MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUSIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: DOG GONE IT

 No doubt about it, dogs have a sixth sense.  They can predict things before they happen.  You hear about it all the time - the dogs going crazy before an earthquake, becoming restless when a predator is coming, getting antsy when the mail is about to be delivered, knowing exactly where to roll in order to get the maximum stink value.

 

Sebastian knows when I am going on vacation.  He can pick it up as quickly as the scent of a dead squirrel in the park.  I've tried everything because Sebastian makes leaving him behind for a couple of days about as pleasant as black fly season in upstate New York.  He KNOWS the difference between me leaving for an hour or two and me leaving for a week.  My latest trick was to pack 5 days in advance to throw him off, but he knew something was up immediately.

So the bag was in my car for five days.  One would think that he might forget about the whole thing.  Not so.  On certain things he has a mind like a steal trap: Where his bones are buried, what day his favorite secretary is coming to work, and that I have packed bags in the car. 

 

So he starts to get a little clingy.  Make that very clingy.

 Now, I will admit that being appreciated is a very nice thing.  But it can be wearing.  As the date for departure grew nearer, Sebastian became more insecure.  At night he would rest his big head on my bed and whimper.  He's a good sized dog so his head is high enough to make it to the height of the bed and that noggin must weigh about 10 pounds all by itself and so makes it self known not only by its whimpering noises but in the bounce of the bed as he slams it down several times just to let me know that he is there.

 One time when he was doing this I let him up on the bed thinking that it would ease his anxiety.  The only thing it did was increase mine.  He sighed.  A lot.  He also runs and talks in his sleep emitting little puffs of barks while his legs twitch back and forth.  AND he is a bed hog, pushing, pushing, pushing until I am on a sliver of bed, have to get up, walk around, and sleep on the wide open expanse on the other side. 

 

The day before I leave it reaches a climax.  It becomes difficult to leave the house whatsoever.

 Being finally on vacation I am plagued by thoughts of how Sebastian is getting along.  Is he Okay?  Is he still sane?  Is he tearing the place up?  Is he in a depressed stupor?  Is he mad at me?  Does he even notice that I'm gone?  Is this what people with small children go through?

 

So I say a prayer and try to send it to him, to calm and soothe him.  Do I worry about the parish?  No.  There are competent people there to handle everything.  But Sebastian . . .

 

On the way home I look forward to seeing him above everything else.  Is that pathetic or what?  But of course, all this also has its advantages . . .

MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUSIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: GETTING OUT OF TOWN

Greetings!

I'll be heading out of town for about a week.  I leave the parish in the capable hands of Fr. Leonard and Sebastian.

There will be no posts for the rest of the week.  Hope we can hook up again next week!

God bless,

Fr. V

ARRRRG!  I just saw that I wrote "you're" in stead of "your."  Please forgive me!

FRIDAY POTOURRI: THIS MEAN YOU

Continuing our look at Lumen Gentium paragraph 41

Holiness is not the job of the clergy.  It is everybody’s calling.  Bishops are called to personal holiness, called to lay down their lives for their flock.  They may be called to lead their people to holiness but it is first and foremost by their example.  They are first to be holy.

 

Priests are called to a similar role, imitating the holiness of the great priests that came before them and gave them example.  I think of my home pastor, Fr. Ozimek, and his influence on me.  I took my confirmation name in part because of him.  One summer when it seemed that I was serving Mass a lot I walked in to the sacristy and he said, “You again!”  I responded, “Yeah, I have to serve again.”  He got a somewhat serious look in his face and said, “You get to serve again.”  That quite inspired me and I try to remember his example in my priesthood.

 

Deacons and those in the lay state that the Church calls upon to help with her mission in a specific way are no less called to this holiness.  Married couples give public witness to holiness in the love they are called to minister to each other and to their families.  We are only as healthy as “Church” as we are first in the domestic Church.  Widows and single persons are not exempt from this calling and have their unique way of growing in and exemplifying holiness particularly as they work to help others to holiness. 

