Jesus Freaks

Quick question: Who wants to be a saint?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes a saint as someone who "practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God's grace" (paragraph 828). In other words, in order to become a saint, you gotta be a freak!

Jesus Freak
DC Talk

Separated, I cut myself clean
From a past that comes back in my darkest of dreams
Been apprehended by a spiritual force
And a grace that replaced all the me I've divorced

Saw a man with a tat on his big fat belly
It wriggled around like marmalade jelly
It took me a while to catch what it said
'Cause I had to match the rhythm
Of his belly with my head
'Jesus Saves' is what it raved in a typical tattoo green
He stood on a box in the middle of the city
And claimed he had a dream...

What will people think when they hear that I'm a Jesus Freak?
What will people do if they find out it's true?
I don't really care if they label me a Jesus Freak
There ain't no disguising the truth!

Kamikaze, my death is gain
I've been marked by my Maker, a peculiar display
The high and lofty, they see me as weak
'Cause I won't live and die for the power they seek

There was a man from the desert with maps in his head
The sand that he walked was also his bed
The words that he spoke made the people assume
There wasn't too much left in the Upper Room
With skins on his back and hair on his face
They thought he was strange by the locusts he ate
Y'see the Pharisees tripped when they heard him speak
'Til the king took the head of this Jesus Freak

What will people think when they hear that I'm a Jesus Freak?
What will people do if they find out it's true?
I don't really care if they label me a Jesus Freak
There ain't no disguising the truth!

People think I'm strange; does it make me a stranger
That my Best Friend was born in a manger?
People think I'm strange; does it make me a stranger
That my Best Friend was born in a manger?

What will people think when they hear that I'm a Jesus Freak?
What will people do if they find out it's true?
I don't really care if they label me a Jesus Freak
There ain't no disguising the truth!

What will people think [What will people think]?
What will people do [What will people do]?
I don't really care [What else can I say?]
There ain’t no disguising the truth [Jesus is the Way!]

All of the thousands of saints have this one thing in common: They were freaks! They were not normal in the eyes of the world! Think about it: the guy that the song talks about in the second verse--Here's a guy who lives in the desert, in camel skin, on a diet of locusts and honey, telling people that the Messiah is coming and they need to repent. The authorities didn't like that so much, and he got his head chopped off! Now we know him as Saint John the Baptist.

Or how about St. Francis of Assisi? Here's a rich kid, very popular, going to all the parties and hangin' with his friends--until one day he gets sick on the way to the Crusades, comes home, and while he's recovering he hears God speak to him! From that point on, he gives up all his wealth, his status, even his family name! He goes around begging for his food and preaching the Gospel, helping lepers, and even goes to the Crusades--not to fight, but to preach to the Muslims! People thought he was a fool; people thought he was crazy; people thought he was a freak. We think of him as a saint.

What about Joan of Arc? This is a girl in her early teens, who starts hearing voices, and listens to them! She dresses like a boy, joins the French army, and leads it to victory (despite whatever French jokes you may have heard)! Well, the English, those people whom Joan's conquests beat down, didn't like that so much, so they captured her, put her on a mock trial on trumped up charges, and still she didn't deny her faith. She was burned at the stake for serving God, and now we call her Saint Joan of Arc!

I could go on and on about people who have lived lives so radically, freakishly devoted to Christ, but one more example will suffice. We all remember Blessed Mother Teresa. She's not a saint, yet, but she will be! She was a woman who was called by God to go to India, where Hinduism has set up a caste system. On the bottom of the castes are the "dalit", or the untouchables. These are the poorest of the poor, and you don't talk to them, or feed them, or touch them. You don't acknowledge them at all! Unless, that is, you are a Christian--specifically, a small, in-your-face woman named Mother Teresa! She left everything that she had behind and went to India to minister to these people. Why? Because in their suffering faces, she saw the suffering Face of Christ!

