Big Mac Attacks!

"Big Mac tastes like the smell of success." Yeah. So *that's* what I smell at McDonald's. I thought I tasted the smell (WTH?) of corporate and caloric excess. But my little paper McDonald's hat (remember those?) is off to all those employees working hard to make something of themselves. I just hope it's not a Big Mac.

Why I Am Catholic--My Mother's Prayers

My answer to Patheos.com's question:

When I left the Catholic Church after graduating college to join a Baptist Church (that long story here), my parents were quite concerned. My dad’s response was to have me meet with a priest, a professor of moral theology. My mom got out her rosary.

My parents found some comfort that I remained a Christian, though not a Catholic. Over the years I graduated from a Southern Baptist seminary in Ft. Worth, TX. My father died while I was there; mom kept praying.

After I moved back to NY, I attended other Baptist churches. Eventually, I left one intending to find another church, but never did. One day my mom asked me to think of going back to the Catholic Church since I wasn’t attending any church. I told her no, I wasn’t interested. She went back to her rosary.

As you might guess, I wasn’t long before I decided to give my old parish Church a try. I never had a chance! My mom was praying to the Blessed Mother for me. After a few weeks of research and talking with Fr. George, I made my confession in Advent of 2004.

Never underestimate the power of a Mother’s prayers.

Spiritual Friendship

Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen

Today's feast of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen is a reminder of the power of spiritual friendship. Both men were bishops, but were nearly opposite in personality. St. Basil was a pastor and preacher, and a excellent bishop (of Caesarea in 370). He is the father of Eastern Monasticism. St. Gregory was more of an introvert and contemplative. Their friendship developed while they were students in Athens. They are both Doctors of the Church. You can read more here.

Below is the text of a sermon By St. Gregory Nazianzen from today's Office of Readings.


Two bodies, but a single spirit

Basil and I were both in Athens. We had come, like streams of a river, from the same source in our native land, had separated from each other in pursuit of learning, and were now united again as if by plan, for God so arranged it.

  I was not alone at that time in my regard for my friend, the great Basil. I knew his irreproachable conduct, and the maturity and wisdom of his conversation. I sought to persuade others, to whom he was less well known, to have the same regard for him. Many fell immediately under his spell, for they had already heard of him by reputation and hearsay.

  What was the outcome? Almost alone of those who had come to Athens to study he was exempted from the customary ceremonies of initiation for he was held in higher honour than his status as a first-year student seemed to warrant.

  Such was the prelude to our friendship, the kindling of that flame that was to bind us together. In this way we began to feel affection for each other. When, in the course of time, we acknowledged our friendship and recognised that our ambition was a life of true wisdom, we became everything to each other: we shared the same lodging, the same table, the same desires the same goal. Our love for each other grew daily warmer and deeper.

  The same hope inspired us: the pursuit of learning. This is an ambition especially subject to envy. Yet between us there was no envy. On the contrary, we made capital out of our rivalry. Our rivalry consisted, not in seeking the first place for oneself but in yielding it to the other, for we each looked on the other’s success as his own.

  We seemed to be two bodies with a single spirit. Though we cannot believe those who claim that everything is contained in everything, yet you must believe that in our case each of us was in the other and with the other.

  Our single object and ambition was virtue, and a life of hope in the blessings that are to come; we wanted to withdraw from this world before we departed from it. With this end in view we ordered our lives and all our actions. We followed the guidance of God’s law and spurred each other on to virtue. If it is not too boastful to say, we found in each other a standard and rule for discerning right from wrong.

  Different men have different names, which they owe to their parents or to themselves, that is, to their own pursuits and achievements. But our great pursuit, the great name we wanted, was to be Christians, to be called Christians.

A Prog-rock Christmas: Day 4

Day 4 brings us back to Chris Squire--with a twist. The video is miguelbass of YouTube playing his bass to a track of Personet Hodie from Chris Squire's Swiss Choirs.

Hewing the Hobbit

Finished reading "The Hobbit": good!  Then I saw the movie. To Paraphrase GK Chesterton: “A good movie  tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad movie tells us the truth about its director.”

