Sometimes God’s work is …gardening.

In The Michigan Catholic I came across this wonderful article about gardening…in Detroit.  If you know Detroit, then an image immediately comes to mind, and gardening is NOT it.  The article is mostly about Earthworks Urban Farm, a ministry of Capuchin Soup Kitchen Ministries, but also brings up several other Catholic organizations and individuals who are trying to create “an oasis” in the middle of the “food desert” that Detroit is.  (For instance, there are no grocery stores within Detroit).

It’s good to remember in how many ways our Church is helping communities and individuals, in unsung, unglorified and unexpected ways.  I pray that God blesses the fruits of these labors and the hands of the laborers.

Read Full Post »

Thomas More Kim Dae-jung, Nobel winner, politician, man of faith

Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung died last week and was buried in a State Funeral attended by a North Korean delegation.  In writing about the man who introduced the Sunshine Policy of interaction with the North Korean government, newspapers wrote many articles about how “Mr. Sunshine” was continuing to bring the two Koreas together even in his death and funeral.  An example of the type of news articles:

The man who made history by holding a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2000 also managed to bring the two Koreas together with his death Tuesday at age 85.

A North Korean delegation dispatched to Seoul to mourn him held talks Sunday with South Korea’s president, relaying a message from Kim Jong Il during the first high-level contact between the rival nations after many months of tension.

I had read that article but I did not get all the news.  It turns out, the former President’s full name is Thomas More Kim Dae-jung, and he was the first Catholic President of South Korea.  He was exiled twice, survived attempted assassination twice and was sentenced to die by a military tribunal.  Eventually, he did rise to be President of South Korea and spent his time in office to reach out to North Korea, sending aide, reuniting families and trying to bridge the gap between the two still technically warring states.  He often stated that the work he did that lead to his winning the Nobel Peace Prize was an inheritance of his Catholic faith.   Here are some things which he said about his faith:

With the knowledge that Jesus was crucified for humanity, I could overcome all hardships and trials.

[A]ll my hard trials in the past – imprisonment, frequent detentions, torture and forced exiles – happened in the process of God’s redemptive work, and in this sense, I have also participated in God’s salvation.

(The Catholic News Agency article is here.) 

When he received the Philadelphia Liberty Medal in 1999, he said,

I have had a lifelong pilgrimage toward freedom.  Along the journey certain forces have sustained me.   The first is the Christ I believe in.  He gave his life upon the holy cross; he taught us how to be free in spirit.  The cross was my training toward freedom.

Well done good and faithful servant, rest in peace.

Thomas More Kim Dae-jung, Nobel Peace Prize winner and the first Catholic president of South Korea

Read Full Post »

The Necessity of Baptism

My friend,

Although you haven’t asked me any follow-up questions about Baptism, it is still on my mind.  And still important.  Here is a good article on it, not heavily loaded with Scripture, but a good overview of why we do it.  Why we *should* do it.

The objective dimension is the grace received, which begins working in an invisible and mysterious way immediately; the subjective dimension depends on how we cooperate with this grace. (italics mine)

(Note:  I got there by way of the wonderful New Advent front page.)

Read Full Post »

‘Will you also go away?’

Accept challenge of Jesus’ hard teachings, Pope Benedict urges

 The Gospel reading is from John, we have been working through John’s sections on the real presence of the Eucharist.  The Pope remarked:

“The fourth Evangelist,” Pope Benedict explained, “relates the reaction of the people and disciples, shocked by the words of the Lord to the point that many, after having followed him until then, exclaim, ‘This saying is hard, who can accept it?’”

Benedict XVI continued reading, reciting, “And from that moment on ‘many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.’”

The Pope then noted, “Jesus, however, does not lessen his claim. Indeed, he directly addresses the twelve saying, ‘Will you also go away?’”

“This provocative question,” the Pope taught, “is not only addressed to listeners of the time, but to believers and men of every age. Even today, many are shocked by the paradox of the Christian faith.”

Read Full Post »

New Evangelization — how great is that Catholic radio?

In line with the previous post regarding the ad campaign in Sacramento and with what I heard yesterday on WDEO radio, I wanted to talk about other means of New Evangelization.  On WDEO, the man was saying that we should be telling a friend about Catholic radio, as studies have shown that that is the most important way in which successful talk radio shows have grown, i.e.  word-of-mouth.  I resolved to email my family and friends back home the links to Ave Maria Radio, EWTN and Radio Maria.  All three have live streaming of their broadcasts, at least to some extent and some of the better known shows have Podcasts available.  I get mine from Itunes, and listen when I’m hiking, or in the car when I’ve driven out of range of my local station.

Here are my favorite shows, in no particular order:

• Deep in Scripure  and The Journey Home, both with Marcus Grodi.  The former is an in-depth study of a Scripture passage chosen by Marcus’ guest.  The Journey Home features guests talking about their conversion / reconversion.
• Food for the Journey with the very wonderful Sr. Ann Shields delving into Scripture and applying it to our lives.
• Catholic Answers, a themed call-in show with Patrick Coffin and scheduled guests.  Their recent show on the Holy Trinity was fantastic.
• Christ is the Answer, an awesome Catechism and Adult Formation series heard locally here.  Fr. John Riccardo is truly a faith-filled man with a gift for bringing complicated theological issues down to a level in which we can understand and internalize them. 
• The Good Fight with Barbara McGuigan.  Any of us could be a saint.  How we can take our aspirations to reality.