The Bible talks about people like these. In Hebrews chapter 11, it talks about the Old Testament Saints, commending their faith and devotion. The chapter concludes with these words:

These were men who through faith conquered kingdoms, did what was upright and earned the promises. They could keep a lion's mouth shut, put out blazing fires and emerge unscathed from battle. They were weak people who were given strength to be brave in war and drive back foreign invaders. Some returned to their wives from the dead by resurrection; and others submitted to torture, refusing release so that they would rise again to a better life. Some had to bear being pilloried and flogged, or even chained up in prison. They were stoned, or sawn in half, or killed by the sword; they were homeless, and wore only the skins of sheep and goats; they were in want and hardship, and maltreated. They were too good for the world and they wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and ravines.

Chapter 12 begins by bringing their example home to us:

With so many witnesses in a great cloud all around us, we too, then, should throw off everything that weighs us down and the sin that clings so closely, and with perseverance keep running the race which lies ahead of us. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which lay ahead of Him, He endured the cross, disregarding the shame of it, and has taken His seat at the right of God's throne. Think of the way He persevered against such opposition from sinners and then you will not lose heart and come to grief. In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of bloodshed.

We must be willing to follow Christ, even if that means that we have to sacrifice our coolness, or our popularity, or even our wealth. We must be willing to stick with Him, even if it costs us our freedom, or even our very lives. We must be willing to be Jesus Freaks.
The bridge of the song asks us,

People think I'm strange; does it make me a stranger
That my Best Friend was born in a manger?

First of all, is Jesus your best friend? If you can't honestly answer "yes" to that question, then something needs to change in your heart. Jesus said that He no longer calls us "servants", but "friends" (John 15:15), but right before that, He says that His friends do whatever He tells them (v. 14). Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to be a stranger for the One who was born in a Manger?

Have a freakish Christmas!
God bless!

The Good Life

And now for something of my own, after two posts of other people's writings!

Recently, on my way to the Church, I was following a car. It was a nice car, one of those new 2005 Mustang convertibles. Apparently the driver knew it was a nice car, too, because his licence plate read "2RNULIFE"--"To our new life." This caused me to reflect on the New Life that is given to us in Christ Jesus, and a song by Christian rock group Audio Adrenaline popped into my head:

Good Life
I've watched my dreams all fade away
And blister in the sun
Everything I've ever had
Is unravelled and undone
I've set upon a worthless stack
Of my ambitious plans
And the people that I've loved the most
Have turned their backs and ran

Chorus:
This is the good life
I've lost everything
I could ever need
And ever dream of

This is the good life
I found everything
I could ever need
Here in Your arms

Loneliness has left me searching
For Someone to love
Poverty has changed my view
Of what true riches are
Sorrow's opened up my eyes
To see what real joy is
Pain has been the catalyst
To my heart's happiness

Chorus
This is the good life
I've lost everything
I could ever need
And ever dream of

This is the good life
I found everything
I could ever need
Here in Your arms

Bridge:
What good would it be
If you had everything
But what you didn't have
Was the only thing you need?

Chorus
This is the good life
I've lost everything
I could ever need
And ever dream of

This is the good life
I found everything
I could ever need
Here in Your arms

In about three and a half minutes, this song sums up the paradox of the Christian faith, that Jesus taught to us in the Sermon on the Mount--that it is only by abandoning everything that we have held dear, and choosing to follow Him, that we find true meaning and joy in our lives. Jesus told us that in order to follow Him, we must take up our own crosses and come after Him. He said that if we are willing to totally lose our lives, then we will truly find them!

But Jesus isn't asking us to do something that He was unwilling to do Himself! Instead, this Christmas season we remember that He Himself demonstrated this, by coming to earth as a little baby--one who was so poor, He didn't even have a proper bed in a proper home, but spent the night in a barn.

If God Almighty can make that kind of sacrifice for us, what kind of sacrifice should we be willing to offer in return?

I urge you then, brothers, remembering the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, dedicated and acceptable to God; that is the kind of worship for you, as sensible people. Do not model your behaviour on the contemporary world, but let the renewing of your minds transform you, so that you may discern for yourselves what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and mature.
--Romans 12:1-2

Fiftieth Post!!

Sorry, had to celebrate the landmark! It's been nearly a year here at St. Andrew's, and I thought I'd reflect on it a bit...but then I thought I wouldn't bore you.

