duty of prayer, and of entire submission to His divine will. We are also bound to thank Him for all.

The human dimension of the mystery of the Redemption

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.
This, as has already been said, is why Christ the Redeemer "fully reveals man to himself". If we may use the expression, this is the human dimension of the mystery of the Redemption. In this dimension man finds again the greatness, dignity and value that belong to his humanity. In the mystery of the Redemption man becomes newly "expressed" and, in a way, is newly created. He is newly created! "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus".
The man who wishes to understand himself thoroughly-and not just in accordance with immediate, partial, often superficial, and even illusory standards and measures of his being-he must with his unrest, uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ. He must, so to speak, enter into him with all his own self, he must "appropriate" and assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption in order to find himself. If this profound process takes place within him, he then bears fruit not only of adoration of God but also of deep wonder at himself.
How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he "gained so great a Redeemer", and if God "gave his only Son "in order that man "should not perish but have eternal life".

Yesterday was a good day off.
I spent the day at St. Mark's visiting with Fr. Hoisington and reading and sleeping.
In the evening I went to School of Community and then to the Anchor for beer and then to my brother's rectory.

Easter Monday

I woke up early again, but that is alright.
Thunder and rain
Bible study.
Morning Prayer.
Mass.
Fix Easter Candle.
No school today so peace and quiet prevail.

CHRIST IS RISEN!!

Good Morning and Happy Easter!
I woke up at 3:59 this morning.
My eyes are tired but I am wide awake.
My alarm won't go off until 6:00, but I know I won't go back to sleep.
CHRIST IS RISEN - HE IS RISEN INDEED!

Good Friday

In the fullness of time the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, the eternal Word through whom all things visible and invisible were made, by the will of the Father emptied Himself of His glory and took our human nature up into an indestructible bond with His own divinity. He came to us sinners to save us from our sins and teach us who we are (cf. Gaudium et spes 22). This saving mission began with self-emptying (in Greek kenosis).

Fathom for a moment the humility of the Savior, emptying Himself of His divine splendor, submitting Himself to His humble and hidden life before His public ministry. When the time of His years and His mission was complete He gave Himself over again, emptying Himself yet again even to giving up His very life. Every moment of Jesus earthly life, every word and deed, are conditioned by humility. This is our perfect example to follow, an example so perfect that it has the power to transform us.

As Holy Week begins and the Sacred Triduum is observed, come to the sacramental observance of the sacred and saving mysteries with humble self-emptying. Make room for Christ.

Yesterday I got to see to kid goats.
Today I went to lunch with Vickie at "dos de oros.'

Buffalo Bill Cody - William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody is one of the most iconic figures of the Wild West. His Wild West show made him one of the most famous people in the country. Cody was known as a trapper, a soldier, a Medal ofHonor recipient, bullwhacker, “Fifty-Niner” in Colorado, a Pony Express rider in 1860, wagonmaster, and a stagecoach driver. But Cody also became a Catholic the day before his death.

The last couple days

I went to Topeka last Friday for the Daughters of Isabella Convention. I had a good time with the ladies from around the state. Archbishop Naumann gave the address on Saturday evening. It was a very good reminder on the need for confession. St. Joseph Church in Topeka is beautiful if you ever get a chance to visit.
When we were finished on Sunday I went to Table Rock Lake in southern Missouri. A family in my parish owns a house on the lake. It was nice to be alone for a couple of days to read and pray and jump in the very cold water.

I began reading the pope's latest book. it has a many good insights on Holy Week. It really gets down to the essence of the mission of Jesus and how we can encounter him. Good Stuff!!

on Joy

Go here for a brief article on joy by GK Chesterton

How Cohabitation Is a Sin Against Social Justice

As everyone knows, marriage is an outdated, fossilized, oppressive institution that is constantly changing under our feet, evolving into a freer and higher and better form. And if it isn’t morphing into one of its alternatives, we would be better off without it.

As everyone doesn’t know, social science can now show that the “alternatives to marriage” don’t work. A recent news story brought this home in a particularly vivid fashion for that most fashionable of alternatives to marriage: cohabitation.

In Dallas, a mother and her boyfriend were arrested after three of her children were found in a hotel room, starved and abused. The facts of the case fit in with the general pattern of knowledge about the hazards of cohabitation. This story puts a human face on the statistics.

First, we know that a cohabiting boyfriend is the person most likely to abuse a child. From British child-abuse registries, we learn that a child living with his or her mother and a live-in boyfriend is 33 times more likely to be abused than a child living with his or her biological married parents. From a study of inflicted injury deaths in Missouri, we learn that children living in households with unrelated adults were 50 times more likely to die of inflicted injuries than households with both biological parents present. In 82% of the cases, the “unrelated adult” was the mother’s cohabiting boyfriend.