Don't worry! You can trust me!

The truth the movie tells us about Peter Jackson is that he has become a Gollum. He thinks "The Hobbit" is his to do with as he likes. Where he hews to the story the movie is fine. When he hews "The Hobbit", cutting from and adding to as he wills, it's a mess.

Spoiler alert!

To be fair, some of the additions work quite well. The council at Rivendell with Galadriel and Saruman gave a sense of import and danger to the journey. I also liked the prologue with the Ian Holmes' Bilbo and Frodo.

However, having Azog, "The Pale Orc", survive an earlier battle to be the enemy of Thorin  Oakenshield brings several changes to the story, and not for the better. As other have said, it is no longer simply "The Hobbit". It is now a prequel to Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movies. It is his precioussss, not ours.

A Prog-rock Christmas: Day 3

This song done here by the Moody Blues isn't all that proggy or rocky, but it's a lovely melody. The original melody was "Soleado", a tune from 1972 by Ciro Dammicco . The English lyrics were written a few years later by Fred Jay, According to Wikipedia.




And here's the classic Johnny Mathis version:

A Prog-rock Christmas: Day 2

OK, a little catching up to do!  The second video is from the "Chis Squire's Swiss Choirs" CD.  In addition to being a amazing bass player, Chris is a great vocalist, especially his harmonies. Here he is with his Run With the Fox:
Hmm, issues with YouTube...

A Prog-rock Christmas: Day 1

This a series of music posts for, hopefully, 12 days of Christmas with a progressive rock theme. Ready?

First up is a video from the elf himself, Jon Anderson. This is my favorite prog Christmas CD. It has both new and old; great originals and old British carols. Here's one of Jon Anderson's originals.

Faithful Citizenship Is Not Just for Catholics!

This is a good, basic overview of the idea od faithful citizenship as proposed by the USCCB.
I think that it is a overview for any voter.

What's Wrong with the World by G.K. Chesterton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rather than a collection of various essays, What's Wrong with the World is an attempt to answer that question. It introduces GKCs stand-ins for Big Government and Big Business, Hudge and Gudge. As with many of his books, it's important to remember that is was written in the early to mid 1900s in a British culture, therefore some things will sound a little strange to contemporary American ears. But this a brilliant and challenging look at where we got off track on education, government and family.

“The woman does not work because the man tells her to work and she obeys. On the contrary, the woman works because she has told the man to work and he hasn’t obeyed.”
― G.K. Chesterton, What's Wrong with the World

And two of Chesterton's best known quotes:

"If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly."
Part Four: Education, or The Mistake About The Child - Ch. 14 : Folly and Female Education

"The great ideals of the past failed not by being outlived (which must mean over-lived), but by not being lived enough. Mankind has not passed through the Middle Ages. Rather mankind has retreated from the Middle Ages in reaction and rout. The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried."
Part One: The Homelessness Of Man, Ch. 5 : The Unfinished Temple

The Womb Before the Dawn

The phrase "in the womb before the dawn" comes from the translation of Psalm 110 used in The Liturgy of the Hours. I've been thinking about that idea for several months. Today, this poem came to me. Tonight is the vigil of Pentecost 2011. Pentecost is nothing less than a new creation, the birth of the Church.


In the Womb Before the Dawn

Wild winter waters,
Disordered deep,
Empty and formless void
Waiting for the wind
In the womb before the dawn.

The dove hovering
Moving over the ocean's face
Creating the foundations--
de profundis.

The breath breathes
The word speaks
From the heart of God

And there is light
To end the endless night
Of creation's confusion
At the cosmos' untamed sight
As the first day
Gives birth to the dawn.

What Is Irish Music?

There are two kinds of Irish music. Most people, especially around St. Patrick's Day, think of those sappy sentimental songs like "When Irish Eye's Are Smiling" or comic songs like "Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder?" Some have called this American Irish music.

True Irish music can be sentimental, but never sappy. It's humor is the humor that come out of a hard life. Frank Harte said, ""Those in power write the history, while those who suffer write the songs. And given our history, the Irish have alot of songs." As G.K. Chesterton put it,

"The great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad
For all their wars are merry
And all their songs are sad"

The problem is that people confuse the two types of Irish music, making life difficult for Irish singers like Robbie O'Connell.

