"You must not abandon the ship in a storm because you cannot control the winds… What you cannot turn to good, you must at least make as little bad as you can."
— St. Thomas More
Here's to making as little bad as I can in November.....
"Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace in the world."
Today is the Feast of St. Veronica. Given that we were just in the presence of her veil, I feel the need to document this day accordingly. Here's a little info on her.... St. Veronica (1st c.) is one of the holy women of Jerusalem who accompanied Jesus on the Way of the Cross. Out of her sorrow and compassion she offered Jesus her veil to wipe the blood and sweat from his face as He carried the cross on the way to His crucifixion. In gratitude for her simple yet gracious act, Jesus left an image of His face on the cloth. According to tradition, Veronica afterwards went to Rome and brought the cloth with her. This piece of cloth, known as Veronica's Veil, has been venerated as a holy and miraculous image of Jesus Christ ever since. It has been kept since ancient times in St. Peter's Basilica. On the Via Dolorosa (Way of the Cross) in Jerusalem there is a small chapel called the Chapel of the Holy Face that was built on the site of St. Veronica's home and the location where the miracle took place. St. Veronica's feast day is July 12th.
And here's what we saw, a little under a month ago.....
This feast day has taken on a whole new significance.
AND... these men are the proof. Let's just look at some of these great scientists:
1. Copernicus (1473–1543)
Remember Copernicus?! The Catholic priest who practiced medicine and then went into astronomy developing heliocentrism. He discovered that the earth is not the center of the universe, not even of this solar system. He is believed to have entered the priesthood later in life. His contributions to astronomy revolutionized the field and the world.
2. Albertus Magnus, O.P. (before 1200 – 1280)
What’s a list of major intellectual achievements without a Dominican or two on the list?! Fr. Albertus Magnus is the patron saint of the natural sciences and a Doctor of the Church because of his great work in in physics, logic, metaphysics, biology, and psychology.
Fr. Lemaitre with his colleague, Albert Einstein.Belgian priest and father of the Big Bang Theory. Fr. Lemaitre was a contemporary of, and based his work on Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. Lemaitre also spent time serving as the Director of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
4. Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)
Gregor Mendel was an Augustinian Friar who was the founder of the modern science of genetics. Yep! The study of genetics was started by a Catholic priest. If you have taken a science class and had to learn the terms “recessive” and “dominant” it is thanks to Fr. Mendel.
Priest, volcanologist, and director of the Vesuvius Observatory who is best remembered today for his Mercalli scale for measuring earthquakes which is still in use. Yes, the scientific inquiry of Catholics knows no bounds, even volcanoes and earthquakes have been studied.
6. William of Ockham (c. 1288 – c. 1348)
Have you heard of Ockham’s Razor? He is the Franciscan Scholastic who wrote significant works on logic, physics, and theology; known for Ockham’s Razor. Yet, another Catholic priest’s whose work had a huge impact on the natural sciences.
7. Giovanni Battista Riccioli (1598–1671)
Jesuit astronomer who authored Almagestum novum, an influential encyclopedia of astronomy. He was the first person to measure the rate of acceleration of a freely falling body; created a selenograph with Father Grimaldi who now adorns the entrance at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. Catholic priests remembered at the Smithsonian!
8. Francesco Maria Grimaldi (1618 – 1663)
There are a lot of Jesuit priest-scientists! Fr. Grimaldi was an Italian Jesuit priest, mathematician and physicist who taught at the Jesuit college in Bologna. A crater on the moon is named Grimaldi after him.
9. Nicolas Steno (1638-1686)
Nicholas Steno made great strides in anatomy and geology. He eventually became a Catholic Bishop. Various parts of the body are named after him: Stensen’s duct, Stensen’s gland, Stensen’s vein, and Stensen’s foramina. He is also the founder of the study of fossils.
10. George V. Coyne, S.J. (born January 19, 1933)
George Coyne, S.J. wiki imageMount Graham International Observatory (MGIO) is one of the observatories used for the Vatican’s scientific inquiries.How about somebody current? Fr. Coyne is a Jesuit priest, astronomer, and former director of the Vatican Observatory and head of the observatory’s research group which is based at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. Since January 2012, he has served as McDevitt Chair of Religious Philosophy at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY.
11. Fr. Stanley Jaki (1914-2009)
Stanley Jaki, O.S.B wiki imagesFr. Jaki was a Hungarian Benedictine priest and Distinguished Professor of Physics at Seton Hall University, New Jersey. He most notably taught that science developed out of Christianity and he bridged the divide in the manufactured division between science and faith. You can read about his teaching in the book Science Was Born of Christianity by Stacy Trasancos.
The famous 17th century mathematician and scientist had a dramatic, supernatural conversion experience one night, and afterwards wrote this poem and changed his life. Read the full story here.
