Absent but not gone...

Sometimes in this life, we have moments (days, weeks, ....) that we feel like we have nothing to offer. We are like Ezekiel's valley of dry bones... We are wandering in the wilderness, seeking the Promised Land, but finding that we are only circling around, wandering in circles, lost and alone.

This is where I have been the past week or so... sometime around the middle of Holy Week, it happened. I was going along cheerfully, trying to not let my problems overwhelm me, but at some point, I succumbed...

Easter Vigil was wonderful, as always, but I was there mostly in body; my spirit was elsewhere..
Easter morning Holy Mass was a blessing, but again I was not entirely there.

St. John of the Cross describes this wilderness journey as the Dark Night of the Soul. I know that, in part, I was under spiritual attack; in part, God was silent to my despairing cries.

I could relate to Our Lord's words from the Cross: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

My problems are nothing in the grand scheme of things. To take a phrase from 12 step programs, 'This too will pass.."

But when you are in the smack middle of a dark night, it does not seem like it will pass; it feels that God has abandoned you utterly.

I am struggling still to walk this dark journey yet I know there is a light just ahead.

My weapons accompany me: the Holy Rosary, Confession, Eucharist. I am praying the Fifteen Prayers of St. Bridget and have found consolation in all these tools of the spiritual life.  I know that at some point I will find again the Promised Land and return to tell you all about my journeyings..

Till then, my Celtic friends....Godspeed.

The Holy Week of our Lord's Passion

Sunday - Passion or Palm Sunday

"Jesus enters into Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. He is hailed "son of David" by those who days later will cry out "Crucify Him!" Would we have done the same?

Monday - Watching "The Passion of the Christ" with fellow parishioners tonight.. Every year after seeing this movie, I realize that little else in life really matters compared to this most Holy Sacrifice...

"See I make all things new!" - Revelation 21:5

Tuesday - Chrism Mass

This is the Holy Mass where all the catechumens and candidates of the Diocese who are being Baptized and received into full communion with the Catholic Church get to meet in one place with the Bishop presiding.

The 'holy oils ' are brought back to the parish for use during the following year: the oils of baptism, confirmation, anointing of the sick.

It is a chance to see most of the priests of the Diocese all together; the procession to the altar, led by the Knights of Columbus in dress regalia, is wonderful to see.

I remember when I was a candidate, I was so excited to be finally 'accepted' by the Diocese and to know that within a few days, I too would be a member of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

A very exciting time right in the middle of a very holy week.

Let us pray for our catechumens and candidates that they will feel the grace of the Lord during this very special time in their lives.

Wednesday - Tenebrae

We are having a Tenebrae service in our Parish tonight.

In a Tenebrae service, the church is lit only with candlelight, including one larger Christ candle on the altar. The word Tenebrae comes from the Latin, meaning ‘shadows’.

The purpose of Tenebrae is to recreate the emotions of Christ’s Passion: His betrayal by Judas, the disciples’ abandonment and the beginnings of His Agony.

During the Tenebrae service, there will be Scripture readings and Gospel narratives. At the end of each reading, a candle is extinguished… so that by the end of the numerous readings, all the candles are out, leaving the nave in darkness.

The last reading will be Psalm 22, which Christ quoted from the Cross:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

When this Psalm reading is completed, the Christ Candle is extinguished. All is now darkness.

We have reached our most despairing moment: Christ has asked to be spared from drinking this bitter Cup but surrenders Himself to God’s Will. God seems not to answer: Christ will endure His Passion. The darkness of our sins prevails…

There is no benediction, no final blessing. The participants leave the Church in silence.

We wait…. in silence, in darkness…in grief…

Coming Home to the Catholic Church

Here’s the recent statistics regarding the numbers of people being received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church this coming Easter Vigil 2009! These numbers represent just some major Dioceses in the country; certainly not all Dioceses have reported, so this number is low but certainly representative:

The Archdiocese of Atlanta: 2708
The Archdiocese of Seattle: 1242
The Archdiocese of San Diego: 1225

In 2007, 49,415 adult baptisms & 87,363 people were received into full Communion with the Catholic Church.

Amazing, isn’t it? Aren’t people leaving the Catholic Church in droves? Didn’t the sex abuse scandal of 2001-02 drive most intelligent, cosmopolitan, enlightened people away from Catholicism, never to return?? That’s what the liberal, secular media would have you believe. But, IT IS NOT TRUE!!

It is true that the Church lost members due to the scandal, and other reasons, such as the Church’s position on contraception, stem cell research, and abortion. But even during these difficult years, people were coming into the Roman Catholic Church in much higher numbers than the mainstream media would ever want you to know.

I came ‘home to Rome’ in 2005 in the Manchester Diocese, State of New Hampshire. That particular year, over 100,000 people either formally returned to the Church or came in through RCIA programs, in the US alone.

So who are these people? They come from all walks of life, all backgrounds.

