White Around The Collar

Lose It For the Nuns: UPDATE

2011-12-22T16:44:00.001-06:00

Alright folks, here is the first, although slow in coming, update:

The total pledges so far comes to $35 per pound, which means that as of right now we have made $560 for the nuns! And we have a long way to go before Ash Wednesday!

Pray for me, that I will be strong when the insidious temptation of Taco Bell comes calling...

John Patrick Cardinal Foley; Rest in Peace

2011-12-11T09:42:00.001-06:00

Early this morning, one of the great figures of Catholicism in America went to his eternal reward. Most of us, even if we do not recognize his face, will certainly recognize his voice. For many years he was the commentator for the televised Masses of the Holy Father from Rome. My association with him comes via the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulchre, for which he was the Grand Master. He was present at our annual Convention a few years ago and quickly became well loved for his obvious love and reverence for Our Lord, the Sacred Liturgy and the work of the Knights and Ladies in the Holy Land, not to mention his delightful sense of humor. I was particularly moved by how he reverently bowed his head every time, whether in the Sacred Liturgy or in conversation the holy name of Jesus was spoken. He was one of the kindest and most gentle churchman I have ever had the privilege to work with.

For more on Cardinal Foley, and to see a video of his last public comments click here.

May he rest in peace.

On Becoming Small, and Losing it for the Nuns.

2011-12-02T09:12:00.000-06:00

This post is going to be a bit more personal that usual. It's about me, my health, and becoming small.

Recently I have been having some troubles with my back, and according to my doctor it is because I am "a bit" overweight. Realistically, "a bit" is putting it lightly - or heavily as the case may be. So, my doctor recommended a particular weight loss program that is run right out of his office, and I decided that it's high time I become a healthier, happier, holier and smaller priest.

Artists rendering of the future monastery

Once that decision was made, I decided that I could use this exercise in self control, aka, diet, to benefit more than just me. I began thinking that maybe, just maybe, people would pledge a dollar amount for each pound that I lose before Ash Wednesday and that money could be donated to a worthy cause.

In thinking about a worthy cause I immediately thought of my dear sisters in North Carolina who are trying to raise the money to build a monastery in which they will live a cloistered, prayerful life of Adoring Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament. I have visited these holy Nuns numerous times, and even spent Holy Week with them last year. They are some of the happiest, fun loving, and prayerful Nuns that you could ever hope to meet. Their only problem is that they do not have a proper monastery where they can live the life they are called by God to live. If you want to learn more about them you can visit their website and have a look around by clicking here.

If you want to make a pledge, please email me by clicking here. Include the dollar amount that you will donate to the Nuns for every pound I lose before Ash Wednesday.

I will be providing regular updates here on the blog.

Thank you for helping to support the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration.

The Nuns after a final profession of vows.

It's Been Awhile...

2011-11-28T16:38:00.001-06:00

In case there are still some folks who come here looking for blog posts, here is my homily for the First Sunday of Advent. I know it's been awhile since I posted anything, but honestly, I don't know if there is anything I can say that isn't being said by someone else in the blogosphere. Even so, people keep asking me to post my homilies and other thoughts, so here you go.

Oremus pro invicem.

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As Through a Veil...

2011-08-21T06:00:00.001-05:00

Vox Clamantis In Deserto…

A Voice Crying In The Desert…

This week as you come to Mass you probably noticed a change in the sanctuary: the tabernacle is in the middle, and not only that, but it is veiled. On my first Sunday here I announced that the presider’s chair would be moved to the side, because the presider is not the center of attention, Jesus is. This latest change is one more step in making sure that Jesus our focus. He is the heart and focal point of our parish community, and now this is reflected in our parish Church.

The tabernacle is also veiled. There are many reasons for this, the first of which is that the Church asks us to veil the tabernacle. The very word “tabernacle” means “tent.” It is the word that the Israelites used to describe the tent in which the Ark of the Covenant was kept. The Ark of the covenant is where God dwelled. Within it was kept some of the miraculous manna – the heavenly bread - which fed the Israelites as they wandered in the desert. This tabernacle of old was considered so holy that is was kept veiled; hidden from our sight. The tabernacle that we have doesn’t contain merely manna, but the very bread of life, Jesus Himself. It is much more sacred, much more holy, and thus it too is veiled.

The veil is meant to remind us that in this life we do not yet see the fullness of heaven…we do not see God face to face. One day we will enter behind the veil that is between this life and the life to come. Then we will see God face to face. But here we do not have such a privilege, heaven is behind the veil. We know it is there, but we cannot see through it. The veil on our tabernacle reminds us this. It should make us long to see into the tabernacle…into the dwelling of God…into heaven itself.

I pray that this small change to the Sanctuary will be a constant reminder of who is the focus of everything we do as a parish community. Our eyes are set firmly on Jesus. He is the center of our parish. He is the heart of our parish, for from His Sacred Heart, truly present in the tabernacle, His Precious Blood flows to each and every part of His Mystical Body, the Church. Ever time that we enter this Church, let us gaze upon His presence, hidden behind a veil, and let us fall to our knees and praise Him who loves us so much as to continue to live in our presence through the gift of the Holy Eucharist.

Trinity Sunday Homily: Authentic Manhood, Authentic Fatherhood

2011-06-28T09:18:00.002-05:00

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Where Are You?

2011-06-27T10:51:00.000-05:00

Time sure does fly. It seems like it has been forever since I have posted anything here Hopefully there are still a few of you who still check in now and again.

Over the past few weeks I have been working with some colleagues to put on a number of workshops on the new translation of the Roman Missal. The workshop will be available online soon. I will provide a link when it is up.

This coming Friday I begin my new assignment as pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul in Dimock and Holy Trinity in Ethan. I am very grateful to my Bishop for this assignment and look forward to jumping back into Priestly Ministry after two years of school. Please pray for me and the flock that has been entrusted to my care.

After I get settled in it is my hope to begin to post the audio of my homilies here once again.

"A Virile, Muscular Catholicism"

2011-04-29T17:32:00.000-05:00

One of the greatest days of my life: February 20, 2000

From the ubiquitous Fr. Z in the Washington Post:

Pope John Paul II: Fearless in hope and love By Fr. John Zuhlsdorf In some cities in the USA when a local team wins a basketball game, crowds burn cars. But when John Paul II’s body was lying on view in St. Peter’s Basilica, one first responder, police officer and volunteer worker after the next told me that there had not been a single act of civil disobedience or problem reported. That means something. During the days which preceded his funeral, armed with media credentials I was able to move freely through the checkpoints and channels for the millions, literally, of people who stood in slow moving lines for scores of hours to see the dead Pope’s body for the last time. Peacefulness, prayer and patience reigned.

At the end of the funeral, the wind blew closed the cover of Book of the Gospels. Men lifted John Paul’s onto their shoulders. They stopped before the open doors of the Basilica and slowly pin-wheeled, as if to give him one last public wave. A shout went up, simultaneous because of the huge video screens along the nearby streets. That shout, which echoed across a silent and motionless Rome, may have been the single loudest purely human sound ever raised on high in that City of over 3000 years.

There began the rising chant of the people, “Santo Subito… Sainthood Soon”. It may have been a manifestation of the old adage Vox Populi Vox Dei… The Voice of the People is the Voice of God. I don’t know that, but it was unlike any chant I had ever heard before. Of course when in Rome you hear the word “subito,” especially from a waiter, you almost never expect what you’ve requested to happen quickly. And yet here we are at his beatification.

Leaving aside the issue of the record-breaking speed of the late Pope John Paul II’s beatification (2220 days, 15 days faster the Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta), we should all be able to remember and agree on some of the achievements of his life as a good man, a faithful member of his Catholic Church, and life-long disciple of the Lord and Savior he so obviously loved.

A pebble can prompt a tumultuous landslide. John Paul dropped a great many stones. Many of them are still gathering speed. On the geopolitical plane, the visit of John Paul II to his native Poland after his election as pope helped to diminish worldwide the soul annihilating forces of atheistic communism. Within the church, after a decade and more of internal rebellion and chaos, John Paul’s manifest confidence, love of neighbor and focus on the Redeemer of man initiated the gradual rebuilding of order and morale, especially among young people, which continues still under the pontificate of Pope Benedict.

From the early loss of his parents and the hardship of a youth under Nazi occupation, including forced labor and serious injury, to the sorrow of seeing his beloved Poland and her people suffer under communism, from witnessing open defiance on the part of clergy and theologians within the church to being shot by an assassin in St. Peter’s Square, from the horror of emerging of stories about abuse of children, to the ever increasing agony of Parkinson’s Disease which sapped his vitality and imprisoned him in physical weakness, John Paul radiated hope.

Even as he became smaller, he seemed to become all the greater, for it was Christ who increased in him. Young people were inspired by his joy. The frail elderly man gradually brightened as a beacon of hope to us all. Let us not forget that we too are daily drawing closer to our own decline and death with their attendant pains and challenges. We will be no less precious and valuable when we grow weaker. In his choice to suffer publicly, John Paul taught us that love of God and beauty of soul are the truly human values which matter, not wealth or youthful beauty or passing worldly goods. John Paul stood as a sign of contradiction in an increasingly shallow and materialist age.

John Paul strode onto the church’s stage announcing a virile, muscular Catholicism even as he relentlessly taught in his writing and preaching about the dignity of the human person, that we must not treat others – especially women, unborn and elderly - as objects to be used or discarded for our own selfish convenience. Each person, from the defenseless unborn to the defenseless senior, is precious in God’s sight and made in God’s image and likeness. John Paul’s “theology of the body,” as it has been dubbed, presented a view of man with which countless young people were able to resonate.

As Blessed John Paul, or just plain pope, or simply Karol, he was a giant of a man who persevered in his simple message to his very last heartbeat: Do not be afraid to love your Lord with all your heart and strength and love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Fr John Zuhlsdorf, a convert from Lutheranism, is a writer for various Catholic publications. He wrangles a popular blog with frank commentary on Catholic issues (fatherzonline.com). He was ordained a priest in 1991 by Pope John Paul II.

He Is Risen! Alleluia!

2011-04-24T08:54:00.000-05:00

Homily: Holy Thursday

2011-04-21T18:00:00.004-05:00

“Christ our Paschal Lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the festival.”

-1 Corinthians 5:7

My dear sisters in Christ,

1. In the film The Passion of the Christ there is a great scene from Holy Thursday where Mary the Mother of Jesus and Mary Magdelene are sleeping, and Mary the Mother of Jesus suddenly awakens from sleep. Mary Magdelen asks here “What Mary. What is it?” The Blessed mother responds “Listen. “Why is this night different from every other night?” Magdelene looks at her knowing that something is very wrong, and responds saying “because once we were slaves and we are slaves no longer.” This question and its response is one of great importance, because it a question that is asked every time a Jewish family gathers to celebrate the Passover meal. It sets the tone for everything that will transpire during that sacred meal wherein the sacrificial lamb is eaten. The Last Supper, the event that we mystically enter into this evening, is the Passover of the New Covenant, where Christ the Paschal Lamb is sacrificed and given to us as the food of eternal life. So why, my dear sisters, is this night different from every other night? Because once we were slaves and we are slaves no longer.

2. Pope Benedict points out in his latest book, the second part of Jesus of Nazareth, that

in St. John’s Gospel, he goes to great lengths to indicate that the Last Supper was not a Passover meal. On the contrary: the Jewish authorities who led Jesus before Pilate’s court avoided entering the praetorium, “so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover” (18:28). The Passover, therefore, began only in the evening, and at the time of the trial the Passover meal had not yet taken place; the trial and crucifixion took place on the day before the Passover, on the “day of preparation”, not on the feast day itself…According to this chronology, Jesus dies at the moment when the Passover lambs are being slaughtered in the Temple. Jesus dies as the real lamb, merely prefigured by those slain in the Temple. (Benedict XVI, 83).”

In order to grasp the significance of Jesus being the true and final paschal lamb let’s take some time to examine the requirements for the Passover meal, including the sacrificing of the paschal lamb and see just how well Jesus fulfills the law and the prophets.

3. The Passover meal during the time of Jesus had four general steps, although there are many more small steps involved. First, as we heard in our first reading, the father of the family is to procure a male lamb in its prime, one year old, that is without blemish of any kind. It is not to be sick, diseased, or imperfect in any way whatsoever.

4. Second, the lamb was to be sacrificed without breaking any of its bones so that it would be sacrificed in its perfection. In the time of the Exodus it was the father of the household that slaughtered the lamb in virtue of their familial priesthood, but by the time of Christ, it was the priests in the temple who slaughtered all the paschal lambs in the temple, and their blood was poured out at the base of the altar. This is why it was necessary for every Jew at the time of Christ to celebrate the Passover it Jerusalem, since it was only there that the lamb could be sacrificed. Since every Jew who wanted to fulfill the law and celebrate the Passover had to travel to Jerusalem, the streets would be teeming with people, the temple would be filled with men bringing their families lamb to be slaughtered by the priests in the temple. Josephus the great historian of the time of Jesus gives us a fairly detailed description of what it was like in Jerusalem and in the Temple at Passover time. He says

So these high priests, upon the coming of their feast which is called the Passover, when they slay their sacrifices, from the ninth hour (about 3pm) to the eleventh (about 5pm), but so that a company not less than ten belong to every sacrifice (for it is not lawful for them to feast singularly by themselves, and many of us are twenty in a company, for the number of sacrifices as 256,500; which, upon the allowance of no more than ten that feast together, amounts to 2,700,200 persons (Josephus, War 6:423-27).

Another fascinating bit of information about how the paschal lambs were sacrificed in the time of Jesus is that they were, get this, crucified! This is described in a book entitled Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist:

As the Israeli scholar Jospeh Tabory has shown, according to the Mishnah, at the time when the Temple still stood, after the sacrifice of the lamb, the Jews would drive “thin smooth staves” of wood through the shoulders of the lamb in order to hang it and skin it (Pesahim 5:9). In addition to this first rod, they would also “thrust” a “skewer of pomegranate wood” through the Passover lamb “from its mouth to its buttocks” (Pesahim 7:1). As Tabory concludes, “An examination of the rabbinic evidence…seems to show that in Jerusalem the Jewish paschal lamb was offered in a manner which resembled a crucifixion (Brant Pitre, 53).

This is also attested to by St. Justin, Martyr and the mystic Blessed Anne Catherine Emmeric in their writings.

5. So, my dear sisters, imagine for a moment what it must have been like to witness this sort of spectacle. Imagine the veritable hemorrhage of blood that would be flowing from altar of sacrifice as the blood of these two hundred thousand lambs was dashed against the altar. Imagine the sound of the sheep bleating as their throats were slit. Imagine the smell of the animals and the blood. Imagine the lifeless, bloodless, bodies of those perfect unblemished lambs on those wooden crosses waiting to be roasted and eaten.

6. This leads to the third step, the roasting and eating of the Paschal lamb. This step was of the utmost importance for the Jewish people, and ultimately for God who commanded them to do this. To just sacrifice the lamb was not enough, it had to be roasted and eaten. In order to be saved from the final plague, the death of the firstborn son, you had to both sacrifice and eat the Paschal Lamb. Again a quote from the book Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist will drive home this point. The author says

If they took the lamb, sacrificed the lamb, spread the blood of the lamb (on the doorposts), but did not eat the lamb, what would have been the result? Well, the Book of Exodus does not say. But it’s a good guess that when they awoke the next morning, their firstborn son would be dead. For, as any ancient Jew would have known, the Passover sacrifice was not completed by the death of the lamb, but by eating its flesh…The Passover was not completed by the death of the victim, but by a “communion” of sorts – by eating the flesh of the sacrifice that had been killed on your behalf (Pitre, 49).

7. The fourth and final step is that the Passover was to be repeated every year, it was to be a perpetual memorial of how God had delivered the Israelites from slavery to the promised land. And this memorial was no mere commemoration of a past event, but in the Jewish mind, when celebrating a memorial of this sort, one actually entered into the past event. It was somehow mysteriously made present even though in time it was a past event.

8. So, my dear sisters, what does this lesson on the Passover have to do with anything? It has everything do with Jesus and the great gift which he instituted on this most holy of nights. Jesus, the Messiah, while celebrating the Passover was at the same time fulfilling Jewish law and inaugurating a New Passover, not one that freed us from the slavery of the Egyptians, but one that freed us from the slavery of Sin. Jesus did all of the things required of the law, yet he altered the Passover so as to make it His own, the Passover of the Messiah.