Anyway, I read an interesting article today at Cor ad cor loquitur that I thought I'd pass on to you, all about how Christmas in our culture is decaying into a secular morass, and whose fault it actually is. The answer may surprise (and enrage) you, so feel free to leave comments (that aren't too violent)!

This was not actually written by Dave Armstrong, but by his friend, Steve Kellmeyer.

How the Christians Stole Christmas

by Steve Kellmeyer

December 02 and 08, 2005

'Tis the season for complaining. Specifically, 'tis the season for Christians to chatter and moan about America's secular culture. "Happy Holidays" has replaced "Merry Christmas," Kwanzaa is in and Christ is out, and as a Catholic, I'm expected to get upset. But it's hard to do. As Grandpa might have said, after 500 years, a man jest gits tired.

For nearly half of the last millennium, Christians have slowly been chipping away at Christmas. Now, in imitation of Alexander the Great who wept because he had no more worlds to conquer, they caterwaul because they have nearly completed their task. Are they upset because it took so long or because it's almost gone?

America's Christians have fought long and hard for this day. Why aren't they celebrating?

After all, the attack on Christmas began in a most ingenious fashion. Instead of attacking the day itself, the other major holy days of the year were first stripped away. The law of prayer is the law of belief, as the saying goes, and the law had to go.

Thomas More's character in A Man for All Seasons summarized the situation nicely: "What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the devil?... Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coastman's laws, not God's and if you cut them down . . . d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? . . . Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake."

But the Christians who started the war against Christmas didn't have the benefit of a good screenwriter, so they didn't understand the consequences of their actions. The first holy day to be expunged from the Christian calendar, the first law of prayer to die, was All Holy Eve now known as Halloween. The man who murdered it? Martin Luther.

In 1517, he chose All Holy Eve, the vigil of All Saint's Day, to attack the idea that those who had died deserved any respect or care from those who lived. According to Luther, prayer afforded no one grace. The Reformation literally converted the communion of saints into the coven of witches; every person who invoked the aid of the saints was now guilty of a demonic attempt to commune with the dead.

Not surprisingly, the rise of the Protestant Reformation created an incredible upsurge in demon-hunting and witch trials. Wherever Protestant strength undermined Catholic authority, the upper-class intellectuals of the day would drive secular mobs to burn and hang witches. Protestant ideology transformed All Holy Eve from a day of sanctity that commemorated communion with God into a day of evil commemorating Satan's power.

It took a few centuries, but the first holy day had fallen. It would not be the last.

Throughout the whole expanse of the year, holy days began to decay into holidays. The most serious assaults were made on feast days whose Masses were celebrated with special joy.

How many people remember Candlemas? It is the Mass celebrating the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Offered forty days after Christmas, Candlemas marks the end of the Christmas season, as everyone used to know:

Down with the rosemary, and so
Down with the bays and misletoe ;
Down with the holly, ivy, all,
Wherewith ye dress'd the Christmas Hall

Robert Herrick (1591-1674), "Ceremony upon Candlemas Eve"

By the late 1800's, Americans had transformed this most ancient feast in honor of the Virgin Mary into Groundhog Day - a signal accomplishment in the continuing Protestant attempt to separate Catholic Church and state. And the two goals, the destruction of holy days and the separation of church and state, should not be seen as separated or separable.

After all, Martin Luther not only began the attack on holy days; he was also the first to propose the idea of church-state separation. Ironically, Luther's deep devotion to Mary has gone down the same memory hole that has eaten the holy days, thus no one knows how Luther destroyed what he most loved. But it hardly matters. He is long since dead, and according to his own rules, his aid cannot be invoked by either side of the debate.

Meanwhile, the destruction proceeded apace. Michaelmas, the Mass offered on September 29th in celebration of St. Michael's victory over Satan, became the day to settle rents and collect accounts. By the late 1800's, it too had been stripped of all the celebratory hospitality that had marked it as a major feast of the Catholic Middle Ages.

