MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUCIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: CAN YOU NAME THIS TUNE?

God sends the world blessings in ways in which we may not even be aware.  For example, I am so conflicted when it comes to assigning names that perhaps it was for the good of not messing up another human being that God called me to a vocation that required me to be a celibate.

I blame my sister Mickie for my lack in confidence for naming things.  When I was just a jot older than a foal, we got a dog.  My ever magnanimous sister offered to let me name him, which I did in an instant.

I mean, who WOULDN'T want a dog named Jonathon Benjamin?  She gave me the compromise names of either Raccoon (how THAT was a compromise I don't know) or Benny.  I chose Raccoon.  For a week.  And then was adamant about changing it to Benny which confused the entire neighborhood for six months.  As a result I have had difficulties assigning names in general every since.

When trying to name the new dog I tried to find names related to Sebastian.  They had crazy names back then.

The compromise name this time was Archer.  But . . . gee . . . this dog was just NOT an Archer.  Besides the upraised eyebrows of people thinking that he was named after the cartoon, far too many people kept saying, "Cool name.  Wrong dog."

So it was changed to G. K. Chesterton.  Chester for short.

And I like Chester.  People seem to go "Awwwww" when they hear it.  But is he a Chester?  You know, I don't know if he is the brightest bulb in the chandelier,  but I see potential in him.  He's just like St. Thomas Aquinas during is "Dumb Ox" stage.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCCXXXVII

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  From this month's St. Sebastian Chesterton Society:  from "When Wine Was Red:

QUOTE I:  "If (man) is not the image of God, then he is a disease of the dust.  If it is not true that a divine being fell, then we can only say that one of the animals went entirely off its head.

 

QUOTE II:  "And thus no animal ever invented anything so bad as drunkenness - or so good as drink."

 

QUOTE III:  "In such things to be careless is to be sane: for neither drunkards nor Muslims can be careless about drink."

 

from "Cheese"

QUOTE IV:  "If all the trees were bread and cheese there would be considerable deforestation on any part of England where I was living."

 

QUOTE V:  "You are not approaching Nature in one of her myriad tints of mood as in the holy act of eating cheese."

 

IN OTHER NEWS:

 

Pat sent this article in from the Wall Street Journal concerning single parent families. 

 

Annie Dixon sent this in.  I like it a lot!  Pius, fun stuff.  Hope you think it is as cool also.  Look here.

 

From the Diocese of Cleveland Enewsletter: “In his bi-weekly lecture focusing on the works of Vatican II, Cleveland Bishop Richard Lennon cited the developments at the Second Vatican Council which had a profound effect on how the Church trains and develops its priests.”  See video here.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCCXXXV

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  This week's quotes come from the last meeting of the St. Sebastian Chesterton Society.  We finished reading "Manalive" this past month.

 

QUOTE I:  "For a mystic holds that two worlds are better than one."

 

QUOTE II:  "With our weak spirits we should grow old in eternity of we were not kept young by death.  Providence has to cut immortality into lengths for us, as nurses cut the bread and butter into fingers."

 

QUOTE III:  "'I don't deny,' he said, 'that there should be priests to remind men that they will one day die.  I only say that at certain strange epochs it is necessary to have another kind of priests, called poets, actually to remind men that they are not dead yet.'"

 

QUOTE IV:  "Marriage is a duel to the death, which no man of honour should decline."

 

IN OTHER NEWS:

 

Tom took this picture of the St. Sebastian windows on a beautiful day.  Thank you for sharing.

 

You can watch the Chrism Mass taking place in the diocese of Cleveland today streaming live on your computer!  See more here.

 

Mary sent this article in about a controversial talk given by a nun at a Catholic high school.  (My how times have changed!)  Read more here.

 

From the Diocese of Cleveland Enewsletter an interesting tidbit:  "Across the 186 parishes in the Diocese of Cleveland, new members will be welcomed into the Catholic Faith at the 9:00 p.m. Easter vigils on Saturday evening, April the 19th.  This is a one hundred fold increase in new members as compared to a year ago and the Diocese's Evangelization Office and Office for Worship attribute a portion of the upturn to the . . ."  Read more here.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCCXX

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  The following quotes are taken from the last three chapters of G. K. Chesterton's, "The Club of Queer Trades" which was the reading for last months St. Sebastian Chesterton Society meeting.

 

QUOTE I "Truth must of necessity be stranger than fiction . . for fiction is the creation of the human mind, and therefore is congenial to it."

