SUNDAY VIDEO ON TAP XLVIII

Perhaps before I went on retreat I would have blown this video off, but just coming back and being on a spiritual high this really pulled at my heart strings. "Anyway" Approximately five minutes.



IN OTHER NEWS:

Jay announces that Catholic Carnival 155 is up and running!

The Diocese of Cleveland Enewletter reports that the Youth Rally for Life will once again invite youth from the Greater Cleveland area to express their concerns on pro-life social justice issues at the next annual Youth Rally for Life to be held Tuesday, January 22, 2008 at 12:00 noon on Cleveland's Public Square. Look here for our Pro-life Office.

The DOCEN also reports that "Benedict XVI invited the Church to pray without ceasing for Christian unity, so that all believers may profess Christ as their savior." Full story here.

SYMBOLIC SATURDAY - A GRAVE UNDERTAKING

One of my favorite tombstones are those that look like trees that have been cut down. The symbolism is quite obvious. Here is a life that was cut short. There are a couple close by that have smaller limestone logs laying about that are markers for other people in the family. So while the mother and father may be marked by a large trunk, the subsequent children of the family are found round about with matching bark. Can I say it? They are regular chips off the old block.

Sorry.

What image comes to mind when you hear the word “Undertaker?” Do you think of a tall, sallow, lanky man in a black suit and top hat? Do you think, “Creepy?” It is unfortunate that this word has fallen into disuse. It is not a creepy word at all. In fact it is quite nice and accurate. No longer did families have to handle everything for themselves at the death of a loved one. There was someone who would “under take” all the arrangements for them.

This person then gained the title Undertaker.

And a great big thanks to Habemus Papem for undertaking this post for the last couple of days! And thank you for your prayers as you were all in mine.

A Reason for Living

St. Thomas Aquinas says, “The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life.” Living the Christian life culminates in our participation in the Eucharist. We are truly in God’s presence at this moment.

The Eucharist as the source of my faith life. Sure, it’s a mystery and sometimes you just have to believe, but once you believe, you start to comprehend just what it means to be Catholic and how important our faith is. Looking at the Eucharist displayed in the monstrance we realize that Jesus came to show the world just how much God loves and cares for each and every one of us. And through his life, he showed us how to live, by dying on the cross he brought us salvation, and before he died, he gave us himself in the Eucharist.

During adoration we are truly in his presence and this is when I feel most connected with God. The first time that I experienced adoration was at a youth group retreat. If was my first retreat helping with the youth group and when the monstrance was brought out, I had no idea what to expect. Needless to say it was an interesting experience, but I wasn’t focused, I didn’t know the songs we sang, and my knees really hurt from kneeling on the floor. But it wasn’t until I was on a retreat that upcoming Oct when it started to click. But when I really made the connection was when we went to a FOP at Steubenville. A priest had been telling us for a while about how amazing these things were and we decided that it was worth a shot. We drove down there and boy were we surprised. My friend and I had always secretly thought the charismatic Christians were odd. What the heck were they doing with their hands in the air praising Jesus? Yet, that night we became one of them, thanking Jesus for all he had done for us.

It was at Stuebenville when my world collided and I found Jesus at the center and had met him face to face. It was also in that moment when I saw and felt the embrace of the whole Catholic community. This was when I realized that my relationship with Christ had begun.



I’ve realized that when I’ve finally come to the source, being in the presence of the Eucharist with our Lord, things make sense. And after each encounter, I always leave a new person, wanting to become closer to Christ.

Practice Makes Perfect

“Thus I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing.”
1 Corinthians 9:26

When I first read this sentence I had to pause for a moment. Sure, I followed St. Paul when he was talking about not running aimlessly thing. Got it, run with a purpose! However, the second part of this sentence really confused me and I found it hard to understand. The whole shadowboxing thing really threw me off, and St. Paul was officially not making any sense. So, I did a bit of research and found out what this whole shadowboxing thing is.

I found that shadowboxing is an exercise used to prepare a fighter’s muscles in training before the real fight. In shadowboxing, only one person is required to participate. Boxers mainly do this as they throw pretend punches at no one in particular but rather to develop skill, quickness, form, and focus.