So it was in this case. The boyfriend was the perpetrator. While the mother was out working, he sexually abused her daughter. And although the mother was certainly complicit in locking the kids in the bathroom, the boyfriend was the one beating them.

Speaking of her working, this boyfriend stayed “home” in the hotel room, while the woman went out to work each day. This, too, fits the statistical pattern. Cohabiting men have half the income of married men and work fewer hours.

Each one of the four children had different fathers. The boyfriend’s child, needless to say, was not locked in the bathroom with the other kids. This case illustrates the new phenomenon that demographers have identified. They call it “multiple-partner fertility.” One of the problems associated with multiple-partner fertility is the relationship of each new boyfriend to the children of the previous boyfriends. To not put too fine a point on it: He is interested in the woman, not in her children from past relationships. The children are leftovers from a previous relationship.

You may object that some of these problems are associated with poverty. And that is partly true. But the deeper truth is that channeling sexual behavior and childbearing into marriage creates wealth rather than dissipates it. Men behave differently when they marry, especially when they become married fathers.

When I give campus talks on the risks of cohabitation, I can always count on some smarty to challenge me saying that the risks are not really so great to people like himself. What he usually means (and it is almost always a “he”) is that the statistics are skewed by a large number of poor, uneducated cohabiting couples who are at higher risk for all sorts of problems anyway. Unspoken, but implied, is that he is cohabiting himself and plans not to change based on anything I say.

So, he might argue, this particular boyfriend was just a loser, while the cohabiting men of his own social circle are not. Women of higher income and education will not face such serious problems as this woman living in a hotel room with a creep. But studies that control for education and income still find that cohabitation is risky.

We have created a culture that says sex, marriage and childbearing have no necessary relationship to each other. This culture, like any culture, is made up of the decisions of all of us: the things we choose to do and not do, the justifications we offer for our actions, the things we celebrate and the things we condemn. We have an indirect impact on the culture and therefore on the people around us. Every problem of the poor is exacerbated by the failure of marriage. The “alternatives to marriage” are destroying the culture of the poor.

So I present this challenge to my young friends on campus: “You might get away with participating in social practices that become much more destructive as they trickle down into the lower classes. It is not social justice to claim for yourself the rights to behaviors that you can manage but are a disaster for the less fortunate. Do you want to be part of the solution or part of the problem?”

Jennifer Roback Morse is founder and president of the Ruth Institute,

a project of the National Organization for Marriage.

It’s online at RuthInstitute.org.

a little history

According to an ordinance issued by Pius VI, 13 Nov., 1798, the city where the largest number of cardinals was to be found at the time of his death was to be the scene of the subsequent election. In conformity with these instructions the cardinals met in conclave, after his death (29 Aug., 1799), in the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio at Venice. The place was agreeable to the emperor, who bore the expense of the election. Thirty-four cardinals were in attendance on the opening day, 30 Nov., 1799; to these was added a few days later Cardinal Herzan, who acted simultaneously as imperial commissioner. It was not long before the election of Cardinal Bellisomi seemed assured. He was, however, unacceptable to the Austrian party, who favoured Cardinal Mattei. As neither candidate could secure a sufficient number of votes, a third name, that of Cardinal Gerdil, was proposed, but his election was vetoed by Austria. At last, after the conclave had lasted three months, some of the neutral cardinals, including Maury, suggested Chiaramonti as a suitable candidate and, with the tactful support of the secretary of the conclave, Ercole Consalvi, he was elected. The new pope was crowned as Pius VII on 21 March, 1800, at Venice. He then left this city in an Austrian vessel for Rome, where he made his solemn entry on 3 July, amid the universal joy of the populace. Of all-important consequence for his reign was the elevation on 11 Aug., 1800, of Ercole Consalvi, one of the greatest statesmen of the nineteenth century, to the college of cardinals and to the office of secretary of state. Consalvi retained to the end the confidence of the pope, although the conflict with Napoleon forced him out of office for several years.

Books I have read recently

St. Edmund Campion Priest and Martyr
Pius VII - biography
The Religious Sense - by Luigi Guissani
GK Chesterton's biography of Chaucer
To Other Towns - Biography of Bl. Peter Farvre
St. John Crysostom's commentary on Romans

Chesteron Rocks

“As usual, G.K.Chesterton summed it up. He said he knew the Catholic Church was for him because when he left his umbrella at the back of the Methodist Church it was still there, but when he left it at the back of the Catholic Church it was stolen.”