For instance, whereas the Passover usually focused on the covenant with Abraham, Jesus focused on the New Covenant in His Blood. Whereas the Passover usually focused on the body and blood of the lamb of sacrifice. First, the lamb would be slaughtered, and the priests in the Temple would pour out the blood of the lamb on the altar. Then the Jews would bring the body of the lamb from the Temple to the Passover meal, and the father would explain its meaning at the meal. Yet at the Last Supper, Jesus did something entirely different. With his words of explanation, he shifted the focus away from the body and blood of the Passover lamb (of which there is no mention), and turned it toward his own body and blood (Pitre, 58).

When we compare Jesus’ actions to these ancient Jewish traditions, it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out his point. By means of his words over the bread and wine of the Last Supper, Jesus is saying in no uncertain terms, “I am the new Passover lamb of the new exodus. This is the Passover of the Messiah, and I am the new sacrifice.” (Pitre, 59)

9. We also see Jesus setting up this new Passover as a perpetual memorial, one that would allow those who partake in it to enter into the first Passover of the Messiah, the Passover where He, the true Lamb of God is slain to set us free from sin. This Passover of the Messiah began at the Last Supper, and ended as He, the true Lamb of Sacrifice was slaughtered on Calvary. Imagine, dear sisters, how, according to the chronology of the Gospel of St. John, just outside of the gates of the City of Jerusalem, and facing East toward the Holy of Holies, Jesus the spotless and unblemished Lamb of God, without a bone being broken, is nailed to a cross, and his blood is dashed upon the altar of the cross as it flows from His Sacred Wounds. This is the Passover of the Messiah.

10. My dear sisters, tonight we have the privilege of entering once again into that great Passover of the Messiah. Tonight, I, unworthy as I am, will make present that moment when the True Lamb was slain. We blood is poured out. His body is crucified. He gives his life so that we may be set free from the slavery of sin, and it will all happen right here before our very eyes. Then, so that the sacrifice may be complete and we may indeed share in the freedom He is holding out to us, we will eat the very flesh of the Lamb and we will smear our lips with his life-blood. We will become one with the Lamb, and thus it becomes possible for eternal death to pass over us.

11. My sisters, why is this night different from every other night? Because once we were slaves and we are slaves no longer. “Christ our Paschal Lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the festival.”

Everything You Wanted To Know About Why We Veil Sacred Images But Were Afraid to Ask

2011-04-12T09:18:00.004-05:00

Ever wonder why the images are veiled in Church from the Fifth Sunday of Lent until the Easter Vigil? Here is your answer from the New Theological Movement:

It has been the custom of the Roman Church, at least in modern times (we mean from the 17^th Century forward), to veil the crosses and the images of the saints from the 5^th Sunday of Lent until Easter. This has been, and ought to continue to be, one of the defining characteristics of the season of Passiontide – a season which, if after the postconciliar liturgical reforms lost in name, need not be lost in spirit.
Still in many churches throughout the West, crosses and statues are veiled now and will remain veiled for two full weeks. The Catholic Encyclopedia describes this custom as follows: “Before Vespers of Saturday preceding Passion Sunday [i.e. the 5^th Sunday of Lent] the crosses, statues, and pictures of our Lord and of the saints on the altar and throughout the church, with the sole exception of the crosses and pictures of the Way of the Cross, are to be covered with a violet veil, not translucent, nor in any way ornamented. The crosses remain covered until after the solemn denudation of the principal crucifix on Good Friday. The statues and pictures retain their covering, no matter what feast may occur, until the Gloria in Excelsis of Holy Saturday.” However, it is noted that the statue of St. Joseph may remain uncovered, if outside the sanctuary, during the month of March, which is dedicated to his honor.
Of course, this practice is no longer mandatory in the Novus Ordo, but it is certainly permitted. However, if the custom is to return to popularity, it will be necessary to come to some understanding of the meaning behind the veiling. Why does the Church veil the cross in these final days of Lent, a time when she is most intent on meditating upon the Lord's dolorous passion?

The Mystical Interpretation
Abbot Gueranger enlightens us with a mystical interpretation of the Gospel which, in former times, was read on this Sunday: As Christ hid himself from the rage of the Jewish authorities (John 8:59), so now he is hidden from the world in preparation for the mysteries of his passion.
“The presentiment of that awful hour [of our Savior’s passion] leads the afflicted mother [the Church] to veil the image of her Jesus: the cross is hidden from the eyes of the faithful. The statues of the saints, too, are covered; for it is but just that, if the glory of the Master be eclipsed, the servant should not appear.
“The interpreters of the liturgy tell us that this ceremony of veiling the crucifix during Passiontide, expresses the humiliation to which our Savior subjected Himself, of hiding Himself when the Jews threatened to stone Him, as is related in the Gospel of Passion Sunday [John 8:46-59, They took up stones therefore to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple (John 8:59)]. The Church begins this solemn rite with the Vespers of the Saturday before Passion Sunday.”
The Spiritual Interpretation
Dom Gueranger continues and directs us to acts of devotion for the Cross: “Twice during the course of the year, that is, on the feasts of its Invention and Exaltation, this sacred Wood will be offered to us that we may honour it as the trophy of our Jesus’ victory; but now, it speaks to us but of His sufferings, it brings with it no other idea but that of His humiliation.”
Considering that, in the season of our Lord’s passion, all the strength of our devotion should be directed to the Cross of Christ, we may be surprised that the images of the Cross are to be covered in these days. However, when we recognize that we now venerate the Cross not so much as an emblem of victory (as in the Triumph of the Cross) but as an instrument of humiliation and suffering, we will soon understand the spiritual realities which are conveyed through the covering of the crosses.
In his passion, our Savior’s divinity was almost totally eclipsed, so great was his suffering. Likewise, even his humanity was obscured – so much so that he could say through his prophet: I am a worm and no man (Psalm 21:7). His face and whole body were so disfigured by the blows and scourges that our Jesus was scarcely recognizable! Thus, the wounds he endured hid both is divinity and his humanity. For this reason we veil the crosses in these final days of Lent – hiding our Savior under the sad purple cloth.
The Historical Interpretation
We will reproduce here the historical study offered by Fr. Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University (taken from Zenit):
“It probably derives from a custom, noted in Germany from the ninth century, of extending a large cloth before the altar from the beginning of Lent. This cloth, called the ‘Hungertuch’ (hunger cloth), hid the altar entirely from the faithful during Lent and was not removed until during the reading of the Passion on Holy Wednesday at the words ‘the veil of the temple was rent in two.’
“Some authors say there was a practical reason for this practice insofar as the often-illiterate faithful needed a way to know it was Lent. Others, however, maintain that it was a remnant of the ancient practice of public penance in which the penitents were ritually expelled from the church at the beginning of Lent. After the ritual of public penance fell into disuse — but the entire congregation symbolically entered the order of penitents by receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday — it was no longer possible to expel them from the church. Rather, the altar or ‘Holy of Holies’ was shielded from view until they were reconciled to God at Easter.
“For analogous motives, later on in the Middle Ages, the images of crosses and saints were also covered from the start of Lent. The rule of limiting this veiling to Passiontide came later and does not appear until the publication of the Bishops' Ceremonial of the 17th century.”
Another possibility?
We would like to propose another possibility, one which need not conflict with any of those give above. It may be possible that the Church covers the images of the Cross during these days, for the same reason that she refrains from offering the Sacrifice of the Mass on Good Friday. Namely, in this time in which we mystically enter into the historical realities of Jesus’ final days, it is not fitting to have the image, sign or sacrament of the Cross presented to the faithful.
Indeed, St. Thomas tells us that “the figure ceases on the advent of the reality. But this sacrament [i.e. the Eucharist] is a figure and a representation of our Lord's Passion, as stated above. And therefore on the day on which our Lord's Passion is recalled as it was really accomplished, this sacrament is not consecrated.” (ST III, q.83, a.2, ad 2) In an analogous way, it is fitting that, as the liturgical year recalls the events leading up to the Crucifixion, the Church should hide the effigies of the Cross from the vision of her faithful.

2011-04-07T13:58:00.003-05:00

This morning during Matins I was struck by the second reading by St. Leo the Great, so I thought I would share it with you. The bold sections are the sections that really struck me as being important points to come to realize in our own spiritual life.

True reverence for the Lord’s passion means fixing the eyes of our heart on Jesus crucified and recognizing in him our own humanity.

The earth—our earthly nature—should tremble at the suffering of its Redeemer. The rocks—the hearts of unbelievers—should burst asunder. The dead, imprisoned in the tombs of their mortality, should come forth, the massive stones now ripped apart. Foreshadowings of the future resurrection should appear in the holy city, the Church of God: what is to happen to our bodies should now take place in our hearts.

No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit to the multitude that raged against him. How much more does it bring to those who turn to him in repentance. Ignorance has been destroyed, obstinacy has been overcome. The sacred blood of Christ has quenched the flaming sword that barred access to the tree of life. The age-old night of sin has given place to the true light.

The Christian people are invited to share the riches of paradise. All who have been reborn have the way open before them to return to their native land, from which they had been exiled. Unless indeed they close off for themselves the path that could be opened before the faith of a thief.

The business of this life should not preoccupy us with its anxiety and pride, so that we no longer strive with all the love of our heart to be like our Redeemer, and to follow his example. Everything that he did or suffered was for our salvation: he wanted his body to share the goodness of its head.

First of all, in taking our human nature while remaining God, so that the Word became man, he left no member of the human race, the unbeliever excepted, without a share in his mercy. Who does not share a common nature with Christ if he has welcomed Christ, who took our nature, and is reborn in the Spirit through whom Christ was conceived?

Again, who cannot recognize in Christ his own infirmities? Who would not recognize that Christ’s eating and sleeping, his sadness and his shedding of tears of love are marks of the nature of a slave?

It was this nature of a slave that had to be healed of its ancient wounds and cleansed of the defilement of sin. For that reason the only-begotten Son of God became also the son of man. He was to have both the reality of a human nature and the fullness of the godhead.

The body that lay lifeless in the tomb is ours. The body that rose again on the third day is ours. The body that ascended above all the heights of heaven to the right hand of the Father’s glory is ours. If then we walk in the way of his commandments, and are not ashamed to acknowledge the price he paid for our salvation in a lowly body, we too are to rise to share his glory. The promise he made will be fulfilled in the sight of all: Whoever acknowledges me before men, I too will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven.

Holy Week Is Near: Go To Confession

2011-04-06T17:23:00.001-05:00

Trust

2011-03-30T11:35:00.004-05:00

The other day during my Holy Hour I came across a prayer written by Fr. Louis Merton (aka Thomas Merton). It reflected quite beautifully and honestly some of my own feelings as I near the end of my time here at the Liturgical Institute and my return to my diocese. That being the case I thought I would share it with you.

My Lord God,

I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself,

And the fact that I think I am following

your will does not mean that I am

actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please

you does in fact please you.

And I hope that I have that desire in all

that I am doing.

I hope that I will not do anything

apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this, you

will lead me by the right road

though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore, I will trust you always

though I may seem to be lost

and in the shadow of death, I will

not fear, for you are ever with me

and you will never leave me

to face my perils alone.

Sonnet to Our Lord on The Cross

2011-03-26T05:00:00.000-05:00

I am not moved to love you, O my God,

That I might hope in promised Heaven to dwell;

Nor am I moved by fear of pain in Hell

To turn from sin and follow where you trod.

You move me, Lord, broken beneath the rod,

Or stretched out on the cross, as nails compel

Your hand to twitch. It moves me that we sell,

To mockery and death, your precious blood.

It is, O Christ, your love which moves me so,

That my love rests not on a promised prize;

Nor holy fear on threat of endless woe;

It is not milk and honey, but the flow of blood

From blessed wounds before my eyes, that

Waters my buried soul and makes it grow.

The Solemnity of the Annunciation

2011-03-25T05:00:00.000-05:00

The Angelus

V. Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae.

R. Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.

Ave Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum: benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui Iesus. * Sancta Maria, Mater Dei ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

V. Ecce ancilla Domini,

R. Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.

V. Et Verbum caro factum est,

R. Et habitavit in nobis.

Ave Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum: benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui Iesus.* Sancta Maria, Mater Dei ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genetrix,

R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

Oremus. Gratiam tuam, quaesumus, Domine, mentibus nostris infunde; ut qui, Angelo nuntiante, Christi Filii tui incarnationem cognovimus, per passionem eius et crucem ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen.

* * *

V. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.

R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with Thee: blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.* Holy Mary, Mother of God, prayer for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord,

R. Be it done to me according to Thy word.

V. And the Word was made flesh,

R. And dwelt among us.

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that, as we have known the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, by the message of an angel, so by His Passion and Cross we may be brought to the glory of the Resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord.

R. Amen.

Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

2011-03-24T05:00:00.001-05:00

The collect from today's Mass in the new translation of the Roman Missal is:

O God, who delight in innocence and restore it,
direct the hearts of your servants to yourself,
that, caught up in the fire of your Spirit,
we may be found steadfast in faith
and effective in works.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

In a world where a lack of innocence is praised we hear in in the Liturgy that God delights in innocence. In other words, contrary to what we hear from the world, innocence is a virtue to be cultivated and not a vice to be quickly discarded. It seems rather obvious to me, and surely to you as well, that innocence is a virtue that is greatly lacking in our world. Even in schools, where innocence should be protected, children are being taught about things that are not so innocent at a very young age. Instead of cultivating innocence for as long as possible, it is widely believed that the sooner we teach them about "real life" the better. Now surely, sometimes discussions that might impinge upon a child's innocence will be necessary, but lets not overdo it.

But what about us, who have already lost our innocence? Well, there is hope. Today's collect points out the God restores our innocence. But how? Well, I think he restores our innocence first and foremost through the Sacraments, particularly the Sacrament of Penance/Confession and the Holy Eucharist. In confession the Blood of the Innocent Victim is applied to our souls so cleanse us of our sins, and in the Holy Eucharist we receive the innocent Lamb of God Himself. What could be a greater restorer of innocence than that? For our part, we can help the process of purification along through prayer, self-denial, purification of the senses, and being vigilant about what we put into our minds via sight and hearing.

Regaining innocence is a hard but necessary task. Jesus made it clear that unless we become like children we cannot enter the Kingdom. Let us seek to become innocent of heart, so that like children, we will be pure and ready to enter the Kingdom of God.

The Solemnity of St. Joseph

2011-03-19T15:27:00.003-05:00

Today is the Solemnity of St. Joseph, the patron of the Universal Church, the patron of a happy death, and the patron of the Diocese of Sioux Falls. In order to celebrate this feast I thought I would share one of my favorite images of St. Joseph (above) as well as this written by the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II in his encyclical on St. Joseph entitled Redemptoris Custos:

If Elizabeth said of the Redeemer's Mother, "blessed is she who believed," in a certain sense this blessedness can be referred to Joseph as well, since he responded positively to the word of God when it was communicated to him at the decisive moment. While it is true that Joseph did not respond to the angel's "announcement" in the same way as Mary, he "did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took his wife." What he did is the clearest "obedience of faith" (cf. Rom 1:5; 16:26; 2 Cor 10:5-6).
One can say that what Joseph did united him in an altogether special way to the faith of Mary. He accepted as truth coming from God the very thing that she had already accepted at the Annunciation. The Council teaches: " "The obedience of faith' must be given to God as he reveals himself. By this obedience of faith man freely commits himself entirely to God, making 'the full submission of his intellect and will to God who reveals,' and willingly assenting to the revelation given by him." This statement, which touches the very essence of faith, is perfectly applicable to Joseph of Nazareth.
5. Therefore he became a unique guardian of the mystery "hidden for ages in God" (Eph 3:9), as did Mary, in that decisive moment which St. Paul calls "the fullness of time," when "God sent forth his Son, born of woman...to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons" (Gal 4:4-5). In the words of the Council: "It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will (cf. Eph 1:9). His will was that men should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and become sharers in the divine nature (cf. Eph 2:18; 2 Pt 1 4)"
Together with Mary, Joseph is the first guardian of this divine mystery. Together with Mary, and in relation to Mary, he shares in this final phase of God 's self-revelation in Christ, and he does so from the very beginning. Looking at the gospel texts of both Matthew and Luke, one can also say that Joseph is the first to share in the faith of the Mother of God, and that in doing so he supports his spouse in the faith of the divine annunciation. He is also the first to be placed by God on the path of Mary's "pilgrimage of faith." It is a path along which--especially at the time of Calvary and Pentecost--Mary will precede in a perfect way.

Saturday After Ash Wednesday

2011-03-12T12:31:00.004-06:00

Image of Our Lady of Sorrows atop Mt. Calvary

in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem

Today's collect from the new translation of the Roman Missal:

Almighty ever-living God,
look with compassion on our weakness
and ensure us your protection
by stretching forth the right hand of your majesty.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Today's collect calls to mind an image that used frequently through Sacred Scripture and in the Liturgy of the Church, that of the right hand of God. Surely because God is pure spirit, He doesn't have a right hand, or a left hand for that matter. This phrase is used to describe the power, strength and might of God.