Childermas, the December 28 Mass commemorating the Feast of the Holy Innocents slaughtered by Herod, was not replaced by another event so much as it was simply overcome by the commercialization of the holiday. It slipped into oblivion. America had won the war against nearly every major Mass in the liturgical calendar.

Indeed, between 1700 and 1776, not a single Mass was celebrated in New York City - it was illegal. And, if it had not been necessary for American Protestants to employ French Catholic military support, priests would not have been present to celebrate Mass in New York during the Revolution either. The Mass had long since been stripped out of Protestant society like meat from the bone.

Candlemas, Childermas, Michaelmas, and now Christmas. Is it any wonder that a population who opposed any celebration of the Mass would eventually oppose the Mass celebrating Christ's own birth?

Catholics complained when Protestants stripped the Mass out of Christmas. Now Protestants complain that atheists will strip Christmas out of the calendar.

But what, exactly, is the problem with obliterating all reference to Christ's Mass? Isn't this what America has been working to accomplish for 200 years?

Years ago, Max Weber asserted the Protestant work ethic made America and England great. While that may be true, it is much easier to demonstrate that the Protestant work ethic made America secular humanist and atheist.

As we noted last week, the Christian assault on Christmas has been subtle but unrelenting. This is due in no small part to the Protestant work ethic and Calvinist theology which insists that we can tell who is saved by looking at who has the biggest bank account -- according to Calvin, the elect aren't poor.

The attack on Christmas in America began in earnest during World War II, when this virulently Protestant nation started sending its boys overseas to fight. Prior to that war, Advent and Christmas were still recognized as distinct seasons. It is difficult today to imagine the scene, but we must try.

How Things Used to Be

The liturgical year used by Christians for one and a half millennia was intended to make us aware of Christ's life every day. According to this way of understanding the passage of time, Advent served two purposes: it made us aware of Old Testament anticipation as Israel waited for the coming of the Savior and it made us aware of our own current anticipation as we wait for His Second Coming. Advent was meant to look backward and forward simultaneously: backward to the sinfulness of man prior to the Incarnation and forward to both the sinfulness and the glory of man that would be revealed at the Last Judgement.

Because Advent had this dual meaning, Christmas also had a dual meaning. The celebration of the Christmas season was meant to remind us of both the gifts of salvation Christ brought through His Incarnation and the gift of heaven, the eternal exchange of divine Persons which we would in some sense experience in the Beatific Vision.

This was the reason for the gift-giving during the twelve days of Christmas. The days between Christmas and the Feast of the Epiphany, when the three kings laid theirs at the Child's feet was a reminder both of Christ and of heaven. While every feast day in the calendar year involved some kind of feast and some kind of gift-giving, Christmas season was pre-eminent precisely because it alone was meant to be a foretaste of heaven. In fact, the season was not considered complete until the Feast of the Presentation at the Temple and the Purification of the Virgin on February 2.

After the Feast of the Presentation came Lent, when everyone spent six weeks walking the Via Dolorosa, with the suffering Christ, walking the Way of Tears. After we lived His suffering and death, we lived His Easter Resurrection. For the liturgically-minded, Easter day lasts eight mortal days — the whole week following Easter is considered one long celebration, although the partying didn't end until Pentecost, which marked the end of Easter and the beginning of ordinary time. During ordinary time Christians lived out and contemplated the growth of the Church through history as She prepared for the Second Coming and the Last Judgement.

When this is understood, the importance of the Feasts of All Holy Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, indeed, the whole month of November, is much more obvious. This season was crucial to understanding and properly celebrating Advent. Those feasts and that month were spent in special contemplation of death and dying, of sin and judgement and all who had gone before us, marked with the sign of Faith.

The Four Last Things are Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell. During November, Christians contemplated and prepared for Death. During Advent, we contemplated and prepared for Judgement. During Christmas, we contemplated and lived out Heaven, at least as best we could.

So, up until World War II, every Christian treated Advent as a time of preparation and repentance. No one would think of putting stockings, ornaments, even Christmas trees, up until Christmas Eve. During Advent, everyone meditated on the world's wickedness prior to God come in the flesh (past), and prepared themselves for the Last Day, when God comes as Judge (future). For centuries, Christmas was at once both a reminder of the Incarnation, the First Coming, and a reminder of Dooms-Day, Judgement Day, the Second Coming.