I realized we all do a bit of daily shadowboxing. We fight some nameless and faceless battles of our own. Everyday we’re fighting against pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, and sloth. Each of these struggles is like a shadow and sometimes we don’t even realize that they’re there. But even when we know they are present in our life, we still try to hide from them and often run to them aimlessly because we feel comfortable. Ultimately, these struggles and deadly sins pull us further from Christ, bring us down, and let the devil in.

Have you ever thought about how many times you run from Christ into the shadows thinking that things can’t change or you’re just not strong enough to make a change in your life? Sure these struggles may seem unbearable at times but during this liturgical season more so than any other, step out of your box and take up your cross with Christ. Let Christ box in your corner for once. Let us run with a purpose towards Christ and fight the battle with him instead of fighting alone.

Ssshhhhhh....please be silent

"...listen to me; be silent while I teach you wisdom". - Job 33:33

Silence. Often times it can speak louder than words. At times silence can be comforting and other times it can be quite uncomfortable. I do not do well with silence. I find that I always require constant noise. If you are like me, you have a very busy life, filled with people who want or need your time and attention. It can get pretty noisy. And if you’re like me, you probably do not take as much silent time as you should…time with no phone, TV, computer, or music.

A while ago, I saw a movie that was the epitome of silence. The movie was entitled, “Into Great Silence,” and, boy, was I taken into that silence. The movie was about the French Carthusian Order of monks. The movie reflected on their lives and their devotion to God in the purest form, through contemplation and silence. The movie was almost three hours long and, aside from two minutes, was in complete silence. For the first half of the movie I couldn’t do anything but move about, shift in my chair, or text message my friend next to me. The silence was literally killing me. But after I finally settled into a hypnotic state, I began thinking about the silence and all the times that God spoke to me in the quiet. But, like sitting in the silent movie theater, I really had to listen and focus on what God was saying to me in my daily life, though often times I did not want to hear it.

When we do not listen to God and are not silent, we find that He has to shock or scare us to get our attention. Yet, when we sit back and listen, as uncomfortable as it may be from time to time, He can speak volumes to our hearts. God grows in silence. Yet, often times we push that silence aside. But it is in the times we are silent, God often teaches us how to live our lives. And sometimes, it is in that silence when we realize our vocation.

I challenge you to sit in silence, struggle through it, and listen to what God can teach you. God bless.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK XLVII

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND: "I do not fear Satan half so much as I fear those who fear him." -St. Teresa of Avila

IN OTHER NEWS: My apologies for the lack of a post the other day. After mulling over what to write about for the remainder of the week, I seem to have further appreciation for the knowledge that Fr. V lends forth daily. I've realized its quite hard thinking of things to post about on a daily basis. However, tomorrow there shall be a post...be prepared.

SUNDAY VIDEO ON TAP XLVII

BILL!



And this is just silly but it made me laugh quite hard and thought to share it with you. I watched Star Trek religously growing up and knew every one of the episodes whoever this person with lots of time on his hands sewed together.




IN OTHER NEWS:

Jay announces that Catholic Carnival 154 is up and running!

Here's a shocker! The Diocese of Cleveland E Newletter reprots that the Plain Dealer distorted the Diocese's policy on child abuse policies. Read here.

Also in the DOCEN is an excerpt of the Dec. 30 address given by Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, director of the Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation, at the Catholic Christian Outreach 2007 Rise Up conference, held in Calgary reminding us that sainthood is not just for the chosen few.

MUSICIANS or otherwise interested persons: I have a church organ from the mid 1800s. It is a reed organ with two manuals and full peddles. It has been changed over from manual bellows to a mechanical system. I was hoping to hang on to it until I got a place of my own and reassemble it and enjoy it but the place where it is stored is losing its patience. (I don't blame them really.) Anyway, the place that I will be forced to store it is VERY BAD for it and if anybody can use it - want it - whatever - I will miss it terribly but much rather see it saved! Some work needs to be done on it. You move it - you can have it.

N.B. I will be on retreat that the Trinity Retreat House most of next. Habemus Papem will take over for the next few days.

SYMBOLIC SATURDAY - ARE YOU DYING TO KNOW MORE?

Cemeteries are not places I would commonly think to hang out but more and more of them encourage people to use them to jog, bike, walk, learn, read, though I don’t think that I am up to even considering having a picnic there. Lakeview in Cleveland, a place I recommend you have a gander at, has programs on a regular basis in the summer. This brings to the attention the artwork that is there, (hopefully reminds us to pray for the dead) and helps keep vandalism down.