 

The sick, the poor, the infirm all share in the universal call to holiness and are not exempt.  Furthermore they have much to offer for the salvation of the world.

 

The Church is a big place and it is more than the institution with which we often associate the word.  The institution is a necessary help which cannot do without, but the call to holiness is to all.

ROB, STEAL, RECYCLE

A newly ordained priest told the story of preaching at a daily Mass about the absolute necessity of prayer.  This is no choice.  We must pray.  A parishioner approached him and very earnestly protested that her life was too busy and that there was absolutely no way she had time to pray.

 

Your family doctor tells you that you must eat better or start exercising.  Your dentist instructs you to take more time brushing.  Your accountant recommends that you spend more time looking after your resources.  The lady on the television says that your child’s lunch sandwich should be cut into interesting shapes and kind notes written with the ketchup.  You want to spend more time with your family and really, the house is a mess.

 

And now your priest says that you must pray.

 

Well . . . yes.

 

But not all prayer has to be hour long stints (as good as that might be) or on your knees (as helpful as that might be) or in a quiet room (as conducive as that might be) or very formal (as much as that might be an aid.)  Rob, steal, and cheat to get some prayers in.  Recycle time.  Standing in line at the grocery store or at the bank or at the BMV may not be a very conducive place to pray especially now that we have televisions blaring at us, but you can say one Our Father or Hail Mary, or even, “Thank you God for the bounty in my cart.” 

 

When you are in love, it is absolutely great to have the evening or the day to spend with the person of your dreams.  But when that is impossible how reassuring – how much it makes your day to receive a text, “Just thinking of you.”  “Love you.”  “Can’t wait to see you.”  Do you think that God would rather have nothing than this little shot arrow of prayer?  Of course He wants to hear from you.  If you cannot say a rosary, send a hello.

 

Waiting for the computer to warm up, pouring the coffee, alone in the bathroom or shower, turning off the commercials on the radio while driving, walking through the doorway into a tough (or not tough) meeting, standing at the pump at the gas station, while taking the trash out – any of these are an opportunity to send a text message to God.

 

Fr. Leonard recently put the series 24 on our Netflix and I tried to watch it.  It might be a better series if you don’t watch it all at once.  Cracks in the plot start to show through.  For example, nobody uses the bathroom, sleeps, eats, or has a moment in their lives in which a major crisis is not happening.  I could believe that they possibly do not have time to pray.  Possibly.  But then again, they are fictional characters.  We are real people with a real God.

CONUNDRUM

When Marin Luther had problems with certain books of the New Testament which appeared to contradict the new theology he was developing, he tried to have those particular books removed from the Lutheran version of the Bible.  Wikipedia explains it this way:

“Luther made an attempt to remove the books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from the canon (notably, he perceived them to go against certain Protestant doctrines such as sola gratia and sola fide), but this was not generally accepted among his followers. However, these books are ordered last in the German-language Luther Bible to this day.

"If Luther's negative view of these books were based only upon the fact that their canonicity was disputed in early times, 2 Peter might have been included among them, because this epistle was doubted more than any other in ancient times.  However, the prefaces that Luther affixed to these four books makes it evident ‘that his low view of them was more due to his theological reservations than with any historical investigation of the canon’".  Read more here.

Failing to have the Epistle of James removed, he dubbed it the epistle of straw and invited followers to largely ignore it.  This may seem startling to us today, but it still takes place even within the Catholic Church.  Perhaps not with Scripture but we have our own versions of it.

An excellent example would be the documents of Vatican II.  There are certain ideas about Vatican II, which are very popular and almost ingrained into American Catholic society, that don’t quite stand up to all that VII said.  Readers of the documents are invited to skip over the parts that do not agree with this vision and are told they are in violation of VII documents if they, in fact, are trying to do as the actual documents state.

