An Embarrassing Case of Sacramental Mistaken Identity

Patrick Madrid

Let he who is without guilt cast the first stone.

An Embarrassing Case of Sacramental Mistaken Identity

12 Days of Christmas - An Unusual Version

How Animals Might Present It

12 Days of Christmas is certainly an interesting song, though not one of my personal favourites.  Here, from the Talking Animals channel on You Tube is what cats, dogs and other animals have to say and sing about it.

New Mass Translation

The Process and The Intent

A short video prepared for Life Teen explaining the process and reasons for the changes in the Roman Missal.

Intellect versus Wisdom

In recent years I have followed the goings on over at Father Tim Moyle's blog, Where the Rubber Hits the Road.  There have been a number of commenters, almost to the one thoughtful people, who have something to say either supporting an item linked on Father Tim's site, or raising a criticism of something read.

One of the most frequent and verbal of the commenters is a man named Martin, s former classmate of Father Tim's at the St. Peter's Seminary in London, Ontario, who one would therefor expect to be Catholic in his beliefs and comments.  Such is not the case, and Martin, well versed in the words of scripture always seems to have an axe to grind.  He is frankly better versed than yours truly, and generally raises interesting arguments.

A while back, he felt that verses in the bible about Jesus commenting on the end times proved that Jesus could not be God, since he apparently erred in Martin's humble opinion.  We went back and forth for some time, and I thought he made good points, though I felt they were erroneous.  One thing that was never mentioned is that the books of the Bible were not produced in the time of Jesus, but 30 years later or so, which gives one pause.  Jesus did not stand beside Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, and say: "Take this down.  This is good."  They also had the benefit of about 30 years of seeing how what they understood Jesus to have said played out, if it did.

But, the bigger issue for me is one I took umbrage with Martin on.  I believe that he possesses a great deal of intelligence, or intellect, but is lacking in wisdom.

Being an atheist in our times is a very difficult task, and requires one to undertake machinations to prove the unprovable, which of course, is what atheists say about Christians.  But, beyond the words of the Bible, there are instances, and many of them protracted, where the Blessed Virgin Mary is appearing to people around the world, and communicating with them in no uncertain terms.  As well, Jesus has appeared to many as well, and has shared His Heart with them.

Christians and non believers, are not required to believe in these things, but prudence requires us to at least examine them for their veracity.  The appearances of Mary at places like Garabandal in Spain, Fatima in Portugal, have borne much fruit, as people have been drawn into a greater commitment to life in Christ.

One of the most interesting recent phenomena is the communications purported to be between Jesus himself, and Vassula Ryden, which took place over more than 15 years, and have been published, with a letter from a Catholic Bishop indicating that reading and meditating on this book is spiritually beneficial to all, and in no way contravenes Catholic Church teaching.  The book also contains dialogue between Vassula and the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, where questions were asked and satisfactory answers provided.

But, this particular book, True Life in God, at page 419 had an insight into what I thought was going on between Martin and the things he rails against.  It differentiates between Wisdom and Intellect.

Vassula asks the Lord: "Give us the Wisdom then to imitate You."

Jesus responded in kind: "Wisdom is given to mere children; unless they seek Me in simplicity of heart, Wisdom shall not be given to them and as long as their intellect is at work, Wisdom will remain hidden and as a riddle to them."

She then prays as follows:"Tear away, Lord, their intellect so that they may at last see with their eyes Your Beauty and Your Splendour!"

Jesus says: "little heart, pray for them then; pray in these godless times; let your prayers be like blended incense;"

"pray that I may give them back their sight; pray that I may go over to them and wake them up from their everlasting sleep; pray, My little one, you who had the Law brought to you by Me; and directed by My Holy Spirit, pray that they die to their sin and resurrect to Holiness, Love and Faith; and if there are any wise men, let them show their wisdom by their simplicity of heart towards Me, their zeal to all that is holy, and by their ardour to draw souls to Me; may all these things be done with humility and love; remember that if you do not get what you ask it is because you do not pray hard enough and with your heart;"

You can improve your intellect by studying, reading, even watching certain things, but you cannot get Wisdom that way.  Wisdom cannot be chased.  Wisdom comes from submission, even a tiny bit of submission.  Wisdom, once it starts to have its way with us can grow and blossom.

When our intellect is allowed to be in the driver's seat, we limit what we can understand and what we can accomplish.  We claim certain things to be factual, where they are only opinions, and incomplete understandings.  Wisdom has no such bounds, because it is not from us, and not about us.

Intellect is about what we know, what we have seen, what we have interpreted.  As such it is very limited; yet we rely on it to guide us.

We cannot bring another to Wisdom, but we can pray for that person to be visited by Wisdom, and if we are to pray and seek an answer to our prayer, then the admonition of Jesus to pray hard enough and with our hearts is essential.

Many have wandered away from the faith we profess; many of whom once made the same professions.  They have been deluded by intellect, not Wisdom, and that matters.  Pray that all those who have wandered far from home, would be visited by Wisdom, and would receive it so that they may turn their hearts towards home.

The Christmas Rush

A Capella

A fun song to help us remember what Christmas is about.




The Christmas Rush - LYRICS
I hit the mall, spendin' dollars.
To show people what they mean to me.
Got trampled trying to find an elmo.
Got pepper sprayed, guess that was free...
They gotta know, that gifts mean love.
I got my Mom MJ's glove.
And as for pops, a crystal bird house.
It doesn't really even matter what Christmas about baby.
I bought the fam lots of crap for Christmas,
Forgot who I bought it for yeah.
It won't be Christmas without presents,
Spending till my card gets sore yeah.
And who knew,
that this holiday could make me so poor yeah.
And who knew,
That i'd almost break my pelvis in a revolving door yeah.
I got my bro some N'Sync earmuffs,
then fought off Britney tryin' to steal from me.
My sis is gettin' a brand new loofa,
the jokes on her cause it was free.
This time of year the stores get nuts.
Who knew that meat mitts could cost so much?
I think the Mall Cop just grabbed my butt.
I'm gettin' kind of sick of this Christmas rush baby.
I bought the fam lots of crap for Christmas,
Forgot who I bought it for yeah.
It won't be Christmas without presents,
Spending till my card gets sore yeah.
And who knew,
that this holiday could make me so poor yeah.
And who knew,
That i'd knock a granny over face first on the floor yeah.
Feeling sweaty, feeling nervous.
Shopping's not supposed to make you bleed.
I got a feelin' there's more to Christmas.
Then buying stuff that no one needs.
Look around you and find somebody,
who matters more than you can believe.
This is love so spread it around you.
Love's a gift that all can receive yeah.
I don't need all this crap for Christmas,
Don't matter who I buy it for yeah.
It's still a Christmas without presents.
To me it means so much more yeah.
And wooo,
You can't buy love from any store yeah.
And wooo, with peace and love you'll never be poor yeah
And wooo,
You can't buy love from any store yeah.
And wooo, with peace and love you'll never be poor yeah

Change of a Dollar

Patrick Madrid

Patrick Madrid came across this video and it shows what small things can mean in the bigger picture.

Many years ago, I was attending morning prayer with a number of my Catholic Christian friends, and on one particular morning, my friend Wayne asked me if I wanted to drive with him to take his cousin, Paul to meet his father about 30 miles outside of London, Ontario.  I had some time on my hands, and went with him.

When we got to our destination, a truck stop along the highway, I heard a voice tell me to give Wayne $50.  Since I knew whose voice it was, I did as I was old, and turned to Wayne, giving him the money and telling him that the Lord told me to.

He immediately turned to his cousin Paul and gave it to him.

As we started back to London a short while later, I was mulling over what had just happened, and told Wayne that if I had wanted to give the money to Paul, I would have, but I was told to give it to him.

Wayne was non-plussed about the whole thing, and old me the Lord told him to give the $50 to Paul.

Then he explained.  He said that as I was obedient, I was blessed by what I had done.  But, as he was obedient, he too was blessed by what he did next. As well, Paul was blessed by receiving money that he, in fact needed,.

So, in essence, God is capable of making something bigger out of a small thing, and the film at the link below is about blessings from small things, and how they go full circle.

Let us not lose sight of the fact that we are called to do the small things to the best of our ability, and that in our obedience to God, these small things make the world better.

Change: This movie will mess you up . . . in a very good way

Merry Christmas I Mean MERRY CHRISTMAS

Not Happy Holidays, Though I Hope They Will Be

We will be celebrating Christmas this year on December 25. Same date as last year. Same date as next year. Same date people around the world have been celebrating it for generations, come to think of it.



I was going to let go after my little rant last year, complete with musical accompaniment here.  But, then I got to watching the news on our local television station here in London, Ontario.  And frankly, I got mildly bothered.  You can substitute another word or two if you want, maybe one that is less . . . well . . . mild.

A  lot of companies that we have never really heard of, take it upon themselves to issue a commercial greeting during the news this time of year.  I lost count of how many lawyers, accountants, purveyors of things we need and other stuff did their thing but it was several.  Of that several, more than half wished me and My Dear Wife in the next chair a Happy Holiday.  Too bad I can't remember who they were, since it was coming so hot and heavy.  I would gladly communicate to them where I think they should put their Happy Holiday.  Think lack of sunshine.

The brave ones who remembered that we would be celebrating Christmas were somewhat outnumbered, but not overcome.  In fact, in most instances they had a gaggle of employees, students or friends with them to make sure that we knew they communally were wishing us a Merry Christmas.

As I said I would have let it go.  But, a friend from Petrolia, who lives near us in our winter home in Tucson, Norm Sutherland, sent out the following in an email, which he invited us to share with others.  It is cute.  It is relevant, and it is poignant.

And so, I am sharing it with you in this forum, my blog.  Should any of you want the original email, so that you can send it to your friends, relatives, mortal enemies (to whom you wish glad tidings) leave me a comment with your email address, and I will forward the original to you. 

We will be making a conscious effort to wish everyone

a Merry Christmas this year ...

My way of saying that we are celebrating

the birth Of Jesus Christ.

So, we are asking readers,

if you agree with us,

to please do the same.

And if you'll pass this on to

your friends, and so on...

maybe we can prevent one more Canadian/American

tradition from being lost in the sea of

"Political Correctness".

To One and All ! ! ! ! !

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Humor from GodVine
Funny Things Kids Have Said
LOT 'S WIFE

The Sunday School teacher was describing how Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, when little Jason interrupted, "My Mother looked back once while she was driving," he announced triumphantly, "and she turned into a telephone pole!"

GOOD SAMARITAN

A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan. She asked the class, "If you saw a person lying on the roadside, all wounded and bleeding, what would you do?"

A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, "I think I'd throw up."

DID NOAH FISH?

A Sunday school teacher asked, "Johnny, do you think Noah did a lot of fishing when he was on the Ark?"

"No," replied Johnny. "How could he, with just two worms."

HIGHER POWER

A Sunday school teacher said to her children, "We have been learning how powerful Kings and Queens were in Bible times. But, there is a Higher Power. Can anybody tell me what it is?"

One child blurted out, "Aces!"

MOSES AND THE RED SEA

Nine-year-old Joey was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday School.

"Well, Mum, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his army build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. Then he radioed headquarters for reinforcements. They sent bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved."

"Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?" his Mother asked.

"Well, no, Mum, but, if I told it the way the teacher did, you'd never believe it!"

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD

A Sunday School teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the Bible - Psalm 23. She gave the youngsters a month to learn the chapter.

Little Rick was excited about the task - but he just couldn't remember the Psalm. After much practice, he could barely get past the first line.

On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, Ricky was so nervous. When it was his turn, he stepped up to the microphone and said proudly, "The Lord is my Shepherd, and that's all I need to know.

Discourse on Jesus Return - Civil or Not?

Recently, a discussion broke out at Father Tim Moyle's Blog "Where the Rubber Hits the Road" over what appeared to be a humorous and innocuous posting he made linking to Harold Camping's revised prediction of the Rapture coming on October 21, 2011.
If you are reading this, then you know that the Rapture, if there is ever really going to be one, did not occur as promised by Mr. Camping.  This was not his first prediction of the end, but was as accurate as his previous ones.

But, of greater interest was the ensuing comment thread, largely involving myself, and another Catholic Christian named Paul, pitted in a contestuous battle of wits, our 2 halves against Martin's nit.

The discussion I felt was worthy of being brought out more into the open, because Martin, who was educated here in London, Ontario at St. Peter's Seminary has taken the knowledge he received and has built upon,  and has wandered over to the dark side (no offence meant Martin).

We have ultimately agreed to disagree.  At least we do disagree, and have drawn no closer to agreement.  Ignore the testiness that crept into the comments, particularly my own.

The actual frolicking began when Paul reerenced the bible stating that we know not the time nor the place of Jesus' return, in reference to Mr. Camping fixating on a particular date and time.  Martin is categorically an SD (you know disturber of excrement), and so he dutifully stirred the pot.

He raised the ante, by referencing Luke 21:32, "In truth, I tell you before this generation has passed away all will have taken place."  Specifically, he said:

Jesus clearly tells his audience that the world will end in their own lifetimes. Not only was Jesus wrong, but his words contradict your citation. No matter how you try to square that circle, the world cannot be both ended in the lifetime of the apostles and still in existence and facing an immanent destruction in 2011.

There was more and you can read it in the comments, but that was a pretty pivotal point, and remained the main topic of the comments.
Frankly, it seemed such a walk in the park to refute what Martin had said, that I started out lazily, and never really got past it, try though I might.
What, of course, was missed in the discussion, was when the text of Luke and the parallel texts of Matthew 24, and Mark 13 were actually written.  Since Luke was not probably written until about the 60s AD, use of the term generation becomes even more of a challenge.  So, I looked up this commentary from Bible Gateway.com and quote from there:

Jesus assures the disciples that these signs will be so. "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." The things Jesus has taught are true, more firm than creation itself.

In the midst of this note of assurance is one of the most-discussed passages in Luke. For Jesus also says, "This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." The prediction is made emphatically, using the strong Greek phrase ou me. This generation will not (!) pass away.

On the surface it looks as if Jesus is predicting the end within his generation, especially since Luke normally uses the term generation (genea) to mean the current generation (7:31; 9:41; 11:29-32, 51; 17:25; Acts 2:40; 8:33). Often the term also has a negative implication, meaning this current generation is evil. Against applying this interpretation to 21:32, however, is the reality of the delay. The generation of Jesus' utterance was passing away even as Luke wrote, and Luke had described numerous intervening events. Jesus had spoken in the thirties, but Luke was writing, in all likelihood, in the sixties. A reference to the current generation is unlikely.

Neither is it likely that Luke refers to the Jews as this generation. According to this view, the promise is that "the generation of Jews" will not pass away. Though this approach removes any problem for the meaning, it is unlikely because genea is not used in this general, nontemporal, ethnic sense elsewhere.

Two other options are possible. If the term has no temporal force, then it could mean "the evil generation of humankind." Using the term with this descriptive, ethical force would mean Jesus is speaking of a quality of human being: evil persons will not escape the judgment when it comes. This evil generation will not pass away before God deals with them. There will be judgment and vindication.

Finally, the term might refer to the generation of the end. In other words, once the beginning of the end arrives with the cosmic signs of verses 25-26, the Son of Man will return before that generation passes away. Such a meaning honors the term's temporal force and reads it as somewhat contextually limited by Luke's clear distinction between near and far events. This view has been rejected by some as too obvious a sense--the last generation will not pass away (Stein 1992:526). However, this misreads the view's force. It is arguing that the end will occur within one generation; the same group that sees the start of the end will see its end. This is the option I slightly prefer, though the previous sense is also possible.

However the phrase this generation is taken, Jesus' statements in verses 32-33 emphasize that Jerusalem's destruction and then the events of the end, including the Son of Man's return and the cosmic signs that accompany it, are more certain than creation's permanence. Be assured, Jesus says, these things will come to pass.

It was and may continue to be an interesting discussion.  But, what came to me in prayer was some thoughts on attitude.  Zig Ziglar, a well known Christian says this: “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude”.

Though I respect Martin's knowledge, my challenge is with his attitude towards the Bible, and Catholic teaching.  Jesus told us that we were to come to Him like little children.  Well, little children are curious, inquisitive, helpful, and trusting.  At least, they are that way until we, of the older generations, train it out of them.  We eventually train them not to trust, to be petulant, and argumentative.  They move from being child like, to being childish in their behaviours and attitudes, and that is how we enter adulthood.

I hope I am not misrepresenting concepts I believe I have read from him.  What I have understood from what I have read, is that he takes a critical approach to scripture, what I would characterize as a childish attitude, as opposed to an attitude of trusting inquiry and inquisitiveness.  This is not meant as a criticism of Martin, as when I look at some of the things I have written in response to him, I see the same petulance and childishness.  In fact, I doubt that the verbal jousting would have gone on as long as it did if I had presented a better attitude.

Be that as it may, mayhaps we will re-engage over this topic or others as time passes.

No Hurry???

From Father John Pirt's Sermon This Morning

Today's Gospel reading was about the 10 virgins waiting for the Bridegroom (Jesus) to come (Matthew 25:1-13).  The scene of the gospel was apparently a common scene in Jesus day on earth.  The bridegroom would possibly play tricks on the bride and attendants by showing up at an odd time.  So, while 5 attendants had lamps and oil, five only had lamps, and ran out of oil before the bridegroom arrived, and their lack of preparedness and diligence was to their eternal sorrow.

To start his homily, father John told this story about the devil.

The devil was about to send three newly trained devil apprentices to earth to test our their skills, and so he met with them prior to their starting this assignment.

He asked the first one what he planned to do on earth.  He said, he was going to tell everyone he could that there was no God.

Satan smiled at him, and told him that that would get a few, but that most over time know from their heart that there is a God, and so as a strategy, it would not be very productive.

When he queried the second one, his response was that he planned on telling everyone he could that there was no hell. 

Again, the devil was amused but told him that the people on earth knew in their hearts that there was a hell, and so he might have minor success, but that it was not a very effective plan.

When he asked the third demon what he planned, his response was chilling.  He said that he was going to tell everyone on earth, that there was no hurry.

The Gospel tells us to stand guard, be vigilant and prepared.  The devil tells us there is no hurry.

Who are you going to believe?