Perhaps the most common stone monuments are that of urns. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” goes the saying and one can imagine the ashes of life symbolically held in this great stone pieces. Quite often the urns are dramatically draped with a cloth. There is some debate about what exactly (if anything) this means which may point to it meant different things to different people. For some it was just more artistically daring. According to Douglas Keister in his article “The Story In Stone” from “American Cemetery” October 1999, “There are those with more romantic views who say the drape represents the collapse of the partition between life and death or that the drape represents the shroud that is left after the soul departs the body.” In another publication it was said that the addition of the cloth meant to signify that here was a life that was cut short.

It is not over surprising that the definition of the drape is not “concrete” or “etched in stone.” (Sorry about that.) Symbols can morph and change. Perhaps early it meant something specific and then somebody saw it and said, “Cool, I want that!” and thus the meanings became blurred.

On Cleveland’s east side is another symbol that might shock visitors to the graveyard. Over the portico to the cemetery chapel there is a stone angel gravely staring down at everyone and clearly giving them the bird, back of the hand facing the people with the middle finger boldly sticking up. Back when the angle was carved however, this symbol did not mean what it means today. The finger, actually extended before the angle’s face is calling us to hush and be silent, for all should show reverence in the presence of death.

Well, if the real message did not get across, shock might achieve the same thing.

THE SIXTY SECOND TEST OF HAPPINESS

Please keep this between you and me. I know I’ve railed against Law and Order SVU, but I was so tired last night I couldn’t think and veged in front of the television and watched an episode. In it there was a lady who lied to the police. They looked at each other and pondered how on earth a sweet old lady such as her could lie to the police. They then realized that she was dying and could care less about the consequences. This world and everything in was passing away. Her loyalty was no longer to anyone or anything in this world. She had the freedom to act as she pleased.

Of course another name for this is anarchy. But what if one were to have that freedom focused in a positive direction; to have the freedom live fully in love with Christ without wanting or needed to worry what others think or expect?

I had a spiritual director once who called this, “Being wild.” He showed us a rock and said, “See the rock? The rock is wild. It won’t do anything except be a rock no matter what you think of it or expect it to be.” Well, Okay, maybe that was a bit “Kung Fu”, but it helps get the picture across.

“The Bucket List” is a movie out right now that follows a couple of guys around trying to get in everything they want to experience before the “kick the bucket.” (My Dad was a whole lot like this.) Mimicking this the Plain Dealer today asked some local celebrities what they would put on their bucket list. That tells you a lot about a person. Some mentioned sexual conquests or drinking beer at an Oktoberfest in Munich while others mentioned working with Doctors Without Borders or ridding Cambodia and the world of a few more land mines. Wow.

But an idea more important than "what do you want to get in" comes from this quote I’ve been contemplating found in The Sun magazine. It is the question of how would you feel if there was no more time to get anything in. It is along the lines of, “Be still and know that I am God.”

“Stop reading for a moment,” well, after you are done reading this, “and imagine that you are going to die in one minute. The last thing you are going to experience are reading these pages, sitting in this room, thinking and feeling what you are think and feeling right now. This is the end of your life . . .You have no time to write a note or make a phone call. All you can do is experience what is, right now. This is a very simple exercise, but it is quite profound. It brings you into presence very quickly. You stop fighting, you stop needing, you stop being concerned with physical comfort, you stop wanting, you stop achieving, and you stop maintaining. Enlightenment, attainment, realization all become meaningless. You are just present.” Ken McLeod

Well, that wasn’t exactly true for me because I was reading this in the little monsignor’s room and so would have taken care of a couple things before dropping over on the tile floor. But just the same it made me think, “If this is it right now am I Okay with that? Would I be ashamed of my life right now or basically Okay with what I am leaving behind?”

As a priest I see people at the end of the line from time to time who regret their lives terribly and in trembling wish to start doing something about it now, but that is only because the taste of death is already in their mouths and now have the opportunity to stop and realize how self-centered their lives were. “If God would give me one more chance I would . . .” Unfortunately it is often the case that there is not going to be more time and so I advise that they pray for and about that which is important to them, at least offering that up. Sometimes that helps, sometimes it doesn’t. But boy does it teach the lesson that a little bit of sacrifice in life sure makes up for feeling unprepared to face death.