The year of grace 1654,
Monday, 23 November, feast of St. Clement, pope and martyr, and others in the martyrology. Vigil of St. Chrysogonus, martyr, and others. From about half past ten at night until about half past midnight,
FIRE.
GOD of Abraham, GOD of Isaac, GOD of Jacob not of the philosophers and of the learned. Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace. GOD of Jesus Christ. My God and your God. Your GOD will be my God. Forgetfulness of the world and of everything, except GOD. He is only found by the ways taught in the Gospel. Grandeur of the human soul. Righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you. Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy. I have departed from him: They have forsaken me, the fount of living water. My God, will you leave me? Let me not be separated from him forever. This is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God, and the one that you sent, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. I left him; I fled him, renounced, crucified. Let me never be separated from him. He is only kept securely by the ways taught in the Gospel: Renunciation, total and sweet. Complete submission to Jesus Christ and to my director. Eternally in joy for a day’s exercise on the earth. May I not forget your words. Amen.
I had never thought of this before. From "Shameless Popery".
Both St. Matthew and St. John take pains to specify that Christ’s Tomb was never-before used. Matthew 27:59-61 says,
And Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock; and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the sepulchre.
And John 19:41 is even more explicit: “Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb where no one had ever been laid.” But why do they both specify this seemingly-mundane detail?
Because it shows that the Tomb is holy. Certain things are given to God alone, and we don’t touch them. That’s the original meaning of the Greek word hagios, used nearly 100 times in the New Testament. Strong’s Concordance defines it as meaning “set apart by (or for) God, holy, sacred.” A thing is holy by being given over to God in a unique way. There’s a good example of this in Ezekiel 44:1-3, in a prophetic vision of the New Temple:
Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east; and it was shut. And he said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it; for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut. Only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.”
The Temple Gate is God’s alone – nobody else gets to pass through it, because God has passed through it. The Tomb of Christ is similarly God’s alone. Nobody else is buried there because it was set aside by God (even if not by Joseph of Arimathea) for His Son Jesus. And of course, the Apostles are able to continue to point to the reality of the Empty Tomb (Acts 2:29-31, 13:29-31) precisely because no one would ever be laid in that Tomb again.
If you understand this – if you can see why it mattered to the Jews that nobody else had gone (or would go) through the Temple Gate, and why it mattered to the Evangelists that nobody else had been buried (or would be buried) in the Tomb – then you should be able to see why the early Christians were so insistent upon the Virgin Birth and upon the perpetual virginity of Mary.
It’s not about marital sex being sinful or dirty. Matthew & John aren’t insulting burials when they emphasize the newness of the Tomb. Ezekiel isn’t demeaning entering the Temple. And the early Christians aren’t bashing the union between husband and wife. All of those things, in contrast, are good and holy. What all of them are instead emphasizing is that some things are holy, in that they belong utterly and only to God. In fact, some of the earliest Christian commentary on Ezekiel 44 makes it clear that the Virgin Mary is the Temple Gate of Ezekiel 44. For example, St. Gregory the Wonderworker (213-270) proclaims:
The Holy Virgin is herself both an honourable temple of God and a shrine made pure, and a golden altar of whole burnt offerings. By reason of her surpassing purity [she is] the Divine incense of oblation, and oil of the holy grace, and a precious vase bearing in itself the true nard; [yea and] the priestly diadem revealing the good pleasure of God, whom she alone approacheth holy in body and soul. [She is] the door which looks eastward, and by the comings in and goings forth the whole earth is illuminated.
That language makes some Protestants uncomfortable, but it shouldn’t. St. Gregory is saying is that the Virgin Mary, like the Temple of Old, or the Tomb in which Christ lay, is wholly and permanently consecrated to God. And who can deny this? Or who can imagine that this sort of total consecration to God somehow dishonors or diminishes His Glory?
The perpetually-virgin Tomb & the perpetually-Virgin Womb run parallel to one another, and they both tell us something about Who Jesus Is: namely, that He is God, Who alone can command these sorts of radical consecrations. In both His Incarnation and His Resurrection, Jesus emerges into the world in a radical way, and these “portals” between time and eternity are consecrated to Him absolutely and completely.
"And let me make it quite clear that when Christians say the Christ-life is in them, they do not mean simply something mental or moral. When they speak of being ‘in Christ’ or of Christ being ‘in them’, this is not simply a way of saying that they are thinking about Christ or copying Him. They mean that Christ is actually operating through them; that the whole mass of Christians are the physical organism through which Christ acts-—that we are His fingers and muscles, the cells of His body. And perhaps that explains one or two things. It explains why this new life is spread not only by purely mental acts like belief, but by bodily acts like baptism and Holy Communion. It is not merely the spreading of an idea; it is more like evolution—a biological or superbiological fact. There is no good trying to be more spiritual than God. God never meant man to be a purely spiritual creature. That is why He uses material things like bread and wine to put the new life into us. We may think this rather crude and unspiritual. God does not: He invented eating. He likes matter. He invented it."
