theophilus October 31st, 2007
I’m looking through my little girl’s school materials for today and came across a note that her class is having a “Harvest Party” – that’s right, not a “Halloween Party” but a “Harvest Party”.
I now know why the number of kids coming to our door seems to pale in comparison to the number that always seemed to be out when I was young. Who is going to get all excited and dressed up over the harvest? If I was young again, I would have think, heck, I’ve got homework to do.
I guess we should expect that the complete secularization of our public institutions would be taken to some rather silly levels. I don’t remember Halloween ever being thought of as a religious observance of any kind. The day has a religious origin, but growing up, we just knew Halloween was a time to dress up and get some candy – the religious stuff waited until the next day. Continue Reading »
theophilus October 30th, 2007
My wife and I are two months away from our 10th Anniversary.
We love each other – it’s that plain and simple. We have thankfully never questioned our marital future – we’ve never doubted that we will grow old together.
But our generation has been conditioned to believe that marriage is antiquated and that marital unions are bound to be short-term. That there will come a time when we’ll have “irreconcilable differences” or ”grow apart”, but we’ll still remain the “best of friends.” This attitude has led to a ridiculously high divorce rate in the U.S. (and that’s even if Hollywood marriages are taken out of the statistics).
But are times a changin’? Continue Reading »
theophilus October 29th, 2007
What can cloud a person’s mind so much that they say and believe utter nonsense?
For me, I’m sitting here still trying to digest the Bengals’ loss to the Steelers - yet again (we haven’t beaten the Steelers at home since 2002 – jeez!). Do I believe the utter nonsense that my Bengals will ever be consistently good? Is my mind still clouded by the “glory years” of the ’80s (i.e. 2 Super Bowl appearances) and the unrealized promise given us in the early years of the Marvin Lewis era? Probably, but I’m trying not to dwell on all of that.
Instead, I turn to today’s gospel (Luke 13: 10-17), which has the rather ridiculous story of the Jewish leaders going after Christ for healing a disabled woman on the Sabbath. Continue Reading »
theophilus October 28th, 2007
There comes a point in any endurance race when you want to give up - and you find a way to push through. And then when you cross the finish line, the feeling is as glorious as anything you could ever hope to experience.
As a runner, today’s 2nd Reading is one of my favorites among all of St. Paul’s writings (2 Timothy 4) – “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.”
Life is a race – and we are measured by how well we compete, how well we run it. Continue Reading »
theophilus October 27th, 2007
Are Catholics under attack? If so, does it matter?
Deacon Keith A. Fournier has an interesting column on Catholic.org – “Anti-Catholicism on the Rise – We Must Stand Firm.”
A great deal of what he said is true – Catholicism and Catholics are being attacked, mocked and joked about at every turn. The “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” sacrilege in San Francisco, the U.N. official blaming the Church for the AIDS epidemic in Africa, comedians using us as their punch line to lighten up the room. Deacon Fournier is also correct in stating that being anti-Catholic is one of the last remaining acceptable prejudices in America.
So, I gotta pose the question – so what? Continue Reading »
theophilus October 26th, 2007
We’re good at predicting things – knee hurts, it’s going to rain; wife stops talking, she’s growing steamed about something; Microsoft reports good earnings, the stock market is going to rise; sun comes up, the Reds are going to lose.
And there are other things we can predict but may not want to recognize about our future that are impacted by what we do today. We ignore our wife, she will grow distant. We ignore our children, they will make bad decisions. We cease to pray, we will grow spiritually cold. We lose touch with our conscience, we will make bad choices.
Today’s gospel (Luke 12: 54-59) discusses in part our habit of foreseeing the future without being able to see what is right in front of us. Continue Reading »
theophilus October 25th, 2007
Sometimes, you gotta wonder about the timing of God’s messages – the gospel for today (Luke 12:49-53) has Christ exhorting us that “I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!”
In any case, I think it’s best to just leave this gospel alone considering the events of this week.
Instead, I want to concentrate on two minor saints whose feast day is today – 3rd Century martyrs and twin brothers, Sts. Crispin and Crispinian. Not much is really known about them but they were immortalized by Shakespeare in Henry V, Act IV Scene 3. Continue Reading »
theophilus October 24th, 2007
When I looked ahead to today’s gospel reading (Luke 12: 39-48), I couldn’t help but think of the possibilities of what I could write on the theme of Christ teaching that ”[m]uch will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”
But, then I started looking in depth at the news coming out of SoCal, and I started to think about my good friend Mike and my wife’s aunt Peggy, and my thoughts have been consumed with the usual why’s, who’s, where’s, and what’s that accompanying natural disasters that don’t involve us. Continue Reading »
theophilus October 23rd, 2007
Several times a week, I drop in the church for a few minutes before going to work. Always, and I mean always, there is a single car in the parking lot - a white Chevy HHR.
I then walk into the assembly and there, without fail, in the tenth row is this elderly gentleman, sitting, gazing upon the Crucifix. I only see him during these moments (or is it that I just don’t otherwise recognize him in our mega-parish).
I take my favorite seat in the back next to the Holy Mother, say Morning Prayer, and reflect upon the tabernacle. At about 7:55, twenty or so of my fellow faithful slowly file into the church and take their usual places for 8:30 mass. At precisely 8:05, someone starts the Rosary and the vocal part of our parish’s daily prayer begins.
Continue Reading »
theophilus October 22nd, 2007
Should we constantly remind ourselves that a house is just a house and a car is just a car? When should we legitimately want more and better material goods and when should we be content with what we have?
I often ponder these questions as I look around our home. We intended to be here about 7 years and we are coming up on year #8. And the thing is, we are happy with our home. It isn’t as big and have as many bells and whistles as the home I thought we would own by now. But, the things is – we are very happy and content here. The same goes for my car. It’s nice, dependable, comfortable – but not state-of-the-art. But, I’m happy with it. I still find myself drooling over that Lexus SC, but nevertheless I am content with my car.
Continue Reading »
