Friday, March 2, 2007

Brain Vomit

http://www.institute-christ-king.org/AdorersRoyalHeart.htm

An order that is set up to service a particular parish, if I read it correctly. The Generalate, is in Rome, of course as many are! But I can't tell if they are only in Rome, or in the United States as well, because a vocation inquiry was sent back to me requesting that all vocation inquiries be sent to Rome! That's cool, but also impossible to visit them if that is the case. On the plus side they are often doing Mass, Divine Office, &c much like the SMMEs. Similar to the Augustinian nuns, they work with thier hands, making embriodered and embellished priest garments and other fabric based items for use in the Mass and church. I don't like needlepoint, but embroidery and hardinger and extended hems I've always wanted to do. We shall see.

***
At the local USC parish, they replaced the holy water in the font on Ash Wednesday to mininature rock/sand gardens. Solution is below in the red tone font. You can copy this, paste in it Word, and send it to your own parishes because this practice is new-age-y and against the teachings & views of the Vatican. Complaining to the Pope will not fix things, you've got to get off your duff and express your discontent. I think I'll try to send on to Cardinal Roger Baloney as well (aka Mahoney).

Prot. N. 569/00/L
March 14, 2000

Dear Father:

This Congregation for Divine Worship has received your letter sent by fax in which you ask whether it is in accord with liturgical law to remove the Holy Water from the fonts for the duration of the season of Lent.

This Dicastery is able to respond that the removing of Holy Water from the fonts during the season of Lent is not permitted, in particular, for two reasons:

1. The liturgical legislation in force does not foresee this innovation, which in addition to being praeter legem is contrary to a balanced understanding of the season of Lent, which though truly being a season of penance, is also a season rich in the symbolism of water and baptism, constantly evoked in liturgical texts.

2. The encouragement of the Church that the faithful avail themselves frequently of the [sic] of her sacraments and sacramentals is to be understood to apply also to the season of Lent. The "fast" and "abstinence" which the faithful embrace in this season does not extend to abstaining from the sacraments or sacramentals of the Church. The practice of the Church has been to empty the Holy Water fonts on the days of the Sacred Triduum in preparation of the blessing of the water at the Easter Vigil,
and it corresponds to those days on which the Eucharist is not celebrated (i.e., Good Friday and Holy Saturday).

Hoping that this resolves the question and with every good wish and kind regard, I am,

Sincerely yours in Christ,
[signed]
Mons. Mario Marini
Undersecretary



***
Going to Religious Education Congress supported by the Los Angeles Archdiocese this Saturday. I have been scrambling the past few days to finish my take-home midterm essay exam as much as possible so that I only have to clean it up and still have time to study for my other exam on Monday evening. Crazy? Yes, but this is a way for me to meet with other Sisters and learn about thier communities as well as attend seminars/workshops about the church. Some of them I don't approve of like (EWWWWWWWWWWWWW) Liturgical Dancing?!?!??!?!?! or the removal of celibacy from the priesthood is another topic (addressed by a Protestant minister) Nothing against Protestants, but this is a Roman Catholic Church event; hence I thought we would adhere to the traditions and scriptures of the Catholic Church; must be my mistake, my bad. And you wonder why people say "Mahoney is a phoney" or "Mahoney is Baloney." He strays far away from Catholic teaching, liturgical reverence, and have you taken a look at the Los Angeles Cathedral? You can't tell that the statue of the Virgin Mother is of the Virgin Mother, the Angels look demonic and torn to shreds.

***
One thing I do not understand is why the Blessed Sacrament is no longer kept on the altar. Christ is the center of our lives, He is the purpose of the Mass, thus to remove Him from the center of the celebration makes little sense. The Mass is not about "fuzzy wuzzies" or "feel good about yourself, you sorry sinner." The Mass is about coming together in community to hear the Word of God and to "do this in remembrance of Me."

At my home parish I don't like the Crucifix ... sorry, the resurrifex. It is a cross with what looks like Christ peeling off of it and about to saunter off! Either depict him as crucified or resurrected, but melding the two together looks kinda funky. I don't think "funky" is what Christ had in mind.

***
Came across this in some vocational mail packages I got:
"Why I am a Priest"

by Father Joseph McCarthy
God's trouble-shoter I am to dire

distress.
My days are spent in the thick of
humaness...
Nancy has cancer, another countdown
has begone,
The doctors operated and sewed her
up again.
She has a month to go.
Her husband asked me to tell the kids
-- she doesn't know.
So all with all we try to make believe
And share our unshared secrets.
As priest and firiend I rack my brain
To find a word to fill this void.
In thier afflicted awe I clutch a
straw --
And offer them the Crucifix.
Some seek a sign, others want
wisdom;
All there is to offer
Is Christ Crucified.
Is my life all sadness, all a lonely
sigh,
Is it all blackness as the world goes
by?
No gratitude, no friendship, no
reward,
No love but waiting on a tardy Lord?
No -- at thousand times No!
Mostly saints come my way,
Not frozen saints of plastic made,
But living, loving men and women
Who dedicate thier joys to God
And struggle hard to keep thier vows
to one another
PEOPLE are my source of strength
--The reason I am, and shall
remain, a priest.

