I have a writing deadline this weekend, so not much to say today other than Come, Lord Jesus! We’re waiting for you!
Go to this link for some awesome Catholic music for kids and adults, with an Advent-themed song called “Jesus, Come Soon”:
http://bsc.weship4you.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=302
10. Silence is good for you.
We live in a noisy culture. Telephones, faxes, TV, radio and video games are typical sources of auditory noise. But newspapers and computer screens also “scream” headlines at us, the books we read speak to our inner ears—modern Americans are deluged with sound and information from every direction. It is necessary to frequently turn everything off and tune everything out and just be quiet. “You can learn more in an hour of silence than in a year from books.” (Matthew Kelly)
9. Solitude is good for you.
Busy moms and dads especially need some regular time away from the demands of work and family life, just to collect our thoughts, take a deep breath, and put things into perspective. Some “down time” that’s really down time (no errands, no computer, no music, no shopping malls—just alone-time with Jesus) is beneficial to people whose calendars are normally packed with activities and commitments.
8. God will give you increased understanding.
We will never fully understand the spiritual mysteries, such as the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, the Eucharist itself – that’s why they’re called mysteries. But if we spend time in adoration reflecting on these and other mysteries of the faith and passages from scripture, God will help us to understand them better.
7. Going to adoration shows Jesus that you love him.
Making the effort to leave your house and go to the adoration chapel is a way to show Jesus you love him more than your comfy bed, more than your family and friends, more than your other hobbies or other forms of enjoyment, and so on. It shows that we are willing to put God first.
6. Jesus wants to be with you in this special way.
If he didn’t want to be this close to us, he wouldn’t have instituted this sacrament. Going to adoration is doing what Jesus asks: “Could you not watch one hour with me?” By this question he expressed his desire for us to “keep him company”—just to be with him.
5. You will gain clarity and direction in your life.
Many people discern vocations to the priesthood, religious life, or to marriage through time spent before Our Eucharistic Lord. Problems in your life may be viewed with better perspective or you may think of a solution. Some problems will develop into opportunities or may simply resolve. You may find yourself able to be more patient with certain troublesome people, or able to overcome a temptation, kick a bad habit, or start a good one.
4. Adoration is an excellent way to do penance.
Making reparation for sin is an age-old Catholic practice. Watch the news or read the paper and you’ll find plenty to make reparation for. Sins against God range from cold indifference to outright hatred, violence, blasphemy: you name it. Spending time in adoration is a good way to make reparation for the sins of the world, and for your own sins.
3. Intercessory prayer before the Blessed Sacrament is particularly effective.
Intercessory prayer is praying for your own needs and especially for the needs of others. Pray for the conversion of people in the world who are separated from Christ, either by their own stubborn attachment to sin, or because of the culture they live in, or because of prejudice against Christians, or whatever the reason. Pray for peace in the world, peace in your home. Pray for an end to the terrible scourge of abortion. Pray for an increase in the virtue of chastity in the Church and in the world. The list of concerns you can bring before the Lord is almost endless.
2. You receive grace.
When you go to adoration, receive Jesus’s love and allow him to make the changes in you that will lead to greater personal holiness. Bask in his presence, soaking up rays of grace the way you soak up rays of sunlight (except that this kind of “Son” bathing has no harmful side effects!) What happens in adoration is usually undetectable by our emotions and intellect because it takes place at the level of our spirit. The effects of this time with Jesus, however, are usually detectable after a time, if you are paying attention. You are a work in progress, and God is always “tinkering” with you, like a sculptor chiseling away at his masterpiece.
1. Adoration is Heaven on earth.
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament gives us a chance to practice on earth what we hope for in heaven, which is to be with Jesus forever in a mutual exchange of love. The Eucharist is the “source and summit” of our Catholic faith: the consecrated Host is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. The fullness of God is there in the same room with us when we go to adoration. Reflecting on this may help us to appreciate even more that the God of the universe actually comes to dwell within us when we receive Holy Communion. What could be better than that?
Links
The Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration Association
http://www.therealpresence.org/
The Community of St. John
http://www.communityofstjohn.com
This is a topic all pray-ers can relate to. The way I handle distractions in prayer is not amazing and probably not very original, but it helps me, so I’ll share it, for what it’s worth:
I just keep a small stack of 3×5 cards with me, and when I’m praying, when something mundane inevitably comes to mind like “I need to pick up the dry cleaning!” I just take a moment to write it down on a a card, then go back to my prayer.
I’m pretty sure God doesn’t mind that. I think he would rather I get something like that off my mind and be done with it, rather than try to stuff it down and have it rattling around. Besides, I find that it usually doesn’t take long to clear away those kinds of cobwebs and then I pray “better”.
Plus I’m less likely to forget the dry cleaning.
Links
The idea for the small stack of 3×5 index cards as a memory aid is from Merlin Mann’s 43 Folders website/blog. He calls it the Hipster PDA.
