Sunday, May 31, 2009

Taming of the Spirit




"So unruly is the Spirits entrance that we feel the need to tame it."

A good article on Pentecost by Beverly Gaventa. To read go here.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Winona, Minnesota



My alma mater, St. Mary's College: now St.Mary's University of Minnesota.


Someone from Winona has been checking out my blog! Who are you?

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Personnel Committee

I received an e-mail from Msgr. Lane today telling me I'm to meet with the diocesan Personnel Committee Friday morning.

I haven't been allowed to talk to them before. They are the ones who make "recommendations" to our bishop about appointments. Hopefully, it will do some good, so keep me in your prayers this Friday.

Lost Generation

This was sent to me by a friend. It is good!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord


A few pieces of art representing the Ascension. The one above is by Giotti. The one below by Salvador Dali.



This one is a Greek icon.


Thursday, May 21, 2009

Not Said By Jesus



For more of these go to this site. I warn you, however, some are a little irreverent and this author takes no responsibility for their content!

From the Pontifical Office of the Liturgical Police: Liturgy Watch







Now that I've got your attention, click here.

Vatican newspaper says Obama sought 'common ground' at Notre Dame


To read this story click here.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Mea Culpa!




By request, I have changed the leader font color from red to black.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

A "Leaderful" Parish


At this very moment, new members of our Pastoral Council are being discerned. I am impressed by their depth of faith and love for this parish. I’m also impressed with the few people who showed up to help in this discernment.

One of the most important issues in parish life, I believe, is leadership.

I don’t mean the leadership of the Pastor. I mean the leadership of the members, or what one author calls, the extent to which a church is Leaderful!!

I am completely convinced that a church cannot rise above the amount of leadership it raises up, and that the Pastor and other staff can only provide a limited amount of leadership.

What that means is that one of the central limiting factors in churches is the degree to which leaders in the parish are inspired, mentored, equipped, deployed and developed, resourced and given the gift of accountability.

I suspect there are hardly any churches that do this effectively

So, is there anywhere that’s doing this thing well. It’s not preaching that’s the difference between small / medium sized churches and large churches, it’s leaderful-ness.

Christ Preaching in the Temple

OOPS!


Somehow this got posted at the bottom right side of my blog. Even though it is late, I thought all you mothers out there would like it.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

My Meeting with Bishop DiLorenzo


I met with the bishop this past Thursday.

Bishop DiLorenzo has given me two options:

1. His preference is that I seek a new diocese to serve in.
2. If I choose not to do that, I have to call around the Diocese of Richmond and ask pastors to let me serve with them.

He will not assign me or help me find an assignment. At the moment I don't know what to do. I am praying over it and talking to my spiritual director and friends. I am asking all of you to continue praying with me to help me come to some decision.

Tomorrow, May 17th, I will have been a priest for 23 years. Right now I feel all that I have done the past years as a priest have just been ignored and cast aside. I know my ministry has been valuable, but our bishop doesn't.

When Edgy Becomes Offensive





I have rarely shied away from being edgy.

•“Get their attention!”
•“Prove that you’re a real person!”
•“Give them something to talk about!”
•“Connect with those who aren’t churched!”

These sayings were the unspoken mantra for many pastors in my generation. While there is nothing inherently wrong with any of these statements, without wisdom and prayerful attention, a pastor can easily cross the line from edgy to offensive.

(I have unquestionably done this many times—especially in the past. In recent years, I’ve been convicted that I was being a bad example.)

The message of Christ and the cross is offensive. But our language and attitude doesn’t have to be.

Without drifting into legalistic rules, here are a few suggestions:

•When you are promoting something, don’t make your printed materials and billboards something you wouldn’t want your 9-year-old son or daughter to see.
•Don’t use language you wouldn’t want to hear your children say.
•Keep your humor appropriate. A cheap laugh isn’t worth setting a bad example.
Our message will always be offensive to someone. Let’s make sure were are offensive for the right reasons and not the wrong.

by Craig Groeschel

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Looking back

I suppose, because I am looking ahead to moving soon, I'm also looking back. Warning, this post is like a home movie! A few years ago I went to Belieze with my friend Fr. Bert. We stayed in Placencia, at the tip of a southern peninsula. We had just returned from a trip inland and gone cave swimming. In this video we are heading through the grounds of the place we stayed at. Actually, we were tired and sweaty and were going to have a beer on the veranda overlooking the beach.


