In John Shea’s book “The Hour of the Unexpected” he shares a little story called Sharon’s Christmas prayer:

She was five, sure of the facts, and recited them with slow solemnity convinced every word was revelation. She said…

They were so poor that they only had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to eat and they were a long way from home without getting lost.

The lady rode a donkey, the man walked, and the baby was inside the lady.

They had to stay in a stable with an ox and an ass (hee-hee)… but the three rich men found them because a star lited the roof.

Shepherds came and you could pet the sheep but not feed them.

Then the baby was borned. And do you know who he was?

(Her quarter eyes inflated to silver dollars.) The Baby was God!!!

And she jumped into the air whirled round, dove into the sofa and buried her head under the cushion which is the only proper response to the Good News of the Incarnation.

I love the way this story helps to illustrate the joy that we can feel if we allow ourselves to “enter in” the Christ event. An event so momentous that even the calendar we use to measure the passage of time marks this moment as its starting point.

Christmas should cause our eyes to grow large just by thinking about it, and if we get it… We should leap in the air and whirl around with joy!

But this is a mystery that can’t be conveyed easily. I wrestle with it every year and continue to see new connections even though I will never understand it completely.

The selection of the readings for Christmas masses reflects that as well. If you went to the Vigil or the Midnight Mass you were blessed to hear from Luke about the birth of Jesus. How there was no room at the inn so he was laid in a manger and the shepherds came to see this incredible sight as the angels sang: “Glory to God in the highest”. Then the shepherds “went out and made known the message that had been told them about this child.” and “all who heard it were amazed…”

We need to have this historical understanding of the incarnation. If we didn’t… we could not hope to understand that famous verse from John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

But the incarnation is much richer than just a historical event that was so important we measure time in relationship to when that happened.

So at the Christmas daytime mass we hear something different, we hear something that is a bit harder to grasp, because it is not framed in familiar images of barnyard animals, shepherds, or a baby. At this mass we hear the prologue of the Gospel of John.

Those who are just a little older than I am will remember that the Tridentine Mass had two Gospels: the Gospel of the day and what was called the Last Gospel. Our church found this particular scripture so profound that after the final blessing, the priest recited the prologue of John quietly in Latin from a permanent Mass card. John 1:1–14 concluded most Tridentine Masses with some exceptions (feasts, vigils, Lent) until the 2nd Vatican Council modified things.

This Gospel is huge in the development of the dogma of the Incarnation. It begins with the words “In the beginning,” a reference to the creation account in Genesis 1. God spoke creation into being, and Jesus was as close as his very Word. And we hear, “All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.

Wow!

No wonder our first reading calls us on Christmas Day to be like the sentinels who, “shout for joy, for they see directly, before their eyes, the LORD restoring Zion.”

In our second reading from Hebrews we hear how God gave us this Jesus, “who is the refulgence (or the bright shining light) of his glory, the very imprint of his being, and who sustains all things by his mighty word.”

Wow!

Did you notice something here? This scripture is not phrased in the past tense. It proclaims “Who is” and “Who sustains” these are present “happening-now” phrases. Could it be there is more to this incarnation of The Christ than a baby born a couple thousand years ago?

There must be….. Jesus can never be relegated to history alone. “What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” In Genesis after there was a heaven and earth, what was the first thing God created? Light… and Jesus is “the light of the human race” the light which is life itself. The true light, which enlightens everyone. to those who believe in his name, he gave the power to be children of God.

So what does that mean to you and me in our daily affairs? It means that in one very real sense, the incarnation is alive in you. You and I are called by our baptism to the very essence of Christmas. To be the light of the world which the darkness will never extinguish. You are called to be the hands and feet of Christ at work and home and school. You are called to stand up for what you know is right in the face of a culture that tries to marginalize you if you live your faith out loud. You are called speak out and defend others who are powerless to defend themselves. You are called to ask What Would Jesus Do.. because He has no body now on earth but yours and if He is going to do anything, it is going to be by living in, and doing it through, you.

But I’m too weak to do this on my own strength. And I would bet that you are as well. How can we live as Christ in the world? Where can we find the strength to continue on?

We find our strength here on Sunday when we feast on the Word of God in the scriptures.

We find it in the Eucharist where we are fed in a special way by Jesus with His Body & Blood, Soul and Divinity.

We find the stamina to endure, in the Christ we find in each other in this community of faith.

In our families.  In the Christians that we are friends with. In our prayer life…

The world will be done with Christmas tonight. As a faith community we will celebrate Christmas not as a single day but as an entire liturgical season. But what will we do with Christmas empowered by a deeper understanding of the incarnation? Will we become the essence of Christmas all year long? This is our challenge. This is our calling. This is the reason and purpose for our lives. To be the light of the world which the darkness will never extinguish. Each and every day.

God Bless you and Merry Christmas!

