Bread, fish, and the sacramental imagination

5th Week OT (S)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula

Those of us who have grown up in the Protestant South have heard all our lives that Catholics do not revere the Bible. Catholics prefer performing strange rituals, marching around in elaborate costumes, lighting candles and incense, and muttering to statues in a dead language. Even today, my Protestant friends distinguish between “Catholics” and “Bible Christians,” using the two words as if there is no connection between the two, no overlap. What my friends fail to grasp is the concept of the sacramental imagination. In an interview, George Weigel, the biographer of Pope John Paul II, offers a description of the Catholic way of seeing God's creation. He says, “. . .the world has been configured by God in a 'sacramental' way, i.e., the things of this 'real world' can disclose the really real world of God's love and grace. The Catholic 'sacramental imagination' sees in the stuff of this world hints and traces of the creator, redeemer, and sanctifier of the world. . .” This morning's gospel reading from Mark—the well-known story of the feeding of the 4,000—gives us a chance to hear Jesus himself teaching us how to view his Father's creation sacramentally. A few loaves of bread and a few fish, blessed by Christ, feed a huge crowd. The unexpected generosity of God miraculously feeds the bodies of those who follow His son. Those fed have witnessed the love and grace of God in an otherwise ordinary, everyday activity: eating dinner. The Catholic sacramental imagination turns the ordinary into the extraordinary, revealing God's presence in His creation.

We have no reason to believe that the miracle described by Mark didn't happen exactly like Mark describes it—four thousand people are fed with just a few loaves of bread and a few fish. But let's read the story as a story about the everyday lives of Christians struggling to faithfully live out their baptismal vows. Jesus sees the trials of those who follow after him. He hears all about how we are alienated from God by sin; how we suffer from temptation, disease, persecution; how we hunger and thirst for righteousness and truth; how we strain to be merciful, loving, true to all his commands. Watching us day to day, Jesus says, “My heart is moved with pity for [you]. . .If I send [you] away hungry to [your] homes, [you] will collapse on the way. . .” We've come a long way out of the world to join the crowds that follow Jesus. He's never pretended that following him is easy. He's never lied to us and told us that being faithful is as simple as performing a few rituals or lighting a few candles or muttering prayers before a statue. We have chosen a very difficult way of living in God's creation. But He will not leave us tired and hungry. He takes the bread, blesses it, and gives it to us to eat. 

One piece of bread becomes two. And two becomes four. Four, eight. And because this bread is also his body—both human and divine—we are fed physically and spiritually. The things of the “real world” (bread, wine, oil, water) can reveal the really real world of God's love and grace. The sacramental imagination is a biblical way of living in God's world—seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling His presence, and gaining strength in body and spirit as we notice Him and give Him thanks for being with us always. 

The Psalmist writes, “In every age, Lord, you have been our refuge.” Hungry, thirsty, blind, deaf, afraid—we take refuge in God and find all that we need to succeed in His Christ.

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Be grateful, dog!

St. Scholastica

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula

Let's start this homily off with a rather blunt assertion: No, the Greek woman in this evening's gospel does not teach Jesus a lesson about inclusivity nor does she “open his eyes” to the needs of the Gentiles. To believe that the woman somehow enlightens our Lord with a clever retort assumes that Jesus—the incarnated Son of God—doesn't know about or understand his universal mission as the Messiah. It makes more sense—given what we know from the other gospels—to conclude that Jesus slowly reveals the fullness of his mission over time. He repeatedly orders those whom he healed to keep their healing a secret. He also refuses to perform miracles on occasion and sometimes takes his disciples off to teach them in private. These examples seem to indicate that though Jesus wants his identity widely known, he also wants to keep the exact nature of his ministry something a mystery. . .at least until his earthly ministry comes to an end on the cross. If all of this is true, then what are we to make of his exchange with the Greek woman? Like in the story of the centurion with the sick slave, the story of the Canaanite woman, the story of the man born blind, and many others—Jesus is challenging the Greek woman to publicly declare her faith, to lay claim to her inheritance as a child of God.

And what is this inheritance? Generally, she has inherited the privilege of prayer, that is, the grace to approach the Father through His Son and ask for what she needs for herself and her family. As a member of God's family, she has access to the Father. She has been gifted with the desire to praise Him, to thank Him, and to grow spiritually while doing so. By openly, freely acknowledging her trust in God's promises, the Greek woman openly, freely acknowledges God's power to accomplish in her life and the lives of her loved ones every good they need to thrive as holy creatures. We know all of this to be true b/c the moment she says to Jesus, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps,” the demon is exorcised from her daughter. 