And now you know the secret I've been hiding all these years from most of you -- my family nickname!

Our Haitian Friends

To read what Holy Family parishioners are doing in Haiti read this article from today's Virginian Pilot.

This is a slide show of our visit to Haiti.

Tobie the first day I got her



She's now 75 pounds!

Christvertising!

The US is known for taking our Christian beliefs very seriously. But this initiative from Aberdeen tops it all. Check out the Christvertising website and learn about their brand targeted prayer which involves millions of people pray for your brand. Here's Christvertisings Christmas wish.

Spirit and Consciousness

I've watched this several times and find it intriguing. Let me know what you think.



Preparing Homilies

When I prepare for my homilies, I always begin by reading the scripture, jotting down thoughts as I read. Then I put those away and leave them, coming back to them every now and then.

Some of my first notes on last Sunday’s gospel:

1) Jesus’ disciples testified to what they saw and witnessed first hand.
What struck me (reminded me, because this was always pounded into us during our preaching classes in the seminary) is that any preaching must include illustrations that I have experience first-hand. Sure, I can borrow from here and there sometimes, but, if what I preach doesn’t touch my heart, it will not touch the heart of the assembly.

2) Our communion with each other comes through our communion with Jesus.
It’s like the way airlines operate these days: I may get on in Norfolk, but that plane comes from and returns to it’s hub airport. Jesus is our hub.

3) If we walk in darkness, we are not in the light. (Duh!)

4) All of us sin.

But look at those last two. See how negative they are. Of course I can get that interpretation from the text, but I’ve noticed that I slip pretty easily into moralism and negative readings of Scripture. So, I’m trying to be more aware of it. The more positive reading of these two points might go something like this:

3) If we walk in the light with Jesus, the darkness will find no place within us.

4) If are truly sorry for our sins and sincerely strive to do better, we will be forgiven and cleansed.

What does this have to do with the lectionary reading? Well, for me it puts me on guard to avoid the same mistaken emphasis.

Jesus is the true vine. The message is not about us being cut off or separated. It is not about what will cause us to wither and dry up. It is about what will cause us to grow and bear fruit. Jesus is the vine. He is what connects us to the soil, to the roots, where we gather the nourishment that allows us to be fruitful. When we are grafted on to Jesus, we are in touch with the source of all life and vitality and growth.

It is a simple observation, but I am reminded this day that we are preaching good news. We ought to read with eye open for it as we prepare.

"Abide in Me": John 15: 1-8

In 1998 F. Dean Lueking was teaching at the Lutheran seminary in Bratislava, Slovakia. This article appeared in the Christian Century, April 16, 1997, p. 387, copyright by the Christian Century Foundation and used by permission.

Beautiful music and beautiful pictures.Abide With Me; fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.When other helpers fail ...

