December 2007 Archives

The hardest people that I encounter in my daily life that are hard for pray for aren't people who've done horrible things. Murders, thieves, and other criminals, I figure they must have had a hard life in some way, whether it be in their childhood, some psychological issue or whatnot, that led their life on that path. They are guilty of a crime, no doubt, but I know they need my prayers and I offer them without restraint. (Of course, every so often there is a particularly horrible headline-grabbing offense that challenges me on this, but I digress.)

No, the hardest people for me to pray for are those in the customer service industry, in some form, and who do not follow through on their promises in whatever way. As you may know, I recently found myself in a position where I had to purchase a replacement vehicle and I found a nice little Nissan Versa that met my requirements in both feature and price.

Today, I wanted to take it in for its first oil change. I know that I don't have to take it to the dealership, but I like the idea of a long-term provider-client relationship and so I default to them after purchasing a new car. Since I found myself in Wichita Falls, I wanted to take it to Nissan of Wichita Falls, the dealer.

Knowing it was the day after Christmas, I half-suspected they would be closed for the holiday since folks in Wichita Falls still operate on the slower pace not found anymore in cities like Houston or Austin. I drive into the lot and I find their service garage doors open! I'm excited as my master plan to get the car nicely washed, filled with gas and oil changed was falling into place. I drive in, turn off the car and am met by a service department director-looking person.

The individual asked me what I needed and I told him a simple oil change. He replied that he didn't have anyone in the shop who could do an oil change and suggested that I return later.

I visit an establishment in the middle of the day that is open which provides car maintenance and repair services, one of the most basic of those services is the oil change and am told that no one in the shop can perform the service. I must wait for someone to arrive to work that can do the oil change.

For me and my sensibilities, I can't understand this and I can't figure out a series of events that would lead a business to be unable to deliver a most basic function of their business. For this reason alone, it merits my prayer for both them and for my own understanding, but it is the most difficult for me to bring in prayer.

A blessed Christmas to everyone!

Tonight, tomorrow and truly until early January, we celebrate in a specific way the incarnation of God. God the Son, the only of the Father, nine months having passed from when the Angel approached Mary and informed her of God's great role for her in the salvific plan, was born into this world.

Jesus the Christ came into our imperfect world and made it perfect. He didn't remove the imperfection; he instead gave us the path of perfection, the path toward him and our eternal salvation that was are compelled to walk. Our Creator did not impact our free will and we are free to not follow Christ, but if we are true to ourselves, true to our nature, we cannot choose any course of action beside the one that follows the path of Jesus Christ.

Whether we celebrate Christmas surrounded by the beauty of St. Peter's on the Vatican Hill, or in a barn-looking church, or solely within our own homes, we should take note and celebrate that no matter when the first Christmas truly occurred (we all admit that December 25th was probably not the actual date, save some awesome divine providence), that all of human kind is changed now that our own creator, our God, took the form of the creation and walked as one of us.

His incarnation is the first of many things Jesus shared with all of us. He knew family, homelessness, good friends, betrayal, power, powerlessness, sadness, joy, but more core to us than any of those things, he shared with us our human existence.

Through him, we can know what it is to be divine. We make the mistake quite often to say that our goal in life is to be good Christians, to be good Christ-like folks. This is incorrect. Our goal within this life on earth is to be Christ to other people. Through our hands, our actions, our words, we can become Christ to other people. His incarnation mingled humanity and divinity. Humanity was joined with divinity through his birth, and divinity was joined with humanity through the first Pentecost.

During this Christmas season, let's take a break from all of the craziness that exists in the world and this time of year, and think about what it means to have Word made Flesh. 

The Catholic Peace Fellowship has started a new web project, We Go On Record. We Go On Record is an online community and posting site that allows individuals to literally go on record and state their beliefs about war. This is particularly important to individuals that do not believe in war as a morally-acceptable course of action, since if a draft is ever enacted, the local draft board would make a decision about whether or not an individual should go off to boot camp.

Using this website would allow individuals to go back and point to a historical record of their objections to war. If you have issues with the military institution, the use of war in the world and would like to do one more thing to protect yourself in a draft is activated, then you should spend a few minutes on this new website.