I also try to catch Teresa Tomeo and Al Kresta for updates on what is going on in the world, in America, and here in Michigan.  Both cover politics, news and events from a Catholic and Christian perspective.

If you get a chance, check them out!

Read Full Post »

Mickey Rourke thanks God and Catholic faith for ‘second chance’

Some (Hollywood) awesomeness.

Mickey Rourke thanks God and Catholic faith for ‘second chance’

Speaking to the Bosnian daily “Avaz,” Rourke said, “God gave me a second chance in life and I thank Him.”

He’s had a tough road.  No doubt he added to his own burdens but I think we should all keep him and others struggling with addictions in our prayers.

Shared via AddThis

Read Full Post »

Sacramento Diocese plans ad campaign to reach ‘lapsed’ Catholics

 The Sacramento Bee reports:

Sacramento Catholic leaders are turning to television ads in an effort to get the region’s lapsed churchgoers back in the pews.Sacramento Diocese officials say the ads will target the estimated 800,000 Catholics in the region who do not attend church regularly. Weekly Mass count is about 136,500.

The diocese is one of eight in the U.S. running ads featuring Catholics talking about why they returned to the church. The Phoenix Diocese estimates that similar ads brought 90,000 Catholics back to church last year.

The Sacramento commercials are set to run 1,200 times over six weeks from Dec. 18 to Jan. 31.

Churches will be asking parishioners in coming weeks for money to help cover the $380,000 campaign.

In general, I’m in favor of this action by the Diocese of Sacramento.  Maybe not the cost, but we need to continue to evangelize and the first place to start is with our own. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090826/ap_on_re_us/us_catholic_commercials_1

Read Full Post »

The paradox of a decision for God

Early today, I posted about the difficulties which often accompany a decision to surrender to God’s will.  Tonight, I remembered reading the personal testimony of David MacDonald on his fabulous website.  Writing about the moment he decided to give up his music career altogether and follow his call, he says the following:

In retrospect, it was the greatest moment of clarity I’ve ever had. However, as the philosopher Keirkegaard explains, there is a cost to making an “absurd” decision for God. Sometimes that which follows is hard. We step forward with “fear and trembling” (Mar 5:33, 2 Co 7:15, Phil 2:12). Abraham was not spared the dread of looking into the eyes of Issac as he lifted the knife, (Gen 22:1-19) Mary was not spared the pain of being misunderstood by Joseph (before the angel visited him – Mat 1:24); the apostles were not spared the fear of their faith as early Christians (Acts), and I was not spared emotional turmoil of giving up everything with which I identified. Nor was I spared the dread of being misunderstood by my relatives who believed I had gone mad. So the paradox of a decision for God, as Keirkegaard explains, is that the “closer we come to the Absolute, through inwardness, the less we are understood by the outside world.”

Read the testimony in full here.

So… we have learned that

1. It’s very hard to surrender one’s will to the plans which God has laid;
2. If we do manage to surrender our will to God, we’ll most likely face trials and tribulations — our own personal wood of Jesus,
3. and we’ll be misunderstood by everyone else to boot. 

Wowza, this ‘cooperating with grace’ thing is going to be even harder than I reckoned!  I’m going to need prayers, lotsa prayers!

Read Full Post »

Cooperate with grace — Sensitivity, Vulnerability, and Religion

Wow, another article that seems to be speaking directly to me!   This one is from Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, and I originally read it in the The Michigan Catholic.   (Fr. Rohlheiser was recommended reading from my parish priest, the awesome Fr. Tom.)   He starts the article like this:    “Daniel Berrigan once quipped: Before you get serious about Jesus, first consider carefully how good you are going to look on wood.”

Okay, that got my attention.  :-)  He then goes on to explain how following an authentic faith (or ‘cooperating with grace’ to us) often does not lead to sunshine, peace and butterflies alighting on one’s shoulder.  In fact, it turns out that such followership is frequently painful.  He calls this a “hard truth.”  Boy, is it ever. 

Here are some highlights from “Sensitivity, Vulnerability, and Religion” that are fantastic.  Can you recognize yourself in here?  You know I can.

Classical spiritual writers tell us that one of the ways we can tell whether our faith and religious practices are authentic or whether they are just another form of rationalizing and justifying our own motivation and will, is that, if our religious practice is real, we will be unable to protect ourselves against a certain amount of pain which we formerly were able to block out. If our following of Jesus is real, we will find ourselves sensitive and vulnerable…

Read Full Post »

The USCCB: side-by-side comparison of English mass changes

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have released a handy side-by-side comparison of the tranlations changes that will be being implemented in the English language mass soon.  I looked them over and I think they are fantastic.  Good to see some of the watered down translations gone.  I think, once we get used to the changes, that we will find the new translations more meaningful, more educational, and even more scripturally sound. 

USCCB – Roman Missal | Examples

Posted using ShareThis

Hat tip to AmP who recommends that we print out the PDF version and begin discussing in our churches and small groups.  Excellent suggestion!

Read Full Post »