Joy to the World - 2

Anne Murray

How Utterly Preposterous

Something which is preposterous is "contrary to reason or common sense; utterly absurd or ridiculous".  Utterly is "carried to the utmost point or highest degree : absolute, total." So, when people say that something is utterly preposterous, they are actually saying that it is absolutely, absolutely absurd or ridiculous, not just absurd, and not even absolutely absurd, but absolutely, absolutely absurd.  Now that's absurd.
Over at Yahoo answers Teresa K, two years ago, said this was utterly preposterous: "Organized religion in general, Christianity in particular. It's the greatest fairy tale ever to spread among people like an epidemic. I find it difficult to believe that rational, intelligent human beings can believe a young girl with a steady boyfriend just "happens" to get pregnant and claims it's a gift from God... gee, can I try that?"

Utterly Preposterous, you say Teresa.  And so it is, with the filter of our present day world affairs, and with only the eyes of our own experiences to guide us.  Yet, amazingly, people have been prepared to die for their Christian faith, and many more are prepared to kill, shout down, and otherwise diminish believers in Christ.

Over at Father Tim Moyle's blog Where the Rubber Hits the Road, the blog was recently high jacked by a band of marauding atheists, who for lack of cogent observations to make, hurled angry invective at the other commenters.  65 comments.  Mostly banal.

But, Father Tim is a joy filled Christian, and Father Tim like some other men of the Roman collar, I call friends, walks in the belief in what others call utterly preposterous, the belief that the God of the Universe would send His Son down to earth to be born among us, to walk among us, to teach us, and to die for us, to reconcile us with Him.  And to prove that He loved us, to rise again from that ignominious death to prove to us that there was hope beyond hope, love beyond love.

So, is it utterly preposterous that a young woman of 15 would conceive of a child through divine intervention, that she would give birth to him in a manger of all places, and that that young baby would grow up to one day allow himself to be murdered brutally for us and for our sins?

Or is it utterly preposterous to believe that out of nothingness came a Big Bang and suddenly the universe was created, and over millions and billions of years evolved into exactly what we see here and now?

We are free to choose which is the real impostor, which of these two mutually exclusive options is utterly preposterous.   But, if all we use for our guide is our normal senses, our own personal knowledge base, or the ramblings of others, we have been deluded by the noises that surround us.  To figure out which of these two is the impostor, requires a journey into our own heart, a place where the noise does not penetrate, but where love and truth live and reign.  If we journey into our own hearts, we will find the truth, and the truth will set us free, free from all those burdens that weigh us down, hurts, traumas, sadnesses.

So, in this joyous season, let us suspend our disbelief for a time of reflection.  Let us take that time to sit quietly, not ponder anything, not listen to anything external, to just invite the truth to speak to us.


As Father Tim prepared to celebrate the first of two vigil masses for Christmas, he wrote this essay on what this year of faith has meant to him.
 
Merry Christmas to one and all.

Joy to the World - 1

Mannheim Steamroller

Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

From December 23, 2009 Good Morning America

Here is a medley of songs interlaced with a few moments of the GMA show of 12/23/09.

Christmas In Prison

From Father Gordon MacRae at These Stone Walls

Father Gordon, as readers of my blog and more particularly of These Stone Walls, know has been falsely imprisonned.

Today he writes about Christmas in prison.  Those of us in the outside world never probably pay a thought to our brothers and sisters who will spend this Christmas season behind bars.  Many of them really deserve to be there, some more so than others.  There are also many there because the system failed them, like Father MacRae.

But, we all live in at least a symbolic prison, the prison of our own disobedience to the God who loves us enough to send His Son to earth to be Our Saviour and Lord.

Today, we here in London, are celebrating the funeral Mass of a friend, Donna Henshaw, who passed away at the age of 54 this week.  Donna raised 6 kids, much of that on her own, and leaves them and in laws, 6 grandchildren, and friends behind, as she goes on to her eternal reward, the one that Jesus died to give to her.

She too was in prison.   She had ovarian cancer for a number of years and thus was a prisoner of her body which was betraying her.  She was told over two years ago that her death was imminent.  She never stopped believing that God would heal her, and she lived each day as fully as she could.  There was no quit in Donna Henshaw.  But, this week, she finally let go, and went home.  She received her miracle.  She lived those extra years in faith and love, doing for others as she could, and loving all who crossed her path.

Donna had this one little quirky thing that my prayer partners and I were reminded of yesterday at Morning Prayer.  If she was approaching you, and you had not noticed her, or she thought you had not, she would wave her arms and call our "Yoo Hoo!"  We all remembered times when Donna had marched down the street in high or low dudgeon, on a mission to somewhere, and would call out to those she was about to meet.   So, it seemed appropriate that she would be laid to rest at the original Catholic Funeral Home in London, Ontario, Donohue's.  Yesterday, we called it "Donna Yoo Hoo's," in memory of our departed friend.

We will all be freed of the prisons of our mind, and/or our bodies on death.  We hope that we will be freed to live in joy and peace with our Saviour.  We pray that those who do not know Him will come to that knowledge, so they can be with us in the paradise that we hope for for ourselves, as well.

But, while we are here, it is our duty to love one another, as Father MacRae does, and as Donna did.  Both give us examples of being prisoners for Christ.

May you rest in peace Donna, and pray for all those you have left behind.

Father Gordon, may you continue in your sacrificial love of your brothers and sisters, and may your personal suffering be used by and joined to Our Saviour for the benefit of those He sees fit to bestow it upon.

God Bless You both.

If Facebook Were Invented about 2 Millennia Ago

And if Joseph, Mary and the Others Used It

The birth of Jesus might have been communicated like this, or not!



H/t Father Tim Moyle

Celebrating 125 Years

St.Mary's Parish West Lorne, Ontario

On December 18, 1885, then Bishop Walsh of the Diocese of London blessed the newly built St. Mary's Church in west Lorne Ontario.  On December 19, 2010, Bishop Ronald Peter Fabbro, the current Bishop of the Diocese of London presided at a celebration of 125 years of continued ministry for this parish.

I saw St.Mary's yesterday for the first time in my 60 years, as my friend and prayer partner, Wayne Zimmer was asked to bring some musicians with him to lead the worship.  Wayne is an excellent worship leader, and does so under the anointing of God.  Together with Dave Rector, Yolie, and Brian Benoot, Wayne led the congregation musically.  Me, I tagged along, and ran the projector, and I must say did so masterfully.

It was a beautiful mass and celebration, with a pot luck lunch after in the hall.

The Bishop, preaching on the readings of the 4th Sunday of Advent, spoke of Joseph and his obedience to the dream he had, in which an angel told him who was in Mary's womb.  He contrasted this with Ahaz in the first reading, who refused, even when prompted by the prophet Isaiah, to ask God for a sign.  The Bishop spoke of Ahaz being stubborn, while Joseph was submissive, and so for Joseph, the vision that God had came to life.  Not so for Ahaz.  He asked us if we would be prepared to see the signs and let God's vision for our lives be the vision that we follow.

I did see one sign after Mass that inspired me.  After Mass was over, the congregation knelt to pray for e few moments before exiting, and Wayne and the worship group continued to play a few songs.  A young woman, who just completed high school last Spring, Rebekah, was standing in front of the group, waiting for us to pack up, as she planned to practice some songs for Christmas.  She did ask if she could sing with my friends, and Wayne asked her what she would like to sing.  She asked if they knew "Here I Am to Worship."  They immediately pulled out the music and she stepped up to the microphone and joined in.  I sang along as well, at least for a while.  Her voice meshed with everyone else's and it was very enjoyable until the chorus.

As soon as the chorus began, it was like heaven opened up.  I was standing in front of Rebekah, and watched as she poured her heart and soul into the song, looking up to heaven, and worshiping Our Lord and Saviour.  I could not open my mouth, largely as tears started to well up in my eyes.  It was absolutely beautiful.  This precious young woman led us in a few minutes of beautiful worship.  What a treat it was.

Sadly, it came to an end, though it will live on in my mind for some time to come.

Wayne and the group have been invited to come back from time to time to do music at a Mass, and Rebekah has asked to sing along with them.  I hope to get an opportunity to hear that.

Here is a Hillsong version of the song Rebekah sang with us, Here I Am to Worship.

Suzy at the Mall

Modern Version of Casey at the Bat From Theater of the Word.

The Light of Life

The Word of God and Visions


Something interesting happened this morning as my prayer partner Deacon George and I prayed before the tabernacle at St. George Parish, here in London.


Every day, we pray for priests, religious and deacons in particular, but also for all people called by God to live in holiness, which includes all of us.  After we were finished with our prayers, Deacon George had a vision: well two actually.  In the first vision, he saw thousands and thousands of angels coming from the throne of God carrying a light from Christ, and approaching somebody here on earth.  When they reached their target person, they placed the light on the individual's head.  Often the individual rejected the light and pushed it away, but the angel persisted and would return the light to the individual's head again and again after each rejection.  But, finally for each person was an ultimate choice, to accept the light or to reject it for all time.


As well, while sitting in front of the tabernacle, Deacon George saw the same Light of Christ enter into the tabernacle, and into the communion hosts present there.  We both then saw what happened when people came to Communion.  That light entered them and then shone out from them, that Light of Christ.
 Now, I had just been praying the Divine Office with my friend, but the readings and psalms for the Office are not the same as the Mass readings for the day, and as I had just gotten up before going to prayer, I had not had a chance to see what today's readings were.  On my way back home, I was listening to Gus Lloyd's show "Seize the Day" on the Catholic Channel on XM Radio, and he was speaking about the readings for the day.  In fact, his 60 second reflection on the readings is here.


The Responsorial Psalm today is from Psalm 1, with the response from John 8:12

R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.


Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.


R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.


He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.


R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.


Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.


R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.

In the visions we saw this morning, were examples of God's light coming to His Chosen Ones.  God is not bound by only these ways to bring His Light to us, but they are ways that His Light does come.
When we receive His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, we are receiving His Light, the light for all the world, and when we consume it, it then shines out from us for our brothers and sisters to see, to draw them to the light as well.  But, it is His Light, not our light, and as disciples it is not ours to hide, but to share.

When he places the light of a vocation on us, that too is His Light, meant to be received and to be shared with others, the light of being called and set apart.  Those calls include the call to religious life, the priesthood, diaconate and other religious vocations.  But, they also include the call to marriage, and even the single life.  But, above all they are calls to holiness, to be holy as He is holy.

Let us joyfully receive the Light of Christ inside us in the Eucharist, and let us receive upon us the light of our vocation in the Lord, and not push it away, running the risk of missing it.

Let us not be like the wicked in the psalm, where we will reject the Lord, and then be rejected in the end ourselves.  Let us receive His Light and live in the light.

The Philosophy of Ambiguity

Idiosyncrasies of the English Language

My friend Bob Starks sent me these things to ponder recently.  Don't think too deeply on them.  Your head might explode.

1. DON'T SWEAT THE PETTY THINGS AND DON'T PET THE SWEATY THINGS.
2. ONE TEQUILA, TWO TEQUILA, THREE TEQUILA, FLOOR.
3. ATHEISM IS A NON-PROPHET ORGANIZATION.
4. IF MAN EVOLVED FROM MONKEYS AND APES, WHY DO WE STILL HAVE MONKEYS AND APES?
5. CAN AN ATHEIST GET INSURANCE AGAINST ACTS OF GOD?
6. I WENT TO A BOOKSTORE AND ASKED THE SALESWOMAN, "WHERE'S THE SELF- HELP SECTION?" SHE SAID IF SHE TOLD ME, IT WOULD DEFEAT THE PURPOSE.
7. WHAT IF THERE WERE NO HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS?
8. IF A DEAF CHILD SIGNS SWEAR WORDS, DOES HIS MOTHER WASH HIS HANDS WITH SOAP?
9. IF SOMEONE WITH MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES THREATENS TO KILL HIMSELF, IS IT CONSIDERED A HOSTAGE SITUATION?
10. IS THERE ANOTHER WORD FOR SYNONYM?
11. WHERE DO FOREST RANGERS GO TO "GET AWAY FROM IT ALL?"
12. WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU SEE AN ENDANGERED ANIMAL EATING AN ENDANGERED PLANT?
13. IF A PARSLEY FARMER IS SUED, CAN THEY GARNISH HIS WAGES?
14. WOULD A FLY WITHOUT WINGS BE CALLED A WALK?
15. WHY DO THEY LOCK PETROL STATION BATHROOMS? ARE THEY AFRAID SOMEONE WILL CLEAN THEM?
16. IF A TURTLE DOESN'T HAVE A SHELL, IS HE HOMELESS OR NAKED?
17. CAN VEGETARIANS EAT ANIMAL CRACKERS?
18. IF THE POLICE ARREST A MIME, DO THEY TELL HIM HE HAS THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT?
19. WHY DO THEY PUT BRAILLE ON THE DRIVE-THROUGH BANK MACHINES?
20. HOW DO THEY GET DEER TO CROSS THE ROAD ONLY AT THOSE YELLOW ROAD SIGNS?
21. WHAT WAS THE BEST THING BEFORE SLICED BREAD?
22. ONE NICE THING ABOUT EGOTISTS: THEY DON'T TALK ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE..
23. DOES THE LITTLE MERMAID WEAR AN ALGEBRA?
24. IF YOU SPIN AN ORIENTAL PERSON IN A CIRCLE THREE TIMES, DO THEY BECOME DISORIENTED?
25. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE A CIVIL WAR?
26. IF ONE SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMER DROWNS, DO THE REST DROWN TOO?
27. IF YOU ATE BOTH PASTA AND ANTIPASTO, WOULD YOU STILL BE HUNGRY?
28. IF YOU TRY TO FAIL, AND SUCCEED, WHICH HAVE YOU DONE?
29. WHOSE CRUEL IDEA WAS IT FOR THE WORD 'LISP' TO HAVE 'S' IN IT?
30. WHY ARE HEMORRHOIDS CALLED "HEMORRHOIDS" INSTEAD OF "ASSTEROIDS"?
31. WHY IS IT CALLED TOURIST SEASON IF WE CAN'T SHOOT AT THEM?
32. WHY IS THERE AN EXPIRATION DATE ON SOUR CREAM?