The idea of capturing all your thoughts and “things-to-do” is part of David Allen’s Getting Things Done system.
“The one who prays is most certainly saved. The one who does not pray is certainly damned.” (St. Alphonsus Liguori)
Yipes! Pray early, pray often. :)
Random fact: St. Alphonsus apparently has a patronage against scrupulosity.
Links
New Advent:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01334a.htm
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonsus_Liguori
Catholic Forum:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sainta09.htm
Catholic Online:
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1284
Taking a class at the moment. Three guesses which author we’re studying, and the first two guesses don’t count. :)
A couple of insightful posts from D.G.D. Davidson at SciFiCatholic regarding the Dumbledore is gay furor from a while back:
From 10/22/07:
It is of course the business of a writer to know everything about her characters, including things that never make it into the final draft. Nonetheless, I find myself asking the question, why is Dumbledore homosexual? Such a detail is hardly necessary to explain his relationship with Grindelwald. I’m inclined, perhaps too cynically, to view this as another example of our tendecy today to sexualize everything, rendering platonic friendship nearly impossible, even in fiction. On the other hand, it may just be another bit of proof that Rowling is not exactly the master of subtlety. After all, homosexual attraction is the most obvious explanation for one man’s great love for another man.
the complete post for 10/22/07:
http://www.scificatholic.com/2007/10/star-trek-and-dumbledor e.html
From 10/27/07:
I have three great fears regarding what will happen as a result of Rowling’s comment. The first is that members of the homosexual subculture will see this as some kind of triumph, even though the books contain not the faintest hint of homosexuality. My other fear is that conservative Catholics will overreact and end up looking like a bunch of homophobic bigots. Both these fears have already become reality.
My third fear is that the Christian boosters of Harry Potter will unjustly feel betrayed even though Rowling made them no promises in the first place.
the complete post for 10/27/07:
http://www.scificatholic.com/2007/10/sci-fi-catholics-statem ent-on-j-k.html
From a feature article in the National Catholic Register, January 20, 2008, “The Culture of Death Will End”:
I see indications of hope. I think the American people are too good, too generous, too righteous a people to put up with abortion forever. One day the abortion movement will collapse, like the day the Berlin Wall came down–as if out of nowhere.
–Mother Agnes Mary Donovan, mother general of the Sisters of Life, pictured above at the opening of the Sisters of Life Villa Maria Guadalupe Retreat Center
Links
Sisters of Life
National Catholic Register main page
The Culture of Death Will End: Sisters of Life 15 Years Later, full article (available to subscribers to the Register)
The dictionary definition of jealousy differs only slightly from that of envy, but the moral implications of envy are far worse.
To be jealous is to be “intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness; disposed to suspect rivalry or unfaithfulness; vigilant in guarding a possession.” Jealousy most often enters into love relationships. For example, a toddler is jealous of mom and dad’s attentions when the new baby comes along. A smitten young man doesn’t like to see his girlfriend talking to other guys. In the Bible, God even describes Himself as “a jealous God” because He desires above all else our exclusive love and devotion to Him, the only true God, and doesn’t want us chasing after other “gods”. (see Deuteronomy 5:9)
To be envious, though, is to cross the line into malice—envy is “painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage.” In other words, you see something that someone else has, you don’t like the fact that they have it, you want it for yourself, and you don’t want them to have it anymore. The object of envy can be a material possession, a quality, talent or virtue, an achievement or success, a relationship, or any number of things.
Envy is so bad that it is listed with six other capital sins, so named because they themselves lead to other sins and vices. St. Gregory the Great wrote that “from envy are born hatred, detraction, calumny, joy in the misfortune of a neighbor, and displeasure in his prosperity.” Envy is a sin against the tenth commandment, which says “You shall not covet…anything that is your neighbor’s…You shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” (Ex 20:17; Deut 5:21) When envy wishes grave harm to a neighbor it is a mortal sin. (CCC 2539)
The biblical story of Joseph and his brothers is a good example of how jealousy can morph into dangerous envy. Joseph’s eleven brothers were jealous of him because their father loved him best and gave him special attention and gifts. Perhaps many of us can even sympathize with them. Who wouldn’t feel bad in a situation like that? But they crossed the line into an envy so malicious that they eventually threw Joseph into a cistern and sold him into slavery. Another familiar biblical story–Cain’s jealousy of his brother Abel—ended violently in the first murder in human history.
The Catechism says that “envy must be banished from the human heart”. But that doesn’t mean we must have no ambition, no desire to move ahead and no desire to do well in our studies or careers. Being inspired by others’ achievements and wanting to emulate their successes is not envy.
But if we do find ourselves struggling with envy, or jealousy that is on the brink of becoming envy, we must take positive steps to root it out of our lives. Envy is closely bound up with selfishness and egoism—wanting everything my way, wanting the world to revolve around me, wanting all the accolades, rewards, and advantages to come to me and to no one else, and so on.
