Please don't do this at home

...or anywhere else:

As far as home-made art styled after the recent few decades goes, it's better than most.

There was certainly great care and attention given to this piece. Even so, I'm not sure how this will help lead the faithful ever deeper in prayer.

I'm also not quite sure what this says about the power and majesty of the Resurrection or how this could possible draw men back to church.

I have lots of other things to say about this but they aren't very charitable so, funny as they are, I'm afraid I must refrain.

I'm felling better now

I'm happy to say that I'm feeling better now, though I'm still not up to speed. The weather broke and the clouds have begun to clear. Thank you for your prayers! Presuming a good night's rest tonight I should be back to normal tomorrow.

I've just returned from our mission parish after meeting with the kids who will be confirmed in a couple of weeks. I thought I was going out for a practice, but I must have looked at the wrong week. Tonight's topic was simply a conversation with me and this, that, and whatever else.

We talked about the Bishop's vesture, his role in Confirmation, the uses of oil and even how to discern God's will in your life. They were a quiet group, but it was an enjoyable hour even so.

The vocation director for the Diocese - who is also a good friend - is coming tomorrow to take two of our high school students out to dinner, and to talk about their future. I'll of course join them for dinner.

I'll also be making plans tomorrow to see the upcoming Prince Caspian and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I told the students tonight that these will be the two movies I see this year; I don't get out much, but there isn't much to see, either.

To raise one's head?

Yesterday morning as I walked to the high school to speak with one of our teachers, I was “greeted” by one of our high students as we walked toward each other. The greeting I received from him was the now common raise-of-the-head-in-your-direction.

This acknowledgment of the presence of another has been with us for some time now. I remember its use when I was in high school – it may have originated well before my time – but even then it was a form of greeting I simply couldn’t bring myself to use; nor can I now.

I can understand not wanting to stop and have a conversation with another person, either because of attendant duties or, in this case, tiredness. Yet to raise your head toward another person seems to me a very arrogant expression (by saying this I certainly don’t mean to imply that I am without arrogance, nor do I intend anything against this particular student).

To raise one’s head toward another person is to look down upon them. In some way it says, “I’m more important than you,” even if this is not the intention of the one who raises his or her head.

It seems to me that a much better form of greeting is to lower your head toward another person, a nod of the head. It is a form of deference to another and seems more Christian, and more civil.

What are your thoughts? Does this bother anyone else or do I simply think too much?

I'm worn out

Yesterday late morning I began the rather dull drive through lots of rain to St. Louis for a routine appointment with my rheumatologist.

The drive itself takes – each way – about ninety minutes, sometimes a bit more depending on traffic and construction. Apparently I wasn’t paying attention when I got to St. Louis and so I missed my exit (which I’d not done before). St. Louis is thankfully laid out on roughly a grid and so I easily found my way to St. Louis University Hospital from the next exit without any real difficulty, though I did find numerous one way streets one after another all going the opposite way I needed.

After checking in at the registration desk, I made my way to the waiting room of the doctor’s office and said, “Daren Zehnle, for a 2:30 appointment,” to which the secretary replied, “I have you for a 3:30 appointment.” I wasn’t happy. I must not have written the appointment in the wrong time slot in my calendar. Oops.

Now, I always bring a book with me - in this case Efraim Karsh’s Islamic Imperialism: A History - when I travel in case of times like this, but the prospect of sitting in a doctor’s waiting room for an hour didn’t please me.

I moved to the chairs, sat down, and looked around the waiting room, quite surprised to see how empty it was of people. Ordinarily, the waiting room is at least half-full, but yesterday afternoon I was the only one there; apparently a great number of people canceled their appointments on account of the rain, which I, too, thought about doing.

I opened my book and read no more than three sentences when the door to the office opened and I was called back. The nurse checked my weight and then my blood pressure, which is still higher than it should be but not as high as it was the last time she checked it.

The doctor came in momentarily and checked the movement of my joints, inquired as to any swollenness, stiffness, soreness, fevers, tiredness, etc. and gave me another medicine to take each day because of an antibody I’ve developed that causes dry eyes and mouth (this explains why I simply couldn’t tolerate contact lenses last summer). I’m now up to seven pills a day. Being all of thirty years old, it seems rather excessive but the medicines do seem to do the trick.

After not more than fifteen minutes in the doctor’s office building, I was on my way back to Effingham.

As anyone with arthritis can tell you, there’s nothing quite like spending a good amount of time in car to aggravate arthritis considerably, especially when the driving is done entirely under mist and rain.

Being quite worn out when I arrived back at the rectory I laid down for a nap, which I never do. I woke after an hour, feeling just as bad – if not worse – than before I went to bed. This is nothing new; I’ve never been able to nap, as much as I might like too.