Abide. It’s an old-fashioned word. Highway motel signs read "Stay here," not "Abide with us tonight." Baseball announcers don’t sum up an inning with "One hit, a walk and two abiding on base." Nor do Northwestern University football fans breathe easier because Gary Barnett is abiding as head coach. Of the 17 uses of abide listed in the Oxford dictionary, eight are obsolete. The word seems to belong to another time.
"To abide" has to do with persevering, continuing, lasting, staying with it. No wonder the term is rare. What it means is rare, in this or any time.
Its absence diminishes us. Friendships break off. So do treaties between nations. Business contracts become tissue thin. Marriage covenants, often begun at altars where this passage from John is heard, are broken in divorce. God alone knows the river of tears and dysfunction set in motion by the absence of abiding in marriage, the foundation of human community.
The Gospel lesson for the fifth Sunday of Easter takes us to the night of Jesus’ betrayal. Surrounding him were the 12 who would, each one, fail to abide with him in his greatest hour of need. Once again, "abide" seemed the last word to risk on Judas, Peter and the rest.
Jesus began his Upper Room discourse with the venerable image of the vine and branches, a favorite reference to Israel in the scriptures he knew. As the prophets so often lamented, Israel repeatedly failed to be fruitful branches that grow from the vine. The disciples would fail too. As do disciples now.
Abiding takes its strength from the Christ who went to the cross for all of us in our sins of perfidy. Now that he is risen, abiding rests on belonging -- he in us and we in him. Everything changes when abiding is not an abstract ideal but a response to his offer. Abide in me as I abide in you! First his grace, then our commitment. It is the ongoing Easter miracle that Jesus works us into the astonishing new creation ushered in by the raising of God’s Son. He abides, lasts, endures, continues, hangs in, holds on, to us and in us. He does so despite our forgetting that we have been baptized into his life. "Abide with me," we sing, and keep on singing, knowing that our flawed staying with him won’t stop his abiding in us.
Abide is a where word. We abide where the Lord gathers us, even two or three of us, in his name. More than most of us realize, the powerful currents of contemporary life, especially those that turn the grace of Christ into one more consumer item, make resilient commitment to him and each other an ever tougher call. Ask clergy and parishioners who have been together over time if abiding through thick and thin in congregations is getting any easier.
All the more reason, then, to anchor our abiding as the community of faith in the Easter gospel proclaimed and lived, and to draw deeply from the well of baptismal grace and the nurture of the Eucharist to meet the hunger for things lasting. Looking back on 42 years of pastoring in the same congregation, with a hundred or more new member classes behind me, I bear witness to the sufficiency of Christ to call and gather his own in our time. As essential as lively biblical, doctrinal and liturgical catechesis is the desire to connect with God and people in ways that have depth and can last. The miracle of it is that those connections take root, grow up and mature into fruitful living that binds people together across otherwise impassible boundaries.
Abide is a when word. It includes times when the presence of the indwelling Christ is known in the wondrous fullness of deep-down joy. That can range from the "Et Resurrexit" of Bach’s B Minor Mass to the hands-raised "Hallelujah" of a storefront revival, from the embrace of reconciled enemies to a glimpse of the world charged with the grandeur of God as the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins caught it.
Along with these radiant moments comes the abiding that is neither towering nor spare but steadily evident in the humdrum and hand-over-hand routines of our waking hours. While it may look uneventful, it is anything but. To abide is to leaven the world with steadiness in one’s calling without sliding into the blight of taking health, sight, hearing, mind and belief for granted. It is remembering what Psalm 121 teaches us: the Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.
There are moments when abiding is sustained through times of numbing grief. Some months ago a young man was lost in Alaska during a terrible blizzard. His parents made the long trip to America’s northernmost town, searched in vain for his body, discovered the shelter that would have saved him, experienced the high of the four-hour funeral service and the low of leaving with wrenching questions left unanswered. They were bone-weary within and without as they started home.
During a midnight layover in the Seattle airport they saw a couple just arriving from China with two newly adopted infant girls. Despite their exhaustion, they offered words of welcome and good wishes to the couple, seeing in the arrival of those infants a sign of what they could see only by a faith that outlasts heartache: their son’s arrival into that life prepared by the Easter Lord. Such faithful seeing comes from faithful abiding.
In a world trying to make it on fitful sound bites and the faddishness of seasonal obsessions, is there a better gift we can offer than abiding, he in us and we in him?

Mighty Maid


Springtime and
my true Vine
begins to sprout
with
tiny shoots
peeking forth
from deadwood darkness.

Spring cleaning time
for my cluttered dwelling place
too much filled
with barren branches
and
broken promises of praytime,
contemplation
cast aside
in favor of
junk food.

Yet wholesome fruit
and
vegetables in plenty

I would bear
for my own fulfilling
and the nourishment of
my people.

But first,
I must be cleansed ...

What is it
dear Mighty Maid God
that needs to go
so I can grow?