In John Shea’s book “The Hour of the Unexpected” he shares a little story called Sharon’s Christmas prayer:

She was five,

sure of the facts,

and recited them

with slow solemnity

convinced every word

was revelation.

She said

They were so poor

that they only had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to eat

and they were a long way from home

without getting lost.

The lady rode a donkey, the man walked, and the baby was inside the lady.

They had to stay in a stable

with an ox and an ass (hee-hee)

but the three rich men found them

because a star lited the roof.

Shepherds came and you could pet the sheep but not feed them.

Then the baby was borned.

And do you know who he was?

(Her quarter eyes inflated to silver dollars.)

The Baby was God.

And she jumped into the air

whirled round, dove into the sofa

and buried her head under the cushion

which is the only proper response

to the Good News of the Incarnation.

(brief pause, allow them to enjoy the image)

I love the way this story helps to illustrate the joy that we can feel if we allow ourselves to “enter in” the Christ event.  An event so momentous that even the calendar we use to measure the passage of time marks this moment as its starting point.

Christmas should cause our eyes to grow large just by thinking about it, and if we get it…

We should leap in the air and whirl around with joy!

But this is a mystery that can’t be conveyed easily.  I wrestle with it every year and continue to see new connections even though I will never understand it completely. The selection of the readings for Christmas masses reflects that as well.

I know that some of you have attended all 3 masses for Christmas and so you were blessed to hear from Luke about the birth of Jesus.  How there was no room at the inn so he was laid in a manger and the shepherds came to see this incredible sight as the angels sang: “Glory to God in the highest”.  Then the shepherds “went out and made known the message that had been told them about this child.” and “all who heard it were amazed…”

We need to have this historical understanding of the incarnation.  If we don’t how could we ever hope to understand that famous verse from John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.

But the incarnation is much richer than just a historical event that was so important we measure time in relationship to when that happened.  So at this mass we hear something different, we hear something that is a bit harder to grasp, because it is not framed in familiar images of barnyard animals, shepherds, or a baby.

At this mass we hear the prologue of the Gospel of John. Those who are just a little older than I am will remember that the Tridentine Mass had two Gospels: the Gospel of the day and what was called the Last Gospel.

Our church found this particular scripture so profound that after the final blessing, the priest recited the prologue of John quietly in Latin from a permanent Mass card, (facing the altar on the left.)

John 1:1–14 concluded most Tridentine Masses with some exceptions (feasts, vigils, Lent) until the Council modified things.

This Gospel is huge in the development of the dogma of the Incarnation. It begins with the words “In the beginning,” a reference to the creation account in Genesis 1. God spoke creation into being, and Jesus was as close as his very Word.

And we hear, “All things came to be through him,

and without him nothing came to be.

Wow!

No wonder our first reading calls us on Christmas Day to be like the sentinels who,

“shout for joy, for they see directly, before their eyes, the LORD restoring Zion.”

In our second reading from Hebrews we hear how God gave us this Jesus,

“who is the refulgence (or the bright shining light) of his glory,

the very imprint of his being, and who sustains all things by his mighty word.”

Wow!

Did you notice something here?  This scripture is not phrased in the past tense.  It proclaims “Who is” and “Who sustains” these are present “happening-now” phrases.

Could it be there is more to this incarnation of The Christ than a baby born a couple thousand years ago?

There must be…..  Jesus can never be relegated to history alone.

“What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race;

the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

In Genesis after there was a heaven and earth, what was the first thing God created?

Light… and Jesus is “the light of the human race” the light which is life itself.

The true light, which enlightens everyone.

to those who believe in his name, he gave the power to be children of God.

So what does that mean to you and me in our daily affairs?

It means that in one very real sense, the incarnation is alive in you.

You and I are called by our baptism to the very essence of Christmas.

To be the light of the world which the darkness will never extinguish.

You are called to be the hands and feet of Christ at work and home and school.

You are called to stand up for what you know is right in the face of a culture that tries to marginalize you if you live your faith out loud.  You are called speak out and defend others who are powerless to defend themselves.  You are called to ask What Would Jesus Do.. because He has no body now on earth but yours and if He is going to do anything, it is going to be by living in, and doing it through, you.

But I’m too weak to do this on my own strength.  And I would bet that you are as well.

How can we live as Christ in the world?  Where can we find the strength to continue on?

Ø We find our strength here on Sunday when we feast on the Word of God in the scriptures.

Ø We find it in the Eucharist where we are fed in a special way by Jesus with His Body & Blood, Soul and Divinity.

Ø We find the stamina to endure, in the Christ we find in each other in this community of faith….

Ø In our families….

Ø In the Christians that we are friends with…

Ø In our prayer life….

The world will be done with Christmas tonight.

As a faith community we will celebrate Christmas not as a single day but as an entire liturgical season.

But what will we do with Christmas empowered by a deeper understanding of the incarnation?  Will we become the essence of Christmas all year long?

