A Confession

I have a confession. I got a Google Android phone and I'm addicted to it. I can do the Liturgy of the Hours on it, read daily prayers, about the Saint of the Day...and it's caused me to neglect blogging. I have so much to blog, and I plan to get back into it later, but I'm still around!

Thanksgiving

You might note that recently my blog posts have been more conversational and less informational. I think that's because I am trying to go through a stage of spiritual growth, and I need input and thoughts about how to better grow as a faithful Catholic Christian. It also allows me to blog when I might otherwise pass on blogging for the day, and I believe this blog benefits me immensely and hopefully others. Anyhow, here are some of my daily thoughts:

One thing I have never been very good at is giving thanks at the right time. I always try to give God thanksgiving at the appropriate times, and of course by making the sign of the cross and asking for God's blessing at meal times. However, I've noticed that sometimes when things go really well for me, it takes me an hour or two to let it sink it before I say a prayer of thanksgiving. I'm on top of asking for help, guidance, etc. But the thanksgiving part is always delayed. We all need to remember that all good things come from God the Father through Christ and the Holy Spirit. Giving thanks for these things is important, and I'd love if anyone has anything to share about how they remind themselves to constantly give thanks for everything. At the very least, we should always remember to say a quick Act of Thanksgiving after mass for His Body and Blood.

From the depths of my heart
I thank You, Dear Lord,
For Your infinite kindness in coming to me.
How good You are to me!
With Your most holy Mother and all the angels,
I praise Your mercy and generosity toward me,
A poor sinner.
I thank You for noourishing my soul
With Your Sacred Body and Precious Blood.
I will try to show my gratitude to You
In the Sacrament of Your love,
By obedience to Your holy commandemnts,
By fidelity to my duties,
By kindness to my neighbour
And by an earnest endeavour
To become more like You in my daily conduct.

Lenten Dishes

Well, just because we are abstaining from meats on Fridays doesn't mean that Catholics can't have "Good Eats". Tonight I got a chance to cook, and wanted to share how I edited Giada's Pizza Pot Pie to be meatless - and it only cost about 10 dollars to feed both of us (and it was absolutely delicious). I hope to share some more meatless dishes in the future, because we generally try to abstain from meat during all Fridays of the year, and I think I"m going to try to start cooking on Fridays as well.

First, you make the tomato sauce, for this simply leave the pancetta out of the recipe:'

Next, start preparing your ingredients by chopping up all the goodies she suggests in her recipe. Just replace the chicken with zucchini (trust me, the zucchini takes in the flavor of the sauce, and ends up being perfecto!):

Add all the ingredients together after a proper simmer:

Cover with pizza dough and add cheese to the top (Romano instead of parmigiana for me!) Don't forget to cut a slit in the top:

Then, just cook, eat and enjoy! Hope everyone's Holy Week goes well.

Drowning in Devotions

One of the great things about being Catholic is all the devotions that we have. We have the rosary, chaplet of Divine Mercy, devotion to saints, novenas, devotion to the Blessed Mother, etc. etc. etc. We have so many prayers and opportunities, not to mention daily mass, holy days of obligation, confession, penance services, Bible studies, faith formation classes, hundreds of thousands of books by Catholic authors, etc. etc. etc.

Thinking about this, I think I sometimes overwhelm myself. There have been very spiritually high times in my life where I have been able to do the Liturgy of the Hours, the Rosary, and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy each and every day. Unfortunately, many times when I forget to do one, I wouldn't do any of them for a certain day, or when you start to let things go like that you can even get off schedule and fall into spiritual lethargy.

During this lent (By the way, how are your Lenten resolutions going?), I have made it a point to say the Morning and Evening prayers (and many times Night prayer) from the Liturgy of the Hours/Divine Office/Breviary. It's been wonderful. I've decided that instead of trying to tackle too much or get myself quickly into a commitment I can't keep, that I am going to commit myself even after Lent to continue praying these main offices DAILY. That will be my devotion - devotion to the prayer of the Church Universal and praying the Psalms daily. That isn't to say that I am never going to pray the rosary (we actually do that every day after daily mass when I am able to attend) or the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, or prayers to my patron saints, or novenas, or anything else. Just that I am going to focus and work hard on this devotion, and maybe add more after I have mastered the ability to pray all 7 offices each day.

