Thoughts and opinions from a Priest in the PNCC
The Panagia Elona, an icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary was stolen the other day from the Monastery of Elona in Greece.
The BBC has been covering the story extensively. See: Greek police hunt for stolen icon.
The icon was carved out of its frame by the perpetrators.
Let us pray for the safe return of this icon and for the repentance of those who damaged and stole it.
Boże któryś ludowi twemu dał znakomitego nauczyciela św. Bernarda opata, dozwól prosimy Cię, abyśmy naśladując go w pokucie, ubóstwie i umartwieniu, uczestnikami stali się chwały wiecznej. Amen.
but be filled with the Spirit,
addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,
giving thanks always and for everything
A Catholic, a Protestant, and an atheist were walking down the street. As they passed by a church the Catholic bowed his head. The Protestant and the atheist were wondering what it meant.
Sounds like the beginning of a joke doesn’t it? Rather, our Catholic friend engaged in a physical expression of the attitude St. Paul exhorts us to have: We must:
be filled with the Spirit
singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,
giving thanks always and for everything
If our Catholic hearts are to be set on the Lord, if the melody and harmony in our hearts are to be focused on the Lord, then what is within us must burst forth. The music of our Catholic faith must show in what we say and what we do.
The psalmist knew this when he sang:
Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.
Our Catholic friend, walking down the street, practiced this. His Protestant and atheist friends didn’t get it.
For them the words from Wisdom mean something completely different:
—Forsake foolishness that you may live;
advance in the way of understanding.—
Our Protestant neighbor would never bow in front of a church. To him the church is just a building, a meeting place. Sure, he may bow his head in prayer, but there is no bowing to the ‘things’ in the church, or the church itself. Without people in it, the church building is nothing. To him, his Catholic friend is foolish and lacking in understanding. Things are not the way to God. God cannot be found in silly superstitious practice. His Catholic friend has to read more, and discern God’s message for himself. By doing so, he will advance in understanding.
Our atheist neighbor would probably feel sorry for his Catholic friend. He is bowing to a building. What nonsense. His Catholic friend should leave his foolish voodoo superstitions and realize that reason and logic are the way to go. He seems like such a civilized fellow —“ it’s really sad. His Catholic friend needs to advance in understanding.
Our Catholic friend remembered his scripture and his catechism. He remembered that Jesus said:
—I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world.—
Our Catholic friend remembered that:
Jesus said to them,
—Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.
And our Catholic friend knows that to be Catholic requires that we kneel, bow, and prostrate ourselves before God. He knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that the church building is never empty —“ for it contains the Lord.
To be Catholic is not to walk through a set of rituals that have no meaning. Jesus is God and God told us that:
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.
We know both by the light of faith, and by God’s very words, that what is here, on this altar and in this tabernacle is the flesh and blood of God.
Jesus, being God, is definitely not stupid. He is not a liar and cannot teach what is false. He specifically told us that:
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.
Jesus didn’t tell us that He was giving us a cool symbol. He didn’t tell us that he was giving us magical mystery food. He told us that He is giving us His flesh and blood to eat and drink.
The Holy Church in Her wisdom has taught us, has exhorted us, and commands us to bow, to kneel, and to prostrate ourselves before the reality of God’s presence. The Holy Church teaches us in complete unity with the Word of God that God’s presence is real, physical, and necessary.
Our Catholic friend remembered that. He remembered to live out the love song that is in his heart. He remembered to bow before the reality of the One who loves him beyond telling, who loves him enough to give him the bread of everlasting life.
Ozdobo młodzieży, błogosławiony Janie! oddal odemnie wszelkie myśli i uczucia nieczyste, wzbudź we mnie miłość ku N. P. Marji, przejmij serce moje głęboko poczuciem spełniania ciążących na mnie obowiązków, i spraw abym w miłości Bożej wzrastając, wysłużył sobie wieczne z Tobą oglądanie Boga w niebieskich. Przez Chrystusa Pana naszego. Amen.
From the Assyrian International News Agency:
Baghdad (AsiaNews) — An armed group abducted a Catholic Chaldean priest last Tuesday and nothing is currently known of his whereabouts, this according to local Catholics. They report that right after the mass for the Assumption in St James Church (Doura neighbourhood), Fr Hanna Saad Sirop was stopped by a group of armed men. A person who was with the priest was let go but he was spirited away. The car used in the kidnapping was found days later but there were no traces of the criminals.
