PathToHoliness

Welcome to Holy Week 2009. Although I was on the road last week I did make it home in time to attend our Chrism Mass.

This is a photo from right after all the priests in our diocese went up on the Altar for the blessing of the holy oils by our Bishop Gaydos.

It’s a beautiful Mass and I’m glad I had the opportunity to attend. Here’s a description of the purpose of Chrism (holy oil) from Wikipedia:

Chrism is essential for the Catholic Sacrament of Confirmation/Chrismation, and is prominently used in the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Orders. Those to be confirmed or chrismated, after receiving the laying on of hands, are anointed on the head by the bishop or priest. In baptism, if the person baptized is not to be immediately confirmed or chrismated, the minister anoints them with chrism. Newly ordained priests are anointed with chrism on the palms of their hands, and newly ordained bishops receive an anointing of chrism on their foreheads. It is also used in the consecration of objects such as churches and altars.

These holy oils are usually stored in special vessels known as chrismaria and kept in a cabinet known as an ambry. When the oils are distributed to a priest for him to use in his ministy they are kept in a smaller vessel with three compartments, known as an “oil stock”. There is also a type of oil stock that is shaped like a ring, to make the anointing easier. The “jewel” of the ring is a container with a removeable lid.

Last week when I was working in Washington, DC I was lucky enough to be staying a couple blocks from the Cathedral of St. Mathew The Apostle.

I’ve been able to attend Mass here a number of times over the years. It’s one of the places that Pope Benedict said Mass when he visited the United States.

Established in 1840, St. Matthew’s originally was located at 15th and H Streets, NW. Construction of the present church began in 1893 under the direction of Monsignor Thomas Sim Lee. The first Mass was celebrated on June 2, 1895. The church was dedicated in 1913 and designated a cathedral in 1939 when the Archdiocese of Washington was established.

The Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle, which honors the patron saint of civil servants, plays a major role in the Catholic life of the nation’s capital. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Washington.

Last week I was in Danville, KY for some project work and attended Mass at Saints Peter and Paul Church.

This is a pretty little church in downtown Danville.

This weekend I made my annual retreat which was held at the Sojourn Center in Dittmer, MO. The weather started out sunny and warm but changed to rain and snow. That didn’t dampen our enthusiasm.

The facility is a new one to us who have been making Wespine Study Center retreats for many years. It’s really set up nicely to conduct a retreat with a beautiful little pond and trail around it and through some adjoining woods.

The annual retreat is part of my plan of life and very important to my continued development of my interior life. It’s a time to “recharge the spiritual batteries” and I highly recommend it to everyone.

This is a phrase Pope Benedict XVI used in a homily prior to being elected as Pope. So what is relativism? I heard it on my annual retreat and realized that I couldn’t define it easily even though I have heard it often. Here’s a definition you can find on Wikipedia:

Relativism is the idea that some elements or aspects of experience or culture are relative to, i.e., dependent on, other elements or aspects.

Basically its an idea that says there aren’t any absolute truths. Kind of like saying, “What’s true for you many not be true for me.” Looking at our society in America today you can see this exhibited by the fact that we allow the legal murder of innocent human beings while agonizing over what color cars should be (California is considering outlawing black cars to “save” energy). How can we be so concerned about something as meaningless as the color of an automobile while we allow and I dare say, some even encourage, taking innocent life?

Getting back to Pope Benedict, here’s the text out of which the title of this post comes:

How many winds of doctrine we have known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. The small boat of thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves ¬ thrown from one extreme to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, and so forth. Every day new sects are created and what Saint Paul says about human trickery comes true, with cunning which tries to draw those into error (cf Eph 4, 14). Having a clear faith, based on the Creed of the Church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas, relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and “swept along by every wind of teaching”, looks like the only attitude acceptable to today’s standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as certain and which has as its highest goal one’s own ego and one’s own desires. However, we have a different goal: the Son of God, true man. He is the measure of true humanism. Being an “Adult” means having a faith which does not follow the waves of today’s fashions or the latest novelties. A faith which is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ is adult and mature. It is this friendship which opens us up to all that is good and gives us the knowledge to judge true from false, and deceit from truth.

There are absolute truths that we can’t deny. I think it’s very interesting that so many people today profess the need for “tolerance,” which I think is a way to hide their belief in relativism, but then they become very intolerant of you when you believe differently than they do. They are acting irrationally by saying and doing the very thing they claim you shouldn’t say or do.

There is such a thing as a natural law and a natural moral law. Faith is real and so is God. He made us and we need to trust in Him. That is why a regular reading of sacred scriptures is so important. To get to know Him better and do our best to follow His truth.

