A Joke to Lighten the Mood
The Loving Husband
Several men are in the locker room of a golf club. A cell phone on a bench rings and a man engages the hands free speaker-function
and begins to talk.
MAN: "Hello"
WOMAN: "Honey, it's me. Are you at the club?"
MAN: "Yes"
WOMAN: "I am at the mall now and found this beautiful leather coat It's only $1,000. Is it OK if I buy it?"
MAN: "Sure, ...go ahead if you like it that much."
WOMAN: "I also stopped by the Mercedes dealership and saw the new 2003 models. I saw one I really liked."
MAN: "How much?"
WOMAN: "$60,000"
MAN: "OK, but for that price I want it with all the options."
WOMAN: "Great! Oh, and one more thing....the house we wanted last year is back on the market. They're asking $950,000."
MAN: "Well, then go ahead and give them an offer, but just offer $900,000."
WOMAN: "OK. I'll see you later! I love you!"
MAN: "Bye, I love you, too."
The man hangs up. The other men in the locker room are looking at him in astonishment.
Then he asks: "Anyone know who this phone belongs to?"
Friday, February 21, 2003
Saint?
Thanks to Martin Farkus for pointing out my negligence in posting the USA Today link for their front page story yesterday on Father Mychal Judge.
Father Mychal Judge is included in a new book entitled "Modern Heroes of the Church" by Leo Knowles. This book includes both canonized saints and people who likely will be at some later date along with some who probably never will be.
I know that conservatives love to judge Judge. Rumors about his activity within the homosexual community swirl around and even hint at his own possible lifestyle.
Guess what folks, if he was a sinner, even a grevious sinner--he was just like you and I. Could any of us ever be declared saints? Of course. How?
Our past is our past but what matters is our present and our future. St. Paul stood by as St. Stephen was stoned to death and for Paul it was all a day of being a good religious--hardly any of us would see killing someone as being good. Neither would St. Paul in the end. He was converted and looked with shame on what he had done in his previous life. St. Augustine's story is well known to most of us and offers all of us hope.
But in Father Judge's case I would point to another historical figure who ultimately gives the worst of us hope to one day be declared a saint--St. Dismas.
We have no evidence that Dismas did anything praiseworthy during his life but at the moment of death he cried out to Jesus in Faith and became the first canonized (declared so by the head of the Church--Christ) saint when Jesus said to him, "This day you will be with me in Paradise!"
Father Judge risked his life to bring the sacraments to those who were in peril. In the end he gave his life in the process. If that isn't saintly, I don't know what is. But I do know that standing in judgment is not saintly. In fact it is a direct violation of Our Lord's command, "Judge not and you will not be judged!"
Judge Father Judge at your own peril.
Here is the link The making of St. Mychal Grass-roots campaign grows to canonize priest killed at WTC:
There was a time when 4-year-old Matthew Brown did not speak well. He wouldn't respond to certain noises. He could hardly look a person in the eye. Specialists said his communication and cognitive skills were delayed.
So Scott Brown prayed that God would loosen his son's tongue. He prayed to family members long dead, to St. Nicholas and St. Joseph. And after Sept. 11, 2001, Brown began to pray to the Rev. Mychal Judge, the 68-year-old New York priest who was the first person listed as a casualty of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
''Once I started praying to Mychal Judge, the positive outcome . . . was almost instantaneous,'' says Brown, 41, a Newport, R.I., firefighter, about his son's recovery. ''For someone who was so silent and would never make eye contact with you, he's like a different child. . . . I can't help but to say that it is miraculous.''
Thanks to Martin Farkus for pointing out my negligence in posting the USA Today link for their front page story yesterday on Father Mychal Judge.
Father Mychal Judge is included in a new book entitled "Modern Heroes of the Church" by Leo Knowles. This book includes both canonized saints and people who likely will be at some later date along with some who probably never will be.
I know that conservatives love to judge Judge. Rumors about his activity within the homosexual community swirl around and even hint at his own possible lifestyle.
Guess what folks, if he was a sinner, even a grevious sinner--he was just like you and I. Could any of us ever be declared saints? Of course. How?
Our past is our past but what matters is our present and our future. St. Paul stood by as St. Stephen was stoned to death and for Paul it was all a day of being a good religious--hardly any of us would see killing someone as being good. Neither would St. Paul in the end. He was converted and looked with shame on what he had done in his previous life. St. Augustine's story is well known to most of us and offers all of us hope.
But in Father Judge's case I would point to another historical figure who ultimately gives the worst of us hope to one day be declared a saint--St. Dismas.
We have no evidence that Dismas did anything praiseworthy during his life but at the moment of death he cried out to Jesus in Faith and became the first canonized (declared so by the head of the Church--Christ) saint when Jesus said to him, "This day you will be with me in Paradise!"
Father Judge risked his life to bring the sacraments to those who were in peril. In the end he gave his life in the process. If that isn't saintly, I don't know what is. But I do know that standing in judgment is not saintly. In fact it is a direct violation of Our Lord's command, "Judge not and you will not be judged!"
