Home Prayer on a Baptismal Anniversary

I was cleaning out some files on 3.5-inch disks today. I found something I wrote up for a parish bulletin about eight years ago.

Home Prayer on a Baptismal Anniversary

Preparation: a Bible, baptismal or other devotional candle, about 5-10 minutes of quiet uninterrupted time, all the family members.

All begin with the sign of the cross.

Parent:

Today we give thanks to God
for our faith in Jesus Christ.
We celebrate with ________, our daughter/son
who was received into God’s family
on this date in the year _____.

(The other) Parent:

__________, you were claimed for Christ our savior
by the sign of the cross.
Receive again the sign
that marks you as a sister/brother of the Lord Jesus.
Christ will be your strength.

Each family member from youngest to oldest signs the anniversary child on the forehead with these words:

Christ will be your strength.

An older child or parent reads one brief passage from Scripture: 1 Samuel 3:1-10, Jeremiah 1:4-8, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 1:9-11, Mark 10:13-16, Galatians 3:26-28, Ephesians 4:1-6, 1 John 3:1-2, or some other chosen by those present.

The anniversary child holds her/his candle as it is lit, then a parent continues

Parent:

_____________, keep the light of Christ
burning bright within you.
Walk always as a child of the light.

Let us pray together the Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father …

After the Lord’s Prayer, one parent leads the final blessing:

Parent:

Let us bow our heads to the Lord
May God bless us and keep us;
May God’s face shine upon us;
May God grant us peace and grace,
through Christ our Lord.

AMEN

 

Yellow-Green?

The young miss was studying her driver education manual last night. It was left open in front of the family computer.

When did they approve these new fluorescent yellow-green signs as an option or replacement for yellow? The manual explained the color will be more noticeable in rain and fog. I haven’t seen this color even in good weather yet, so I’ll take their word for it.

Anybody else out there seen this? I imagine it will be phased in as yellow signs become old or bent or run over by crazy/impaired drivers.

 

A Unique North American Map

Can you imagine a map on which every person counted in the 2010-2011 US and Canadian censuses is represented by a dot? I found the tip on the Universe Today blog. Check it out here.

When I zoomed in on my town, I could make out a small cluster of three dots just southwest of the blank space that is our neighborhood shopping center. That’s us! I remarked to the young miss.

(grunt)

Two observations:

That spread from Atlanta to Raleigh looks like a budding megalopolis.

Zooming in, one can see parks, rivers, industrial complexes, and even malls. I noticed the densely-populated student dorms just north of Campustown. Also the dot-free athletic complexes and academic areas.

Can you find your neighborhood?

 

12-12-12? What About 2012, 2012, 2012?

I don’t really perceive the magnitude of the fuss of yesterday. Maybe it was a big deal for Jesus being found in the Temple. But probably not, eh?

I lived through the 12:34:56 moment on 7-8-90. It was an okay lunch hour. I remember where I was that day, but not what I ate.

For number people, consider next week’s big triple. 20:12 (that’s 8:12pm for you non-Europeans) on 20-12 (that’s December 20th, again, for you non-Europeans) in our beloved year of 2012.

2012, 2012, 2012

Live it.

 

The Sun Rose Bright Post-Election

It did, literally. In my own backyard.

Election Day was a thrill from a civic viewpoint. I arrived at the polling place at 6 o’clock and joined six other workers for a seventeen-hour day. My precinct (I worked my own home turf for the first time ever.) was inundated with same-day registrants. Lots of new voters born between 1988 and 1994. We had a five-minute pause about an hour into voting (8am) and worked to keep up for the next thirteen hours. We always had a line. Once it shrunk to about six voters. But most often, a citizen had a forty to seventy-minute wait. I have some catching up to do at the parish today, but I hope to write a bit more on the election official experience before I forget some details.

I began reading a few of the usual Catholic suspects last night and this morning. I appreciate much of Msgr Charles Pope’s blog material. His political postings, not so much. He has his laments about yesterday, fair enough, but for a self-professed non-political guy, he seems quick to read into my comments there. I think I’ll have a lot more to write about in the coming days about the Church and American politics. I’ve already seen a few tart bombs lobbed at Archbishop Lori and Maryland Catholics for “allowing” same-sex unions to be voter-approved in that state. Watch out: cannibalism might become institutionalized–and you thought we’ve had enough of vampires.