I completely missed seeing the announcement of a day long conference on the life of St. Josemaria Escriva which will be taking place in McLean, VA on April 4th.

Appropriately named the “St. Josemaria Conference,” it is being held to celebrate 60 years of Opus Dei in the United States and 80 years in the Church.

The theme is also appropriate, “Passionately Loving The World.”

You can find registration information, program and list of speakers on the website.

As Pope Benedict continues his trip in Africa he has attracted huge crowds that have included lots of children and young adults. I don’t thinks it’s any surprise that they love him. Unlike so many we hear of in the news today, the Pope speaks words of real hope. Take this excerpt from his homily during Mass at Amadou Ahidjo Stadium of Yaoundé, Thursday.

Finally, to all the young people present, I offer words of friendship and encouragement: as you face the challenges of life, take courage! Your life is priceless in the eyes of God! Let Christ take hold of you, agree to pledge your love to him, and – why not? – maybe even do so in the priesthood or in the consecrated life! This is the supreme service. To the children who no longer have a father, or who live abandoned in the poverty of the streets, to those forcibly separated from their parents, to the maltreated and abused, to those constrained to join paramilitary forces that are terrorizing some countries, I would like to say: God loves you, he has not forgotten you, and Saint Joseph protects you! Invoke him with confidence.

It’s too bad our politicians can’t utter words like that.

I hope you’re praying for our Pope on his Africa trip. This man is brilliant and he exudes peace and even a sense of joy, even in the face of so much criticism and animosity. I love his statements on aids and the use of condoms. He stated the truth and the reaction from the elements of society around the world who have no respect for human life has been loud. He hit a nerve and I applaud him for it.

What I think is most amusing is how supposedly impartial journalists are offering the Pope advice in their “reporting.” I guess most mainstream journalists of today have abandoned any attempt at ethics in their reporting. For example, just take the headline to this TimesOnline article, “World Agenda: this gaffe-prone Pope should beware the Middle East.” Oh really? So you’ve judged him and offered him advice all in one headline. There’s even more in the article like “But the Pope needs to become, if not infallible, then at least less fallible on worldly matters.” I really don’t think we need any more of this reporter’s advice.

The article really is amusing. Take this statement, “Alain Juppe, the former French Prime Minister, said: “This Pope is starting to be a real problem.” I take that to mean that Pope Benedict is doing exactly what he should do. We need more leaders like him in the world!

I don’t know about you but I’m really get tired of hearing about global warming. I don’t care if it’s man made or not man made, I’m just tired of it. The rhetoric is so alarmist that even if there was credible evidence (I haven’t seen any) that we’ve somehow actually changed the climate of the globe I would ignore it. It’s kind of like chicken little. It’s been pushed too hard and too often for me or apparently most Americans to take anymore. On news reporting of global warming, a recent Gallup poll says that “. . . a record-high 41% now say it is exaggerated. This represents the highest level of public skepticism about mainstream reporting on global warming seen in more than a decade of Gallup polling on the subject.”

I believe a lot is being done to mitigate our collective impact on the environment. Take the growth in biofuels production and research as just one example. Of course, even with the incredible amount of work being done in this area a whole new group of outspoken critics have materialized, some even saying that burning gas made from oil is better than burning a fuel made from a renewable resource like corn or ultimately other cellulosic material. Look at the recent hoax about food vs. fuel which has been scientifically proven false.

I really believe that all the alarmist news on this subject and people’s fear as a result can be linked back to a lack of faith in God. This is just one example I see of what’s happening here and in other parts of the world where the Christian faith is being persecuted so much. Remove God and the peace of soul that comes from a solid belief in Him from society and you have a people who searching for something they can’t define and open to all manner of suggestion even the kind built on a pack of lies.

When it comes to this particular matter of global warming you might want to look at some information that just isn’t reported by the alarmist media. In fact, there is plenty of credible evidence of the exact opposite of global warming. My prediction is that you’re going to be hearing more and more of these global warming doomsdayists backing up and saying that the research they’ve been relying on is flawed. However, they’ll still persist in their claims and just move the timetable for doomsday ahead a little further.

I believe we should all act responsibly when it comes to the environment. Government and fear mongering won’t get it done. A solid belief in God will help people act more responsibly than anything else will.

It’s been a while since I’ve looked up Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen online. This morning I landed on the official website for the cause of his canonization.