Fr Saad Sirop, 34, runs the Theology Department at Babel College, the only university-level Christian institution in Iraq.
Three days into the clergyman’s disappearance, there were no news about him or his kidnappers, said Jacques Issak, rector of Babel College.
The bishops of all of Baghdad’s Christian Churches sent a letter to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asking they get involved. The Churches also urged various political parties do something.
Another Baghdad priest, Fr Raad Kashan, was abducted on July 17. He managed to get away by promising money to his captors. However, he was ill-treated and fled the country.
Mgr Basil Georges Casmoussa, Syro-Catholic bishop of Mosul, was kidnapped in January 2005. He, too, was released the next day.
Kidnappings are everyday occurrences in Iraq. Most are committed for ransom money, but many victims are killed after a few days.
For some Christians, targeting Christian clergymen is a way to frighten them into leaving the country. “I think that there are two reasons these kidnappings are taking place. [. . .] The first reason is money. But the second reason is that they want to push Christians out of Iraq,” Mgr Louis Sako, Chaldean archbishop of Kirkuk, told the Compass news agency.
According to some estimates, before the 2003, Iraq had more than a million Christians. Today they are half that many. Some have gone abroad; many others have fled to the north, in the Kurdish region, where they get more respect and there is greater security.
Let us pray for his safe return.
Justine Timberlake, the one time Mickey Mouse Club member, N’Sync ‘star’ and grandson of a Baptist minister allows the world to see into his troubled soul. From a CNN story: Justin Timberlake: ‘Idol’ champ ‘can’t carry a tune in a bucket’.
NEW YORK (AP) — Justin Timberlake backtracked from criticism of “American Idol” winner Taylor Hicks after telling Fashion Rocks magazine the 29-year-old soul singer “can’t carry a tune in a bucket.”
The story goes on into excuse making for his comments, because obviously he is a poor misunderstood soul who cannot form a clear sentence. You know, no one understands me or what I mean.
At the end of the story Timberlake’s true motivations comes out. He needs to make attention grabbing headlines because he has a new album coming out. It is desribed as follows:
Timberlake’s second solo album, “FutureSex/LoveSounds,” is set for release September 12. “Sexyback,” his first single from the CD, began playing on U.S. radio outlets last month.
…and he finishes by saying:
“I wanted (the album) to look to a time when everything was really sexy,” he says. “Maybe everybody was coked up, but who cares? It was hot. It was all about sex.”
I want attention, I want headlines, I want sex —“ all judged by his personal spirituality (see the Justin Timberlake wiki).
I think he has Madonna syndrome…
Boże któryś miłującym Ciebie, dobra niewidome zgotował, wlej w serca nasze żądzę miłości Twojej, abyśmy Ciebie we wszystkiem i nadewszystko miłując, przyobiecanej w niebie szczęśliwości dostąpili. Amen.
The Most Reverend Thomas G. Doran, R.C. Bishop of Rockford Illinois publishes a column in his diocesan newspaper. Last week (August 10, 2006) Bishop Doran’s column was entitled: Reaping the whirlwind of abortion. Portions of the first three paragraphs read as follows:
As human beings, as citizens of a —first world country,— as Americans, and as Catholics, most importantly, we have to take count of the circumstances in which we live. We know that the only creatures of God that outlast time are those created having intellect and will. All other things, with the passage of time, break up or break down…
and
The seven ‘sacraments’ of their secular culture are abortion, buggery, contraception, divorce, euthanasia, feminism of the radical type, and genetic experimentation and mutilation…
Strong statements —“ I agree, especially coming from a R.C. Bishop in the United States. Also, with some exposition of the issues and catechesis on the Church’s position, effectively affirming R.C. teaching, and calling for compliance among Roman Catholics, it wouldn’t be a bad column. As a PNCC clergyman I would agree with 6/7ths of his statement.
Unfortunately, the Bishop decided to go ballistic, and not just a little.
The bookends to these statements are as follows:
I want to touch on this matter before we get too close to the November madness.
Many of the issues that confront us are serious, and we know by now that the political parties in our country are at loggerheads as to how to solve them. We know, for instance, that adherents of one political party would place us squarely on the road to suicide as a people.
and
These things they unabashedly espouse, profess and promote. Their continuance in public office is a clear and present danger to our survival as a nation.