 

QUOTE II "[A]ll women of any kind think all men of an kind mad.  But they don't put it in telegrams, any more than they wire to you that the grass is green or God is all-merciful."

 

QUOTE III  "I know of nothing that is safe . . except, possibly - death."

 

QUOTE IV  "I never said a word against eminent men of science.  What I complain of is a vague popular philosophy which supposes itself to be scientific when it is really nothing but a sort of new religion and an uncommonly nasty one."

 

IN OTHER NEWS:

 

Fr. Ference, a professor of philosophy at our seminary in Wickliffe wishes to invite YOU to attend THE SAINT NICHOLAS BASKETBALL BLOWOUT!  Borromeo Seminary (our minor seminary) vs St. May Seminary (our major seminary) will be held at the field house at CPL December 6th at 7:00PM.  Free admission, Halftime entertainment, Games and Prizes.  All are invited but this is a particularly good time to check out the seminary in a very fun way.  Cheer on your favorites: the young guys or the old guys.  For more information go here.

 

Mary sent this in:  "Fr. Mike McCandless, the vocations' director for the Diocese of Cleveland is featured in a story in the National Catholic Register on encouraging vocations."  Read more here.

 

From the same source:  Fr. Haydu, the international director of The Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums was in town recently to give a talk.  Unfortunately I read my Email too late to catch it.  Here is some information about the organization and about Fr. Haydu's new book. 

 

In his talk he encouraged people to read Pope Francis' thoughts on art and beauty.  Here is an excerpt from Evangelii Guadium paragraph 167:

 

Every form of catechesis would do well to attend to the “way of beauty” (via pulchritudinis). Proclaiming Christ means showing that to believe in and to follow him is not only something right and true, but also something beautiful, capable of filling life with new splendour and profound joy, even in the midst of difficulties. Every expression of true beauty can thus be acknowledged as a path leading to an encounter with the Lord Jesus. This has nothing to do with fostering an aesthetic relativism which would downplay the inseparable bond between truth, goodness and beauty, but rather a renewed esteem for beauty as a means of touching the human heart and enabling the truth and goodness of the Risen Christ to radiate within it. If, as Saint Augustine says, we love only that which is beautiful, the incarnate Son, as the revelation of infinite beauty, is supremely lovable and draws us to himself with bonds of love. So a formation in the via pulchritudinis ought to be part of our effort to pass on the faith. Each particular Church should encourage the use of the arts in evangelization, building on the treasures of the past but also drawing upon the wide variety of contemporary expressions so as to transmit the faith in a new “language of parables”.

 

Thanks Mary

 

Along the same lines, the American Chesterton Society has a video on line in which Dale Ahlquist makes the case for Chesterton's canonization.  In this video he talks about how, days before he was elected, Pope Francis inquired what could be done by the Spanish speaking world to help move forward Chesterton's cause.  There's a guy to have pulling for you!  See the video here.

 

From the Diocese of Cleveland Enewsletter: "WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court will consider the legality of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) "preventive services" mandate, which requires virtually all employers to include female sterilization and all drugs and devices approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as contraceptives in their employee health care plans."  Read more here.

 

Ron sent this video in.  Thanks.

MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUSIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: SPEEDY SERVICE

So as most of you know I have a friend in PA named Eric Armusik (you can see his stuff here) who is a very good painter.  Most recently he created a few paintings for the parish of St. Sebastian.  For the longest time I thought of commissioning another painting just for myself:

The painting would be based on G. K. Chesterton's essay, "On Lying in Bed."  It would be, of course, a bit tongue and cheek.  If you would like to read this essay you may find it here.

 

As you can tell, the phone call did not seem to be going very well.  He seemed distracted and dodgy (if that is a word.)  Maybe he didn't want to do what he might think a trite painting even though I thought it would be wonderful.  The world needs a lot more mirth and this would fit the bill - and I believe that our hopefully-saint-to-be would get a kick out of it himself.  Plus I thought that if he made prints out of them he could sell them to some eccentric Chertonians such as myself.

 

Three days passed and I received a package (wrapped in 12 layers of tape!) in the mail from Erik.

Mystery of mysteries.  Mind you, this was only three days later.  So it was with great curiosity that the package was ripped open and lo . . .

There it was!  The painting of GKC in bed drawing on the ceiling with his burnt broom handle and smoking a cigar!  But . . . but . . . but HOW?  It came snail mail.  That alone should have taken three days!  Did he start painting it while we were on the phone - work furiously through the night, walk it directly to the post office and mail it to St. Sebastian???  This was incredible and I in wonder and at a loss.  So I texted a friend who would understand.

