In praise of Americans and not giving a @#$%!

As an American living in Europe, I am often subjected to veiled and not-so-veiled remarks from Europeans about the cultural/political backwardness of our great nation.  From snickering comments about cowboys to outright falsehoods about the Tea Party, Europeans feel free to think out loud when it comes to taking elitist swipes at the American eagle.  Normally, I smile, say something self-deprecating, and move on.  

When I first arrived in Rome in 2008, a friar from an eastern European country acidly remarked on the U.S.'s military presence on the European continent.  Maybe it was just my mood that day, or maybe it was the strain of being one of the few Americans in the priory who didn't want to add Obama to the Holy Trinity; regardless, I replied, "Well, brother, I'd be happy to see us pull all of our troops out of Europe.  But then you guys who have to take up the slack and spend some of our state welfare money on keeping Putin out of your backyard.  It's the U.S.'s willingness to defend you that allows you to spend so much on government welfare."  Needless to say, he turned purple and the conversation ended.  

I'm reminded of this failure to keep my cool by this article from Inside Higher Ed, "In Praise of the Americans."  The piece ends with this observation: 

“All the world criticizes them and they don’t give a damn….Moralists cry over them, criminologists dissect them, writers shoot epigrams at them, prophets foretell the end of them, and they never move. Seventeen brilliant books analyze them every month; they don’t read them .… But that’s all right. The Americans don’t give a damn; don’t need to; never did need to. That is their salvation.”

This astute observation was written in 1932 by Canadian political scientist, Stephen Leacock.  His take on Americans still applies to 99.9% of us, I think.  However, it could be argued that we  are currently ruled by the .1% who do give a damn what Europeans think of us.  Maybe that's the Great Divide we're seeing in U.S. politics these days. . .

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

WOW. . .apparently, North Korea has lost its mind.

More on the amateurism of our current Betters:  rep from the Taliban in peace talks is an impostor.

This sounds like a good idea. . .frankly, anything that curbs the power of D.C. seems good right now.

"Catholics" in Belgium become Protestants while pretending to still be Catholics.  Only the NYT would think that this sort of thing is new. 

Anti-bullying law for NJ.  When responsible parenting fails, Nanny is always ready and willing to step in. 

Canonist Ed Peters is just a little bit peeved with L'Observatore over its premature publication of the Holy Father's comments on condom use.  Let the purge begin!

Upon hearing a weird combo of words, I always say, "That sounds like the name of a new band."

Um, no thanks. . .I'll wait for the next rest area.

When computer geeks get in trouble at school.

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A new assignment (UPDATED)

This just in. . .

My provincial has assigned me to help out at St. Joseph's parish in Ponchatula, LA from Jan to June 2011. 

I'll be assisting Fr. John Dominic Sims, OP.  This will be my first parochial assignment as a priest.

UPDATE:  Sorry, I didn't make this clear!  I will be returning to Rome in Oct 2011 to continue studies toward the PhD in philosophy.  I've done all I can here in Rome on the license until next Oct.

 

St. Joseph's

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All in or not at all

St Cecilia

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Ss. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Anyone who lives in Rome understands what it means to take a risk. If the careening taxis don't mow you down at a crosswalk, the uneven cobblestones will break your ankles. If the herds of tourists on the 64 bus don't crush you to death, the summer heat will suck the life out of you. We all take risks just by walking out the door every morning. We calculate the costs of leaving home against the benefits of staying in bed, weighing all the options, teasing out the advantages, appraising the disadvantages, and then we choose. Most of the time, we get the equations right and manage to live another day. If this sort of cost/benefit analysis works for mere survival, can we use it in making choices about how we live our lives in Christ? That is, when it comes to deciding whether or not and to what degree we will follow after Christ, can we coolly, logically process all the available evidence before making a choice? Jesus' tale of the widow's mite says, no, we can't. We're all in or not at all.

Living with Christ is not a contest of minimizing risks, planning strategies, or prudently calculating cost/benefit. Living with Christ is a recklessly generous, open-handed, open-hearted, full-tilt run; a sanctifying contest of perseverance and strength, a contest played with everything you've got and all that you are. If we pick and choose which portions of ourselves we will and won't give to Christ, then we cannot claim a prize even if we finish the race. If all that you are, if all of who you are didn't compete, then who exactly crossed the finish line? The widow knows who she is—a child of God the Father. She sacrifices her entire livelihood; she gives wholly, fully everything she has: two mites, two small coins. The wealthy gave of their surplus, what was left over after the cost/benefit calculations had been made. She gave out of her poverty, out of what she didn't have to give. Of her sacrifice, Jesus says, “. . .this poor widow put in more than all the rest.” The “more” that she gives is not calculable by weight or by an exchange value. How can trust in God be measured? How do we weigh hope? By giving all that she has and all that she is, the widow throws herself recklessly—ignorant of risk, despite the threat of failure—she throws herself into the hands of God and trusts Him to provide. 

The moment you and I are equal to this sacrifice, we are well and fully committed to living our lives following after Christ. We are either all in or not at all. Christ himself did nothing less for us.

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OMG! The Pope says condoms are OK!!!

The Pelvic Obsessed Media are going bat crazy over the Pope's "changing his mind" on the morality of condom use.  No such change has occurred.  The use of artificial contraception within the bonds of marriage for the prevention of procreation is always intrinsically morally evil.  Sex outside the bonds of marriage is always intrinsically morally evil, so the Church has never felt it necessary to say anything about the use of contraception when it comes to adultery, pre-martial sex, same-sex sexual activity, etc.  

What the Church has said about condom use to prevent disease is this:  it is not a fool-proof means for preventing the spread of STD's.  Only sexual abstinence is 100% guaranteed to prevent the transmission of diseases contracted through sexual activity.  The only "change" here is that BXVI is saying out loud what common sense and logic dictates.  In cases where one sexual partner is infected with an STD, it might be morally permissible to use a condom in order to protect the uninfected partner.  

