Saints Anastasia and Basillissa, Martyrs, (65)
St. Padarn, Bishop, (450)
St. Ruadan of Lothra, Abbot, (584)
None of the others dared to join them, but the people esteemed them.
Chrystus Zmartwychwstał
Prawdziwie zmartwychwstał!
Christ is risen
Truly He is risen! Alleluia
You would think that a clergyman preparing a homily for this Sunday would have an easy job. We all connect with Thomas. Doubt —“ a very real thing for all of humanity.
We doubt our lovers, friends, clergy, and fellow parishioners. We doubt the weatherman, the government, God’s existence, heaven.
Thank God for Thomas —“ he makes sermonizing easy.
So why lead off with fear?
Listen again:
None of the others dared to join them, but the people esteemed them.
The Apostles were standing at Solomon’s portico.
Now close your eyes and picture the Temple. Solomon’s portico was a covered colonnade at the Eastern part of the temple in Jerusalem. It was an open place, a sort of porch, like you would see on an old Victorian Mansion.
The people, both Jews and gentiles, gathered together on this covered porch to experience spiritual conversation.
There they are, the Apostles, the original eleven and Matthias who was elected to replace Judas. There they were, among the people, right under the noses of the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, the Council, and the Chief Priest.
There they were, talking about Jesus, healing in His name.
None of the others dared to join them, but the people esteemed them.
Now Solomon was King David’s son, the second king of Israel, the builder of the original temple. He was the man after whom the portico was named, and in essence his name means “Peace”.
As such the portico was really named the Peace portico. It was a place for people to come and experience God’s peace.
Standing in the Peace portico:
None of the others dared to join them, but the people esteemed them.
How remarkable and how strange; in a place of peace, speaking the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, and people were gripped with fear.
That, my friends, was Thomas’ problem. Fear!
My brothers and sisters,
Whenever we hear of remarkable and heroic deeds we are both amazed and gripped with fear.
Would I have the courage to do that, to give up a kidney, to jump on a live grenade, to rush into a burning building, to stand up to anyone who would speak ill or disrespectfully of another?
Would I be able to stand up to the ridicule of declaring absolute faith in Jesus Christ and my membership in His Church?
Anyway, thank God that person had the courage…
None of the others dared to join them, but the people esteemed them.
The heroes, the courageous, the martyrs, the peacemakers, the confessors —“ had what it took to be more than admirers, people holding others in esteem. By the grace of God they dared to follow the Apostles example. They joined them.
Brethren,
People are searching for meaning. Perhaps they visited our church once or twice. Perhaps they were faithful members somewhere and something happened which caused them to leave that church.
All of us, and these seekers, really want the food that will not leave us hungry and the drink that will not leave us thirsty. We all seek that which will satisfy, but do not know where to look anymore.
Let’s admit it – the church can be the most political institution in the world! We don’t like to admit it, but it is true. None of us are hungry for more politics. No one is looking for more expertise. We are not seeking something to do with our spare time. Most of us have none!
What all are doing is seeking the face of God. Jesus, Who is the Bread of Life and the Cup of Eternal Salvation.
Let us have the courage to welcome all. Let us have the courage to set our fears aside and to cry out together, along with Thomas: —My Lord and my God!— Lord, grant us the courage to stand on the Peace portico with Peter, Andrew, James and John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, James, Matthew, Simon, Jude, and Matthias.
Do not be afraid. Jesus is here and He is ready to do for you what He did for John:
He touched me with his right hand and said, —Do not be afraid.
I am the first and the last, the one who lives.
Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever.
Amen. Alleluia.
If you’re interested in learning Polish here are a couple of on-line resources, compliments of Sandy and Keith from the Polish American Forum:
- Hippocrene Phrase Book by Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski with Pogonowski’s simplified phonetic notation
- WikiBooks Basic Polish Language Course
- Polish Grammar
- Polish Language Course by Grzegorz Jagodziński
- Polish Lessons for Beginners
- Piotr Pikuta’s Polish Language Course
- University of Pittsburgh’s Polish Language Website
I installed Flock —” the social web browser last night. It’s pretty much based on Firefox but has a lot of great social networking features built in.
I especially like the way it interfaces with blogging packages and Flickr. It has a very clean interface as well.
I did notice several things that need work, the most annoying being that there’s no easy way to import favorites from Firefox
While I was messing around I decided to change my WordPress theme. I’m using Lorem Ipsum by Let’s Mint. I modified it a little by adding a sub-page list call to the pages template. Other than that the install was clean.