This is our challenge.  This is our calling.  This is the reason and purpose for our lives.

To be the light of the world which the darkness will never extinguish.

Each and every day.

The more you know about anything, the more you can appreciate it.  You can’t appreciate a sport if you don’t understand the rules, you can’t tell the difference between a good painting and a mediocre one if you don’t take the time to pay attention to them,and you can’t appreciate what a great cup of coffee is if all you ever drink  is freeze dried crystals.  The same goes for Liturgy.

Advent & Christmas as well as Lent & Easter are different.  As a worshiping community we carve them out of the liturgical calendar  and what we call “Ordinary Time”.  What better times could there be to take note of the depth and richness of our liturgy.  When I saw Steve Skojec’s post I was tempted to consider it as a sort of ecclesial snobbery but he quickly won me over because to be honest, I enjoy grinding my own beans before I brew and the difference between Folgers and Gevalia coffee is tremendous.  Of course it is also true that not all coffee drinkers know that.

Before I get myself in trouble I should let Steve take over.  My invitation to you is to sip and savor the richness of your liturgical celebrations no matter what time of year you read this.  If you don’t understand why a certain prayer is said or why the priest makes a particular motion… ask.  The more you know, the more you will appreciate the beauty that an untrained eye can often miss.  But the first step to noticing the splendor of a sunrise, is to wake up and look at it.

The Rubrics of Coffee

by Steve Skojec

12/17/09

Among friends and family, I’m known for being an amateur barista and coffee aficionado. It’s not that I’m a connoisseur — far from it — but I have high standards when it comes to the quality of my coffee, and I try to stay informed on how to achieve excellence in every sip. Knowing this, my sister-in-law sent me an e-mail not long ago, asking for my advice on how to buy and brew the good stuff.

I sat down and wrote out for her the specific requirements for proper espresso, the type of coffee that is not only the most potent, but the most robust and complex in flavor — the “soul of coffee,” as some like to call it. I detailed some of the essentials regarding the best type of machine; the quality of the water; the required freshness, roast depth, and age of the beans; the best grinder type and grind settings; proper dosage of grounds; the necessary brew temperature; the parameters of shot timing; the way to detect proper color and smell and taste of a good shot; and the technique for foaming milk for those who, like me, don’t usually prefer straight espresso.

As I wrote it all out, I realized that, to the uninitiated, there are a number of steps that require a seemingly ridiculous attention to detail. It was not long ago that I felt the same way, and now I could only imagine how silly and complicated it must sound to someone who was used to throwing coffee grounds into a filter, adding tap water to the machine, and flipping a switch. In my instruction, I was being far more demanding: “do this,” “time that,” “watch this,” “pre-heat that,” — in espresso-making, there’s no such thing as “set it and forget it.”

Good coffee, I realized, has rubrics. Unless they are followed precisely, the coffee will suffer. Improperly prepared, it might still provide a similar amount of caffeine and at least something like the desired flavor, but it will not yield anything like the rich, delightful experience of a meticulously prepared cup.

This is where I begin to wax theological. It seems that God, in His infinite wisdom, ordained for some of the best created things to be fully enjoyed only after they are obtained through a certain kind of labor — the fruit of rules, process, and procedure. These natural rubrics are essential to the very nature of the thing itself, and by disregarding them — for whatever reason — the innate qualities of the thing will elude you.

Like coffee, though certainly in a much more profound way, exquisite liturgy can only be experienced if one follows all of the necessary steps. Accepting a rubrics-optional approach to liturgy is akin to drinking inferior coffee simply to get the caffeine. Bad liturgy is endured by the faithful because they need the Eucharist — but many have never known what it is to really be delighted by it, to savor it, to sample its subtle complexity, to experience worship that is truly excellent and uplifting. Alas, the person who has never experienced good liturgy has no basis upon which to recognize poor liturgy; he just doesn’t know what he’s missing.

I don’t mean to belittle the Mass by comparing it to something profane, but I believe that on a simplistic level the analogy stands. Some of the most striking supernatural lessons are learned in the most ordinary ways. God infused things like the coffee bean, the grape, and the grain of wheat with a hidden nature that can only be experienced through something formulaic, even rigid. Whether roasting and brewing coffee, fermenting wine, or baking bread, man acts as a sort of priest over nature as he carefully oversees their transformation. Thus, if he is properly disposed, he will have an insight into the supernatural role of the ordained priest who consecrates bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Our Lord, thereby allowing us to experience and to adore His hidden nature.

God imbues a sacramental order into the things of this world to help us grasp these higher concepts. In writing down the detailed instructions that would help my sister-in-law make good coffee, I became aware of the presence of implicit ritual — ritual that was not the result of desire or personal taste, but of necessity.