When it comes to making moral choices intention is vital.  If you are married and you use condoms with the intention of preventing pregnancy, you are intending a morally evil act.  If you aren't married and you use condoms. . .well, you are already engaging in a morally evil act--sex outside the bonds of marriage.  The Church has never addressed the issue of whether or not artificial contraception is permissible outside of marriage.  Why?  Because sex outside of marriage is always morally evil.  For the Church to say, "Yea, it's OK (or not) to use condoms if you're gonna fornicate or commit adultery" would be strange.  

What about a case where a husband or wife commits adultery and contracts an STD? Is it morally permissible for them to use a condom?  If the intention is to prevent the uninfected partner from disease, I'd say yes.  We might even go so far as to say that not using a condom would be morally evil.  Under the circumstances, the best option for them would be sexual abstinence, especially if there is a chance that a child might be irreparably damaged by the disease.

The example that BXVI uses to illustrate his point is telling:  a male prostitute who uses condoms to prevent STD's.  The Pope says the guy is showing some moral awareness by using condoms. He is already engaged in a morally evil business, so taking steps to lessen the evil consequences of his chosen occupation demonstrates that there is a spark of conscience at work. 

Bottom-line:  nothing has changed.  The whole "Pope shifts his position on condoms" meme sells papers.  Nothing more. 

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Getting us used to the idea of shutting down websites by going after "copyright infringement."  How long before some gov't agency decides that criticism of the governing party violates "intellectual property rights"?

The train of Eric Holder's DoJ is just starting to wreck with the recent Gitmo detainee verdict.

I would rather be sent to the Sudan as a door-to-door Bible salesman than work for the TSA.  I feel sorry for the screeners.  They are doing the job they've been given.  It's Big Sis who needs to be encouraged to explore alternative career options.

Remember this if you're flying over the holidays:  it's the dumb TSA rules that are causing the problems NOT the screeners.

Case in point:  Muslim women may be exempted from airport body searches.  Yea, that'll work.

A solution to the sex abuse crisis:  "Fidelity, fidelity, fidelity."  When the scandal reached its peak in 2002, self-appointed Prophets of Church Reform didn't want the crisis to go to waste.  Calls for radical restructuring of Church governance rang throughout the land.  But here's the problem:  had the priests and bishops who caused the scandal actually followed Church teaching there would have been no abuse, no cover-ups, no crisis.

How to fix US airport security. . .unfortunately, we would never follow these suggestions b/c someone might sue.  We can't allow anyone to feel singled out.

Redneck wedding chaos. . .um, those cops need some training on how to deescalate a potentially violent situation.  Screaming hysterically "CALM DOWN!!!" just doesn't work.  

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No thieves in the temple

33rd Week OT (Fri)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Ss. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Jesus enters the holy city and delivers what has come to be called the Lament for Jerusalem, “For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will. . .smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation." God's people—busy with the business of the world—fail time and again to heed the prophets, leaving themselves unprepared for divine judgment. Evidence of their lack of readiness, the sign of their inattention is the thriving marketplace that has overwhelmed the temple courtyard. Quoting the prophet Malachi, Jesus shouts, “'My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.'” He then drives the merchants out of the temple so that he might teach without distraction. This surprising scene raises an intriguing question: in what ways do we steal from God? 

Mixing religion and money always brings with it the temptation to abuse one or the other if not both. Pastors steal from the collection plate. Bishops overlook sexual misconduct in fear of expensive lawsuits. Otherwise good Christians cheat on their taxes or allow money to threaten their marriages and friendships. Even Catholic religious living under vows of poverty manage to find temptation in the accumulation of things. The problem that Jesus recognizes in the temple courtyard however is not the doing of business per se. Buying and selling are not sinful in themselves. The problem is that those who buy and sell in the temple are principally motivated by buying and selling. Consumed with the daily business of acquiring money, they allow their attention to wander away from doing the business of God. God's house of prayer becomes a den of thieves when we turn our attention away from the works of righteousness and toward working in the world for the world. Our job description—as baptized followers of Christ—is simple: witness to the mercy of God by preaching His word in season and out.

Jesus wrecks the businesses in the temple because they steal from God. They steal the worship due His name. They steal the time and treasure due His work. They steal the talent better used in His service. God's people in Jerusalem are unprepared for the divine visitation. Quite literally, they don't see it coming. If we want to be prepared for judgment, we will carefully, diligently remain on watch, living each moment knowing that we live in God's creation, living as His creatures, wholly possessed by our promise to be His faithful workers.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Professional cheaters:  custom essay writing companies do a booming business.  I was once offered $300 in grad school to write a paper for a fellow student in our critical theory seminar.  I turned it down.  Even Marxist-feminists can have a conscience!

Using the internet to plagiarize is all too common.  One problem for professors is the huge amount of relevant material available to students on the internet.  There's simply no way for profs to keep up with everything available in their respective fields.  One solution is to assign highly specific topics on a limited range of material.  This is where U.D.'s penchant for asking "what does the text say?" comes in very handy.

Great American Spirit at work!  The kid who was told he couldn't fly an American flag on his bike gets the support of hundreds. . .all with flags on their bikes. 

Finger-pointing is not a sign of leadership.

Parish surveys instead of a homily?  NO.  Nothing should take the place of the homily at Mass.  Not capital fund appeals.  Not announcements.  Not lay-led meditations.  Nothing.  If the bishop is asking the pastor to read a fundraising letter, then it can be read before Mass begins.  Annoying, I know.  But replacing the homily with mundane parish business diminishes preaching by presenting the homily as dispensable.

Rainbow Sash Movement endorses Bishop Kicanas for USCCB president.  I doubt the good bishop sought this endorsement, but the fact that this dissident group thinks the bishop would make a good president of our nation's episcopal conference should cause the voting bishops pause.

Even the Europeans are starting to see the error of Big Gov't.

Charlie "I Don't Come Cheap" Rangel (D-NY) convicted of 11 ethical violations. 

"Why Marxism Always Fails". . .socialism requires a culturally homogeneous society whose citizens are willing and able to become wards of the State.  Inevitably, socialist societies quash natural human instincts like the desire to better oneself, a longing for the transcendent, and the need to individualize--all b/c these traits fail to reinforce dependency on the State.