Papal Basilica to Open Ecumenical Chapel
ROME, DEC. 21, 2007 (Zenit.org).- An ecumenical chapel at St. Paul's Outside the Walls is one of the first initiatives of the upcoming Pauline year.

Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, archpriest of the papal basilica, announced plans for the chapel in an interview with L'Osservatore Romano.

The chapel will offer "the possibility for non-Catholic Christian communities to come and pray at the basilica and to celebrate liturgy," he said. It will be placed in a Greek-design baptistery, which was remodeled in the early 20th century.

"The altar, restored, will be one we found and removed during the recent excavations near the tomb of Paul, which have made the tomb visible to pilgrims," the cardinal explained.

On Monday, Cardinal Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo presented Benedict XVI with a program of the Pauline Year, to be celebrated from June 28, 2008, to June 29, 2009.

I think it is great that the Catholic Church has opened the door in this way to other Christians; hopefully through other Christians finding their way into the physical Catholic Church, they may find their way to the communion within the Catholic Church.

I wonder, is there a "fraternal society" of deacons? I have heard of various societies for priests, like the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, an association of diocesan priests who are united to Opus Dei. Priests who join this association are still completely under the jurisdiction of their bishop or religious order.

Is there something similar for deacons? Virtually every permanent deacon is within the jurisdiction of a bishop, but can deacons join free associations?

I think such organizations could be beneficial to men who serve the Church through diaconal ministry.

As is being reported by multiple sources, Mr. Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has swam the Tiber and has formally entered full communion with the Catholic Church.

Blair, formerly a member of the Church of England, had been corrected by the Catholic Cardinal for receiving Catholic communion with his family, who are Catholic and regular Mass participants. There has been much speculation that Mr. Blair would become Catholic after leaving office, fueled a great deal when a formal visit to the Holy Father was one of his final acts as Prime Minister. While he was not prohibited by law to be Catholic while Prime Minister (unlike King or Queen of England), converting to Catholicism was an issue his office did not wish to tackle.

Welcome Home, Tony!

Yes. yes. I've turned on ads. The main reason? I have finite resources and this is a hobby for me. I'd like to ensure my hobbies do not take up any more of my budget than needed!

US News and World Reports has an interesting article on on the return of many faiths to more traditional routes.

In Catholic circles, the Pope's letter authorizing broader use of the Mass of 1962 is one obvious sign of the trend, but also in new church architecture, the increase of popular devotion of the laity, receiving communion on the tongue instead of the hand and more.

The article describes that this trend is not isolated to the Catholic church, or even the Christian faith. It appears that society in general is wanting to return to the stability provided by ritual within one hectic and crazy world.

One challenge within campus ministry, I suppose with the church in general, is how to embrace and hold the hand of the extremely pious student, while also being open and able to connect to the student who is discerning his or her spirituality at the same time.

“Deacons are ordained clergy,” he said, “and, together with priests and bishops, they complete what the Patristic Fathers refer to as the ‘fullness of the church hierarchy,’ or the fullness of holy orders. They are not ‘substitute priests,’ but neither are they ‘glorified altar boys.’ They are ordained ministers, sharing in the Sacrament of Holy Orders with bishops and priests, but they have their own unique vocation, which neither priest nor bishop can or should fulfill.”

The Diocese of Tyler is in the midst of an ordination fest with four diaconal ordinations scheduled for this Advent and Christmas Seasons.

Hat tip to the Deacon's Bench, a new blog on the street.

I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.

2 Timothy 4:7

Training to run a marathon is not unlike our training efforts towards our eternal reward in heaven. Each Saturday morning, despite it being my day off of work and there is nothing that I must do, I wake up at 6:30 am to head to the corner of Riverside and South Congress to join with a number of other folks to run.

The first few weeks, we ran little. Two miles the first couple of weeks, then three miles, then a huge jump to five miles. The first week, running two miles, was very difficult, much more than it should have been. I had boast to my friends that I ran cross country in high school and while I was not great at it, I could run three miles a day without a problem.

In addition to that, on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday after work, I go home, change into running clothes and hit the trails, sidewalks or whatever surface I'm going to run on that day. By the time I arrive back home, shower, change into something comfortable, it is already 7:30 or 8 p.m.