He goes on to draw comparisons between the ‘evil political party’ AKA the Democrats and Nazi Germans. Then he concludes by calling for their extinction as follows:
It is the duty of every Catholic to support the work of the parish Pro-Life directors and commissions and to work for the extirpation from our society of all those who in any way foster or promote these things. I wholeheartedly endorse the activities of our Pro-Life Office in the sure and certain knowledge that divine justice will not allow those who act against human life to prosper.
Let me paraphrase:
It is every Catholic’s (thankfully he only speaks for R.C.’s) duty to work for the extinction from our society of all those (i.e., people —“ not just their ideas or philosophies —“ but the people themselves) who in any way foster or promote these things.
I’ve heard of defending life and the faith, but using a just cause to shill for one political party while thoroughly demonizing the other is unconscionable. Going even further than that is an abject dereliction of his Christian duty.
I imagine the Bishop is well educated, an S.T.L. and Doctorate in Canon Law —“ both from Rome. I just cannot understand why a Christian, a Prelate, and a leader would turn the message of faith and salvation into a message calling for destruction. Hate the sin, love the sinner has somehow been confused and twisted in Rockford.
…and, when someone, who has lost touch with reality, goes out to enact his command to make Democrats extinct, there will be lots of hand wringing at the Chancery.
Lee Penn over at the Conservative Blog for Peace did an excellent analysis of the whole piece in The seven unholy sacraments. Check it out.
…and just to add a bit, this from Fr John Fenton of Conversi ad Dominum: Mercy — Even for Those Who Insult You.
There are a few things I’ve been meaning to comment on:
The Lord Madonna
Madonna has been using Christian symbolism from her beginning as a peppy, sex charged, pop star. Her name, the use of statues, anything Christian, etc., etc. is almost a constant component of her act.
Fr Joseph Huneycutt points this out in a post from about a week or so ago entitled: MADONNA: Sounds of Sanity.
I imagine that there are many explanations for this: she’s confused, she’s mentally unstable, she likes cheap PR tricks, it’s the only way she can keep her career alive (note that she rarely tours in the U.S. and can’t get a U.S. TV gig anymore), or she thinks she is a god…
Whatever the reason, I don’t bear her any ill will. She is simply a person who is so self-involved that she fails to see her own human value. She cannot see herself as God sees her.
Let us pray that she be given the grace to move from self-involvement to reality.
Islamo-Fascism
President Bush made a comment the other day in regard to terrorist plot to blow-up airliners in midair. He referred to the participants in this plot as Islamo-Fascists.
Now, I expect my president to be angered over plots to kill my fellow citizens (and any human being for that matter – yeah, I know). I expect him to express his outrage. I also expect him to use considered words – words that make some sense.
Calling the plotters Islamo-Fascists is one of the dumbest statements I’ve ever heard. Have you ever just starred at the TV incredulous over what you’ve just seen and heard? Well that was me.
Mr. President, if your grasp on political and historical movements is so weak as to mix metaphors on live television in the heat of anger (and I don’t believe for a minute that his indignation was anything other than contrived —“ he knew about this stuff for days or at least hours in advance of his words), then use a speech writer.
Fr. Jim Tucker has commented on this in his post: Commies, Fascists, and Other People We Don’t Like. It looks like he got a lot of flack and he followed up with: Sobran on Islamo-fascism.
In Mr. Sobran’s article he states:
In other words, Islamofascism is nothing but an empty propaganda term. And wartime propaganda is usually, if not always, crafted to produce hysteria, the destruction of any sense of proportion. Such words, undefined and unmeasured, are used by people more interested in making us lose our heads than in keeping their own.
Exactly.
We received a call from a trucking firm on Monday advising us that our patio furniture would be delivered Wednesday. Yesterday afternoon at about 4:30 the driver called to advise me that our stuff was at the house. It was indeed there when I returned from Holy Mass last night.
I took a look at the shipping manifest. The shipment was prepared on July 31st, the Monday after I placed my order. It’s been traveling the country for sixteen (16) days.
All-in-all this whole process would have gone better if Home Depot’s staff were better trained, if their customer service knew how to communicate with a concerned customer, and if they had been honest in the first place, stating that delivery can take up to three weeks…
I appreciate the fact that customer service is difficult. I appreciate the fact that service itself is difficult (hey – I’m a deacon). Getting answers like ‘I’m stressed, busy, I haven’t been trained, I don’t know, etc.’ is not helpful.
What happened to the classic notion of getting satisfaction from having helped someone and knowing that you have done your job well? That would pre-suppose a connection with classic values born out of Christianity. It would mean that people understood that there is more to life than the paycheck and the bottom line.