More blogging tonight.

Meanwhile, any good stories from yesterday?

 

Save Time

When I was in high school, I boycotted daylight saving time one year. I kept my watch on standard time. I recognized that everybody else, from my teachers to my parents to public schedules were cowed by the government to shift their times one hour. You can probably tell I wasn’t much into obedience almost forty years ago.

I am looking forward to the extra hour of sleep tonight. Or more likely, the extra hour of morning sunlight I will enjoy as I wake at the same relative time. Then I will take my time getting ready for church.

The red countries above have never used DST. The orange countries used to observe it. Blues still do.

My dad was a watchmaker. He would warn us not to fall back, but to spring forward eleven hours if we were setting a mechanical clock. Y’all probably have digital now, so no worries.

 

Election School Today

Getting ready for next Tuesday’s big event.

Attended school for election officials today. Got my pin, too. Two hours of new procedures, a few new machines, and connecting with the teams at the various voting locations. For the first time, I’ll be working in my home precinct. Usually I have to vote in advance–they don’t always assign us to our voting location, and we’re not permitted to leave a site to vote. Or do other things. Some of the other officials like to be the first to cast a vote. Like many of my brother and sister Iowans, I went ahead and voted today at the school. Election Day is a long day for us in Iowa–I like to get voting taken care of so I can pay attention to helping others vote.

We arrive on site at 6AM, set up our stuff, take our oaths, and get ready to open the doors at 7. Most people sail through the lines and vote in a handful of minutes. We have set procedures for registering voters on Election Day (see if you can do that in your state) for assisting voters who need it, even if they can’t leave the car. We have to make sure everybody behaves themselves. Lots of stories were exchanged–unusual things happen on Election Day, as you might imagine. Some people have been working for decades.

At school today, the county auditor noted a few things. Iowa polls are open longer than any other state–14 hours. We also have forty days of voting before Election Day. Turnout has already well exceeded thirty percent of registered voters. (In 2008, it was 22%.)

Blogging will be light to non-existent on next Tuesday. Now you know why. Get out and vote. If you are in Iowa and not registered, you can register and vote on Election Day. If you live in another state, you have time to contact your county auditor, get information, be prepared to register, find out if redistricting has changed your voting place, and be prepared to exercise your responsibility for civic participation.

 

No Home Dads, Please

Not sure what the genesis might be for the opposition to the stay-at-home dad. But a seminary prof went mano a mano with such a father over it. Owen Strachan on men’s work:

It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be long. It may bring injury to your body, but it means that’s part of – ironically here, because we’re talking about a curse – that that’s ironically what is going to bring God glory.

As a person in ministry, I’ll readily concede that my vocation and job is not ordinarily physical work that matches the curse of the Fall. This past Sunday I did more physical work hauling things to and from temporary worship, and moving around a lot more behind the scenes at liturgy. I was quite tired by the end of my day. But the exertion is minimal compared to the manual work I did working my way through college: outdoor yard work, plus a few summers working for a catering company.

Blogger and stay-at-home father Matt Peregoy:

I think we struggle with identity as at-home dads when we tie our identity to only being a financial provider.  If I claim to be a follower of Christ, I am called to shed that identity and find my identity in Him.

Seems about right to me.

 

Silence and Stuck

I saw this feature at RNS today, on a priest who set aside three years in ordained ministry and who found love and eventually family life after he left. A few lines in the article struck me. First this one illustrative of the hermeneutic of silence:

(W)hen he did find a job at a Catholic high school, his bosses told him, as a condition of his employment, he couldn’t mention his time as a priest nor why he left the priesthood.

Interesting. Are we hushing up situations in which people leave, in good standing, not having been involved in any sort of scandal? Gerry Murphy makes it clear he discerned and left ministry. Only then did he pursue relationships with women. That seems a most honorable way of conducting oneself.