We hadn't agreed on anything.  It was a mere description.  No talk of money.  I was hoping I would not be too wowed by the sticker price.  Anxiously I prayed about a phone call I would have to place to Eric when this text came:

Ha!  What a relief!  What a great surprise!  What a great gift!  Can you imagine what Eric was doing on the other end of the line when I was discribing the painting that he was already painting to him?  The first thing he did was call Fr. Pfieffer and told him what happened.  What a great laugh they must have had.

 

Anyway, the painting has been on display in the rectory.  There is usually one of two reactions: the polite "Oh, how interesting," from those who have no clue what to make of this painting and the burst out of laughter and joy for those who know exactly what it is.  It was greeted warmly by the St. Sebastian Chesterton Society last evening.  Thanks Pf.  (Makes my gift to you seem rather cheap!  HA!)

Chesterton - ora pro nobis!

GUEST BLOGGER: CHESTERETTA

The staff of Adam's Ale has just returned from their concert tour in Italy but thanks to CK, a regular contributor to this blog we (I) can have one more day to get over jet lag because CK had graciously provided today's blog for just such an event.  If you enjoy her writing I highly recommend that you check out the links to more of her writing.  Or of you REALY dissagree with what she says, I highly recommend that you check out the links to more of her writing.

A few months ago I asked a friend to read something I wrote defending the teachings of the Catholic Church. An argument ensued that was more about my snotty attitude than the subject at hand, and my friend blew his stack and accused me of being closed-minded and orthodox. He explained (with no sense of irony) that he was open-minded and that is why I was to never again present him with ideas he didn’t like.

I was being a bit of a jerk that day, and I don’t mind if he’s mad at me, but I do mind if my bad example has soured him on the faith. I have no intention of broaching church-y subjects with him unless he invites me, but if I had a chance to defend orthodoxy I would use a story he once told me as a sort of parable:

My friend was vacationing on a Caribbean island. One afternoon, while walking on the beach, he saw an older man in the water far from shore calling for help, clearly on the verge of drowning. My friend is a poor swimmer, so he punched the nearest young man on the beach in the arm and snarled, “Do something!” Fortunately, someone came by on a jet ski and saved the poor old man’s life.

I would ask my friend if he remembered the man he punched on the beach. Perhaps that young man looked out at the old man who was drowning and said to himself, “Eh, is life worth living?” Or perhaps he asked himself, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Perhaps he thought the world is overpopulated and that it is good that a “useless eater” die. Or maybe he was a Darwinian who believed that natural selection was just weeding out a weak man and preventing him from passing on his inferior “bad swimmer” genes that are so detrimental to survival.

With one punch in the arm, my friend wordlessly declared, “Life is worth living! You are your brother’s keeper! Even if the world is overpopulated, murder by neglect is not the answer!  Forget Darwin! The lives of old men and bad swimmers are just as sacred as anyone else’s!” My friend is not as ambivalent on these subjects as he supposes. Not only did he demand that this young man accept his orthodoxy, he demanded it on the threat of violence!

My friend and I are both machine designers. He would never dream of building a machine out of butter and telling a customer that it would impose no load on the ground because we designed it to hover. This would be quite an unorthodox, open-minded engineering design, but it would also defy the laws of strength of materials, thermodynamics, and gravity. We know from basic human experience that such a design is doomed to failure.

Just as engineering demands “orthodoxy” to succeed, I have discovered by studying history, science, medicine, and many other subjects, that there is such a thing as truth – that reality demands orthodoxy. There really is a difference between right and wrong and it changes neither between individuals nor with the times, and when we stand by debating open-mindedly as to what that truth is, in the meantime people die (as in the drowning man example).

I have discovered that the Catholic Church just happens to have always been right when it has closed-mindedly warned us against ideas that oppose truth and goodness, as with its opposition to communism (and its ensuing millions of deaths), euthanasia (employed by the Nazis and now getting out of control in the Netherlands), and contraception (and its necessary backup plan, abortion). The Church throughout history has warned us in advance when an “unorthodox” idea is going to lead us down the path of misery and death. This has been the case too consistently for me to call it coincidence. I suppose someone could argue that the Church has just been lucky in her predictions – that sometimes even a blind squirrel finds a nut – but if that is the case, the Church is a magic squirrel.