As I am discerning a possible future calling to the Diaconate, I really need to get used to the potential future obligation to pray them anyway.

Hope your lent is going well. My wife and I are headed to Hawaii for a work trip for me and a vacation for her soon. Maybe I'll have some time to blog there.

Wow!

I've been extremely busy lately. Let's see - work has taken me out of town for 3 of the last 4 weekends, the baby is growing at a tremendous rate, we just celebrated the 100th anniversary of our parish with the Bishop presiding over the mass! Shew....I need to get back on track in studying the book of Hebrews here. I really didn't forget about it.

Pray for me

Say a little prayer for me. Nothing major going on, but I do need to refocus on some spiritual things after last week - which was one of the most spiritual of my life leading into last weekend. Pray that I can retain that focus. Also, I'm almost finished with a book called "Maria of Guadalupe" which I hope to share a review of soon.

Xavier is no longer a Pagan!

Just kidding by the title, but he is now a certified Catholic after today's baptism! I wanted to share a couple pictures and two letters from the Godfather and Godmother:

From the Godmother

Dear Xavier,

Welcome to the family of the Catholic Church, a family that will give you the love, support, and courage you need on your earthy journey to Heaven. As your Godmother, I'm here to help you and your parents in any ay as part of that journey. Remember to stay strong in your faith and always diligent in your prayers to lead you on the path to Heaven. Know that you are in my prayers.

God bless,

B

From the Godfather:
Dear Xavier Thomas,
My dear Godson, it's such a pleasure tha tyou are finally here!! I was thrilled ten months ago to hear of your expected arrival, as I am thrilled on the eve of your baptism. I wish for you a life filled with a great faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and His Church. Please know that you will be in my daily thoughts and prayers and know that if there is any way I can help you, get in touch whenever. Always honor your parents and your Lord and our Lady and you will enjoy a life of fulfillment! With prayers, I remain yours ever, with much , much love. C

So those two were indeed beautiful. Here are some pictures now (you might have to click on some of them to get them to show up full size without cutting some of the picture off, depending on your resolution):

Dad and Son:



Mom and Son:
Godparents (click to enlarge):

Fr. Andrew begins the actual Baptism:
A closeup shot:



Can't tell who is happier me or Father Andrew (click to enlarge)!

All of us with the Lord Jesus present in the tabernacle behind us (click to enlarge)!


The best part?! He STILL smells like incense from the oil of baptism! It's awesome.

An Addition from Seraphina:
I posted some additional notes and pictures over on my personal blog!

Also, today's Gospel matched beautifully. If I may share:

Mark 7:31-37

Again Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” — And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

The bold emphasis (which I added), is one of the parts of a Catholic Baptism, called the Ephphatha.

The priest takes a little spittle and touches the ears and nostrils of the candidate with it. For health reasons, the use of spittle may be omitted. This rite comes from Mark 7:33-35, when Jesus healed the deaf-mute:

Priest: Ephpheta, that is to say, Be opened, for an odour of sweetness. Be thou, devil, begone; for the judgement of God shall draw near.

I love my Pastor

Just a brief post, because I am thinking about it right now. I absolutely love our Priest, Father Andrew. He is brutally honest, sometime he says things that are kind of strange to most listeners, I believe, but that is part of his European background. However, I truly wish that everyone I talk to could hear his homilies every week, especially those I talk to who are not Catholic. He brings out such beautiful and wonderful points from the readings each week, and he is very honest about the Church, it's infallible teachings, and our relationship with the Protestant Church. I'm so thankful we found him.

Why Did I leave?

Wow....some people are a little stubborn (and I think some of you stubborn people are reading this blog right now). My wife recently joked in her blog that she was depressed as being simply a housewife in the "Church of Christ" denomination; especially because of their ill treatment and well-documented disdain for women and their role in society. So she gets and email saying (I read your blog and I am concerned you only left the CoC because of that and blah blah blah (insert random and poorly worded apologetics here).