Mr Murphy takes a shot in turn:

I think the future of the church is in small, basic communities. The Catholic Church is stuck. It’s not relevant to where people are in their walk today. I don’t have any bitterness. I’ve just outgrown it.

Small, basic communities are not incompatible with the institution or its many aspects: parishes, hierarchy, groups, religious communities, and so forth. Mr Murphy was trained by a system (seminary) to be a system man (priest). It seems to be he’s still carrying some of that baggage. I do think that many people identify with the Church as an institution, and take great comfort in that. I dare say they find grace in it too. That’s not to say that the Church doesn’t require reform and renewal, or that institution-aligned folks may not need personal reform or metanoia.

 

A Few Hymns For The Hours

At this week’s peer ministry training retreat, the students had the experience of daily Mass, plus the hinge hours, Vespers and Lauds, as well as Compline. There’s a significant small group of students who pray the Office regularly. I kept pretty much to the psalms as assigned from Christian Prayer, but I had to make a few substitutions for my young psalmists and their ability to learn new settings.

About the choice of hymns for Evening and Morning Prayer… I explained to my charges that hymns for morning and evening prayer should take their character from the time of day, or the liturgical season, or something significant about the “local” calendar. In this instance, it would be their retreat experience. Given all that, their choices were interesting:

• Thursday Vespers, “Day Is Done”
• Friday Lauds, “In Christ Alone”
• Friday Vespers, “The Summons”
• Saturday Lauds, “This Day God Gives Me”

Along with the French, the Welsh have a passel of terrific melodies. “Day Is Done” is not in the Eucharistic repertoire of our parish, but the students had no problem picking it up. The AABA format is so easy to sing, especially when the melody is so attractive.

“In Christ Alone” may be a P&W favorite, but it’s not really one of mine. However, in the context of the morning, it seemed quite good. In fact, I found myself able to pray, even as I was making up the chords to the melody line.

One of the students had a birthday, and the psalmist knew the young woman’s favorite song was John Bell’s text to that great tune. So that gesture of affection was okay with me.

Saturday morning, one of my staff colleagues chose the metrical text of St Patrick’s Breastplate, a nod to her Irish heritage.

 

Free Fr Frank?

RNS  linked the Amarillo press on Fr Frank Pavone’s ongoing tussle with his bishop. The Priests For Life celeb hit up the Congregation of Clergy, and while Priests for Life and other anti-abortion folks are generally in rejoice mode on this, Bishop Zurek said:

(This ruling) makes it clear I am free to restore him to full religious ministry, if I wish. … But he must have my permission for anything in regard to work in pro-life, and in particular Priests for Life, because that is where the issue arose to begin with.

Okay.

Fr Pavone’s bishop is saying something that’s been true all along, supposedly, that he can permit the man to do as he wishes. And he makes clear the issue has been less about Fr Pavone’s freedom to say Mass or hear confessions when he’s on the road for his cause, and more about the financial accountability. Like here.

And it’s about being a diocesan priest, according to the bishop:

If I need help in the diocese, he must oblige me and provide the priestly work that is needed at any given time.

Some of the commentary from the blogosphere:

Father Pavone is back! Praise God! We’ve needed him now more than ever!! We can finally end abortion!!

Good l___, all those months! I need to double or triple my donations now!!

I believe the Holy Spirit is working through this man to end abortion!

As a pro-life Catholic, I find this difficult to stomach. We don’t need a messiah–we already have one, and we have a commission that’s been entrusted to us. No single person is indispensable to any cause. We don’t need to wait on leaders to get things done.

 

Apparition Norms

These norms have been out for more than three decades, but only now have they been translated into English. From the preliminary note regarding apparitions, an acknowledgement of the current situation:

Today, more than in the past, news of these apparitions is diffused rapidly among the faithful thanks to the means of information (mass media). Moreover, the ease of going from one place to another fosters frequent pilgrimages, so that Ecclesiastical Authority should discern quickly about the merits of such matters.

A word about ”modern mentality,” whatever that means.