I was a groggy zombie for the rest of the evening and when I went to bed for the night I simply couldn’t sleep because I had messed with my system. Finally around midnight I fell asleep and must have slept through my alarm this morning.

I awoke at 6:05 a.m., giving me just enough time for a quick shower before turning the lights on in the church before too many people would know I overslept. I’m afraid the sisters who come to the 6:30 a.m. Mass were unable to pray their Office in the church before Mass this morning as they normally do. Sorry, Sisters! Nonetheless, Mass started at 6:30 a.m.

After Mass I went over to the office to check my calendar and e-mail, which was a huge mistake. To get from the rectory to the church I do not have to go out of doors, but to get from the rectory or church to the office I do. Something in the air went straight to my joints and sapped what little strength I had left from yesterday.

Thankfully there isn’t much on the calendar today so I’ve cancelled everything except for a meeting tonight which I simply can’t get out of, returned to the rectory where I can stay protected from the elements and stay lying down (which is the only way on days such as this that I feel rather decent and am able to get something done; standing and sitting simply makes the arthritis worse). I don’t intend on stepping foot outside again today until I must leave for my meeting, by which time I hope the weather breaks. Don’t get old; it isn’t worth it. Fortunately, days such as this are rare.

As you might then expect today will be a day for reading and maybe even a bit of writing.

In the news

On a bizarre and sad note, two "crackpots" in Milwaukee, one who claims to be a bishop and one who claims to be none, are accused of keeping the body of a 90 year-old woman in their home because would restore her to life, all the while cashing her social security checks.

On a happier note, the director of the Vatican newspaper, L Osservatore Romano, explains why Pope Benedict XVI has been speaking so much about the Church Fathers. Surprise, surprise! It's to keep tradition alive and going.

Look East, young man!

Fr. Longenecker has a post describing a conversation he had with several high school boys after celebrating Mass ad orientem.

I've celebrated Mass ad orientem with high school students twice and I never had a single complaint or question about it. It was obvious to all that the room we were in didn't have space for me to stand "on the other side of the altar" (if I did they would have been right up to the altar).

I said nothing at the time, nor afterwards, and gave no indication it was "big deal," so to speak.

Not a one of them questioned it afterwards.

I've also celebrated Mass ad orientem in our mission parish now three times, also without any mention of it from me. The only comments I've heard regarding it are positive and appreciative.

I can't argue this

Your Thinking is Concrete and Sequential

You are precise, orderly, and realistic. You tend to get to the point and get things done. Difficult, detailed work is easy for you. You take things step by step. Time limits aren't a problem for you either. You work well with deadlines. What does drive you crazy is any sort of task that isn't precisely laid out. You don't like anything to be ambiguous. You prefer to deal with the facts at hand.

What Kind of Thinker Are You?

Capell tip to Craig at Argyle Socs 'n Mocs.

On the 1960s

George Weigel takes a critical look at one of the most peculiar decades in the history of man in his article, “The Sixties, Again and Again,” published in the April 2008 issue of First Things (I’m still catching up on my reading).

Weigel explores six “crucial movements in the Sixties with an eye to how they reshaped American political culture, with effects still being felt today” (32). The six movements are: the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963; Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965; the Tet Offensive in 1968; the Kerner Commission in 1968; The Secular City, published in 1965; and the rise of Environmentalism in 1969.

As he always does, Weigel applies his sharp intellect and good common sense to each of these movements and concludes that the Sixties are “a decade still much with us” (39).

He says, and quite rightly, that in the Sixties:

A politics of reason gave way to a politics of emotion and flirted with the politics of irrationality; the claims of moral reason were displaced by moralism; the notion that all men and women were called to live lives of responsibility was displaced by the notion that some people were, by reason of birth, victims; patriotism became suspect, to be replaced by a vague internationalism; democratic persuasion was displaced by judicial activism (39).

How these shall be remedied is yet to be seen, but may it be done soon.

In honor of the day

HAPPY PENTECOST!

A religion of peace?

On 2 May 2008, Ali Al-Faqir, former Minister of Religious Endowment for Jordan, said during a televised speech:

Islamic lands that were occupied by the enemies will once again become Islamic. Furthermore, we will reach beyond these countries, which are lost at one point. We proclaim that we will conquer Rome, like Constantinople was conquered once, and as it will be conquered again.

One of these "Islamic lands" is Spain, despite the fact that Christians were in Spain before Muslims, as they were in Constantinople and in every other "Islamic land."

These words are very troubling, though not surprising.

The Catholic News Agency has more on the story. Not surprisingly, I found no mention of this in the "mainstream" news media.

The Life of St. Anthony of Padua

Browsing around this afternoon I stumbled upon the web site of Edizioni Messagero in Padua, Italy.

From the web site you can order the Assidua, the Life of St. Anthony written by a Franciscan who was a contemporary of the Evangelic Doctor.