Watson on Jeopardy!

Well, the 3 day commercial for IBM on Jeopardy! is over and Watson won. As Ken Jennings said "I, for one welcome our new computer overlords." After revealing that Toronto is in the US, or at least it's airports are, I'm surprised that Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter didn't realize Watson's weakness. Captain Kirk figured it out in 1967! (The best part starts at 1 minute in.)

Waking Up to Christ--A Reflection on the 4th Sunday of Advent

In today's readings, St. Matthew begins his gospel with a deceptively simple statement, "This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about." What follows deals with an unexpected pregnancy, angels, dreams, a prophecy, and a virgin birth.

Central to Matthew's account is St. Joseph. Mary is found to be with child. Even though they are betrothed, they are not yet living together. For Mary to be pregnant in that case is bad enough, but Joseph apparently knows of her story of the visitation of the angel Gabriel and the claim that she is with child by the power of the Holy Spirit. "That can't be true, can it?" Joseph must wonder. He has decide. Can he believe her story or should he end the marriage?

Going to sleep on it, he dreams of an angel--was it Gabriel?--telling him, as angels usually do at first, "Do not be afraid!" The angel confirms that his wife, Mary, is with child by the Holy Spirit. He directs Joseph to take Mary into his home and to name the the child Jesus.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't make any of my dreams the basis of a big decision! But I think that this was the kind of dream that is more real than life itself. Another Joseph was a dreamer and his dreams ultimately saved Egypt from famine and, in doing so, saved the Jewish people, setting the stage for their Exodus. Now this Joseph, husband of Mary, dreams of the salvation of his people. He takes Mary into his home and names their son Jesus.

St. Matthew places the story of Mary and Joseph into the larger picture. He quotes from our first reading from Isaiah, "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel." As the Church reflected on they stories of Christ's birth that ultimately were written down in St. Matthew's and St. Luke's gospels, they saw this as the fulfillment of Isaiah's words. He had gone to King Ahaz to tell the king to ask for a sign that the attack against Jerusalem by the kings of Israel and Damascus would fail. King Ahaz feigns humility and refuses to tempt the Lord. So Isaiah tells him that the Lord himself has decided what the sign will be, "the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel."

There is some dispute over whether the Hebrew word here translated virgin means "virgin" or "young woman". The Greek word used in the New Testament does mean virgin. It shows us what the early Church thought this story of Mary and Joseph meant. It helps us understand why Joseph was so concerned. Mary was as virgin when she was found to be with child. She and Joseph had not had relations. That's why Joseph thought he should divorce her quietly and spare her any additional shame. That's also why it took an angelic dream to sort things out!

The Church talks much about Mary's fiat, her "yes" to the angel's message to her--and rightly so. But let's take a moment to think of Joseph's "yes" to the angel's message to him, for it is just as important. In the midst of a difficult, embarrassing and confusing situation, Joseph listened to what God was saying to him. St. Matthew tells us that when he awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded. We need to wake-up!

As a result of this obedience, Jesus was born into a family with a father and a mother. Think of it! God entrusted his only-begotten Son to a human father and mother in Joseph and Mary. Joseph took the child and raised him as his own. He was the example to God of what it meant to be a man!

St. Joseph is the patron saint of the universal Church, all of us! Let us learn from him as Christ did what it means to be human. Even when it is confusing or difficult or embarrassing, let us say yes to God as Joseph did. That simple "yes" of faith is why we call him Saint Joseph. When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist today, let us, as Joseph did, wake-up and say "yes" to Jesus.

Christmas, Candles and the Fall of Ceausescu.

On Breakpoint, Chuck Colson tells an interesting story about Christmas, candles and the fall of Ceausescu.

The story begins with Laszlo Tokes, pastor of a fast-growing reformed church in the city of Timisoara. His powerful preaching had caught the attention of communist officials, and they began a strategy of suppression. They stationed police officers around his church, machine guns cradled in their arms. They hired thugs to attack him. Finally, just before Christmas, they decided to send him into exile.