As much as I would have hated for it to be in the bathroom, I think I would have been at peace when I read that quote. One thing I did wish was that I’d not left such a mess behind so plan on cleaning my office today. I wrote a couple of notes to people telling them I was thinking of them and thought to write you this. That’s about as far as I got in 60 seconds.

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!

I WILL TAKE THE CUP OF SAVATION

Have you ever given a thought about the chalice used at mass? Where did it come from? Why this chalice as opposed to another chalice? It is possible that it is just the “parish chalice” that the celebrant of any mass might use. It might also be the priest’s own chalice or one given to him to maintain and use.

This is a picture of a chalice entrusted to my care. It belonged to Fr. Joseph Medin who was ordained in 1924. He was pastor of my home parish of Sacred Heart during the 1930s. Sacred Heart was a small Slovenian parish housed in a little wood frame building next to the railroad tracks. My Aunt still tells the story of how he took care of the parish during the depression. Apparently he came from a wealthy family in Slovenia and used that wealth to help others. Gifts would magically appear at the homes of a suffering family, kids that could not make it to CCD classes would be rounded up in his big black car, and it is said that he had a kindness that endeared his people to him. He is still held in prayer by people of that generation today.

Somehow that chalice made it into the hands of Fr. Joseph Ozimek. He was the pastor while I was growing up. He used the chalice regularly. By this time Sacred Heart was in a newer brick building but it was still a tiny Slovenian parish and the pool of servers was still relatively small and because we lived close (this was an ethnic parish, not a territorial parish) I served often.

One day I walked into the sacristy and Fr. Ozimek said, “You’re serving today?” to which I replied sullenly, “Yeah, I have to serve again.” He turned toward me and said, “No, you don’t have to. You get to.” I know I looked like I blew that comment off but it effected me deeply.

For years, kneeling before the altar in my red cassock and surplus ringing the Sanctus bells I would stare at the chalice, so artfully done, so intricate, such care and beauty, being inspired by it also to the importance of the use for which it was made – to hold the Blood of Christ! Around the base are hand tooled (not machine pressed) scenes of the crucifixion, the ascension, and the agony in the garden and on the bottom of the paten is the scene of the last supper.

When I was ordained Fr. Kunkle had the chalice restored and presented to me to use to carry on the memory of the parish and priests of Sacred Heart, which is no longer in existence. It was used at my first mass and continues to be used for weddings, funerals, the Christmas and Easter seasons, holy days, and other special occasions. For almost 90 years this work of some craftsman’s hands has served as a sacred vessel for our most precious gift, the Blood of Christ, and has touched the lips of countless new brides and inspired a new generation of Catholics. That is liturgical art at its best.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK XLVI

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND: "Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to one single act from which we would never recover. We would remain the victim of its consequences forever." - from Hannah Aredent's "The Human Condition"

IN OTHER NEWS:

B. T. send in this site. H2O News source in its own words is, "H2onews is a Catholic news service on a worldwide scale that creates and distributes multimedia news, every day, in eight languages. The news focuses on the life of the Church and on social and cultural events that directly pertain to Catholics living in the world." You can have daily news reports sent to your inbox from this site. Thanks B. T.

My sister sent this really cool site in. It is called World Clock and there are lots of interesting things to look at on it. There are running totals for a number things happening on the face of the earth. Apparently at the time of this writing since the beginning of the year there have been 97 cases of leprosy in the world. There were 1,350,000 computers produced. There has also been 724,000 abortions.

A PROPHET'S REWARD

After having being chided for being an ignorant fool in the newspaper I decided to have a second go at the new Akron Art Museum. The article made no real defense of the architecture but rather made fun of anybody who didn’t fall all over themselves praising it. Anyone who likes it is enlightened and modern while anybody who does not is a silly, worm-eating idiot deserving of death. So the “art and architect expert” for the Beacon Journal really made it a game of, “Are you my friend or their friend.” It did occur to me that it may have been a case of civic pride in overdrive, but no, upon re-inspection it was just petty and snotty.




