Fasting before Communion

I just returned from daily Mass, what a blessing to have a Church less than two blocks away from my place of work that has a midday Mass.  What a great way to break up the work day, remind myself of what is truly important in life, and to bring myself back to God.  But I digress...

One of my co-workers happened to be there today and we ended up walking back to the office together.  As it happened, about 20 minutes before Mass, I mindlessly reached over and drank the last swallow of coffee from my cup sitting on my desk.  I realized what I had done as I sat the cup back on my desk on my Divine Mercy coaster...  Why didn't I look when I grabbed my cup?  Oh well...  So, I went to Mass and abstained since Communion was only about 45 minutes after that drink of coffee.  Well, my abstaining had not gone unnoticed and on the walk back my co-worker asked why I went to Mass but didn't receive.

Powerful thought...

The Uniqueness of Christianity : The Integrated Catholic Life:

But if God made the road, we must find out whether he made many or one. If he made only one, then the shoe is on the other foot: it is humility, not arrogance, to accept this one road from God, and it is arrogance, not humility, to insist that our manmade roads are as good as God’s God-made one.

The myth that all religion is man made

Spiritual AND Religious:

The second lie locked in this cliche is the implication that all religions are man made constructions. This has filtered down to the general population from a kind of generic Protestantism in our country. Protestantism teaches that all denominations are man made and provisional. You shop around and simply choose the church you like best. What the “all churches are man made and provisional” folks don’t see coming is the logical conclusion that if all churches are man made and provisional then why bother with church at all? If they’re man made, why shouldn’t I make my own and be spiritual but not religious?

What is marriage?

I thought I knew what marriage was.  Not simply the Catholic teaching of marriage, but the practical legal institution of marriage as well.  I thought it was a life long commitment to another human being with the potential for creating and raising children, giving them the assurance of always having a mother & father united to raise them to adulthood and make them stable, reliable, productive members of society.

Sadly, society has convinced my wife that marriage is something else.  Marriage is a public commitment of love, entitling one to share happiness and bodies, but to be discarded when it becomes work or the sexual attraction lessens without any regard for the young lives created and whose lives were to be protected by the partnership and commitment of the parents the committed their lives to one another and any offspring.

The Catholic position on marriage

From: A conversation with my gay friend : Conversion Diary:

“The man and the woman each plan to do their own thing for the rest of their lives. There are no obligations on them outside of respecting one another and having fun. Is that about right?” 

“Close enough. What is marriage if not a commitment? What else could it be about?”

With that statement, Andrew had gotten to the core of the issue.

Praying the Rosary better

Following the Truth has 10 great tips on improving our praying of the rosary.

I love #6.  Can you imagine your husband or wife honestly thinking, "I wish you wouldn't tell me you love me so much."  Neither can I.  Somethings are worth repeating.  We can never tell our infinitely loving and merciful God that we love Him enough.  And reaching out to Christ through Mary, his mother?  I don't think we can do that too much either.

Ever heard TANSTAAFL?

President Obama on the HHS Mandate on Vimeo

I know the President is a well educated, intelligent man.  So, I'm forced to assume that he is intentionally blurring a line and playing to the mentality I see all too often of "If I don't write the check, it must be completely free."

It was more than a couple decades ago that I first read Robert Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" which is famous for having popularized the acronym TANSTAFFL: "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch."  Now, the President surely knows that health care insurance is not free.

Tolerance?

Atheist files complaint over Pennsylvania restaurant’s discount for churchgoers - The Washington Post

Simply amazing...  The intolerance and illogical ideas of some people truly amazes me...

Here's a clue, this restaurant is not discriminating of segregating based on religion.  Anyone can go online, do a quick search and print out a bulletin regardless of their religious belief or lack thereof.  They will take any bulletin, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Catholic.  I'd guess that they'll even take the bulletin from John Wolff's Church of Atheist" that he prints out from his home computer...

Now, if they start demanding a profession of faith, and proof that you are actually a practicing Catholic and denying all other faiths service or discounts, maybe we'll have something to discuss...  But considering that our equal rights protections don't permit discrimination based on age, yet senior discounts are unchallenged... well...  I think this 80 year old protests too much.  And his claims of desiring tolerance while being so intolerant speaks volumes...

"This town needs an enema!"

OK, more than this town, this entire nation.  Particularly the media.  While filling my coffee at work this morning a co-worker (who was on vacation all last week) and I were talking about what we did last week.  My attending a "Fortnight for Freedom" service on the Fourth led to a broader discussion of the "Fortnight" and the general movement to protest the HHS mandate.

"Looking for love in all the wrong places..."

Healing through the Divine Mercy

Fr. Longenecker shared some wonderful thoughts on what ails all of us and the answer to our ills, the Divine Mercy and Infinite Love of God.  I think many, if not all, of us struggle with feelings of loneliness, being unloved, or feeling betrayed or abandoned.  We were all created with a desire for love and belonging to another.  We created desiring union with God, our Creator.  But, we end up confused, wanting the love of a particular man or woman, wanting to feel validated for our beauty, our intellect, our skill at one thing or another, or expecting to be rewarded for our good deeds in a particular manner.  So much so that we become oblivious to the love that is actually there or become hooked on the residual effects of love or attention received in a particular manner.

Waiting in line for Confession

Well, I missed Mass last weekend.  I could give you the who, what, when, why, where and how, but that would likely lead to rationalization, some thinking I'm scrupulous, others thinking I'm trying to rationalize and justify my choice.  But, really all that matters is I missed Mass and I went to confession and God has forgiven me, anyway, that's not what I'm intending to talk about today.  No, what I'm intending to talk about is some of my thoughts while I was standing in line waiting for the priest to enter the confessional and begin hearing confessions.