Christine Schenk, Sr.

Fruits of the Spirit



One of the things I learned growing up was that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control (look it up in Galatians 5:22-23, or the Catechism, #1832).

Our Lord gives us the formula for a happy, happy life.
The mistake I often make is that I try to be patient, or I struggle to control myself
Jesus says simply to abide in him and I will produce the fruit.

What I try to do is produce the fruit myself.
"Can't do that," Jesus says.
No more than a branch can produce fruit apart from the vine can I produce fruit apart from Jesus.
My task is to abide in Jesus.
If I spent as much time and effort abiding in the Lord as I do trying to be good, I think I'd be a lot further along on the way to fulfillment.



Sit quietly in prayer with some fruit in your lap. Think about which fruit of the Spirit you need the most and ask God for it. Then have a banana!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

"Listen Up, You Women"

Preaching blooper

Our Religion Can Be Funny!

Imagine!

Don't We Always Want It Our Way?



………which might be the reason why I lose my way so often!

Subject: Inner Peace



I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me today, and we all could probably use more calm in our lives.
Some doctor on television this morning said that the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started.

So I looked around my house to see things I'd started and hadn't finished and, before leaving the house this morning I finished off a bottle of Merlot,
a bottle of shhhardonay, a bodle of Baileys,
a butle of vocka, a pockage of Prunglies,
tha marinder of botl of Prozic and Valum pscriptins,
the res of the Chesescke and a box a chocolets.

Yu haf no idr who fkin gud I fel.
Preas sen dis orn to dem yu fee ar in ned ov inr pece

Vern: My Spell Checker has just applied for indefinite stress leave

from Rumors

Quote of the Day


God is not a moral theologian, for which we should all be grateful!

William James via Stephani Keer

Quittin' Time



from the Naked Pastor.

Why Do We Want People to Stay Catholic, Anyway?


A couple of interesting posts below have worried about the number of people leaving the Church. Is it because they’re badly educated? Is it because the Church no longer resonates experimentally with them? Is it because they view the Church as morally corrupt (child abuse)?

This interesting article by Cathleen Kaveny in Commonweal is worth reading.

Obama the Conservative


First off, mirabile dictu, is L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican daily that titled its analysis “The 100 days that did not shake the world.” As John Thavis reports for CNS, the Vatican paper says Obama has “not confirmed the Catholic Church’s worst fears about radical policy changes in ethical areas” and says the “the new president has operated with more caution than predicted in most areas, including economics and international relations.”

“On ethical questions, too–which from the time of the electoral campaign have been the subject of strong worries by the Catholic bishops–Obama does not seem to have confirmed the radical innovations that he had discussed,” the paper said.

To find out why the article calls President Obama a true conservative, go to Commonweal Magazine.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Every Parent's Dilemma!


Background.

It's time for me to have "the talk" (about sex) with my 14 year old son. I should have had this discussion before now, but since we home-school and he's never really showed interest in girls I didn't want to push the issue. I didn't grow up with my father so I was never given the talk. He does play hockey so I'm sure he has some idea from hearing other boys in the locker room talk about girls. He's the oldest of 5 and has sisters.

Question.

I was hoping for a few bullet points of the main points I should touch on during our talk. What I mean when I say this is, I'm not talking about the biology as much as the things God wants us to know about sexuality and our Catholic faith. Is it possible for you to give me the "it's really important that you say this" ideas. I'm trying to psych myself up to do this this weekend. I'm not even sure how you start the conversation.

Thanks, I appreciate any help I can get on this.

Answer:

Hi,

Forget the urgency. Believe me; at fourteen, he knows. What you need to do is give him a Christian foundation in which to understand his sexuality. I suggest that you get Jason Evert’s CD set, “How to Talk to Teens About Chastity.” It’s available through shop.catholic.com or by phone: 888 291 8000. Listen to it yourself, and then with him.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P

Did You Miss This One?

Help!


Please send me any links you think others will enjoy.

Thanks,

Fr. Robert

Economics, Patriotism, The American Dream

This is a "have to see." If you agree, please visit the sight and sign the Declaration. Thanks, Rita, for sending me the link.