Let's take note of not only the woman's admission of faith but also how she characterizes herself and her fellow Gentiles—all of those who need God's mercy through Christ. Rather than rear up in righteous indignation at Jesus' apparent insult—calling them “dogs”—the woman takes on the derisive label and admits to Jesus that “even the dogs” get scraps! This isn't exaggeration or just plain ole self-effacement. She is confessing genuine humility. Had she been playing word games with Jesus or trying to teach him a lesson, her confession of faith would have been emptied out and her daughter would not have been freed from the demon. What our Lord hears in the woman's plea is authentic love, authentic faith, and authentic humility—all gifts from the Father. These are what make her a member of God's family not her tribe or race or nation. 

The Greek woman recognizes and publicly acknowledges her need for God's blessings. As children of God, we too have access to the Father through Christ. When you pray, do you pray with genuine love, faith, and humility? Do you receive God's blessings with gratitude, openly and freely acknowledging your dependence on Him? When blessed by God as a child of God, do you multiply your blessings by sharing them with others? Let's hope so. Remember: even the dogs eat the children's scraps.

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Confession App is NOT a Substitute for the Sacrament

Is there anything iPhone apps can't do?  

Recently, an app appeared on the market that helps Catholics make a thorough confession.  I've not seen the app. . .mostly b/c I don't have an iPhone.  But Fr. Z. has posted a review.  He notes that the app is "useful but flawed."  

My worry about the app echoes his:  media reports of the app confuse the fullness of the sacrament of reconciliation with the necessary preparations one makes in approaching the sacrament.  Headlines all over the web blare out nonsense like "Vatican Approves iPhone App for Confession" and "Can't Make It to Confession?  There's an app for that!"  

No.  There isn't.

The app is nothing more than an aid for preparing one's conscience for making a good confession and completing the assigned penance.  It cannot substitute for the sacrament b/c only a validly ordained priest can absolve sins. 

Of course, Catholics who regularly make use of The Box know this.  But some might easily be deceived into thinking that checking little boxes on their iPhone and reciting the appropriate prayers will substitute for sacramental confession.  It will not.

So, if you need help examining your conscience and remembering the prayers associated with confession, get a copy of the app.  Use it.  Then find a priest and finish the job!

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Coffee Cup Browsing

Suckers! Lib bloggers betrayed by HuffPo.  "Who knew that the website devoted to a living wage and moral imperatives actually managed to get liberal bloggers to work for free to make money for the boss-lady and her investment banking investors." 

Anti-capitalist "filmmaker" sues to get a bigger piece of the profits. 

Zzzzzz. . .  German theologians get all edgy and relevant while floundering in the tar pit of 1973.  MCJ has a little fun with the dinos before they go under.

Still Zzzzzzzz. . .Anne Rice belches out some anti-Catholic bigotry that's mistaken for enlightened discourse.  My guess:  she's still talking/writing about the Church b/c she knows she belongs in the Church.  Come on, Anne!  Join the rest of us freaks and lunatics and really mean it this time!

Prophets in their minds. . .NB.  About 99% of ecclesial dissidents describe themselves as "prophetic."  Yea, the Devil thinks of himself as a prophetic too.  Turns out, he is. . .just not in the way he thinks.

Teen Angst:  "The average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s."  I blame Helicopter Parenting, social networking, and Starbucks.

Horseman of the Apocalypse?  Naw.  Looks like a smear from the camera. 

The "sacred values" of sociologists, psychologists, and anthropologists:  social scientists form a "tribal-moral community" around leftist ideology.  He could've included theologians in his conclusions.

Height matters at the local Mexican restaurant.

On wooing chickens

What normal people will do during the Upcoming Zombie Apocalypse

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Icon of the Goodness of Creation

5th Week OT (M)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula, LA

What do we hear when we hear read together the opening verses of the Bible—“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth. . .” and Mark's account of Jesus healing the sick on the shores of a sea near Gennesaret? On first hearing the two read together we might think that the lectionary cycle had been spun like a roulette wheel and these two very different readings just happened to land on this day's Mass schedule. How else could the Bible's best known chapter end up paired with a few innocuous verses from the smallest gospel? While pondering this mystery, it would help us to remember an ancient Catholic principle of biblical interpretation: the New Testament fulfills the Old; each of the Bible's testaments to God's covenants explains the other. When Jesus heals the sick in the land of Gennesaret, he heals his Father's creatures, returning them to their originating goodness. As many as touched the tassel of Jesus' cloak were healed, and he saw that it was good. God did not create us to suffer nor did he create us to die. And when we return to Him through Christ, we are healed and the goodness from which we were created is restored to us.