If we find ourselves feeling this way, we can think about Our Lord Jesus, who, even though he was God, emptied himself and became little and humble for our sakes, who said “the first shall be last and the last shall be first”, who said that we must deny ourselves in order to follow him, who said that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, and who suffered the humiliation and suffering of the cross out of love for us. (copyright 2007 by Clare Siobhan. Originally published in Family Centered Faith Formation News, January 2007, by the Office of Religious Education at Holy Trinity Catholic Church)
Links
Homily of the Day on Catholic Exchange for 1/24/08: “A Jealous Heart is a Great Destroyer” by Msgr. Dennis Clark:
http://www.catholicexchange.com/node/68478
Articles archived at www.catholicexchange.com (Go to the main page and click on the link “Search CE Archives” near the top right-hand corner. The last couple times I’ve tried to find something here, the page wouldn’t open, but check back occasionally and they may have fixed it. These are good articles.)
“Envy—It’s a Killer” by Fr. James Farfaglia. 11/04/06
“Capital Sins (part 2) by Fr. William Saunders, 9/13/01
“Anatomy of Envy” by Marcellino D’Ambrosio 9/25/06
Anyone come across this game “Would you rather..?” at work or at school? I think it started as a goofy game children made up to amuse themselves on the bus to school or something, but it became something of a craze; at Christmastime people were bringing book versions of it into the office where I work. The game involves posing questions like this:
“Would you rather jump from a 3rd story window into a dumpster full of pins and needles OR jump from a 28 story window into a dumpster full of fluffy feathers?“
“Would you rather bite into a pus-filled donut or a maggot-filled donut?“
And so on ad nauseum, literally. Most of the time it degenerates into pretty disgusting stuff, often sexual in nature.
This is entertainment? “Would you rather pee out a dart or poop out a telephone?“?”
If you read enough of these, I suppose it takes on the quality of an absurd litany of sorts, and perhaps some of the questions are amusing…
Would you rather
slide down a 50 foot razor blade into a vat of alcohol, or
suck all the snot out of a dog’s nose until its head caves in?Would you rather
survive a nuclear war only to become the podiatrist to a race of mutants, or
smell the cheese?Would you rather
be mechanically induced to scream at the top of your lungs for an hour, or
have your eyes glued shut for a day?Would you rather
be forced to preface everything you say with the phrase “Tuck it in” under threat of being slapped, or
have a magnetic head?Would you rather
be born with a refrigerator on your back, or
have an elephant as a close, personal friend?Would you rather
have 15 nails hammered into your tongue, or
have your saliva permanently transmuted to urine?Would you rather
have needles for leg hair, or
have flares shoot out of your nose every time you say the word “the” (ouch).Would you rather
have eyes that always smile, or
or a voice that makes people calm?Would you rather
be able to fly, or
have the ability to read people’s minds?Would you rather
lose your keys three days in a row, or
have your dog eat your birthday cake?Would you rather
have the power of invisibility, or
be able to produce sparks from your fingertips?Would you rather
be able to fortell the future, or
have all the money you will every need?Would you rather
be able to stop time while you slept, or
never need to do laundry?Would you rather
be able to bring about a lasting world peace, or
eliminate all hunger and disease?Would you rather
be debt free, or
eleven years ahead of schedule?Would you rather
suck on a live cattle prod for five minutes, or
be imprisoned?Would you rather
have spaghetti sauce you can sink your teeth into, or
teeth that sink in spaghetti sauce?Would you rather
have a foot long eyelash you can never pluck, or
an earlobe the size of a basketball?Would you rather
hit every red light for the rest of your life, or
always be wrong?Would you rather
catch a cold after freezing your face in bowl of liquid nitrogen, or
be unable to sit?Would you rather
Meet the Beatles, or
eat beetle meat?Would you rather
Bring home the bacon, or
be water soluble?Would you rather
Be a webmaster, or
know only 7 words (is there a difference)?
…but still…
(The list quoted above is from this website: http://barry.warsaw.us/poems/wyr.html)
How about a Catholic game of Would You Rather..?
I’ll go first:
Would you rather live for 80 years at a level just above the poverty line while struggling to overcome habitual sins, striving to grow in holiness and intimacy with Our Lord, and trying to make a positive difference in the world and then spend eternity enjoying perfect fellowship with Almighty God OR…
…live for 80 years in self-centered luxury, comfort and indulgence of every vice, having no thought whatsoever of God or your neighbor, and then spend eternity burning in hell?
I’m not sure that quite works, though. The game seems to be about choosing between two equally bad options. In the question I posit above, only one option is bad, and it depends entirely on whether you believe the doctrine of Heaven & Hell, or not.
Somerset Maugham says, “I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham
Books by W. Somerset Maugham: here
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