I must say, I don't question the intentions of the person who contacted her, but I do question the reasoning. I think we must have mentioned a million times the doctrinal and serious reasons why we left to a multitude of people, but yet they refuse to listen and actually hear why we left. It basically comes down to either 1) we were lazy, 2) We were mad at people, 3) we listened to someone's family, or 4) we had some sort of dark sin in our life that made us leave. I guess it is a defense mechanism.

Open your ears people!

Fundamentalist Dialogue

I wanted to share the Office of Readings from yesterday's Liturgy of the Hours. I thought it was so telling about our relationship to our brothers and sisters who are Fundamentalists and deny our baptism is valid or that we are truly Christians (Catholics that is). It reminds me so much of how I used to feel when I was Protestant and reminds me that no matter what I think we have to reach out in ecumenical dialogue at all times and love our brothers and sisters in Christ even when they err from Church teaching. To think that this was written 1700 years or so ago and in a time where fundamentalism didn't even exist is somewhat mind boggling. He also brings out some Church teaching that we should note is ancient - that there is only one baptism and that non-Catholics are still our Brothers and Sisters.
From a discourse on the psalms by Saint Augustine, bishop
Whether they like it or not, those who are outside the church are our brothers
We entreat you, brothers, as earnestly as we are able, to have charity, not only for one another, but also for those who are outside the Church. Of these some are still pagans, who have not yet made an act of faith in Christ. Others are separated, insofar as they are joined with us in professing faith in Christ, our head, but are yet divided from the unity of his body. My friends, we must grieve over these as over our brothers; and they will only cease to be so when they no longer say "our Father". The prophet refers to some men saying: When they say to you: You are not our brothers, you are to tell them: You are our brothers. Consider whom he intended by these words. Were they the pagans? Hardly; for nowhere either in Scripture or in our traditional manner of speaking do we find them called our brothers. Nor could it refer to the Jews, who do not believe in Christ. Read Saint Paul and you will see that when he speaks of “brothers,” without any qualification, he refers always to Christians. For example, he says: Why do you judge your brother or why do you despise your brother? And again: You perform iniquity and common fraud, and this against your brothers. Those then who tell us: You are not our brothers, are saying that we are pagans. That is why they want to baptise us again, claiming that we do not have what they can give. Hence their error of denying that we are their brothers. Why then did the prophet tell us: Say to them: You are our brothers? It is because we acknowledge in them that which we do not repeat. By not recognising our baptism, they deny that we are their brothers; on the other hand, when we do not repeat their baptism but acknowledge it to be our own, we are saying to them: You are our brothers. If they say, “Why do you seek us? What do you want of us?” we should reply: You are our brothers. They may say, “Leave us alone. We have nothing to do with you.” But we have everything to do with you, for we are one in our belief in Christ; and so we should be in one body, under one head. And so, dear brothers, we entreat you on their behalf, in the name of the very source of our love, by whose milk we are nourished, and whose bread is our strength, in the name of Christ our Lord and his gentle love. For it is time now for us to show them great love and abundant compassion by praying to God for them. May he one day give them a clear mind to repent and to realise that they have nothing now but the sickness of their hatred, and the stronger they think they are, the weaker they become. We entreat you then to pray for them, for they are weak, given to the wisdom of the flesh, to fleshly and carnal things, but yet they are our brothers. They celebrate the same sacraments as we, not indeed with us, but still the same. They respond with the same Amen, not with us, but still the same. And so pour out your hearts for them in prayer to God

Over a Year

Well, I've been blogging for over a year now. It's very interesting to look back and see the flow and shape this blog has taken on over the last 12 months. I've met a lot of wonderful people and am looking forward to meeting a lot more. Thank you everyone for visiting and I hope, since we are once again getting internet at home, that I will be able to post a lot more about my Catholic Journey in the upcoming month!

Journeying Forward

It is interesting to me to see how over the course of my journey and my strengthening in the Catholic Faith that I talk less and less about my old experiences in the Protestant Church or even about what their beliefs are anymore. I think every day I feel more and more like I was a cradle Catholic.