I think my friend’s real beef is that he thinks orthodoxy is restrictive – that it limits the expanse of logic, inquiry, and creativity and that it leads to a life devoid of pleasure. I, to the contrary, have discovered from experience what Chesterton said so well: "People have fallen into a foolish habit of speaking of orthodoxy as something heavy, humdrum, and safe. There never was anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy."

A DOG WILL LOOK UP TO YOU, A CAT WILL LOOK DOWN ON YOU, BUT A PIG WILL LOOK YOU IN THE EYE AND TREAT YOU LIKE AN EQUAL

Sorry, computer problems made today's post late!

At the last Chesterton meeting we came across this line from his essay entitled Dogs, “If the dog is loved he is loved as a dog; not as a fellow-citizen, or an idol, or a pet, or a product of evolution.” I am not entirely sure that this is a universally accepted statement. In fact, I know that it is not.

Two of my favorite people in the world have a couple of dogs that they love all out of proportion, at least according to Chesterton. I was invited to a birthday party for the dogs once and the mother of the people with the dogs gave me some tips about attending. 1) They are not to be referred to as “the dogs” but “the boys.” 2) Do not show up without a wrapped present. 3) And most importantly, do not say anything about this being the least bit strange.

Being a good Catholic boy I followed the rules flawlessly and must say that I had a very good time. The boys went to play in the backyard with their new toys (including my boy that I brought with me) and the adults sat in the living room and drank human drinks out of human glasses held in hands. To tell the truth I did not mind this a bit. The “parents” are lovely people and they perform their parental role with just enough tongue in cheek to let you know, “We know this is a tad over the top,” and just enough tongue out of the cheek to say, “but don’t ruin it.”

There are those however who with tongue entirely out of cheek and flapping quite wildly who believe that dogs, and indeed all animals are on par with humans – or even somehow superior. They have taken a noble and even godly position of caring for the welfare of animals to an extreme desiring animals to have the rights under the Constitution as do human beings.

Not only is this not good for animals, I dare say that it is not good for human beings either. If we are going to give animals such recognition, it also requires something back from them, something they are not capable of giving. Sure, they are affectionate, helpful, and beneficial to human beings in many ways, but in the end they remain animals and to expect more of them is to put undue pressure and expectations on them. I hardly thing an bear that makes its way into a downtown area can be expected to be good citizen or that geese will start observing hygienic laws around city parks.

To lose the essence of what animals are is to lose an understanding of who we are. If a snake (an animal like any other) should crawl up to a baby, I will not have a debate about which has a better right to be there. I will take my shovel and beat the snake senseless. And if the baby were going hungry I would have no qualms about serving up snake-kabobs. A human being is, after all, a being with a unique and superior dignity.

But the opposite is also a huge blunder. The mal-treatment of animals is below our human dignity and the dignity of the animals that God gave us. When He handed Eden over to Adam it was not to do with as he pleased, but to tend it and nurture it

C. S. Lewis said, “When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.” If we understand that humans have a superior dignity, then that does not mean that animals may then be treated willy-nilly. It means that man has a greater responsibility in tending to the welfare of these beings because we have a greater capacity for it. Understanding nature and the proper order of things will allow us to love animals as they should be loved – not as superior beings completely incapable of sustaining such a lofty position, nor as nothing more than objects to be used as we will. When we act like animals or gods, it is the animals that suffer and in turn, so does our human dignity.

WHAT WON'T PEOPLE BELIEVE?

So there’s a big brouhaha over atheists putting up signs about not believing in God. After the story in the paper there was a rush to condemn the behavior and then a backlash of letters saying these are just good honest folk “coming out of the closet” so to speak. Of course, if they were simply stepping into the light and announcing themselves in a non-antagonistic way they would not have called themselves, “Freedom from Religion” but something along the lines of, “Freedom in Atheism.” But clearly the title leads one to believe that this is a movement against something rather than for something – ironically the very thing they proclaim to hate about believers.

I have run into this same phenomena between Christian denominations. At my first assignment there was a Protestant Church that used to sneak into our parish church and leave tracts condemning Catholics to the everlasting fires of hell, worked at converting Catholic children at school, and spent, according to various reports, an incredible amount of time in their worship services proclaiming, “Catholics are going to hell. We are not Catholic so join us.” (This done we were informed because they love us and want to save us.)

Now I do not have a problem debating someone who says that they have a better message. “Here is what we believe, we believe it better, more true, whatever, so give it a shot.” But I do have a problem when converting others is based on burning everyone else’s house down in order to make theirs look good.