Here is an example that I told you about some time back.  A friend of mine was having dinner in a restaurant and having just come from a VII workshop, happened to have the documents sitting on the table.  A man came by and invited him to come to his church where they were truly putting the documents into action.  When asked which church this was, the man identified a community that had just broke from the diocese and the bishop and was operating as an independent entity. 

Confused, my friend asked how they could consider themselves more closely following VII documents when so much of them were about being in concert with the local bishop and the pope.  “That’s not in there!” replied the man.  Not only is it in there, but it is a major section of one of the constitutions of the Church.  The man had to admit that they disagreed that part of the document.  A document of straw.

Recently we were going to sing the Gloria in Latin for a short time.  My music minister received a certain amount of flack.  The worst came from persons accusing the parish of betraying VII (which in my estimation is one step short of accusing the parish of schism.)  Pointing out that the constitution of the Church not only states that Latin is the official language of the Church and that it is to preserved, but that every person should know their parts of the Mass in Latin and that steps should be taken in order for this to occur, had no sway. 

Now, if someone were to say they simply didn’t like this idea, I could respect that.  If they said that they, in fact, did not agree with VII documents, I would understand.  But if we cannot assume that all of the writing are guided by the Holy Spirit, no matter how contested they may have been at the time, how can we trust any of the writings of VII?  If we cannot trust the New Testament because certain parts of it might mislead us, how can we trust any of the New Testament?  Are we that lost?

I think not.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCCX

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  "The Church remains, as Cardinal Newman wrote, '…the poet of her children, full of music to soothe the sad and control the wayward; wonderful in story, rich in symbol and imagery. So that gentle and delicate feelings, which will not bear words, may in silence intimate their presence. The liturgy’s very being is poetry; every psalm, every petition, every prayer; the cross, the mitre, the incensor; each a fulfillment of some dream of childhood, or aspiration of youth.'” from Barbara Nicolosi's article, "Why Should Christianity Be "Patron of the Arts?"

 

QUOTE II:  "In most cases, what we are exposed to musically in our churches is bad compositions badly executed. Sometimes, it attains to bad composition well-executed, but as poor imitations of what is happening in secular music, generally, the stuff we are hearing in Church is inappropriate to the liturgy in style, excellence and lyricism."  Same source.

 

IN OTHER NEWS:

 

If you would like to read more of the above artice you may go here.  (Thanks Ellen)

 

St. Sebastian ended up in the paper this weekend.  Read the article here from the Beacon Journal site.

 

Mary sent this article in on "Will Beauty Save the World?"

 

Here's some exciting news coming soon for Chesterton fans:  "The staff of the American Chesterton Society has been busy at work redesigning and expanding our website. The new design includes a revamp of the local societies page where your groups are listed with your contact and meeting information.  The new format will allow us to designate a full page to each local society on our roster. In other words, it will be like having a webpage just for your group. Inquirers who search the web for local Chesterton societies will be directed to an interactive map, where push-pin icons will lead them to the page set up for your individual group."  You can visit their site here.

 

From the Diocese of Cleveland Enewsletter:  "Imagine Sisters, Lumen Vere Media and Altius Studies have produced a film titled, "Light of Love" which provides a personal look into the religious lives of Franciscan Sisters residing in Toronto, Ohio."  Read more and see the film here.

 

Here is the 2.5 minute trailer:

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: CALLWAITING

Continuing our look at Lumen Gentium - paragraph 40

The title of this section is interesting in and of itself: “The Call to Holiness.”  That there is a call and an expected response means something.  The faithful life is more than just saying, “I accept You my God as my Lord and Savior.”  Actions are expected of us.  If I adopt you and move you into my home, it would not be enough for you to call me “Dad,” there are certain behaviors that I would expect from you.

 

That being said, there is nothing that you can do to win your salvation.  Jesus did that.  We are “called to God not in virtue of (our) works, but by His design and grace, and justified in the Lord Jesus” and have been made sons and so truly sanctified.