Mother Teresa

So I was listening to an episode of the SaintCast and they were talking about Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. It was mentioned how much the main stream media and other individuals want to try so hard to prove that she had lost her Catholic faith or that she was an agnostic of sorts. Many times they try to refer to her writings about spiritual struggle that were recently published (and they obviously have not read any of the book at all, just running on their own suppositions). I wondered why they feel the need to do this, and then I realized it.

Mother Teresa is someone who proves God exists in a way. She shows us as well as anyone the true nature of Christianity and what it means to love our neighbor. Grappling with the fact that such immense good comes from our Faith means that we have to grapple with the idea that that is how God really wants us to live. You never hear anything about Catholics who do negative things "losing their Faith" or not being good Christians, but the one woman in recent years we can look at and say she absolutely and beyond a shadow of a doubt had a true Faith needs to be attacked, because it would be scary to admit the Love of God.

Even I, when I was Protestant had to try to demonize Mother Teresa in some way. I couldn't grasp the fact that such a wonderful and pure person could be Catholic. It didn't make sense how she would be going to hell after such a life. I'm just thankful that God has given me the graces to come to a better understanding of Faith and Christianity now.

Pressing Forward

My life keeps on pressing forward - seems like everything is moving very quickly now.  Just yesterday, it seems, my wife told me she was pregnant.  Now our son is only about 3 months away from being born.  Just yesterday, it seems, I began my journey into the Catholic Church, and now I've been confirmed for well over a year.  

I'm not sure why, but I'm the kind of person who always looks forward.  I look forward to next Sunday, my next Eucharist, my next Christmas, my next Easter, my son's birth, my son's baptism, my next child, my childrens' first communion, my childrens' confirmations, my son going to college, retiring, etc. etc.  I really don't like to look back and I don't really regret any steps I've taken in the past (at least not on the macro level, although obviously I am sorrowful for many sinful things I've done before).  It seems like God has a plan for our family and he really makes things work out in the long run.  

So, I guess I just want to give thanks to the Lord for He is good.  His mercy endures forever.  I hope everyone else out there is doing well.

Generations of Faith

Our new parish is so awesome.  I just can't get over how great some of the things we do are.  Last Sunday we had our monthly "Generations of Faith" meeting.  Here, we have joint meetings of everyone in RCIA, Children's Religious Education, and all the adult laity who want to further learn about the Church and her teachings.  Then, we can divide up into our prospective groups and learn.  I was impressed that over 100 adult laypersons (in a small parish) showed up to learn from Father about the Eucharist and the Real Presence of Christ last Sunday.  I was also impressed that he taught us in great detail about Church teaching on the Eucharist and the rubrics of the mass including common liturgical mistakes and abuses that take place in Catholic Churches.    I have to say that the amount of interest and dedication of the laypersons and our priest were astounding and very uplifting to us.  The inter-generational approach to teaching about the Church is also a good approach, and trying to do this in more parishes might help the Catholic Church overcome its problem of poorly catechizing adults that has become frequent over the last couple decades.  We heard that our Bishop is about to write  aletter recommending that all parishes start inter-generational catechetical classes like ours.  

Preparing for Holy Week, my wife and I have been trying to say a lot more prayers.  Father also called for a night of preparation tonight to refresh all laity who are going to be altar serving, lectoring, or extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion during Holy Week.  After all, we must make sure this Holy Week is as correct as we possibly can.  

Later this week on Good Friday we will start praying the Novena to Divine Mercy as a parish.  I will be posting the daily prayers of that Novena on here as time permits....maybe I will just do the whole thing on Thursday with some notes about St. Faustina and her wonderful writings.

Perpetual Adoration

Our state has one perpetual adoration chapel.  It just happens to be about 30 minutes from our house.  I have signed up to sit in the chapel from 5-6 AM on Thursdays.  This is good for several reasons; 1) It brings me a lot of peace, 2) It allows me to do the Liturgy of the Hours regularly, 3)  It allows me to do some spiritual reading, and 4) It structures my day and gets me out of bed early!  

I hope everyone's Lent is going well and we are all ready to celebrate the great feast of Easter.  If you are struggling with your spiritual life or commitments (lenten or otherwise), I encourage you to go spend some time with the Blessed Sacrament.  