I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through a belief in the Threeness, Through confession of the Oneness Of the Creator of creation.
I arise today Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism, Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial, Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension, Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.
I arise today Through the strength of the love of cherubim, In obedience of angels, In service of archangels, In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward, In the prayers of patriarchs, In preachings of the apostles, In faiths of confessors, In innocence of virgins, In deeds of righteous men.
I arise today Through the strength of heaven; Light of the sun, Splendor of fire, Speed of lightning, Swiftness of the wind, Depth of the sea, Stability of the earth, Firmness of the rock.
I arise today Through God's strength to pilot me; God's might to uphold me, God's wisdom to guide me, God's eye to look before me, God's ear to hear me, God's word to speak for me, God's hand to guard me, God's way to lie before me, God's shield to protect me, God's hosts to save me From snares of the devil, From temptations of vices, From every one who desires me ill, Afar and near, Alone or in a multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and evil, Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul, Against incantations of false prophets, Against black laws of pagandom, Against false laws of heretics, Against craft of idolatry, Against spells of women and smiths and wizards, Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul. Christ shield me today Against poison, against burning, Against drowning, against wounding, So that reward may come to me in abundance.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me.
I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through a belief in the Threeness, Through a confession of the Oneness Of the Creator of creation
"Realize it, my brethren; —every one who breathes, high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman, has a mission, has a work. We are not sent into this world for nothing; we are not born at random; . . . God sees every one of us; He creates every soul, He lodges it in the body, one by one, for a purpose. He needs, He deigns to need, every one of us. He has an end for each of us; we are all equal in His sight, and we are placed in our different ranks and stations, not to get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to labor in them for Him. As Christ has His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do His work, we must rejoice in ours also." — Blessed John Henry Newman
"It is not that I want merely to be called a Christian, but to actually be one. Yes, if I prove to be one, then I can have the name." — St. Ignatius of Antioch
“How well it is for the Christian soul to behold the city which is like a heaven on earth, full of the sacred bones and relics of the martyrs, and bedewed with the precious blood of those witnesses for truth; to look upon the image of our Savior, venerable to all the world, to mark the footprints in the solid stone, forever worthy of the worship of the nations, to roam at will from tomb to tomb rich with the memories of the Saints; to wander at random through the basilicas of the Apostles, with no other company than good thoughts.”
"Each of us must come to the evening of life. Each of us must enter on eternity. Each of us must come to that quiet, awful time, when we will appear before the Lord of the vineyard, and answer for the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or bad. That, my dear brethren, you will have to undergo. ... It will be the dread moment of expectation when your fate for eternity is in the balance, and when you are about to be sent forth as the companion of either saints or devils, without possibility of change. There can be no change; there can be no reversal. As that judgment decides it, so it will be for ever and ever. Such is the particular judgment. ... when we find ourselves by ourselves, one by one, in his presence, and have brought before us most vividly all the thoughts, words, and deeds of this past life. Who will be able to bear the sight of himself? And yet we shall be obliged steadily to confront ourselves and to see ourselves. In this life we shrink from knowing our real selves. We do not like to know how sinful we are. We love those who prophecy smooth things to us, and we are angry with those who tell us of our faults. But on that day, not one fault only, but all the secret, as well as evident, defects of our character will be clearly brought out. We shall see what we feared to see here, and much more. And then, when the full sight of ourselves comes to us, who will not wish that he had known more of himself here, rather than leaving it for the inevitable day to reveal it all to him!"
"Loveis a strong force — a great good in every way; it alone can make our burdens light, and alone it bears in equal balance what is pleasing and displeasing. It carries a burden and does not feel it; it makes all that is bitter taste sweet. ... Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing higher, nothing stronger, nothing larger, nothing more joyful, nothing fuller, nothing better in heaven or on earth; for love is born of God and can find its rest only in God above all He has created. Such lovers fly high, run swiftly and rejoice. Their souls are free; they give all for all and have all in all. For they rest in One supreme Goodness above all things, from Whom all other good flows and proceeds. They look not only at the gifts, but at the Giver, Who is above all gifts."
"In her voyage across the ocean of this world, the Church is like a great ship being pounded by the waves of life's different stresses. Our duty is not to abandon ship but to keep her on her course."
"It is not by the extraordinary, but rather by the ordinary, things that we shall sanctify ourselves and help others. The saints become saints by using the opportunities we neglect and even despise. Without going to seek out our neighbor, we can still find many opportunities of exercising fraternal charity in the course of our day’s work. In everyone with whom we come in contact during the day, Christ can be found, Christ can be loved, Christ can be served. Faith, of course, is required, and so is courage. But so also is prudence. Christ is to be served in each of our neighbors according to the particular circumstances of our relations with each one."