At first, this was both hard and fun. Once I walked in the door to my apartment after work, I would jump into my running clothes and sprint to the door. Alas, in the time August, my motiviation has lacked some recently.

Now, last Saturday, we ran 13.4 miles. My finance and I had to cut it short from the planned 15.5 miles because we had appointments all day for wedding vendors, but we did not cut it short because we couldn't do it. We now think of a five mile run as "short".

At the same however, the idea of running tonight, tomorrow night or 18 or 21 miles in the upcoming Saturdays is now the last thing I want to do. I'll do it anyhow, but it is not the top thing of my list.

How is this like heaven and our "training" for it?

Prayer and good words should be key to our training. Developing and enacting a solid prayer routine isn't easy. Time and patience is needed to develop an attitude and habit of prayer. For example, someone who has not spent any dedicated time in prayer probably shouldn't attempt to start praying every hour of the Liturgy of the Hours with a rosary between Evening Prayer and Night Prayer. If they made it through a day, they wouldn't make it through too many more.

We have to always push ourselves to the next step though. The training might start with spending a few minutes in silence, reflecting upon the day. Maybe next, we'll do that and read a parable of the Gospel each night. Early on, we might add a spiritual director to be our coach. Over time, as we become more comfortable with the level of prayer and the energy it takes, we can step up to our next desired level. If we set ourselves to this goal, soon enough, we'll find ourselves praying each morning, noon and night complete with daily Mass.

With prayer too, we will find ourselves in moments like I am today with running. Despite that early on exercising our spiritual side and nurturing our desire to explore our relationship with God might have been a little exciting, now it might just seem like a drag. It might feel like that, but we can't let that dictate our actions. Just like running, once you get out there and stretch your legs, you'd be glad you did.

Heaven is the marathon for which we all strive. Unlike the 26 miles of a running marathon that we can lay out on a course and know the exact route, this marathon route is only known to God and in the inner most depths of our heart. We all must set our sights on finishing the marathon, but we have to train ourselves to be able to find the course, run it well and in the end, keep the faith.

Despite my attempts, it is difficult to maintain a blog while working, spending time with a loved one who is finally in the same city, and now plan for a wedding.

My intention is to become better, but you know what they say about the road paved with good intentions.

This morning, after a 7-mile training run, I registered for the 2008 AT&T Austin Marathon! While running a marathon is not a moral imperative, there is a duty to treat our bodies well. They are, after all, in the image of God, given to us through His Creation and temples of the Holy Spirit.

If you want Lent to be prayerful in a different way, join us. 

It has been tough not writing on here over the past week. At first, I was thinking too much about proposing to write and then, I didn't want to write a public article until a few people were notified.

Personally, I'm really excited to begin this next phase of life with a person that I love completely.

The notion of an engagement period, as best as I know, originated in 1215 during the Fourth Lateran Council by Pope Innocent III. Canon 51 of the Council says

Since the prohibition of the conjugal union in the three last degrees has been revoked, we wish that it be strictly observed in the other degrees. Whence, following in the footsteps of our predecessors, we absolutely forbid clandestine marriages; and we forbid also that a priest presume to witness such. Wherefore, extending to other localities generally the particular custom that prevails in some, we decree that when marriages are to be contracted they must be announced publicly in the churches by the priests during a suitable and fixed time, so that if legitimate impediments exist, they may be made known. Let the priests nevertheless investigate whether any impediments exist.

In other words, the original point of the engagement was to allow the public to know of the forthcoming marriage and give them ample time to state any impediments to marriage (one is already married, the couple are too close on the family tree, etc).

Traditionally, banns would be published (or proclaimed) by the parish priest in all impacted parishes (the one of the groom, the bride, and the one in which the marriage would take place) for the three holy days proceeding the rite. This was a further way to help ensure the legitimate status of the wedding, plus a nice way to foster community by helping everyone know of these events in the life of the parish. On the universal level, I know the Council of Trent promoted the use of the banns and in the United States, local councils promoted their use as late as the 1890s. They are now, as we know, not commonly done, but I'm not aware of if this was by decree or general disuse.

So, if anyone has any reason that we cannot be wed, speak up!