Mark Shea on being an orthodox Catholic opponent of torture.  I join The Church's Yeti of the Northwest in his crusade against torture; or rather, he and I join the Church's crusade against torture.  Say it with me now:  "Utilitarianism is NOT and will NEVER be part of Catholic orthodoxy."

Take the Zombie Survival Quiz.  I got an "A."  Was there any doubt?

For all those able-bodied people who park in handicap spaces.

Ahhhh, romance isn't dead!

Physics via Calvin & Hobbes. 

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US Bishops break with tradition

The voting bishops of the USCCB dodged a huge P.R. bullet today.  They elected Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York as president of their conference.

It is customary for the bishops to elect the previous term's vice-president to the office of president.  However, the presumptive heir to the office, Bishop Gerard Kicanas of Tuscon hit the major stumbling block when it was reported that while rector of a seminary he knew about the sexual proclivities and activities of a seminarian he later approved for ordination to the priesthood.  That priest went on to molest a dozen boys and is serving time for his crimes.

Bishop Kicanas' election bid probably wasn't helped by the fact that the "Catholic" special interest group the "Rainbow Sash Movement" endorsed the bishop, praising his "evolving views" and his close ties to Cardinal Bernadin of Chicago, his mentor.  RSM's website is claiming that the USCCB is taking a turn to the right. 

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Sr. Mary Joseph of the Five Wounds gets frisked

 

Drudge Report caption:  "The Terrorists Have Won!"

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Believing is seeing

St Albert the Great

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Ss Domenico e Sisto, Roma

As students and professors learning and teaching in a Catholic university, the idea that we must believe in order to understand is not all that controversial. Understanding is not limited to the accumulation, dissection, and explanation of facts about the material world. Central to the humane project of reasoning about the world is our right and duty to make ethical judgments and good moral choices. We cannot call ourselves human beings (much less Christians) if we begin our investigations of the world with the idea that all we need to do is observe, collect, and explain in purely empirical terms. How do you chronicle the genocides of Rwanda w/o reaching a moral judgment? How do you explain the holocaust of legalized abortion w/o challenging the ethics of medical science? “Seeing” for Christians cannot be a cold, clinical exercise in objective observation. Because we first believe, we understand. We first believe that we are loved creatures of a loving God, then we understand what it means to slaughter innocents, to experiment on the physically disabled and mentally challenged, to subject others to state persecution, torture, and exile b/c of their race, religion, or ethnicity. Our belief is not a political ideology nor is it a philosophical position. Our belief is the same belief embodied in the blind man who cries out to the Lord, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me. . .please let me see!” Our hope comes in Christ's answer to the man, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.” 

We need to pay attention to the ordering of events in this gospel story. The blind man hears that Jesus is coming. He cries out. The man is brought to Jesus. Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” Believing that Jesus can heal his blindness, the man pleads for pity from one whom he trusts will show him the compassion necessary to open his eyes, so pleads to see. Jesus tells him 1) “have sight,” then 2) “your faith has saved you.” Faith comes first, then sight. Had the blind man wanted to wait until his sight was restored before he believed, he would still be blind. But b/c he first believed, his world is illuminated by faith and now he “sees as” a follower of Christ. 

As students and professors learning and teaching at a Catholic university, we follow along behind the great Christian minds of our tradition. We “see as” followers of Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas who were themselves followers of Christ, and by submitting to the truths of the faith and right reason, we mold not only our intellects but our hearts as well into Christ-shaped instruments for doing the work of divine love in the world. Therefore, our most profound prayer is the plea of a blind man, “Lord, please let me see!”

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Excellent idea:  outlaw lame duck sessions of Congress.

Holy Father rattles the liturgical cages of Italy's bishops.  Of all the bishops' conferences in the Church, the Italian conference has been the most stubborn about accepting BXVI's liturgical vision.

Church of England clergy turn to Mother Church. . .that sound you hear is Henry VIII spinning in his grave.

B.O. allows 110 companies to opt-out of ObamaCare, including a health-care reform group that supported his "reform."  Check out the list on the link.  NB. the number of unions that received waivers. 

On wearing the Roman collar. . .if you want to start an argument among religious, ask:  when should the habit be worn in public?  Answers will most likely divide along generational lines.  The younger the religious, the more likely he/she will say, "All the time."

Rocky the Squirrel rehearses his role as Sampson in the school's Christmas play

Ready! Aim! Fire!

A bumper sticker for all you physics geeks. . .you know who you are.

Folding furniture for those tiny apartments. 

Men vs. Women jokes.  NB.  only men may click this link.

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Let it go now. . .

Most appropriate for today. . .



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Why we need more exorcists. . .

 

QUICK!  Someone call the Monkey Exorcist!!

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Bishop Kicanas responds. . .

The bishops of the US conference (USCCB) will be electing their president next week.  The custom of the conference is to elect the vice-president in the previous term as president.  In this case, following custom, they would elect Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tuscon.

The media (Catholic and secular) are reporting that Bishop Kicanas defended the ordination of a man later convicted of child molestation.  Various Catholic blogs have drawn attention to these reports and have asked the USCCB to seriously consider whether or not Bishop Kicanas is fit for the post of president.

The Register has given Bishop Kicanas the chance to respond to these media reports. 

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Where the body is, there is death

St. Josaphat

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Ss Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Around the highways and streets of the US, you will occasionally see a bumper-sticker that reads: “CAUTION: In case of Rapture, this car will be empty!” Most cradle Catholics have never heard of the Rapture. Those of us who are converts from Protestantism know the term all too well. The Rapture is an end-times event where those who are “saved” will be jerked into heaven, leaving behind empty cars, offices, airplanes, and churches. This event is a sign that the God's judgment on the world has begun and those remaining must endure the Tribulation—the reign of the Beast, the anti-Christ, and the Battle of Armageddon. Exactly how all of these events play out—which comes first, who must suffer what—is the subject of intense debate among believers in the Rapture. Whole Protestant denominations have been founded on one or another interpretation of these prophesied events. Catholics have been more or less spared all this speculation b/c the Church has always taught that events described in the Book of Revelation are best understood as a form of Jewish literary apocalypticism used by John to narrate historical events that took place in the first century of the Church. John used the highly symbolic images of Daniel, Ezekiel, and others to encrypt the history of Rome's persecutions of the early Church in order to protect and encourage Christians. If all of this is true, how do we understand this morning's gospel? Jesus seems to be saying that when judgment day arrives, some will be taken and others will be left behind. Is he describing the Rapture?