The right hand of God, as it says in this prayer, is stretched forth to us that we might know the protection of God. What are we to be protected from? In this prayer it is from ourselves, from our weakness. I don't know about you, but often times I am my own worst enemy. My bad habits, my tendency toward the easy way (which often is the sinful way), and my self-deception often lead me into sin. I am so weak that yes, I need God to protect me from satan, but I also need God's mighty protection from myself. Now that is a humbling thought.

Friday After Ash Wednesday

2011-03-11T05:00:00.003-06:00

St. Josemaria Escriva offering the Holy Mass

The Prayer over the Offerings from the corrected translation of the Roman Missal for today is:

We offer, O Lord, the sacrifice of our Lenten observance,
praying that it may make our intentions acceptable to you
and add to our powers of self-restraint.
Through Christ our Lord.

This prayer over the gifts of bread and wine which will become the very Sacrifice of our redemption, the unbloody re-presentation of the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross, reminds us of something of great importance. It reminds us that all we are and all that we do, in particular our Lenten observances, can and should be united to the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

One particularly effective way to do this is to mentally and spiritually place ourselves and our actions upon the paten and in the chalice as the priest offers them at the beginning of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. By doing so, we ourselves become united to Christ, the Lamb of God, the Victim for sin, and are offered to the Father by Christ and with Christ. This is truly the full, active, and conscious participation that the Second Vatican Council called for. When we do this we no longer become merely causal observers, but actual participants in the Paschal Mystery. When we do this our Lenten penances, resolutions, and acts of charity become united with the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ and take on even greater meaning.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

2011-03-10T05:00:00.001-06:00

The Collect for today's Mass:

Prompt our actions with your inspiration, we pray, O Lord,

and further them with your constant help,

that all we do may always begin from you

and by you be brought to completion.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

This prayer reminds us that our good actions during Lent ultimately are the work of the Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit has prompted us to take on certain penances and other charitable actions, and without His continuing help and guidance, these good resolutions will come to nothing.

In many ways, this is a prayer of humility. We know that without God we can do nothing, and so in our weakness we cry out for His inspiration and help to continue fighting against evil in our life, even when the battle becomes tedious and wearisome.

The Stations of the Cross

2011-03-09T10:05:00.000-06:00

Ash Wednesday

2011-03-09T09:43:00.004-06:00

Today we begin our 40 day journey through the prayers of the new translation of the Roman Missal. The collect (opening prayer) for today's Mass is:

Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting
this campaign of Christian service,
so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils,
we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

This prayer, in no uncertain terms, sets the theme for the holy season of Lent. This season is presented to us as a battle, a war, a fierce struggle against the powers of evil. Surely, we find ourselves today in the midst of a great spiritual battle for our souls and the souls of all mankind.

All around us the battle for souls rages, and today we are invited to join this battle. We are called to take part in this "campaign of Christian service" by taking up the "weapons of self-restraint." By restraining our desires, even those desires that are good, we train our will, we build our spiritual muscles, so that when the evil one attacks, we will be able to withstand his fiery arrows of temptation.

Today as we fast and abstain from meat, let us see this self-restraint not as a burden, but as a powerful weapon with which we strike the evil one. Let us see it as a way to strengthen our will to fight against temptation.

Let us pray for one another and support one another in our Lenten penances. We are all brothers and sisters, fellow soldiers in the army of the Great King. We are fighting side by side. We are never alone in battle. We have the greatest King in the Universe, a host of heavenly helpers, an army of saints who have won the victory and urge us on to victory, and the weapons of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Let us take up our weapons and join the battle. Let us fight to win.

Lenten Project

2011-03-08T15:57:00.004-06:00

Tomorrow Lent will be upon us. Hopefully by now you have decided what your penance(s) will be. If not, check out the suggestions from Fr. S. at Clerical Reform here.

I have been looking for a good reason to start blogging again, and had an inspiration today. Ever day during Lent, I will have a short reflection on one of the prayers from the Roman Missal for the day. I will be using the prayers from the new translation of the Roman Missal. Hopefully this will do two things. First, it will hopefully help us pray better during this holy season, and second, to familiarize us with some of the prayers from the new translation.

We begin tomorrow, so be sure to check back daily.

Be Perfect!

2011-01-24T10:18:00.004-06:00

Today is the memorial of St. Francis DeSales, one of the great spiritual masters of the Church. Here is a quotation from his treatise entitled Introduction to the Devout Life:

When God the Creator made all things, he commanded the plants to bring forth fruit each according to its own kind; he has likewise commanded Christians, who are the living plants of his Church, to bring forth the fruits of devotion, each one in accord with his character, his station and his calling.
I say that devotion must be practiced in different ways by the nobleman and by the working man, by the servant and by the prince, by the widow, by the unmarried girl and by the married woman. But even this distinction is not sufficient; for the practice of devotion must be adapted to the strength, to the occupation and to the duties of each one in particular.
Tell me, please, my Philothea, whether it is proper for a bishop to want to lead a solitary life like a Carthusian; or for married people to be no more concerned than a Capuchin about increasing their income; or for a working man to spend his whole day in church like a religious; or on the other hand for a religious to be constantly exposed like a bishop to all the events and circumstances that bear on the needs of our neighbor. Is not this sort of devotion ridiculous, unorganized and intolerable? Yet this absurd error occurs very frequently, but in no way does true devotion, my Philothea, destroy anything at all. On the contrary, it perfects and fulfils all things. In fact if it ever works against, or is inimical to, anyone’s legitimate station and calling, then it is very definitely false devotion.
The bee collects honey from flowers in such a way as to do the least damage or destruction to them, and he leaves them whole, undamaged and fresh, just as he found them. True devotion does still better. Not only does it not injure any sort of calling or occupation, it even embellishes and enhances it.
Moreover, just as every sort of gem, cast in honey, becomes brighter and more sparkling, each according to its color, so each person becomes more acceptable and fitting in his own vocation when he sets his vocation in the context of devotion. Through devotion your family cares become more peaceful, mutual love between husband and wife becomes more sincere, the service we owe to the prince becomes more faithful, and our work, no matter what it is, becomes more pleasant and agreeable.
It is therefore an error and even a heresy to wish to exclude the exercise of devotion from military divisions, from the artisans’ shops, from the courts of princes, from family households. I acknowledge, my dear Philothea, that the type of devotion which is purely contemplative, monastic and religious can certainly not be exercised in these sorts of stations and occupations, but besides this threefold type of devotion, there are many others fit for perfecting those who live in a secular state.
Therefore, in whatever situations we happen to be, we can and we must aspire to the life of perfection.

All Soul's Day

2010-11-02T13:51:00.003-05:00

From the Handbook of Indulgences

Visiting a Church or an Oratory on All Souls Day

A plenary (“full”) indulgence, which is applicable only to the souls in Purgatory is granted to the Christian faithful who devoutly visit a church or an oratory on (November 2nd,) All Souls Day.

Requirements for Obtaining a Plenary Indulgence on All Souls Day (Nov. 2nd)

-Visit a church and pray for souls in Purgatory
-Say one “Our Father” and the “Creed” in the visit to the church
-Say one “Our Father” and one “Hail Mary” for the Holy Father’s intentions
-Worthily receive Holy Communion (ideally on the same day if you can get to Mass)
-Make a sacramental confession within a week of All Souls Day
-For a plenary indulgence be free from all attachment to sin, even venial sin (otherwise, the indulgence is partial, not plenary, “full”).

All Saints Day

2010-11-01T08:43:00.001-05:00

Why should our praise and glorification, or even the celebration of this feast day mean anything to the saints? What do they care about earthly honors when their heavenly Father honors them by fulfilling the faithful promise of the Son? What does our commendation mean to them? The saints have no need of honor from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs. Clearly, if we venerate their memory, it serves us, not them. But I tell you, when I think of them, I feel myself inflamed by a tremendous yearning.

Calling the saints to mind inspires, or rather arouses in us, above all else, a longing to enjoy their company, so desirable in itself. We long to share in the citizenship of heaven, to dwell with the spirits of the blessed, to join the assembly of patriarchs, the ranks of the prophets, the council of apostles, the great host of martyrs, the noble company of confessors and the choir of virgins. In short, we long to be united in happiness with all the saints. But our dispositions change. The Church of all the first followers of Christ awaits us, but we do nothing about it. The saints want us to be with them, and we are indifferent. The souls of the just await us, and we ignore them.

Come, brothers, let us at length spur ourselves on. We must rise again with Christ, we must seek the world which is above and set our mind on the things of heaven. Let us long for those who are longing for us, hasten to those who are waiting for us, and ask those who look for our coming to intercede for us. We should not only want to be with the saints, we should also hope to possess their happiness. While we desire to be in their company, we must also earnestly seek to share in their glory. Do not imagine that there is anything harmful in such an ambition as this; there is no danger in setting our hearts on such glory.

When we commemorate the saints we are inflamed with another yearning: that Christ our life may also appear to us as he appeared to them and that we may one day share in his glory. Until then we see him, not as he is, but as he became for our sake. He is our head, crowned, not with glory, but with the thorns of our sins. As members of that head, crowned with thorns, we should be ashamed to live in luxury; his purple robes are a mockery rather than an honor. When Christ comes again, his death shall no longer be proclaimed, and we shall know that we also have died, and that our life is hidden with him. The glorious head of the Church will appear and his glorified members will shine in splendor with him, when he forms this lowly body anew into such glory as belongs to himself, its head.

Therefore, we should aim at attaining this glory with a wholehearted and prudent desire. That we may rightly hope and strive for such blessedness, we must above all seek the prayers of the saints. Thus, what is beyond our own powers to obtain will be granted through their intercession.

-From a Sermon by St. Bernard

May God Reward Archbishop Dolan

2010-10-23T16:48:00.004-05:00

Archbishop Dolan is apparently getting fed up with media ~~bias~~ hatred toward the Catholic Church. Here is what he said recently regarding the New York Times and their anti-Catholicism:

I know, I should drop it. “You just have to get used to it,” so many of you have counselled me. “It’s been that way forever, and it’s so ingrained they don’t even know they’re doing it. So, let it go.”

I’m talking about the common, casual way The New York Times offends Catholic sensitivity, something they would never think of doing — rightly so — to the Jewish, Black, Islamic, or gay communities.

Two simple yet telling examples from one edition, last Friday, October 15.

First there’s the insulting photograph of the nun on page C20, this for yet another tiresome production making fun of Catholic consecrated women. This “gleeful” tale is described as “fresh and funny” in the caption beneath the quarter-page photo (not an advertisement). Granted, prurient curiosity about the lives of Catholic sisters has been part of the nativist, “know-nothing” agenda since mobs burned the Ursuline convent in Boston in the 1840’s, and since the huckster Rebecca Reed’s Awful Disclosures made the rounds in the 19th century. But still now cheap laughs at the expense of a bigoted view of the most noble women around?

Maybe I’m especially sensitive since I just came from the excellent exhibit on the contributions of Catholic nuns now out on Ellis Island. These are the women who tended to the homeless immigrants and refugees, who died nursing the abandoned in the cholera epidemic, who ran hospitals and universities decades before women did so in the non-Catholic sphere, who marched in Selma and today teach our poorest in our inner-city schools. These are the nuns mocked and held-up for snickering in our city’s newspaper.

Now turn to C29. This glowingly reviewed not-to-be missed “art” exhibit comes to us from Harvard, and is a display of posters from ACT UP. Remember them? They invaded of St. Patrick’s Cathedral to disrupt prayer, trampled on the Holy Eucharist, insulted Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger when he was here for a conference, and yelled four letter words while exposing themselves to families and children leaving Mass at the Cathedral. The man they most detested was Cardinal John O’Connor, who, by the way, spent many evenings caring quietly for AIDS patients, and, when everyone else ran from them, opened units for them at the Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center and St. Clare’s Hospital. Too bad for him. One of the posters in this “must see” exhibit is of Cardinal
O’Connor, in the form of a condom, referred to as a “scumbag,” the “art” there in full view in the photograph above the gushing review in our city’s daily.

Thanks for your patience with me. I guess I’m still new enough here in New York City that the insults of The New York Times against the Church still bother me. I know I should get over it. As we say in Missouri, it’s like “spitting into a tornado.”

Pope Benedict's Letter To Seminarians

2010-10-18T10:49:00.003-05:00

Brothers, listen to our shepherd (emphasis added):

Anyone who wishes to become a priest must be first and foremost a “man of God,” to use the expression of Saint Paul (1 Tim 6:11). For us God is not some abstract hypothesis; he is not some stranger who left the scene after the “big bang”. God has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. In the face of Jesus Christ we see the face of God. In his words we hear God himself speaking to us. It follows that the most important thing in our path towards priesthood and during the whole of our priestly lives is our personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. The priest is not the leader of a sort of association whose membership he tries to maintain and expand. He is God’s messenger to his people. He wants to lead them to God and in this way to foster authentic communion between all men and women. That is why it is so important, dear friends, that you learn to live in constant intimacy with God. When the Lord tells us to “pray constantly”, he is obviously not asking us to recite endless prayers, but urging us never to lose our inner closeness to God. Praying means growing in this intimacy. So it is important that our day should begin and end with prayer; that we listen to God as the Scriptures are read; that we share with him our desires and our hopes, our joys and our troubles, our failures and our thanks for all his blessings, and thus keep him ever before us as the point of reference for our lives. In this way we grow aware of our failings and learn to improve, but we also come to appreciate all the beauty and goodness which we daily take for granted and so we grow in gratitude. With gratitude comes joy for the fact that God is close to us and that we can serve him.

You Fool!

2010-10-17T18:04:00.004-05:00

Well folks, I have FINALLY got around to posting another homily. This one is from all the way back in August. Sorry for the delay, but enjoy it nevertheless.

Its Been Busy

2010-09-23T19:39:00.004-05:00

To the three of you who still check on on me:

Phew! It's been a crazy couple of weeks. A new quarter of studies began and I made a couple of weekend trips. One to Salt Lake City (no, I'm not becoming Mormon), and another to Kansas City for the Annual Meeting for the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem of which I am a member. That being said, I apologize for not posting during that time, but I hope to be back at it tomorrow. I am behind on my homilies, so I have a few to post in the near future, and I have some great liturgical stuff that I have been reading for classes to share with you.

No One Who Prays is Ever Alone

2010-08-30T20:31:00.005-05:00

Fr. Patrick Peyton

Once in awhile I log on to Archbishop Dolan's blog to see what he has to day, and today I found the following gem. It's worth the read.

Ah, it’s true: those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer –thank you, Nat King Cole –are coming into the station. Soon, all we’ll have are memories.

One stands out for me. I was on the Jersey Shore, at the Villa Saint Joseph, in company with priests. At supper I had quietly admired one of them, now retired, and listened as he joined in swapping stories about past assignments and colorful incidents from priestly life. It was clear to me that this particular priest had worked hard for over fifty-five years –poor parishes, teaching, caring for the sick. He was an example of a senior priest who had “been in the trenches” and served Jesus and His Church faithfully.

Later that evening I sat alone up on the second-floor porch and enjoyed the sea-breeze. I also smiled as I watched the married couples and families walk along the boardwalk, and had to admit to myself that it sure would be nice to have a wife, kids, or grandkids here with me. Not that I was regretting my priestly celibacy, mind you, because I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I guess I was just imagining “what-if …”

And then I saw the old priest below me on the front porch. He, too, was all alone. He, too, was looking at the couples and families walking-by. And I felt sorry for him. This priest, who had given it his all as a generous, committed priest, there all-by-himself in a rocker on the front porch.

Down I went. Yet, as I approached, I saw his lips moving, as if he were in conversation with a friend; his eyes were closed, although he was not asleep, because the rocker was moving; he hardly looked lonely at all, because there was a smile there …

Then I saw the rosary in his hand, and the breviary (the book of daily readings and prayers, mostly from the Bible, which we priests promise to pray daily) open on his lap … and I realized he was enjoying the best company of all.

I went back upstairs and finished my cigar.

And recalled what Pope Benedict XVI had observed earlier in the summer when he had begun his own vacation, “No one who prays is ever alone.”

Ongoing Conversation

2010-08-28T11:11:00.003-05:00

Recently someone posted a comment on a post from some time ago (click here to view origional post) which said,

Thank you, I thought this a good and direct sermon in general, but I believe you stated our voting responsibility very poorly (just after the 8 minute mark):

“But since we don’t live in a perfect world, and there’s no such thing as a politician that perfectly reflects the Church’s teaching on life, well then we must choose the lesser of two evils. We must support candidates who most closely reflect the truth about abortion.”