I was immediately reminded of watching a priest celebrate the traditional Mass, which is also often accused of having too many steps, too much complexity, and too rigid a ritual. A friend of mine from the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter once told me, quite proudly, “I am a prisoner of the liturgy.” As priest, he is compelled at all times to give his body over to the postures and gestures and actions of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, through which his vocation is fulfilled.

God infused the world with order and beauty and goodness, and the paradigmatic expression of these attributes in created things takes place every time a Mass is said inside a church. We know from our kitchens, tables, vineyards, bakeries, art studios, and writer’s desks that all truly good things are to be prepared with care. Once this is accomplished, they are then to be savored and protected and enjoyed.

It is therefore only fitting that we thank God both after meals and after Mass. Maybe even after coffee.

See original post at:

InsideCatholic.com – The Rubrics of Coffee.

Modern life is hectic and seeks to crowd God out.

Nurture the just shoot within

or face your end unprepared.

Do you know someone who enjoys gardening?  Did they happen to mention to you whether they had a good harvest this year?   I have to tell you that the experience that I had this year was downright disappointing.

Even our normally abundant zucchini, which in a typical year would have at least one of my children threatening to go out in the dead of night to leave them on neighbor’s porches just too get rid of them, produced far less than we would normally eat ourselves.

It was as if nature simply did not want me to be a successful gardener this year.  There just seemed to be too much rain and not enough sunshine.

But, to be honest, I have to take some of the responsibility as well.  Here in Western New York we only have a few weeks to prepare the soil and plant our gardens and what we do in that short period of time has a great deal to do with what we reap in the months ahead.

I didn’t put the garden in as early as I should have.  I didn’t add peat moss, or compost.  I didn’t fertilize or weed as well as I should have.  All of those things would have made a difference.  All of them would have helped to improve my harvest.

I see a very clear message in this for all of us as we enter fully into this season of Advent.  We only have a few short weeks to prepare for the harvest of Christmas.  What should you I be doing right now to improve our chances of a decent crop?

I ask you that because just as it seemed that nature simply did not want me to be a successful gardener this year, our culture simply does not want you to be successful at entering into the sacredness of Christmas and all that it offers us in the light of the faith.

Oh! It will do its best to get you into a buying frenzy for every electronic gizmo and gift that is available.  It fully embraces what it prefers us to call “the holidays”.  After all, “there’s gold in them there hills!”

In fact I think its promotion of holiday shopping started the day after Halloween.  The emphasis is clear if you look at the offerings even of stamps that are at the post office.  Of the 85 or so commemorative stamps that were issued this year, only one is undeniably Christian.  And I am thankful for that one because it will be on all of my Christmas cards.

Which reminds me!  I have to get my Christmas letter written, my Christmas card list updated, I have to schedule all of my Christmas parties in, Mary Jane will be anxious about baking Christmas cookies, I have to get our Christmas boxes out of the attic and decorate our house.  I have to get all of this done wedged in around the corners of going to work, and all of the on-going responsibilities that keep me “quite-busy-enough-thank-you-very-much” all year long.

Therein lies our challenge.

I don’t mean to say that gift-giving, all the preparations, and multiple traditions are bad.  Not at all.   I am just saying that we must remember that Jesus is the reason for the season and if we aren’t careful and YES… even disciplined about our Advent activities he will become marginalized in our lives.

I am reminded of the story about the college professor who was teaching a class in time management who placed a large glass beaker with rocks in it upon his desk and asked his class, “Is this beaker full?”

Of course they answered in one voice that it was…

Then he pulled out a container of pebbles and added them in and shook them down and asked again if it was full.  This time no one would answer.  He smiled and pulled out another beaker filled with sand… and preceded to add that into his beaker until he could fit no more and asked if it was full.

He then pulled out a pitcher of water and poured it in to the sand, pebbles and rocks until the water reached the brim.

He then asked, “What is the point of this demonstration?”

His brightest student raised her hand and answered, “No matter how busy you are, you can always do a little more.”

“No!  The point is this, if you have a great deal to put in your life, make sure you put the rocks in first or you will never get them in.  The small, sometimes unimportant details of life have a way of taking up all of your time if you don’t discipline yourself to make sure you have time for the important things.”

We have many ways to help us put those rocks in first.  It begins here as we meet each week to share at the table of the Lord and break open the Word but if it stops there I fear that our harvest will be a bit disappointing.

Make sure that you pick up one of the Advent prayer books in the gathering room if that will help you.  If that isn’t your cup of tea do something else.

Take special care to gather as family for dinner and joyfully light the advent wreath and pray for each other and those you know who are in need.

Perhaps, you can stop at a church on your way to go shopping and spend 10 or 15 minutes in prayer before the Eucharist.

There are as many ideas as there are people who sit next to you in church.  Maybe this would be the best idea of all.  Talk to a friend or with your family to see what ideas you come up with that will work with your lives.

But do something… something that will allow you to consecrate this few weeks and make it something special… to bring about a bountiful harvest not only for this Christmas but for the rest of your life.