There's another connection between the creation story of Genesis and Mark's account of Jesus healing the sick in Gennesaret. The Jewish historian, Josephus, describes the land of Gennesaret as "wonderful in fertility as well as in beauty." Ancient readers and hearers of Mark's gospel story would immediately associate Gennesaret with images of the Garden of Eden, the original paradise of creation. Josephus writes, “[Gennesaret's] soil is so fruitful that all sorts of trees can grow upon it . . . for the air is so well tempered that it agrees with all sorts. Thus the palm-tree, which requires a warm atmosphere, flourishes equally well with the walnut, which thrives best in a cold climate. . .” This is exactly the sort of fertile balance that we would expect from a land undefiled by sin, from a place unmarked by the imbalances of sickness and death. Knowing that Gennesaret in Jesus' time was known to be a paradise of fertility and fruitfulness, we can easily imagine that the goodness Jesus restores in healing the sick is the original goodness of his Father's creating love. 

If Adam, the first man, lost God's original goodness by an act of disobedience, then Jesus, the first and only God-Man restores that goodness by an act of obedience. Jesus restores us not only by freely dying on the cross for us, but also by living among us as an icon of the goodness of creation, as a window through which we see and hear God's creating and re-creating love. He arrives in Gennesaret—fertile and fruitful—and his presence, just being there, heals, makes whole again, the broken and diseased creatures that his Father created to be good. Christ fulfills God's promise—made at the moment of creation to all that He has created—that His love will endure to the very end. Though we may suffer now and die later, we are not made so that we might suffer and die. 

Jesus is the icon of the goodness of creation. We, his Body, the Church, live as that icon now. Healed of our disobedience, restored to our originating goodness, wherever we go, we too are charged with making whole again everyone we touch, everyone who touches us. May the Lord be glad in His works. And when He looks at His people, may He say again, “It is good.”

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On homilies & books

Been getting good feedback on my Ponchatula Homilies.  It's something of a challenge to craft useful homilies for a parish audience, but I'm enjoying it immensely. 

Mille grazie to Jenny K. for the Kindle Book!  I'm learning all sorts of great things about the Roman Empire.
 
Also, the Wish List has been updated with a strange mixture of poetry, continental philosophy, and theology.  My reading list for the summer has shifted somewhat more toward 20th century literature.

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Go out salty and bright!

5th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula

I come to you, brothers and sisters, proclaiming the mystery of God, not with the subtleties of philosophical argument; or the passion of a desert wild man; or the precision of a nuclear physicist; or the eloquence of a Senator from ancient Rome. I do not come with sublime words or worldly wisdom, with fireworks or technological marvels. I won't text, Twitt, or Facebook the mystery of God for you, nor will His mystery find its way onto a blog, or come to you in mp3 format to download onto your iPod. I know nothing except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I come to you in weakness and fear and much trembling. My message to you is not delivered with persuasive words of wisdom, or attention-seeking gimmicks but with a demonstration of Spirit and power. Why, you ask? So that your faith might rest on the power of God and not on human wisdom. This might be how the apostle Paul would begin his homily if he were preaching at St. Joseph's Church this evening/morning. He would say to us what he wrote to the Corinthians 2,000 years ago: your faith must rest on the power of God and not on any human wisdom, not on any science or philosophy or rhetoric or mystical experience, or anything other than the freely given gift of His excelling love. Argument, experiment, oratory, prophecy—all the ways in which we observe, measure, and try to control creation are meaningless when applied to the mystery of God. God reveals Himself to His people, and when He does, we are transformed into a tribe that preserves and seasons, into a people that pierces the darkness b/c our own darkness has been pierced. We are the salt and the light for the world. And we must not lose our flavor. We must not lose our brightness.