Judge Father Judge at your own peril.
Here is the link The making of St. Mychal Grass-roots campaign grows to canonize priest killed at WTC:
There was a time when 4-year-old Matthew Brown did not speak well. He wouldn't respond to certain noises. He could hardly look a person in the eye. Specialists said his communication and cognitive skills were delayed.
So Scott Brown prayed that God would loosen his son's tongue. He prayed to family members long dead, to St. Nicholas and St. Joseph. And after Sept. 11, 2001, Brown began to pray to the Rev. Mychal Judge, the 68-year-old New York priest who was the first person listed as a casualty of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
''Once I started praying to Mychal Judge, the positive outcome . . . was almost instantaneous,'' says Brown, 41, a Newport, R.I., firefighter, about his son's recovery. ''For someone who was so silent and would never make eye contact with you, he's like a different child. . . . I can't help but to say that it is miraculous.''
Thursday, February 20, 2003
Archbishop Chaput is Doing What All Bishops Should Be Doing!
Educating the faithful of his diocese.
From the Archdiocese of Denver:
The bishops have determined that we should not kneel or genuflect. We receive Communion standing. Before receiving, we bow our head in adoration, and we say "Amen" and receive the body of Christ on the tongue or in the hand.
This will be new for many of the faithful, because the formal act of reverence was not widely promoted in the past. This act helps us avoid nonchalance in receiving holy Communion. It allows us to acknowledge what we are about to do: take under the form of bread and wine the resurrected body and blood of Christ. If we have become distracted during the procession, the gesture helps us to recollect ourselves.
While the act of reverence will be new for some, it may be "different" for others. In the past, we may have made a sign of the cross, a profound bow (one from the waist), genuflected or simply knelt as our act of adoration. The Church now asks us asks to submit our personal preference to her wisdom.
Some of us will need time to remember to do this. Others may not want to change the gesture of reverence they've been using. In all cases, we need to defer to the Church. Just as I ask that kneeling be preserved within the rubrics where indicated (such as during the entire Eucharistic Prayer), I ask that the act of reverence approved by the U.S. bishops — the bowing of the head — be embraced and maintained. This act of reverence, which should also be done before receiving the precious blood, unites us with the whole community of faith.
Educating the faithful of his diocese.
From the Archdiocese of Denver:
The bishops have determined that we should not kneel or genuflect. We receive Communion standing. Before receiving, we bow our head in adoration, and we say "Amen" and receive the body of Christ on the tongue or in the hand.
This will be new for many of the faithful, because the formal act of reverence was not widely promoted in the past. This act helps us avoid nonchalance in receiving holy Communion. It allows us to acknowledge what we are about to do: take under the form of bread and wine the resurrected body and blood of Christ. If we have become distracted during the procession, the gesture helps us to recollect ourselves.
While the act of reverence will be new for some, it may be "different" for others. In the past, we may have made a sign of the cross, a profound bow (one from the waist), genuflected or simply knelt as our act of adoration. The Church now asks us asks to submit our personal preference to her wisdom.
Some of us will need time to remember to do this. Others may not want to change the gesture of reverence they've been using. In all cases, we need to defer to the Church. Just as I ask that kneeling be preserved within the rubrics where indicated (such as during the entire Eucharistic Prayer), I ask that the act of reverence approved by the U.S. bishops — the bowing of the head — be embraced and maintained. This act of reverence, which should also be done before receiving the precious blood, unites us with the whole community of faith.
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
Johnny Cash's New Video--"Hurt"
Check it out at JOHNNY CASH CHART NEWS.
Rolling Stone magazine declares this the "video of the year."
I had seen it from afar while running at the gym but last night saw it for the first time up close. It is an amazing video. You can watch it online by going to the Johnny Cash Chart News site I've posted above.
Images of the young Cash clash with the present day old man, and the way the piano is photographed it evokes the lid of a coffin being shut at the very end. There are also images of The House of Cash Museum a defunct museum of Johnny Cash memorabilia hinting at the forgotten glory of a famed life. Interwoven toward the end are the pain on Cash's face and the crucifixion of Jesus.
This is absolutely the most artistic and evocative piece I have seen in some time!
Check it out at JOHNNY CASH CHART NEWS.
Rolling Stone magazine declares this the "video of the year."
I had seen it from afar while running at the gym but last night saw it for the first time up close. It is an amazing video. You can watch it online by going to the Johnny Cash Chart News site I've posted above.
Images of the young Cash clash with the present day old man, and the way the piano is photographed it evokes the lid of a coffin being shut at the very end. There are also images of The House of Cash Museum a defunct museum of Johnny Cash memorabilia hinting at the forgotten glory of a famed life. Interwoven toward the end are the pain on Cash's face and the crucifixion of Jesus.
This is absolutely the most artistic and evocative piece I have seen in some time!
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