Live this Advent so that you are happy with your answers to these questions:

Will you be ready to truly celebrate the coming of Christ at Christmas?

or

Will your house be decorated, the gifts wrapped, the cookies made, but your heart unfertilized?

What will be the harvest of your Advent for this Christmas?

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This Reflection was inspired by the Lectionary readings for the first Sunday of Advent Cycle C.

Reading 1: Gn 2:18-24

Responsorial Psalm:  Responsorial Psalm     Ps 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14

Reading II:  1 Thes 3:12-4:2

Gospel:  Lk 21:25-28, 34-36

Why Is Everyone Crazy About Vampires?

As some of the clan gathered at Granny & Gramps’ house for a traditional Thanksgiving day feast, I noticed something laying on the table which has become increasing popular of late.  A novel about vampires.  It was not part of the Twilight series which has its 2nd cinematic installment now showing in theaters, no it was a different series which is also capitalizing on the current cultural fascination with all things supernatural.    So I turned and asked my 22 year old godchild, “What is up with the whole vampire thing?”  She didn’t know either.

So here it is just 2 days later and I find one answer to that question which resonates with the possibility of truth in an article by Father Robert Barron.  He doesn’t say it in his assessment but after reading it I couldn’t help but think about the famous quote of Saint Augustine “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”

Let me know what you think.  Here is the article.

FATHER ROBERT BARRON

You’d have to be living under a rock not to have noticed the prevalence of vampires in today’s culture.

One of the most popular television shows in recent years was Buffy the Vampire Slayer Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles continue to be widely read; HBO is currently running a series about vampires called True Blood; Wesley Snipes starred in a trilogy of vampire films called Blade; and one of the most successful movies of late is Twilight, the story of teen mortals and teen vampires in love. How do we explain the seemingly endless fascination with the undead?

Obviously, clever marketing has a good deal to do with it, but I think there are deeper reasons as well. There is, in the spiritual order, a law analogous to the law of the conservation of energy, which I would express as follows: when the supernatural is suppressed, it necessarily finds expression in indirect and distorted form. What we have witnessed in the last fifty years or so is the attenuating, and in some circles, complete disappearance of the biblical worldview. I’ve complained in the past about a bland, bored secularism that simply sets aside questions of the spiritual, the supernatural, and the transcendent. And this widespread bracketing of the religious dimension is abetted by a consumerist culture that teaches us in a thousand ways that sensual pleasure and wealth are the keys to happiness. For the secularist mind, God is, at best, a distant, indifferent force; Jesus is a guru of self-affirmation; and eternal life is a childish fantasy.

But in accord with the above-mentioned law, the supernatural will not be denied. The instinct for God and for a world that transcends the realm of ordinary experience is hard-wired into us and thus our desire, thwarted by the environing culture, will produce some distorted version of transcendence, some ersatz spirituality. Hence the world of vampires. Let me analyze just one feature of this universe. Besides blood sucking, the distinguishing mark of vampires is immortality: they are the undead, the eternally young. Though the materialist ideology around us insists that we are no more than clever animals who will fade away at death, deep within us is the sure sense that we are more than that. There are in us, as Shakespeare’s Cleopatra put it, “immortal longings,” for we are linked, whether we like it or not, to the eternal God who stands outside of time. When the proper religious sense of immortality is suspended, we produce the weird ersatz of the vampire who cannot die. I say ersatz, because authentic immortality has nothing to do with endless life in this world; rather, it has to do with being brought outside of time into the eternal realm of God. But when we’re starving spiritually, we find even thin gruel appealing.

Just recently, I came across a most illuminating remark by Anne Rice, the aforementioned author of the series of novels that effectively inaugurated the entire vampire craze. She said that the character of Louis, the tortured vampire who is famously interviewed in her first novel, was evocative of the many friends of hers from the sixties and seventies of the last century, people who had fallen into the morass of a post-Christian secularism. Like Louis, they knew they were caught up in something spiritually deadly, and again like the vampire, they could find no way out. The anguish of the Rice’s vampire was parallel to the anguish of the secular generation, thirsty for the very thing that their culture had denied. And what makes Rice’s observation even more fascinating is that she herself followed that thirst and made her way through the secularist delusion of her generation and rediscovered Christ. Just about ten years ago, Anne Rice re-embraced the vividly imagined and intellectually profound faith of her youth and since then has dedicated her writing exclusively to the Lord. She has brought out, so far, two volumes of a multi-volume life of Jesus, told in the first person; and her most recent text is the commencement of a new series of novels on angels. And she has asserted that, despite the pleas of her legion of fans, she will never write another vampire novel. What’s really fascinating is that the godmother of contemporary vampire chic has effectively seen through phony supernaturalism and embraced the real thing.

There are in us, as Shakespeare’s Cleopatra put it, “immortal longings,” for we are linked, whether we like it or not, to the eternal God who stands outside of time.