This comes across more like Republican Party propaganda than authentic Church teaching. We must never choose evil. (I understand that we may vote for a candidate in spite of his or her advocacy of evil policies as long as we continue to work against those policies, but that’s not what you said.) Since the 2010 elections are almost upon us, rather than carrying on here, I ask that you create a new post on the topic so we can carry on the discussion on the home page.

Have at it.

How Many Hours a Day Do You Pray?

2010-08-27T13:14:00.004-05:00

Emphasis added:

Rome, Italy, Aug 26, 2010 / 05:46 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Archpriest of
St. Peter's Basilica remembered at Mass on Thursday how a promise he made to Mother Teresa 40 years ago preserved his vocation. She taught him that without prayer, charity cannot exist.

Cardinal Comastri presided over the Eucharistic celebration at Rome's San Lorenzo in Damaso Church, which had a very welcoming feel with the presence of more than 100 Missionaries of Charity sisters, over 20 concelebrating priests, local government leaders and a very diverse collection of faithful.

Church-goers were pleasantly surprised by the presence of newly-arrived prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who also concelebrated and read a message from the Pope at the beginning of Mass.

In a homily which emphasized that love is the foundation of our existence, Cardinal Comastri remembered a personal encounter he had with the Missionaries of Charity's founder when he was just a young priest.

His first contact with Mother Teresa came when he mailed her a letter just after he was ordained a priest. Her "unexpected" response was especially striking, he recalled, because it was written on "very poor paper, in a very poor envelope."

At a later date, Cardinal Comastri sought her out when she was visiting Rome to thank her for the answer. When he found her, she asked him a question that left him "a little embarrassed."

"How many hours do you pray a day?" she asked.

In 1969-70, he recalled, the Church was in a time of "dispute," so thinking that it was "near heroism, then-Father Comastri explained to her that he said daily Mass in addition to praying the Liturgy of the Hours and the Rosary.”

To this, she responded flatly, "That's not enough.”

"Love cannot be lived minimally," she said, and then asked him to promise to do half an hour of adoration every day.

"I promised," said Cardinal Comastri, "and today I can say that this saved my priesthood."

Trying to defend his case at the time, he told Mother Teresa that he thought she was going to ask him how much charity he did. She answered him, "And do you think if I didn't pray I would be able to love the poor? It's Jesus that puts love in my heart when I pray."

She helped the poor, but it was "always Jesus' love," the saintly sister told him.

Then, Mother told him something that he would never forget: she told him to read Scripture.

Through Jesus' teachings, she said, we are reminded that "without God we're too poor to help the poor.” This, she explained, "is why so much assistance falls into the void. It doesn't change anything, it doesn't contribute anything because it doesn't bring love and it isn't born of prayer."

Concluding, Cardinal Comastri said, "Through this little woman ... we are reminded that charity is the apostolate of the Church and that charity is only born if we pray."

Guess I need to get to work...

Biretta tip to Fr. Z.

Sermon: 17th Sunday of the Year

2010-08-06T15:41:00.004-05:00

Never Give Up

Indulgence Alert

2010-08-02T11:30:00.003-05:00

From the famous Fr. Z (emphasis added by me):

St. Francis, as you know, repaired three chapels. The third was popularly called the Portiuncula or the Little Portion, dedicated to St. Mary of the Angels. It is now enclosed in a sanctuary at Assisi.

The friars came to live at the Little Portion in early 1211. It became the “motherhouse” of the Franciscans. This is where St. Clare came to the friars to make her vows during the night following Palm Sunday in 1212 and where Sister Death came to Francis on 3 October 1226.

Because of the favors from God obtained at the Portiuncula, St. Francis requested the Pope to grant remission of sins to all who came there. The privilege extends beyond the Portiuncula to others churches, especially held by Franciscans, throughout the world.

A plenary indulgence is a mighty tool for works of mercy and weapon in our ongoing spiritual warfare. A plenary indulgence is the remission, through the merits of Christ and the saints, through the Church, of all temporal punishment due to sin already forgiven.

To obtain the Portiuncula plenary indulgence, a person must visit the Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels at Assisi, or a Franciscan sanctuary, or one’s parish church, with the intention of honoring Our Lady of the Angels. Then perform the work of reciting the Creed and Our Father and pray for the Pope’s designated intentions. You should be free, at least intentionally, of attachment to venial and mortal sin, and truly repentant. Make your sacramental confession 8 days before or after. Participate at assist at Mass and receive Holy Communion 8 days before or after.

St. Mary Magdalene, Penitent

2010-07-22T20:02:00.003-05:00

When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and did not find the Lord’s body, she thought it had been taken away and so informed the disciples. After they came and saw the tomb, they too believed what Mary had told them. The text then says: The disciples went back home, and it adds: but Mary wept and remained standing outside the tomb.

We should reflect on Mary’s attitude and the great love she felt for Christ; for though the disciples had left the tomb, she remained. She was still seeking the one she had not found, and while she sought she wept; burning with the fire of love, she longed for him who she thought had been taken away. And so it happened that the woman who stayed behind to seek Christ was the only one to see him. For perseverance is essential to any good deed, as the voice of truth tells us: Whoever perseveres to the end will be saved.

At first she sought but did not find, but when she persevered it happened that she found what she was looking for. When our desires are not satisfied, they grow stronger, and becoming stronger they take hold of their object. Holy desires likewise grow with anticipation, and if they do not grow they are not really desires. Anyone who succeeds in attaining the truth has burned with such a great love. As David says: My soul has thirsted for the living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God? And so also in the Song of Songs the Church says: I was wounded by love; and again: My soul is melted with love.

Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek? She is asked why she is sorrowing so that her desire might be strengthened; for when she mentions whom she is seeking, her love is kindled all the more ardently.

Jesus says to her: Mary. Jesus is not recognised when he calls her “woman”; so he calls her by name, as though he were saying: Recognise me as I recognise you; for I do not know you as I know others; I know you as yourself. And so Mary, once addressed by name, recognises who is speaking. She immediately calls him rabboni, that is to say, teacher, because the one whom she sought outwardly was the one who inwardly taught her to keep on searching.

-St. Gregory the Great

What a great passage! It gave me some insight into why it is the Lord may make us wait for what we desire.

Statue Worshipers!

2010-07-14T14:42:00.005-05:00

Glad to see someone is taking on Jack Chick and his anti-Catholic tracts.

God Works in Amazing Ways

2010-07-13T17:34:00.001-05:00

A great story:

ROCKFORD, Illinois, July 9, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com)
- Staff at the Rockford abortion mill, which has been blaring the radio through its speakers to drown out pro-life counselors for several weeks, got an unpleasant surprise Friday morning when a local D.J. found out what his show was being used for.

LifeSiteNews.com has reported numerous times on the bizarre Rockford abortuary, which has taken to taunting pro-life witnesses with signage and other paraphernalia mocking Christianity and Jesus Christ, and even directing personal insults at local pro-lifers. (See coverage here)

The facility’s latest form of harassment, blasting a radio talk show through its outdoor speakers to keep women from hearing the message of pro-life counselors gathered outside, backfired when D.J. Doug McDuff's scheduled talk show guest cancelled, and he opened the phone lines for comment.

Seeing his chance, Rockford pro-life veteran Kevin Rilott whipped out his cell phone and was on air within seconds, loud and clear outside the abortion centre where he was standing. Rilott took the opportunity to explain to McDuff and his listeners how the radio station, WNTA, was being used to silence pro-lifers' attempt to help mothers in need.

McDuff, none too pleased, decided to take matters into his own hands. "God bless pro-lifers! God bless pro-lifers! God bless pro-lifers!" the D.J. shouted.

One of the staff members, who was walking from across the parking lot at that moment, was so aghast, Rilott told LifeSiteNews.com, that "I thought she was going to have a heart attack."

"The abortion mill nurse who heard this began waving her arms around her head like she couldn't believe what was being broadcast over the abortion mill public address system," related Rilott. "The look of almost terror and confusion on her face was priceless as she scrambled into the mill."

The D.J. then gave Rilott airtime to explain how those who keep vigil outside the Rockford mill come "to offer love, help, and hope to mothers in need," and to request prayer for mothers in need and an end to abortion.

The landlord of the abortion mill, still determined to drown out both the radio and the pro-lifers, charged outdoors with a chainsaw running. But even that was not enough to prevent at least one mother from hearing the message and choosing life for her baby.

Rilott said that a woman who had entered the clinic earlier in the morning left after the incident, before the abortionist arrived for the day. "She certainly heard it inside the clinic, and when she left she gave us a big smile and thumbs-up, and she left before the abortionists arrived," he told LSN. "So it was a good day."

Sermon: 15th Sunday of the Year

2010-07-13T08:32:00.003-05:00

Remember, you can subscribe to this podcast on itunes by clicking here.

The Power of A Father's Love

2010-07-10T11:32:00.003-05:00

Yeah, it's sappy, but very true and very beautiful.

One of the reasons priests are called "Father" is that they are called to do what this man's father did, to pick up his sons and daughters when they fall and help them to the finish line. Pray for priests, that they will be fathers after the heart of God.

Sermon: 14th Sunday of the Year

2010-07-08T15:04:00.003-05:00

Sorry it has been so long since I last posted. I have been traveling and am currently in Charlotte, NC. You might be wondering about the above photo, well, you will have to listen to the sermon to understand. This week I was visiting the parishes of Kingsbury County, South Dakota. Have a listen:

Sermon: 13th Sunday of the Year

2010-06-27T15:55:00.003-05:00

Where's Fr. Christensen? Part II

2010-06-25T15:17:00.005-05:00

Another of the three parishes I have been taking care of for the past couple of weeks is St. Anthony's in Selby, SD. Selby has a population of 647. The Church has a beautiful statue of St. Anthony:

Here is a wide view of the Sanctuary:

And a little closer view:

Above the Altar is suspended a beautiful crucifix with Jesus vested as a priest, after all on the cross He was both Priest and Victim. Something that you liturgy nuts (myself included of course) will notice is that Jesus is wearing a Maniple:

There is also a lovely statue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

St. Anthony's has a cabinet that has various liturgical items in it. Oh, if only some of them were still being used:

Next on our tour of the Catholic Churches of North Central South Dakota will be St. Joseph's in Eureka.

Where's Fr. Christensen?

2010-06-23T10:10:00.006-05:00

For the past couple weeks I have been ministering to three small parishes in north central South Dakota; St. Michael's in Herreid, St. Anthony's in Selby, and St. Joseph's in Eureka. In the next three posts I will share some photos I have taken of the three parishes. I will begin with Herreid, population 360 (in 2008).

Here is a view of the Church (I posted this on facebook and someone accused me of straightening all the hymnals for the picture):

Here is a closer view of the Sanctuary. Notice the lovely altar cloth on the altar in the foreground. It matches both the tabernacle veil and the vestments:

Here is a closer view of the High Altar which, thank God, was not removed after the "changes" of the Second Vatican Council. Notice the veiled tabernacle, one of my favorite things:

Here is one of the side altars, this one is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

They even have some of the "old school" confessionals. In case you are wondering, yes, I use them.

So there you have it, a few pictures from where I have been the past couple of weeks. The next post will have pictures from St. Anthony's in Selby.

Novena Of Confidence

2010-06-22T09:48:00.003-05:00

Since we are in the month of the Sacred Heart, I thought it might be a good time to share one of my favorite prayers. Recently a priest friend of mine shared it with me and now I pray it daily.

O Lord Jesus Christ, to your most Sacred Heart,
I confide this/these intention(s):

(State you intention(s) here...)

Only look upon me, and then do
What your Sacred Heart inspires.

Let your Sacred Heart decide
I count on it, I trust in it
I throw myself on Your mercy,
Lord Jesus! You will not fail me.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in You.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I believe in Your love for me.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Your Kingdom come.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus,
I have asked you for many favors,
But I earnestly implore this one.

Take it, and place it in Your open, broken Heart;
And, when the Eternal Father looks upon It,
Covered with Your Precious Blood,
He will not refuse it.

It will be no longer my prayer, but Yours, O Jesus.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You.
Let me not be disappointed. Amen.

Sermon: 12th Sunday of The Year

2010-06-20T18:15:00.002-05:00

Well folks, thanks to some encouragement from some of you I have started recording my sermons once again. You can listen to them here or in your ipod/iphone by subscribing to White Around The Collar on itunes by clicking here.

Blog Traffic

2010-06-19T09:42:00.005-05:00

This is what happens when Fr. Z links to you on his blog:

Maybe if this kind of traffic keeps up I will feel more obligated to post more regularly...

Welcome Readers of WDTPRS

2010-06-18T13:19:00.002-05:00

Fr. Z of the blog What Does the Prayer Really Say offers me culinary solidarity, so welcome to all you who have come via his blog.

Mmmm Mmmm Good

2010-06-17T13:54:00.009-05:00

Those of you who know me well know that I enjoy cooking alot (and if you have seen me, you know I also like to eat). Tonight I am hosting a brother priest and a transitional deacon for dinner and so a good part of today is being spent in the kitchen.

In the footsteps of the great and mighty Fr. Z, I think I will share the process with you via photos and commentary, this post with be updated as I go.

First, dinner will begin with a caprese salad. Here I am beginning the prep work:

The roast beast (aka beef) prior to preparation:

After a nice slathering of olive oil and a generous rubbing with garlic and a plentiful sprinkling with salt, pepper (fresh ground of course) and rosemary:

Into the oven it goes:

Final update. The roast was amazing. Due to some circumstances beyond my control (yes, there are such things) I was unable to take some pictures of the finished roast, but boy was it juicy and delicious. The caprese salad, garlic mashed potatoes and the brussel sprouts were delicious as well. We finished it all off with an american classic: apple pie and ice cream.

Now For a Little Humor

2010-06-15T10:55:00.001-05:00

Anticatholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice UPDATED

2010-06-13T19:50:00.005-05:00

I just saw this online and was horrified by what I saw. I can't believe that a company would sink so low as to mock something so Sacred to Catholics as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Don't get me wrong, I can laugh at myself, but this goes too far. Take a look, and if you feel so moved, send a note to Hyundai at consumeraffairs@hmausa.com to express your feelings, I did.

UPDATE:

Here is the response I recevied from Hyundai, I'm not sure if it's exactly an apology, but it's something I guess:

Hello and thank you for your feedback regarding Hyundai advertising.

Hyundai Motor America would like to thank you and other consumers for sharing concerns about a new ad titled "Wedding" which aired during the opening games of the FIFA World Cup broadcast last week. We take comments of this nature very seriously. Because of feedback like yours, we have removed the ad from all Hyundai communications and stopped airing it.

We credit the passionate World Cup viewers and Hyundai owners for raising this issue to us. The unexpected response created by the ad, which combined both soccer and religious motifs to speak to the passion of international soccer fans, prompted us to take a more critical and informed look at the spot. Though unintentional, we now see it was insensitive. We appreciate your feedback and hope you will accept our
sincere apologies.

With appreciation,

Hyundai Motor America

A Beauty Crowned with Thorns and Crucified

2010-05-17T20:37:00.004-05:00

Today in my Sacramental Aesthetics class I came across this amazing quote from Hans Urs Von Balthasar. I found it moving. Hopefully you will as well.

Both the person who is transported by natural beauty and the one snatched up by the beauty of Christ must appear to the world to be fools, and the world will attempt to explain their state in terms of psychological or even physiological laws (Acts 2.13). But they know what they have seen, and they care not one farthing what people may say. They suffer because of their love, and it is only the fact that they have been inflamed by the most sublime of beauties - a beauty crowned with thorns and crucified - that justifies their sharing in that suffering.

Yes, my friends, the crucifixion, with all its horror and shame is beautiful. Our wounds too, the ones we bear in our hearts, can be beautiful as well, if only we unite them to the sufferings of our Lord.

I Consider Myself Consecrated

2010-05-12T17:36:00.003-05:00

Today in Fatima, Portugal, His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the priests of the world to Our Blessed Mother. Here is the prayer he used:

Immaculate Mother,
in this place of grace,
called together by the love of your Son Jesus
the Eternal High Priest, we,
sons in the Son and his priests,
consecrate ourselves to your maternal Heart,
in order to carry out faithfully the Father’s Will.

We are mindful that, without Jesus,
we can do nothing good (cf. Jn 15:5)
and that only through him, with him and in him,
will we be instruments of salvation
for the world.

Bride of the Holy Spirit,
obtain for us the inestimable gift
of transformation in Christ.
Through the same power of the Spirit that
overshadowed you,
making you the Mother of the Saviour,
help us to bring Christ your Son
to birth in ourselves too.
May the Church
be thus renewed by priests who are holy,
priests transfigured by the grace of him
who makes all things new.

Mother of Mercy,
it was your Son Jesus who called us
to become like him:
light of the world and salt of the earth
(cf. Mt 5:13-14).

