We do indeed need to show joy as Catholics!

We do indeed need to show joy as Catholics.  

My motto – “Be happily and uncomplicatedly Catholic.”

Michael J. Sheehan Archbishop of Santa Fe 

 

 

Quiz

1. In what three countries is there the greatest difference between  the rich and the poor?

2.  Who was the first native American to be declared “Blessed”?

 3.  When people wanted to obtain favorable weather, including rain to end a drought, whom did they pray to?

 News Flashes

Holy Jocks!

 Sister James Dolores, 73, of Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, posed on a surfboard, to promote the 15^th annual Nun’s Beach Surf International on 9/11, The proceeds will go to maintain their Villa Maria by the Sea in Stone Harbor, N.J.

 Bishop Thomas Paprocki will run in the October 17 Denver marathon, raising money for the recent restoration of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield, IL.

 Auxiliary Bishop of Denver James Conley, Fr. Jim Crisman and two St. John Vianney seminarians will also participate in the Denver event to increase support and awareness of vocations.

Misc.

The August 28th  Economist reports that Florida State University has conducted a study on infidelity. They are puzzled why they found that couples who attend religious services are more likely to be satisfied with their marriages than those who do not. (comment: These fellows in academia sometimes don’t have much to do.)

Real estate developer Shariff El-Gama, backer of the Islamic center near Ground Zero, is a true religious cur.  He is a New-York-City-born Muslim with an Egyptian father, a Catholic mother, married to a Christian and  now is converting to the Jewish faith.

         An article in The Catholic Standard points out the problem that many young people have who want to dedicate their lives to the Church are hindered by debt. Elise Maloney wants to become a Little Sister of the Poor but must first pay back $75,000 in student loans.  This splendid Order is trying to help her by conducting bake sales. (comment: any of you joyful Catholic who want to contribute, get in touch with me.)

 Facit Short Story 

Reality       

God, the Father, is;

God, the Son, is;

God, the Holy Spirit, is.

That is why

I am.

 

My favorite priest, layperson, breathing saint or organization

 Fr. F.  Richard Spencer has served for six years as a military chaplain in Iraq.  After one of the many occasions when he had to minister to the injured and dying, he wrote, “In the moment, you do your prayers; then move to the next situation, because it’s continuous chaos. You just offer prayers that they would see the face of God that very day and you trust and hope. We had both Iraqis and Americans die. I didn’t know who was Muslim or who was Christian – but they all got a prayer.”

          On September 8 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., Fr. Spencer was installed as the next auxiliary bishop of Archdiocese for U. S. Military Services.  He now is the first man in this position who will be able to enter war zones and have unprecedented access to military personnel serving in most difficult circumstances.

         Now, tell me about your favorite Catholic priest, layperson or organization that is making a difference

joyfulcatholic@comcast.net 

Interesting sayings

No one created the first cause, precisely because it is the first. And  there is no real reason why we should establish limits to it, for it has no limits, no borders.  Since it was not made, it has no beginning: that is, it has always been and there is no reaon why it should cease to exist at any given time. And this means it is eternal. This cause is God.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe, the Polish Conventual Franciscan who was martyred in Auschwitz. 

 I’ve learned that everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile.

Andy Rooney

I do not know what God wants to do with me. I am always more content. Everyone is suffering, and I ,who should do rigorous penances, experience such continual profound joys that I have trouble keeping them under control.

Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (1691)

 

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan

 

There are two things I like about politicians.  They never are bothered with facts and they are the best people on earth that money can buy.

A cab driver in Washington, D..C.

 

Chuckle time

The scene when God let St. Francis, St. Benedict and St. Ignatius of Loyola be present at the birth ot Christ:

St. Francis and St. Benedict dropped to their knees and prayed quietly. St. Ignatius took Joseph aside and said, “Have you thought about the boy’s education?”

