As you start your new work week, tell us all some of your good news.
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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
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YOUR RECENT COMMENTS
- on So very cool that it needs its own post! VOYAGER 1 is TALKING AGAIN!: “Voyager 2 launched on 20 August 1977, from Cape Canaveral. Voyager 1 launched from Cape Canaveral on 5 September 1977.…”
- on So very cool that it needs its own post! VOYAGER 1 is TALKING AGAIN!: “Now this is very interesting. Not just looking up at some small dots of light overhead!”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 34 (-7): The burial place of… PLATO?!?: “The final resting place of Plato puts me in mind of a memorable excerpt I once read about Aristotle in…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 34 (-7): The burial place of… PLATO?!?: “Someone pointed out the St. George’s Day Google Doodle with its background account to me – with one of the…”
- on Three items of interest: a conversion, a connection, and a con job: ““George Farmer, aka Candace Owen’s husband. He is a revert” If I’m reading the interview correctly, first a convert, then…”
- on Three items of interest: a conversion, a connection, and a con job: “Not to detract from anything Imrahill said, but well, the papally-attested infallible ordinary magisterium about a catholic truth, not the…”
- on So very cool that it needs its own post! VOYAGER 1 is TALKING AGAIN!: “Understatement of the year: they don’t make them like that anymore!”
- on So very cool that it needs its own post! VOYAGER 1 is TALKING AGAIN!: “What happened to Voyager 2? And what sort of “science” data will Voyager 1 soon be able to resume transmitting?…”
- on So very cool that it needs its own post! VOYAGER 1 is TALKING AGAIN!: “Not too shabby for a 77’ model.”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 34 (-7): The burial place of… PLATO?!?: “My baptismal anniversary. I’m mostly Scottish/Irish Catholic, birthed and educated by the Mercy Sisters during the height of the Troubles.…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 35 (-6): adventures in symmetry: “Father, it was perfect symmetry for two people. One cup handle facing one way and the other the other way.”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 35 (-6): adventures in symmetry: “From a reader: “What are in the frames between the vestments?” Those are the priest’s vesting prayers. I’ll show more…”
- on WDTPRS: 4th Sunday of Easter (Novus Ordo) – Mighty humble Shepherd, humble mighty flock: “Fr Z you are an inspiration in your knowledge about and love for the things of God and the church.…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 32 (-9): Happy Birthday Rome!: “Holy cow that pasta. I wish we had smell-o-vision and taste-o-vision.”
- on Three items of interest: a conversion, a connection, and a con job: “The German grind continues. It is in their nature.”
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I finished (and emailed to my advisor) my expanded thesis outline. And had a great Thanksgiving weekend in Death Valley with my dad. We had both rain and snow on Saturday, which was amazingly beautiful as well as quite rare.
Last Wednesday, my father, who is nearing the end of his life, made his confession to a very kind and supportive priest. He positively glowed afterwards and was calm and peaceful the next day. We had a great Thanksgiving with him. He was pain-free, alert and energetic. He was able to eat a little of everything without experiencing discomfort. We all had a good time, sharing stories, getting caught up on each other’s news, even discussing a little politics. It was a blessing.
By the way, I ask prayers for my father and my family as we go through this difficult time. My father has been a faithful Catholic, a wonderful husband and father, a real gentleman to the last.
May yet pass pre-calculus and another step towards being a mathematics teacher successfully made.
Although I have no real family, I had a very blessed Thanksgiving dinner last Friday with my close friends, including some of those in my parish who have been family to me the last few years.
And the turkey turned out awesome!
Today, I met the new auxiliary Bishop of Orange County, Ca today after a TLM. He seemed more comfortable with traditional forms of respect (which Bishop Brown shuns) and also blessed those who greeted him so.
The Baltimore Ravens just beat the Pittsburg Steelers! That’s my kind of good news. Sorry if this is out of place. We needed that!
