Category: Catholicism

12/12/12. Enjoy it while it lasts because it won’t happen again for another hundred years. It was only eleven years ago that nerds worldwide celebrated Binary Day (01/01/01), snickering at the rest of the population over their little inside joke, toasting each other with Diet Mountain Dew, and quoting Klingon proverbs to each other. Will today achieve the same notoriety? Some people will notice and others will not. And why should they? It’s just another day, no?

If you listen to the sensationalist media, the Mayans have predicted that we won’t make it past Christmas! As I heard someone humorously explain, the Mayans left another less well-known message, “Sorry about not finishing the calendar, but we’re a little tied up right now with these Spanish jerks!”

Jesus told us that only the Father knows the date and time of the end of the world. He taught us that we would do better to concern ourselves only with today, “which has troubles enough of its own.”¹ In fact, for many people across the planet, 12/12/12 is the end of the world as they know it. Some will die today. Some will be involved in accidents or be diagnosed with diseases that irrevocably change their lives. Or these things will happen to a loved one. The point is, we are never promised a tomorrow.

A great saint once said that the past and the future are just other forms of self. The past consists of nothing but our memories, and the future consists only of our dreams. The only reality is now. You and I exist in the now of this very moment. Even as you read this, God is sustaining your life from nanosecond to nanosecond, always waiting to see if you will turn toward Him.

It is God’s mercy that creates us, sustains us through our days, however many there may be, and it is His mercy that will bring us to our heavenly home…if we will only respond to Him…today.

¹Matthew 6:34

It’s a constant source of fascination to me to see what people get steamed up about. Just in time for the holidays, the outrage du jour is the Pope “cancelled” Christmas.

There are some folks out in the wilds of the internet who are all bummed out that Pope Benedict XVI, who you’ll remember was a college professor, tried to shed some light on the birth of Jesus Christ. Very timely idea, no?

His new book, Jesus of Nazareth – The Infancy Narratives (available here), looks at the gospel accounts of the Savior’s birth, and separates what we know, based on those accounts, from what tradition has handed down to us. Such as the fact that Jesus was probably born in a cave and there might not have been animals around. The Boo-hooing, Biddies of Blogdom accuse the Pope of trashing the traditional Christmas crèche! And they go on to complain that he dumped all over the practice of caroling, and so on.

Put down the mouse, and back away. Take a breath. Better?

Continue reading “Let’s All Take a Deep Breath”

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. In keeping with America’s limited attention span, we’re already on to Christmas sales and decorations. However, I’d like to linger over Thanksgiving for a little while longer if you don’t mind.

My father spent his holiday undergoing major surgery. There were complications that left him worse for wear. Right at this exact moment, he is sleeping in his room in the Cardiac Care Unit. When he finally does get to go home, it will be because of the dozens and dozens of people who looked after him and our family, often in complete disregard of their own families, or any possibility of enjoying the holidays themselves.

Some of you might say—quite correctly—that,  of course they did; it’s their job. Yes, they’re compensated for what they do, but there’s an enormous difference between doing a job for hire in a competent fashion, and doing it competently with patience and compassion.

Every single person who crossed our path, from the wonderful nurses who prepped Dad for surgery, to the ladies at the patient information desk who kept us informed, calm, and caffeinated (quite a feat I assure you), to the nurses who cared for him post-op, all of them did so with great care. They treated us as if we were part of their own family. Dad’s surgeon not only showed great professionalism and skill, but also took the time to explain things honestly. He even took the time to deliver a bit of a lecture to Yours Truly about my own health.

Yesterday, in the tedious hours when all the patients were quiet and there wasn’t much to do, I watched Dad’s primary care nurse eat her turkey dinner, such as it was, at her little desk. Even as she tried to enjoy that small moment to herself, she kept one eye scanning the computer screen that monitored the vitals of her patients. It wasn’t much of a holiday for her, or any of her colleagues for that matter, but you wouldn’t know it. Every thing they did, big or little, they did cheerfully, ungrudgingly, with loads of encouragement for their patients laced with plenty of good humor. Dad’s convalescence is going to take a very long time, but he’s well on his way thanks to them.

In a time when simple kindness is so rare, the contrast to normal behavior is all the more striking. Today the news is full of scenes of normal people acting like fools and brawling over Christmas shopping. It’s heartening to know that there are still people in this world who put others first, not because they get paid to do it, but because it’s the right thing to do.

For them, my family and I are truly thankful!

Who would’ve thought this iPhone thing would open up a whole new level of self-discovery for me? It has, and I thought this was worth sharing with you…

I was talking with my buddy Jack about my grudging adoption of the ubiquitous iPhone. Jack has long owned and used Apple products—in fact his wife once worked for Apple—and is therefore thoroughly convinced of their virtues.

When I finally admitted that, yes, it is a superior device to my old Blackberry, he commented that he was going to start calling me Pepe le Pew. Puzzled, I asked him why. He replied that there are some people who are, and I’m paraphrasing here, “so mortally afraid of being one of the sheep, that they refuse to adopt the new, and clearly superior technology.” Pepe le Pew saw himself as a great Lothario, and “absolutely refused to admit he was a skunk.”

Continue reading “Welcome to the 21st Century, Part Deux”

Please take a minute to listen to this repost of a podcast from Ancient Faith Radio. I know I will listen to this over and over.

 

 

After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne and from the Lamb.”

All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. The prostrated themselves before the throne and worshiped God, and exclaimed:

“Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.” He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

For this reason they stand before God’s throne and worship him day and night in his temple; the one who sits on the throne will shelter them. They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them.

For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”¹

Continue reading “Happy All Saints Day”