Always Advent

Very interesting feature at the National Catholic Register, a photoessay of the daily life of Pope B16:
http://ncregister.com/site/article/7818

The title quote is from artist Chuck Close, profiled recently at 43 Folders:

“Working in Close”
http://www.43folders.com/2008/01/11/working-close

Links

Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Close

NPR interview:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1748083

My dad, who recently received an amazing offer from a local crematorium, mused further and sent me this:

I wonder if I should get back to the crematorium, offering to write its direct mail in future. I’m think that it’s missing the boat here. I mean I used to make a living doing direct mail stuff and many other marketing things, and I feel there should be a direct mail offer for not just “a cremation” but for three different levels of service.

For instance, 10 lucky winners would win “Our respectful standard service”: i.e. place the body onto the conveyor belt and give it a hard shove.

Five lucky winners would win ”Our extremely respectful upgraded service”: i.e. put the body into a cardboard box before placing the box onto the conveyor belt and giving it a hard shove.

And one person would win the Grand Prize, “Our totally respectful top-of-the-line service”: i.e. put the body into a pine casket before placing the casket onto the conveyor belt and giving it a hard shove, followed by our taking off our hats as a token of respect.

Article on Catholic Exchange about options for Catholics who want to watch DVDs with their kids but avoid objectionable content:

Family Friendly Flicks: A New Option for Parents Renting DVDs
http://www.catholicexchange.com/node/69038

In the days of the Desert Fathers, a young monk sought out an elder monk who was known for his great holiness. The elder agreed to teach the young man everything he knew about prayer and the spiritual life.

He took the young man to a river and instructed him to immerse himself. The young man did and immediately the older man pushed the young man’s head under the water and held him down. The young man submitted to this for a short time, but then he became frightened that he was going to drown. He began to struggle against the old monk’s grip, fighting for air.

Finally, when the young man thought his lungs would burst, the old man released him. The young man stood up, gasping for air, looking at the old man in astonishment.

The elder monk looked at him calmly. “What did you experience while you were under the water?”

“I thought I was going to die,” he spluttered.

“Why were you going to die?”

The young man was angry. “Old man,” he spat, “I needed to breathe. I came here to learn the ways of God, and of prayer. And instead you tried to murder me!”

“You wanted that breath of air more than anything else?”

“Of course.”

“When you desire God as much as you desired that breath of air, then you will understand.”

—-
Today, January 17, is the feast of St. Anthony of the Desert (A.D. 251-356), aka St. Anthony of Egypt, St. Anthony the Great, the father of all monks, the first Christian we know of who went out into the desert to seek union with God in solitude and silence.

Not sure if that was a tale of St. Anthony or of one of the other desert fathers, but it doesn’t really matter.

Links

Life of St. Anthony, written by St. Athanasius, online at New Advent:
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2811.htm

Catholic Encyclopedia article (online at New Advent)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01553d.htm

article at Catholic Online:
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=23

from the patron saints index at Catholic Forum. This page describes Anthony as the father of cenobites, but I alway thought Anthony was the father of hermits and Pachomius the father of cenobites:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sainta06.htm

Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_the_Great

Books
(This list is certainly not exhaustive or authoritative. It’s just a couple of books I’ve read. Each has a good bibliography.)

The Holy Way: Practices for a Simple Life
by Paula Huston
Chapter 1–”Solitude: The Way of the Hermit”–Huston devotes this chapter to St. Anthony.
(They sell it on Amazon, but consider supporting your local brick and mortar Catholic bookstore by buying it there…)

The Way of the Mystics
by John Michael Talbot with Steve Rabey
JMT also devotes his first chapter to St. Anthony and the desert fathers. He also provides a very good list of books for further reading.

JMT sites: Little Portion Hermitage, JMT’s blog, Troubadour for the Lord (Catholic Record Distribution), JMT’s website.

This is from my Dad:

I have to pass along to you that you know you’re getting old when one of the pieces of direct mail that comes into your mailbox is from a local crematorium offering you a chance to win a free cremation.