Great View of Vienna Church



For a wonderful panoramic, interactive view Piaristenkirche in Vienna.

Jack Poche sent this link to me and said that this church is the one Elfie Psimas attended in Vienna.

Some background: The eight district of Vienna is funny - it is densely populated and among the busiest and most rental districts starting lust behind the Rathaus city hall. Yet it is also one of the least touristy district in the central parts of Vienna. One of the few things that do attract some touristy attention is the Piaristenkirche Church "Maria Trea".
The church's characteristic twin towers with pointy spires are dearly visible from many spots in Vienna and make a good landmark - almost as good as those of the Votivkirche in the neighing:tin ninth district. The church was designed by Lukas von Hildebrandt and is considered his masterpiece on the list of his sacral buildings. Together with the Peterskirche in the first district, the Piaristenkirche is his answer to the Kartskirche, which was designed by his lifelong rival Fischer von Eriach.
The "Piarists" are an order that was founded in 1597 by Saint Joseph of Calasanz. Its objective was - besides many monkish ideals and principles - to provide schooling for the children of the poor. The Piarists opened an abbey in Vienna after the Second Turkish Siege in the late 17th century. From the beginning, the designs for the church were done by Vienna's star architect Lukas von Hildebrandt

Know Your Hymns!


This one is from BOB SCHWECHTEN. Thanks, Bob

Do you know your (specific) hymn(s)?

When you go to Church this weekend be sure to smile as you go through your Hymnals!


Dentist's Hymn...............................Crown Him with Many Crowns

Weatherman's Hymn.....................There Shall Be Showers of Blessings

Contractor's Hymn........................The Church's One Foundation

The Tailor's Hymn..........................Holy, Holy, Holy

The Golfer's Hymn..........................There's a Green Hill Far Away

The Politician's Hymn....................Standing on the Promises

Optometrist's Hymn.......................Open My Eyes That I Might See

The IRS Agent's Hymn....................I Surrender All

The Gossip's Hymn.........................Pass It On

The Electrician's Hymn...................Send The Light

The Shopper's Hymn.......................Sweet Bye and Bye

The Realtor's Hymn..........................I've Got a Mansion Just over the Hilltop

The Massage Therapists Hymn.......He Touched Me

The Doctor's Hymn............................The Great Physician

AND for those who speed on the highway - a few hymns:

45mph...................God Will Take Care of You

65mph................... Nearer My God To Thee

85mph...................This World Is Not My Home

95mph....................Lord, I'm Coming Home

100mph..................Precious Memories

Fenced In


While cleaning garage gutters one vibrant autumn day, I glanced down from my perch atop a ladder to view a seemingly impossible sight. Doubtful, I descended to inspect what appeared to be an iron rod poking up from the interior of a tree. Upon further investigation, I discovered this iron rod to be the end piece of a chain link fence separating my property from the neighbors. The fence disappeared into the tree on one side and remarkably re-emerged out the other. The tree had completely incorporated the fence into its trunk and yet both tree and fence appeared healthy and strong.
I pondered the flexibility of nature—the adaptability and generosity of a tree adjusting to a manmade fence—refusing not to grow. How like God was this tree, flexing and adapting to the many fences I construct of whimsical notions and fanciful desires; refusing to be stopped; completely surrounding me with love no matter how inflexible I appear.
How good God is to disappear inside of us, at times almost invisible, and yet to reemerge and show God's self in unexpected ways, often on the other side of our frivolous attempts to find something more meaningful than God. But God outwits every obstacle, adapting to our needs, growing around our demands, penetrating through us, often sending us what we need in spite of ourselves.
Someday, if the tree keeps growing and surrounding the fence, the rod will be completely embedded within the tree. Is that how God is with us, I wondered, growing around us with barely a notice, so busy we are, so hectic we live, so fast is our pace, so blind to God's presence, and so deaf to divine whispers? God grows up with us, totally surrounding us, until one day we wake to find that we have been completely and totally absorbed by God. God, the great vine; we, the wily branches.
Dr. Constance M. Popp