Blogged with Flock
St. Justin Martyr, Martyr, (165)
St. Ardalion, Martyr, (300)
St. Lambert of Lyons, Bishop, (688)
But we, after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has assented to our teaching, bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized [illuminated] person, and for all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth, by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation. Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to γένοιτο [so be it]. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion. — Justin Martyr, First Apology, Chapter LXV, Administration of the sacraments.
Benedict XVI, the Bishop of Rome, has a new book coming out, Jesus of Nazareth. A few notes from the AP via the Houston Chronicle:
Benedict began writing his personal meditation on Jesus Christ’s teachings, entitled “Jesus of Nazareth,” in 2003 when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He stressed that the book is an expression of his “personal search for the face of the Lord” and is by no means official Catholic Church doctrine.
“Everyone is free, then, to contradict me,” he wrote.
Benedict —” a prolific and well-known theologian well before he became pope —” thoroughly examined the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ public ministry to arrive at the foundation of the Christian faith: that Jesus is God.
Benedict said the fundamental question he is exploring in the book is what Jesus did.
“What did Jesus truly bring, if he didn’t bring peace to the world, well-being for all and a better world? What did he bring?
“The answer is very simple: God. He brought God.”
The 448-page book is due in bookstores in German, Italian and Polish on Monday, Benedict’s 80th birthday. The English edition is due for release May 15 and translations are planned for 16 other languages.
The book is the first of two volumes: Rizzoli, the Italian publisher, said Benedict is expected to write a second volume exploring the birth of Christ, his crucifixion and resurrection.
“Jesus of Nazareth” covers several key points of Jesus’ public life and ministry. An entire chapter is devoted to his baptism, another to the prayer Jesus taught the faithful, the Lord’s Prayer, and another to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, praising the poor, the meek and the hungry in the “Beatitudes.”
It looks like this will be a very good read. As with a few of John Paul’s books, I’ll probably read this one as well.
The Catholic mind and heart has much to teach the world. As such reading the works that flow from our shared, yet separate experiences, opens one to seeing things in new ways.
St. Martius, Abbot, (530)
St. Hermenegild, Martyr, (585)
Saints Carpus, Papylus, and Agathonice, Martyrs, (200)
Check out the following – the transformation of a modernist R.C. parish church in France into a proper church.
Thanks to NLM for pointing to this.
A little Lingua Latina humor from my college days.
Frankly, as far as I’m concerned, fire every shock jock, talking head, conservative, liberal, doctor, or anyone with an opinion from every radio and television station. These people make my skin crawl.
People who listen to them fall into two categories.
- Those who need affirmation in their beliefs.
- Those who are looking to have their empty heads filled with something.
I grew-up listening to WKBW-AM radio in Buffalo. These guys had enough broadcasting wattage to reach Virginia. They had music, family safe humor, the news and weather. That’s what radio should be, even AM radio.
But its come to this, the airwaves filled with mindless blather by people who like to hear themselves talk – and get paid a lot for it. Need ratings? Blather. Need more ratings, insult someone.
On the Imus issue I found Al Roker’s commentary on the issue to be not all that enlightening – what else could he say – but I did find the com-boxes disturbing.
Why?
Because many of them touted out the old lines: “I’m not a racist but…” ; “I love you but…” ; “What he said is wrong, and I’m no racist, but…” ; “I have a lot of black friends, but…”
Everyone needed to couch their language and their commentary just in case someone might think ill of them.
I’d ask everyone there, everyone with a comment, how do you live? What do you do in your day to day in dealings with people? Are you fair, honest, and trustworthy? Do you treat everyone with dignity? Are you so unsure of your own actions and lifestyle as to apologize before you even begin talking?
It’s time to take a step back.
Live a life that exhibits dignity, and treat people with human dignity. That DOES NOT mean you have to agree with their lifestyle choices, or in any way support what they believe in. It simply means that you must accept and preserve their humanity before all people. It means that you see yourself in them, in their eyes, in their souls regardless of color, creed, orientation, or membership in a terrorist organization.
Yep, even the ‘bad guys.’ We torture them, we torture ourselves.
Folks like Mr. Imus never got that. No one has dignity, not his peeps, not even the reflection he sees in the mirror. That’s the sad part. No firing will fix that. Only grace can fix that.
God help us to see the humanity of all our brothers and sisters. Help us to see your reflection in them.
Some things that have passed through my thoughts in the past month or so:
New York – Bastion of Stupid People
I guess our Legislators consider us to be so stupid that they have to put forward all kinds of weird legislation in order to protect us from ourselves. To wit from TechNewsWorld:
New York pedestrians could find themselves on the wrong side of the law just for crossing the street while chatting on a cell phone or listening to an iPod if state Senator Carl Kruger gets his way. The New York lawmaker plans to introduce legislation to make it illegal to use portable electronic devices such as a BlackBerry Get the Facts on BlackBerry Business Solutions or PlayStation Portable game console while crossing the street.
The legislation comes after the deaths of two pedestrians in Sen. Kruger’s Brooklyn district within the past five months. “iPod oblivion,” the lawmaker said, has become a term used nationwide to describe the state of compromised awareness that is a result of the huge popularity of electronic devices among users of all ages.
“You can’t be fully aware of your surrounding if you’re fiddling with a BlackBerry, dialing a phone number, playing Super Mario Brothers on a Game Boy or listening to music on an iPod,” Sen. Kruger claimed.
…
“This is an avoidable tragedy,” Sen. Kruger added. “If you’re so involved in your electronic device that you can’t see or hear a car coming, this is indicative of a larger problem that requires some sort of enforcement beyond the application of common sense.”
Here’s the Bill he submitted. It applies to persons in cities with a population of one million or more.
Funny thing is that there’s only one city of more than one million persons in New York, and that is New York City. The rest of the state is so economically dead that anyone who can leave does. At least they’ll get hit by a bus while listening to their iPod in warmer climes, while holding down a good paying job, and paying little if anything in taxes.
As to other moments of legislative brilliance:
I’ve already commented on Law and attempted Laws to ban trans fat and foie gras in this blog. We’re all ignorant of educational efforts promoting good eating and better health. As such good health has to be forced on us. I can’t wait for the next government hiring initiative. A cop for every citizen. You will walk that treadmill, you will do it now!
On the heels of all that is inattentive driving legislation. Put down that coffee (then they get you for driving while drowsy), cigarette, sandwich, comb, or shaver.
What really amazes me is that our elected leaders wish to protect us from ourselves in every way possible but can’t muster the courage to protect the unborn (yes, New York is rushing headlong into funding embryonic stem cell research – which doesn’t work).
They can promote so called ‘gay’ marriage, but can’t reform a corrupt legislative process wherein all state laws are agreed to behind closed doors by an oligarchy of the Governor, Assembly Leader, and Senate Majority Leader.
The New York Sun carried an article on legislation being considered which would offer an apology for slavery, and reparations. See Albany Mulls an Apology for Slavery: Reparations Study Is Being Sought.
Oooooh white guilt. I get to pay because someone in New York once owned a slave.
Wasn’t me, my family, or really anyone I’ve met. I have no guilt over slavery. My people fought against slavery in Europe, Haiti, and the United States.
When someone talks to me about their guilt over treating Polish immigrant coal miners as slaves – in the 20th century, the nativist movement, their guilt for selling Poland to the Soviet Union, or their snickering at Polish jokes, then we’ll have something to discuss. I’d also like to see a formal apology from all the states where the Klan actively targeted (and still does target) Catholics with the necessary reparations being paid to various Catholic Churches.
And a technical question. If the citizens of New York are apologizing for slavery does that mean its African-American citizens are apologizing to themselves?
Of course to answer that question you would have to understand the whole concept of citizenship.
I think rather that the people who promote such drivel and no more than self-serving stooges. They’re the ones that the family had to place in politics in order to prevent their bringing the family fortune to ruination (aka George Bush I and II).
Then, of course, NY stupidity extends overseas
See: Settlers launch first drive in U.S. to sell homes from Haaretz. One of those Americans who actually went through and bought a home in Israel’s occupied territories is Dov Hikind. He bought a home in Shomron. As one commentator on a blog said, he should make aliyah now. I agree and that’s his right, especially if that is where his heart is.
Why stupid? Because Mr. Hikind is fermenting continued bloodshed over land Israel has no right to occupy (unless of course you’re a dispensationalist) and he’s doing so as an elected representative of the people of New York.
That’s right, Mr. Hikind is a New York State Assemblyman representing the 48th District. You know, sworn to serve this country and this state.
Oy, he could have had a nice place in the Catskills with no problem.