"A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love."
"The practice of pilgrimage has a special place in the Holy Year, because it represents the journey each of us makes in this life. Life itself is a pilgrimage, and the human being is a viator, a pilgrim traveling along the road, making his way to the desired destination. Similarly, to reach the Holy Door in Rome or in any other place in the world, everyone, each according to his or her ability, will have to make a pilgrimage. This will be a sign that mercy is also a goal to reach and requires dedication and sacrifice. May pilgrimage be an impetus to conversion: by crossing the threshold of the Holy Door, we will find the strength to embrace God's mercy and dedicate ourselves to being merciful with others as the Father has been with us."
"And above all, be on your guard not to want to get anything done by force, because God has given free will to everyone and wants to force no one, but only proposes, invites and counsels."
"The life of prayer calls for continuous battles. It is the most important and the longest effort in a life dedicated to God. This effort has been given a beautiful name: it is called the guard of the heart. The human heart is a city; it was meant to be a stronghold. Sin surrendered it. Henceforth it is an open city, the walls of which have to be built up again. The enemy never ceases to do all he can to prevent this. He does this with his accustomed cleverness and strength, with stratagem and fury . . . he succeeds all along the line to distract us and entice us away from the divine presence. We must always be starting again. These continual recoveries, this endless beginning again, tires and disheartens us far more than the actual fighting. We would much prefer a real battle, fierce and decisive. But God, as a rule, thinks otherwise. He would rather we were in a constant state of war."
Among our happy Christmas preparations, we were hit suddenly and unexpectedly by GRIEF. The world is full of grief, I've lost several family members in the past few months, I see grief around me everywhere. But for our children, for my husband, this one hit the closest to home. Little pup Fergie died, accidentally plowed into a snowbank by my husband. We're guessing she died of hypothermia. And the family is devastated. Rob - in addition to losing a dog he truly loved - feels guilty. I have reassured him it was an accident, but that doesn't make him feel any better. The kids go in waves - one minute they're fine, the next they're crying for 45 minutes solid. It hits them suddenly, when the dog they assume will be there suddenly isn't, and they remember why.
We had a little "laying to rest" service for this pup. We had the kids spend some time alone with her before hand, to say their goodbyes. They pet her, and cried. We all cried. We shared memories, and cried some more.
My mom said "kids are resilient, they'll be just fine. Just don't let them wallow in it and make it a big deal." My mother in law said "we wouldn't have handled it like this when I was a kid. My dad would just have thrown it in a hole out back and be done with it." When they were younger, the last dog we lost, we didn't let them see her. Rob just quietly buried her out in the woods and was done with it. But this dog is different, and we wanted to handle it differently.
We wanted them to grieve.
In this world of easy violence - video games and movies, and sterile "choices" that do not equate to PEOPLE DYING FOR REAL - we wanted them to see death. We wanted them to know that death is a part of life. We wanted them to know that death hurts, and people FEEL IT. A dog doesn't just disappear into the woods and is gone. She is dead. Know what this is. Don't wallow and perseverate. But we wanted them to feel what death feels like to those left behind. It's part of being human, to hurt because of love for another. And we didn't want to take that away from them, even in the interest of "sparing their feelings". And Fergie allowed us that opportunity in a way that was very, very sad, but not overwhelming. They didn't lose a grandparent or a sibling, or a parent. They lost a dog. They can process her loss, learn from that process, and move on. They can learn how to grieve, and not be scarred by it, but better people for it. Because now they KNOW that death doesn't just mean "disappearing" like it does in the movies or on the videogame. They know what death looks like, and feels like, for real.
Through experiencing death, they learn the value of life.
So thank you, Fergie, for giving that opportunity to my children through your death.
Last night, my daughter and I went to Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker". I wasn't sure how her limited attention span would handle two hours of ballet and NO TALKING. But I needn't have worried. She loved it, and was in rapt attention the whole time.
"Why aren't they talking?" she whispered at the start of the opening act. "There's no talking. They're telling the whole story with their dance. See? You know what's going on because they're dancing!" And she did. Understood the whole story through costumes and movement and facial expression. As she cuddled up next to me, and oohed and aaahed, I was happy.
The set design was fabulous. The dancing was fabulous. The costumes were lush and fabulous. The music was beautiful. And the thought crossed my mind. "LOOK WHAT HUMANS ARE CAPABLE OF!!!" Look at what beauty can be created when the best and brightest of ourselves is put to such tasks. I very nearly teared up several times, swept away by the beauty of it all.
THIS is the image of God. All that is love, and good, and beauty. THIS is what draws us towards our Perfection. Why we spend so much time and effort on the ugly parts of ourselves, why Hollywood glorifies the ugly parts of ourselves, why the world wallows in depravity, I don't understand. We shouldn't ignore our weaknesses, but we shouldn't glorify them either. We should strive towards the best of ourselves. That part which truly IS the image and likeness of God.
