A Deo et Rege

I found a great house to rent and told my future landlady today that I want it. It’s got a basement and an upstairs and a nice front porch. I can just see myself (and eventually Carmel) sitting there enjoying morning coffee on a nice St. Martin’s Summer day. This place is rural too and actually has a yard where deer come to eat from the apple trees. Plus, it’s a fairly short drive from work, yet is still about 30 or so miles from downtown Cleveland. I want to be close to the action, but far enough away to feel "small town" with regards to environment and safety. Thanks to everyone on this blog who prayed for this need!

TV Land had a Good Times marathon on this weekend and I confess that I watched way too many episodes! I had never really watched it before now, but got hooked. For some reason, it’s one of those shows that really allows a person to get into it on a more intimate level. I felt the sadness when James Sr. died and the joy when Thelma got married. Maybe it’s the perfect escapist TV show, which is odd considering it’s about a poor family living in the Chicago ghetto. Yet, they’re happy, which is the most important thing. The guy who played J.J. even has his own website including his refreshingly common sense political views.

Catholicism’s answer to Matt Drudge? Check out The Catholic Report for up to date Catholic news from around the world. It’s good to see a place where all general Catholic news items can be found in one place.

Hat tip: Alicia

President Bush is set to announce his Supreme Court choice tonight. According to the previously linked news piece, he may nominate an appeals court judge (woman) from New Orleans. I don’t think Bush could nominate anyone pro-life and have that person accepted by the Democrats. It seems that anyone who opposes abortion or even casts doubts on its morality or legality is an “extremist” in the minds of many Democrats. There is going to be a great fight, although I hope and pray that the judge will be a just, godly, and dignified person who affirms the sanctity of life from womb to (natural) tomb. And I hope that Bush and the Senate are willing to fight to get that person confirmed.

One distinctively Catholic practice, at least in my experience, is the concept of "offering" something in our lives to God. This is particularly true of suffering, pain, and anxiety, as well as the traditional fasts and abstinences. It’s also normally offered up for some particular need like the souls in purgatory, reparation for abortion, and many other things. I’ve heard Catholics say on many occasions, especially when experiencing pain or suffering, "offer it up to God."

As a newish Catholic, I have found this practice particularly helpful and spiritually satisfying. Offering ourselves to God, always done in union with Christ and also with the Saints, gives meaning to our suffering, struggles, and pain as well as our joys and successes. Our struggles are no longer ours alone to bear, but are done with our Lord, his Mother, and those who are in his blessed presence. Our sufferings are also not mired in futility, but are done for something noble and honorable. In other words, our sufferings now have a purpose, a raison d’être. Our lives then become sacrifices to God.

However, our sacrifices are not our own, but are united to the one Sacrifice of Christ, which is re-presented daily in the sacrifice of the mass. It’s an amazing concept to think of our humble sacrifices and offerings united to that of our Lord. Yet it is true. The Catechism explains it well (#1368):

The Church which is the Body of Christ participates
in the offering of her Head. With him, she herself is offered whole and
entire. She unites herself to his intercession with the Father for all
men. In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the
sacrifice of the members of his Body. The lives of the faithful, their
praise, sufferings, prayer, and work, are united with those of Christ
and with his total offering, and so acquire a new value. Christ’s
sacrifice present on the altar makes it possible for all generations of
Christians to be united with his offering.

Many will protest that this is somehow earning our salvation, yet how can we earn anything apart from what Jesus did on the Cross? We don’t try to earn God’s favor, but rather cooperate with God’s free grace. It’s like the prayer, Most Sweet Jesus notes:

We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Your Divine honor, the satisfaction that You once made to Your Eternal Father on the Cross and that You continue to renew daily on our altars…

Thus, all we can offer is the very life and gift that our Lord gave us. Our own offerings must be offered in union with that priceless gift. There is no greater thought than our sufferings, pain, joys, triumphs, failures, and indeed our whole lives being offered to the Father through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Image by Jonathan Bennett
 

For your mercies’ sake, O Lord my God, tell me what you are to me. Say to my soul: "I am your salvation." So speak that I may hear, O Lord; my heart is listening; open it that it may hear you, and say to my soul: "I am your salvation." After hearing this word, may I come in haste to take hold of you. Hide not your face from me. Let me see your face even if I die, lest I die with longing to see it. The house of my soul is too small to receive you; let it be enlarged by you. It is all in ruins; do you repair it. There are thing in it – I confess and I know – that must offend your sight. But who shall cleanse it? Or to what others besides you shall I cry out? From my secret sins cleanse me, O Lord, and from those of others spare your servant. Amen.

St. Augustine of Hippo

Prayer Source: Catholic-Forum.Com
Image from St. Charles Borromeo Church

I am thinking of the Chinese blessing and curse: "may you live in interesting times." Right now that would pretty much describe where I am. I am very excited about several things today: my fiancee is coming to visit on Tuesday, our wedding is coming up, I’m starting a new job, and I’m moving to a new area. I’m very happy about these new events.

However, a lot of stress is also building. The lady from the house I want hasn’t called me back yet and my job starts in about 3 weeks. I am a much better "stayer" than "mover" too. I enjoy new experiences, but I extremely dislike having to pack everything up and move. Maybe it’s because since 2002 I’ve lived in 4 different places and I’ve gotten mighty tired of packing up U-hauls.