LOL! :)

He also mentioned that he didn’t enter the contest…

I pray this every day. It’s a bit more involved than the more basic Morning Offering some of us have seen in various prayer books, but I feel like this one covers all the bases:

Lord Jesus, throught the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you all my prayers, works, joys, sufferings, penance, sacrifices (and fasting)* of this day, for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the conversion of souls, for the intentions of all my associates, friends, family members, neighbors, and benefactors, and in particular for the intentions of our holy father and the Apostles of Prayer, and anyone in the world who is most in need of my prayers today, anyone who has asked for my prayers, anyone I’ve promised to pray for, for the one person in the world is closest to conversion today, and the one person in the world who is the furthest from conversion and therefore in the greatest need of your grace. Amen.

Apostleship of Prayer website:
http://apostleshipofprayer.org/

I was reflecting recently on the mystery of conversion. Why do some people believe and live the Faith, and some people do not?

I’m sure we all know personally someone (probably more than one..) who was raised in the Faith by conscientious parents, received all the Sacraments, maybe went to Catholic school K through 12, had all the spiritual benefits of the Catholic Church available to him or her from childhood, who somewhere along the line gave it all up and lives completely separated from the RCC, possibly lives in sin or in an irregular marriage or who knows what.

We probably also know personally someone who was raised in a non-religious home, received no religious instruction whatsoever, went to public school, grew up basically ignorant of the RCC except for what has seeped into the culture at large (they’ve heard of the Rosary but they’ve never prayed one), who at some point in his or her life heard the Gospel preached and converted to the Catholic faith.

I fit into the second category. I was raised to be a good lapsed Catholic. When I was 17 a high school classmate invited me to a youth retreat. I knew absolutely nothing about the RCC or about Jesus–nothing at all. I had never prayed a Hail Mary nor an Our Father in my life. And yet, I responded to the Gospel and to the charity of the presenters on the retreat and have never looked back. I didn’t even know the retreat was Catholic. That was just pure dumb “luck.”

Several years later, my classmate who invited me on the retreat wrote me a letter informing me that he was leaving the Catholic Church in order to practice an actively homosexual lifestyle.

Why does grace “stick” to some people and not to others? How did my classmate become “unstuck?”

I pray that I will meet in Heaven the person or persons whose prayers obtained for me the gift of faith and the grace of conversion. I pray every day — several times a day — for my children, whom I’m raising in the Faith but who could decide to choose a life inconsistent with that Faith. I pray for my classmate who fell away. That’s why I pray in my morning offering for the conversion of souls in general but also for the one person in the world who that very day is closest to conversion and also for the one person who is furthest from it.

Only the Holy Spirit can convert souls, and it’s a mystery how he works, but I’m convinced that our prayers for conversion are effective. After all, God wants conversions even more than we do.

If you’re reading this, please pray for me, that my conversion of many years ago “sticks” with me to my dying moments. Pray for my children, that the Catholic upbringing I’m trying to provide for them will carry through into and throughout their adult lives. Pray for my many friends and family members who are far from God. I’ll be sure to pray for you.

(The image at the top of this post is “The Conversion on the Way to Damascus” by Carravaggio, 1600 A.D.)

I wanted to share with you the names of the six fish my mom has in her fish tank, for no good reason other than that I think they’re funny. They are, in order of funniness:

Marty
Smeagol
The Vacuum Cleaner Fish (the one that sticks his big mouth to the side of tank and sucks algae.)
The Great Big One
His Name Is…
Where’s the Other One?

No idea which fish is in the picture. Probably not Where’s the Other One, because we can never find him…

Have you ever seen a baseball player make the sign of the cross as he steps up to the plate? Point to the sky acknowledging God after striking out a crucial batter? Ever wondered if those guys are serious about their faith or just superstitious?

This new DVD, produced by Catholic Exchange, answers the question: some of those guys are totally serious about their Catholic faith. They are hard-working professional athletes who put God first in their lives and give Him all the credit for their success. They are devoted to the Mass and to the Holy Eucharist. They are responsible family men who have their priorities in order.

Dozens of Major League baseball players make brief yet inspiring “sound bite” appearances in this lavish and well-produced sports documentary, but the testimonies of the featured Major Leaguers – 4 players, 1 manager, and 1 coach – are simply amazing. It built my faith to listen to these men tell their stories. These guys are at the top of their game—true champions like Mike Piazza and Jeff Suppan—yet they are humble and truly grateful for God’s providence in their lives. These men really are sports heroes. This DVD was moving, heartwarming, exciting, and inspirational—and I don’t even watch baseball.

Highly recommended for the whole family–and not just the baseball fans!

www.championsoffaith.com
www.catholicexchange.com