The Church's Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes, in a form obliging the Christian people to an irrevocable adherence of faith, truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes, in a definitive way, truths having a necessary connection with these.

A great article

Go here for a great article about the Blessed Mother.

Something borrowed

As a young parent 35 yrs ago I also was very concerned about television and the "culture," mostly because it had totally undermined our family when I was growing up.

Providentially, we lived across the hall from a young Korean couple who also had a baby boy. From their apartment came very strong cooking odors and a lot of Korean chatter.

It occurred to me one day that their child might as well be growing up in Seoul. And with that came the realization that we could create in our own home whatever culture we wished. We did that.

We threw out the TV, and eventually spent our evenings as a family reading 30 minutes of good secular literature such as the Chronicles of Narnia, 30 minutes of the life of a saint, and 15 to 20 minutes of catechism.

We never experienced any teen-age rebellion. The kids never asked, "Why do we have to go to Mass?" At 28 and 30 yrs old now they are daily communicants, and my daughter a contemplative nun.

Ironically, the one decision to throw out the TV kept me from coming across as the censorious parent: "Don't watch this, don't watch that," etc. That causes a lot of resentment and rebellion in itself.

It was the best financial decision I ever made, because it opened up aeons of time and a quiet atmosphere in which to study. My son became a fantastic guitarist, my daughter an artist. All this paid off handsomely in scholarships. My daughter was a National Merit Scholar Finalist..

There is a very popular counsel of despair that goes like this, "What is the point of our getting rid of our television, since they will see it at their friends' homes anyway?"

The self-interest underlying this question is obvious, and televised sports has everything to do with it.

Of course, they saw television at their friends' homes nor were they forbidden from doing so. But their own home was a quiet, prayerful, peaceful refuge from the "world."

Beyond that, we emphatically wanted and needed the Lord to protect our kids from "the world, the flesh and the devil" (otherwise known as "the culture") but I could not reasonably expect Him to do that if I did not do all in my power. If we will do ALL, He will do ALL. If not, not.

If I was not going to do my part, and be the gatekeeper of my own home, how could I expect Him to be the gatekeeper of their hearts?

If I did my part, He would do His. And so it proved. To God be the glory! It was His warnings, His chastisements, His instruction that brought us around to this way of thinking.

In other words, the alarming reality is that the entire responsibility and opportunity for the formation of children rests on parents. The "culture" has little to do with it.

Friday February 25

7:00 PM

Rectory - Fr. Weldon's House

Topic - History of Mexico and its current crisis

The goal of life

The 7th Sunday makes it very clear that we are called to holiness.

1st Reading: Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.
and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

2nd Reading: Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Gospel: be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

In the Gospel Jesus reminds us that God's is poured forth on the good and the wicked, and that our love is supposed to be the same as God's. God does not ask us to do something that is impossible. Yes, it is beyond our nature, especially our fallen nature. But this holiness is not beyond God's grace, which is God's life within us.

Friendship with God and Teresa of Avila

Teresa of Avila, in her masterpiece, Interior Castle, after describing all kinds of grades of prayer and mystical experience of the Lord, goes on to say that in addition to all these kinds of union, there is another kind of union with the Lord - a union of wills. What she is saying is that the Christian life of prayer is suppose to be a life of friendship with God - a real friendship that ought to bring out the very best in us, and a friendship that reveals the very best of God. She explains that the measure and standard by which we know our prayer is real, that our friendship with the Lord is real, is through our obedience, our readiness to do his will come what come may. His will is, as described by her, that we love one another,


"He desires that if you see a Sister who is sick to whom you can bring some relief, you have compassion on her and not worry about losing devotion: and that if she is suffering pain, you also feel it: and that , if necessary, you fast so that she might eat." Interior Castle, V:3.11 (translators Rodriguez and Kavanaugh, Washington D.C.: ICS, 1980, p 352).


As noted in the last post, the presence of the Lord in prayer is above all performative, a life of love I must live out not only for his sake, but even for my own sake, if I am to be true to my deepest self. This means, if we are not to betray the Lord or ourselves or abandon the One who awaits us with love, we must act on what we know the desires of Christ to be - desires that He discloses to his friends in both prayer and daily life.

One of the harder things to accept in life is when others correct us. Usually when confronted by a shortcoming of ours we are fearful, and our egos, which tend to be fragile, react with anger and resentment. But Scripture reminds us in many places that to be corrected is in fact a gift:

1. When the Just man corrects me it is kindness. Let him rebuke me–it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it. (Psalm 141:5)
2. It is better to heed a wise man’s rebuke than to listen to the song of fools. (Eccl 7:5)
3. He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored. (Prov 13:18)
4. He who listens to a life-giving rebuke will be at home among the wise. He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.. (Prov 15:31-32)
5. To one who listens, valid criticism is like a gold earring or other gold jewelry. (Prov 25:12)

Our Lady of Lourdes

Matthew 5

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses
that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you,
whoever is angry with brother
will be liable to judgment.