Why Things Changed

Martin Luther changed the understanding of November and of holy days in general; World War II changed the understanding of Advent and Christmas. As war swept the world, buying habits had to change. Because it took six weeks to transport anything by ship over the ocean, Americans were told to buy their Christmas gifts for their sons overseas by Thanksgiving, or their sons would not receive those gifts by February 2.

The Christmas buying season had been December 25th through February 2nd, with the most intense gift-giving happening during the twelve days of Christmas. But during the war, it extended from Thanksgiving to February 2nd. American Protestants, that is, American businesses, liked the extra income generated by the much longer and earlier selling season. The war against the Germans ended in 1945, but the war against Christmas was just revving into high gear.

Ever since World War II, America's Christian businessmen have been strenuously trying to destroy the whole concept of Advent. Repentant people, sorrowing people, people aware of their gluttonies, these kinds of people do not buy much. This is unacceptable to a Protestant understanding of commerce.

Not only was this sorrow bad for business, it was bad for the pulpit. If Calvin is right, we have no reason to repent. We are the Elect -- we are assured of our salvation! In fact, we have a duty to show others how well the Elect live! Break out the credit cards!

Sixty years of advertising broke two millennia of Christian practice. America famously refuses to contemplate death, so all Holy Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day had to be destroyed. Protestant businessmen knew just how to do that. They disassociated the days from their traditional contemplation of the saints' joy in heaven and turned them into pagan party festivals. Contemplating saints is dangerous, after all. They don't own credit cards. Christian businessman could not afford the possibility that anyone would realize this.

So, Halloween has now become the closest thing we have to an Advent season. Advent has been transformed into a four-week long Christmas season, and Christmas season is now Purgatory. The season during which we are supposed to celebrate our life in heaven with the Christ child is now the time we pay all the bills. Today, we sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" during Advent. Unlike Good King Wenceslaus, we toss all of our Christmas decorations on the trash heap on the Feast of Stephen. The Church's first martyr has lost out to Boxing Day and end-of-the-month card statements.

When was the last time anyone had a school Christmas pageant or business Christmas party during Christmas season, that is, after Christmas Day? Indeed, how many Christians even gather together to worship on the Feast of the Incarnation? Even as the Christmas/Holiday controversy swirls through the news media, CNN reports that most large evangelical church congregations don't even have Christmas services.

The irony is rich. Protestants insist on retaining the word "Christmas" even though they have already drained every scrap of belief and practice out of the word. They stripped the Mass out of "Christ-Mass" day, they stripped the contemplation of death and judgement out of the Advent season, they stripped the gift-giving out of the Christmas season, they don't even gather to celebrate on the day of His birth, but they are in high dudgeon about the missing word. The day is dead, but the lack of white-washing on the tomb offends them.

And I'm supposed to join them in being upset?

Alright, I will.

I promise.

Just wait until I stop laughing.

*****

Steve Kellmeyer is a nationally recognized author and lecturer on pro-life issues. His work is available through www.bridegroompress.com. He can be contacted at skellmeyer@bridegroompress.com. The blog where this article originally appeared (in two parts) is The Fifth Column.

Personally, I think that we as Catholics should live out our holy days the way they were intended!
God bless
Gregory!

Through Her Eyes

A Journey to Jesus

Back on November 19, Catholic singer/songwriter Mark Mallett came to St. Luke's school to give a concert. I happened to show up that day, and got to chat with Mark and his wife, Léa about their ministry and about mine. Then he put on a good concert and gave a stirring talk spurring us to greater commitment to Jesus! Afterwards, he was selling cds, and blessed me with his latest, "Let the Lord Know", which I mentioned briefly in the last post, and also with a double cd of the Rosary, titled "Through Her Eyes: A Journey to Jesus." I wanted to share with you a bit about that album, and I encourage you to get it (it's available here).