Anne Rice’s Catholicism brings to mind the Catholicism that played a central role in the original Dracula by Bram Stoker. Stoker, a nineteenth century Irishman, placed the vampire legend within the overarching biblical narrative of sin, grace, and redemption. In Stoker’s telling, Dracula had cursed God and hence fallen into a hellish state (which helps to explain his aversion to the crucifix). Professor Van Helsing, a scientist and a devout believer (yes, the two can co-exist!), brought the tortured vampire to salvation. Throughout the novel, Catholic themes abound: the Eucharist, the Mass, eternal life, etc. At the end of the nineteenth century, it was still possible to situate the vampire story within the far greater story of Christianity. What we witness today is a sad declension, whereby vampire tales are a bloodless substitute for robust Christianity.

original post at http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/civilization/cc0335.htm

A Thanksgiving Day Prayer

Dear God, our almighty and merciful Father,
Thank You for loving us from before the foundation of the world with a shining and unconquerable love, and for choosing each one of us to receive Your precious and irreversible gift of life.

Thank You for who You are—a Trinity of Love with Your Son and the Holy Spirit.

Thank You for giving us our families and friends, and for our beloved country, the United States of America. Thank You for Your gift of faith; the opportunity to know You and to develop a deep, life-giving relationship with You, through Jesus’ saving death and Resurrection.

Thank You for our heritage as a nation of free men and women, founded upon the lives, sacrifices, and love of our forefathers. Thank You for choosing us to stand in this hour and fulfill our mission as true citizens of both heaven and earth.

In this season of harvest, surrounded by the bounty and blessings of the earth, we pause and remember all You have given us. Thank You, thank You, thank You!

Finally, dear God, please pour out Your mercy and grace this Thanksgiving upon the less fortunate, and help us remember that we are all one body—one nation—under You, called to love, respect, and serve one another, especially the poor and disadvantaged, in whom You are present among us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

O give thanks to the God of heaven,
For his steadfast love endures forever.

-Psalm 136:26

I am happy to to pass this prayer to you that I received by e-mail from  the Autom company family as I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!

When I read Christi Derr’s post I was immediately drawn into it.  The point of how a small, seemingly insignificant, act of kindness changed Oscar Wilde’s life is one that I must always strive to remember as I engage in ministry in the prison system.  But it goes far beyond that.. into every part of life.

I am sure that I won’t say it as well as Christi did, so here is her post.

Love is Kind

Posted By Christi Derr On October 16, 2009 

“Men have gone to Heaven for smaller things than that,” wrote Oscar Wilde in De Profundis . He was referring to an act of kindness done to Wilde in a moment of humiliation on a world stage.  This gesture of love and respect, though it was indeed very small, opened the door of Wilde’s heart to Jesus.  I was so struck by the beauty of this story that it got me thinking about how enormously powerful are the very small and humble actions we do purely out of love of God or our neighbor.  But first, as they say, the rest of the story…

At the height of Oscar Wilde’s popularity and acclaim as an art critic, novelist, poet, playwright, and delightful dinner guest, he was convicted of and sent to prison for crimes of “gross indecency.”  The fall from the pinnacle of world renown and success was a terrible one.  The rejection and disgust of England, which had previously embraced him, was keenly felt by Wilde.  One man, Robert Ross, proved to be a friend through the acclaim and the downfall.  I will let Wilde take it from here:

When I was brought down from my prison… between two policemen, Robbie waited in the long corridor, that before the whole crowd…he might gravely raise his hat to me, as handcuffed and with bowed head I passed him by…

The poet reveals something a few sentences later that all of us should keep in mind when what we do appears to go unnoticed:

I have never said one word to him about what he did… I store it in the treasury-house of my heart.  I keep it there as a secret debt that I am glad to think I can never possibly repay.

Throughout his life, Wilde had always been torn between two strong attractions, decadence and Catholicism.  In prison, where he “found his soul”, Catholicism began to get the upper hand in that battle.  He attributes Robbie’s small “act of Love,” just a tip of his hat, as being the genesis of that conversion:

When Wisdom has been profitless to me, and philosophy barren, and the proverbs and phrases of those who have sought to give me consolation as dust and ashes in my mouth, the memory of that little lowly silent act of Love has …brought me out of the bitterness of lonely exile into harmony with the wounded, broken great heart of the world.

And later he asks, “How else but through a broken heart can the dear Christ enter in?” ( “Ballad of Reading Gaol” ).

