I will let the picture speak

Exploring YouTube!

Greetings,

I have heard my different styles of Catholic Music, however, I have not yet heard of Catholic RAP.  That is, until today.  Here is a video based on Catholic Rap music.  It was enjoyable to Watch, but don't hold your breath waiting to here this at Mass:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-Rfb3iIWck&feature=related

Here is another video.  This is Cardinal Arinze.  At the Time he was the Head guy for Liturgy at the Vatican.  He is speaking about Churches that do not have kneelers.  Since our church does not have kneelers it should give us something to think about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc0g3UMRtMM

I know this the a cheap blog post, but I needed something easy today.
 
peace

Walking With Jesus!

We are members of Holy Cross Parish, so the Stations of the Cross is our special devotion!
1700 years ago pilgrims would go to Jerusalem to visit the land of Jesus. The most important place to visit was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is the Church build over Calvary and the tomb of Jesus. Pilgrims would begin at the garden of Gethsemane(where Jesus was arrested), and then they would walk the path of Jesus as he carried his cross. This path became known as the Via Dolorosa(The Sorrowful Way). They would walk this path in prayer, worshipping Jesus.

This devotion of walking with Jesus to the Cross eventually made it to Europe. Today, almost every Church has stations of the Cross within the Church so that Christians can make this spiritual Journey with Jesus. This devotion is called “The Stations of the Cross”.

Each station is begun with the prayer: “We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.” We begin by worshipping Jesus as God and recognizing his saving sacrifice.

Then there is a meditation on each station. This is get us thinking about the implications of this action. If you are doing the stations alone, this is a time for mental prayer.

Then there is a verbal prayer asking God for some grace.

You can pray this devotion at a church as you physically walk that stations around the Church. Or you can pray this devotion in your own home without the stations. In both cases we are spiritually walking with Jesus.

If you want a written version of the stations, here is a set from the United States Bishops Conference.

www.usccb.org/nab/stations.htm

Not only are the stations of the Cross important because we are Holy Cross Parish. They are also important because it is the season of Lent. Lent is a special time for this devotion.

I would like to invite you to our communal praying of the Stations of the Cross: Every Sunday during Lent at 1:00 we will have Stations of the Cross. Please come and pray with us.

Peace

Could YOU spend Lent in a Tent?

It is now time to plan for Lent. A priest from England gave a homily asking the parishioners to take Lent seriously. They should be creative and cheerful in their self denial. He told his parishioners to “Do something extreme for once! Think of the desert fathers who left everything and lived in caves. Think of Jesus in the desert for 40 days. Do something radical and beautiful for God!”


The priest realized later that he must be careful what he says because people ARE listening. On Friday he received a call from a young mother of four children. With some exasperation he told the priest that her son Philip had decided to spend Lent in a TENT. Philip was her 10 year old Son. The was a bright child, always joking, sang in the choir. He was planning on living in a tent in the backyard throughout all of Lent, and we was not going to come out. He told him mom to bring out food and books. The mom didn’t want to discourage him, but she was also nervous. So the priest came to visit.

He went into the tent. It was southern England so it was cold, but not to much. Philip was in a sleeping bag wearing a wooen hat, reading a comic book. They eventually made a compromise: Philip would come out from the tent to go to school, wash and have meals with the family. His mom said he could sleep in the tent every night if he wanted to.

Philip spent Lent in a Tent.

For 40 days he spent his nights reading, and praying in his tent like a 10 year old hermit. He had a great Lent.

As we plan for Lent I would everyone to be CREATIVE. Ask God what he wants you to do for Lent. Perhaps you could give up TV or the Internet for Lent. Perhaps you could be a vegetarian all of Lent. Maybe it is to cold for a tent, but you could always spend Lent sleeping on the Floor. Pray MORE. Sacrifice More. Your life will be better for it.

Do something radical and beautiful for God!

Free Catholic Audio

Greetings,

As we begin Lent many people will increase their prayer, give up something, or even begin a Catholic reading plan.  Often times people carry their Ipod rather than a book.  In our Ipod culture it is great to find things that are worth listening to.

I recently added a website to my blog list that has FREE Catholic Audio.  There are talks about almost any catholic topic from all popular Catholic speakers.  If you like Fr. Corapi, or Peter Kreeft, or Robert Baron, they are all there.  Listening to Catholic talks are a great way to grow in our faith.  Take a look at the site, download the talks to your MP3 Player and listen where every you go.  Here is the site:

http://catholicaudio.blogspot.com/

Notice that this is also on my bloglist for future reference.

peace

Proof of God

Does God exist? This is a big question. Here is a philosopher who discusses this in a couple of lectures.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKBjZ7KFhIg

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXihL4a-04I

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrnzATvomfg

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSYEOuoK_8s

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LzRY_CCWhE

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4oUpmBYhC4

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUkKB2Ms4Is

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivuD4Y7Uimk

Listen well and know.

peace

Its FRIDAY TGIF Living in Catholic Time

Greetings,

Today is Friday, which is important in the Catholic life.   Every Friday we step back and remember the passion and death of Jesus Christ.  Before 1969, every Friday of the year we were to abstain from meat as a small reminder of Christ's sacrifice.  Since 1969, we are still required to do SOMETHING on Fridays, but we get to choose.  We can abstain from meat, or we can had prayer, works of charity, fasting, it is up to us. (The rules are different on the Fridays of Lent).   Why is this important.