"Through Her Eyes" is a great cd set, and a wonderfully helpful way to pray the Rosary (for more on the Rosary, read the article I Shall Not Walk Alone). It's the rosary dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and opens up with the telling of how in AD 1531, the Virgin Mary appeared to a Mexican Native named St. Juan Diego, and told him that she wanted a church built on the hill where he was. However, the bishop didn't believe Juan, and Our Lady appeared to him again, and sent him to the top of the mountain, and told him he would find flowers growing there, in the middle of December! He did, and he tucked the roses in his cloak and went to show the Bishop. When he let the flowers fall out of the cloak, an image of the Virgin remained imprinted on the cloak! This cloak still exists today and has been tested by experts numerous times throughout the years. Their conclusions? They have absolutely no idea how the image was made! Because of these events, a church was built on that site, and within ten years of Our Lady appearing to St. Juan, 9,000,000 people converted to Christianity!

The album continues with the Rosary itself, going through all four sets of mysteries, with a sung Creed, Our Father, and Glory Be kicking off each Rosary, and a sung Hail Holy Queen to conclude. Before each mystery, a text of Scripture describing the mystery is read by Mark with music acting like a soundtrack in the background. When the mystery is meditated on, Mark and Fr. Ray Guimond recite the Hail Marys, while the same music that played during the Scripture plays again, in order to help us meditate! This is amazingly effective, because the music helps create the images of the reading in our heads!

In the Liner Notes to the CD, Mark has this to say about the Rosary and about this project:

The Rosary may be the most misunderstood of Christian prayers.

Pope John Paul II correctly identifies one reason as being an "impoverished" method of praying it (Rosarium Virginis Mariae). I also believe it is because the goal of the Rosary has been largely confused.

The Rosary is all about Jesus. Jesus--and union with Him--is its goal. It is about getting to know Him, love Him, and open ourselves to Him. We do this by meditating on the mysteries of His life, from His conception to His ascension into Heaven (They are called mysteries because how else can you describe God becoming flesh and dwelling among us?) Thus, the Rosary is really just meditating on the Gospels--but doing so in the school of Mary. We look, as it were, through her eyes. We see what she saw, feel what she felt, and hopefully imitate her response, which was perfect. If we surrender ourselves to Jesus as she did, we too shall receive our reward, as expressed in the last Glorious Mystery.

But what about all those repititious words? Besides the fact we are praying words found in Scripture (and supplicated with "Pray for us sinners..."), it is important to understand their role. Jesus warned against those who supposed multiplication of words would win favour with God. So why 200 Hail Mary's? Think of them this way: as a drum keeps the beat for a song, so too do the Hail Mary's give our meditation a rhythm, allowing our minds to focus on the mystery at hand.

Imagine the mystery to be meditated on as a flower; and the cascade of words as though they were the constant sound of a gentle waterfall behind you. Your focus is on the flower, while the waterfall gently occupies your other senses. The goal is not to think about the words you are saying, but to contemplate the face of Jesus in the mystery.

But even so, this can be difficult. Which is why this album was created: to help focus the mind and intellect on each mystery through music. Unlike other fine musical Rosaries in which the music forms a part of the "waterfall", the scores beneath the Scriptures and decades here are written to aid the imagination in forming a mental picture of the events taking place. The music is the stem of the flower, supporting the beauty of the petals--of Christ's life. For this reason, it sits more prominently against the decades helping to lift the meditations to the foreground. That is, the music may at times seem to compete with the Hail Mary's; rather, it is there to draw your attention from them toward Jesus.

You'll also notice that the music accompanying each Scripture repeats again during the decade--this is the key to praying with this album: as you are saying the Hail Mary's, the music will help you to recall and enter into the events of that mystery. Listen to the music, and allow it to form the meditation in your mind.

Lastly, this album was created to honour our dear Mother (Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of all America and my [i.e. Mark's] ministry), the perfect embodiment of the Christian life. By joining our prayer to hers, she makes it more perfect and even her own, offering it to her Beloved Son, the only mediator between us and the Father.

In making an act of consecration to Mary, I had bought her a bouquet of carnations and placed it at the feet of her statue in the little country church where I married my wife. When I came back later that day, I found the carnations missing. I assumed the cleaner had thrown them out. Instead, I found them at the feet of the statue of Jesus, perfectly arranged in a vase.

