Sunday, March 26, 2006

Lent, week 4

I just thought I'd throw some bits in the Blogspot server, as it's Sunday. I haven't made it to the last couple Vatican II lectures, one for family reasons, the other because we had 16" of snow dumped on us that day.

So that aside, Lent is going along. our parish does Eucharistic Exposition after Stations of the Cross, and I really need it. we'll say the Anima Christi, some other prayers, sing O Salutaris Hostia and Tantum Ergo .In the parish my folks live in (Archdiocese of Philadelphia), they don't do it, and just rush through the Stations, as if to say "Hey, you're lucky we're doing THIS much.."

"Omne delectamentum in se habentem."

*

I caught a podcast about the VIRTUS program, featuring the storied Fr. Altier, and I can understand why , from the commentary in the podcast, why his bishop silenced him. Not saying that Fr. Altier is wrong, but he expressed his concerns in such dire terms, and casting aspersions on the motives of the USCCB, that his statements could not be ignored.
The program in question just sounds terrible, and I'm sure that the creation of it was delegated by the bishops to the lay Spirit of Vatican II™ toadies that seem to gravitate to those positions in the Church. So, it's only natural that it's fatally flawed. It's a shame that the bishops are so concerned about using anything to cover their collective backside, that they're willing to accept it.

*

Going into a coffee shop, I spied a young Bolshevik with his girlfriend ahead of me. He had the image down fairly well, the V.I. Lenin Memorial Cap™, the V.I. Lenin Memorial Goatee ™, and various other symbology adorning his jacket. There was only one incongruity that ruined the whole thing: The iPod poking out of his back pocket. Bourgois gadgetry gets them EVERY time.

Speaking of bourgois, I'm going to Las Vegas at the end of April for a conference. Anyone know a nice, but affordable, place to golf while I'm there?

Y'all have a nice week.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Lent, week 2

The first episode of “Vatican II and You” went well. The speaker just read portions of the text of Lumen Gentium with little interjection at all. He got things rolling with a reading of Pope Paul VI’s opening address to the second session of the council. The reading is ironic, since many of Paul VI’s hopes turned out to happen the opposite way: instead of clarity, there was confusion, and instead of continuity, there were seismic shifts. The good priest did not preach about the discontinuities, but acknowledged the mixed results of the council, and announced his hopes that Pope Benedict XVI can fix the deficiencies.

Some of the topics that were touched on:
Misunderstood ecclesiology
Ecumenism as guiding those in partial communion with the Church to full communion with the Church.
Ministerial priesthood vs. common priesthood
“ The Church begins in the home.” About family life and the vocations involved
Infallibility, teaching in union with the Magisterium
The Church is necessary for salvation
Obligation of obedience to Bishop in matters of faith and morals ( are there any other issues?)
Universal call to sanctity
Mary, at the conclusion of Lumen Gentium, as model for the Church.


In other news, I received a decidedly uncomplimentary e-mail this week, by accident. I imagine that the sender was unaware that she was replying to multiple parties, and disparaged my work. I was a bit indignant over it for a while, but then decided that the whole situation wasn’t worth worrying about.

A coworker of mine embarrassed himself a bit with his blog, not only blogging at work, but slagging the guys he works with. It reminds me of something I learned in Ethics 101, about only writing things you wouldn’t mind your mother or minister to read, or, in this case, your coworkers.

I nailed another birdie, my second ever, this week. It was a 315 yard, par 4, and I had pulled my tee shot into a clearing surrounded by pines, and was approaching a downhill green over the trees and a sand trap, into the wind. My partner suggested my 7 iron instead of the 8 iron I grabbed, and I put the shot 7 feet in front and below the hole. Thanks Rich! The uphill putt broke a wee bit right to left, as I had expected, and dropped into the cup.
That birdie erased a bit of the quintuple bogey I got on the first hole of that round. I’m still bad, but I have occasional flashes of “golfiness” that keep me wanting to play.

I have an ikon of the Theotokos, with the Child Jesus, in my living room. My 2 year old girls see it and identify it as “Jesus’ hugging His Mommy.” She is our mother now, too, don’t be afraid to embrace her as well.

"We adore you, o Christ and we praise you, because by your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world."

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Four days of Hell

Not really, but whoa, this 'giving up the Internet' for Lent thing is tough. All my habits tend to lead me right back there. My mornings used to be:
5 am alarm
05:01 boot Mac, go to kitchen.
05:03 Put coffee on.
05:07 Dialup server
05:08 Get coffee
05:11 Check e-mail
05:15 Check in at the Cafeteria, then continue blog-surfing until 06:30
06:30 Make breakfast for the kids, coffee for the mate.

And again more during the day, and a couple hours at night after the spawn and spouse go to bed. All my patterns are disrupted. Life, and Lent, will go on.

Other notes:

My son, 5 years old, after discussing the 'Operation Rice Bowl' bowl, got Lent off to a good start by transferring the contents of my change jar into the bowl. He said that since there's lots of kids out there that go hungry, we need to put lots of money into the bowl. He's pledged to be vigilant for any other vagrant coinage.

It is next to impossible to find shoes that are NOT made in China. Out of almost 50 pairs that I looked at, searching for a pair of brown leather casuals, only 3 were made elsewhere. The big shocker was Doc Martens being almost exclusively chinese in make anymore. I ended up with brown leather shoes, with a norweigan name, made in Mexico. Go figure.

A monstrance is a time machine, a window in time to the Last Supper, when Jesus gave us His Body for the first time. It is, and has always been, the same Body of Christ that was given on that day and at every celebration of the Eucharist since. Whoa. Who needs a Delorean with a flux capacitor?

"Vatican II and You" starts tomorrow night, so tune in next Sunday for some impressions. From the description of the lecture, I'm guessing that Sacrosactum Concilium is on the menu as the main course.

Pondering the Stations of the Cross, pt. I:

Station 1, Jesus before Pilate: How often have I asked the question "What is Truth" while willfully ignoring my Savior before me? And then absolving myself of my own sins by abdicating responsibility for them. Yet, Jesus forgives me my selfishness.

Station 2, Jesus receives His Cross: In my sins, am I not the Roman soldier that places the Cross on Jesus' shoulders, and then shoves Him on His way? And yet, Jesus forgives me my selfishness.

More stations as Lent moves on.

We adore you, o Christ and we praise you, because by your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.