Among the letters to the editor there was of course the usually diatribe about how faith is the cause of war throughout the ages. It is a tired, old and almost lame horse whipped out of the barn and forced to trot around the paddock. And even if evidence is presented, very little analysis is brought to bear on it. It can’t be for it would show itself to be the broken down old gelding that it is – unable to carry any weight on its sagging back.

There is the idea that man would have a natural instinct to build a much better society if it were not for religion. If there were no such thing as faith in God and a religion to protect, many argue, we could go about the task of building a utopia. Unfortunately there is little to no real evidence of that at all. There is evidence however of faith doing so. If I might quite G. K. Chesterton on the matter:

Morality did not begin by one man saying to another, "I will not hit you if you do not hit me"; there is no trace of such a transaction. There is a trace of both men having said, "We must not hit each other in the holy place." They gained their morality by guarding their religion. They did not cultivate courage. They fought for the shrine, and found they had become courageous. They did not cultivate cleanliness. They purified themselves for the altar, and found that they were clean. The history of the Jews is the only early document known to most Englishmen, and the facts can be judged sufficiently from that. The Ten Commandments which have been found substantially common to mankind were merely military commands; a code of regimental orders, issued to protect a certain ark across a certain desert. Anarchy was evil because it endangered the sanctity. And only when they made a holy day for God did they find they had made a holiday for men. (The Flag of the World)

Considering Christian Church and the horrors attributed to her in the world, I would say she was responsible for none of them. Rather I would say that it was precisely when men did NOT follow her that we ended in trouble. Christianity may not stop man from destroying the world, but neither will atheism. In fact, with atheism there is theoretically even less holding one back. Even if a Christian should destroy half of the world there is at least the chance that if his faith prick his conscience he will feel guilty and have some fear before God and leave the other half.

Christianity is a cure for what ails the world. But it neither forces men to act in a certain way nor prevent them for doing dastardly things in its name if they so choose.

Here is an example of what is both the down and upside of the Christian Church. Years ago I was working in a theater when a couple of young men walked in wearing the Catholic high school jackets. They created a bit of mischief in the restroom and I overheard a couple of adults commenting not on those to ruffians, not on those high school boys, not on those Catholic high school boys, but on those CATHOLIC boys. Where they living the Catholic faith at the moment? Of course not. But by identifying themselves as Catholic did they bring harm to the faith? Yes. But, they are also identified as Catholic and as a member of the Catholic community and I can bring some pressure to bear. “That is not the way Catholics act,” I might say to them. I could also go back to the community and say, “We need to do something. A couple of our Catholic boys are acting up. We need to start preaching and teaching about . . .” We may not prevent a fire, but we can set up a water brigade even as others fan the flames. Faith is about helping us see that dousing the flames is best and faith gives us the courage to go out and convince others, both Christian and none Christian alike, not just because the action is Christian, but because not burning is the correct thing to do – is truth.

The last word on this I will give to our friend Chesterton again who said, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CLXIX

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND: “On the third day the friends of Christ coming at daybreak to the place found the grave empty and the stone rolled away. In varying ways they realized the new wonder; but even they hardly realized that the world had died in the night. What they were looking at was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of the gardener God walked again in the garden, in the cool not of the evening but of the dawn.” - G.K. Chesterton (The Everlasting Man)

QUOTE II: “I think that someday historians will look back upon our age of divorce, abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, and war and say, ‘at least they didn’t smoke.’” Dr. John Chalburg

IN OTHER NEWS:

The first meeting of the Saint Sebastian Chesterton Society was last night (Easter Monday) and we had a play and discussion with Dr. John Chalburg her performed Chesterton for us. It was an intimate crowd but many friends showed:

Founders of the St. Sebastian Chesterton Society (Akron), Fr. Valencheck and Matt Wyzinski with G. K. Chesterton (Chuck Chalburg) Visiting Chestertonians Ellen Finan of the Warren C. S. (who helped us put on the Hilaire Belloc play last year), Sue Morton of the North Pinellas C.S. (Florida), and Vickie Darkey of the Western PA C. S. Thank you for coming! Hope to see you again in the future.

IN STILL OTHER NEWS:

C. K. Sent this interesting link in. Neal McDonough is a Catholic actor who was recently fired for refusing to do a sex scene. Here is the story.C. R. sent this in: "Father, You have likely heard of this but I just did this weekend. This is a new opera by Marcos Galvany. I did some research and it seems to be a work of reverence honoring the life of Christ and Mary. It premiers at Carnegie Hall Saturday 4/10." Here is a link to the video.