The spiritual center of all Christian life is the Paschal Mystery, the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This is at the core of each of the sacraments, the heart of the scriptures and even the way we understand time.

Every Friday we remember the Passion and Death of Jesus.  We pray about it. We offer up little sacrifices.  It becomes part of every Friday.  Then on Sunday we celebrate the Resurrection.  We go to Mass, then we should do something to celebrate.  Every Sunday is a little Easter.   Perhaps you could get donuts after church, or invite friends over for a big meal, do something special with the entire family, go visit relatives.   Sunday is the day to celebrate and do something special.

If we live our week in this pattern, then the Paschal Mystery is not only a thought to be believed, but becomes an event we participate in.  It is a pattern in time which forms us.   It also keeps a balance in our lives.   There are times to fast and be solemn, and there are times to celebrate and be joyous.  As Catholics were are not puritan in our outlook in the world.   Fasting and Celebration go together.  We do both.

I would encourage you to live this idea of Catholic Time imprinted on the weekly Calendar, and it will touch your life in a special way.   And today, we should thank God it is Friday.  And even More we should thank God for that Good Friday where he gave his life for us.

peace

The HAND!!!!

Greetings,

I was talking to the students at school and they asked about the 'hand' in the stained glass window.  Since most didn't know where the hand was I gave them the assignment to find the 'hand' in the window when they go to Mass at the weekend.   I had a couple of students find the hand in the window.  The 'hand' in the bottom right hand corner of the Last Judgement window(This would be on Jesus' left side).  Here is the Last Judgement Window.   It is based on multiple parables.  Over all it is based on Matthew 25:31-46.  Jesus is the judge and divides the people like a shepherd.  On the right are those going to heaven.  On the left are those going to hell.  Some day I will explain the 'going to heaven' segments of the window.

In regards to the people on the left Jesus said:   "'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "   Here is the section with "The Hand"

As you will notice 'the Hand' is coming out of the fire to pull the person down into hell.   We do not like to think of hell, but it is a very real possibility for every person.  Notice that the person is reaching out to the hand.  This means that we are the one's who choose sin, and choose against God.  We have freewill to choose Satan over God.  The other people in the picture are looking at their money, jewels, a vanity mirror, all which symbolize the vices.  The theme of Art of leading people to hell as part of the Matthew 25 story is VERY popular in Christian art.   Here are some examples of people being led to hell from the doors of various Cathedrals.

                                                

One thing I would like to point out: In some of the pictures the people being led into hell are Bishops and Kings. This is to show that our power in the world will NOT save us. Only a life of grace in Jesus Christ will save us. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. No one goes to the Father except through him.

When you see 'the Hand' remember, that is what it will be like without GOD. Then look at Jesus' right side of the window and see the people being led to heaven. Matthew 25:34-36 "'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "

peace

CAN OUR YOUNG PEOPLE REALLY ABSTAIN?

Greetings,

This past year President Obama cut all funding for abstinence-only programs. He said there was NOT enough scientific evidence. Well, we now have evidence. I new study was recently published in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine. This was federally funded research done by John B. Jemmott III, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. The study focused on African American students from four public middle schools from 2001 to 2004.


The Students were divided into 4 groups.

1. The students were taught by a ‘safe-sex’ curriculum teaching the students about condoms and other contraceptives.

2. The students received an ‘abstinence-only’ education teaching that the students should not have sex untl marriage and were give the reasons why.

3. The students were given a comprehensive curriculum including safe sex and abstinence elements.

4. The students were given a ‘healthy living’ curriculum such as advise on eating and exercise. This did not include sex education.

The first group, which received the safe-sex curriculum, did the worst. 52% of the students started having sex. The BEST results came from the ‘abstinence-only’ group which had a much lower rate of 33% having sex. The Blended program had 42%, and the healthy living curriculum had 47%. Please notice that the last group received no sex education and they still did better than the ‘safe-sex’ group.

This was just a small group of schools used to get scientific evidence. Just imagine how effective abstinence-only programs would be if they became part of the culture. I really believe that our young people can really do great things. But it is important that we, as adults, expect them to do really great things. If we don’t expect much, we won’t get much.

peace