Help us,
through your powerful intercession,
never to fall short of this sublime vocation,
nor to give way to our selfishness,
to the allurements of the world
and to the wiles of the Evil One.

Preserve us with your purity,
guard us with your humility
and enfold us with your maternal love
that is reflected in so many souls
consecrated to you,
who have become for us
true spiritual mothers.

Mother of the Church,
we priests want to be pastors
who do not feed themselves
but rather give themselves to God for their brethren,
finding their happiness in this.
Not only with words, but with our lives,
we want to repeat humbly,
day after day,
Our “here I am”.

Guided by you,
we want to be Apostles
of Divine Mercy,
glad to celebrate every day
the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar
and to offer to those who request it
the sacrament of Reconciliation.

Advocate and Mediatrix of grace,
you who are fully immersed
in the one universal mediation of Christ,
invoke upon us, from God,
a heart completely renewed
that loves God with all its strength
and serves mankind as you did.

Repeat to the Lord
your efficacious word:
“They have no wine” (Jn 2:3),
so that the Father and the Son will send upon us
a new outpouring of
the Holy Spirit.
Full of wonder and gratitude
at your continuing presence in our midst,
in the name of all priests
I too want to cry out:
“Why is this granted me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:43).

Our Mother for all time,
do not tire of “visiting us”,
consoling us, sustaining us.
Come to our aid
and deliver us from every danger
that threatens us.
With this act of entrustment and consecration,
we wish to welcome you
more deeply, more radically,
for ever and totally
into our human and priestly lives.

Let your presence cause new blooms to burst forth
in the desert of our loneliness,
let it cause the sun to shine on our darkness,
let it restore calm after the tempest,
so that all mankind shall see the salvation
of the Lord,
who has the name and the face of Jesus,
who is reflected in our hearts,
for ever united to yours!
Amen!

The Extraordinary From of the Roman Rite

2010-05-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

The Servant of God, Pope Pius XII

offering the Extraordinary Form in St. Peter's Basilica

As some of you may know (particularly those who are my facebook friends) I have been learning how to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. One of my priest-friends, Fr. S., is also doing the same and is offering some wonderful commentary on the Extraordinary Form on his extraordinary blog. Here is a taste of what he has to say:

Ad Orientem

In many Catholic minds today, this means, "turning one's back to the people." It is amazing to me how pride creeps into the mind! Somehow, if the priest is facing the same direction as the people, he must be intending to show his superiority as opposed to his unity. What insidiousness! I find that facing the same direction as the faithful is a great help in humility while offering the Holy Mass. When facing the people, ("ad populum") there is a constant temptation to make the Holy Mass about the presider and his own whims. When the priest faces the same direction as the congregation, that desire disappears because no one sees his face. It is far easier to speak to the Father.

This orientation has a second benefit, too. So often when one goes to Holy Mass, it seems that the priest is trying to tell a story or to be having a dialogue with the congregation. While there are certainly exchanges between the priest and the faithful, the Mass is primarily said by the priest, in the person of Christ, to the Father. I recall the first time that I offered the Ordinary Form ad orientem. After Holy Mass, people said, "Father, that was dramatic! It was so clear when you were speaking to us and when you were speaking to God!" Now, can this be clear ad populum? Surely. That being said, it seems easier to me to me ad orientem.

The third benefit of this orientation, it seems to me, is its intimate nature. When Holy Mass is offered ad orientem, the priest does not have the sense of being watched, of being on display. Rather, there is a great deal of closeness by virtue of having no one between the priest and the crucifix. This is, to me, the most important benefit of offering Holy Mass ad orientem.

If you want to read more of his commentary, check him out at his blog: Clerical Reform.

What is a Christian?

2010-05-05T12:25:00.002-05:00

Ever wonder what a Christian is? Well, this is from Matins (the Office of Readings) for today, and gives a pretty good description:

Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign.

And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labour under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country. Like others, they marry and have children, but they do not expose them. They share their meals, but not their wives. They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law.

Christians love all men, but all men persecute them. Condemned because they are not understood, they are put to death, but raised to life again. They live in poverty, but enrich many; they are totally destitute, but possess an abundance of everything. They suffer dishonour, but that is their glory. They are defamed, but vindicated. A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference their response to insult. For the good they do they receive the punishment of malefactors, but even then they rejoice, as though receiving the gift of life. They are attacked by the Jews as aliens, they are persecuted by the Greeks, yet no one can explain the reason for this hatred.

To speak in general terms, we may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body. As the soul is present in every part of the body, while remaining distinct from it, so Christians are found in all the cities of the world, but cannot be identified with the world. As the visible body contains the invisible soul, so Christians are seen living in the world, but their religious life remains unseen. The body hates the soul and wars against it, not because of any injury the soul has done it, but because of the restriction the soul places on its pleasures. Similarly, the world hates the Christians, not because they have done it any wrong, but because they are opposed to its enjoyments.

Christians love those who hate them just as the soul loves the body and all its members despite the body’s hatred. It is by the soul, enclosed within the body, that the body is held together, and similarly, it is by the Christians, detained in the world as in a prison, that the world is held together. The soul, though immortal, has a mortal dwelling place; and Christians also live for a time amidst perishable things, while awaiting the freedom from change and decay that will be theirs in heaven. As the soul benefits from the deprivation of food and drink, so Christians flourish under persecution. Such is the Christian’s lofty and divinely appointed function, from which he is not permitted to excuse himself.

- From a letter to Diognetus

Excellent Homily

2010-04-27T08:56:00.002-05:00

Bishop Slattery hit a homerun with this homily. It's well worth the listen.

Part I

Part II

The Most Reverend Paul J. Swain's Chrism Mass Homily

2010-04-08T13:04:00.007-05:00

Well, now that Easter Day has passed (althought liturgically it continues to live on through the octave), I have a little time to post some excerpts from an excellent homily given by Bishop Paul Swain of the Diocese of Sioux Falls, SD on the occasion of the Chrism Mass. My favorite parts are in bold.

Thank you for coming tonight. The Chrism Mass is a celebration of who we are as church. We are the local church of Sioux Falls, over 35,000 square miles, more than 125,000 Catholics, 150 parishes, 23 schools, with one Cathedral, the mother church, currently being preserved, restored and beautified as a beacon of hope for generations to come...

In a few minutes the priests gathered around the bishop will renew their ordination promises, as priests will do throughout the universal church in the days before Easter. Then the sacred oils of chrism, of catechumens and of the sick will be consecrated or blessed. They will then be dispersed throughout the diocese to be used for baptisms, confirmations, ordinations and the sacrament of the sick, a sign that we are one family with many homes. Chrism Mass focuses on the priesthood, as our readings relate. Yet we do so not in a way that suggests other vocations are lesser ones, only different and distinct. We celebrate married life, single life, religious life and the diaconate. We are one family, one body as St. Paul described the church. We need all of its parts to function in unity with one another if we are to continue the mission and ministry of Christ until he comes again.

Yet tonight we do honor priests and pray for an increase in their number. Without priests, there would be no Holy Eucharist. We especially want to acknowledge those priests who will be celebrating significant ordination anniversaries this year....Thank you for your combined 295 years of priestly service. You are inspirations to us. We also with grateful hearts remember those ordained who have died since our last Chrism Mass....

This Chrism Mass is especially meaningful as we celebrate the Year for Priests. When Pope Benedict XVI declared this special year he identified its purpose as “to encourage priests in … striving for spiritual perfection on which, above all, the effectiveness of their ministry depends.” In the context of the secularism of our day, the culture of death, the sinfulness and scandal that has infiltrated the Church, the lack of civility in public and personal affairs, and the uncertainty of the future, I believe that the need for good and holy priests is especially urgent in our day. A new evangelization is desperately needed. It is our sacred mission. The salvation of souls is at stake. Ours is a high calling and a difficult one. With this task before us, the difference between a priest filled with the Spirit and a dispirited priest is apparent to all.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan recounted this story: A priest in his home diocese of St. Louis in 1962 had the privilege of an audience with Pope John XXIII. There were about ten other priests present and he was last in line to greet the pontiff. Each of the priests before him introduced himself to the Pope, told him what he did as a priest, and then knelt to kiss the Pope’s ring. “I am a university president,” the first one reported. “Holy Father, I am chancellor of my diocese,” said the next. And so on. As Pope John came to the priest from St. Louis, the priest felt rather low, because he thought his priestly work was hardly as exalted as those nine before him. In almost a whisper, he said, “Holy Father, all I am is a parish priest.” Pope John genuflected before him, kissed his hands, and said, “That’s the greatest priestly work of all.” Indeed it is. How precious are the souls that are placed in our care. How fragile are we as we seek to serve them with humility and hope. But it is not on our shoulders alone. We are instruments of Christ, not miracle workers. Pope Benedict XVI told priests on his visit to Poland: “The faithful expect only one thing from priests: that they be specialists in promoting the encounter between man and God. The priest is not asked to be an expert in economics, construction, or politics. He is expected to be an expert in the spiritual life.” We cannot be so to others unless we are spiritually grounded ourselves. And we must accept the fact that are not called to be everything to everyone, though the unrealistic expectations of some on what we priests ought to do and how to do it is wearing. We are called to use the gifts we have to be men of the Holy Eucharist, men of and in Christ. Without spiritual grounding we cannot live up to such a high calling. There is a Trinity of spiritual nourishment that can help us toward spiritual perfection. They are prayer, study and sacrament. That means daily prayer that is more than routine and obligatory, spiritual reading and continuing theological reflection that informs and inspires, and regular reception of the sacraments ourselves while praying and administering them well for others not for ourselves. Without these three, which all come down to relating our lives totally to Christ, we can lose our spiritual strength and motivation.

We can be encouraged by those who went before, the known saints, and those unknown to others who have touched and shaped our lives. They faced tough challenges and persevered in faith. Today is the 30th anniversary of the death of Archbishop Oscar Romero, killed while celebrating Holy Mass in El Salvador. His life and martyrdom reminds us of our call to seek justice especially for the poor and vulnerable and to respect life in its fullest sense, at conception, at natural death, and all the years inbetween. Pope Benedict has asked us to reflect on St. John Vianney, patron of all priests. He does not expect us to become like this saint who was truly unique, but to rediscover in his priesthood the core of what priesthood ought to be about for us. I have placed here on the altar a relic of the inspirational St. John Vianney which was in the possession of one on our own inspirational priests, Msgr. John McEneaney.

St. John was sent to evangelize a remote village where faith was lacking. Benedictine Abbot Martin Marty, who became the first bishop of Sioux Falls, came from Europe to the Dakota Territory to Evangelize those here who did not know of Christ’s love and mercy. Others followed to our own day. You know their names. The need for such personal and sacrificial evangelization is as great if not greater today. What motivated and sustained them? Perhaps we ought to study and model those priests of the prairie in whose legacy we live.

The story is told of a worldly lawyer from Paris who went to Ars to see for himself this priest who was called a living saint. He came back to Paris and began attending Mass, going to confession and living the faith. He was asked “what did that priest say to you that convinced you to begin practicing the faith again.” The attorney replied, “Well, I really could not even understand him. He was not a good speaker and his accent was thick. It was not what he said that changed me. It was what I saw. What I saw was God in a man.” My brother priests, who do others see in us?

And we can be inspired by the Blessed Mother. Tonight is the Vigil of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel came to the young Mary and told her God has called her to a special vocation, to be the Mother of God, and ultimately the mother of us all. She pondered as do we all, yet she responded with the humility to which we all are called, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you say,” as God wills. That in essence is what we will recommit to in our priestly promises of service.

A retreat master told the story of a priest in the early 1900s who was a circuit rider going on horseback from village to village to celebrate the sacraments, not unlike the early days of our diocese. After celebrating Holy Mass a lady said to him, “Father, have you heard about old man Jones. They say he is dying.” Immediately the priest was lead on horseback many miles to a dilapidated one-room cabin. Inside on a cot was an old, black man with hands calloused from hard work, now emaciated from cancer. He likely had been a slave or a child of slaves. When he saw the priest he exclaimed, “Father, I knew you would come.” The priest heard his confession, gave him Holy Communion, the sacrament of Extreme Unction as it was in those days. He said he heard the dark rasp of death from the man, so he knelt down by the bed, held the man’s hand and prayed the rosary. Suddenly the weak, cancer-ridden man sat up and pointed behind the priest and shouted: “I see the Blessed Mother and she’s smiling at you and me.” The priest turned toward where the man was looking but only saw the darkness. He turned back; the old man was dead. The priest recalled, “I stayed there, kneeling on the floor in darkness and I held that old man’s hands until they grew cold. And I cried, and I thanked God that I was a priest.”

I thank God that I am a priest. We thank God for you the priests of and in the Diocese of Sioux Falls, present and past. I am humbled and proud to be your bishop. May others see in each of us, God in a man.

Alleluia! Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T06:00:00.002-05:00

Victimae Paschali Laudes

Christians, to the Paschal Victim
Offer your thankful praises.

A Lamb the sheep redeems;
Christ, who only is sinless,
reconciles sinners to the Father.

Death and life have contended
in that combat stupendous:
The Prince of life, who dies, reigns immortal.

Speak, Mary, declaring
what you saw, wayfaring.
"The tomb of Christ, who is living,
The glory of Jesus' resurrection;

Bright angels attesting,
the shroud and napkin resting.
Yes, Christ my hope is arisen;
to Galilee he goes before you."

Christ indeed from death is risen,
our new life obtaining.
Have mercy, Victor King, ever reigning.
Amen. Alleluia!

We Adore You O Christ and We Bless You, Because By Thy Holy Cross Thou Hast Redeemed the World

2010-04-02T06:00:00.001-05:00

The Reproaches from the Mass of the Presanctified on Good Friday

I.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I led you out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom,
but you led your Savior to the cross.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

Holy is God!

Holy and Strong!

Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us!

For forty years I led you safely throught the desert.
I fed you with manna from heaven
and brought you to a land of plenty;
but you led your Savior to a cross.

What more could I have done for you?
I planted you as my faires vine,
but you yielded only bitterness:
when I was thirsty you gave me vinegar to drink,
and you pierced your Sacior with a lance.

Holy is God!

Holy and Strong!

Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us!

II.

For your sake I scourged your captors and their firstborn sons,
but you brought your scourges down on me.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I led you from slavery to freedom
and drowned your captors in the seas,
but you handed me over to your high priests.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I opened the seda beofre you,
but you opened my side with a spear.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I led you on your way in a pilar of cloud,
but you led me to Pilate's court.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

The Passover is Nearly Upon Us

2010-03-31T06:00:00.000-05:00

So let us take our part in the Passover prescribed by the law, not in a literal way, but according to the teaching of the Gospel; not in an imperfect way, but perfectly; not only for a time, but eternally. Let us regard as our home the heavenly Jerusalem, not the earthly one; the city glorified by angels, not the one laid waste by armies. We are not required to sacrifice young bulls or rams, beasts with horns and hoofs that are more dead than alive and devoid of feeling; but instead, let us join the choirs of angels in offering God upon his heavenly altar a sacrifice of praise. We must now pass through the first veil and approach the second, turning our eyes toward the Holy of Holies. I will say more: we must sacrifice ourselves to God, each day and in everything we do, accepting all that happens to us for the sake of the Word, imitating his passion by our sufferings, and honouring his blood by shedding our own. We must be ready to be crucified.
If you are a Simon of Cyrene, take up your cross and follow Christ. If you are crucified beside him like one of the thieves, now, like the good thief, acknowledge your God. For your sake, and because of your sin, Christ himself was regarded as a sinner; for his sake, therefore, you must cease to sin. Worship him who was hung on the cross because of you, even if you are hanging there yourself. Derive some benefit from the very shame; purchase salvation with your death. Enter paradise with Jesus, and discover how far you have fallen. Contemplate the glories there, and leave the other scoffing thief to die outside in his blasphemy.
If you are a Joseph of Arimathea, go to the one who ordered his crucifixion, and ask for Christ’s body. Make your own the expiation for the sins of the whole world. If you are a Nicodemus, like the man who worshipped God by night, bring spices and prepare Christ’s body for burial. If you are one of the Marys, or Salome, or Joanna, weep in the early morning. Be the first to see the stone rolled back, and even the angels perhaps, and Jesus himself.
- From a Homly by St. Gregory of Nazianzen

Retreat

2010-03-30T06:00:00.000-05:00

This year I am doing something that a priest would rarely get to do. I am going on retreat for Holy Week. Myself and two brother priests who are studying at the Liturgical Institute will be on retreat from today until Easter Monday at St. Louis Abbey in St. Louis, Missouri. Please pray for us that the retreat will be a powerful time of communion with the Lord who suffered, died, and rose so that we might have life.