 

But not Christ, or the disciples, or the early Church Fathers, or the Christian Church for most of the history of Christianity said that was enough.  We are called to holiness – to purify ourselves.  “You, therefore, must be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”  We are to “live as is fitting among saints” (Eph 5:3) and to “put on as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness and patience (Col 3:2).  In fact, the New Testament is positively dripping with calls to works and conforming our lives.  Though salvation may be freely given, its effects can be lost.  We can throw it away.  There is no such thing as “once saved, always saved.”  The saved are called to something.

 

However, we will sin.  The best among us will stumble and fall.  Perfection is not that to which we are called in this life.  We can’t do it.  If we could, we wouldn’t need Jesus.  But our call is in untiring striving.  For the rest, we rely on God’s unfailing mercy for His children.  If we follow this plan, we will grow in holiness.  It is a proven path.  One only need look at the history of those carved in stone or wood, or whose images are captured in glass, to know that this is path Christ marked out for us.

RANT - COUNTER RANT: SOME REFRESHING ARGUMENTS

I must say that I started off enjoying Mark Ira Kaufman’s letter to the editor in 11 September’s edition of the Akron Beacon Journal supporting abortion rights.  Not that I agree with him, but that he supplied some different things about which to think – until he fell into the pothole of mudslinging at the end.  But if you don’t mind, let us take a look at what he said.

 

Concerning whether a pregnant woman is one person or two, he makes the arguments that it is completely subjective and up to the woman.  Those who see things otherwise “cannot distinguish between an acorn and an oak tree.”  Using his same metaphor I would argue that the actually is referring to himself.  The root of the word semen means “seed.”  There is the seed, not after it has been sown.

 

Referring to another letter he writes, “the writer and her ilk insist that one is a person from conception.  Do they calculate their ages from conception of from birth?”  This is a clever argument though he is debating a convention, nothing scientific or theological.  That is why they are called “birth”days and not “having become a person” days.  Can you imagine trying to calculate when a person was conceived (especially in ages before modern science?)  With some couples it might be easy, with others – it could have been any number of times.  Celebrating birthdays is a convention, not a theological declaration.

 

“Do they demand citizenship for the conceived?”  Yes.  Well, at least protection from the government that is charged for the protection of all in their care.  But once again, it is highly impractical.  If one travels out of the country much, how does one prove where one is conceived?  It is far easier to prove where one is born.  This again is a convention, not a statement on personhood.

 

“How about habeas corpus for unlawful incarcerated “citizen” inside a pregnant prison inmate?”  Interesting but silly.  This one made me smile.  Of course the natural place for a baby is in the womb.  That is where the baby experiences health and the baby’s most ideal freedom.  That is true almost wherever the mother is.  The baby is not also incarcerated, he is where he is supposed to be.

 

“Can a pregnant woman take a tax deduction the moment the test strip turns blue?”  No she can’t.  But this argument supposes that the state has the power to make morals.  It does not have that power unless there is no God.  If there is no God, then those with power make the morals.  If there is a God, persons have dignity no matter what the state says since it is their inalienable right given to them by their Creator and not by any human person or action. 

 

So can a woman be the only person who can decide if she is two persons or one?  No.  Either a person is a person or they are not.  If the issue is in doubt, we must err toward the possibility that we are dealing with a human person.  If we are willing to take the risk that we are killing off thousands of our own human beings, then I throw Mr. Kaufman’s line back at him with slight modifications: 

 

Any nation allowing its mothers to kill the babies in their wombs surrenders the privilege of self-identifying as civilized. 

 

The rest of his letter is unsubstantiated statements and little mudslinging and not worthy of comment.