I didn’t have to see my boss or co-workers for 5 days because of Thanksgiving! Also, going to see Handel’s Messiah on Saturday. Life is good. God is good.
lol, go for it Wanda, I think we need more actual good news instead people being optimistic about bad news. I’m pretty sure these threads are meant to lighten things up a bit.
Another great turnout for youth group,
AAANNDD,
We get to bring out the blue-colored Divine Office!! Happy New Year!!!!!
Exams passed (thank you St Thomas Aquinas) so I continue to be a law student for another semester!
We have had record rainfall for November and everything is in bloom.
I’m grateful for every single blessing God has given me – life is good.
Deo Gratias!
My four y.o. son may have started taking his first steps towards being an altar boy at the EF Mass we attend. Our parish uses long, thin rugs and a couple prie dieu kneelers instead of a Communion rail. As soon as Mass ended today, he asked if he could help roll the rugs up. A fellow parishioner showed him where to stow them and then he scampered back to me so we could take his sister over to the prayer candles and light one before we left.
What I’m most proud of though was he and his sisters had already attended Mass at 10am at our old parish and my wife forgot to bring their usual bible story books in from the car, so they had to themselves quiet through a longish Missa Cantata without any crutches and they did a great job.
The Buffalo Bills somehow managed a win!
Far better, I went to a Hayley Westenra “Winter Magic” concert last night. Sadly not in the local cathedral like the other stops on her tour, but still an amazing event. She has an angelic voice and sang several Christmas songs (an amazing Veni, Veni Emmanuel as the opening number, and Silent Night as the second encore, amongst others). Anybody unfamiliar with Miss Westenra should proceed to Youtube and Amazon immediately!
Today we are starting a new adoration program at my parish, Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. I will be adoring on Mondays from 5-6. Our adoration is offered limited days and times right now until they see how it goes. Please pray that our adoration program goes well and keeps growing!
I start my new job today!
I’m loving my new job, which I’ve been at for a month.
It’s Advent, and our oldest is really taking the whole thing seriously. Lots of joyful preparation and anticipation at our house.
An apparent domestic medical emergency resolved itself into much ado about nothing. Deo gratias.
A friend was received into full communion with Holy Mother Church over the weekend. A fruit of, among other things, the new Apostolic Constitution, many years of prayer, and long standing friendships.
It’s St. Andrew’s Day!
I had a wonderful experience in prayer. While I was praying for people in my life I felt this power going through me that was incredible. I feel as though I’ve experienced the eternal life that lives within me. I don’t know a name for this experience. It felt like an intimate experience of God’s love. I feel changed, joyful and grateful. I had no idea, until that moment, how close God is.
Now I want more than ever to “make straight” the way of the Lord, as, if I am less sinful, He will work through me even more. I can understand now how it is people can suffer anything rather than deny God.
I am rejoicing that my cantor and good friend Vasile will be ordained a Deacon on Sunday December 6th.
Well, we have our first grandchild as of Nov 6, and she came over the river and through the woods to our house for the first time Thanksgiving :)
This Fall I was admitted at age 67 to a Masters in Biblical Theology program on a distance learning basis. THEN I obtained a job of daily driving an autistic deaf young man to the state school for the deaf in the state capital forty-five miles away. This makes it possible to listen to the mp3 audio files of the lectures while working. THEN I discovered that a major theologate is within striking distance after dropping him off and that I can get to Mass there every day, work in their library all day long, use a carrel, use the computers, take out books, etc. The I wrap up the day driving the young man back home, studying Greek vocabulary all the way. It is completely and totally ideal and I am learning tons.
Plus last night my wife gave me kindly counsel on how to approach my term papers which delivered me from a major conundrum.
So I am very grateful.
My son is being Baptized this coming Saturday morning!
During our stay in Rome, we randomly ran into a friend seminarian at St. Peter’s. Who would have thought? Rome’s a big, crowded place.
Good news and thanksgivings:
+Today is my patron’s feastday!