Pray for the Pope

2010-03-29T06:00:00.000-05:00

From Archbishop Timothy Dolan during his Homily for Palm Sunday:

May I ask your patience a couple of minutes longer in what has already been a lengthy — yet hopefully uplifting —Sunday Mass?

The somberness of Holy Week is intensified for Catholics this year.

The recent tidal wave of headlines about abuse of minors by some few priests, this time in Ireland, Germany, and a re-run of an old story from Wisconsin, has knocked us to our knees once again.

Anytime this horror, vicious sin, and nauseating crime is reported, as it needs to be, victims and their families are wounded again, the vast majority of faithful priests bow their heads in shame anew, and sincere Catholics experience another dose of shock, sorrow, and even anger.

What deepens the sadness now is the unrelenting insinuations against the Holy Father himself, as certain sources seem frenzied to implicate the man who, perhaps more than anyone else has been the leader in purification, reform, and renewal that the Church so needs.

Sunday Mass is hardly the place to document the inaccuracy, bias, and hyperbole of such aspersions.

But, Sunday Mass is indeed the time for Catholics to pray for “ . . . Benedict our Pope.”

And Palm Sunday Mass is sure a fitting place for us to express our love and solidarity for our earthly shepherd now suffering some of the same unjust accusations, shouts of the mob, and scourging at the pillar, as did Jesus.

No one has been more vigorous in cleansing the Church of the effects of this sickening sin than the man we now call Pope Benedict XVI. The dramatic progress that the Catholic Church in the United States has made — — documented again just last week by the report made by independent forensic auditors — — could never have happened without the insistence and support of the very man now being daily crowned with thorns by groundless innuendo.

Does the Church and her Pastor, Pope Benedict XVI, need intense scrutiny and just criticism for tragic horrors long past?

Yes! He himself has asked for it, encouraging complete honesty, at the same time expressing contrition, and urging a thorough cleansing.

All we ask is that it be fair, and that the Catholic Church not be singled-out for a horror that has cursed every culture, religion, organization, institution, school, agency, and family in the world.

Sorry to bring this up … but, then again, the Eucharist is the Sunday meal of the spiritual family we call the Church. At Sunday dinner we share both joys and sorrows. The father of our family, il papa, needs our love, support, and prayers.

I whole heartedly agree.

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

2010-03-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

Today I wanted to share two beautiful pieces of music in honor of Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion. The first is the antiphon for the beginning of the Procession, and the second is my favorite hymn for Palm Sunday.

Will You Accept the Invitation?

2010-03-27T06:00:00.000-05:00

Virtual Pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem

2010-03-26T06:00:00.000-05:00

View of the interior of the Tomb of Jesus.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the premiere pilgrimage site for Christians, but sadly, many never get the opportunity to visit the very place where the Lord Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the dead. Thanks to some friends, I found this virtual tour of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Passiontide would be a wonderful time to make a virtual pilgrimage to this holy site.

Click here to go to the website.

Where You Are From

2010-03-25T06:00:00.001-05:00

Recently someone commented to me that my readership seems to be kind of international, and in fact it is. Here are just some of the countries that visitors to this blog are from:

Get Thee to Sunday Mass

2010-03-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

Apparently it is a tradition for the Archbishop of New York to write a letter to his flock on St. Patrick's day. This year Archbishop Timothy Dolan wrote to his people on the topic of Sunday Mass. At one particular point he addresses those who are already going to Mass every Sunday. He encourages them to evangelize their friends on this topic by saying

How about giving this message to someone who no longer does, especially if he or
she has stopped going to Sunday Mass? Get ready for the excuses:

– “Sunday is our only free time together.” (Great, what better way to spend that time than by praying together at Mass).

– “I pray my own way.” (Nice idea. But, odds are, you don’t).

– “The sermon is boring.” (You may have a point).

– “I hate all the changes at Mass.” (see below)

– “I want more changes at Mass.” (see above)

– “Until the church makes some changes in its teaching, I’m staying away.” (But, don’t we go to Mass to ask God to change us, not to tell God how we want Him and His Church to change to suit us?)

– “Everybody there is a hypocrite and always judging me.” (Who’s judging whom here?)

. . . and the list goes on.

And the simple fact remains: the Eucharist is the most beautiful, powerful prayer that we have. To miss it is to miss Jesus — His Word, His people, His presence, His Body and Blood.

Amen! It's high time we share things like this with our friends and family who don't observe the Day of the Lord, so get to it.

Heath Care Reform, Repost of Old Homily

2010-03-22T08:09:00.002-05:00

When I watched as Health Care Reform Passed and as "Pro-Life" Democrats sold out I was reminded of a homily I preached after an Abortion Ban failed to pass in my home state of South Dakota. I thought I might re-post that homily today.

About a month ago I had a Thursday morning school Mass. It was a couple of days after a group of pastors here in Sioux Falls had abandoned their role to teach the truth to come out in opposition to the Abortion ban. That morning for Mass I was wearing a green vestment as I am today.

I started my homily that morning by trying to convince the children that the vestment I was wearing was actually white. I told them that I have always believed that this color was white…most of them told me no…it wasn’t white…it was green. I persisted…no, I said, this is white…I told them there were lots of people who believed that this color is white so surely it must be white. Yes, they did not believe me…they knew it wasn’t…they knew it was green. Finally, after asking the kindergarteners, the sixth graders and even the teachers, I gave in. I told them that it was green, but just like I tried to convince them that what was actually green is a white, there are people who will try to tell them that killing is ok; that it is not wrong. It told them that in their lives they will run into a lot of people who will try to tell them that something they know is wrong is actually right, like killing, or steeling, or telling lies, and sometimes those people might be important people like presidents, teacher, or even pastors. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that we stick up for what we know is right.

I reminded them that anyone who tells them that something contrary to what God tells them is wrong. God is always right, he can’t be wrong, he knows everything. He is God. Green is green, it will always be green, it will never be white no matter how many people say it isn’t. Killing is wrong. It will always be wrong. It will never be right. So when people try to tell you it is: Don’t listen, no matter who it is.

That’s what I told them four weeks ago. Then came the election.

On Wednesday, the day after the election, I had the School Mass yet again. I have to admit, I was a bit sad, a bit upset, and even a little angry about the election results. I hadn’t slept much the night before; I couldn’t stop thinking about how Satan must be having quite a celebration. The idea of having to be upbeat for the children really didn’t appeal to me…but nevertheless I did my best.

When the time came for the homily I stood right here, and I looked out into the sea of children and saw the innocence purity and innocence in their eyes my heart melted, and I knew this is exactly where I needed to be on such a dark day.

I asked them to think back to a few weeks before when I tried to convince them that the green vestment I was wearing was white. I asked them if they remembered how I told them that green is green no matter who tells them otherwise. They said yes. I asked them if they remembered what I said about killing, how it has always been wrong, and how it will always be wrong no matter how many people tell them that it’s is right. Again, they nodded affirmatively. Then the emotion welled up inside of me, and my eyes began to tear up, and with a cracking voice and I said “Yesterday we had an election, and a lot of people said it’s ok to kill…but we know it’s not. We know that killing is always wrong…it will never be right…and those who think it right is are wrong…and they will always be wrong even if a lot of people say they are right. Boys and girls” I went on “sometimes it feels like the devil is winning, but he’s not. The devil will never win…he will always lose. Right will always beat wrong. Good will always beat evil. Life will always beat death. In the last book of the bible it tells us that in the end…after a great war between God and the devil, between good and evil, between life and death…God wins.”

You know, Holy Spirit Family, if I am honest with myself didn’t preach that homily on Wednesday to the children as much as I did to myself. I, like you, need a reminder that even though right now it feels like the Satan won…he didn’t. It’s just like Good Friday. It looked hopeless, it looked like God lost, it seemed as if Satan had triumphed, it looked like the darkness of evil had descended upon us forever. But three days later Satan’s head was crushed under the foot of the risen Christ. Life conquered death! Goodness, Truth and beauty had won out.

My people…Don’t lose hope! Life WILL triumph over death! We’ve read the last Chapter…and we win! We win.

Passiontide

2010-03-21T06:00:00.000-05:00

Today, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, begins Passiontide. In many parishes the crucifixes and statues will be veiled until the Easter Vigil to remind us that sin separates us from God and from Heaven, and that sin leaves us isolated and alone. These last two weeks of Lent are a time to enter in even more fully into the spirit of the season. If we have not been so faithful to our lenten penances and good works, it's a time to regroup. If we have yet to get to confession during this season, well, it's time to go. If you already have went to confession this Lent, it's time to go again. We can never confess to much or too many times.

Just the other day I was reading a few things about the value of frequent confession in an excellent book entitled Lukwarmness: The Devil in Disguise, by Francis Carvajal. Here is what he said regarding making a good confession:

Classical spiritual authors have handed down to us sixteen characteristics of a good Confession: simple, humble, pure, faithful, frequent, clear, discrete, voluntary, without boasting, integral, secret, sorrowful, prompt, firm, self accusatory, dispoing on to obedience. Normally, our confessions should be concise. We should say what has to be said without becoming unduly wordy. More than anything else, our confessions have to be done with a supernatural spirit. We are asking Christ Himself to forgive our sins. This attitude will help us to put aside that temptation concering what the priest will think of me...

[...]

Confession should make us happy. Our Father God is awaiting us with open arms just like in the parable about the prodigal son. He is ready to run right up to us to prove his infinite paternal love.

My friends, get thee to confession.

Prayer for Government

2010-03-20T15:45:00.001-05:00

We pray, Thee O Almighty and Eternal God! Who through Jesus Christ hast revealed Thy glory to all nations, to preserve the works of Thy mercy, that Thy Church, being spread through the whole world, may continue with unchanging faith in the confession of Thy Name. We pray Thee, who alone art good and holy, to endow with heavenly knowledge, sincere zeal, and sanctity of life, our chief bishop, Pope N., the Vicar of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the government of his Church; our own bishop, N., all other bishops, prelates, and pastors of the Church; and especially those who are appointed to exercise amongst us the functions of the holy ministry, and conduct Thy people into the ways of salvation. We pray Thee O God of might, wisdom, and justice! Through whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with Thy Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of these United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness, and be eminently useful to Thy people over whom he presides; by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion; by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy; and by restraining vice and immorality. Let the light of Thy divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge; and may perpetuate to us the blessing of equal liberty. We pray for his excellency, the governor of this state , for the members of the assembly, for all judges, magistrates, and other officers who are appointed to guard our political welfare, that they may be enabled, by Thy powerful protection, to discharge the duties of their respective stations with honesty and ability. We recommend likewise, to Thy unbounded mercy, all our brethren and fellow citizens throughout the United States, that they may be blessed in the knowledge and sanctified in the observance of Thy most holy law; that they may be preserved in union, and in that peace which the world cannot give; and after enjoying the blessings of this life, be admitted to those which are eternal. Finally, we pray to Thee, O Lord of mercy, to remember the souls of Thy servants departed who are gone before us with the sign of faith and repose in the sleep of peace; the souls of our parents, relatives, and friends; of those who, when living, were members of this congregation, and particularly of such as are lately deceased; of all benefactors who, by their donations or legacies to this Church, witnessed their zeal for the decency of divine worship and proved their claim to our grateful and charitable remembrance. To these, O Lord, and to all that rest in Christ, grant, we beseech Thee, a place of refreshment, light, and everlasting peace, through the same Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior. Amen.

The above prayer was composed by John Carroll, Archbishop of Baltimore, in 1791.

The Infant of Prague

2010-03-18T06:00:00.001-05:00

Those of you who know me well will know that I have a devotion to the Infant of Prague. In fact as I write this, there is a statue of the Holy Infant on my desk. You may have, at times, wondered why a man would have like a devotion that is represented by a statue of the child Jesus dressed up in vestments that to most look like "a dress." I have always associated this devotion with innocence and purity, and so I was very pleased to see Fr. Dwight Longenecker write about this very thing on his blog, Standing on My Head. Here are some excerpts of what he had to say:

Catholics should understand that the Infant of Prague is very alien to the typical Bob Jones graduate...The first impression is, "Good heavens! Why is baby Jesus dressed up like that? Is that some kind of fancy Catholic idol or what?" But putting my prejudice on one side and wanting to 'affirm and not deny' I learned about the history of the devotion and was given a very nice tour of the shrine including a look at a cupboard full of all the different outfits they had for him. It prompted a question on the drive back, "Can you get Infant of Prague kits? You know, buy the baby in diapers and then you buy the outfits separately? What does baby Jesus wear under the royal robes?"

Seriously, I wanted to try to understand this rather unusual devotion. Then I learned that the Infant of Prague actually started out with Saint Theresa of Avila. She had a devotion to the child Jesus. Bingo! A connection with my favorite Therese of Lisieux who also had a devotion to the child Jesus and spiritual childhood and spiritual innocence. I'm beginning to get it.

So after the tour I thought I'd kneel down and see if I could get hold of this a little bit more. As I'm kneeling I begin to understand the child dressed in
royal robes and crown, for the whole image tells us that although he was a child born naked and squawking in a stable he was at the same time the royal prince of the house of David. He was a simple child, yet King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Furthermore, this is my destiny. I cannot enter the kingdom unless I become as a little child, but to enter the kingdom and be a royal adopted prince, a Son of God and a brother of Jesus is my ultimate destiny.

Then as I'm kneeling there I begin to see that this child is also the focus of our prayers for spiritual childhood and innocence for ourselves, but it should also be the one we turn to pleading for protection for our own children and for the innocence which is being lost every day to the corrupt morals of our day...

Then a few days later he has another post on his blog that says:

So I find myself in Oklahoma at the National Shrine of the Infant of Prague. I have recounted how I was surprised to find myself attracted to the infant. I had never quite made the connection that beneath the dress up baby Jesus doll was a devotion to the child Jesus, and that this was connected with one of my favorite saints, Therese of Lisieux. OK, so the connection was made, and I prayed to the Infant Jesus for a special prayer request which is deep down and personal and by golly, the prayer has been answered amazingly.

Then last week I am in Florida with the eighth graders...

[...]

...I make my way to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and there is a large, beautifully dressed Infant of Prague. I kneel down to pray and start laughing because I think God is laughing at me. The Infant of Prague! For me he was always kind of the extreme of Catholic devotion...a cultural mystery to me and while I never mocked, it is true that I never understood. Then suddenly before this image my experience at the Shrine in Oklahoma sweeps over me again. I can see it all, but can't put it into words. Just to say that I experienced great joy and a great knowledge of God's sense of humor. He's almost saying to me, "Look you silly proud person. I was trying to get through to you all these years, and you didn't even give me a second thought. I've got you at last, and it was through the Infant of Prague...that image and that devotion you looked down on as silly and sentimental and girly. Ha!! Gotcha!!"

It was a precious moment and I got up from my knees with a goofy grin of joy on my face and admitted to myself that I loved the Infant of Prague, that I thought him beautiful and I even liked his fancy outfit. I walked out of the Cathedral thinking about His beautiful embroidered robes and thought to myself...'to be clothed in His righteousness.' Now wouldn't that be something?

I guess men can have a devotion to the Infant of Prague and not question his masculinity. Thank God!

Prayer to the Infant of Prague

O Holy Child Jesus, who shed Your blessings on whoever invokes Your name, look kindly on us who kneel humbly before Your holy Image, and hear our prayers. We commend to Your mercy the many poor and needy people who trust in Your Divine Heart.

Lay Your all powerful hand upon them and help them in their needs. Lay Your hand upon the sick, to cure them and sanctify their suffering; upon those in distress, to console them; upon sinners, to draw them into the light of your divine grace; upon all those who, stricken with grief and suffering, turn trustingly to You for loving help.

Lay Your hand also upon all of us and give us Your blessing. O little King, grant the treasures of Your divine mercy to all the world, and keep us now and always in the grace of your love!

FYI

2010-03-16T17:39:00.004-05:00

Picture is of the restoration of St. Joseph Cathedral in Sioux falls in progress.

More pictures of the progress can be found at the St. Joseph Cathedral website.

This coming friday is the Solemnity of St. Joseph. Canon 1251 from the Code of Canon Law applies to this Solemnity:

"Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ."

I thought you might like to know.

Why I Love Pope Benedict XVI

2010-03-16T06:00:00.001-05:00

"Following Vatican Council II some people were convinced that all was new, that a new Church existed, that the pre-conciliar Church had come to an end and that there would be another, completely different Church, an anarchic utopia. Yet thanks to God the wise helmsmen of the ship of Christ, Paul VI and John Paul II, defended on the one hand the novelty of the Church and, at the same time, the uniqueness and continuity of the Church, which is always a Church of sinners, and always a place of grace." - Pope Benedict XVI

United States Catholic Bishops Current Plan for Health Care Reform

2010-03-15T20:17:00.003-05:00

This evening the following statement from Francis Cardinal George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops was released. It provides the reasoning behind the Conference of Bishops rejection of the current heath care reform. It would be wise to read the statement and then act accordingly. My suggestion would be to call or e-mail your Senators and Representatives and express your opinion. Here is the statement:

The Cost is too High; the Loss is too Great

The Catholic Bishops of the United States have long and consistently advocated for the reform of the American health care system. Their experience in health care and in Catholic parishes has acquainted them with the anguish of mothers who are unable to afford prenatal care, of families unable to ensure quality care for their children, and of those who cannot obtain insurance because of preexisting conditions.