"Be a Catholic: When you kneel before an altar, do it in such a way that others may be able to recognize that you know before whom you kneel." — St. Maximilian Kolbe
"If you stay united with Christ, each one of you will be able to do great things. This is why, dear friends, you must not be afraid to dream with your eyes open to important projects of good, and you must not let yourselves be discouraged by difficulties. Christ has confidence in you and wants you to be able to realize all your most noble and lofty dreams of genuine happiness. Nothing is impossible for those who trust in God and entrust themselves to Him."
It astounds me how fragile I am. Astounds and frightens me. How easily overwhelmed I get with things that are not, in the big scheme of things, all that tragic or devastating.
My boys have started middle school, and it has thrown our world asunder.
The addition in our lives of excessive homework, and activities, and GIRLS, electronics, sassiness, and short attention spans - general pre-puberty - has thrown my delicately balanced world out of whack, and our family is firmly now in uncharted territory. I have subsequently turned into a parent that I don't recognize and certainly don't like. My current approach of barking, yelling, screaming, crying, and punishing makes life fun for no one, and furthermore... doesn't WORK. I saw a quote on a t-shirt the other day that summed up my attitude succinctly. It said "The beatings will continue until morale improves". Yes. That is what I'm doing. I've become completely unraveled.
I think it's a reaction partly to feeling out of control. I can't make good decisions for them. I can't get into their heads and make them care about things they just don't care about, even though I want to so badly. As their responsibility level increases dramatically, my control level decreases dramatically. And left to their own devices, I see one boy struggle, drowning in the sea of it, and one boy swim. One flails his arms and keeps his head just barely above water, and one gives up and sinks without a fight. And I.... I take it all on myself. My failings as a mother, that I have not instilled the proper sisu in this child for him to live up to his potential. And he has SO MUCH potential. What am I doing wrong?
Of course, I know what I'm doing wrong. I'm not supporting him in a way that I would want to be supported, that he deserves to be supported. I am being an anchor, not a life ring. I am berating him. And punishing him. And humiliating him, in an effort to try to get him to CARE. I AM being a horrible mother, pushing him in all the wrong ways. Yesterday, he looked at me and said "I get it Mom. I'm a failure". NO!!! No you're not!!! You are an awesome kid, and I'm so sorry I'm making you feel like you're a failure, but you're NOT, and I want you to realize you're not and ACT like you're not!!! So I've failed not once, but twice... once for not preparing him for this challenge in life, and once more for making him feel horrible about his failure.
We tear each other down far too readily, instead of building each other up. In the grand scheme of things, the ultimate goal is not to pass the sixth grade. The ultimate goal is to grow these children into virtuous Christian men who are strong enough, and humble enough, to accept the gift of Salvation. The goal is to get these children to "the other side". This sixth grade thing is a blip on the radar screen, a challenge to grow from, not be conquered by. And I am letting it effect our entire lives, my entire sense of self-worth as a mother and wife, and the tension is literally tearing our family apart. Good GRIEF. Sixth grade.
What would happen if something truly devastating happened to us??? That scares me, because I see how poorly I'm handling this situation. This petty-in-the-big-scheme-of-things problem.
Time for an attitude adjustment, and a new approach, because this family is stronger than the sixth grade. And it is far more important than the sixth grade, too.
There is a defect here that needs to be recognized and avoided: finding ourselves in darkness about God’s will on an important question . . . we spend so much time searching and doubting or getting discouraged, that we neglect things that are God’s will for us every day, like being faithful to prayer, maintaining trust in God, loving the people around us here and now. Lacking answers about the future, we should prepare to receive them by living today to the full."— Fr. Jacques Philippe
Our souls demand Purgatory, don't they? Would it not
break the heart if God said to us, 'It is true, my son, that your breath smells
and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one
will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the joy'?
Should we not reply, 'With submission, sir, and if there is no objection, I'd
rather be cleaned first.' 'It may hurt, you know' -- 'Even so, sir.' C.S. Lewis From "Letters to Malcom: Chiefly on Prayer".
"Don't spend your energies on things that generate worry, anxiety and anguish. Only one thing is necessary: Lift up your spirit, and love God." — St. Padre Pio
"The Law found more than it lost when Christ said, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven’ (Matthew 5:44-45). This most important commandment summarizes in a word the universal discipline of patience, since it does not allow us to do evil even to people who deserve it." — Tertullian
None of these things is hid from you, if ye perfectly possess that faith and love towards Christ Jesus(10) which are the beginning and the end of life. For the beginning is faith, and the end is love.(11) Now these two. being inseparably connected together,(12) are of God, while all other things which are requisite for a holy life follow after them. No man [truly] making a profession of faith sinneth;(13) nor does he that possesses love hate any one. The tree is made manifest by its fruit;(15) so those that profess themselves to be Christians shall be recognised by their conduct. For there is not now a demand for mere profession,(16) but that a man be found continuing in the power of faith to the end.
