A new era…

I am online in Front Royal. Now, I just have to find time to actually keep this up!!! heh heh… no actually I am just going to make this happen tonight…

 

In Louisville

I have plenty of pictures to show you all.   Unfortunately, my computer is somewhere on the way to Virginia.  We are currently migrating towards Virginia… but I will return to this blog to post more soon.   God bless you until then.

 

When old friends attack…

Many surprises have already begun to appear from this new job at Christendom College.  I will be reconnecting with some of my best friends from my Franciscan University days.   I have a former roommate by the name of Steve Skojec, whose blog is here. As well, he writes for InsideCatholic.com at times. Finallly, he is an all around nice guy.

But then just the other day, my good friend Bill Powell, whose website is here, also contacted me and apparently we are going to be neighbors! What is great about this is that he was one of my very close friends at University in Steubenville at the Franciscan University. It should be an interesting move and new life with new-old friends with more kids for my own children to play with!

 

Today… we must all be Notre Dame Students…

It seems like I can never post things from realcatholictv.com, but you need to watch this beautiful exhortation from Fr. Wilson Scamble, who is a Holy Cross Father (the same as Fr. John Jenkins, the President of Notre Dame). We must here his call and hear his voice, ALWAYS with love, but we must live as he prophetically points out. May we have the courage to do so: http://www.realcatholictv.net/nd2009/index.php

 

Please Promote and support this Priest from Lichtenstein…

Lichenstein is a small country neslted between Austria and Switzerland. I praise God for this priest, whoever he is – at least his screen name on YouTube is Don (meaning priest, I think) “Jo Johannes”! Here are few more of his brilliantly great works!!!

I really like that one, it is supposed to be a parody of a Fiat (the Italian Car company) commercial

Now, it may seem like you saw this one in the last post, that is because he updated it. The second one is good, but I actually like the end of this one better:

Now this next one, you have to wait for it, but this rocks:

… and it is sooooo true!

In his notes, Father points out that he made this after he read about the “iLoo” which was a theoretical toilet that would let you use your Macbook while you…. were on it.

Ok I have exhausted the posts from the priest. But Holy Water, Batman!!! WHat must it be like to live in someplace where THIS is actually a commercial to sell stuff!!! FOR COKE!!!

Finally, a few last ones, but it is not from the priest, but from a company called Igniter Media, which I think is Protestant, which shows us we have more in common than we think.

This is also from Igniter Media, and it is pretty darn good…like, really good:

If only our separated brethren knew the grace of what they were missing in the Holy Eucharist.

 

WOW!!!

I just found these all on YouTube… who says the internet can’t be used for good?!

I am sure there is somebody somewhere who won’t be too happy about this:

Is it just me, or I have somehow missed all of these?!?!?! This next one is TOO true:

Who isn’t sick of sickening sweet Santa Claus?

OH my gosh!!! I LOVE THIS ONE:

Holy COW!!! I am quickly becoming a fan of this guy, who I think is actually a priest!!!

Dang! He is good:

Ok, seriously, Last one. The translation is “Catholic Priest: Protecting the universe from the scum of the earth.”

Apparently this guy appears to be a real German priest… I need to do some research.

 

Amen.

 

Confirmed in Confirmation

Today, I had the singular honor of being the sponsor of a young man who received his Sacrament of Confirmation, along with his sister.  My wife was chosen as the sponsor of the younger sister.   It is quite interesting that the younger sister actually asked the question, “What is it we are confirming?”  Good question, I thought.  Unfortunately, the answer must begin with a correction. 