To my knowledge, this is the only English translation of the life of the Saint. I finally found it this past January when in the Vatican bookstore. It is very good.

You can also order several other books concerning the Saint of Padua, most notably his Sermsons for Sundays and Festivals two volumes, one for Sundays from Septuagesima to Pentecost and the other From the First Sunday after Pentecost to the Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost.

There are a few other books whose titles are in English but whose descriptions are not. I may order or two and let you know what I think of them.

Unfortunately, the web site seems only to be in Italian so you'll have to guess your way around.

Homily - 10 May 2008 - The Vigil of Pentecost

As America celebrates this weekend Mother’s Day, the Church, too, celebrates Mother’s Day in a way more particular and more profound. This evening we await the great Solemnity of Pentecost, the day on which the Lord Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and on which Holy Mother Church was born from the pierced side of Christ.

When the Holy Father Benedict XVI visited this nation only a few weeks ago, he prayed repeatedly and incessantly for a new a new Pentecost, a new springtime. He said, “I have come to repeat the Apostle’s urgent call to conversion and the forgiveness of sins, and to implore from the Lord a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church in this country.”[1]

The action of the Holy Spirit is intimately connected with the grace of sincere repentance and conversion. Indeed, the Holy Spirit, “the Lord and giver of life” is given to us so that me might live new lives in Christ. We must then remain open to His promptings to conversion. A genuine renewal of faith will only occur if we recover the awareness of sin and of the consequences of sin, if we return to the Lord in the sacrament of Penance, seeking his mercy that is our salvation and our life.

Who could deny that we need a new outpouring of the gifts of the Spirit? How many today are unaware that “the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5)? How many today live as though the new life given them by the Holy Spirit means nothing? How many are unaware of the great dignity and holiness to which they are called by virtue of their Baptism?

So many today live in darkness, unable or unwilling to see that Christ is “the light of life” (John 8:12). They live their lives either in gloom and despair or in apathy and indifference. They fill their days with so many things, all in the vain attempt to find the life for which they yearn. Yes, Lord, “send out your Spirit … and renew the face of the earth” (Psalm 104:30)!

It takes only a moment’s glance around us to see how deeply we need to be renewed by the Spirit.

Who can deny that the present moment is a crossroads… It is a time of great promise, as we see the human family in many ways drawing closer together and becoming ever more interdependent. Yet at the same time we see clear signs of a disturbing breakdown in the very foundations of society: signs of alienation, anger and polarization on the part of many of our contemporaries; increased violence; a weakening of the moral sense; a coarsening of social relations; and a growing forgetfulness of Christ and God. The Church, too, sees signs of immense promise in her many strong parishes and vital movements, in the enthusiasm for the faith shown by so many young people, in the number of those who each year embrace the Catholic faith, and in a greater interest in prayer and catechesis. At the same time she senses, often painfully, the presence of division and polarization in her midst, as well as the troubling realization that many of the baptized, rather than acting as spiritual leaven in the world, are inclined to embrace attitudes contrary to the truth of the Gospel.[2]

Yes, we are at a crossroads, both individually and collectively, and there are two ways we can turn, either towards the Lord or away from him.

As we stand at this crossroads, are we not aware that “all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:22-23)?

These interior groanings come from a desire for life, for abundant life! We are all thirsting for life, thirsting for joy and peace, thirsting for God himself, even if we are unaware of the cause of our thirst. Jesus speaks to our groanings, to our thirsting: “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink” (John 7:37).

Too many people today do not recognize these groanings and this thirst for what it truly is and so do not go to Christ. It is the desire for God that causes them to groan and thirst, and they seek to satisfy it with everything but God! And because they – even some among us today - live without God and do not sincerely and continually seek him - they say, “Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off” (Ezekiel 37:11). Not so! The Lord says to them and to us: “I will put my spirit in you that you may live” (Ezekiel 37:14).

This life, true life and life in abundance, is the heart of the Gospel! This life is given to the world through the Church, our Mother, through the Sacraments entrusted to her. It is the mission of the Church to proclaim this life anew to every generation. It is the mission of Holy Mother Church not only to proclaim this life, but also to lead all people to this life and to bring all people together in the Church, the Body of Christ.

Let each of us then approach the Church to receive the grace of Christ given through the Sacraments, which have origin in the pierced side of Christ.

For true life – our salvation – can only be found in the reconciliation, freedom and love which are God’s gracious gift. This is the message of hope we are called to proclaim and embody in a world where self-centeredness, greed, violence, and cynicism so often seem to choke the fragile growth of grace in people’s hearts.[3]

We must beg the Holy Spirit to awaken in our hearts and greater awareness of this truth. We must follow his promptings to be reconciled with God and so be filled with his joy and love. We must beg the Lord to pour upon us anew the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we received in Baptism and in Confirmation. Not only this, but we must open ourselves to these gifts and cooperate with the grace the Lord gives us.