Throughout the discussion on health care over the last year, the bishops have advocated a bipartisan approach to solving our national health care needs. They have urged that all who are sick, injured or in need receive necessary and appropriate medical assistance, and that no one be deliberately killed through an expansion of federal funding of abortion itself or of insurance plans that cover abortion. These are the provisions of the long standing Hyde amendment, passed annually in every federal bill appropriating funds for health care; and surveys show that this legislation reflects the will of the majority of our fellow citizens. The American people and the Catholic bishops have been promised that, in any final bill, no federal funds would be used for abortion and that the legal status quo would be respected.

However, the bishops were left disappointed and puzzled to learn that the basis for any vote on health care will be the Senate bill passed on Christmas Eve. Notwithstanding the denials and explanations of its supporters, and unlike the bill approved by the House of Representatives in November, the Senate bill deliberately excludes the language of the Hyde amendment. It expands federal funding and the role of the federal government in the provision of abortion procedures. In so doing, it forces all of us to become involved in an act that profoundly violates the conscience of many, the deliberate destruction of unwanted members of the human family still waiting to be born.

What do the bishops find so deeply disturbing about the Senate bill? The points at issue can be summarized briefly. The status quo in federal abortion policy, as reflected in the Hyde Amendment, excludes abortion from all health insurance plans receiving federal subsidies. In the Senate bill, there is the provision that only one of the proposed multi-state plans will not cover elective abortions – all other plans (including other multi-state plans) can do so, and receive federal tax credits. This means that individuals or families in complex medical circumstances will likely be forced to choose and contribute to an insurance plan that funds abortions in order to meet their particular health needs.

Further, the Senate bill authorizes and appropriates billions of dollars in new funding outside the scope of the appropriations bills covered by the Hyde amendment and similar provisions. As the bill is written, the new funds it appropriates over the next five years, for Community Health Centers for example (Sec. 10503), will be available by statute for elective abortions, even though the present regulations do conform to the Hyde amendment. Regulations, however, can be changed at will, unless they are governed by statute.

Additionally, no provision in the Senate bill incorporates the longstanding and widely supported protection for conscience regarding abortion as found in the Hyde/Weldon amendment. Moreover, neither the House nor Senate bill contains meaningful conscience protection outside the abortion context. Any final bill, to be fair to all, must retain the accommodation of the full range of religious and moral objections in the provision of health insurance and services that are contained in current law, for both individuals and institutions.

This analysis of the flaws in the legislation is not completely shared by the leaders of the Catholic Health Association. They believe, moreover, that the defects that they do recognize can be corrected after the passage of the final bill. The bishops, however, judge that the flaws are so fundamental that they vitiate the good that the bill intends to promote. Assurances that the moral objections to the legislation can be met only after the bill is passed seem a little like asking us, in Midwestern parlance, to buy a pig in a poke.

What is tragic about this turn of events is that it needn’t have happened. The status quo that has served our national consensus and respected the consciences of all with regard to abortion is the Hyde amendment. The House courageously included an amendment applying the Hyde policy to its Health Care bill passed in November. Its absence in the Senate bill and the resulting impasse are not an accident. Those in the Senate who wanted to purge the Hyde amendment from this national legislation are obstructing the reform of health care.

This is not quibbling over technicalities. The deliberate omission in the Senate Bill of the necessary language that could have taken this moral question off the table and out of play leaves us still looking for a way to meet the President’s and our concern to provide health care for those millions whose primary care physician is now an emergency room doctor. As Pope Benedict told Ambassador to the Holy See Miguel H. Diaz when he presented his credentials as the United States government’s representative to the Holy See, there is “an indissoluble bond between an ethic of life and every other aspect of social ethics.”

Two basic principles, therefore, continue to shape the concerns of the Catholic bishops: health care means taking care of the health needs of all, across the human life span; and the expansion of health care should not involve the expansion of abortion funding and of polices forcing everyone to pay for abortions. Because these principles have not been respected, despite the good that the bill under consideration intends or might achieve, the Catholic bishops regretfully hold that it must be opposed unless and until these serious moral problems are addressed.

Are you Ready?

2010-03-14T06:00:00.001-05:00

"There is a great uneasiness at this time in the world and in the Church, and that which is in question is the faith. It so happens now that I repeat to myself the obscure phrase of Jesus in the Gospel of St. Luke: ‘When the Son of Man returns, will He still find faith on the earth?’…I sometimes read the Gospel passage of the end times and I attest that, at this time, some signs of this end are emerging. Are we close to the end? This we will never know. We must always hold ourselves in readiness, but everything could last a very long time yet." — Pope Paul VI

What I'm Listening to These Days

2010-03-13T14:44:00.000-06:00

2010-03-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today in the Divine Office there is a reading from St. Gregory the Great, I thought it was worthy of sharing on this Friday of Lent.

Holy Job is a type of the Church. At one time he speaks for the body, at another for the head. As he speaks of its members he is suddenly caught up to speak in the name of their head. So it is here, where he says: I have suffered this without sin on my hands, for my prayer to God was pure.

Christ suffered without sin on his hands, for he committed no sin and deceit was not found on his lips. Yet he suffered the pain of the cross for our redemption. His prayer to God was pure, his alone out of all mankind, for in the midst of his suffering he prayed for his persecutors: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

Is it possible to offer, or even to imagine, a purer kind of prayer than that which shows mercy to one’s torturers by making intercession for them? It was thanks to this kind of prayer that the frenzied persecutors who shed the blood of our Redeemer drank it afterward in faith and proclaimed him to be the Son of God.

The text goes on fittingly to speak of Christ’s blood: Earth, do not cover over my blood, do not let my cry find a hiding place in you. When man sinned, God had said: Earth you are, and to earth you will return. Earth does not cover over the blood of our Redeemer, for every sinner, as he drinks the blood that is the price of his redemption, offers praise and thanksgiving, and to the best of his power makes that blood known to all around him.

Earth has not hidden away his blood, for holy Church has preached in every corner of the world the mystery of its redemption.

Notice what follows: Do not let my cry find a hiding place in you. The blood that is drunk, the blood of redemption, is itself the cry of our Redeemer. Paul speaks of the sprinkled blood that calls out more eloquently than Abel’s. Of Abel’s blood Scripture had written: The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the earth. The blood of Jesus calls out more eloquently than Abel’s, for the blood of Abel asked for the death of Cain, the fratricide, while the blood of the Lord has asked for, and obtained, life for his persecutors.

If the sacrament of the Lord’s passion is to work its effect in us, we must imitate what we receive and proclaim to mankind what we revere. The cry of the Lord finds a hiding place in us if our lips fail to speak of this, though our hearts believe in it. So that his cry may not lie concealed in us it remains for us all, each in his own measure, to make known to those around us the mystery of our new life in Christ.

Our Sunday Visitor Website

2010-03-10T10:49:00.002-06:00

You know, it makes a guy feel good when he finds his blog on the website for Our Sunday Visitor:

Just thought I would share.

Lenten Hymns

2010-03-10T09:56:00.006-06:00

Many of you are familiar with the Divine Office, or the Liturgy of the Hours. What some of you might not be aware of is that the hymns for the Divine Office were not translated into English, at least very few of them were. Instead we are stuck with much of the modern hymnody that gets old fast. The hymns that have been part of the Divine Office for centuries are rich in imagery and quite beautiful, especially when set to the origional chants. The Mundelein Psalter has translated some of these hymns and included them in the Psalter (which I recommend, by the way). Here is the hymn for Lauds (Morning Prayer) for Lent:

Now Christ, Thou Son of righteousness,

Let dawn our darkend spirits bless:

The light of grace to us restore

While day to earth returns once more.

Thou who dost give th'accepted time,

Give, too, a heart that mourns for crime,

Let those by mercy now be cured

Whom loving kindness long endured.

Spare not, we pray, to send us here

Some penance kindly but severe,

So let Thy gift of pard'ning grace

Our grievous sinfulness efface.

Soon will that day, Thy day, appear

And all things with its brightness cheer:

We will rejoice in it, as we

Return thereby to grace, and Thee.

Let all the world from shore to shore

Thee, gracious Trinity, adore;

Right soon Thy loving pardon grant,

That we our new-made song may chant. Amen.

I am particularly struck by two lines from this hymn. First, I am struck by the line in the second stanza that says "Give, too, a heart that mourns for crime." In our modern world we have forgotten how to mourn for our sins, our crimes against God. It is good to ask for the gift of understanding the effects of our sins, so that we may mourn for them.

Second, I like the third stanza because we ask the Lord to send us penance that is kindly, yet severe. Again, as modern men and women we tend to shy away from penance and mortification, yet it is penance and mortification that chisel away our hardness of heart and make us truly free to love as we ought to love. I think asking God to send us penance is a good prayer to pray, and the Church agrees, for this hymn is chanted daily in the Divine Office, or at least it is if you are using the Mundelein Psalter or the Latin Liturgy of Hours. To bad it's not in the English edition.

Traveling Today

2010-02-25T06:00:00.000-06:00

Pray for safe travel.

Get Thee To Confession!

2010-02-24T16:12:00.003-06:00

I read this on Archbishop Timothy Doland's blog today and thought it was worth sharing, so here you go:

A good friend of mine is pastor of a bustling, prestigious parish in a large city. He loves it, and they, him. A couple of years ago he shocked them one Sunday when, in his sermon he announced that, as much as he enjoyed being their pastor, he had asked the archbishop for a transfer. When the congregation gasped, he explained:

‘Well, I don’t think you need me. See, you must all be saints. I was sent to serve sinners. But, apparently there are none here in this parish, because I sit in the confessional with no customers!”

We’re called to be saints, but we’re sure not there yet. And a great help to get there is the sacrament of penance.

And Lent is a grand time to return to it!

Consider This Your Fasting Notification

2010-02-22T09:02:00.002-06:00

Check it out. It is really is quite amusing:

My favorite quote: "It [fasting] gets a bum rap, pound for pound it does, you know, people think it's for monks and supermodels, and stuff like that." Who would have thought I would ever see monks and supermodels in the same sentence.

St. Anthony of Padua's Relics

2010-02-18T06:00:00.000-06:00

Only us Catholics would get excited about this:

Pilgrims are being given the chance to see the 13th Century remains of St Anthony which go on display in a glass case today in Italy.

The display, which will last until Saturday will be in chapel of his tomb in Padua and marks the feast of the transfer of St Anthony, also known as the 'feast of the tongue'. This commemorates the first time his remains were moved in 1263, under the direction of St Bonaventure, and the final transfer to Relics Chapel of Padua's Basilica on February 15 1350.

St Anthony, patron saint of Padua, is also known as Anthony of Lisbon. When his coffin was moved 30 years after his burial it was opened and it is claimed most of his body was found to have returned to dust. However his tongue remained fresh, which was seen as a sign of his gift of preaching, and was kept in a separate relic box. Anthony's relics were last displayed in 1981, marking the 750th anniversary of his death. He is one of the 'quickest' saints in the history of the Catholic Church as he was canonized by Pope Gregory IX less than one year after he died.

Today he is one of the most famous saints and is often called upon by Catholics to help find lost possessions. He is also remembered as the namesake for the city of San Antonio, Texas; Spanish explorers in the area stopped there on his feast day (June 13) and named the river and settlement after him.

Ash Wednesday

2010-02-17T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today begins the holy season of Lent. Just yesterday I recieved the multi volume work of Dom Gueranger entitled the Liturgical Year. For today it says, among many other things, this:

Yesterday, the world was busy in its pleasures, and the very children of God were taking a joyous farewell to mirth: but this morning, all is changed. The solemn announcement, spoken of by the prophet has been proclaimed in Sion: The solemn fast of Lent, the season of expiation, the approach of the great anniversaries of our Redemption. Let us, then, rouse ourselves, and prepare for the spiritual combat.
But in this battling of the spirit against the flesh we need good armour. Our holy mother the Church knows how much we need it; and therefore does she summon us to ender into the house of God, that she may arm us for the holy contest.
[ ... ]
We are entering, to-day, upon a long campaign of the warfare spoken of by the apostles: forty days of battle, forty days of penance. We shall not turn cowards, if our sols can but be impressed with the conviction, that the battle and the penance must be gone through. Let us listen to the eloquence of the solemn rite which opens our Lent. Let us go whither our mother leads us...

Let us keep one another in prayer during this Holy Season.

Writing Papers...

2010-02-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

We are NOT amused...

Fr. Christensen, Fr. Richardson, and Fr. Johansen looking rather dour.

2010-02-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today begins the last week of classes this quarter, and being a procrastinator, I have much, much work to do this week. I have papers to finish and exams to prepare for. In the midst of all of this work I found myself complaining to myself and thinking this must be what hell is like. I know hell is certaly much worse than finals week, but that thought reminded me of this little explanation of Hell by Fr. Robert Barron, who teaches here at Mundelein. Enjoy...

A Promising Development at Mundelein Seminary

2010-02-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

It warms my heart to see this on the list of classes for next quarter. Will I be taking it? Absolutely!

Good Things Happening at the Liturgical Institute

2010-02-06T12:31:00.003-06:00

I am very blessed to be studying at The Liturgical Institute where so much liturgical progress is being made. Here is one example of the great things that are happening here that my classmate, Fr. Rob Johansen, posted on his blog. It includes an audio recording of the Alleluia from the Mass for the Presentation of the Lord. Go and take a listen by clicking here, it was magnificent.

SoulWow

2010-02-06T12:19:00.001-06:00

The ShamWow might be a ripoff, but this surely is not:

The Priesthood

2010-02-05T06:00:00.001-06:00

Another fine production from Grassroots films.

St. Anskar, Apostle to Scandanavia

2010-02-03T11:29:00.002-06:00

In most parishes today the memorial of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr is celebrated, but this is also the memorial of St. Anskar (also referred to as Ansgar, Anschar, Anscharius, and Scharies). Because of the popularity of the blessing of throats through the intercession of St. Blaise, St. Anskar often is forgotten. For those of us of Danish descent, this seems unfortunate. St. Anskar is a great model for all of us, particularly those of us who are clergy. Many do not know much about this great Saint, so I will provide some biographical information from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook:

When one of Anskar's followers suggested to him that he could work miracles he replied, " Were I worthy of such a favour from my God, I would ask that He would grant to me this one miracle, that by His grace He would make of me a good man." No one can read the "Life" written by Rimbert his disciple and successor which, after being lost for five hundred years, was fortunately rediscovered, without feeling moved to thank God for the accomplishment of the miracle for which Anskar had prayed. He was a good man in the best and truest sense of the term. In the character presented to us by his biographer we have a singularly attractive combination of transparent humility, unflinching courage, complete self devotion, and unwavering belief in a loving and overruling providence. The claim to the title Apostle of the North, which was early made on his behalf, rests not upon the immediate outcome of his labours, but upon the inspiring example which he bequeathed to those who were moved to follow in his steps. For whilst the Missions which lie planted in Denmark and Sweden during the thirty-three years of his episcopate were interrupted after his death by the desolating raids of the Northmen, those by whom the work was restarted gratefully recognised him as their pioneer.

Anskar, who was born in 801, was trained in the monastery of Corbey near Amiens and had been transferred with other monks to the monastery of New Corbey near Hoxter on the River Weser, which was founded in 822. By the time of Anskar the spiritual life of the Benedictine monasteries had sunk very low, but the Benedictine monastery of Old Corbey in which he had been trained and which owed its origin to a colony of monks who had come from the stricter Columbanian monastery at Luxeuil, had preserved its early tradition unimpaired. In the new monastery Anskar was placed in charge of the monastic school and, he was also accustomed to preach to the public congregation. From early childhood he had seen visions and dreamed dreams, which created in him the desire to lead a religious life, and his thoughts were perhaps turned in the direction of missionary enterprise by the accounts which must have reached him of the work accomplished by Boniface and his successors. His definite resolve to devote his life to this object dated, as his biographer tells us, from a time immediately after the death of Charlemagne, when he had recently taken the tonsure and had become a monk. About this time he had a vision in describing which Anskar says, " When then I had been brought by the men whom I mentioned into the presence of this unending light, where the majesty of almighty God was revealed to me without need for anyone to explain, and when they and I had offered our united adoration, a most sweet voice, the sound of which was more distinct than all other sounds and which seemed to me to fill the whole world, came forth from the same divine majesty and addressed me and said, Go and return to Me crowned with martyrdom."