 

Juanita Caldwell, Isola Todd, David Abbey, Amie Ellis,

Linwood “Skip” Williams, Tom Medved, Eileen Grotsky, Roseanne Somlock, Nicholas Gallagher, Tom Lewis, Donald Whitcomb, Violeta Zepeda, John Aylor, Rev. Joseph Marini, Enrique Portillo, Sharon McPike, Tom Ryan, Joseph Normile, Jim Quimby, Russell Edwards, Gertrude Goldstein,

Rev. Stephen Huffstetter, Hugh Cannon, Eric Moore, Joan Barrett, 8-year-old Michael Fotta and his parents, Lolita Alvarez, Camilus Musselman, Jack Conner, Ed Block, Isobel Milligan, Peter Bartkiewiez and his family,

 Joe Toles, Grace Toomey, Bob Earll, Camilus Musselman, Bob Kehlhofer, Ed Cole, Bishop Thomas Olmsted, Jay Parker, the flood victims in Pakistan, the trapped miners in Chile.

 

“Be happily and uncomplicatedly Catholic.”

We do indeed need to show joy as Catholics.   My motto — “Be happily and uncomplicatedly Catholic.”

Michael J Sheehan

Archbishop of Santa Fe

 

Quiz

The first to send the right answers to joyfulcatholic@comcast.net will receive a gift copy of Light Reading for Good and Wayward Catholics.

1.     Who was the Church official Henry VIII sent to Rome to try and get Papal approval of annulment so he could marry the already pregnant Anne Boleyn?    

2.     In what year did Pope Pius IX define the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception?    

3.     What was the name of the tax collector who left his customs post to follow Jesus and later gave a great banquet for him?   

 News flashes

        As I predicted in my “Cheap Shooting” column, The Washington Post, a true master in the art of cheap shooting, confirmed it is going to milk the pedophilia subject to the fullest. In the April 21 paper, they put it on the front page.

The British House of Lords voted down the requirement that churches had to hire non-believers and those “whose private conduct is inconsistent with their teachings”.  (comment: Hurrah!)

The Pope is encouraging priests to use the Internet which can help “create deeper forms of relationship across great distances, opening up enormous new possibilities of evangelization.”

My new blog friend 

George Torres is a poet and the editor of Sofrito for Your Soul, a splendid website for the Latino-Hispanic communities worldwide.  He has succeeded in establishing an invigorating center for cultural information. Welcome, George, to the pack!

 

Never too Late, a Conversion Story

 We do indeed need to show joy as Catholics.   My motto — “Be happily and uncomplicatedly Catholic.”

Michael J Sheehan, Archbishop of Santa Fe

Never too Late, a Conversion Story

 By George Thatcher

George Thatcher is a remarkable man.  After a successful career in publishing and banking, he has continued his active involvement in helping others. Three times he was recognized as the outstanding citizen of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. As an author, his fourth book, A Decade of Beach Walks, is a compilation of his daily newspaper columns in which he demonstrates his delightful Thoreau-style appreciation of nature.

          As a fifth generation Episcopalian, he has been an international church leader, serving as Honorary Lay Canon of St. Peter’s Cathedral in the Anglican Diocese of Northern Malawi, Africa,  and heading for ten years the Bishop’s Fund for World Relief.  Then he recently converted to our Roman Catholic Church.  Here is his story:

           For me, traveling the road to Rome has been a long spiritual journey, beginning many years ago when an Anglo-Catholic rector, brimming with liturgical riches, came to the parish. Then there was the reading of Newman and Chesterton and Merton, of Muggeridge and Graham Green, of Teilhard and Dulles, and many more.  These were the days of the old American Church Union (does anyone remember?) of which I was a member. There we share a dream of the reunion of the Episcopal and the Roman Churches.

          In recent years the Lord’s call to me became frequent and more insistent. After much prayer, numerous retreats, consultations with family and friends, now an old man, I made the well-considered decision to spend the last years of my life as a Roman Catholic. I could have remained in my parish protected for a time from the drama that is unfolding elsewhere in the Episcopal Church. But I fear the wave of change sweeping the church endangers all of us who hold firmly to traditional beliefs.