+I had a very successful surgery last Friday and the recovery is going well(Septoplasty/polypectomy/turbinate reduction).
+I am very thankful to be working for a kind and holy priest, and an appreciative congregation.
Good news for the unborn child in Northern Ireland:
Abortion Guidelines have been withdrawn after a court case in N.Ireland:
”Anti-abortion group wins NI case”
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/1130/breaking36.htm
After being told by our college Catholic ministry back in the early 1980’s, that no RCIA etc was needed for my Episcopal husband to enter the Church because the Episcopalians and the Catholics were so similar and would soon be merged, we finally regularized my husband’s status as a Catholic. (He has been living as a Catholic for all these years) This past Saturday, my husband made a profession of faith and was confirmed. It was an answer to many prayers.
I made a resolution to myself recently that I should get serious about the spiritual life and stop with “the pick and drop” routine that I fall into most of the time. God works wonders, indeed! Yet I must remember that it is up to me not to drop the ball.
Also, I went to Sunday Mass yesterday at my local OF parish for the first time in months. The parochial vicar must have some influence over there. They sang, “Veni, veni, Emanuel”!
Roman Canon for St. Andrew today.
The Archdioces of Miami’s St. John Vianney Seminary has 74 students….largest number in 35 years! Let us pray for them.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/v-fullstory/story/1356388.html
Had a great talk at our Men’s Group Saturday on Hindegard of Bingen, who I was not familiar with. Very impressive woman. Also, in yesterday’s bulletin, our pastor told of a young man who proposed to his fiancee at the close of the 5 PM Mass last Sunday. The couple then asked him to bless the engagement ring. He said it made his day.
I have found a new inspiration in writing my paper (BTW, it’s on how popular culture views priests. I originally was going to focus on the tensions over the EF, but my professor reminded me that it is a paper I’m composing, not my graduate thesis…)
All of my Christmas shopping this year is being handled without setting foot into a mall, thanks to Mystic Monk Coffee and Amazon.com. (And they do the shipping to wherever I specify, so the good news gets even better: no malls AND no post office lines!) This lets me concentrate on the things that really matter for Advent and Christmas. :-)
My wife and I are spending the week in Indianapolis with our youngest daughter and her husband, and their two exceptionally bright and beautiful children.
This is pretty trivial in the grand scheme of things, but it’s been quite a while coming. This morning, out of the blue, after months of attempted potty training, the three-year-old announced, “I have to go potty!” and ran to the bathroom and used it! I bought stickers from the movie “Cars” as a bribe several weeks ago, and they’ve sat around unused, but I was finally able to give him one, along with many hugs and high-fives.
St. Cecilia’s Parish in Dallas broke ground on their new church building last week (the old church was struck by lightening and burned down a couple of years ago). And, based on the elevation that’s been in the media, it’s a good-looking Romanesque style building.
Potty training toddlers is never trivial to a mother. All your encouragement is paying off. Congratulations! That is very exciting Margaret! : )
I heard from my daughter today that Marquette is to have a TLM this Wednesday. Good news (if it is true). I am going to check into this further.
PS Marquette University: http://www.marquette.edu/
I hear it will be in the Joan of Arc Chapel. I hope to know more tomorrow.
Good News!
What: Traditional Latin Mass
Where: Marquette University in Milwaukee, Joan of Arc Chapel
When: December 2nd, Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Priest: Fr. Olivier Meney from the Institute of Christ the King
Last week: a new great-grandson and a new great-nephew safely and happily delivered.
This week: December 5th, First Saturday – A Rorate (dawn candlelight) Mass in honor of Our Lady and to prepare for the Holy Infant. A tradition at St. Stephen’s in Sacramento for Advent. It will be at 5:30am and no other lights other than the candlelight will be used.
After my seven year-old son mentioned over breakfast he wanted X for Christmas, his three year-old brother told him “Christmas is not about getting things”. He then went on “it’s about making gingerbread houses with red candies to represent Jesus”. We’re getting there….