On the other hand, modern mentality and the requirements of critical scientific investigation render it more difficult, if not almost impossible, to achieve with the required speed the judgments that in the past concluded the investigation of such matters (constat de supernaturalitate, non constat de supernaturalitate) and that offered to the Ordinaries the possibility of authorizing or prohibiting public cult or other forms of devotion among the faithful.

Why now?

For these reasons, in order that the devotion stirred among the faithful as a result of facts of this sort might manifest itself in full communion with the Church, and bear fruits by which the Church herself might later discern the true nature of the facts, the Fathers judged that in this matter the following procedure should be promoted.

What do you think? Does this publication and accessibility help potential frauds? Grooming can occur in situations where authenticity is not present and a human persuasion of sorts is needed.

Speaking for myself, I’m satisfied with the experience of Jesus Christ in the sacraments and in the Word.

 

For Many Germans, Consider Other Sheep

The Tablet reports that Pope Benedict has ordered German bishops pray “for many” not “for all” in the German translation of the Eucharistic Prayer.

The Pope said he was writing “to avoid a split” in the Church after (German Bishops Conference President Archbishop Robert) Zollitsch told him during a March visit that “the bishops in the German-speaking world were still divided on this issue”.

Benedict said that when the Roman Missal was translated into German in the 1960s there was “exegetical consensus” that the word “many” was a Hebrew expression for an entirety. “This exegetical consensus … no longer exists,” he said.

Will the bishops accept this bit of scholarship from the scholarly pope, that the exegesis, which was clear fifty years ago, has muddied in the two generations since?

From this Sunday’s Gospel:

I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. (John 10:16)

The NAB note ponders these mysterious “other sheep.” Maybe the “dispersed children of God” mentioned in John 11:52, and maybe other Christian communities on the outs with those who received John’s Gospel. My own sense is that “other sheep” are a lot more widespread than is supposed. In fact, if all wooly hides were exposed to view, I imagine that even I would be surprised who was counted among the Shepherd’s flock. God seems to take a great pleasure in turning expectations upside-down. I think Pope Benedict can feel more secure and unified thinking of Christ’s salvific act “for many” instead of “for all.” If there are exclusions, the first would probably be within the Church itself.

God chose an elderly man to father a nation, a virgin to bear a savior, fishermen and tax collectors to be his closest disciples. Two-thousand years later, and I have no evidence God has abandoned the first, best plan and neglects the unexpected.

My take is that if people want to insist on “many,” they’re still going to get their socks knocked off by some wheat/chaff and sheep/goat revelations in the future.

 

Awake

My wife had wanted to catch this new show, and I was half-paying attention until about ten minutes in. tv is completely under my radar these days, except for an occasional movie or soccer match. In the wasteland of bad premises, poor writing, and weak acting I was surprised to find yet another cop show (with a few veteran cop show actors) that in its first episode offered up a very intriguing premise, very good writing, and what seems to be a fine cast.

It will be interesting to see how the writers deal with a man who is living, it seems, two lives, at least one of which may be in a dream world. It seems that in one “life” his son has died, and in the other his wife. One of those seems to be a dream world. Every time Britten goes to sleep he wakes up with whomever had died in the life where he last went to sleep.

I like the chats with the two different analysts, but my only quibble is with the frequency of these meetings. The character is solving two crimes over a period of just a few days (so far as I can tell). He almost seems to be meeting daily with the counselors. That seems a little much, unless the writers have something up their sleeve.

I’m not sure this would count as a science fiction premise. It’s really fantasy. It takes one experience that’s (so far) unexplained by science. Regardless, I like a good fantasy, so I give it a thumbs up so far. Hopefully the muckety mucks at network will keep their paws and swizzle sticks out of the mix and let the show run a natural course.

 

On Waking …

You know it must have been something you ate when you dreamed …

…you watched Mike Joncas act in a cheesy 1990′s tv murder mystery.

Don’t hold your breath reform2 fans; he wasn’t the villain. The young miss and I channel surfed (probably looking for Premier League Football). We didn’t come back until the final scene of the show where he was in bed with the single mom. Both fully clothed, however, on top of the covers and reading the newspaper.

Still don’t know whodunnit.