There are a lot of things that I really like about the building and there are some things that I decidedly do not and if it were a church or if this were a blog on architecture (and today I really wish it were) I’d give you the details (though I can’t imagine there being a lot of interest in my two cents on the matter). But stacking up the reviewers, critics, and professionals does little to tell us the truth of evaluations. It may tell us what is popular, accepted, and loved today, but the real test will come in future decades. That’s the way it is with prophets and the designer of this building is a prophet of sorts, giving a voice to humanity in the design of this building. And if it is one thing Christians know, it is that we do not know if a prophet is a prophet until long after the prophecy is uttered and that the critics do not always get it right.

How many things have been heralded as the “it” thing, the wave of the future, the glory of humanity only to be discarded months later? And how many things have been panned by critics only to be embraced by future generations? When the “Sound of Music” first came out it was universally trashed as a bunch of sentimental, operatic claptrap yet it has become one of the most beloved musical in the American songbook.

So what is the prophet’s mission? To be true to the message. That was the glory of the prophets in Scripture: not so much the message they gave but that they stuck by it and God despite what others said and did. Their sticking to the message WAS the prophetic message.

Prophets tend not to be popular and if you wish to be a prophet, you must accept a prophet’s reward. Fr. Cozzen’s, my former rector wrote the book, “The Changing Face of the Priesthood,” which was controversial to say the least. He found himself hated in some circles and beloved in others. But that is the fate of the prophet. If everyone believed as you do you wouldn’t be much of a prophet would you?

At your baptisms you were anointed priest, king, and prophet. Your office of prophet calls you to announce Christ to the world. We don’t stand by our God unless a critic, or a brother-in-law, or a self proclaimed “enlightened individual” stands against us. We stand by our message because it is of God. Sticking to that message is our prophetic message in and of itself. If we do not find ourselves in occasional conflict with others might be a sign that we are not fulfilling much of a prophetic role.

Is the architect of the Akron Art Museum a prophet or bust? Who knows? But I admire the attempt. It was a bold and strong statement in either case. We should be so strong with our prophetic faith witness.

SUNDAY VIDEO ON TAP XLVI

Lillian Marie sent this video in entitled "Santa Teresa de Jesus".


Here's one on the lighter side. I forget who told me about this. I remember the whole conversation but cannot remember for the life of me who it was! Not a good sign. Here is a short comedy sketch called, "Cake or Death" done in Legos.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Surfing around I accidently came across this site for vocations from the Diocese of Grand Rapids. It looks pretty cool, especially this post about the ABC's of promoting vocations.

Jay annouces that Catholic Carnival 153 is up and running.

The Diocese of Cleveland Enewsletter reports, "VATICAN CITY - January 2, 2008 (CNS) -- Ushering in the new year, Pope Benedict XVI said attempts to weaken the traditional family inevitably undermine social harmony and world peace."The natural family, founded on marriage between a man and a woman, is the cradle of life and love and the first and indispensable teacher of peace," the pope said at a Mass Jan. 1, which the church marks as the World Day of Peace.

SYMBOLIC SATURDAY - CHALKING UP ANOTHER BLESSING

There is one more interruption this week in the latest series on Symbolic Saturday. This weekend is the Feast of the Epiphany. Today is the day that traditionally people have had their houses blessed. As the Three Kings came to Jesus’ home to offer their Lord homage, we invite Christ into our homes to bless us and allow us to honor Him in our homes.

Unfortunately there is a distinct lack of priests to spend a week or so just going from home to home to bless them. But that does not mean that your house cannot be blessed! It is perfectly acceptable (and effective) for Catholics to bless their own homes. Here is one day’s notice to help you pull together the things that you will need in order to this.

Consider buying, “Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers” by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. In here you will find assistance to help you formulate prayers for all kinds of situations. Not having time for that, you could just download and copy this prayer service.

You might want to obtain some holy water though not strictly mandatory. Holy water is available at any Catholic Church. It is best to have a small, well-sealed container to carry it in.

You may also wish to carry on the tradition of writing the blessing on the doorframe of the main entrance to your home. For this you will need a piece of chalk. After the blessing one writes the first two digits of the year, then a plus sign, then the first initial of each of the three kings each separated by a plus sign, with the last two digits of the year following that last plus sign. (20+C+B+M+08). Once again while nice strictly necessary, it is cool. Some people spell Caspar with a K but the actual meaning of the C. B. M. is "Christus Bendicat Mansionem" or Christ blesses this house.

Happy Feast of the Epiphany!