Teaching the disciples, Jesus lays it all out for them, “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?” If salt can lose its power to season, what is there to season the salt? What brings flavorless salt back to life? What Jesus is asking here is this: who can bring the faith back to the disciples if they lose it? Each disciple was personally chosen by Christ himself. He's taught them his secrets. He's given them the means to interpret his parables. He's made Peter his steward, giving him the keys to the kingdom. The disciples have lived with Jesus; eaten with him; fled the crowds with him; nearly drowned with him. They've seen every healing miracle, every wonder he's performed. They met with him privately many times and questioned him many more. If there are any saltier in the faith than these men, we don't know who they are! If they lose faith, if they succumb to despair or anxiety, or fall prey to false teaching or fanciful rhetoric, who will bring them back and return them to the Way? Jesus is urging his disciples to remain pure in their faith, to remain zealous in their preaching and to preserve the truth of his teachings. They cannot fail b/c there is no one who can restore the purity of their love for Christ.

In the ancient world, salt represented purity. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul insists on the purity of his preaching. He reminds the Church in Corinth that he came to them to preach Christ and him crucified. He came to them with the power of the Spirit and not with “the sublimity of words or of wisdom.” He preached out of what later saints would come to call “holy ignorance,” that is, a total reliance on the Spirit of God to provide the wisdom necessary to preach His truth. As a source of wisdom, Paul knowingly sets aside his training as a philosopher; his experience as a public speaker; and his extensive knowledge of the Law. He uses all of these to convey God's wisdom but none are the source of this wisdom. None reveal the mystery of God. None help him to receive all that God has to show him. God alone reveals His mystery. To the world, Paul is ignorant. For the Church, for us, he is salt and light. His preaching purifies, preserves, and enlightens the mystery we all participate in right now and hope to live with forever. Lest anyone misunderstand, Paul is not advocating an anti-intellectual faith, a sort of “blind faith” that shies away from education or the use of human reason. When Paul writes that he preaches “Christ and him crucified,” he means that he grounding his testimony in the historical death and resurrection of the man Jesus. He is not arguing his way to belief with logic and rhetoric. He is not emoting his way to faith. He is not experimenting his way to God in a lab. The wisdom Paul preaches is God Himself revealed in Christ crucified. No set of premises can reach this conclusion. No collection of physical evidence can compel this kind of trust.

When Jesus tells his disciples that they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, he is reminding them that they have witnessed God's Self-revelation in his own life and works. After the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, they will remember—even as we do today—that when they saw and heard and followed Christ, they saw and heard and followed God Himself. They remember—even as we do today—because the Spirit of God comes upon them, surpassing all human understanding, and overwhelms them with His recreating love. Like salt sown to purify and light shone to pierce the darkness, they go out preaching, offering testimony, healing the sick, freeing the captive, and feeding the hungry—even as we do today. Jesus says to his disciples and to us, “. . .your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” Our good deeds, done in imitation of Christ, are done so that others might come to glorify the Father. We help others pay their light bills in order to glorify God. We donate food, clothing, and toys in order to glorify God. We build and repair homes in order to glorify God. And when we do these things, God's light shines through us and we remain, as Christ commands, salty.

I started this homily by imagining what Paul might preach to us this evening/morning. I said that he would say to us exactly what he said to the Corinthians 2,000 years ago. And this would be the right thing to say. HOW we are tempted to lose our flavor and dim our lights may have changed in two millennia, but WHAT tempts us is no different. The Corinthians suffered from what Paul calls “itchy ears.” They wanted to hear what they wanted to hear. They wanted complex theologies and elaborate philosophies. They wanted logical arguments and scientific proofs. They wanted eloquence and what passed for wisdom. Don't we, in our way, want these too? How much do we rely on the world's wisdom for our moral choices? Do we accept as normal our culture's worship of Self? The use of violence to solve our problems? How much do we depend on technology to maintain our personal relationships? Do we allow caffeine, nicotine, amphetamine, alcohol to rule our moods? My point here is not to scold or blame but rather to show that we are as tempted now as the ancient Corinthians were to set aside the most fundamental truth God has given us: His love in Christ Jesus. We are tempted in ways that the Corinthians could never imagine: TV, internet, cell phones, credit cards, self-help psychobabble. But the temptation itself remains unchanged: replace God as the center of your life with something or someone else, anything or anyone else. Make a created thing your god. If and when this happens, you lose your saltiness; your light dims. 