Read the rest here.

Are You the One?--Reflection on the 3rd Sunday of Advent

Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?" John the Baptist's question cuts to the heart of the Christian faith. Is Jesus the Christ who was to come? Are his teachings the truth? Is the Church the steward of his plan of salvation? Or is there another we should be following?

John had spent this life until that point preparing the way of the Lord. He had put his life on the line, proclaiming Jesus as "the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." Now John is in prison. Before he gives his life, he sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he is indeed the Christ. Why John's apparent doubt?

Being in prison gave John much time to think. As he considered his life he naturally wanted to be sure he was on the right path. I think he doubt arose from the simple fact that Jesus was his cousin. With family, you want to be sure!

Could Jesus, this man John had know since childhood, be the Messiah? Their first encounter came when Mary, now with child, travelled to see her cousin and John's mother Elizabeth, who was herself expecting after years of sterility. When Mary greeted Elizabeth, St. Luke tells us that John lept for joy while he was still in the womb.

Years later, when Joseph and Mary were returning from Jerusalem after celebrating Passover, they realized that Jesus was not with them. People travelled with extended family then. Luke tells us that "they were looking for him among their relatives and friends." It is certainly possible that John was in that group.

In any case, John was wondering about his cousin. Jesus' answer to John was to tell them "Go tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have the Gospel preached to them." It is what Jesus does that proves who he is.

What about us. If someone were to ask if were could prove we were who we claimed to be, could we prove it? On a good day, maybe. What works could we point to and say this is what I have done; it shows who I am. It is good to be here for Mass to worship and grow in faith. Now, what about the rest of the week? It would be a shame if we were to receive Christ in faith in the Eucharist yet fail to become what we receive. We receive the Body of Christ. Let us become the body of Christ in the world.

Repent and Receive--A Reflection on the 2nd Sunday of Advent

John the Baptist is an astonishing man. He stands astride the Old and New Testaments; the last prophet of the Old and the first of the New. He lives out in the desert wilderness by the Jordan River. He eats locusts and wild honey and wears camel skins with a leather belt. His first words in Matthew's Gospel are “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” And let's not forget that his cousin is Jesus!

His preaching and presence brought many to be baptized, and the Pharisees and Sadducees didn't want to be overshadowed by this wild man. When they went to find out about his preaching for themselves, they must have been shocked. John is fearless. He calls them, the religious leaders of his day, a “brood of vipers!" and boldly asks them "Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?" He challenges them to "produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance." (Imagine if some people from the archdiocese and the seminary came to visit a parish and the priest said that to them!)

When St. Matthew heard John the Baptist preach, he was reminded of Isaiah's words "A voice of one crying out in the desert,/Prepare the way of the Lord,/make straight his paths. " John is preaching repentance to the people to prepare them for the coming of Christ. Today's first reading begins with a obscure reference to the Messiah. He shall come from the stump of Jesse. Perhaps you have heard of a "Jesse Tree"? Jesse was King David's father. The Messiah would come from David's royal line; he would be the son of David. In Isaiah's prophecy, the Kingdom has be reduced to a stump of a tree. Yet God promises that this stump shall produce a "branch" and that "from his roots a bud shall blossom." In other words, even though all looks hopeless, Christ will come!

What kind of Messiah will he be? John the Baptist says that "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Isaiah says that "The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD, and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD." The Church calls these the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are shared with us at Confirmation.

How do we put these two pictures together? By remembering that first we must repent as St. John the Baptist tells us. We must turn, change our minds about they way we have been living. We are sinners. We must become repentant sinners! We have been a brood of vipers doing evil. We must bring forth good fruit instead. When we have turned around to walk with Christ, then we can share in the gifts of the Holy Spirit that come from Jesus--not only at Confirmation, but throughout our lives as we continue to repent and become more deeply converted. Then we will see the reordering of creation that Isaiah speaks of "Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,/and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;/the calf and the young lion shall browse together...". These natural enemies will one day be reconciled and live in peace.