Yes and no. Yes, he is certainly describing events that correspond to what some believe to be the Rapture. But he is not describing a one-time event that occurs at the end of the world. What Jesus is describing is the one event that happens to us all—death. We will all die and face judgment. Being prepared for that inevitable event is the point of Jesus' teaching. Worrying about End Time disasters and fanciful apocalyptic mysteries is pointless. The purpose—the only reason—for living a Christian life is to become more and more like Christ. At the moment of death, the moment of judgment, God will recognize those who have embodied the spirit of Christ and welcome them to His kingdom. Or He will honor the free choice of some to reject His love and allow them an eternity set apart from His presence. This process of death and judgment happens quite literally thousands of times a day. Every time someone dies. Speculation about some future end-time snatching of believers from their daily lives misses the whole thrust of Jesus' teaching here. Even the disciples seem to miss the point. They want to know where these events will take place. What does Jesus say? “Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.” And where is that exactly? Jerusalem? Rome? Peoria? In so far as people living in these cities die everyday, yes. But death comes to us all regardless of where we live. Wherever there is a body, death will come and judgment follows; therefore, Jesus urges us: be ready, always ready to account for your life in Christ, being sure that you have lived as close to him as your gifts allow.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Wards of the Brit Nanny State throw a fit in the delusional belief that breaking things in the streets of London will magically make money spring from the ground. . .

Gov't panel charged with eliminating waste, fraud, etc. in the Porkulus. . .errrr. . .I mean, Stimulus Plan meets over the Thanksgiving holiday at the Ritz Carlton.  I believe this is what P.R. people call "bad optics," i.e. it looks bad.

More politicization of the DoJ. . .not only is this sort of thing probably illegal, it is certainly politically stupid.  Doesn't it occur to these folks that one day. . .probably real soon. . .they aren't going to be in charge anymore and then it's going to be the other side's turn to shine the light on their foibles?

A little history of Holder's DoJ

Potential problems for the USCCB in the upcoming election for that body's president.  Here's a chance for the bishops to show the Church and the world that they have learned something since 2002.

Is Marco Rubio Catholic or not?  Haven't seen anything about this in the US media.

Vatican publishes the Holy Father's exhortation from the recent bishops' synod on scripture, Verbum Domini.  NB.  this is a 208 page pdf document!

Eeeewwwww. . .I'll take a bourbon instead, thanks.

Decision flow-chart:  Should I have a cookie?  Sounds about right to me!

On postmodern doctoral dissertations.  Um, this sounds about right too.

Beware the poetic justice of the sanitation men

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Logic for the Facially Haired

 

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Coffee Bowl Browsing (Mildly Grumpy Edition)

N.B.  Since I will be in the U.S. from Dec 2010 to Oct 2011, I've changed the shipping address on the WISH LIST.

Moon Bat Alert!  Why are these dinosaurs allowed to spread their nonsense at a Catholic parish?  Would Call to Action or the Women's Ordination Conference invite Archbishops Chaput or Burke to one of their conferences?  

Bishop Morlino is doing is job in Wisconsin. . .

Texas may adopt an "Arizona-style" anti-illegal immigration law.  What they mean is that Texas is considering adopting the Federal immigration law that's been around since the 1940's. . .that's all Arizona did.

Here's one reason CA is having to borrow $40 million a day just to keep up with the state payroll:  a list of state agencies.  Check out the comments too for a list of MA state agencies! 

Also, No Bailout for California!  Working in a rehab facility taught me two important behavioral truths:  1). past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior; 2). bad behavior that never results in bad consequences will always be repeated.

Speaking of bad acts with consequences. . .AARP is raising the medical insurance rates of its employees.  Why?  To avoid new taxes imposed by ObamaCare.  Irony:  AARP endorsed B.O.'s boondoggle.

NPR's board dominated by the Left.  I'm shocked.  Not.

CCHD's self reform seems to be failing even as it gets started.  Is this incompetence or cluelessness?

"What do I do if Father asks the congregation to raise their right hand and bless the newly baptized?"  Easy.  Don't.  I've worked with a few priests who did this and it always smacked of "Look at How Enlightened I Am" theater.  Don't make a big deal about it.  Just don't participate.

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How strong is your faith?

32rd Week OT (M)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Ss. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

As is painfully obvious, I'm an American and not only an American but an American from the deep south of the U.S., specifically, Mississippi and Texas. This means that my already distinctly American tendency to live life in a big way is intensified by that distinctly southern tradition of exaggeration, making that which is already too much even bigger. Big cars, big houses, big swimming pools, and, of course, big meals! Even our lives in Christ way down in the American south tend to be exaggerated. Megachurches, Hollywood-style Sunday services, Christian theme parks, and the occasional pentecostal tent revival. We enjoy a large faith, an all-consuming preoccupation with all things biblical and apocalyptic. But like the super-sized meals we love, a super-sized faith can be dangerous, especially when that faith is measured in terms of quantity. You can hear preachers—Protestant and Catholic—telling the sick that they will be healed if only they have “enough faith.” Or that a new job or a real estate deal will come if you just “believe enough.” This idea that our faith is about quantity seems to be reinforced by this morning's gospel. Jesus tells the apostles that they must forgive an offending brother as many times as he might ask for forgiveness. They say to Jesus, “Lord, increase our faith.” Jesus' response to this plea tells us that when it comes to faith, to trusting in the Father's promises, size doesn't matter.

Now, you might say here, “Well, if faith the size of a mustard seed can uproot a tree and replant it in the sea, then faith the size of a mountain could stop the planet from orbiting the sun!” You could say that. . .but you would be missing the point entirely. The apostles ask Jesus to increase their faith so that they can accomplish a seemingly impossible task, i.e. forgiving an offending brother every time he asks to be forgiven. Jesus' answer to this request tells us plainly that it is not the size or amount of our faith that matters, but the intensity, the integrity with which we exercise it. A big hammer is not a good tool if it is improperly used. A smaller hammer expertly used can be an excellent tool. So, the question is not “how big is your faith?” but rather “with what degree of strength and skill do you wield your faith?” 