In weakness, with fear and much trembling, go out into the world, wherever you find yourself and preach—in word, deed, thought—Christ and him crucified. Shine the light Christ has given you. And give all glory to God the Father! The brighter you shine for others, the more of His mystery you will see.

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Coffee Cup Browsing

Tea Party radicals call for the "lynching" of a black federal judge. Oh, wait.

Sorry, but you can't pull away that fast!

Good news:  Grand Poobah of Iran says that the riots in Egypt are a sign of Islamic awakening. 

To all my Brit friends:  don't worry. . .he'll be gone in Jan 2013.

No tax $$$ for Planned Parenthood in NJ.  Gov. Christie is the Man!

Scaredy-cats at Ft. Hood:  P.C. culture allowed mass murderer to flourish.

BXVI introduces YouCat, a youth-catechism.  I'm a little wary of this.  Generally, anything written for youth in the "language of their generation" is quite possibly dodgy.  But the Holy Father likes it, so. . .

Boondock Saints vs. sparkly vampire.

Thought for the day. . .it brought a smile to my face.

Oh, how often have I wanted to help some poor illiterate person with their letters.

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More Planned Parenthood vids. . .

Three more videos showing Planned Parenthood personnel helping a "pimp" get birth control, STD testing, and abortion info for his underage "prostitutes."

The dribble continues.  And where is the NYT, NPR, CNN, CBS, etc. in the coverage of these scandals?  For the most part they are doing nothing more than mouthing P.P. talking points and trying to dig dirt on LiveAction. 

Imagine for a moment that these vids were being taken by an immigrant advocacy group and the "victims" were border patrol agents mouthing off about how much they love assaulting illegals when they catch them, etc.  Now those vids would get coverage 24/7.  And they should.  

And so should these vids exposing P.P.

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Don't be a Fool

4th Week OT (F)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula

At some point in his life, Herod was probably a wiser man than he was that night when Salome danced for him. He probably made wiser choices based on better information. His choices may have helped some, hurt some but overall they were probably more beneficial than his rash decision to grant the dancer her heart's desire. This is not to say that Herod was wholly righteous, only that he probably wasn't always a fool. Fools are made not born, and it takes time to become a genuine fool. King Herod is a good case of an otherwise morally complex man devolving into foolishness. We might start the history of his moral decline by looking at the corrupting influence of wealth and power. We could also look at how having people fawn all over him lead him to believe in his personal infallibility. Of course, we can't ignore the impact that a beautiful, young woman can have on an older man's sense of right and wrong. But Herod's decline started well before Salome dropped her first veil. Like all once great men and women who fall, Herod's devolution into foolishness started with pride. Salome and her mother, Herodias, took advantage of the king's pride and lust and turned his generosity into murder. But they were successful only because Herod was ruled by fear. We know this when we ask and answer this question: why does a powerful king keep a holy and righteous man in locked away? Fear makes us foolish, and foolishness is the enemy of wisdom.

Herod locks John the Baptist in prison b/c he fears the prophet's righteousness, a righteousness derived directly from John's contact with God. Mark tells us that “when [Herod] heard [John] speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him.” This tells us that Herod is still capable of discerning wisdom even though it puzzles him. Herod knows that marrying his brother's wife violates the divine law. Yet pride will not allow him to confess the sin and repent of it. John's persistence in preaching against Herod's sin compels the king to imprison John, thus keeping John close but also preventing him from preaching against Herod publicly. We can almost hear Herod's internal conflict. God's wisdom and the king's conscience draw Herod to John's preaching, but power, lust, and misplaced generosity prevent him from choosing wisdom over foolishness. Having consistently chosen to accomplish apparently good ends by evil means, Herod reaches a point where Salome and Herodias tip the scale and the king murders John, becoming, in this deadly choice, a Royal Fool.

Fools are made not born. In fact, fools are self-made, constructed, if you will, out of hubris, and played by men and women who once listened to wisdom. If Herod's power and pride started his decline, then fear accelerated it and hard-heartedness sealed the deal. Like all of our moral choices, vice is a habit. We choose again and again to call evil Good. Over time, we are no longer capable of recognizing the Good and come to believe that in choosing Evil we are choosing Good. Herod believes that keeping John in prison prevents political unrest. Even though he is distressed by Salome's request for John's head on a platter, Herod justifies the prophet's execution as an act of fidelity to his oath, fearing embarrassment if he breaks it. The king is motivated at every decision-point by vicious habits and these habits take him—step by step—right into the claws of foolishness. 