[...]

His biographer adds, " As a result of this vision, which I have described in the words which he had himself dictated the servant of God was both terrified and comforted and in the fear of the Lord he began to live more carefully, to cleave day by day to good deeds, and to hope that by the mercy of God, in whatever way He might choose, he might be able to obtain the crown of martyrdom." [Chap III] The greatest disappointment in after life which Anskar experienced was caused by the fact that his expectation of martyrdom founded on this vision was not literally fulfilled.

[...]

The first two years (8268) after his arrival in Denmark were not productive of great visible results, but he laid a foundation for subsequent missionary work by starting a school for the training of Danish youths who might become the evangelists of their own countrymen. The twelve boys with which the school opened were either purchased by Anskar or presented to him by the king.

[...]

As his life drew to its close he was much distressed that the vision which he had seen many years before, in which, as he thought, it had been foretold that he would die a martyr's death, had not been literally fulfilled. Shortly before his death, however, he bad another vision which assured him that it was through no fault of his that the crown of martyrdom had been withheld. At the same time his friends reminded him that the hardships and dangers which lie had experienced had in effect made his whole life one continuous martyrdom. He died on February 3, 865, at the age of 64, more than half his life having been spent in missionary work in Denmark and Sweden and within the limits of his own diocese.

His whole life was characterized by rigid discipline and selfdenial : he wore a haircloth shirt by day and night, and in the earlier part of his life he measured out everything that he ate or drank; he chanted a fixed number of Psalms morning and evening, and would also sing Psalms as he laboured with his hands, and chant litanies as he dressed, or washed his hands, and three or four times a day he would celebrate Mass. Of all that he received he gave at once a tenth part to the poor and every five years he tithed his income afresh. Wherever he went in his diocese he would eat nothing till some poor persons had been brought in to share his meal and during Lent he would wash their feet and would distribute amongst them bread and meat.

Although his biographer attributes to him the working of a number of miracles, Anskar himself never claimed to possess this power. Adam of Bremen, referring to the hospital founded by Littgart at Bremen, states that Anskar was wont to visit it daily, and is said to have healed very many by his speech and by his touch.

In the Liturgy of the Hours used in Scandanavain countries there is this beautiful hymn in honor of the great Saint. Praying this hymn is a fitting way to honor him on this, his feastday.

Most noble father, Anskar,
Restore us by thy grace,
And those who wander now afar
In Christ's own bosom place.

In holy strife contending
Thou did'st the faith proclaim
To Danes and Swedes declaring
The honour of His name.

An unbelieving nation
From thee the light receives,
The teachings of salvation,
It now with joy believes.

Thou to God's sheep hast given
The food they fain would claim,
And earnestly hast striven
To glorify His name.

To the great King thou bringest
When earthly strife doth cease,
The talents thou receivest,
With manifold increase.

To Father, and His only Son
Be laud and honour given
To Holy Spirit, Three in One
In earth and highest heaven.

My Kind of Saint

2010-01-31T12:02:00.006-06:00

I had heard of this saint before, but until I read the post on him over at Sub Tuum, I didn't know that he and I have a similar trait. A big mouth. He was also hung, drawn, and quartered for being a Catholic Priest. Surely he is a model for all priests to follow.

Here is the short sketch of St. Alban Roe that the good Br. Stephen provides on his blog:

Fr Alban Roe was baptised Bartholomew sometime in 1583, in Suffolk. He attended Cambridge University, and while there experienced something that caused his conversion to Catholicism.

While visiting in St Alban’s, he heard that a Catholic recusant had been put in prison there for his beliefs, and chose to visit the prisoner, in order to argue him out of his superstitious ways. It did not work out like that, and the Catholic prisoner instead, persuaded Bartholomew that he needed change.

In February 1608 he took up a place in the English College (a seminary) in Douai, eager to become a priest. He was expelled in 1611, however, for criticising the principal.

It so happened that a Benedictine house was given permission to establish itself at Douai in December of 1608, and it seems likely that young Bartholomew was acquainted with it. At any rate, wishing to avoid further embarrassment in Douai, he joined the novitiate at another English monastery, St Laurence’s at Dieulouard in 1613. Once ordained he went to England where he worked in secret as a priest.

In 1618 however he was imprisoned for being a priest in England - a ‘crime’ which carried the death penalty. Fortunately, he was released by King James I in a general amnesty in 1623 and banished. He returned to England however, and was re-arrested in 1625 and imprisoned in St Alban’s where his adventure had begun so many years before.

Luckily for him, his friends had him removed to the Fleet prison in London where circumstances were much better. Indeed, like many others, he was allowed out into the streets of London by day so long as he gave his word (Fr. ‘parole’) that he would return by nightfall. He used his freedom to minister to many.

While King Charles I governed without parliament, no imprisoned priests were executed. When the Long Parliament convened, however, the hangings began again in earnest (20 between 1641 and 1646 including Fr Alban). On the 21st January 1642, he and Fr Thomas Ryenolds, a priest in his 80s, offered their last mass and were led to the gallows. They gave each other absolution.

Just before his death, Alban asked the sheriff if his life would be spared if he renounced his Catholic religion and became an Anglican. The sheriff swore he would be spared if he did. Alban then said to all: “See, then, what the crime is for which I am to die, and whether my religion be not my only treason... I wish I had a thousand lives; then would I sacrifice them all for so worthy a cause.” They were allowed to hang until they were dead before being quartered.

St. Alban Roe, pray for us!

The Dance of the Holy Smoke

2010-01-27T14:13:00.013-06:00

The title itself makes me laugh hysterically, which is exactly what I did in the library earlier today as I opened up a book entitled Parish Liturgy: A Handbook for Renewal by Robert D. Duggan and saw a section in Part II entitled Incense: The Dance of the Holy Smoke. As most of the regular readers of this blog (all five of you) know, I love using incense in the Sacred Liturgy. So, when I find such an interesting section title I just have to read it. I found this section to be particularly amusing because it provides a glimpse into a particular period in the development of liturgical thought. We look back and chuckle at it, but at the time it was considered by many to be quite serious. So, here are a few of my favorite excerpts from the section on incense.

For some people the use of incense at a liturgical celebration is a sign of the Tridentine Mass mentality and a sure indicator that those who favor it are stuck
in a rigid conservatism. For others, incense is a symbol of New Age exotica that brings to mind hippies smoking pot in the sixties and all the bad things one might imagine about the liberal Left...

The liturgical "dance of the holy smoke" triggers subliminal memories of childhood reveries, watching clouds form mysterious shapes on a sunny afternoon in mid-summer. It recalls campfires and family fireplaces, slender columns of smoke rising from birthday candles, and a hundred other forgotten memories...

But there may be times when a much more effective use of the symbol is achieved by a stationary container holding burning charcoal on which are placed (by a graceful liturgical dancer?) the grains of incense. The movement of the one applying the incense is, in fact, a kind of liturgical dance, despite the reluctance of many to use such terms to describe what is occurring. The stylized gestures called for in the ritual books (bowing, swinging arms, specified steps and paths to be taken) certainly qualify as choreography. And, like any dance form, its execution needs rehearsal, critique, and repeated practice if it is to seem - in the moment of celebration - effortless and un-selfconsciously graceful...

Thank God, that for the most part, such silliness is no longer commonplace in the Liturgy. Now that we have safely moved through that period in our liturgical history we have more noble and dignified ways of using incense - ways that are rooted in our 2000 year history. For that, let us thank the Almighty.

The Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

2010-01-25T08:49:00.003-06:00

As I was praying the Divine Office today I was struck by the importance of this feast. It reminds us that even the greatest sinners can become even greater saints. It reminds us that the way we treat others is the way we treat Jesus. It reminds us that God wants us for His own and is willing to stop at nothing to have us, if only we open ourselves to Him. In order to help us appreciate this day you will find below a section from a homily by St. John Chrysostom.

Paul, more than anyone else, has shown us what man really is, and in what our nobility consists, and of what virtue this particular animal is capable. Each day he aimed ever higher; each day he rose up with greater ardour and faced with new eagerness the dangers that threatened him. He summed up his attitude in the words: I forget what is behind me and push on to what lies ahead. When he saw death imminent, he bade others share his joy: Rejoice and be glad with me! And when danger, injustice and abuse threatened, he said: I am content with weakness, mistreatment and persecution. These he called the weapons of righteousness, thus telling us that he derived immense profit from them.

Thus, amid the traps set for him by his enemies, with exultant heart he turned their every attack into a victory for himself; constantly beaten, abused and cursed, he boasted of it as though he were celebrating a triumphal procession and taking trophies home, and offered thanks to God for it all: Thanks be to God who is always victorious in us! This is why he was far more eager for the shameful abuse that his zeal in preaching brought upon him than we are for the most pleasing honours, more eager for death than we are for life, for poverty than we are for wealth; he yearned for toil far more than others yearn for rest after toil. The one thing he feared, indeed dreaded, was to offend God; nothing else could sway him. Therefore, the only thing he really wanted was always to please God.

The most important thing of all to him, however, was that he knew himself to be loved by Christ. Enjoying this love, he considered himself happier than anyone else; were he without it, it would be no satisfaction to be the friend of principalities and powers. He preferred to be thus loved and be the least of all, or even to be among the damned, than to be without that love and be among the great and honoured. To be separated from that love was, in his eyes, the greatest and most extraordinary of torments; the pain of that loss would alone have been hell, and endless, unbearable torture.

So too, in being loved by Christ he thought of himself as possessing life, the world, the angels, present and future, the kingdom, the promise and countless blessings. Apart from that love nothing saddened or delighted him; for nothing earthly did he regard as bitter or sweet. Paul set no store by the things that fill our visible world, any more than a man sets value on the withered grass of the field. As for tyrannical rulers or the people enraged against him, he paid them no more heed than gnats. Death itself and pain and whatever torments might come were but child’s play to him, provided that thereby he might bear some burden for the sake of Christ.

Persecution

2010-01-22T13:05:00.004-06:00

This past week we celebrated the Memorial of St. Sebastian, and early martyr of the Church. In the Office of Readings for the day St. Ambrose speaks of this great saint. He says

Take the example of the martyr Sebastian, whose birthday in glory we celebrate today. He was a native of Milan. At a time when persecution either had ceased or had not yet begun or was of a milder kind, he realized that there was only slight, if any, opportunity for suffering. He set out for Rome, where bitter persecutions were raging because of the fervor of the Christians. There he endured suffering; there he gained his crown. He went to the city as a stranger and there established a home of undying glory. If there had been only one persecutor, he would not have gained the martyr's crown.

The persecutors who are visible are not the only ones. There are also invisible persecutors, much greater in number. This is more serious. Like a king bent on persecution, sending orders to persecute to his many agents, and establishing different persecutors in each city or province, the devil directs his many servants in their work of persecution, whether in public or in the souls of individuals. Of this kind of persecution Scripture says: All who wish to live a holy life in Christ Jesus suffer persecution. "All" suffer persecution; there is no exception. Who can claim exemption if the Lord Himself endured the testing of persecution? How many there are today who are secret martyrs for Christ, giving testimony to Jesus as Lord!

I find the second paragraph to be very enlightening. We are all persecuted by the evil one, so, like St. Sebastian, let us put our trust in the Lord and rely upon Him so that we might endure with faith and courage the persecution that comes our way.

Eucharistic Adoration

2010-01-10T15:21:00.003-06:00

The most recent issue of the Adoremus Bulletin arrived the other day, and so I have been reading through it over the past few days. One of the articles, entitled Eucharistic Adoration and Political Responsibility: Looking at the World through Eyes That Adore the Blessed Sacrament, by Archbishop Augustine Di Noia, OP, the Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, is particularly good. Early on in the article there is a paragraph which I think is quite beautiful and worth sharing. He says:

During Eucharistic adoration, it is not only we who behold Christ, but it is also He who beholds us. When we adore the Blessed Sacrament, we are not just gazing at a beautiful but inert object. The conteplative mode of prayer that we learn during adoration presupposes that Christ returns our gaze.

What an amazing reality! Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, gazes at us when we come before Him in adoration! Who in their right mind would not want to be in the gaze of God?

Adoration is one of the things that I miss here. I am sad to say it, but even the campus of a Catholic Seminary, there is rarely Adoration. The seminary I attended (Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis) had Adoration every day, but here, no such thing. If I want to go to go to Expostition or Benediction I have to go to Marytown, or some other parish that offers it. But it is worth the effort. To find myself in the gaze of the Son of God is very worth it. So if you live near a parish that had Adoration, go. Allow yourself the opportunity to sit in the presence of Jesus and recieve the love He desires to pour out into your heart.

St. Athanasius on the Bodily Resurrection of Jesus

2010-01-06T06:00:00.001-06:00

For one of my classes we are reading St. Athanasius' treatise On The Incarnation. In this text he is seeking to demonstrate that Jesus was indeed fully man, as well as being fully divine. At one point he is trying to defending the resurrection of Jesus. I found it to be a good meditation on how Jesus, who lives today - in the here and now - is active in the world and in our lives. Here is what he said:

Dead men cannot take effective action; their power of influence on others lasts only till the grave. Deeds and actions that energise others belong only to the living. Well then, look at the facts in this case. The Savior is working mightily among men, every day. He is invisibly persuading numbers of people all over the world, both within and beyond the Greek-speaking world, to accept His faith and be obedient to His teaching. Can anyone, in face of this, still doubt that He has risen and lives, or rather that He is Himself the Life? Does a dead man prick the consciences of men, so that they throw all the traditions of their fathers to the winds and bow down before the teaching of Christ? If He is no longer active in the world, as He must needs be if He is dead, how is it that He makes the living to cease from their activities, the adulterer from his adultery, the murderer from murdering, the unjust from avarice, while the profane and godless man becomes religious? If He did not rise, but is still dead, how is it that He routs and persecutes and overthrows the false gods, who unbelievers think to be alive, and the evil spirits whom they worship? For where Christ is named, idolatry is destroyed and the fraud of evil spirits is exposed; indeed, no such spirit can endure that Name, Who lives, not of one dead; and, more than that, it is the work of God. It would be absurd to say that the evil spirits who He drives out and the idols which He destroys are alive, but that He Who drives out and destroys, and Whom they themselves acknowledge to be Son of God, is dead.

Jumping in With Both Feet...Into a Snowbank That is...

2010-01-04T08:15:00.004-06:00

After a wonderful, snow filled (see photo above of the front of my parent's house), Christmas break classes begin again. While home I had a rare experience: celebrating Christmas Mass at my home Parish. This is something most priests do not have the privilege to do since they are in the parishes to which they are assigned, so I was very grateful to have the opportunity. Those who came (which were myriad) to Mass on Christmas Eve got the full liturgical experience. All the liturgical things I love were present: gold Vestments, an alb with lace, a biretta atop my head, incense, chanted Gospel, and a chanted Eucharistic prayer. It was a liturgical feast to be sure.

But now, after the long drive back to Chicago, I once again have my nose in the books. Over the next days and weeks I hope to be sharings some of the things I am learning, and as always, if you have a liturgical question e-mail them to me (padredana at gmail dot com), and I will try to answer them.

Back in the Saddle

2009-12-02T10:21:00.006-06:00

After an eventful break (more on those events in a moment) I am back in the academic saddle. I arrived back at the Liturgical Institute on Sunday night and classes began promptly on Monday morning. This quarter (yes, the dreaded quarter system!) I am taking three classes for a total of 12 credit hours. The classes, are as follows: History of Christian Thought II, Sacramental Thought and Practice in the 20th Century, and Sacramentals, Blessings and Devotions. Maybe in a subsequent post I will give a brief overview of what each of the classes will cover.

Also, Fr. S. (who writes a lovely blog) is visiting, which makes for alot of fun times and good food (yeah, just what I need - more food).

My time home was very eventful. There seem to be two higlights which overshadowed my entire time back home - one happy, and one very sad. The happy event was a visit to St. Joseph's Cathedral in Sioux Falls, SD. This would not have been so exciting were it not being restored. I climbed the scaffold all the way to the ceiling to see the work that the artisans are doing. It will be truly magnificent when it is finished. You can find more information, complete with drawings, photos, and videos here.

The sad event was the death of a very dear friend in a horrible car accident. Jerry was 34 years old and would have been married 4 years only a few days after he died. He had a beautiful wife and two small children. Jerry was a very faithful, prayerful and virtuous man who will be missed by many, many people. I concelebrated his funeral along with five other priests. The Church, chapel, and part of the gym were packed for the funeral (nearly 700 people), which is a testament to the people he had influenced during his short life on earth. May he rest in peace.

But now, I am back, saddling up the old academic horse for round two in an eight round adventure.