NO ONE PERSON CAN SOLVE THIS PROBLEM - BUT EVERYONE CAN

Michelin makes tires.  They have made tires for a very long time.  It is difficult for us to think of a time when they needed to come up with an idea to get people to drive more in order that their tires might be used more thereby requiring people to buy more of them.  (Not a problem today.)  One of the brilliant things that they did (and still do today) is to start rating restaurants.  This was not just a nice service that a benevolent company performed for travelers who want to find a good meal wherever they happen to be, it was an attempt to get people to drive to the next town, province, state, country, or what have you in order to make their way to a destination restaurant.  How did they get there?  On Michelin tires.  Today we think nothing of driving to the next town in order to get a good meal.  They may not have been solely responsible for this change in our cultural driving habits, but they did help.  They did something.

 

That is the idea behind the Academy of Culture and Arts at St. Sebastian.  Far too many of our churches order their “art” out of catalogues.  Few are truly trained in writing or performing music for the liturgy.  Trained organists are disappearing from the musical scene.  And the only people really paying for “art,” and thereby providing the only meat on which our artists can chew (both figuratively and literally) is the secular world.  There is becoming a dearth of Christian and in particular Catholic artists.

 

The problem is almost too vast to imagine.  Nobody can solve it.  But all of us can do something to make it better, to start forming a culture, to start planting seeds in order that some day things will be different.  We can’t just be happy to point out the problem.  We must do something.

 

The Academy is one of these efforts.  We are going to provide people of all ages in our community the opportunity to learn and be exposed to the arts.  We hope (eventually) to be offering a wide range on instruments, others arts, and languages, to provide a quality concert series to inspire, bring in speakers, and create opportunities to present the arts not only so that decently trained artists might be formed, but even for those who will find themselves not quite as talented as they might hope, will be able to appreciate good art and in appreciating it will, when they are adults, hopefully not settle for ordering their art out of catalogues and will want to train their children in the arts.

 

Several arts organization are coming together in order to make this project work and it will be a slow process of growing and trying.  Eventually it is hoped that a blue print for such an academy, which is a bit more than a school enrichment program, might be offered to other schools that are interested in starting such an endeavor.  As public funds start to dry up for such important ventures in our public schools, we need to ramp up.  Art is far too important to let fester.

 

Starting such a program takes a lot of resources.  If  you (or anyone you can think of) can be of assistance, please let me know!  There is a fund raiser coming up this weekend ($15!) if you are interested.  See more information here.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCCIX

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  "One could easily seek forgiveness from God, but from one's neighbors?  They were an entirely different matter."  from Jeff Sypseck's, "Becoming Charlemagne"

 

QUOTE II:  "But rude people are notoriously oblivious to shame . . ."  Miss Manners

 

IN OTHER NEWS:

 

MOTHER THOMAS:  There was no post on Monday.  Things are busy around here for a number of reasons one of which is a project coming up this weekend at which Mother Thomas of the Poor Clares in Cleveland will be giving a talk on Art and Contemplation during a champagne luncheon served after the 11:00 Mass celebrated by Bishop Gries OSB this weekend.  Mother Thomas is a cloistered nun who has not left the convent since the 1950s save for medical purposes.  A respected artist, she is helping us announce a new Academy of Culture and Arts at the parish.  Read more about her here. 

 

ACA:  The event at which she is speaking is to help us announce a parish initiative to promote arts and culture.  The Academy of Culture and Arts will provide lessons in art, music, and languages for people of all ages in the community.  The event is open to all and is only $15.  You can read more about the Academy here and order tickets here.

 

A National Catholic Reporter article:  7 trends to watch in the discussion over religious vs gay rights.  Read more here.

 

Frank sent this 4:17 video in.  Interesting.  Thanks.

Mary sent this 6 minute video in concerning the question as to whether there is such a thing as architectural theology for churches.  It is part one of ten.  I hope you enjoy.

SYRIA IN MY HUMBLE OPINION

Today we are taking a break from Friday Potpourri to answer a great comment post by an anonymous reader.  It kept me thinking all day and was a topic of discussion last night with some friends in the rectory.  Here is the comment if you missed it:

 

“So I have been scouring your blog this week in hopes there’d be conversation on Syria.  Did I miss it?  Or is it too new for comment?  Are Catholics obliged to follow the Pope’s stance?  Should we be fasting on Saturday?  Do you have a position?  I am still contemplating as you may imagine.”