In the same way that good tools must be sharpened, oiled, cleaned, and properly stored, so our faith must be expertly honed and maintained. We have on hand the expertise of the Church Fathers, the saints, the sacraments, the magisterium, and we have one another. All of these are specifically designed to assist us in keeping our trust in the Father's promises brightly polished, razor sharp, and squeaky clean. When we make full use of them, use them regularly, sincerely, and with an eye toward our ultimate end, our faith can only be strengthen. The tallest tower can collapse with time. The biggest monument can erode away. But our faith—even faith the size of a mustard seed—is invincible, indestructible if take care to use every godly gift we have been given.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Ridiculous?  B.O. gets an above ground, air-conditioned, bomb-proof, kilometer long above ground tunnel so he can visit a museum in India!!!  Not to mention 34 aircraft, 40 naval vessels, 3,000 staff, and some 800 hotel rooms. . .

Not so fast!  Are these numbers correct?  Maybe not all of them.  The denial seems entirely plausible.

This week's mid-term election put a stake in the left's internet power grab.  

Dems discover a bag of "uncounted ballots" in CT.  I hear Church Lady's voice, "How convenient!"

The "creative class" got spanked on Tuesday.  Well, you can't keep calling 80% of the voting population rednecks, hillbillies, racists, lizard brains, and rubes and expect to get a lollipop.

Yet again. . .the U.N. demonstrates its irrelevance to the real world.

BXVI slams socialist Spain for its anti-Catholic bigotry

On The Madness of King Barney. . .Barn will be 72 in 2012; his likely opponent, Sean Bielat will be all of 40.   Maybe Barn will just retire rather than put himself through the indignity of actually having to be re-elected.

The bio-evolutionary theory of why you feel smarter after a few beers.

Packing like a pro!  My mom is always amazed at how much stuff I can pack in my suitcase.  Two hints:  1) fold clothes in the bag, stuffing as your go; 2) leave grooming products at home and buy travel size versions when you arrive at your destination. 

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Kindle version of 1st prayer book

Just discovered this morning that my first prayer book, Treasures Old and New:  Traditional Prayers for Today's Catholic is available in a Kindle edition!

 Santa Claus is bringing me a Kindle for Christmas. . .so,  it's a little weird that I'm a Kindle author before I was ever a Kindle reader. . .

On coddling moral monsters regardless of party

Despite the fact that I go to bed every night praying the Novena for Protection Against Red Bearded Crypto-Protestants, I always find Mark Shea to be a good read. 

The Rubber Hose Right quite naturally evolves into the Assassination Right. This zeal for Salvation through Leviathan by Any Means Necessary is why, in the middle of all the fulmination about Obama as the Hitler/Stalin/Atheist/Muslim monster who is just about to murder 25 million Americans with his Bill Ayers Kommando secret death squads, nobody on the Talk Radio Right has uttered a peep about his actual (and incredibly dangerous) usurpation of power by which he has granted himself the authority (in the name of Keeping Us Safe from Terror, of course) to murder anybody in the world (including American citizens) without evidence, arrest or trial simply because he declares them to be, on his say-so alone, an "enemy combatant". 

[. . .]

Go read the whole thing b/c, ya know, he's right. 

P.S.  Shea, what's up with the Euro-punctuation?  American style-books aren't good enough for ya?

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On being honest stewards

31st Week OT (F)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Ss. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Few of us are surprised when we hear that wealthy, powerful people often abuse their power and wealth. In fact, many of us expect money and influence to be corrupting. When the overriding goal of one's life is material gain and personal glory, it follows that the means of achieving these goals will often make use of less than reputable methods. And why not? If there is little chance of being punished in this world for taking a darker route, and you aren't really all that worried about what happens after you depart this world, then getting what you can now—by any means necessary—seems not only desirable but prudent as well. Why hesitate to take what I want when the consequences of doing so aren't all that bad? Obviously, this is not an attitude that Christians can adopt with impunity! Our goals as followers of Christ do not include material gain and personal glory. Nor do we subscribe to the notion that every means available justifies any possible end. All of this may be obvious as it is, but is it obvious why we cannot live this way? Beyond our sure belief that taking what we want when we want it is a slippery slide into hell, do we as Christians understand our relationship to this world, and why we cannot serve God as dishonest stewards?

Christians are presented daily with a difficult problem: we must live as embodied souls in the world, but we cannot see ourselves as beings created by the world. We have to work, pay bills, do laundry, cook, clean, go to the doctor—just like everyone else. We have to get up in the morning, go to bed at night, and live day to day with others, all of whom are doing exactly the same sorts of things we are. The temptation to assimilate, to lose ourselves in the push and pull of just getting by is tremendous. The temptation to accumulate stuff and seek after personal glory is no less compelling. But “just getting by” is not the work we have been given to do. Nor have we been charged with storing up gold and influence. 

Being in the world but not of it means that our sights are firmly set on traveling through this world to the Father's kingdom beyond. Is this travel plan enough to make us into honest stewards? No, it isn't. Though we travel through the world to the kingdom, resisting as we go the temptations of wealth and glory, we do ourselves great damage if we ignore this fundamental truth: the world belongs to God. We are His stewards. Whatever wealth we possess, whatever talents we exercise, whatever time we spend, all are given to us to use in His service for His glory. Good, honest stewards use what they have been given to increase the wealth and glory of their Master. Being in the world means that we use what we have been given to bring creation as close to His perfection as we can. However, not being of the world means that we know our only hope of perfection lies outside the world we live in. The dishonest steward steals from both the world and his master for personal gain. The honest steward uses his master's wealth wisely and benefits both his master and the world. 

As children of the light our work is funded by the inexhaustible treasury of the Father's mercy and love. Our citizenship is in heaven, and we have been given all of God's creation to spend for His glory. If we choose to spend His wealth for our own satisfaction, then we join the ranks of stewards who find themselves out of work. However, if we do the job we have been given to do, our reward comes now and forever.