"Faith and love are like the blind man’s guides. They will lead you along a path unknown to you, to the place where God is hidden." — St. John of the Cross
"Our first duty, therefore, precisely in order to heal this world, is to be holy, configured to God; in this way we emanate a healing and transforming powerthat also acts on others, on history. . . In this regard, it us useful to reflect that the Twelve Apostles were not perfect men, chosen for their moral and religious irreproachability. They were indeedbelievers, full ofenthusiasm and zealbut at the same time marked by their human limitations, which were sometimes even serious.Therefore Jesus did not call them because they were already holy, complete, perfect, but so that they might become so, so that they might thereby alsotransform history, as it is for us, as it is for all Christians."
"Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know Himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves." — Pope St. John Paul II
and one more quote today, because I NEEDED to hear this....
"We live in a fallen world. We must therefore work out our destiny under the conditions created by sin. Did we but realize this truth, we would accept each of life’s trying changes in the same spirit in which we accept the penance from the confessor. Were we truly convinced that our hope of pardon, and consequently our salvation, depends upon repentance, we would willingly undergo all the sufferings of life’s warfare." — John A. Kane
Last year, I wanted to take a six year old to meet a Disney Princess. There are LOTS of Disney Princesses, in several different places, all that accommodate thousands of people per day. And yet, even though I began six full months in advance, it took me months and months of daily checking to book a reservation for an hour long dinner costing hundreds of dollars. Inside a park I'd already spent hundreds of dollars to get into. All to see some random woman dressed up like a make-believe princess.
This morning, I was given a reservation to stand in the presence of THE Apostle Peter, the actual bones of the man who stood in the presence of THE Christ, incarnation of the everlasting GOD OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE. It took one email, and $30 for the two of us, to be one of only 250 people per day allowed to do such a thing. UNBELIEVABLE.
I'm so excited to crawl under the Vatican into the ancient catacombs to see the burial place of the man who holds the keys to Heaven. It still seems surreal that this whole thing is going to happen!!!
CONFIRMATION of the VISIT of the Necropolis under the Basilica of St. Peter.
{giubileo2016}
Aho Monica
The visit takes place beneath the Vatican basilica at the tomb of the Apostle Peter; the itinerary of the visit, besides offering cultural and historical information, is a pilgrimage to one of the holiest sites in Christendom.
The rules written under NOTICES must be respected, even if they are different from other places in the Vatican.
DAY OF THE VISIT
Protocol / Reference No. 77851 Guest Aho Monica
Visit Saturday, June 04, 2016
Receipt No. 34176
So, faith formation starts tomorrow, and I'm taking over the Kindergarten/1st grade combined class. I stopped by the church to set up the closet classroom. Luckily, the church was unlocked, so the kids and I barged inside, in the un-quiet way that we always do. And then we STOPPED.
There, lying prostate on the floor, in front of the altar, deep in prayer adoring Our Lord in the form of a consecrated Eucharist, was Deacon Tom. All by himself. I shushed the kids and hurried them down the stairs before we could interrupt him further.
Such an intimate moment. But this is why I LOVE St. Anne's.
These people are for REAL.
There's no show of devotion. It's not a performance. It's not that we respect this space during "show time", when there's mass on Sunday, and then the rest of the time it's just a building. It's SACRED, this house of God. ALL THE TIME. Because Christ is here, in a very special way, in this place. Yes, He's everywhere. But here.... He's here in a very physical, tangible way. It's HIS house. Holy. And everyone treats it as such.
I noticed that as I was being given a tour by last year's faith formation teacher. We were walking back and forth in the sanctuary, getting from the classroom to the fellowship hall several times. And EVERY TIME, every single time, she blessed herself with holy water and then genuflected in front of the tabernacle. And we must've gone back and forth like 5 times. I followed suit, but honestly only because she did. I would've probably done it once, and figured that I'd done my job. But she didn't. It was automatic for her, but also reverent. She acknowledged His presence continually, because He was there. And it's His house.
This is new to me, being surrounded by people who really KNOW what they're doing and why. Who really SEE what actually happens, not just on a physical level, but a spiritual one as well. Surrounded by people of such deep faith. I've been to many churches filled with good people. People of faith, who love God. I've never been surrounded by so many HOLY people. People who recognize the sacred. It's a whole different thing, this feeling of sacredness. Reverence. We don't see that much in today's society. We really don't. And I'm still getting used to it, because it's palpable in every square inch of this church.