C. C. sent this article in.

Oh! That's all there is time for!

N. B. - There is a very good likelihood that there will be no post on Easter Wednesday. If that is the case know that I will be back Thursday. God bless and Happy Easter!

ONCE, TWICE, THREE TIMES A POSTING

Here are three short posts pieced together into one. Hopefully you will find something among them of interest to you!

FIRST: Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Don’t forget that we get to fast and abstain as a Church community today and so with the help of those around us begin our path to greater discipline which is so deeply connected to joy.

For some Lenten reflections look here and here and here.

SECOND: It is official! We had an organization meeting for the new Chesterton Society. First on the agenda we were going to call it the West Akron Chesterton Society but were afraid people would ask, “What are those WACS up to now?” So we decided to change the name to "The St. Sebastian Chesterton & Friends Society". W. said, “If we do it in Latin "Societatis Chesternonii amicique Ecclesiae Sancti Sebastiani" we could use the acronym "SCAESS," but I don't know where that gets us, but it's easier than pronouncing "’SSCFS.’"

The structure of the meeting which is intended to last an hour at least officially is:
Prayer
Recap anything that may have come up as a result of the last meeting.
The presenter read an interesting passage from the reading.
Discussion
Choose next presenter – meeting time etc.
Prayer.

Of course unmentioned here is eats and libations.
April 5 at 6:30 as the date of the next meeting.
If you are interested please send me and Email for more information at JAVALENCHECK@AOL.COM. Also, visit the blog here for information and to read what we will be discussing.

THIRD: Last week we had a Mass for the healthcare workers of our parish. I was asked to publish the homily so here it is:

I got my undergraduate degree at the University of Akron in theater arts. I was mostly involved in design, construction, direction, lights and such. I became involved in theater because I truly believed in the power of it. When someone comes to a production they are presented with a view of life. At that point they must either reaffirm their personal beliefs or be moved to change.

The only problem with this was that if I wanted to eat (make a living at it) I would have to quite often put forth a message with which I disagreed with as much professionalism as I did one with which I did agree. This was something that I was not willing to do for the rest of my life and is one of the reasons I became a priest. I believe in what the Catholic Church believes. Here was a message I could feel good about putting forth. I could proudly stand behind what was presented each week.

I imagine that if you are in a healing profession you have similar reasons for choosing it. In this path you have chosen more than a profession. It is a vocation. Not everybody gets to live their loves doing something so close to Christ’s mission as you do.

Here is what Jesus came to do. 1. To announce the kingdom. 2. To forgive sins. And 3. To heal the sick.

Remember what we heard in the Gospel today. Christ, the Divine Physician taking a man aside who had a malady and brought him to wellness – to wholeness. That is part of Christ’s overall plan.

Did you ever wonder why God calls certain actions sin? Sin is that which always brings harm into the world even when we do not perceive it. It brings harm to you physically, mentally, or spiritually, or to someone else, or it messes up our relationship with God. But Jesus is always calling us to unity and to healing. That is what virtuous acts are; healing spiritually, mentally, and physically.

As person in the healthcare professions whether directly or indirectly you play an important role in that healing, in establishing unity.

The healing of the young man who was deaf and had a speech impediment was not able to hear and speak well. Now he was able to communicate. He was able to connect better with the community. There was healing – there was a move toward greater unity. That is what you are called to in your vocation.

And as in all true vocations you are not alone. Because of the hours and demands you need the support of those who love you in order to be fully effective. So family and friends, this Mass is for you too.

It is a noble life and I do not envy it. If you are Catholic you are under attack morally. Who would have thought that being one who brings healing could be so controversial? From pharmacists, to caregivers, to nurses, to doctors, to researchers, to every aspect of the field, it is going to continue to be more and more difficult to stay true to your beliefs and maintain your vocation.

You are more on the front line than I am. People see my collar and they expect me to maintain a 2000 year moral tradition. You are not so lucky. You are thrown on the front line
often without detailed moral teaching
often without a lot of back up
often without the support of your peers
sometimes with fears of repercussions: Your job or your faith.

I do not envy you
I admire you
I pray for you
I fear for you
I respect you
I hope you are strong
I hope you are protected
I hope you persevere

And we pray this Mass today that you may one day receive the abundant rewards in heaving to the good that you did in doing your best to maintain the mission of Christ here on earth.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK XCV

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND: "What life and death may be to a turkey is not my business; but the soul of Scrooge and the body of Cratchit are my business." Chesterton

QUOTE II – “God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.” C. S. Lewis

QUOTE III – “There's nothing worth the wear of winning, But laughter and the love of friends.” Hillaire Belloc.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Not wind nor rain nor impending Christmas holiday can keep Jay from announcing another Catholic Carnival.