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So, how much did it cost to evacuate Saigon?

And first prize for best post mid-term election commentary goes to. . .

Caption:  "Except I don’t think that evacuating Saigon cost $200 million a day. "

H/T:  Instapundit

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San Martin de Porres

Happy feast day to all my brothers and sisters in the Province of St. Martin de Porres!

St. Martin is one of the Order's more fascinating saints:  medic/healer, animal-lover, tireless worker among the poor, and bi-locator.

Icons of Martin depict him in the (now defunct) Dominican habit of a lay brother. . .

Note that his capuce (hood) and scapular are black rather than white.  The lay brother habit was suppressed in the 1960's by General Chapter. . .much to the consternation of many of the lay brothers!

My province maintains Martin's shrine at St Peter's in Memphis, TN.

A prayer for the intercession of St Martin:

To you Saint Martin de Porres we prayerfully lift up our hearts filled with serene confidence and devotion. Mindful of your unbounded and helpful charity to all levels of society and also of your meekness and humility of heart, we offer our petitions to you. Pour out upon our families the precious gifts of your solicitous and generous intercession; show to the people of every race and every color the paths of unity and of justice; implore from our Father in heaven the coming of his kingdom, so that through mutual benevolence in God men may increase the fruits of grace and merit the rewards of eternal life. Amen.

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Four Reasons to Ignore Jesus' Command to Love

A repost from 2006. . .

St. Martin de Porres: Philippians 4.4-9 and Matthew 22.34-40

Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP

Serra Club Mass & Church of the Incarnation

Here are a few reasons why we should ignore Jesus’ command to love one another. Oh, “loving God,” by the way, is fine b/c that’s mostly an abstract sort of thing that doesn’t really require us to do much beyond saying that we love God. It’s not like the God-lovers glow or anything. OK. Back to the reasons to ignore Jesus:

1). Love is messy and it makes you act stupid: as a passion love is fine, but when indulged it turns the lover into a hopeless mess and promotes really dumb decision-making. Take Jesus, for example. Because he indulged in loving us, he ended up a real mess on a whipping post and nailed to a cross. He could’ve stopped the blood bath at any point and gotten off that brutal carnival ride, but he didn’t. He died for us instead.

2). Love is expensive: show me one act of love that is free, and I’ll show you some land near 114 that’s prime for a catfish farm. Love always seems to have a price. What’s the point of willing the Good for others when it will likely lighten your wallet, cost you a gallon of gas, or force you to spend several minutes of your life doing something charitable. Again, let’s look at Jesus. Was his act of love for us free? Well, OK, free for us! That’s fine. But it cost Jesus his dignity and his life. Expensive, indeed.

3). Love requires us to focus too much on others: it would seem that the basic point of love is to fawn all over other people, wait on them hand and foot, and pretend to be all about their needs and their hurts. It’s all about them, them, them! What about me?! I have my needs and my hurts and my wants and me, me, me…Perfect example of this problem: Jesus tells his little band that if they want to be first they have to serve others! What is that? What kind of logic is that? To be first I have to be last, willing to sacrifice prestige, place, honor, and power in order to SERVE! Jesus does this for us—again—but look at his conclusion. Great for us. Not so great for him.

4). You have to lie when you love: not that lying is a problem when you have to do it, but loving is doubly difficult b/c to keep people liking you you have to tell them what they don’t want to hear. You can’t “love” if you make people uncomfortable or if you say unpleasant things to them. It would seem that charity requires us to lie in order to keep the peace. Being peaceful is more important than speaking the truth. Obviously! Didn’t Jesus say that he came to divide with a sword, to both cut the bonds of sin and to split apart families and friends? Is that what love does when it forces you to tell the truth? Who thinks that’s good? He spoke the truth and ended up dead. Not a good example of peacekeeping.

I’ve given you four good reasons why loving one another is a problem: love is messy and makes you do dumb things; it is expensive; it requires you to focus too much on others; and it makes you lie. All good reasons to forget about love. And this is why Jesus doesn’t just suggest that we love one another or hint at the possibility of loving one another. He commands us to love. Commands. Do it! Love is the greatest commandment b/c our relationship with God depends on it. We cannot understand what God is saying to us through the prophets if we fail to love. And we cannot know what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, and excellent if we will not love. What’s worse: we cannot know anything of Goodness, we cannot imitate God, we cannot become Christ if we will not love.

It’s command. Not an argument or a suggestion or a caption for a child’s poster. It is a command, an order. And if you will be more than you are, if you will be made perfect in the Father’s love, you will love—Him, us, yourself and you will rejoice in the Lord always b/c He loved you first…and loves you still.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing (No Politics Edition)

Perfect Man/Perfect Woman. . .and Santa Claus.

Not so conspicuous consumption as theft deterrent

Are you a Zombie?  Take the quiz!

An Italian boy's confession

Facts about pirates you didn't know

So that's why traffic is so slow this morning. . .

Grad student's worse nightmare!

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The Way of Blessedness

I wasn't sure if there would be an English Mass this morning at the university.  So, I got up anyway and wrote a homily just in case.  Turns out, no English Mass.  Oh well. . .here it is anyway:

Solemnity of All Saints

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Ss. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

The saints of God—those named and unnamed, those still with us and those who rest in Christ—that “great multitude. . .from every nation, race, people, and tongue,” all the saints of God, testify before the throne in heaven and among us here and now that “salvation comes from our God. . .and from the Lamb;” therefore, we are graced to exclaim along with them, “Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever!” 

When the Father gave us the desire to praise Him, He gave us the gift of our salvation. St. John writes, “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.” That we are children of the Father is proof enough that we are loved, yet this is only the means to our final end: “. . .we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed.” And it will not be fully revealed until we stand with all the saints before His throne. Now, we live now in the hope of seeing Him as He is, trusting in His promises, all the promises He sent to us in the body and blood of His only Son, Christ Jesus. Who Christ was and is is exactly who we will become. That is the promise from which all His promises flow. Our task is to work with the gifts He has given us to make ourselves pure as he is pure. We do this by following the way of blessedness.