 

Truth be told anonymous, I am still contemplating also though that does not keep me from having a strong opinion of my own - though you may be disappointed by it.  There is a saying that goes, “Americans are informed just enough to be violent.”  It is sad but true that we only know what is going on in Syria through what has been told to us.  What the government has released and what the news media has been able to glean and consequently deem newsworthy enough is all we know.  I fully believe that a gas attack has taken place, but do I really know anything else?  Yet American citizens have serious positions on the matter – but I ask the question: Based on what?  Are you willing to stake your soul on your position from the information that you have?

 

Russia (and Syria) have asked that whatever military action we take, we first demonstrate proof that we are using forces against those who truly deserve it.  Pope Francis pleads, “lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution.”  So who is right?

 

There are two things to consider here:  The first is that punishment of this kind rarely works.  We may subdue an enemy for a spell but he merely goes and licks his wounds and then comes back after he has regained his strength.  Similarly when someone has a complaint against the parish and they come at me with both guns blazing the thought that immediately goes through my head is not, “Oh my gosh!  I need to change my position!”  That someone believes they can win someone over to their side by being mean amazes me.

 

Secondly, in contrast, sometimes people need to be kicked in their cabooty.  “We can tolerate this far and we can tolerate no further.  If you try this again this is a warning that we will be back.  You may not treat human beings this way.”

 

So there is the ground world of MHO: As civilians we don’t really know anything.  Violence to counter violence does not tend to work well.  Yet sometimes it is the only resort.  So, since we can’t know, we have to have some amount of trust in those who think they do know.  But what I do know, and what I have control over, is holding my government accountable for what they do.  If an attack is declared in my name as a citizen of the United States and a Catholic, you best have all your ducks in a row, have demonstrated that you have listened to those calling for caution, and have tried every other means first or answer for it.

 

So, should we fast on Saturday?  Absolutely.  We should not cease praying for peace, for those who will die if we attack, for those who have already died, for our leaders and the leaders of all nations that the most effective solution to the problem will be found.  And then pay attention.  Don’t let this fade from your thoughts a week after it is over.  Was our president correct in his assessment?  If yes, praise him.  If not, hold him accountable.

Here and here are an article about the Pope’s position on the matter.

ABSURD BEAUTY

A parishioner made an interesting observation the other day.  It was the end of Eucharistic adoration.  She had spent some time adoring Our Lord who was exposed on the altar in a fancy monstrance.  “You removed the Blessed Sacrament,” she said, “and left the door open on the monstrance and just set it to the side as though it didn’t mean much more than a gum wrapper.”  (At least that was the gist of what she said.) 

 

The beauty of the monstrance became absurd – its meaning gone.  That which it was meant to glorify and to which it was designed to draw attention was taken away and it became beauty without purpose.  The sun rays and jewels no longer pointed to something greater, but became beauty unto itself without purpose like a body from which the soul has departed.  It may still be beautiful but so what?

 

I’ve often thought that about beautiful Church objects in museums that no longer serve their purpose: monstrances, reliquaries, chalices . . . At least illuminated books still glorify Scripture and prayer, but these other objects have lost their meaning.

 

Should art, in general, always point beyond itself?  If it is just beauty for beauty’s sake, is it not then a technique waiting to be applied?  Can beauty really have meaning on its own or does it become absurd changing us into not much more than a wild bird that likes to collect shiny objects?  Beauty should have the power to move men’s souls, not simply tickle his fancy.  If it simply tickle’s his fancy, then it is pretty – if it moves your soul, it is a reflection of the Divine which is the source of all True Beauty and it is that which feeds us.

SO YOU THINK YOU DON'T HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE A HOLY HOUR?

What in the world are you supposed to do for an hour before the Blessed Sacrament?  It is a question that would have plagued my father.  When we asked him to go to New York to see his daughter the question that kept nagging his was, “But what would we do?”