Robert Ross’s action toward Oscar Wilde was beautiful because it was small and kind.  Sometimes people, especially Christians like to think of themselves as nice.  This man was kind to Wilde, not nice.  Kindness involves a bit more than niceness.  It needs to be remembered that at the time of Wilde’s imprisonment, he was a social pariah.  When Ross was publicly courteous to Oscar Wilde, he risked his own reputation.  That is the difference between being nice and being kind.  Kindness costs something.  Kindness feels solidarity with one who is struggling.  St. Paul lists kindness as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Niceness waves from afar, kindness stoops.  The popular teenager who greets the unpopular one in the hall is nice.  The teen that joins the lonely kid’s table at lunch is kind.   Niceness holds the new born baby.  Kindness folds the load of laundry.   A nice co-worker advises the new guy.  A kind one mentors him.  Niceness points out a path.  Kindness accompanies the traveler.  It is important to the nice someone to look like a “good person.”  Kindness thinks of the other.  Niceness is a cousin of human respect.  Kindness is a sister of mercy.

The other thing about acts of kindness is that they are small.  I remember once when I was job hunting, the kindness of a waiter literally changed my life.  There is nothing more exasperating, and disheartening than looking for a job in a tough market.  After a day of trudging from interview to interview, I was feeling something less than human.  I stopped by a small French style café for a latte – a sure remedy for any sorrow!  The waiter there was so very kind, sincere and cheerful that had I gone on a trip to the islands it would not have done me more good than just being served coffee by this man.  I walked back up to my full stature upon leaving the café, not the subhuman manner in which I had crawled in.  I ended up having a career in hotel management.  I endeavored to treat every guest in the same way that waiter had treated me.  As is often the case, he never knew just how much his kindness truly inspired me to do the same to others.

My sister once told me about a minister’s wife who shined the shoes of Church members who had just lost a loved one.  This woman was keenly aware that a soul steeped in mourning needs the presence of someone there.  She also knew that the man or woman would have to attend the funeral.  The minister’s wife would silently shine the shoes of the bereaved.  She performed a helpful service but she also just had an excuse to be physically near them. In this way she was a silent presence – a comfort in itself.  And while she was there, otherwise occupied, if the person wanted to talk he/she could.  If not, she was just “there for them” for a set time, easing their immediate sense of loss.

The smallness of these sorts of acts accomplishes two wonderful things at once.  First of all the act is too small for the one shown kindness to feel indebted to the other.  The waiter didn’t buy me a house, he poured me coffee.  Even though his graciousness is always remembered by me, I did not feel a sense of burden when I left.  It was a free gift.  Secondly, small acts of kindness allow the giver to be a vehicle of charity without incurring a temptation to pride.  I am guessing that Robbie did not run home and brag to friends that he had tipped his hat to Oscar Wilde.  I am sure that the Minister’s wife never interrupts dramatic tales of early Christian Martyrs with “yeah, well I shine shoes for funerals.”

Scripture reveals to us the remarkable kindness of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is always the perfect example of every Christian virtue.  Her thoughtfulness is first manifested in the story of the Visitation.  Mary finds out about St. Elizabeth’s pregnancy at the same time she hears that she is to be the Mother of the Messiah.   We can assume that she was overjoyed by the news that she would be the Mother of Jesus, but here she does something very different from the what rest of us would do.  At the time that I would be running from house to house in Nazareth letting all the neighbors know how special I was, Mary is packing to make the journey to Elizabeth’s house.  Mary did not send a card of congratulations to Elizabeth.  Mary sent herself to help Elizabeth.

We read another example of Mary’s compassionate heart at the wedding at Cana.  Have you ever noticed when reading this story that no one tells Mary that the newlyweds have run out of wine?  She seems to have overheard complaints from other guests or perhaps seen the couple looking a bit panicked.  Either way, she immediately acts to help them.  We know now, but no one knew then, just what the miraculous answer to her request would cost her.  Jesus performs his first public miracle which inaugurates his public ministry.  The culmination of that ministry would be his crucifixion.  Scripture scholars rightly teach us the much deeper the meaning of the miracle of Cana is the symbol of the bridegroom, Christ and His bride, the Church.  It also symbolizes the renewal of the Covenant, and has many other deeper meanings.  But frankly, the story on its most basic, simple level is also true.  A couple ran out of wine for their guests – not a worldwide catastrophe, but enough of problem to catch the attention of the kind heart of Mary, who then interceded with God for them and obtained the greatest possible blessing for their wedding, the first miracle of the Messiah.

The common thread in all of these stories of kindness is how much Our Lord does with so little.  Wilde’s conversion to Catholicism began with the smallest act of respect.  Coincidentally, or not so coincidentally, Robert Ross was also the man who ran and got a priest to administer late rites to Oscar Wilde.  Ross saw Wilde received into the Church on his deathbed.  Mary asked Jesus to help out an embarrassed bride and groom.  She is answered with Jesus’ first miracle.  God seems to delight in this way of doing things.  Just think of the little boy in the Gospels who offered a couple fish and a little bread to Our Lord.  He witnessed Jesus turn a mouthful for one into a feast for thousands.