Grafted to the Vine


When we think of a vine, we typically picture the leafy ivy that takes over the facade of historic buildings or the creeping vines that wrap themselves around fences. However, Jesus no doubt had a grapevine in mind. After all, he was observing the Passover with his disciples, and wine, "the fruit of the vine," played an important role in the celebration. Furthermore, he tells his disciples that they will know that they are connected to him when they bear fruit in abundance. They are not only meant to be in Jesus, but to bear fruit in him.
Fruit plays an important role in the reproduction of plants. The fruit attracts animals which carry it off, eat it and leave the seed within behind to take root and grow. A vine doesn't grow fruit for its own use, but to entice others to grab hold of it and carry the seed off with them. Just so, the fruit that believers bear is not meant for themselves but for the nourishment of others that they too may take the seed within—in this case, the Word—and carry it far and wide. That is why Jesus can say that God is glorified in our bearing much fruit. For it is by the fruit that Christians bear through their relationship with Jesus that new believers are grafted to the vine.

Spread the Word!


Trees have evolved a clever way of making sure their seed gets distributed far and wide—fruit!
The fruit attracts animals which carry it off, eat it, and leave the seed within behind to take root and grow.
A tree doesn't grow fruit for its own use, but to entice others to grab hold of it and carry the seed off with them.
Just so, the fruit that believers bear is not meant for themselves but for the nourishment of others, that they too may take the seed within (the Word!) and carry it far and wide

Saturday, May 9, 2009

I Am the Vine

What KInd of Branch Are You?

Tucker & Brad make a Mother's Day Video

Parents: contains a little profanity and brotherly violence!

Mother's Day Video


Mother's Day - The most popular videos are here

Before I Was a Mom


Before I was a Mom -
I slept as late as I wanted and never worried about how late I got into bed. I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.

Before I was a Mom -
I cleaned my house each day. I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby. I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom -
I had never been puked on - Pooped on - Spit on - Chewed on, or Peed on. I had complete control of my mind and My thoughts. I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom -

I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could do tests...or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom -
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom -
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child. I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important.

Before I was a Mom -
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. I had never known The warmth, The joy, The love, The heartache, The wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom. I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.

Mother's Day Prayer



A kid shows her drawing of her mother, at Yixiu kindergarten in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, May 8, 2009, to celebrate the Mother's Day, which falls on May 10 this year.

This day we gather with eager hearts, hungry for your Word, yearning for the joy you promise in love. O God, together we hold a vision of your kingdom, a people of prayer and open hearts, a loving Body of Christ eager to learn and eager to share. You bless us, O God, and shine upon us with the mercy of your salvation. And your Good Earth has yielded its increase through those who have brought us great blessing.

On this day of celebrating your love, we lift to you those who have given us life, those who have loved us, those who have blessed us, and those who have taught us, our mothers. May your blessing pour out upon the woman who gave us birth, and those beautiful, strong women of faith who have been mothers to us along our journey.

We praise you, O God, for your gift of motherly love, both gentle and fierce, both strong and humble, both kind and true. Where we have been so blessed, we give our grateful praise, for you have provided loving hands that have worked so hard in raising us, cared enough to correct us, blessed us in ways we cannot have fully known as children.

We call forth your compassion upon every mother who has unknowingly caused pain and suffering. And, so we lift to you our mothers, so imperfect, also so wounded by this world.

We bless our mothers this day, no matter what they have done or left undone. We do this because we believe in your healing, and we believe in your love and we believe that you love every mother, good or bad; and we stand together with all mothers in solidarity, for we all are in need of your grace. Where we have failed because we did not know better, help us to forgive ourselves. Where we have seen your face in any woman who has been to us a mother, in her face we have seen your light and your love and we give thanks -- for where they have loved, they have kept your word and blessed us.

We lift to you the heart of every mother who has watched her child die of hunger, every mother who had been a victim of abuse, every woman who stands in protest against a world that massacres her children and renames them "collateral damage." We lift to you the prayer of every mother who has ever loved and lost.