Such a small parish, and yet two of it's young men are looking into the Priesthood. One, at 18 years old, is applying for seminary right now. Given the shortage of priests, the fact that two are from THIS place is rather astounding. But the very first time I was there, I knew that kid was going to be a priest. Just watching him worship, even though nothing he did was for show. I could tell because of his REVERENCE during mass. How he never took his eyes off the alter. He never fidgeted, never looked around at the people. People aren't why he's there. Just totally living every single moment of the mass, soaking up it's holiness, with every inch of him. You can see it outwardly.
There was a young college student a few years back that I remembered celebrating Mass like that, too, and I told Rob at the time "that kid is going to become a priest". Sure enough... six years later, he's in seminary. They nearly glow, these young men being called. It radiates from them outwardly, unmistakably.
It makes me think that we might not be in the presence of merely good people, which we are. But that we might honestly be surrounded by SAINTS, and that's something on a whole different level. And crazy to think about.
The world is changing quickly. Relativism is in full, unadulterated swing. Promiscuity, pornography, hedonism is "normal and healthy". "Tolerance" means being accepting of anyone's harmful behavior, instead of loving them in to health. The purpose of life is to either get the most stuff, or to have the most fun. Nature is god, instead of a reflection of THE GOD. Gender is a choice rather than a biological fact. Marriage is just "living legally with whoever turns me on". Abortion is a medical procedure removing a few cells. People who believe in the historic definition of family as it has been defined for millennia throughout all of human history are now classified as "bigots". The world has been turned on its head. Right is wrong and wrong is right. It's head-spinning and mind-blowing, and I feel like I'm constantly on the defense to keep myself and my family's feet on the ground and right side up. To teach them to see the world through eyes that KNOW right from wrong, good from bad, love from hate. To not buy into what the world is throwing at them. Because it is death. And through all of that, like a drowning woman at sea, I have clung to the one thing that does not change with the storm: Christ and His church. That unchanging, solid rock that sees the TRUTH, and unashamedly preaches TRUTH, and reaches out with TRUTH as a beacon to the world. When all the world goes mad. It truly feels like we're on the defense against encroaching darkness, and that those who are brave enough to fight with us are dwindling.
Enter Pope Francis, who has been visiting the United States. Everyone's all excited, and at first I was, too. He would be here to encourage us and lead us, and let us know that HE knows what we're fighting. HE knows that we're standing strong. And that he supports us and will lead the charge. That was my expectation. He was finally speaking directly to us, in English - without the filters of media and translators. He couldn't be taken out of context, twisted, mistranslated. FINALLY. Here was Papa to set things straight, I thought as I brought C-Span up on my computer to follow anxiously along. FINALLY.
And instead, during that speech to Congress, we got vagueness. And climate change. And immigration. And abolition of the death penalty. Not unimportant things, but not THE IMPORTANT, FUNDAMENTAL THINGS. No the fundamental reality of the world that puts everything in perspective. And I was so so so disappointed.
What I was thinking when the Pope mentioned the value of human life, and then proceeded to talk about capital punishment: Thirty-two people were executed in the US in 2014. 32. Guilty people, murderers, who spent anywhere from 8 to 30 years fighting to overturn their sentences, given a trial and a chance. And then given an injection so that they could painlessly "fall asleep" in the most humane way possible. Whether you are for or against the death penalty, I cannot fathom how that compares to the wholesale slaughter of abortion, which murders over 1,000 INNOCENT children EVERY DAY. Every damn day. Over 805,000 abortions every year in this country alone. And not given a peaceful demise, but skulls smashed in, limbs ripped off, horrific dismemberment, and then parts sold afterwards. Innocent children - not given a trial, a voice, or a chance. Yet the Holy Father only vaguely implied the life is sacred at every stage of development, and then spent several minutes decrying capital punishment.
What ran through my head when he talked about immigration: He spoke about the US being a nation of immigrants, and of course it is. EVERYONE is for immigration. The discussion should be whether there should be a system for immigration to be done legally and efficiently instead of illegally (as it is now).
What I wanted to yell at the computer when he talked about climate change: We are stewards of our planet. And we need to be good stewards. But if we don't allow the responsible use of resources, then we can't address another pressing issue facing our country, and that is poverty. People, and the dignity that comes through honest work and self-sufficiency, need to be part of the equation. There needs to be a balance there, because stifling regulations on business protects trees over people, and unfettered capitalism protects people over trees. And let's face it. Jesus didn't die for nature. He died for US. The planet is the gift that sustains us, but the thing that was purchased in Christ's blood was humanity.
What made me just want to cry : Vague implications on the "value of the family". And that's it. That's IT. Didn't we just have some kind of MAJOR redefinition of something pertaining to family just recently here??? And why was there an openly gay and famous man doing the first reading at a PAPAL MASS celebrated in front of thousands and televised the world over????