While we live in this world we are ambassadors for Christ.  We daily represent Jesus to others; Jesus, who describes Himself as meek and humble of heart.  We stand for the Father who is “kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”  We are representatives of Him who “causes it to rain on the just and unjust.”  Words fail us in describing the goodness of God.  Sometimes, though, small acts of kindness can give us and others glimpses of the overwhelming goodness of God, and make that goodness present, if just for a moment, in this valley of tears.   I know of an Archbishop who answers every e-mail he receives within a day at most.  That is no small thing; it is kind.  He is an ambassador for Christ.  Every time we patiently listen to someone who bores us, cook a healthy meal for a family, console a burdened friend, quietly and without fanfare forgive an offense, smile, or in any way help or recognize another we are introducing that soul to Christ or making His goodness present for a time.   And if that vision of goodness opens the door of a heart even a little, “the dear Christ can enter in.”

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URL to article: http://catholicexchange.com/2009/10/16/122362/

In their pursuit of the truth, science and faith often articulate reality using what amounts to different “languages”.  In the video below Evan Grant demonstrates the science and art of cymatics.  At the end he talks about the potential of this discipline and I couldn’t help but reflect upon Genesis and the power of the Word of God.  The revelation of creation, to the ancients in the Hebrew scriptures first story of creation, put it this way:

In the beginning… the earth was a formless wasteland… Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

And so the pattern continued, God “spoke” all into existence.  It should come as no surprise to believers that sound has many properties that science is just beginning to explore, even the ability to affect matter.  At least that’s the way it sounds to me.

Congratulations Mr. President!

Wait… Well this is interesting..  According to Nobelprize.org and their rules for this prize ” nominations… must be postmarked no later than 1 February each year.”

Apparently Obama’s international accomplishments are based on him being president for only twelve days.   I think to a certain extent this calls the validity of this honor into question.  Maybe this award is now more about agendas than accomplishments.  Maybe it is about what some people hope will happen and not some evil conspiracy as some will claim it is a part of.  I don’t suppose I’ll ever know.

Well, let us hope and pray together that the world does become a safer place through his actions.  May God grant him wisdom and the the grace to respond to that wisdom so that the world becomes safer for everyone, at every stage of life, from conception until natural death.

Process of Nomination and Selection.

Actually summer has been over for awhile, at least as measured by the patterns of life dictated by school and work.  With its passing the hectic pace of life increased and I found myself  scrambling to meet deadlines in work, formation, and ministry.  Whoever said about the insurance business, “Work like crazy for 10 years, then work on your handicap.” was born in a different era.

All the more reason to take the time to stay anchored in my prayer life and rooted in the Gospel.  Today I was reminded of what my priorities should be in this homily for the day from the Catholicexchange.com web portal.

Walk Consciously with the Lord

Posted By Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D. On October 6, 2009 @ 12:00 am In Homily of the Day

Jon 3:1-10 / Lk 10:38-42

Today’s gospel, which recounts a conversation between Jesus and his aggrieved hostess Martha, has been a source of considerable irritation to many women across the generations. “Martha was right!” they protest. “She had a right to expect some help from her sister, and it was unfair of Jesus to brush her off so lightly. What if Martha had said, ‘Fine, Jesus, I’ll just choose the “better part” too. Then we’ll see what happens to the fine dinner you’re expecting!’”

A little harsh, yet it does seem a fair reaction. But it’s not. And to see that, we have to go back and listen more closely to Jesus’ words to Martha. The fact is that he doesn’t respond at all to her complaint about the lack of help in the kitchen. Instead, he looks at the bigger picture, the big patterns in Martha’s life. Listen to him: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and upset about MANY things; only one thing is required…”

Jesus had observed Martha for quite awhile and had looked into her soul. What he saw was a woman who was not at peace. She was a good soul who had fallen into the trap of letting the ordinary tasks of daily life overwhelm and rule her days, instead of just the opposite.

That very thing can happen to any one of us, if we forget that we’re not walking through our days alone, if we forget that the Lord walks with us. If we attend to the Lord’s presence and trust him, he’ll give us the courage and strength we need; and he’ll help us to keep our vision clear and to know what really matters and what does not.

Walking consciously and faithfully with the Lord is the “one thing that is required.” Everything else will follow, most especially a calm and peaceful heart.

As we pass though the year the seasons and our lives follow a natural rhythm and we should perhaps seek to adjust our daily routine.  The beauty of  summer in Western New York is that we have the opportunity to spend extended hours outside and enjoy seasonal activities.  For me it will range from the routine joy of time spent in my garden, to special events such as weddings, and picnic holiday celebrations.  There is also a list of items on my to-do list that has grown rather long and is best addressed in the warmer weather.  So the bottom line is… I am taking a vacation from blogging.  Before I do.  I’d like to thank you for reading and and offer a prayer that God will bless you and me and all whom we love with a summer that will be a joy, filled with renewal and healing, and building up in us all that we need to face the future as humble children of a loving God.