Jesus teaches the crowd the way of blessedness, not only showing them the way itself but showing them their destination as well. The poor in spirit; those who thirst and hunger for righteousness; the meek, the merciful, the clean of heart; the peacemakers and the persecuted—all of these are heirs to the kingdom, to be comforted, satisfied, and called the children of God. Being blessed is the both a gift and a task. All of us are given all that we need to flourish. But God's gifts are useless if we do not take them up and put them to work. And if our work is not to become an exercise in vanity, we must use our gifts for no other reason than to praise of God for his generosity. All the saints—all those we honor today—show us the way to distill our lives into the pure, Christ-like work of bringing God into the world for the salvation of the world. The men and women of the Church who have gone before us and shine in heaven do not radiate their own light. They reflect the Light of the One Who made us and re-makes us in Christ. If we will join them, we will pick up their gifted works, exhaust our own gifts while we are here, and leave behind a world populated with many more of the Father's children, with many more who long to see the face of their God.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Man dies from caffeine overdose.  No, it wasn't me.  I don't think I can overdose on caffeine. . .been a grad student for too many years.

That non-partisan/non-political "Restoring Sanity" rally in D.C. yesterday featured placards showing GOP leaders with Hitler mustaches.  Hmmmmm. . .

Enraged mobs in Toronto frighten their "Betters" by electing a mayor who promises to undo years of elitist-leftist nannying.  Oh, the horror.

Geez. . .these people have no shame:  Alaska CBS news station is caught on tape conspiring to invent a "child molester scandal" for the GOP Senate candidate, Joe Miller.  These folks are dreading Tuesday.

A follow-up from the indomitable Breitbart:  Ouch! 

MoveOn.org lefty does the mature thing and apologizes for choking AZ Tea Party member.  Politics can get hot. . .and violent.  Good on him for acknowledging his mistake!  We need more of that in American politics.

Drag show sponsored by Jesuit university.  No comment. 

This is uber-creepy:  aliens and their ships appearing in religious art. . .from 400 yrs. ago!

Do demons exist?  As a matter for theologians, yes.  As a matter for philosophers. . .well, let's just say that the question is ambiguous and the answer more so.  We can say that demons exist and we can say that they are fallen angels. . .but it becomes a ginormous task to talk about demons in any way that makes sense outside theology.

How secure are those electronic voting machines?  We can put a man on the moon, but we struggle to find a secure, private way for citizens to vote. . .

Pro-aborts doing the Devil's work in Argentina.  Predictably, the national secular media do not cover the story.

From the pyramids to LOLcats:  on the venial uses of the brain

Scientists vs. engineers in the race to take over the world

Today's encouraging message!

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What ails ya? (A Request for Help)

Ideas for a third book have been bouncing around in my spacious head for some time.  One idea in particular has struck me as both useful and fun to do.

But I need your help. . .

In the combox, using a word or two, list off what it is that makes you spiritually uneasy, or gives you trouble in your life with Christ.

For example: anxiety, disbelief, grief, and timidity. 

I can come up with all sorts of things, but the book will be more useful if there's input from y'all!

Mille grazie. . .

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Halloween, 1989

In 1989, I lived in a large antebellum house with six other grad students.  We made Animal House look like Amish Sunday school.  This was how I dressed for that year's Halloween party.  NB.  This was about eight years before I became Catholic.

We called this costume, Felonious Vampire.

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Photographic proof that I used to be skinny!

This pic was taken in Changsha, China on Nov. 30, 1990. I was at the railway station waiting for a train to take me to Shanghai where I would catch a flight to the U.S. Over the approx. six months I was in China, I lost 50lbs. My parents picked me up at the airport in Memphis and our first stop was Mrs. Winner's Fried Chicken! Needless to say, that I found that 50lbs within a few months. Sigh...

Oh, and I had one haircut while I was there. . .yea, I know.

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The silence of the wolves. . .

30th Week OT (F)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Ss. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Rules, regulations, laws are all attempts to express the most basic principles of a civilization. Traffic laws are meant to embody the need for everyone to drive safely. Food safety laws express a common concern that we are not killed by what we eat and drink. If a traffic law required a driver to speed through a school zone, or a food safety law required soda makers to dose their drinks with poison, we would all agree that these laws violate the fundamental principles they were created to express. In the Church, we have canon law, rubrics for liturgical celebrations, moral precepts, and dogmatic definitions—all designed to express the first commandment of Christ to his disciples: love God, neighbor, and self with the whole of one's body, mind, spirit, and strength. None of the Church's rules or regs mean a thing if they fail to help us follow the law of love. For example, Jesus confronts the scholars and Pharisees with a chance to condemn him when he heals a man on the Sabbath. When asked if he should break the Sabbath law by curing the man, the scholars and Pharisees remain silent. Rather than protest or argue, they simply keep their mouths shut, choosing instead to watch and wait to see what Jesus will do.

What does Jesus do? He responds to their uncaring silence with a miracle. He heals the man and asks, “Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?” Again, the scholars and Pharisees remain silent, “unable to answer his question.” Why are they unable or unwilling to answer? It never seems to have been a problem for them in the past! If they were to admit that they would rescue their sons or their oxen on the Sabbath, then they would be admitting to the possibility that the Sabbath laws against work are not absolute. If they were to admit that they would leave their sons or their oxen to die, then they would be revealed to be cold-hearted legalists. The first choice makes them lawbreakers. The second choice makes them moral monsters. That they seem to understand these choices is a sign of hope that they not wholly lost to love, not wholly given over to the brutality of bureaucratic minutiae.

The freedom we enjoy as children of God is the freedom of those who know and understand that we were created by divine love and re-created by that love incarnated as one who walks among us as one of us. Christ came to us as the Word made flesh not the Law made flesh. He came to us as the first principle and culmination of his Father's plan for all creation: to bring us back to the One who is Love. No law or regulation or dogma can supersede its fundamental intent, its ultimate purpose. The fundamental intent, the ultimate purpose of Christ's life, death, and resurrection is our salvation. If we must heal on the Sabbath in order to give witness to God's love, then we heal on the Sabbath. We are slaves to divine love and obedience to this master is our salvation.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Mark Shea links to a great vid that explains how ObamaCare will fund abortions.