This is what Mary does with our prayers, indeed with our very souls if we entrust them to her. She picks us up, brushes us off, wraps us in her mantle of love, and places us gently at the feet of our Brother and Lord. If we let her, she will not only accompany us, but carry us in her arms... on our journey to Jesus.

I love that final illustration, and it was the reason that I asked Mark if I could publish the liner notes here. I really encourage you all to pray the Rosary--get the cd, it's a great help--because through it, I have experienced my own walk with Jesus to be closer, and my understanding and love for Him to be deeper. It's one of the most effective things that we can do as Catholics to grow closer to our Lord. Don't just shrug it off, but make use of this great gift from our Mother!

Pope John Paul II, on the Rosary:

Rediscover the rosary as a simple but very profound prayer. When it is recited well, the rosary leads one into the living experience of the Divine Mystery and brings to hearts, families, and the whole community that peace which we need so much. --Pope John Paul II, summer 2003

The Rosary, precisely because it starts with Mary's own experience, is an exquisitely contemplative prayer....By its nature the recitation of the Rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace, helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord's life as seen through the eyes of her who was closest to the Lord. In this way, the unfathomable riches of these mysteries are disclosed.

Dear brothers and sisters! A prayer so easy and yet so rich truly deserves to be rediscovered by the Christian community....I look to all of you, brothers and sisters of every state of life, to you, Christian families, to you, the sick and elderly, and to you, young people: confidently take up the Rosary once again. Rediscover the Rosary in the light of Scripture, in harmony with the Liturgy, and in the context of your daily lives....May this appeal of mine not go unheard! --Pope John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae

Let us heed the call!

God bless

Advent

Silence

"Be still and know that I Am God."-Psalm 46:10

In our industrious, fast-paced, microwave society, sometimes the impact of these simple words are lost. "Be still" sounds too much like "be lazy." And when we are still, it is most often to sleep (or, if you are like me, you aren't even still then!) or to watch tv.

But God says to us that we need to be still and silent before Him. Saturday, November 19, I had the wonderful opportunity to guide the Eucharistic Adoration at St. James' parish, when we helped them host a youth group from London, on their way home from Toronto. The words of this Psalm spoke poignantly to me as I did this, especially as we began. In the silence, the teenagers almost seemed to not know what to do. Something seemed missing. Why weren't we doing anything?

And yet, we were doing the most important thing, by doing nothing at all. As we simply sat or kneeled in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament--in the Presence of Jesus Himself, we really did come to know that He is God! But even then, I played some music in the background to help us focus: some songs by Mark Mallett, that spoke of how, when we are in Jesus' Presence, we are really taken beyond this world, into the Holy of Holies, and we join in singing with the angels in worship of Him!

Silence is one more way that we see the world has things backwards. Especially as we enter this season of Advent, preparing for Christmas, we can get so caught up in the hustle and bustle and downright madness of the season, that we forget that the only ones making noise on that original Silent Night were those same angels announcing to us the real reason for it all!

If you don't take the time to be still, to be in Jesus' Presence, you might not hear them.

Catholic-Protestant Discussion

Recently I emailed all the youth at St. Andrew's whose addresses I have (if you want emails from me, give me your addy!) to tell them about a radio show that airs from 1-5 on Saturdays on the local Christian radio station, Joy AM 1250. It's called the Drew Marshall Show, and it's a Christian call-in talk-back show, and Drew is a great host who digs up some of the most interesting and controversial topics in the Christian Church today! I highly recommend it no matter what subject he happens to be tackling.

In particular, though, two Saturdays ago, he discussed Catholicism and Protestantism. It's tempting to say "vs." but it really didn't amount to that (except in the minds of some of the callers). Rather, it was a very fair look at Catholicism to see if we were really that different from our Evangelical brothers and sisters in Christ. To help him with this, he had Dr. Suzanne Scorsone, the spokeswoman for Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic, Archbishop of Toronto, and Dr. George Vandervelde, Professor at the Institute of Christian Studies in Toronto. Now, the great thing about the Drew Marshall Show is that he puts his shows online, so I really encourage you to go to www.DrewMarshall.ca/Listen. The show, where Drew himself interviews the guests, is the first listed item under the November 26, 2005 banner. To hear all the callers and how they were answered, scroll down a little further to the first item listed under "Talkback".