The power of the Holy Spirit will help us to live as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. Let us follow the example of Holy Mary and wait in prayer for the coming of the Holy Spirit. With her, let us pray: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love! Amen.”

[1] Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, 17 April 2008.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid., Homily, 19 April 2008.

Christian charity?

Eight times out of ten, when the telephone rings on a Saturday you can be sure the caller wants one of two things: Mass times or money. And sometimes, though very rarely, both.

Now, this is not a post against people calling for either of these, but rather something related to the first.

This morning I received a call from a woman needing help with her rent payment. By Monday morning at eight o'clock. The details of her situation are of no importance here and why she waited to seek help until Saturday is anybody's guess. Why anybody waits to call until Saturday is anybody's guess, but quite a few people do.

Very often, for one reason or another, callers seeking financial assistance are not Catholic. You can always tell when their first words are, "Is this a preacher?" to which I respond, "This is a priest." And we stumble on from there as we did this morning.

I've often wondered why Protestants call the Catholic Church seeking assistance and not their own ecclesial community. One reason, no doubt, is that it is difficult to reach anybody at most Protestant offices on a Saturday while a few priests in the country still answer the telephone. Another reason is that some ecclesial communities will only help a person if they join their denomination. It's very sad.

The Catholic Church gives what it can to whom it can. Period.

The caller this morning assured me that her father will repay the parish for the money we are giving towards her rent, but she would need the address of the parish first.

"The address is in the phone book," I said, not expecting to receive anything since we hear this all the time (only once have I received a "thank you" letter from someone we helped). But I have no reason to doubt her. As she said something after I mentioned the phonebook it occurred to me that something seemed funny with her request for the address.

If she, not being a parishioner, called us she surely used the phone book. It seemed reasonable enough, so I asked, "How did you get our number?"

"The first preacher I called gave it to me," she said. This might well be another reason so many people come to the Catholic Church seeking assistance: other pastors refuse to help those who come to them. Those seeking assistance know the Catholic Church will actually assist them, rather than refer them to others.

Now it's true, I will refer people first to Catholic Charities during the week, but they aren't open on the weekend. And they're still within the Church. I've never sent someone to a Protestant community, not even a Protestant. And if I ever do I will call them first to let them know the situation and why I referred the person. No such call was made to us.

I'm half-tempted to telephone the woman back and ask which preacher sent her to us and call him (or her) to get the story. And to see what they say about the Catholic Church, both in sermons and in conversations.

In honor of the day

Happy Damien Day!

I wish I were in Hawaii to celebrate the day again, as I was a year ago! My thoughts and prayers are with you all. Esther, if you see Bishop Silva today do give him my greetings :)

I sit corrected

Some of my astute readers questioned whether my characterization of the book Envinronmental Stewardship, published by the Acton Institute, was accurate. It turns out they are correct and I am not.

The book is published as a way to question the underlying assumptions concerning the so-called global warming, with the premise being something like, "Even if...still...," though this could be better clarified in the introduction. The essays in the book are meant to question global warming, not to endorse or support it.

I apologize for the mischaracterization and am grateful for the correction.

Must have music

One of the few pleasures - it was a chilly, windy, rainy day - of arriving early at Yankee Stadium in New York City for the Papal Mass was the pre-Mass Concert of Hope. It was comprised of organ pieces with lots of Handel and various musical groups performing.

I was introduced to a boys' choir from England - it seems the best singers all are - called Libera. They are outstanding!

I had sitting in my desk drawer several coupons for free CDs from a music company - you know, the buy one get ten free kind - so I ordered four of their CDs and have been extremely satisified.
I think this group might even sing a song or two on the soundtrack of the movie Millions (which is also very good), but I haven't checked that yet.

Here is Libera singing my favorite of their songs - Sanctus - in New York City:



Listening to them it's very easy to understand why choirs for the first many centuries of the Church were comprised of only boys. The world needs more choirs of their caliber!

A few links

Saturday is the feast of Blessed Damien of Molokai and A Catholic Mom in Hawaii lets us know of candlelight vigil in his honor.

On his way Ad Dominum, Thom offers his reflections on how to treat a “super freak.”

If you haven’t seen it yet, you really should check out the new blog, Stuff Catholics Like.”

Over at Adam’s Ale, Fr. V. gives his suggestions for “new” sins. I quite agree with #3. He also has ten (more) reasons why he loves the Catholic faith.

Sr. Mary Martha gives some advice to Godparents.

This story comes to you a bit late, but it's a good one nonetheless. The Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George - who's Motherhouse is in our Diocese - staff the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C. and some of the sisters prepared the meals for Pope Benedict XVI.