Miserably Failing

Limited access to the internet and other issues have caused me to miserably fail at trying to post every day during Lent.  I also decided that it might be better to stop this and post some better quality posts when I really had something to say.  I'm getting behind on my book reviews and have a couple that I wanted to post - something I hope to do later today.  

I guess this is a sign to quit looking at the past and start pressing on towards the future.  

Second Week of Lent - Wednesday

Last year:

Today, I'd just like to post a section of scripture that I've been studying very hard for the last few months: John 6:27-71 (NAB): 27 Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal." 28 So they said to him, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?" 29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent." 30 So they said to him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? 31 Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" 32 So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34 So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." 35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. 36 But I told you that although you have seen (me), you do not believe. 37 Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, 38 because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. 39 And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it (on) the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him (on) the last day." 41 The Jews murmured about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven," 42 and they said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 43 Jesus answered and said to them, "Stop murmuring among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets: 'They shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; 50 this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." 52 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?" 53 Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." 59 These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 60 Then many of his disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?" 61 Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, "Does this shock you? 62 What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe." Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. 65 And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father." 66 As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. 67 Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?" 68 Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God." 70 Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you twelve? Yet is not one of you a devil?" 71 He was referring to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot; it was he who would betray him, one of the Twelve.

John 6 continues to inspire me. The depth of this teaching is overwhelming, and I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is the most powerful Chapter in the New Testament for Catholic apologetics - especially to explain our view of the real presence of Christ to Protestants. Jesus's message that the only way to have life is to eat his body and drink his blood is mind boggling - and I'm not sure I have a complete grasp of it still.

Second Week of Lent - Tuesday

Last year:

The poor are something I have struggled with my whole life and only recently began to have pity and love for. Probably because of my background (social and prior-religious), I've always looked on the poor as people who needed to do better for themselves...not someone we should look after. Now I realize that we should do everything we can to help them and love them like Christ did. What are some things we can do for the poor?

Pray for them.

Fast for them.

Give the money from our fasting to them for food/water/clothing/shelter.

These things all fall in line well with Lent. We can also do things like volunteer to help them fix their houses, volunteer at food pantries and donate food, be involved in education in rural poor regions.

I think this is one area that I have made some significant improvement since last year - but I still have a long way to go.  We had the wonderful experience of working with the poor last year for a service trip we took for a week.  That really helped me feel more for the poor and develop a love and care for them.  At the same time, I think over the last few months that has faded somewhat and my providing for the poor has only kicked back up a notch since we have entered Lent.  

Second Week of Lent - Monday

Last year:

I've been doing a little reading about the similarities between the Jewish and Christian form of liturgical worship, and I've found it rather fascinating. I'm not sure, but there may be a good book out there that discusses the similiarities between the two. It seems that (naturally) early Christians took the Jewish form of liturgical worship (readings, responsorial psalms, public participation by responses to the priest, etc.) and adapted it to suit the purposes of Christians. This is the way Christ worshipped in the 1st century, and it was brought into the Church. One of the best ways to see it in the Bible is to look at the Book of Revelation where the activities going on in Heaven are much like a Catholic service today. I havn't been to a Jewish worship service (and I have heard that they differ from place to place), but a Catholic friend of mine was telling me that he went to one here in Morgantown and was really shocked by the similarities in worship. It's really a neat historical look at how Christian worship has developed over the years (although of course many Protestants since the 16th century or so have begun to reject the liturgical form of worship, and that's a whole historical study in and of itself that is very interesting!) Anyone seen any good history books on the evolution of Christian worship from the basic Jewish forms in the 1st Century to the broader Protestant movements of today? Feel free to recommend them if you have.

I found two books since this post and read them.  The first is Mike Aquilina's "Mass of the Early Christians".  The other is Scott Hahn's "The Lamb's Supper".  Both I would highly recommend because they explore the links between the liturgy and what the early Christians did as well as Sacred Scripture.  I still have not found any that dealt purely with the Jewish/Christian liturgical similarities, but it has been hinted at in many of the Holy Father's writings.