I have to say, my favourite part of the show was right off the bat. Drew commented that he wasn't sure he was going to do the show this weekend until the previous Sunday, when he actually went to Mass. It seems to have been cut out of what he put on his site, so I'll try my best not to misquote him.

He said: "In the Evangelical Church, we're always complaining and saying 'We need more Jesus; we need more Bible in our services!' Well, if you want more Jesus and you want more Bible, go to Catholic Mass! It's all Jesus, it's all Bible!." I thought that was pretty cool.

Anyway, Mr. Marshall, if you happen to read this, and I did happen to misquote you, let me know! I laughed out loud in my kitchen when I heard you say it, and said "Yeah! Right on!"

Anyway, giv'er a listen!
God bless
Gregory

Catching up! -- and Announcements! Please Read

Wow, it's been waaay too long since I've posted anything here! As such, today I'm going to issue a rapid-fire series of posts, beginning with this one:

You may have noticed that I haven't been publishing a weekly discussion for a while. The reason for this is that at the Tuesday Night Gym Night talks have come straight out of Lee Strobel's wonderful book, "The Case for a Creator" which, by interviewing various and recognised scientists, provides many and compelling evidences from modern science that demonstrate that the world is the product of Intelligent Design, and that God created us! Since it would be rather plagiarising to reprint the book here, I have not done so. I would encourage anyone who is interested in this discussion to come out to St. Vincent's School on Tuesday nights from 7-9. The whole night is playing various games or sports like dodgeball, soccer, basketball, etc. In the middle of the night, I give a brief talk, as I just explained above. In all, the night is both a lot of fun and, hopefully, spiritually edifying at the same time!

Just a reminder about our monthly movie nights. This month it is on December 16th, from 7-10. We'll be watching "Christmas on Division Street." Come on out to the Parish Centre!

Third, we're really getting under way with our Christmas Pageant! I'm excited about it!
It's called The Fool for Christ, and tells the story of St. Francis of Assisi, who, historically, put together the first live Christmas pageant. We're interspersing scenes from the Christmas story into the St. Francis plot!

We'll be performing it Sunday, December 18, at 5:00. Please come, invite friends and family, and enjoy the show!

To all the actors in the play, who are from the ages 12 and up, after Christmas, the drama team is not dead! I want to really build this into something permanent!

Finally, I published in the Bulletin a few weeks ago a contest. No one reads the Bulletin apparently, because I haven't heard one peep about it!

The Contest: The Youth Group at St. Andrew's needs a cool, catchy name that really describes who we are and who we want to be! Along with that, we need a logo! You've got 'til December the 16th (movie night) to get ideas in! There will be prizes for the winners!

So email me or see me in person with submissions!

For the more theologically-minded of you, and those who enjoy reading a lot, I just wanted to mention the large debate that I'm having with a Protestant youth minister who happened along here one day. It's taking place on his blog as well as my other blog, Three Nails. It's titled (on my blog) "Was (or is) the Reformation Necessary? An examination of Protestantism’s doctrinal Pillars: Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide". I would encourage you to check it out, especially if you dialogue or interact with Protestants to any great extent--especially if they, like my opponent, claim that we as Catholics are not Christians, but "enemies of the Cross of Christ" and "proclaimers of a false gospel". (We are neither of those things, btw, but the first and original Christian Church, founded by Jesus Christ Himself!)

One last thing. Recently a rather pesky and antagonistic (not to mention rude and vulgar) fellow had been posting here and I activated the moderation program to eliminate his slur-ridden posts. He seems to have abated and left. In light of that, I have deactivated the moderation, and all posts will again appear as soon as you post them! However, if he returns and stirs up more trouble, I will reactivate the program. So if it is reactivated, you'll know why.

God bless
Gregory