CCHD seems to be moving toward reforming itself.  "Policies and mechanisms" are only as strong as the people charged with enforcing them.  If the review panel is independent of the organization's bureaucracy and appointed by bishops, then maybe this will be a move in the right direction.  We'll see.

This column on next week's election pretty much sums up my own feelings on the state of American politics in 2010.   Extra points for referencing the Coming Zombie Apocalypse.

Wow. . .MN Democrats are putting their 19th century anti-Catholic Know-Nothingism on public display.  I hope MN Catholics who vote Democrat are paying attention to this.

Voting fraud already starting in NV. . .voters complain that their ballots were marked for Harry Reid even before they started voting. 

Dominican nuns [sic] to acquire the JPII Cultural Center in Detroit.  Hey, sisters!  If you decide to turn the place into a school, let me know. . .I may know a fellow Dominican who can teach for you.

Great article on why you shouldn't give a dime to UNICEF this Halloween.  Bonus points for using the title of a Flannery O'Connor short story as the post title.

Vid that appears to show a woman chatting on a cell phone. . .in 1928!  Prolly not.  No cell towers back then.  Obviously, she's using a communicator from her Temporal Displacement Pod.  Duh. (H/T:  fra. Auggie)

Remember that GOP congressional candidate that the MSM reported was go around calling for armed revolution against the gov't?  Well, not so much. 

Just in time for Halloween. . .A Catholic Field Guide to the Undead! One small quibble:  the post's author quotes C. S. Lewis. . .the idea that Lewis expresses in the quote is not a proper Catholic understanding of the human person.

Lesson for the day:  even evil people can get good grades, or something.

The difference btw how cats and dogs think about their owners.

I know what you mean! You can only milk a dead cow once.
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Thank God that's over. . .

Just got word. . .

I PASSED FRENCH!!!

Coffee Bowl Browsing

Do your consumer brand choices match your partisan politics?  The top ten brands for the Dems and the GOP.

Bees beat computers. . .shows you how far we still have to go on the road toward artificial intelligence.

The New Elites and the Tea Party. . .self-affirming ideological homogeneity among our "Betters."   For the N.E.'s diversity is only skin deep. 

The Tea Party is more of an "attitude movement" than a strictly partisan, political organization.

Those leaked WikiLeak documents from the DoD reveal that Saddam did have weapons of mass destruction. 

Back when universities were first invented (by the Church, btw!), professors were paid directly by their students.  If a prof wasn't doing his job, he had no students and no income.  Maybe we should consider returning to this model of higher education.  Oh, and there was no such as tenure!

Astute observation on the faux tolerance of NPR:  Conservative FOX had no problem with Williams working for liberal NPR; yet, liberal NPR couldn't tolerate him working for conservative FOX.  My own experience in academia and religious life bears this out:  liberals are very tolerant of those who believe exactly as they do.

Catholic bloggers "aim to purge dissenters" from the Church?!  Wow. . .I had no idea that bloggers had so much power. . .I feel lightheaded, kinda woozy and warm!  There's no need for Catholic bloggers to purge dissenters from the Church. . .Mother Nature is doing it for us.

Undercover vid of New Jersey teachers' union bosses partying hearty.  If this goes viral, be sure to put yourself near something large and solid. . .it's gonna get messy.  (NSFW:  strong language)

Excellent news out of Dallas:  Bishop Farrell getting high marks for turning the listless diocese around!  Vocations are up, thanks to Fr. Rudy Garcia, vocations director.  U.D.'s School of Ministry gets a mention. 

Middle East Synod turns into anti-Israel rally.  I had breakfast with a member of the synod yesterday morning.  He spent the whole time regaling me with stories about Israel's mistreatment of Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular.   The final document of the Synod contains condemnation of Israel's West Bank occupation.

Notre Dame post-B.O.:  drop of $120m in donations.

10 Annoying Habits of the Smartsphone User.  Only 10? 

Hey, whaddya know?  Jesus does save!

So, two Russian cops and a goat are waiting for the bus. . .

It's What's For Breakfast

Job application. . .I'd hire him just to keep things interesting.

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Mercy is hard

30th Week OT (M)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Ss. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Our wounds are not healed by ideas or intentions alone. A gun shot wound really can't be healed by mercy as such. Neither can cancer, mental illness, nor addiction be treated by something as purely conceptual as love or forgiveness. Healing requires both intentions and acts. Imagine going into an emergency room with a broken arm and having the doctor stand over you while he intends to treat your arm! At some point, you're going to say, “Doc, are you going to do something?” How bizarre would it be for him to respond, “I am doing something. I'm thinking about healing you”? My guess is that you'd rather have his bad intention so long as he actually worked to fix your arm. In the abstract, mercy is easy. Doing merciful deeds is a little more complicated.

Jesus shows us how to be merciful by ridding a woman of a diseased spirit—an eighteen-year burden that has her bent over, making it impossible for her to stand erect. How exactly is this merciful? Relieving the sick of their diseases is in itself merciful. But Jesus goes one step further by healing her on the Sabbath. Rather than obeying a strict interpretation of the law that forbids work on the Sabbath, Jesus obeys the higher law of love and relieves the poor woman of her burden. Predictably, someone objects to this illegal act and calls Jesus out as a lawbreaker. Jesus' indignant retort to this charge humiliates his critic. He calls them hypocrites! Why shouldn’t this daughter of Abraham be set free on the Sabbath from Satan’s bondage? The gathered crowd “rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.” And so they should: Jesus lifts from this crippled woman’s back not only the burden of a crippling spirit, but the burden of Law without Mercy as well. 

Paul picks up this teaching in his letter to the Ephesians. He writes, “Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us. . .” This doesn't mean that we are to become lawless lovers of some abstract deity. It does mean that we love first and follow the law accordingly. If we can't love, we can't follow any law that's based on love. In much the same way that abstract notions like mercy, forgiveness, and charity become real only when enacted, our love for God must be embodied, made real through our whole humanity—word, thought, and deed and not simply limited to “good intentions.” Our psalmist this morning puts it succinctly: “Behave like God as his very dear children!”

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