The purpose of the Sheen Foundation is to make known the life, works and thoughts of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, to educate people in the values that he taught, to assist the missions to which he dedicated his life, to assist others in seeking his intercession, and to undertake and pursue all acts ancillary thereto, including, but not limited to, the advancement of the Cause of Canonization of Archbishop Sheen in the Catholic Church, according to the process prescribed in the Code of Canon Law under the supervision of the bishop of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois.

Some other websites you might enjoy knowing about include:

www.WartimePrayerBook.org
www.bishopsheen.com
www.fultonsheen.com – For a small membership fee you can download over 100 of his talks to your computer.

I don’t know if you are tweeting with Twitter yet but even if you aren’t you can still follow Catholics who are on Tweet Catholic. Here’s what it’s all about:

It’s simple. This is a tool to help build up the Catholic community on Twitter. That’s it.

Pretty short and to the point.

This week while working in Raleigh, NC I attended Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes. This is the altar in the main church.

Our Lady of Lourdes Parish was founded in 1954. Our school opened the same year. The present gymnasium served as the church from 1954 until 1976 when the new church was dedicated. The parish has continued to grow over the years and our parish center, The Fallon Center, was dedicated in January 1993. At the same time, the demand for Catholic education has caused us to have to double the size of our school, and our new school was dedicated in September of 1997. Our new parish office building and Perpetual Adoration Chapel was dedicated in March, 1997.

I was here to attend the Dixie Deer Classic and do some project work for John Deere. You can find photos from my visit in my online photo album.

This is the altar in the San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, TX. My wife, Cindy, and I traveled together for a change to a conference there and attended Ash Wednesday Mass.

San Fernando Cathedral has always been at the center of San Antonio. It is a special place that occupies a unique position in this city and for the many visitors who come by the thousands every year.

From its founding on March 9, 1731 by a group of 15 families who came from the Canary Islands at the invitation of King Phillip V of Spain, this church was planned to be at the center of the life of this city.

Cindy went on a very short tour downtown and passed this outdoor statue of St. Anthony, patron of the town.

We were also in Grapevine, TX where we attended Mass on Saturday and Sunday at St. Francis of Assisi.

Although traveling does get old, the opportunity to see so many churches and attend Mass in so many places is a bright spot.

It’s that time of year to think about your annual retreat. Or your first ever retreat for that matter. With Lent starting this Wednesday perhaps it’s a good time to consider going on retreat to recharge your spiritual batteries. I’ve been attending retreats put on by the Wespine Study Center for over 10 years now and highly recommend them.

Wespine offers weekend retreats for working men seeking to further develop their relationship with God. The schedule includes daily Mass and Gospel reflections by a priest of Opus Dei, with Confession and spiritual direction available throughout the weekend.
Missouri Retreats

The retreats are held during the spring at Sojourn Retreat Center, in Dittmer, Missouri. (Click here for directions). The retreats run from 10:30 a.m. on Friday to 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, on these weekends in the spring of 2009:

* March 6-8
* March 27-29
* April 17-19

You can download a registration form with this link.

This past week I was in Orlando, FL and got to attend Mass at the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe.

This is a picture of the altar from when you first walk through the front entrance doors. There is a chapel directly behind the altar where they have daily Eucharistic Adoration. Here’s some description from the website:

A 2,000 seat Shrine Church adorned with inspirational stained-glass windows, depicting the story of God’s love for man, and Mary’s place in God’s plan for salvation. The Shrine’s fourteen aisle windows are entitled “The Magnificat Windows.”

The Outdoor Chapel, featuring a magnificent bronze sculpture of the Mother and Child, created by renowned artist Jerzy Kenar.

I don’t know if you’ve already received them but I’m getting spam emails from law firms claiming they can help me get my share of the stimulus money. Our local paper proudly proclaimed today that “Mo. could get $4.4B from stimulus.” Now that this thing has passed we’re already seeing the money grab begin. Yesterday’s local paper had a story on how our transportation department was hoping to get almost a billion dollars and that they were already working on a spending plan.

So, we have sectors of our economy suffering because of poor decisions on the part of both consumers and companies that has placed them so far in debt they’re having to take drastic measures such as bankruptcy and now our government thinks the answer is to put the whole nation in debt as a way to fix things? Does that make sense to you? Not to me.

Our elected officials have passed a plan that apparently no one, including themselves, really understands. What little I’ve seen leaves so much leeway in how this fictitious money is to be spent that I’m afraid we’re in for years of stories of misappropriated funds and investigations. There’s just too much temptation being thrown at us.

I hope and pray for our country and our society both now and as we move forward. I can’t help but believe that instead of solving a problem we’ve just thrown gasoline on the fire.