***
"God doesn't 'zap' us into a vocation. He doesn't say: 'Listen, I have this one speical slot picked out for you; and if you don't find it, you're going to lose your soul -- or at least be miserably unhappy.' "

"I said earlier that the centeral vocation of religious is to live generously the Gospel counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Diocesan priests, by the way, do not live under vows, except the solemn promise not to marry. That's the meaning of 'celibacy.' So religious live is something quite unique."

--Father Martin W. Pable, OFM Cap. In "Religious Vocation: is it for Me?"

***
And that is all for now. Please, please do not take offense to anything I have written above; it's entirely unintentional if there is anything to be taken offense of; except of course if you're Cardinal Roger Mahoney or any other priest who has put sand and rocks and twigs in the holy water font or practice outside of the teachings and traditions and reverence of the Holy Roman Catholic Church!

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Lenten Bible Study for the Gospel of Mark (3)

Chapter 2

When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it became known that he was at home. many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door, and he preached the word to them. They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken thorugh, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Child, your sins are forgiven." Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves, "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?" Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, "Why are you thinkingsuch things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic,'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, pick up your mat and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth" -- he said to the paralytic, "I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home." He rose, picked up his mat at once and went away in teh sight of everyone. They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this."

Once again he went out along the sea. All the crowd came to him and he taught them. As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus heard this and said to them, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees werw accustomed to fast. People came to him and objected, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.

As he was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him, "look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?" He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?" Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."

Amen.

***

Verse 1: In other accoutns of Jesus returning home, the people despised Him or ran Him out of town. Why here do the come to Him?

Verse 4: How like this opening of the roof to lead to healing, as the opening of the heavens to send down the holy Spirit to Christ at his baptism in Chapter 1:10!

Verse 5: Faith becomes a prerequisite for healing.

Verse 9: Well, which one is easier to say? What is the meaing of this particular verse?

Verse 13: Christ followed the sea; fishing settlements. Is there a meaning to following fishing settlements, other than them being centers of commerce?

Verse 14: What is the original conjugation/Latin/Greek/Aramaic (?) of "follow me"? The strict translation?

Verse 16: Why do scribes presume that they themselves are not sinners as well? All people are in need of redemption.

Verse 19: New expression of God's relationship to His people; Christ to disciples. Wedding, Bridegroom: Joy of messianic fulfillment/time. Why fast/share in the suffering that has yet to occur? Why repent to God when you can do it to Christ by physically following Him?

Verse 25: Can break the sabbath if it means you live to serve God. A servant is no use to his Master if incapacitated or dead.

Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder (DSACDAD)

Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder (DSACDAD)

Sufferers of DSACDAD's reported such symptomes as worrying about life, feeling tense, restless, or fatigued, being concerned about their weight, noticing sings of agiing, feeling stress at work, home, or finding activities they used to enjoy, like shopping, challenging.

http://www.havidol.com/index.php

***
Fake drug, fake illness -- and people believe it!!


A media exhibit featureing a compaign for a fake drug to treat a fictitious illness is causing a stir because some people think the illness is real.

Australian artist Justing Cooper created teh marketing campaing for a non-existenet drug called Havidol for Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder (DSACDAD), which she also invented.

But the multi-media exhibit at the Daneyal Mahmood Gallery in New York, which includes a Web site, mock television and print advertisments and billboards is so convincing people think it is authentic.

"People have walked into the gallery and thought it was real," Mahmood said in an interview.

"They didn't get the fact that this was a parody or satire."

But Mahmood said it really took off over the Internet. In the first few days after the Web site (www.havidol.com) went up, it had 5,000 hits. The last time he checked it had reached a quarter of a million.

"The think that amazes me is that it has been folded into real Web sites for panic and anxiety disorder. It's been folded into a Web site for depression. It's been folded into hundreds of art blogs," he added.

The parody is in response to the tactics used by the drug industry to sell their wares to the public. Consumer advertising for prescription medications, which are a staple of television advertising in the United States, was legalized in the country in 1997.

Cooper said she intended the exhibit to be subtle.

"The drug ads themselves are sometimes so comedic. I couldn't be outrageously spoofy so I wanted it to be a more subtle kind of parody that draws you in, makes you want this thing and then makes you wonder why you want it and maybe where you can get it," she added.

Mahmood said that in addition to generating interest among the artsy crowd, doctors and medical students have been asking about the exhibit.

"I think people identify with the condition," he said.

***
Questions: How harmful is this? How does this hurt those of us fighting mental illness stigma? What do you think of this?