Prayer

In the spiritual life it is so easy to hit the snooze button on a more dedicated life of prayer. On alarm clocks the snooze button lets us pretend we are setting a goal by setting the alarm knowing that we can also just keep hitting the snooze button to advance that goal just a little bit farther into the future.

It is so easy to set the snooze button in the life of prayer by “Well I will get more serious in Lent.”, or “Just as soon as I get passed this current hectic phrase of life.” Of course when Lent comes and goes that spiritual snooze button gets hit once again and that hectic phase of life just never seems to end.

When you come across scripture such as St. Paul saying to “pray always”, well you will get around to it tomorrow or perhaps at another milestone.   Start praying the Rosary more regularly – hit the spiritual snooze button and you will get around to it later.

Now if I can only find a way to disable my own spiritual snooze button, sounds like a good job for tomorrow.

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a trivia game based on the concept of the small world phenomenon and rests on the assumption that any individual can be linked through his or her film roles to actor Kevin Bacon within six steps. – WikiPedia

This weekend after having gone to a Vigil Mass we heard on Catholic radio that there was going to be a Mass celebrating St. Lorenzo Ruiz and that our new bishop, Bishop Felipe J. Estévez, would be there. So this was a good opportunity to both celebrate the first Filipino saint with the Filipino-American community and to see our new bishop.

As the bishop was celebrating Mass the theme of how Bishops are successor to the Apostles came kept coming to mind. I was thinking this was much more awesome than the degrees of separation to Kevin Bacon. I see this on a couple of levels. For most bishops there is just one degree of separation between them and the pope since many will have met the pope at least once in Ad Limina visits and other occasions. Our priests having one degree of separation with our bishops give us at least two degrees of separation with the Holy Father. Now the number of degrees of separation between our bishops and the Apostles is a much larger number, but Apostolic succession shows that these steps of separation do arrive back to the Apostles. This also of course applies also to Jesus and that ultimately Apostolic succession points back he who ordained the Apostles in the first place. St. Catherine of Siena use to call the Holy Father the “Sweet Christ on Earth”.

As cool as that is, it is much cooler that also in reality there is no degree of separation between us and Jesus. We can reach out and talk to him at anytime we want. The only degree of separation is a mental one as only we can separate ourselves from Christ. Yet even if we do this, he is still there waiting for us to knock on his door once again.

Fr. Thomas Euteneuer fall only reminds me that I should be spending more time praying for priests.

I certainly thank Fr. Thomas Dubay for all that he has written and will be praying for him.

Ignatius Insight has further information on his last days and death.

As I wrote some years ago the best part of Thanksgiving is now I know
of whom to give thanks to!

Te Deum

We praise Thee, O God: we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship Thee and the Father everlasting.
To Thee all Angels: to Thee the heavens and all the Powers therein.
To Thee the Cherubim and Seraphim: cry with unceasing voice:
Holy, Holy, Holy: Lord God of Hosts.
The heavens and the earth are full: of the majesty of Thy glory.
Thee the glorious choir: of the Apostles.
Thee the admirable company: of the Prophets.
Thee the white-robed army of Martyrs: praise.
Thee the Holy Church throughout all the world: doth acknowledge.
The Father of infinite Majesty.
Thine adorable, true: and only Son
Also the Holy Ghost: the Paraclete.
Thou art the King of Glory: O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son: of the Father.
Thou having taken upon Thee to deliver man: didst not abhor the
Virgin’s womb.
Thou having overcome the sting of death: didst open to believers the
kingdom of heaven.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God: in the glory of the Father.
We believe that Thou shalt come: to be our Judge.
We beseech Thee, therefore, help Thy servants: whom Thou has redeemed
with Thy precious Blood.
Make them to be numbered with Thy Saints: in glory everlasting.
Lord, save Thy people: and bless Thine inheritance.
Govern them: and lift them up forever.
Day by day: we bless Thee.
And we praise Thy name forever: and world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, this day: to keep us without sin.
Have mercy on us, O Lord: have mercy on us.
Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us: as we have hoped in Thee.
O Lord, in Thee have I hoped: let me never be confounded.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.