This healing of nature will be so complete that as Isaiah says, "On that day, the root of Jesse,/set up as a signal for the nations,/the Gentiles shall seek out." Or as St. Paul says "that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy." Yes, even Jews and Gentiles, once implacable enemies, will be reconciled in the Kingdom of God. It begins now with Confession, the sacrament of reconciliation. We confess our sins to a priest not just because he represents Christ forgiving us, but also because we recognize that our sins hurt other people. The sacrament of Confession reconciles us not only to God, but to other people as well.

So, Repent! Turn your minds and hearts to Christ. Then he will share his Spirit will you. You will be the wheat that he harvests and gathers into his barn. You will share the Eucharistic wheat in the Church. This is the ultimate reconciliation. The greatest gift is Christ himself.

Keep Christ in Advent!--A Reflection on the First Sunday in Advent

This Sunday, November 28, 2010 is the First Sunday of Advent. It is the beginning of the Church's liturgical year. The Mass readings are all about getting ready for the coming of Jesus, the Son of Man as he refers to himself in the Gospel.

In the first reading, Isaiah foretells it, "In days to come,/the mountain of the Lord’s house/shall be established as the highest mountain/and raised above the hills." God himself will instruct all nations. After this instruction and judgment, there will be peace--the universal peace of Christ. In those oft quoted words, Isaiah says, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares/and their spears into pruning hooks;/one nation shall not raise the sword against another,/nor shall they train for war again." Instruction, judgment, peace.

The problem is that instead of listening to the Lord's teaching, we have been sleepwalking through life. St. Paul calls for us to wake-up! "You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed..." In our sleepwalking we have wandered off the path. Instead we have stumbled into orgies and drunkenness, promiscuity and lust, rivalry and jealousy. That may sound like a pretty good Saturday night to some, but it makes for a terrible Sunday morning!

In the Gospel, Jesus compares us to the people of Noah's day. There's old Noah, building a boat in the middle of the desert. He was preparing for a judgment that seemed to never come. So the people did what we would do, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. They probably even had a pool going on when the first raindrop would fall or when Noah would quit. So life went on as usual; until it began to rain!

Since we don't know when that first drop will fall in our time, Jesus calls for us to stay awake. The Church gives us this season of Advent at the beginning of it's liturgical year to remind us to prepare for Christ's coming. It is a time to consider our resolutions for this new year. What will you do to prepare for Christ's coming? It's not just his second coming we need to consider. Jesus comes to us every day, especially in two ways. First, he comes to us in the poor. They may be poor in spirit or poor in health or poor in morality. They may be financially impoverished or emotionally impoverished. They may be in the womb or at the end of life. They will probably be people we don't like very much. Learn to see Christ in them.

Second, he comes to us in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist. Every Mass is not only a memorial of his passion and resurrection, but is also an anticipation of his coming to us. Jesus is meek and humble of heart, so he comes to us in bread and wine. Because if he came in his glory, to such sinners as we are, we could not see his face and live. But by his grace in the Eucharist, he does come to us; body, blood soul and divinity. As St. Peter says, his divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion so that we may come to share in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). He feeds us with his life so we will be able to live with him in Heaven.

Let us use this season of Advent to wake-up from our spiritual sleep, to leave behind the sin that so easily trips us up and to prepare the way of the Lord, in our hearts and in our world. Keep Christ in Advent! He is coming. He is almost here.

Celebrating the Miners Rescue

In the celebrations of these men and their families, in their faith, we see the joy of Heaven breaking into this world. Heaven is rejoicing in the miners rescue now.

Michael Been and Theo's Logic

Yesterday I heard about the death of Michael Been of The Call. Before leaving the house, I looked for my copy of On the Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough, Been's solo CD. I couldn't find it, but I noticed my copy of Daniel Amos' Bibleland. In one of those weird moments I thought "I'll listen to that instead--close enough!"

Driving to the next town for a 12 o'clock Mass, the song "Theo's Logic" was playing. Taylor sings "My grandmother's up there waiting/She spoke to me one night/She said there are millions of us praying/that you will be alright."

It was just what I needed to hear. Sweet communion of the saints! There are millions praying that I will be alright! And not just me, but you, too!