Marking Time

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of marking time. Mom is starting a new job. Patrick is off to college as a Freshman. Today, I returned to the University of Saint Thomas for my junior year of college. Things are coming around to me for the second time: campus ministry retreat, familiar faces, greeting a new class of Freshman, catching up with friends I haven't seen all summer.

And time is marked as new experiences show themselves. I will no longer be taking theory. The campus landscape changes by the day. I am taking on new responsibilities and I do not look at things the same way I did one or two years ago. (Hopefully I am more Eucharistic centred.) One of the biggest changes is living in the Catholic Studies Men's House. I moved in today to a house owned by UST where I will live with four other men coupled with another house of four in the Fraternity of Saint Michael. Suddenly I am back at school but in a way I have never been before. Life seems to take form. God has his hand in everything and I am giving it all to Him. May I be able to take life moment by moment; may I always find God in everything.

We never know what direction our lives will take us. We never know when things may begin. We never know when things may end. In all things may God be glorified. As our faiths deepen, we can be more sure that we are right where God wants us even in our biggest struggles.

I'm told Sister Briege McKenna has said:

"Give it all to Jesus. He'll take care of everything!"

We are United in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary!

Godless Marriages

I have recently gotten my PC-laptop back after a hard drive replacement. My home page is still set to MSNBC so after returning from a Sunday afternoon party, I found an article on marriage by Sandra Tsing Loh: Let's Call the Whole Thing off. Basically she sees no point to marriage anymore. I also watched the interview video from the Today Show. (That link will be scattered throughout the article.) If you are reading this, then you know me and my (and the Catholic Church's) views on marriage and family, unless you've randomly stumbled upon this site by some miracle. In that case, let me send you to a site that will give you some valuable information: Try this.

What I noticed from both the article and the video: I found no reference to God, a Supreme Being, or anything in marriage that is outside of the couple and their own emotions. The article and video never reached beyond erotic love. Marriage was apparently an institution for the convenience of agrarian societies and not a commitment to another person under the mastery of the Divine Lover.

The closing paragraph of this obnoxiously long article reads:

In any case, here’s my final piece of advice: avoid marriage — or you too may suffer the emotional pain, the humiliation, and the logistical difficulty, not to mention the expense, of breaking up a long-term union at midlife for something as demonstrably fleeting as love.

As Catholics, this is what we're up against in bringing the Gospel of Jesus to the world. The world's acceptance of love as "demonstrably fleeting", I believe is the beginning of the end. No love of neighbor, friend, parent, sibling, spouse...or God...could ever exist. What we rely on deep in our human nature, no one will believe can last forever.

Let us stay close to the Sacrament of Love, Our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lover, in the Holy Eucharist. Let us love one another as He has loved us.

Now to lighten your mood so you may bring joy to the world: Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

We are united in the Hearts (and Love!) of Jesus and Mary!

The Sure Foundation

I began to look though YouTube for a video or photo montage to post today. I had trouble finding a good one. There is one thing I had to trouble realizing: Satan is rampant throughout the media. He is using all the technology and influence on people to lead us away from Jesus Christ and His Church.

People who have no foundations in the Church and who are extremists and sensationalists take whatever they can and twist it. Another video makes the Church in Pope into thieving money mongers. According to one video, Pope Benedict XVI is the last in a line of 111 pontiffs before Rome, the Vatican, and perhaps the world, are destroyed. Another points to Francis Cardinal Arinze's election as the next pontiff and the world ending very violently by 2013.

Cardinal Arinze had something different to say. Praise God I found a video that explains truth. Let us rest in the Church built on a Rock. Let us rest on the sure foundation of faith and devotion to the Eucharist.

Persistence

Back at school, J-Term is unlike any other time during the school year. I only have one class to worry about for three hours four days a week. I'm working in Campus Ministry and finding time to just relax…read a book, watch a movie…or write.

I'm still trying to clear out all the clutter from my life. My problem usually consists of getting too busy and unfocused. Then the responsibilities pile up and I cannot focus on the most important time of my day, prayer. It is the center of everything! Why doesn't that idea stick with me? As Mother Theresa said, Everything starts with a prayer.

I visited the Missionaries of Charity in Minneapolis on Tuesday for the first time since last May. Sister Justus was very happy to see me. After working with the children in the after-school program, she invited me to stay for their Holy Hour of Adoration. It was one of the most beautiful experiences I have had in a long time. It was the simple idea of praying quietly before Our Lord's Sacred Presence. How beautiful!! Satiate His Thirst! His for me and mine for Him!

In the stillness of winter, as we prepare to settle into Ordinary Time, may we stay focused on the miracle of Christmas and strive to satiate His thirst. May we persist through our emotions and feelings and be able to hear Christ in the silence.

We are United in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary!

The Proclamation of the Birth of Christ

Today, the twenty-fifth day of December,
unknown ages from the time when God created the heavens and the earth and then formed man and woman in his own image.

Several thousand years after the flood,
when God made the rainbow shine forth as a sign of the covenant.

Twenty-one centuries from the time of Abraham and Sarah;
thirteen centuries after Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt.

Eleven hundred years from the time of Ruth and the Judges;
one thousand years from the anointing of David as king;
in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel.

In the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad;
the seven hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome.

The forty-second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus;
the whole world being at peace,
Jesus Christ, eternal God and Son of the eternal Father,
desiring to sanctify the world by his most merciful coming,
being conceived by the Holy Spirit and nine months having passed since his conception,
was born in Bethlehem of Judea of the Virgin Mary.

Today is the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.

Your Cross

Christmas is almost upon us. We are now in those dreadful last days before Christmas when all stores and commercial outlets should be avoided for fear of last minute crowds shopping for those last few items on their list. You hear too often, "X number of shopping days 'til Christmas!" Everyone has ideas running frantically through their heads of the best Christmas ever: the perfect food, the family that gets along, the ideal presents for everyone.

Woah! Wait a minute! Hold the phone! If that is your gauge for a good Christmas, you will fail. I guarantee. Something, or everything will always go wrong. Isn't it all about our relationship with Christ? Do not let panic overtake you as you have your worries, concerns, scruples, pains, and sorrows in the days leading up to Christmas. Christ will take care of it all. Life does not stop when Advent and the Christmas season begins. Someone will fight on Christmas. Someone will die on Christmas. Someone will not make it home for Christmas. Someone will be alone for Christmas.

Take the time to fly to prayer in the coming days. If you are continually focused on Him, you will grow closer to Him in the ways He decides. You will be able to handle anything that comes your way. Only then will you be able to have your best Christmas ever.

YOUR CROSS
The everlasting God has in His wisdom foreseen from eternity, the cross He now presents to you as a gift from His innermost heart. This cross He now sends you He has considered with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His divine mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with loving arms and weighed with His own hands to see that it not be one ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, and taken one last glance at you and your courage - has sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all merciful love of God.
-St. Frances de Sales

We are United in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary!