Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
7.24.2014
What are men compared to rocks and mountains?
What are men compared to rocks and mountains?
(Judith Marie admiring God's splendor out her grandma and grandpa's window)
4.19.2014
4.08.2012
Poem of the Week CXLII
Not technically a poem, but does it get any more beautiful than last night's Exsultet? Seriously, the sweet bees...
from The Exsulet
to be sung at the Easter Vigil
The Bride of Christ
It is truly right and just,
with ardent love of mind and heart
and with devoted service of our voice,
to acclaim our God invisible,
the almighty Father,
and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his Only Begotten.
Who for our sake paid Adam's debt to the eternal Father,
and, pouring out his own dear Blood,
wiped clean the record of our ancient sinfulness.
These then are the feasts of Passover,
in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb,
whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers.
This is the night, when once you led our fore-bearers,
Israel's children, from slavery in Egypt
and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea.
This is the night that with a pillar of fire
banished the darkness of sin.
This is the night that even now, throughout the world,
sets Christian believers apart
from worldly vices and from the gloom of sin,
leading them to grace and joining them to his holy ones.
This is the night, when Christ broke the prison-bars of death
and rose victorious from the underworld.
Our birth would have been no gain,
had we not been redeemed.
O wonder of your humble care for us!
O love, O charity beyond telling,
to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!
O truly necessary sin of Adam,
destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!
O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!
O truly blessed night, worthy alone to know the time and hour
when Christ rose from the underworld!
This is the night of which it is written:
The night shall be as bright as day,
dazzling is the night for me, and full of gladness.
The sanctifying power of this night
dispels wickedness, washes faults away,
restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners,
drives out hatred, fosters, concord, and brings down the mighty.
On this, your night of grace, O holy Father,
accept this candle, a solemn offering,
the work of bees and of your servants' hands,
and evening sacrifice of praise,
this gift from your most holy Church.
But now we know the praises of this pillar,
which glowing fire ignites for God's honor,
a fire into many flames divided,
yet never dimmed by sharing of its light,
for it is fed by melting wax,
drawn out by mother bees to build a torch so precious.
O truly blessed night,
when things of heaven are wed to those of earth,
and divine to the human.
Therefore, O Lord, we pray you that his candle,
hallowed to the honor of your name,
may persevere undimmed, to overcome the darkness of this night.
Receive it as a pleasing fragrance,
and let it mingle with the lights of heaven.
May this flame be found still burning by the Morning Star:
the one Morning Star who never sets,
Christ your Son, who, coming back from death's domain,
has shed his peaceful light on humanity,
and lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
from The Exsulet
to be sung at the Easter Vigil
The Bride of Christ
It is truly right and just,
with ardent love of mind and heart
and with devoted service of our voice,
to acclaim our God invisible,
the almighty Father,
and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his Only Begotten.
Who for our sake paid Adam's debt to the eternal Father,
and, pouring out his own dear Blood,
wiped clean the record of our ancient sinfulness.
These then are the feasts of Passover,
in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb,
whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers.
This is the night, when once you led our fore-bearers,
Israel's children, from slavery in Egypt
and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea.
This is the night that with a pillar of fire
banished the darkness of sin.
This is the night that even now, throughout the world,
sets Christian believers apart
from worldly vices and from the gloom of sin,
leading them to grace and joining them to his holy ones.
This is the night, when Christ broke the prison-bars of death
and rose victorious from the underworld.
Our birth would have been no gain,
had we not been redeemed.
O wonder of your humble care for us!
O love, O charity beyond telling,
to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!
O truly necessary sin of Adam,
destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!
O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!
O truly blessed night, worthy alone to know the time and hour
when Christ rose from the underworld!
This is the night of which it is written:
The night shall be as bright as day,
dazzling is the night for me, and full of gladness.
The sanctifying power of this night
dispels wickedness, washes faults away,
restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners,
drives out hatred, fosters, concord, and brings down the mighty.
On this, your night of grace, O holy Father,
accept this candle, a solemn offering,
the work of bees and of your servants' hands,
and evening sacrifice of praise,
this gift from your most holy Church.
But now we know the praises of this pillar,
which glowing fire ignites for God's honor,
a fire into many flames divided,
yet never dimmed by sharing of its light,
for it is fed by melting wax,
drawn out by mother bees to build a torch so precious.
O truly blessed night,
when things of heaven are wed to those of earth,
and divine to the human.
Therefore, O Lord, we pray you that his candle,
hallowed to the honor of your name,
may persevere undimmed, to overcome the darkness of this night.
Receive it as a pleasing fragrance,
and let it mingle with the lights of heaven.
May this flame be found still burning by the Morning Star:
the one Morning Star who never sets,
Christ your Son, who, coming back from death's domain,
has shed his peaceful light on humanity,
and lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
4.02.2012
Quotable Chaplain
"Vanderbilt will be in ruins long before such faith wavers."
-Father John Sims Baker
source: Finer Than a Frog's Hair
-Father John Sims Baker
source: Finer Than a Frog's Hair
3.25.2012
Poem of the Week CXL
The famous GMH, just in time for all the beautiful Spring weather...
Pied Beauty
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Pied Beauty
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Glory be to God for dappled things –
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
2.19.2012
Fasting, Sputum, and Serpents
I do not like lent. Mortification stinks. Fasting is really hard.
And Lent starts this Wednesday.
So, here's a little kick-in-the-pants, brought to you by Saint Ambrose, from his Hexameron, a commentary on the six days of creation in Genesis. Man, if this doesn't get you fired up for fasting, I don't know what will:
"You have in mind to procure a drug, but you shun fasting as a restorative, as if you could find another remedy as efficacious as that! A serpent suffers death after tasting the *sputum of a man who is fasting. You see, then, what potency there is in fasting, when a man can kill a serpent with his own sputum. If this is true of an earthly being, how much more true is it of the realm of the spirit!" (245-246).
Wow.
And Lent starts this Wednesday.
So, here's a little kick-in-the-pants, brought to you by Saint Ambrose, from his Hexameron, a commentary on the six days of creation in Genesis. Man, if this doesn't get you fired up for fasting, I don't know what will:
"You have in mind to procure a drug, but you shun fasting as a restorative, as if you could find another remedy as efficacious as that! A serpent suffers death after tasting the *sputum of a man who is fasting. You see, then, what potency there is in fasting, when a man can kill a serpent with his own sputum. If this is true of an earthly being, how much more true is it of the realm of the spirit!" (245-246).
Wow.
*sputum |ˈspyoōtəm|(noun) : a mixture of saliva and mucus coughed up from the respiratory tract, typically as a result of infection or other disease and often examined microscopically to aid medical diagnosis.
ORIGIN late 17th cent.: from Latin, neuter past participle of spuere ‘to spit.’
Poem of the Week CXXXV
The Living Flame of Love
Saint John of the Cross
1. O living flame of love
that tenderly wounds my soul
in its deepest center! Since
now you are not oppressive,
now consummate! if it be your will:
tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!
2. O sweet cautery,
O delightful wound!
O gentle hand! O delicate touch
that tastes of eternal life
and pays every debt!
In killing you changed death to life.
3. O lamps of fire!
in whose splendors
the deep caverns of feeling,
once obscure and blind,
now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,
both warmth and light to their Beloved.
4. How gently and lovingly
you wake in my heart,
where in secret you dwell alone;
and in your sweet breathing,
filled with good and glory,
how tenderly you swell my heart with love.
Saint John of the Cross
1. O living flame of love
that tenderly wounds my soul
in its deepest center! Since
now you are not oppressive,
now consummate! if it be your will:
tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!
2. O sweet cautery,
O delightful wound!
O gentle hand! O delicate touch
that tastes of eternal life
and pays every debt!
In killing you changed death to life.
3. O lamps of fire!
in whose splendors
the deep caverns of feeling,
once obscure and blind,
now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,
both warmth and light to their Beloved.
4. How gently and lovingly
you wake in my heart,
where in secret you dwell alone;
and in your sweet breathing,
filled with good and glory,
how tenderly you swell my heart with love.
2.12.2012
Poem of the Week CXXXIV
Thanks to Frog's Hair,
from To Live of Love
Saint Terese of Lisieux
6.
To live of love, it is to know no fear;
No memory of past faults can I recall;
No imprint of my sins remaineth here;
The fire of Love divine effaces all.
O sacred flames! O furnace of delight!
I sing my safe sweet happiness to prove.
In these mild fires I dwell by day, by night.
I live of love!
from To Live of Love
Saint Terese of Lisieux
6.
To live of love, it is to know no fear;
No memory of past faults can I recall;
No imprint of my sins remaineth here;
The fire of Love divine effaces all.
O sacred flames! O furnace of delight!
I sing my safe sweet happiness to prove.
In these mild fires I dwell by day, by night.
I live of love!
2.10.2012
Wild Creatures & Abortion
I read this yesterday and immediately thought of the tragedy of abortion:
"Wild creatures have a nature that is simple and one which has no concern in the perversion of truth. And so the Lord has ordained that those creatures to whom He has bestowed a minimum of reason are endowed with the maximum of feeling.
What wild animal would not willingly face death in defense of her young? What wild beast, although exposed to countless armed men advancing 'in wedge formation,' would not protect with her own life's blood her own progeny? With her body she sets up a wall of stout defense around her little ones, so that they are immune from peril in the midst of 'a harvest of spears'? What has man to offer--he who pays no heed to what is enjoined on him and is oblivious to the dictates of nature? A son despises his father; a father disinherits his son. An occasion when a man's own progeny is condemned to death is regarded as an act of justice. A father actually passes judgement on himself by treating his own child as something without substance."
Saint Ambrose, Hexameron, VI (22).
"Wild creatures have a nature that is simple and one which has no concern in the perversion of truth. And so the Lord has ordained that those creatures to whom He has bestowed a minimum of reason are endowed with the maximum of feeling.
What wild animal would not willingly face death in defense of her young? What wild beast, although exposed to countless armed men advancing 'in wedge formation,' would not protect with her own life's blood her own progeny? With her body she sets up a wall of stout defense around her little ones, so that they are immune from peril in the midst of 'a harvest of spears'? What has man to offer--he who pays no heed to what is enjoined on him and is oblivious to the dictates of nature? A son despises his father; a father disinherits his son. An occasion when a man's own progeny is condemned to death is regarded as an act of justice. A father actually passes judgement on himself by treating his own child as something without substance."
Saint Ambrose, Hexameron, VI (22).
12.11.2011
Poem of the Week CXXV
The Windhover
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins
To Christ our Lord
I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.
11.09.2011
Knowing and Loving
According to Fulton Sheen's, "Knowing and Loving":
"The first difference between a man and a woman is that a man is concerned principally with things and a woman with persons. Hence a man talks business and a woman of how another woman is dressed. A man's interest is more remote; a woman's interest is more immediate. A man's interest leans to the abstract; a woman's to the concrete and intimate. A man is concerned with ends, goals, and purposes; a woman with something that is very proximate and close and near and dear to her. Because man centers on things and woman on persons, a woman is more inclined to gossip. A woman does not believe everything she hears, but at least she can repeat it ...
These are differences, but they actually complement one another, and very beautifully. The man is interested in the sowing of wheat in the field; the woman in making the bread. Both the bow and the violin are necessary for good music.
A second difference between the love of a man and the love of a woman is that a man will always give reasons for loving, but a woman gives no reasons for loving.
A man will say, 'I love you because you are beautiful; I love you because your teeth are pearly; I love you because you are sweet.'
The woman just says, 'I love you.' Period.
Man's love is always mixed up with his reasons. Men generally write the love sons. Hence such titles as 'That is Why I Love You' or reasons like these: 'You're the cream in my coffee...,' 'You're my Shakespeare sonnet..., my Mickey Mouse...'
These are not very good reasons for loving, but at least they are reasons. Man's love is always tied up with his intellect; but for a woman, love is its own reason. 'I love you because I love you.' A man gives reasons because he compares one woman with another; a woman just prefers. A man sees one peach in a basket of peaches; a woman sees only the one peach. A father's love for a child varies with the child's obedience to his commands; a mother's love is more immediate and more ready to overlook the faults. If 'love is blind,' it may be because it gives no reason. But it has a reason, which is choice, election, preference. As Our Lord told His Apostles, 'I have chosen you.'
A woman never tells why she loves; she just tells you how she loves...
A third difference is that defects get in the way of a man's love. But defects never hurt a woman's love. A man hears somebody talk about the woman that he loves or is going to marry, and he will say, 'Well, after all, I have got to know that woman if I am to marry her; and I had better listen to this.'
But a woman won't listen to anybody 'running down' her intended. She knows the man has defects, but she loves him anyway. Her attitude is that of the popular song, 'He's Just My Bill.' He may be a good-for-nothing blankety-blank-blank, but he's my Bill, anyway. A man's love decreases with the revelation of defects; a woman's does not. A woman gets angry when a man denies his faults, because she knew them all along. His lying mocks her affection; it is the deceit that angers her more than the faults.
There is something divine in that kind of love, because God loves us in spite of all defects, our failings, and our sins. A man may stand for the Justice of God, but a woman stands for His Mercy."
Do you agree?
I am not sure what role my feminine pride is playing here, but the way he describes a woman's love sounds pretty accurate to me. I've always felt a little silly saying, "Just because," as a reason for loving, but I've never really had any other reasons. Way to go Fulton.
"The first difference between a man and a woman is that a man is concerned principally with things and a woman with persons. Hence a man talks business and a woman of how another woman is dressed. A man's interest is more remote; a woman's interest is more immediate. A man's interest leans to the abstract; a woman's to the concrete and intimate. A man is concerned with ends, goals, and purposes; a woman with something that is very proximate and close and near and dear to her. Because man centers on things and woman on persons, a woman is more inclined to gossip. A woman does not believe everything she hears, but at least she can repeat it ...
These are differences, but they actually complement one another, and very beautifully. The man is interested in the sowing of wheat in the field; the woman in making the bread. Both the bow and the violin are necessary for good music.
A second difference between the love of a man and the love of a woman is that a man will always give reasons for loving, but a woman gives no reasons for loving.
A man will say, 'I love you because you are beautiful; I love you because your teeth are pearly; I love you because you are sweet.'
The woman just says, 'I love you.' Period.
Man's love is always mixed up with his reasons. Men generally write the love sons. Hence such titles as 'That is Why I Love You' or reasons like these: 'You're the cream in my coffee...,' 'You're my Shakespeare sonnet..., my Mickey Mouse...'
These are not very good reasons for loving, but at least they are reasons. Man's love is always tied up with his intellect; but for a woman, love is its own reason. 'I love you because I love you.' A man gives reasons because he compares one woman with another; a woman just prefers. A man sees one peach in a basket of peaches; a woman sees only the one peach. A father's love for a child varies with the child's obedience to his commands; a mother's love is more immediate and more ready to overlook the faults. If 'love is blind,' it may be because it gives no reason. But it has a reason, which is choice, election, preference. As Our Lord told His Apostles, 'I have chosen you.'
A woman never tells why she loves; she just tells you how she loves...
A third difference is that defects get in the way of a man's love. But defects never hurt a woman's love. A man hears somebody talk about the woman that he loves or is going to marry, and he will say, 'Well, after all, I have got to know that woman if I am to marry her; and I had better listen to this.'
But a woman won't listen to anybody 'running down' her intended. She knows the man has defects, but she loves him anyway. Her attitude is that of the popular song, 'He's Just My Bill.' He may be a good-for-nothing blankety-blank-blank, but he's my Bill, anyway. A man's love decreases with the revelation of defects; a woman's does not. A woman gets angry when a man denies his faults, because she knew them all along. His lying mocks her affection; it is the deceit that angers her more than the faults.
There is something divine in that kind of love, because God loves us in spite of all defects, our failings, and our sins. A man may stand for the Justice of God, but a woman stands for His Mercy."
Do you agree?
I am not sure what role my feminine pride is playing here, but the way he describes a woman's love sounds pretty accurate to me. I've always felt a little silly saying, "Just because," as a reason for loving, but I've never really had any other reasons. Way to go Fulton.
11.04.2011
10.12.2011
Tebow and the network of Carthusian Monasteries
"It is simply unimaginable that any prominent Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or Sikh quarterback, should such a fantasy of anthropology exist, would be subjected to the vileness that is publicly dumped on Tim Tebow."
Friends, I am definitely not a Florida fan, but I just read a very interesting article by George Weigel in the Southern Nebraska Register (thanks Tala) called "Tim Tebow and Christophobia" that I wanted to share with you. Don't worry, you don't have to be a cornhusker or a bugeater to read the article; National Catholic Register can help you out... read the article here.
Now, I think I only have one objection to Mr. Weigel. Who said the Southeastern Conference doesn't resemble a network of Carthusian monasteries? I mean, George, have you ever been to an SEC game? Haha.
In all seriousness, this is a great article. I especially appreciate how Weigel shows the commonalities and common fate of Tebow (and evangelical Christians) and devout Catholics.
Let me know what you think.
9.05.2011
Judith
The Catholic Church oppresses women?
Judith Beheading Holofernes, Artemisia Gentileschi
"Her sandal ravished his eyes, her beauty captivated his mind, and the sword severed his neck."
Judith 16:9
8.28.2011
Poem of the Week CX
Prayer
C. S. Lewis
Master, they say that when I seem
To be in speech with you,
Since you make no replies, it's all a dream
--One talker aping two.
They are half right, but not as they
Imagine; rather, I
Seek in myself the things I meant to say,
And lo! the wells are dry.
Then, seeing me empty, you forsake
The Listener's role, and through
my dead lips breathe and into utterance wake
The thoughts I never knew.
And thus you neither need reply
Nor can; thus, while we seem
Two talking, thou art One forever, and I
No dreamer, but thy dream.
8.09.2011
The only eccentricity the world does not accept
"The world approves and countenances nearly everything. To the squandering of time or fortune or one's heart, and even to the most blatant acts of folly and guilt, it closes its eyes or gives its applause. On the other hand, do not think of consecrating any part of yourself or your time or money to the cause of God. Such a thing is not pleasing to this frivolous world, which considers itself to be robbed of all you give to eternal things and to your brothers; and it will not allow such theft. The love of God is the only eccentricity the world does not accept and will never accept."
Elizabeth Leseur, "Daily Thoughts", 1899 - 1906
7.12.2011
Liberty
My copy of "Evangelization in the Modern World" helped me to kill a spider in my car today, which is pretty bold for me and bugs, so the Lord only knows what sort of boldness it will inspire in my mission! When the Pope says things like this, how can I deny my call?
It would certainly be an error to impose something on the consciences of our brethren. But to propose Jesus Christ, with complete clarity and with a total respect for the free options which it presents--"without coercion, or dishonorable or unworthy pressure"--far from being an attack on religious liberty is fully to respect that liberty, which is offered the choice of a way that even non-believeers consider noble and uplifting. Is it then a crime against others' freedom to proclaim with joy a Good News which one has come to know through the Lord's mercy? And why should only falsehood and error, debasement and pornography have the right to be put before people and often unfortunately imposed on them by the destructive propaganda of the mass media, by the tolerance of legislation, the timidity of the good and the impudence of the wicked? The respectful presentation of Christ and His kingdom is more than the evangelizer's right; it is his duty.
Authentic witnesses of life
I just finished reading Pope Paul VI's amazing document "On Evangelization in the Modern World". It is incredible! Here is one quote that really struck me:
It is often said nowadays that the present century thirsts for authenticity. Especially in regard to young people it is said that they have a horror of the artificial or false and that they are searching above all for truth and honesty.These "signs of the times" should find us vigilant. Either tacitly or aloud--but always forcefully--we are being asked: Do you really believe what you are proclaiming? Do you live what you believe? Do you really preach what you live? The witness of life has become more than ever an essential condition for real effectiveness in preaching...The world which, paradoxically, despite innumerable signs of the denial of God, is nevertheless searching for Him in unexpected ways and painfully experiencing the need of Him--the world is calling for evangelizers to speak to it of a God whom the evangelists themselves should know and be familiar with as if they could see the invisible.
Wow. More to come!
7.08.2011
Tears
Newsflash: I'm a crier.
Actually, I know that's not really news, but Saint John Chrysostom's thoughts on the matter are news to me. Here's what he has to say, from his homily on Colossians 4:18:
"Think of [Paul's] face streaming with tears. Day and night for three years he never ceased his weeping. Imitate his weeping. Make your face bright with tears. Weep for your sins: your anger, your loss of self-control, your love of revelry. Imitate Paul's tears, and you will laugh to scorn the vanities of this passing life. Christ blessed these tears, when He said, 'Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh.' Nothing is sweeter than these tears; they are more to be desired than any laughter. Pray earnestly for these tears, so that when others sin, your heart may be broken for them. Raise your sons and daughters in the same way; weep for them when you see them led astray. Remember the psalmist's words: 'The Lord has heard the sound of my weeping; the Lord accepts my prayer.' "
6.22.2011
Psalm 110:4
After praying the rosary with the Schultz family in high school I adopted their tradition of praying this prayer at the end of each decade:
God, our Father, please send us holy priests, all for the Sacred and Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, all for the sorrowful and immaculate heart of Mary, in union with Saint Joseph.
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