I'm not trying to nitpick what the man said. It's not like I'm wanting him to champion only my specific causes. But I just felt like these struggles in the culture war got ignored, and he focused on things that, while important, aren't THE IMPORTANT FUNDAMENTAL THINGS. Family. Life. The purpose of humanity. If you're not allowed the gift of life, and knowing what that life is for, then those other things are secondary. How can we even talk about the environment or poverty, when people aren't even allowed to LIVE?
So, the result? I was in a funk. A colossal funk for days. A disheartened wretch who had troubles sleeping, couldn't watch anything pertaining to the rest of his visit, and was generally miserable to myself and my family. Papa, do you not see us? We're trying to stand strong. We're trying to be faithful. We're trying to raise our children to see light and truth in this crazy, darkening world... can't you SEE us? Can't you speak for US? Champion US? We need you!! And we need you to be strong, and clear and unafraid!! We're here, and we're fighting in our own little ways, a thousand battles every day, and sometimes - a lot of times - it feels like we are losing ground. We're not "conservatives". We're not "traditionalists". We're simply people who actually believe what the Church teaches, and try to live it out in our daily lives. Doesn't that just make us... I don't know.... Catholic? And aren't you the vicar of Christ on earth? Aren't YOU the head Catholic?? Then why are you catering to THEM instead of US?
And so, on Saturday night, stewing in my funkiness, I knew I couldn't attend Mass in the morning until I had resolved these feelings, until I got right with God again. So I prayed. And cried. And prayed some more.... that God would help me understand, and get rid of these feelings of being abandoned and let down.
And God, in His goodness, answered me. He always does, when I ask. And, as He usually does, He answered in a way that was startling and humbling. Amongst my inner rantings and churning emotions, I very clearly heard these words: "‘Son, you [j]have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’” Oh. The words jolted me into quiet, as I processed that. Pope Francis is Christ's representative on Earth. And Christ is not Catholic. God is not the Father of just me and ours. He is the Father of all. The Father of humanity. And He is reaching out, searching, trying to draw in to Himself anyone in darkness, anyone confused or lost. Reaching to them where they are right now, to draw them closer. So yeah, that might mean for the time being that ignorant people rejoice that the "Pope is no longer Catholic". They'd be wrong, so I need to not worry about their misconceptions. But they're listening to him. They're paying attention to him. They're SEEING A MASS, in front of thousands of people at Madison Square Gardens, televised for all the world to see, and being awed by it's ancient beauty. Maybe, just maybe, this Pope gets them to search a little bit deeper about what this Christ guy is all about. Maybe, once they search, they FIND. Once again. It's not about me. Go figure. And God still loves me, too. I'm not abandoned. But I'm also not lost.
"Keep to the ancient way and custom of the Church, established and confirmed by so many Saints under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And live a new life. Pray, and get others to pray, that God not abandon His Church, but reform it as He pleases, and as He sees best for us, and more to His honour and glory." — St. Angela Merici
"The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace." Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
"How can it be a large career to tell other people’s children about the arithmetic, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a woman’s function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness."--G.K. Chesterton
Jerome Lejeune is the geneticist who identified Trisomy 21, Down's Syndrome. 92% of children with Down's Syndrome are aborted. NINETY TWO PERCENT. Innocent children slaughtered, as the result of one single test. Because they are not perfect. In light of recent legislation in Ohio seeking to ban abortions when a diagnosis of Down's Syndrome is made in utero, I think it's appropriate to hear from Dr. Lejeune himself. With this, I whole heartedly, 1000% agree.
“It cannot be denied that the price of these diseases is high—in suffering for the individual and in burdens for society. Not to mention what parents suffer! But we can assign a value to that price: It is precisely what asociety must pay to remain fully human.”
and further....
“It is not medicine we should fear, but the folly of mankind. Every day, the experience of our predecessors increases our ability to change nature by using his own laws. But using this power wisely is what each generation must learn in its turn. We are certainly more powerful today than ever before, but we are not wiser:Technology is cumulative, wisdom is not;”
“We need to be clear : the quality of a civilization can be measured by the respect it has for the weakest members. There is no other criterion.”
Not one of us is perfect. Not a single one. And yet, it is through our imperfections that the love of Christ is made whole. Through those in need that others learn to give. What happens to our humanity when no one needs another? When we're all perfect and self-sustaining? Humanity is a tribe, an interconnected organism, even though we are individuals. What does it do to our humanity, our ability to love, unconditionally, when we participate in a genocide to wipe out those that are imperfect? And then tell ourselves we're doing it "to be kind", to "put the child out of it's misery?" I've mused on this before at length here.
Heart breaking. These are HUMAN BEINGS. Precious children of God, who deserve a right to life as much as any other child.
THIS.... is clarity. St. Bonaventure and St. Paul. Thank you.
"Three things are necessary to everyone: truth of faith which brings understanding, love of Christ which brings compassion, and endurance of hope which brings perseverance." — St. Bonaventure