Ellen from Paraclete Press writes, "In these 7 days before Christmas, our home page features the text of the "O Antiphons" with the singing of the Magnificat (The Song of Mary), as it is traditionally sung at evening prayer or Vespers. These short texts sung before and after the Magnificat recall the prophecies associated with Mary's acceptance of her calling to be the mother of Jesus."

The Diocese of Cleveland Enewsletter reports, "Dignitas Personae, Vatican Instruction on Bioethics, Welcomed for Guidance on issues of Procreation, Medical Research Dignitas Personae (The Dignity of a Person), an Instruction from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on ethical issues arising from biomedical research, provides guidance on how to respect human life and human procreation in our heavily scientific age, said Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops." Read more here.

They also report that, "The following Christmas season television and radio programming information is provided to you by the Department of Communications, Diocese of Cleveland."

My cousin sent this in: "Enjoy watching Lun Lun, Yang Yang, Mei Lan and the newest cub on PandaCam, but unfortunately, this feature will soon come to an end. Due to limited resources, Zoo Atlanta will not be able to offer PandaCam after December 31, 2008. Panda Cam will be available from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday."

This video was sent in by F. S. Only if you need a good laugh:

Adoro sent this interesting mind trick in. Thanks Adoro!

And to sum up - here is an essay on Christmas by Chesterton.

MONDAY DIARY - GIVING A LEG UP

Christmas is coming like a steam locomotive. Or better yet – Christmas is like an overstuffed suitcase being sat upon in a desperate attempt to keep shut until the right time but already the case is groaning, bursting at the seams, pieces of Christmas already flying out through the cracks. So even a rigorist like myself decides to relax a little bit and let it happen. And instead of seeming like a shock it is a more like a nice, relaxing, hot shower.

Well, somewhat. It is still as busy as all get out. I worry about being able to greet the holy day completely – or at least satisfactorily - prepared. So the past few days I set a firm rule for myself: “Self! You have a lot to prepare and nobody is going to cut you slack because you were too busy. So – no more last minute appointments, no problem solving that does not involve Christmas directly, everything will just have to wait the next so many days. The world has turned without you thus far and it will continue to do so. Focus on your mission!”

And then God, who is the Father of irony, gets in the mix. A phone call comes in. A family needs a priest at a local hospital. They are stressed. The family is in from out of state and their Mother is unexpectedly and severely ill and not expected to make it through the holidays. Will you come? A well respected and beloved nurse is in hospice care, not expected to make it through the night. Will you come? A priest’s father has passed away. Can you help them out? A soldier is about to be shipped out and needs to talk to you before he leaves. Can you make the time?

Of course priests and lay people alike do these things. That is what allows us to wear the title Christian. And if privately we grumble beforehand we are exceedingly grateful for the opportunity and for having been able to reach out to others.

These blessings reminded me of the Chesterton quote: “"When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?" What blessings we have. That we can be stressed about the coming festivities of course means we have festivities to be stressed about. Let us be grateful for the “interruptions” which are not interruptions at all but part of the celebration. Let us be thankful that they allow us to exercise our charity in this season of charity and that they remind us to be thankful for our stockings full of legs that allow us to do them.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK LXXXV

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND: "Obedience. The most thrilling word in the world; a very thunderclap of a word. Why do all these fools fancy that the soul is only free when it disagrees with the common command? Even the mobs who rise to burn and destroy owe all their grandeur and terror, and sort of authority, not to their anger but the their agreement. Why should mere disagreement make us free? I know you are fond of dancing; do you want to dance to a different tune from your partner's? You are a fine horsewoman; do you want to think of walking northward all by yourself, when you and your horse are going southward together?" from G. K. Chesterton's "The Surprise" Act 1 scene III

IN OTHER NEWS:

You might remember the hawk mentioned in last week's post. As it turns out the second grade boys have named him (and aptly so) Sebastian and have had sport watching him crash into trees after game. Out parish photographer Stephen S. captured this shot of this beautiful bird. You may want to avoid look at his talons however. That was Jimmy the squirrel.

N.B.: If you are sending Emails to my StSebastian address - the servers had been down for several days. You might want to send it through the address attached to this site.


Kay sent this video in quite a spell ago but I did not (and still do not) have sound on my computer and so was able to listen to it for the first time the other day at a friend's house. Enjoy.