Regarding my marriage, immigration is going faster than expected, but dealing with immigration still adds a degree of stress. I just long to be settled down, married, and doing what I want to do with my job. I want to be done with apartment hunting, done with immigration, and done with moving!

I’ve been trying to say the act of hope frequently throughout the day. During stressful time, it’s easy not to have hope. I found a beautiful act of hope by St. Augustine of Hippo, which I’ll share in my next post. Anyway, I’m very excited about Carmel coming! Long distance relationships are tough and these are the best times! Please keep our situation, including housing, in your prayers.

I mentioned earlier, buried in a previous post, that I got a teaching job in Cleveland. I will be teaching religion starting this fall. It is a personal policy not to mention work on my blog, except on the rare occasion where I may say in general terms "I had a good day at work" or "I taught x class today and enjoyed it."  I just feel that blogging on work would be unfair to my generous employers.

Still, I do want to announce that I did get this teaching job and thank those who’ve been praying for my future. This is a real blessing and I’m grateful to God, the prayers of Mary, the school and all the great people there. I want to ask your continued prayers to find a nice house in a good, safe, and quiet neighborhood. I want a good place too for when my fiancee and I get married. I have found a place, but I need prayer to make sure I can get it. If you read this post, please offer up a quick prayer for me. Thanks!

The Carmelites began when Christian monks, following the crusaders, went to the Mt. Carmel of Old Testament fame to become hermits and live a rule of life. However, in 1245 the Muslims recaptured much of the holy land and murdered most of the Carmelites. Those who survived returned to Europe and spread their rule throughout the world. This is where the story of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel begins.

According to tradition, in 1251, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock, a Carmelite in England and gave him the brown scapular. It was a symbol of the bond between the Carmelite order and herself. However, the scapular is for all people and represents the protection and security we find in Mary’s heavenly love and intercession.

The scapular is often misunderstood. Many, especially those uneducated about its origins and purpose, regard it as magic or superstitious. However, this is not the case. The scapular is a sacramental and above all a sign. Mary promised at Mt. Carmel that all who die with the scapular will not suffer eternal fire. However, this is understood in light of Catholic teaching that says that one must persevere in faith, hope, and love in order to be saved. The scapular then is a sign of a life in total obedience to Christ through Mary who gave the perfect example.

Sources/More info:
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Shrine (see historical parts of this site)
EWTN
Carmelites

Image from:
St. Charles Borromeo Church Image Gallery (note the scapular in it)

Foxnews has profiled the suspected suicide bombers that murdered over 50 people in England. They all seem to be fairly affluent (the neo-Marxist "terrorist= angry poor" theory just doesn’t hold water) and fairly unassuming people. One was into cricket and another was a family man who worked with disabled children. One was an adolescent troublemaker who got "straight" through his embrace of Islam. Obviously, adolescent troublemaking is preferable to murder, but for awhile it looked like he was at least settling down into normal life.

This information makes the bombers seem more human. That, you see, is what is so scary. These were people who on the surface would’ve been good neighbors and good members of a community. It’s scary because these men weren’t conspicuously anti-Western or obviously angry. And yet deep down they were filled with hate for Western culture and their own country of citizenship. A hate that allowed them to callously murder over 50 people while taking their own lives, all in the name of Islam.

Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio at the Crossroads Initiative has written a good summary of the importance of the name "Benedict" for our new Pontiff. It’s very interesting and certainly worth reading.

A name, especially in the Catholic context really says a lot. I’ve always been fascinated about why a Pope chooses a particular name. I guess it was easier in the olden days when the Popes simply used their own names. I’m rambling here, but I’m a little surprised there’s never been a Peter II.

I really like cats (hey, I’m in good company with Benedict XVI) and last night reminds me of why. I was having a nightmare and talking in my sleep. So, what does my youngest cat do? She jumps on my stomach to wake me up! It took the wind out of me, but worked. About three months ago when I had another nightmare she also woke me up, this time by licking my face. She never has done these kinds of things at night, except when I’ve had nightmares. She’s a special cat.

After a long and very public journey of searching, blogger Al Kimel, aka The Pontificator, a now former Episcopalian priest, has finally joined the Catholic Church. As an Episcopalian, he was active in traditional and catholic minded circles, even helping to write the Baltimore Declaration which repudiated certain heretical influences within the Episcopal Church. Al Kimel has taken the path followed by many including his influence John Henry Newman. He was a big influence on my journey to the Catholic Church. Al, welcome to the Church!

My brother and I have run a prayer request webpage for about a year (in conjunction with our websites Ancient and Future Catholics and Church Year.Net). We figured that any ministry without prayer is doomed and wanted a way to know the needs of our readers. I encourage people who read this blog, if you desire, to share your requests and to pray for others who have left their requests. To visit the prayer room, click here.

Catholic World News is reporting that The Pope May Travel to Istanbul to have an ecumenical summit with the titular head of the Orthodox Church, His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.

We need to really pray for these kinds of meetings between the "two lungs" of the Church to be more frequent and to bear fruit. The division between Catholics and the Orthodox in such troubled times is well, troubling. The East and West need to respond with a united voice in the midst of the strife and confusion present in the early 21st century.