We, in a certain sense, confirm nothing in the Sacrament of Confirmation.  For it is only by grace that we endure in our faith to return to that great Sacrament.  In that Sacrament, it really is more properly the Holy Ghost who pours out his grace in his gifts upon us.  It was a beautiful and solemn ceremony, celebrated by Monsignor Fryar at Our Lady of Fatima in Lakewood.  I was struck by the silence that filled the sanctuary as he confirmed around 80 young people.  Sitting there next to my confirmandus (i.e. the young man) I was struck by the first reading at the Mass that was about the first Pentecost in the Church, when the Holy Spirit fell upon the Apostles.  It has not fallen outside of my notice that my wife and I will likely be leaving Denver the day after Pentecost.  This is significant, as it was normally until Pentecost that I would meet with RCIA, and I believe they will also still be meeting until then.  But as with this Confirmation Mass and with Pentecost, the two messages are the same: evangelization and a sending out.  Again, I think, in all humility, that I feel as if I, and my family, are being sent out from Denver. 

When I first arrived back here after my time in Rome, I knew that it was very clearly the Lord Jesus who had called me to St. Jude in Denver.  Now, quite clearly, he has called me from here to Virginia.  More symbolically, this aligns nicely with the Feast of Pentecost and the apostles themselves being sent out.  This Confirmation Mass, then, for me was a great foreshadowing and reminder of why I am in the “theology business,” so to speak.  I am not in it for the money, though I definitely need some money to support my now growing family.  I am not in it for the popularity, as it seems that it has become clear that certain elements at my previous place of employment may have had a certain dislike for me.   And I am not in it for the prestige, as most everyone in my family thinks I am crazy for working for the Church. 

Nevertheless, what I am in it for is Jesus.  He who has created me, and recreated me in Baptism.  I am his, or at least I am doing my best to be entirely his.  For this reason, tonight’s Confirmation Mass gave me some solace in knowing that I am being sent, just as my young sponsoree has been sent by God into his own life with renewed purpose and mission.  His being sent has given me pause and conviction to consider my own family being sent to Christendom College – and especially by the hands of our Blessed Mother, Mary. 

I left a poster in the Youth Center at St. Jude which I had forgotten about, but it said, “I don’t know what the future holds, but i know who holds the future.”  This I think has been confirmed for me tonight by means of Confirmation at Our Lady of Fatima May 6th, 2009.

Oddly enough, I had the great fortune to be in Fatima Portugal 10 years ago for the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima in 1999… but that is a post for next week…

 

Three days Later…

It turns out that I am not exactly what you call a “Webmaster.”   I have bought the website, but apparently one needs “webhosting” to attach this blog to my website.  I don’t really understand the whole thing fully myself.  At any rate, it has now been 3 days since I have been laid off from the parish.   What a sorrow.

I had such mixed feelings on Friday, being the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.  In some ways, it was very heartening to know that sometimes our work there is nothing more than to entrust ourselves to God our Father in Heaven, for He has a plan.   In the midst of this removal of work from my family and myself, in order that I might support them, it has become clear that thistype of labor is, at this point, quite necessary.  Nevertheless, there is more sweat of the soul than of the brow, so to speak.

On the other hand, it has been quite saddening to be so finally done with the Parish.  I am in some ways having withdrawls already.  Like I want to call somebody up and respond to their questions…. and yet nothing.  I want to answer the phone and provide direction for somebody who is calling me… and yet nothing.  The life of a parish worker is quite an emotional one, especially since one often deals with issues of the heart.  Nevertheless, I am heading to a new position where perhaps the upside is that I may actually have more time to see my children and wife! 

After three days, and while in Eastertide, I am beginning to feel like I have had a small resurrection of my own.  Work provides one with a great means to live out one’s spirituality.  But perhaps this time away may also provide me some time to reconnect with my family and myself in ways that I haven’t found time to do in a while. 

Nevertheless, please keep me in your prayers.

 

Towards Josephology

Peace in Christ!

I have reserved this site for use while living in Rome for the position at Christendom College that is the Director of the Study Abroad Program in Rome, Italy.  Please bookmark this page and come back often, as I will be going to Rome to complete my doctoral studies and I will be writing about my experiences and time in Rome.  This blog will begin its usage beginning at the end of my employment at St. Jude Catholic Church in Lakewood, CO.  If you would like to find out more about me check out my blog at http://stjudelakewood.blogspot.comuntil May 1st when this blog will begin.  See you then!