“You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.
But I say to you,
everyone who looks at a woman with lust
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

“Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
Do not take a false oath,
but make good to the Lord all that you vow.
But I say to you, do not swear at all.
Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’
Anything more is from the evil one.”

The Beatitudes

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Humility is the beginning of the spiritual life. In order take up this supernatural task we must begin by acknowledging our complete dependence on God.

Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.

While there are many things that cause us sadness, the worst of these is sin.
The second step of the spiritual life is to repent of our sins. Only the humble can truthfully acknowledge their sinfulness.

Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
Meek does not mean weak or wishy washy. Meek means to be free of covetousness. The meek person possesses the land rather than let the land possess him.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
We can only achieve that which is difficult if we have desire, the strength of will to achieve a goal. Those who are blessed have a firm and unwavering desire for holiness

Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
In many places Jesus teaches us to forgive those who sin against us.
The blessed freely give mercy to others because they have received mercy from God.

Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
Only those who have faith can see God. Purity of mind and body allows faith to blossom in the soul.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
The Son of God came to heal wounds of sin and division. If we too want be God’s children we must also work for peace. Do we stir up strife and discord or do we cultivate peace.


Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward will be great in heaven.”
From the beginning Christians have always been persecuted for their faith. The world hates the ideals and the values of those who follow Christ. When the world rejects Jesus do we remain faithful to him or do we pretend like we do not know him out of respect for the world.

pope Leo XIII

“Christians are,” Leo continues, “born for combat.” It is part of their nature to follow Christ by espousing unpopular ideas and by defending the truth at great cost to themselves. One of their main duties is “professing openly and unflinchingly the Catholic doctrine”; a second is “propagating it to the utmost of their power.” As many today insist, they should preach the Catholic faith through personal example; at the same time, though, they should also preach the faith “by open and constant profession of the obligations it imposes.” A negative reaction from the public, far from being a sign of mistaken ideas, can serve as evidence of exactly the opposite fact. “Jesus Christ,” the pope points out, “has clearly intimated that the hatred and hostility of men, which he first and foremost experienced, would be shown in like degree toward the work founded by him.”

Keeping our eyes on Jesus

Brothers and sisters:
Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us
and persevere in running the race that lies before us
while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,
the leader and perfecter of faith.
For the sake of the joy that lay before him
Jesus endured the cross, despising its shame,
and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.
Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners,
in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.
In your struggle against sin
you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.

St. Augustine on the Beatititudes

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 5:3-8 , Blessed are the poor in spirit: etc., but especially on that, Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

By the return of the commemoration of a holy virgin, who gave her testimony to Christ, and was found worthy of a testimony from Christ, who was put to death openly, and crowned invisibly, I am reminded to speak to you, beloved, on that exhortation which the Lord has just now uttered out of the Gospel, assuring us that there are many sources of a blessed life, which there is not a man that does not wish for. There is not a man surely can be found, who does not wish to be blessed. But oh! If as men desire the reward, so they would not decline the work that leads to it! Who would not run with all alacrity, were it told him, You shall be blessed? Let him then also give a glad and ready ear when it is said, Blessed, if you shall do thus. Let not the contest be declined, if the reward be loved; and let the mind be enkindled to an eager execution of the work, by the setting forth of the reward. What we desire, and wish for, and seek, will be hereafter; but what we are ordered to do for the sake of that which will be hereafter, must be now. Begin now, then, to recall to mind the divine sayings, and the precepts and rewards of the Gospel. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven shall be yours hereafter; be poor in spirit now. Would you that the kingdom of heaven should be yours hereafter? Look well to yourself whose you are now. Be poor in spirit. You ask me, perhaps, What is to be poor in spirit? No one who is puffed up is poor in spirit; therefore he that is lowly is poor in spirit. The kingdom of heaven is exalted; but he who humbles himself shall be exalted.

from St. Augustine

The perfection of love

Dear brethren, the Lord has marked out for us the fullness of love that we ought to have for each other. He tells us: No one has greater love than the man who lays down his life for his friends. In these words, the Lord tells us what the perfect love we should have for one another involves. John, the evangelist who recorded them, draws the conclusion in one of his letters: As Christ laid down his life for us, so we too ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. We should indeed love one another as he loved us, he who laid down his life for us.