We lift to you our Mother Earth. We lift to you our Mother Church. We lift to you, O God, your mother's heart; and although we cannot fully express our gratitude, help each one of us to be your blessing of love, a blessing straight from your heart.
Amen.

by The Rev. Jane Sommers

The Vine and the Branches


When two 35-year-old, 80-foot pine trees fell on our home in southern Mississippi during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the damage was considerable but certainly not unique.
Many suffered devastating damage to property and life. What was unique, however, was the fact that the falling frees were slowed by wisteria vines that had grown around the base of each tree and fully surrounded it almost to its top with their twisting, turning branches. As a result of their powerful "embrace," the pine trees fell in what seemed to be slow motion with the strong flowery vines buffering their tremendous weight. Was it this power and strength that Jesus had in mind when he declared, "I am the vine, you are the branches"?
The vine was an image with which his contemporaries would have been quite familiar. The twisted branches of a growing vine exhibit formidable strength. Each branch begins as a delicate, slender, pale-green tendril that reaches out to attach itself to a wall or trellis. Within just a short time, that tendril can be pulled from its place of mooring only with difficulty; it has taken hold, and, as it draws its life from the gnarled vine that has sent it forth, it begins to grow. With its growth comes a hardening unto permanence such that the tendril begins to resemble the vine from which it came. As it grows, it fastens itself to other tendrils that have also grown into branches and these form a living network of life and strength that will eventually bear much good fruit.
With this rich image to inspire their efforts for the Gospel, the Johannine Jesus sent his disciples into the great vineyard of humankind. He reminded them that apart from him, the true vine, they would be able to do nothing. If they remained in him and allowed the word that he spoke to remain in them, their ministry would be abundant.
Although Paul and Barnabas (Acts) predated the final draft of the Johannine Gospel, their efforts on behalf of the Gospel were reflective of its sound mission. When Paul first arrived on the scene after his Damascus experience, however, the believers in Jerusalem did not recognize him as part of the true vine and one of their own. His reputation had preceded him, and out of fear and suspicion, they held him at a distance. Only with the support of Barnabas, whom they trusted, did Paul gain a somewhat tenuous acceptance by the community. Even then, they disagreed among themselves, and Paul had to flee for his life. Nevertheless, despite its disagreements and struggles, the church, the one true vine, "was being built up and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers."
This juxtaposition of problems with progress has always characterized the community of believers. As distrusting of one another as we may be, we have a shared source of unity - the one true vine enlivened by the one Holy Spirit, who continues to breathe purpose and relevance into its wizened, twisted branches. There will always be Pauls among us to challenge and irk and enlighten, just as there will be Barnabases to ease us though conflicts and mediate peace. We, for our part, are to respect all the other branches with whom we form the one vine that is Christ.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Good Story for Stewardship Campaign


The strongman at a circus sideshow demonstrated his power before a large audience. Toward the end, he squeezed the juice from a lemon between his hands. He then said, “I will offer $200 to anyone in the audience who can squeeze another drop from this lemon.”
A thin, scholarly-looking woman came forward, picked up the lemon, strained hard and managed to get a drop. The strongman was amazed. He paid the woman and asked, “What is the secret of your strength?”
“Practice,” the woman answered. “I was the treasurer of St. Therese Church for thirty-two years!”

Unfinished Business


Faith Keczan sent me this quote which I like very much. Thanks, Faith.

"I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be.
I am not what I hope to be. But still, I am not what I used to be.
And by the grace of God, I am what I am."
.. John Newton (1725-1807)

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Vietnam War Memorial




Click here to go to the sight

They Only Had an 8th Grade Education?


Remember when our grandparents, great-grandparents, and such stated that they only had an 8th grade education?
Well, check this out. - - -
This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina ,KS.

It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , KS , and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th GRADE FINAL EXAM

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
2 . Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no Modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of lie, lay and run.
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.


Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7.What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9.What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance
around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

Gives the saying "she/he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?