A prayer composed by Sr. Mary Kansier, MS

Heavenly Father, Your loving servant Maximilian Kolbe spent his life in service to others, using technology to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

You crowned his life with the grace to give his life for another, in imitation of Jesus who said, “There is no greater love than to lay down your life for a friend.”

Through the intercession of St. Maximilian, may we always use technology for Your Glory and to draw others close to You and Your Blessed Mother Mary.

St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us. Amen.

Sir Terry Pratchett has made an emotional plea for the right to take his own life, saying: ‘I live in hope I can jump before I am pushed.’,bed
The fantasy novelist gave his views following last week’s landmark House of Lords controversial judgment in the case of Debbie Purdy.

‘I believe that if the burden gets too great, those who wish should be allowed to be shown the door,’ he said. ‘In my case, in the fullness of time, I hope it will be in the garden under an English sky. Or, if wet, the library.’

Sir Terry, 61, author of the hugely successful Discworld books, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2007.

He said that no one has a duty to suffer the extremes of terminal illness and set down his admiration for the sick and dying who have travelled to Switzerland to die in legal suicide clinics. They have displayed ‘ furious sanity’, he said.[reference]

Considering how much I have loved the Discworld series and his other books, it saddens me to find him a supporter of assisted suicide. The character of Death is in all but one of the Discworld novels as a guide to the next world. He has written brilliant satire in his novels and this advocacy just seems so out of step of his normal common sense.

The diagnosis of Alzheimer’s must be terrifying to anybody and maybe more so for a writer. As Catholics we are blessed to have a deeper understanding of the mystery of suffering that we so need to share with the modern world. This understanding doesn’t make suffering go away. Offering it up seems like just another platitude until we look upon Jesus on the cross and then try to mouth the words “Why me?” I will be praying for Sir Pratchett and I hope that you join me in this. That he may once again show his furious sanity which in this case has gone astray.

I am quite glad I started today with Psalm 37 in the Office of Readings.

Fret not yourself because of the wicked, be not envious of wrongdoers!

For they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb.

Trust in the LORD, and do good; so you will dwell in the land, and enjoy security.

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.

He will bring forth your vindication as the light, and your right as the noonday.

Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over him who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

For the wicked shall be cut off; but those who wait for the LORD shall possess the land.

Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look well at his place, he will not be there.

But the meek shall possess the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

The wicked plots against the righteous, and gnashes his teeth at him; but the LORD laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.

The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows, to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those who walk uprightly; their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.

Better is a little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.

For the arms of the wicked shall be broken; but the LORD upholds the righteous.

The LORD knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will abide for ever; they are not put to shame in evil times, in the days of famine they have abundance.

But the wicked perish; the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures, they vanish — like smoke they vanish away.

The wicked borrows, and cannot pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives; for those blessed by the LORD shall possess the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off.

The steps of a man are from the LORD, and he establishes him in whose way he delights; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD is the stay of his hand.

I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsakenor his children begging bread.

He is ever giving liberally and lending, and his children become a blessing.

Depart from evil, and do good; so shall you abide for ever.

For the LORD loves justice; he will not forsake his saints.The righteous shall be preserved for ever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.

The righteous shall possess the land, and dwell upon it for ever.

The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.

The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip.

The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him.

The LORD will not abandon him to his power, or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.

Wait for the LORD, and keep to his way, and he will exalt you to possess the land; you will look on the destruction of the wicked.

I have seen a wicked man overbearing, and towering like a cedar of Lebanon.

Again I passed by, and, lo, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found.

Mark the blameless man, and behold the upright, for there is posterity for the man of peace.

But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the posterity of the wicked shall be cut off.

The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; he is their refuge in the time of trouble.

The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked, and saves them, because they take refuge in him.

Say a prayer for Fr. Roy Bourgeois who has now been excommunicated for failing to repent of his support of women’s ordination. May he repent and come back into full communion with the Church.

In other news Betsey Guest a spokeswoman for the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers has a future as a spin artist for any politician judging by her replies.

Novena