This is surely what we read in the Proverbs of Solomon: If you sit down to eat at the table of a ruler, observe carefully what is set before you; then stretch out your hand, knowing that you must provide the same kind of meal yourself. What is the ruler’s table if not the one at which we receive the body and blood of him who laid down his life for us?

What does it mean to sit at this table if not to approach it with humility? What does it mean to observe carefully what is set before you if not to meditate devoutly on so great a gift? What does it mean to stretch out one’s hand, knowing that one must provide the same kind of meal oneself, if not what I have just said: as Christ laid down his life for us, so we in our turn ought to lay down our lives for our brothers? This is what the apostle Paul said: Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we might follow in his footsteps.

This is what is meant by providing “the same kind of meal.” This is what the blessed martyrs did with such burning love. If we are to give true meaning to our celebration of their memorials, to our approaching the Lord’s table in the very banquet at which they were fed, we must, like them, provide “the same kind of meal.”

At this table of the Lord we do not commemorate the martyrs in the same way as we commemorate others who rest in peace. We do not pray for the martyrs as we pray for those others, rather, they pray for us, that we may follow in their footsteps. They practiced the perfect love of which the Lord said there could be none greater. They provided “the same kind of meal” as they had themselves received at the Lord’s table.

This must not be understood as saying that we can be the Lord’s equals by bearing witness to him to the extent of shedding our blood. He had the power of laying down his life; we by contrast cannot choose the length of our lives, and we die even if it is against our will. He, by dying, destroyed death in himself; we are freed from death only in his death. His body did not see corruption; our body will see corruption and only then be clothed through him in incorruption at the end of the world. He needed no help from us in saving us; without him we can do nothing. He gave himself to us as the vine of the branches; apart from him we cannot have life.

Finally, even if brothers die for brothers, yet no martyr by shedding his blood brings forgiveness for the sins of his brothers, as Christ brought forgiveness to us. In this he gave us, not an example to imitate but a reason for rejoicing. Inasmuch, then, as they shed their blood for their brothers, the martyrs provided “the same kind of meal” as they had received at the Lord’s table. Let us then love one another as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us.

difficulty vs. doubt

Dissent or Discovery?
Does the Catholic Church demand that all her followers march along in lockstep formation in a form of unthinking blind obedience? Of course that is the charge, not only from non-Catholics but also from 'dissenting' Catholics. I've always found it curious when people say, "Oh, how nice for you! Now that you're a Catholic you won't have to think anymore."

Err. I guess that would make SS Augustine, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Albert the Great, Maritain, Dawson, vonHildebrand, Edith Stein, von Balthasar etc etc the greatest philosophers, theologians and faithful Catholic thinkers of every age to be non thinking, brainwashed dummies.

No, it doesn't wash. The Catholic Church does not demand that her members be brainwashed zombie cult members. There is a difference between dissent and discovery. The Church calls us to use our reason to explore the richness of the Church's teachings. Even when it is difficult especially when it is difficult we are called to engage with the teachings of the church with an enquiring and questing mind. The questions are not the problem. Questions are good. The attitude is the problem.

I often get high school students come to me with the problem that they doubt their faith. I explain the difference between a doubt and a difficulty. Bl. John Henry Newman said "a thousand difficulties do not make one doubt." So I explain that a difficulty is the attitude which says, "How can that be so?" whereas a doubt is the attitude that says, "That can't be so." The first is open, engaged, intelligent and searching the tradition in order to understand the teaching. The second puts on above the tradition and the teaching by insisting that one knows better than Holy Church.

Conversion of St. Paul

Retreat

My brother and i had a good retreat.
We were in Novato, CA. which is 30 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The daily temperature was about 60 degrees. The retreat center used to be the home of a large ranch owner 100 years ago. it is now surrounded by homes.
The retreat center has a beautiful chapel and the food was very good.

Here was the daily schedule.
8:00 Morning Prayer
8:10 Conference
8:30 Mass
9:15 Breakfast
12:15 Conference
1:15 Lunch
3:30 Adoration
5:00 Conference and Benediction
6:00 Supper
8:00 Rosary
9:30 Night Prayer

We did that Tues - Thurs

It looks a little busy, but there was time for a walk and a nap and reading.

The conferences were nuts and bolts Catholicism: rely on grace, the sacraments, self denial, penance, grow in virtue. Let god work on you and you will then be a good instrument that God can use to work on others.

Going on Retreat

My brother and I are going on a Priest Retreat given by Opus Dei.
I didn't make a retreat in 2010. So I am long overdue.
We will also be visiting Napa Valley and the Redwood forest in northern California.
I've never been on an Opus Dei retreat, not to Napa, nor to Redwoods, so it should be a great week.

# CCC 80 Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing, and move towards the same goal.