"Oui," says Jay, "Eet Ees time for Carnival Catholique 192!"

ON CELIBACY: I generally dislike getting inspirational notes and such jamming up my mailbox, but this one from F. S. seemed good enough to share: "Celibacy can be a choice in life, or a condition imposed by circumstances. While attending a Marriage Encounter weekend, Ray and his wife Charlotte listened to the instructor declare, 'It is essential that husbands and wives know the things that are important to each other.' He addressed the men,'Can you name and describe your wife's favorite flower?' Ray leaned over, touched Charlotte's arm gently and whispered, 'It's Pillsbury All-Purpose, isn't it?'And thus began Ray's life of celibacy."

The Diocese of Cleveland Enewsletter suggests reading "Abortion and Faithful Citizenship" put out by the USCCB.

Here is a new site to me: Students for Life. They are college students taking a strong role the struggle for the dignity of human life.

Lastly, here are some pictures of the great oak coming down after being badly damaged in the last storm. it is quite a feat and interesting to watch - though sad.

A DARK IN THE LIGHTNESS

Do you want to bring the Catholic Church to its knees? Forget about Communism or Sam Harris or scandalmongers. The only thing you need to do is turn off the electricity. The windstorms yesterday downed lines and shut off power to every building on the grounds of Saint Clare except the rectory, the one place it wouldn’t really have mattered since, being a Luddite, all of my clocks are wind up anyway.

Since it is very dark early in the morning mass was cancelled, the school was closed and the office is crippled. The postal machine was down so no mailing anything and the hospital computers were down so I couldn’t find the Catholics there. Our doors lock electronically so I don’t often bother carrying a key. That was a mistake. Even our staplers are electric so we cannot even staple a piece of paper.

Long gone are the days when the highest technology employed in a church building was the architecture itself. That, and the pipe organ whose bellows were manned by rambunctious altar boys. How did we survive without microphones and lights? Having enough candles to play BINGO must have cost a fortune.

IN OTHER NEWS: (Sorry about the limited appeal of this post but these things were backing up!)

THE NEW G. K. CHESTERTON CLUB OF CLEVELAND NEEDS YOUR HELP! They have about 100 new potential members. For the next event they want to try to "piggy-back" off another free event somewhere (to try to attract the most people to come) then, simply meet afterwards. Please keep me informed if there are any events/concerts/lectures/etc that might work (at a Church or otherwise). Or, instead they are looking for a good highway accessible place (not too far East or West), that's free, big enough to hold 100 (or at least 40), (also ideally a place where drinking may occur) Any ideas?

MEN OF NORTHEAST OHIO! The Catholic Men’s fellowship of Northeast Ohio is sponsoring their annual conference on Saturday, February 9th at Akron Hoban High School to assist men on their spiritual journey. An important part of Catholic Men’s Fellowship is the opportunity to meet regularly with other men to assist each other to grow spiritually. I’ll be there to hear confessions along with many other priests from the diocese. For more information or to register go here.

CLEVELAND PRIEST TO BE INSTALLED AS THE FOURTH ARCHBISHOP OF THE ARCHDIOCESE FOR MILITARY SERVICE. This office serves about 1.3 million Catholics who are affiliated with the United States Armed Services throughout the world. For those of us not able to attend his installation at the National Shrine in Washington D.C., he will have a Mass of Thanksgiving here in Cleveland at the Cathedral of Saint John on Sunday, 3 February 2008 at 3:00 PM. A public reception will follow immediately after mass. You are invited!

SUNDAY VIDEO ON TAP XLI

R. B. supplied this week's Video On Tap. I can't inbed it so you have to go to the site to watch it. I'm not sure my pastor would be crazy about me having this as my new ministry here - but with the way that I cook it might do more harm than good anyway.

After going here you will have to click on the trailer.


IN OTHER NEWS:

If you would like to look into more of Fr. Leo's ministry, look here.

This is for you Christmas fanatics!

Jay announces that Catholic Carnival 147 is up and running over at Living Catholicism!

ATTENTION!

Here is important news for G. K. Chesterton fans (who happen to live in the Cleveland area)! G.K.Cleveland will have their first meeting on 2 December at 2PM at John Carroll University Library. Meet for a tour of GKC archives and then stay for coffee and company! Enter JCU at South Belvoir veer left around campus. Look for Grasselli library and parking on the campus great maps can be found here. For more info, contact Matthew Lewis gkcleveland@gmail.com.