“Visit with your family.”

 

“Yes, but what would we do?”

 

“Visit.”

 

“And do what?”

 

We didn’t go.

 

In this age we need never not be distracted.  If the radio and computer can’t fill the space, the ever present television should do the trick.  They are installed now in cars, check out lines, and increasingly, much to my chagrin, in non-sports bars restaurants.  But should even that fail you, get out your magic phone and it can adequately distract you from thinking or being with yourself in just about every way the above gadgets could do for you.

 

Then after that, we are expected to sit in a church for an hour with Jesus present to us as the Blessed Sacrament.

 

“But what are we supposed to do?”

 

There is a parish close by that has had perpetual adoration since I was a little kid.  Late at night I would stop there from time to time and most of the time people simply prayed but there were some odd things.  Once there was the student that brought a typewriter (tells you how long ago this was) to work on term papers with Jesus.  Clearly there are some things that are more appropriate than others.  How would you like someone coming over to spend time with you and then become wholly occupied with texting?

 

If you are gearing up to start doing a holy hour but the “what am I going to do” monster is making you nervous, start with a holy 10 minutes.  Pay attention to any positive effects after having completed the time.  Notice that you neither died nor went insane.  Next time add a few more minutes. 

 

But as far as what you are to do, ideally it would be to contemplate.  Did you ever spend a lazy afternoon staring out the window?  Here too, “just be still and know that I am God.”  When you find yourself very distracted there are two options: 1) Gently bring yourself back contemplation.  2) See if whatever it is that you think is distracting you is God trying to talk to you about something.

 

If you need to have an agenda consider praying the Liturgy of the Hours.  Do a Rosary.  Read next Sunday’s readings and come up with your own homily – listen to ideas from God.  Get a hymnal out and sing to God in your head.  If things get rough, stand up, shake it off (discreetly) and move to another spot.

 

If you want more ideas, look here or here or here.

 

But most importantly: GO!

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCCVII

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  Beauty is rarely soft or conciliatory.  Quite the contrary.  Genuine beauty is always quite alarming."  from Donna Tart's "Secret History"

 

QUOTE II:  "The beauty of the body is found entirely in the skin.  If people could see what is underneath the skin, as it is said in Boethia that the lynx can do, they would find the sight of women sickening.  Her charm consists of slime and blood, of wetness and gall.  Consider what lies hidden in the nostrils, in the throat, and in the belly: nothing but filth . . . And if we cannot bring ourselves to touch vomit and feces, not even with our fingertips, how can we bring ourselves to embrace the dirt bag itself?"  from Johan Huizinga's, "The Autumn of the Middle Ages"  (interesting question no?)

 

IN OTHER NEWS:

 

This was sent in by Ellen:  "Remember that radio interview I did in March about our local Chesterton Societies? Here is a link (below) to the program recording, if you want to listen. It aired the end of May.  How did I do? (I can't bear to listen to it myself!)"  Hear the program here.  (You did smashingly)

 

From Mary:  "Thought you'd be interested in knowing that both Dawn Eden and Fr. Damien will be on EWTN's Life on the Rock over the next two weeks. These shows will be available later for viewing on EWTN's YouTube Channel's Life on the Rock playlist. Plus Dawn Eden can be seen on video on a couple of other venues."

 

From the Diocese of Cleveland Enewsletter:  "Is Youth Ministry necessary? In Fr. Damian Ference's world, the answer is yes. Recently, Fr. Ference wrote a piece, "Church: The Necessity of Youth Ministry" for the popular The Word on Fire Blog. The blog is run by Fr. Robert Barron with contributions from a number of writers."  Read more here.

 

3 and half minute video:

 

MONDAY DIARY: HAPPY LABOR DAY

Greetings and Happy Labor Day!

From the whole crew of Monday Diary here at Adam's Ale we wish you God's blessings this day!