Hearing, seeing, and doing God's wisdom are all habits. Choices and actions we must take one at a time, step by step. Each decision we make brings us closer to foolishness or closer to wisdom. If God is our light and salvation, then let our prayer be: “The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid.” I will not to fear.

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UFO Over Jerusalem. . .Comments by Mississippian (UPDATED)

Very strange indeed. . .

A ball of light descends on the Dome of the Rock, hovers for a few seconds, and then shoots up into the sky and disappears.

NB.  The woman who says, "We see these things all the time in Mississippi. . ."  Now, that's a southern drawl if I've ever heard one.  And I have.

I'm going to follow this story to see if there's a plausible explanation. . .I mean, other than the presence of an angel over Jerusalem.

UPDATE:  Mark Shea links to the HowStuffWorks site that claims the vid is a hoax.  It probably is. But there is a tendency among some to dismiss the possibility of the supernatural simply b/c allegedly supernatural events can be duplicated technologically.  That an event can be duplicated technologically doesn't mean that the original event was itself technologically produced.

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More underage girls, more pimps, & Planned Parenthood

Yet another vid showing Planned Parenthood ignoring child sex abuse laws. . .

Taking their cue from the guys who brought down ACORN, the LiveAction crew is dribbling out their undercover vids over a long news cycle.

This serves several good purposes:  1). It gives P.P. and their leftist apologists in the media time to coordinate a response before releasing the next vid that shows them to be liars; 2). it keeps the scandal in the news over a long stretch of time, making it difficult for the apologists to bury the story; 3). it increases the sense that the problem is not simply a "one and done" deal but a systemic problem. . .which it is.

We've already seen P.P., NPR, CBS, and several other media outlets trying to downplay the vids or undermine their credibility.  The narrative they are spinning--it's all just the work of one out of control branch manager in NJ--can't stick now that a second vid has been released out of VA.  

Now we wait for P.P., NPR, etc. to spin the VA vid and then the next dribble from LiveAction that exposes their lies. 

God bless Lila Rose and her fearless crew! 

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Pimps, Abortions, and Planned Parenthood (UPDATED)

Tax-payer funded abortion provider Planned "Parenthood" is caught giving advice to a pimp about how he can acquire abortions for his underage prostitutes.

Why are these people still in business?



Special note to pimps:  Planned Parenthood gives you a discount for your underage girls!

Update:  Apparently, P.P. reported to the Feds that someone was trying to obtain abortions for underage prostitutes in their clinics.   Presumably, this "someone" was the Live Action operatives.  The clinic worker in the video has been fired by P.P. 

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Coffee Cup Browsing

More "global-warming" shenanigans from the U.K. Met Office.  These people are trying to undermine public confidence in their apocalyptic fantasies about climate change.

More here on how U.K. ideologues in the Met Office are abusing science for political ends.

Good question:  if ObamaCare is so great, why has the White House exempted 777 businesses and unions from its onerous requirements?  Better question:  why are the unions that supported ObamaCare scrambling for exemptions?

On the difference btw superstition and supernaturalism.  This is a particularly difficult distinction for Catholics to grasp b/c of our sacramental imaginations.   It's very easy to move from "sacramental rite" to "magical spell."

Petard Hoisting:  Federal judge uses B.O.'s 2008 campaign rhetoric against him.  Too funny.

The consequences of putting Sudafed behind the counter.  During the Christmas break, I went into a Target and asked the pharmacist for a box of "non-drowsy Benadryl."  She looked at me funny and said, "That's a contradiction in terms."  I said, "Oh no, not another contradiction!"  

A priestly rant!  I really like Father's hairdo.

More background info on the new exorcism movie, The Rite.

Several articles from the Diocese of Columbus on the corrected translation of the Roman Missal.

Um. . .OK. . .no comment.

One of these things is not like the others.

Finding Jesus/Heaven & Hell.   This reminds me of a bumpersticker I saw once:  "Jesus Saves. . .But he Doesn't Invest"

Weapons for office destruction!

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ACK! HancAquam is falling. . .

Sigh.

Eric Sammons is reporting that HancAquam has fallen out the Top 20 Catholic Blogs.   We're down to #27.

So. . .if you haven't subscribed to HA, please do so!  I rarely post more than twice a day, so you won't be flooded with update notices.

The subscription link is the right side bar. . .

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