MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUCIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: THE INCOMPREHENSIBILITY OF MAN

So, St. Sebastian Parish had an early St. Patrick's Day party this weekend with the General Guinness band and a good time was had by all.  Blah, blah, blah.

Now that being said: Why are we so excited to be Irish one day out of the year?  I humbly suggest that we have a day on which we celebrate being Slovenian!  We have SO MUCH to offer!  It would be a great day.  It could be St. Slomsek Day or St. Modestus Day or St. Gorazd Day.

Here is the proposal:

I mean really.  Does any more need to be said on that point?

And seriously, would you take corn beef over SLOVENIAN SAUSAGE?  No sane person would I dare say.

THEN THERE IS THE ISSUE OF DESSERT!

Granted, you can go out in your yard and pick clover.  Heck, most of the time people are putting chemicals on their lawn to get them to STOP growing.  But you know what the national flower of Slovenia is?  Red carnations!  That's what.  You'd be pickled tink if you had red carnations coming up in your yard.

And have you ever noticed all the "Fighting Irish" mascots?  Even just down the street we have St. Vincent St. Mary High School with that mascot proudly displayed.  You know what you get when you have three Slovenians drinking in a bar?  A choir!

Then there is this!

Okay, maybe the Irish have an advantage there.

But being Slovenian can also be green in the good sense.

I see you rolling your eyes.  But I'm serious.  You would . . . it would be . . . Can't you see . . .

IN HONOR OF ST. PATRICK, HERE IS POST ON ST. JOSEPH AND A COMPLETELY UNRELATED ST. PATRICK DAY MEME

If you want to get Fr. Orndorff going (and it really doesn’t take much,) show him a picture of St. Joseph as an elderly man with grizzly beard and wrinkled face.  “That is not St. Joseph!” he is wont to declare in precise and slightly elevated tones.  Being the pastor of St. Joseph Parish I am inclined to give him some deference in the matter.  

Father does have some backing for his claim that St. Joseph was not an old man.  The earliest depictions of St. Joseph show him to be a strong, young man of about 25 years of age, what you might picture if you thought of a man in his youthful prime, ready for marriage, and who worked at a very physical job.  In fact, the first three centuries of the life of the Church depicted him this way.  Then, all of a sudden, in the fourth century, he became an octogenarian.  (The painting to the right hangs at this parish and was a very generous donation.)

Did he enter a time machine and seem only gone for a moment but returned having lived a full and happy life in another time?  No.  There was a heresy afoot at the time that attacked the perpetual virginity of Mary, which made the claim that Joseph was the physical father of Jesus.  Having tamped down that heresy, artists (blessed artists! - thank you for all that you do for the Church) started depicting St. Joseph as an 80 year old man suggesting that man of such advanced years would not become a Dad.

There are two problems with this.  The first that I hear confessions and I know that being 80 does not necessarily have anything to do with a decreased desire or ability to do certain things that one did when he was twenty-five.  Secondly, it is a greater story, a more touching story, a more extraordinary inspiration, a more fitting idea (especially to this celibate) that St. Joseph was a man like any other man, in his prime, and having the same strong desires that any other man in that position would have.  Why?  Because it is a far greater thing to overcome your temptations that to have them simply taken away.  And now more than ever, that is the example we need with this great saint.

After all, what makes us great men and women is not that God would take away our free will and therefor out temptations.  What merit is there in that?  Would be becoming comatose for the rest of our lives be more virtuous than moving about and possibly sinning?  No.  What makes us great is, like St. Joseph, we become stronger than our temptations.

GUEST BLOGGER: IT'S A LIE!

There was no post yesterday because our Internet was down so today you get two!  This is the bulletin letter that my friend and fellow pastor wrote for this weekend's bulletin at St. Francis de Sales in Akron.  I think he loves Ireland and St. Patrick more than the Irish who actually live there.  He always has something interesting to say but this I thought was timely and relevant.  I hope you enjoy it and get something out of it as I did.  Oh - and don't tell your friends from St. Francis about this article until after the weekend.  They haven't seen it yet.  And now from Fr. Bline:

 

One of the most frustrating things for me at this time of year is watching how most of America has no idea what Saint Patrick Day means to the real people of Ireland. It has NEVER been about outlandish parades, tacky costumes or leprechaun decor, green beer or oh-so-misguided souls that want to start this holy day with "kegs & eggs." Oh, am I upsetting some of you? Good, then join my reason for why I think it is fitting for St. Patrick to celebrate his feast in the middle of Lent.

 

Now don't get me wrong, I rather like the fun that comes with the 17th of March. And, I can't say that my lips haven't felt the cool-warm foam of 119.5 second poured pint of Guinness (plus the top off time...not that I know anything about such things), but know what it is really all about...true freedom.

 

It is about Patrick's Lenten plea to return to the Lord, to ask God to create a clean heart in us, to be with family and friends at Mass at the very start of the day and to break bread at home in thanksgiving for God's love in your life. Am I too idealistic, too out of touch, and should I just go along with all the fun and stop being such a party-pooper (as some of my own friends have said)? I don't think so. I'm not saying it is a bad thing to laugh and enjoy the day with generous portions of cabbage and corned beef (or Irish bacon/ham if you're in Eire), black pudding and porridge, colcannon or parties, to lift up a foamy pint with friends, or to have a bite of our own Mary Patricia Nash Butke's perfect Irish soda bread (who by the way just got named the Hibernian's Grand Marshall for Akron's St. Patrick Day Parade). Just remember "The Bright Sadness" (as St. John Climacus loves to call this season, March 30) which is so closely linked to all the sacrificial love St. Padraig embraced and shared with the very people who he was called to serve and to save.

 

 Have holy fun and sacred celebrations this week with your friends and family, St. Patrick and St. Joseph (don't forget your St. Joseph Bread and Altar setup at home on the 19th). But however you enjoy it, remember now is the time to return to our Lenten vows and to make amends by taking care of those who are most in need. Síochána, Fr. Kieran Bline