Monday, May 4, 2009

1 John 3: 1-2 (2nd reading from last Sunday)


We may be called the children of God.
We are
God’s children
now.

God does not start being our Father
tomorrow,
or next week,
but is already, today,
this minute,
Abba.

No matter what,
no matter
when.

Alleluia

This comes from a great blog.

I am the good shepherd.

The Good Shepherd knows his sheep.
He calls them each by name.
They listen. They wait for
the timbre of his
voice.

Jesus,
we are like them.
We crave the texture of your voice.

Help us hear well.
Let us lay down our lives
for each
other.

Named -- John 10: 1-10


Jesus is a shepherd who knows the names of all his sheep.

Knowing the name of someone can be important.
We all have been in a situation where we know we should remember the name of someone we meet, and we don't.

you have to ask for the name, and you can see the disappointment on the face of the other.
You forgot this person's name, how could you?

It must also have happened to you that someone prominent in your eyes, someone whom you don't meet too often, nevertheless—to your great surprise—remembers your name.
To be called by your name by a friend always gives you a warm feeling.
Your uttered name touches something in you like nothing else.

Jesus says of himself that he knows us by name.
In the Hebrew Scriptures we are told how God inscribed the name of his people on the palm of God's hand.
Jesus reveals to us the personal love of God for each one of us.
God knows you by name. God knows me by name.
It is a love that resembles the love the Father has for Jesus, and Jesus for the Father.
It is a love that not only relates us to God, but also to each other.
It makes us belong to the same family, or, to use the image of Jesus, it makes us members of the same flock.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Carpenter's Son















One day Jesus was out for a walk, strolling near the walls surrounding heaven, when he heard an old man's voice call from the other side.
"Hello? Hello?"
"Who is it?" Jesus replied.
"Just a poor, old carpenter searching for his son," the old man replied.
Jesus' heart leapt with joy and he called out, "Joseph?"
The old voice answered back, "Pinocchio?"

My Jesus

A good song that challenges us as disciples:




MY JESUS LYRICS

Which Jesus do you follow?
Which Jesus do you serve?
If Ephesians says to imitate Christ
Then why do you look so much like the world?

Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant
So which one do you want to be?

Blessed are the poor in spirit
Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand

Cause my Jesus bled and died for my sins
He spent His time with thieves and sluts and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the rich
So which one do you want to be?

Who is this that you follow
This picture of the American dream
If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side or fall down and worship at His holy feet

Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins
But the Word says He was battered and scarred
Or did you miss that part
Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him

Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and the least of these
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable
So which one do you want to be?

Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church
The blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet
But He reaches for the hurting and despises the proud
I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd
And I know that He can hear me if I cry out loud

I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!

Not a posterchild for American prosperity, but like my Jesus
You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity
I want to be like my Jesus but I'm not sure what that means to be like You Jesus
Cause You said to live like You, love like You but then You died for me
Can I be like You Jesus?
I want to be like you Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!

Discipleship

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“...to follow Jesus is not for the fragile, the timid, the self-centered.
To return his love is to love as he loved: intelligently and passionately, freely and with every fiber of your being.
To love as he loved is to care as he cared:
not for a misty mass called humanity,
but for every sister and brother who crosses your path;
not simply those you like and who like you,
but those you dislike on sight,
those who have no socially redeeming qualities,
the weirdos,
those who live and think and even sin differently from you.

More than anything else, to love as he loved is to care for the sheep that limp:
those who hunger for bread or justice or love;
those who have no pillow for their head,
no shoulder for their troubled heart;
those who are imprisoned behind bars or within their tortured selves."

Father Walter J. Burghardt, S.J.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Another funny cat video

Rita Thomas sent me this one. Thanks, Rita!

What Does Love Look Like?


What Love means to 4 to 8-year-old children.

* When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.'
Rebecca- age 8

* When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.
Margie - age 4

* Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.'
Karl - age 5

* Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.'
Terri - age 4

* Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.
Bobby - age 7

* If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.
Nikka - age 6

* Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt. Then he wears it everyday.'
Noelle - age 7

*Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.'
Tommy - age