Some are people who had been previously ‘unchurched’ in that they had no church affiliation whatsoever, some were ‘reverts’ who returned to the Catholic Church of their youth, and some, like myself, were ‘converts’ who left one Christian denomination (usually Protestant) to become members of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church through the Sacraments of First Communion and Confirmation.

Early in his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI was questioned regarding the numbers of people leaving the Catholic Church. His response was to the effect that perhaps in the future, the Church would be ‘smaller, but purer’.

That does not mean that we are ‘pure’ in the sense of free from sin, because all are sinners, but that those who remained in the Catholic Church would be those who, freely and of their own accord, chose to remain as faithful members of Christ’s Church.

A Catholic friend of mine, back in 2004, after learning of my intent to join the Catholic Church, remarked, “Why would you do that now, of all times? We have too many warts…”

I replied, “I’ll take Christ’s Holy Church, warts and all.”

And so, I guess, I’m not alone. The numbers are evident. People want to be a part of this Church. People, at some deep level, know that the fullness of Truth is found here. The Catholic Church is the only Church that has the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Christ is present always in our tabernacles. Why would you want to be anywhere else?

Resource: Catholic News Agency as reported on www.spiritdaily.com

What Pope John Paul II means to me...

Today is the 4th anniversary of the passing into Eternal Glory of our beloved Pope, John Paul II.

Pope John Paul II passed away the same year I entered into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, so he was my Pope for only a very short time. But he had become, for me, a guiding light on my journey home to the Catholic Church.

So it seems only right that today I write about my feelings for Pope John Paul during this first year of my own Catholic blog.

As we all know, John Paul was bigger than life. His presence demanded that you pay attention; his words demanded that you listen.

I began to listen a couple of years before my conversion to the Catholic faith, mostly by watching the Catholic television network, EWTN. I watched it pretty faithfully for a couple of years before I even dreamt that one day I would be a Roman Catholic. I would watch Life on the Rock with Jeff Cavins and I would watch Daily Mass celebrated at the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery, broadcast in the evenings.

I remember one particular winter when I was sick as a dog with whooping cough for almost six months and would spend the evenings huddled up in a blanket in my recliner, full of cough meds and prescription anti-biotics, dozing on and off throughout the evening. I would turn Daily Mass on at 7:00 and sit there with my eyes closed, just listening. Then I would continue to listen to whatever Catholic programming was on after Mass.

This was very comforting to me. I knew that I would not be jolted awake by scenes of violence or profanity. I could literally ‘rest in the Lord’ while I gathered my strength for the next day.

And it was during that winter that I became acquainted with John Paul II. I heard him spoken about with deep respect and affection. I heard others talk about his teachings. I watched him celebrate Holy Mass at St. Peter’s on Holy Days. I began to look for news about him and to schedule time to watch EWTN if I knew he was going to be televised. I began to feel my own deep respect and affection for this man.

At that time, I knew that as Pope, he was the head of the Roman Catholic Church, but that was all I really knew about the Papacy. I didn’t know that he was the Vicar of Christ, that he had received his authority from St. Peter himself, through Apostolic Succession, I didn’t know that he would become such a powerful influence in my own spiritual life.

As we all know, Pope John Paul II was a prolific writer. It has been said that you could spend the rest of your life studying the words and thoughts of JPII and not be able to fully digest all that he had to offer. His books, his encyclicals, his poetry… so much to take in.

One of his teachings, however, that has drawn me in and captivated my attention, is a series of Wednesday messages, given over a period of about six years, beginning in 1978 right after his election to the Chair of Peter. These teachings are known as Theology of the Body.

I remember my pastor in 2005, Fr. Paul, talking about Theology of the Body (TOB) and stating that it would take Catholic scholars and laity a hundred years to fully ‘unpack’ these remarkable teachings. But that these teachings on human sexuality would literally ‘revolutionize’ society’s distorted ideas about the role of human sexuality and its place in our lives. Through TOB, we would learn that our sexuality is so much a part of who we are and who we are called to be, beings made in the image and likeness of God, that we would find new freedom and wholeness in our lives and use the God given gift of our sexuality as it was intended to be used – as a divine expression of the life of the Trinity.

TOB is, in its major components, a study in anthropology, in sociology, and in theology. It is a ‘right ordering’ of our human desires and needs firmly grounded in the Person of Jesus Christ. It is a life-changing study. And I can only wish that I had found it much earlier in my own life!

John Paul II was a man of remarkable depth, deep intellect, and an uncanny ability to convey complex theological ideas in layman's terms. This deep study of the human person is accessible to everyone.

Our parish has over the last five years offered studies of TOB. We started out with a beginner’s class, just noting the basics of this remarkable teaching. We moved on to a deeper level with Theology of the Body Explained, presented by Christopher West, who has made the ‘unpacking’ of this material his life’s vocation.

We are now in the middle of an advanced class, going deeper and deeper into the profound implications of life lived authentically, as either a married or celibate person. This advanced level class is called Into the Heart and is again taught by Christopher West, using the text of John Paul II's Man and Woman He Created Them.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg of JPII’s writings. His encyclicals alone need more time to be delved into and the gold nuggets of his rich wisdom mined.

There is no better person to study (outside of Jesus Christ Himself), if you want to know the deep wisdom of our Christian, and Catholic, heritage.

As this blog often deals with various apparitions of our Blessed Mother, I end with this: a few days after the passing of John Paul II into Glory, it was reported by one of the Medjugorje visionaries, that during an apparition of our Lady, John Paul II was seen standing beside our Blessed Mother, young and vibrant. Mary told the visionary, ‘Here is my son – he is with me.’

John Paul II lives in the fullness of the Kingdom of God and enjoys the Beatific Vision.

May Jesus Christ be praised! Amen

Secretary of State Clinton meets our Lady of Guadalupe

Last week, Patrick Madrid was running a caption contest on his blog,
patrickmadrid.blogspot.com

He was looking for captions for this picture

which shows Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looking at the tilma of Juan Diego in Guadalupe which, of course, shows the famous imprint of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I submitted my caption and, lo and behold, I came in as a First Runner Up (three way tie)!

Here is how he announced the winners:

The winner and the runners up are those who, in my subjective judgment, best and most cleverly captured the ironic weirdness of the scene: a woman who has made a lucrative career for herself as an implacable foe of the Pro-life movement (and, more fundamentally, a foe of all the unborn children who have been, are being, and will be slaughtered through abortion, as the result of her efforts to support it) being shown the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Life Herself.

There's no need for me to editorialize further on this bizarre juxtaposition of Truth and error, light and darkness, goodness and evil, which is represented by these two very different, diametrically opposed women.

The winner of this caption contest will receive a personally inscribed copy of my book 150 Bible Verses Every Catholic Should Know.

Contest Winner:

Nick — "Behold: The ORIGINAL 'Mexico City Policy'"

Congratulations Nick!

First Runners Up (3-way tie):

Micaela — "That sinking, nauseous, empty feeling in your abdomen, Hillary? Well, it isn't from the burritos . . ."

Dee — The culture of death meets the Mother of Life.

BillyHW — "Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon...well, I don't want to ruin the ending for you."


I, of course, am Dee with my caption “The culture of death meets the Mother of Life.”

Visit Patrick Madrid’s blogspot to see the rest of the wonderful caption entries and read the whole article.

What is going on in Medjugorje?

About a month ago, it was reported that Fr. Jozo Zovko, of the parish of Siroki-Brijeg, Bosnia-Hercegovina, is now on a year-long sabbatical. Allegedly, this is due to a health concern for which he has been receiving treatment.

He has cancelled all talks to Medjugorje pilgrims.

Next, it was reported that the local Bishop of Mostar, who has jurisdiction over the hamlet of Medjugorje, and hence St. James Parish, has stopped the visionaries from receiving their apparitions of our Blessed Mother at Cenocola. Cenocola is an alcohol/drug rehabilitation center for young men. It has had amazing success over the years in helping young men to clean up and move on with their lives.

Yesterday, it was reported that the Bishop of Mostar, Radko Peric, has now forbidden Holy Mass and Adoration to be celebrated at the Oasis of Peace!

Bishop Peric has long been an opponent of the visionaries and has declared the apparitions to be a fraud.

His ‘jurisdiction’, so to speak, over the visionaries has been removed by the Vatican which is now conducting an investigation into the alleged apparitions. A former commission, set up to review the apparitions, in which Bishop Peric was a member, was de-commissioned due to the fact that only non-believers in the apparitions were on the commission.

However, he is still Bishop of Mostar and therefore, still has authority over the Parish of St. James.

Now, if just one of these incidents had been reported, I would probably not make too much of it, such as Fr. Zovko’s sabbatical. Perhaps he truly does have a health condition that would require taking that much time from his duties.

But, with the additional incidents at Cenocola and now the Oasis of Peace, I have to wonder: What is going on in Medjugorje?

Whoever heard of forbidding Holy Mass to be celebrated? This is a scary thought, which quite frankly, sends chills up my spine. It has long been prophesied that one day the Holy Mass would be forbidden and faithful Catholics would have to ‘go underground’ to celebrate Holy Mass. Is this a harbinger of tribulations yet to come?

Are the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary about to draw to a close? Are the first of the ‘secrets’ about to be revealed?

It has even been reported, by an alleged visionary/prophet here in the US, that the first secret will be revealed soon; in fact, possibly as soon as this month!

Prophetic ‘rumors’ come and go. But it does make me wonder when incidents like these happening in Medjugorje take place within a couple of weeks of each other. Could something really big be on the horizon? Time will tell. But for me, Medjugorje and what happens there, is a HUGE barometer of our times… Could the first secret be revealed soon? And if so, what does it mean for us and for the world?

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be praised and adored.
May the Immaculate Heart of Mary be praised and adored.
Amen