          Why is it that modern churchmen devise new ideas, rejecting the teaching of the early Church fathers?  Does one of the modern revisionists have a mind or faith comparable to those of Athanasius or Augustine or Aquinas?  Yet they are eager to discard centuries of orthodox Christianity for contemporary materialistic philosophies.

          With wide open eyes, I see that the Roman Church in the U.S. is beset with problems, too, but it affords me an orthodox haven. This pope and the next assure continuation of church stability, rooted in Biblical verity and traditional values. In my new church I will simple be one of more than 50 million members in the U. S, and one of the nearly 2 billion worldwide. The catholicity appeals to me, and the spiritual leadership offered by the pope. the diocesan bishop, the pastor and luminaries like Cardinal Avery Dulles, Fr. Richard John Newman and others is something I need and want. In my 81st year, I embark on a new religious journey!

         (What is your story you would like to share?)

joyfulcatholic@comcast.net)

 

Interesting sayings 

More blessed is the person who greets his neighbor than the one who waits to be greeted by a neighbor or stranger. Don’t tell a person what it is to be a Catholic. Show by your joy and enthusiasm for the faith and your love for all of God’s people. Christianity is caught more than taught.

                                                Brother Ed Adams, F.S.C.

 

The Savior becomes all things to all, according to the need of each. To those who ask for joy, he becomes the vine; to those who wish to enter, he becomes the door; to those who are under the weight of sin, he becomes a lamb, a lamb slain for them. He becomes all things to all, but he remains nonetheless what he is.  

                                                Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (386)

I am ready to meet my Maker — but whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.

                                                Winston Churchill (1965)

Oh most merciful One, teach me to throw a party for the unworthy, knowing that I may be the guest of honor.

 Sister Macrina Weiderkehr, O.S.B.

 

 

Mother Teresa’s seven steps to spiritual achievement:

1.     Slow down

2.     Make some room.

3.     Open your eyes

4.     Put great love into the small things

5.     Do not tire

6.     Remember — it’s faithfulness, not success

7.     Leave the rest to Jesus.

 

My new blog friend

Thomas Peters, who lives in Washington, DC, is a splendid young lay Catholic with graduate degrees in theology. He edits the excellent American Papist blog, which I strongly endorse.  For your enjoyment, check it out. 

 

News flashes

-  Irish bookmaker Paddy Power is placing 3 to 1 odds that the Pope will resign because of the allegations of child abuse in Germany. (Comment: Paddy, you ought to stick to horse-racing.)

 

- Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of  Washington has close its 80-year-old foster care and public adoption program to avoid the risk of having to accept same-sex couples as foster or adoptive parents. (Comment: This is like a kennel keeper who decides no longer to care for his hundred pedigreed dogs because he might have to accept a cur.)

-   In New Zealand the Atheist Bus Campaign is fuming because of the rejection of its ad, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”  And here in USA, Annie Laurie Gaylor, of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, is protesting the issuance of a Mother Teresa stamp. (Comment: Annie Laurie, don’t you have something better to do, perhaps like empting the dishwasher?)

                                      A Shocker

Regardless of my thoughts about pro-life and pro-choice, this account sickened me, because I recognized it as a sign of today’s materialistic me-me-me society. I learned of a woman, desperate to have a child, who finally conceived with medical assistance.  Three months later, when she found she was carrying twins, she didn’t want the trouble and expense of caring for two children, so she had one of the babies aborted.

At the Vigil Mass for my much beloved friend, Msgr. W. Louis Quinn, even though the coffin was closed, I could picture this saintly man shaking his head in protest when a member of his family (who evidently had read my column “Communion-Juicy Fruit Flavor”) chewed gum throughout the service, even while receiving the Sacred Host.

 

Recommended reading

 -   In the March 3 issue of America, John J. DiIulio, Jr. author of Godly Republic, informs us about our prison problem.

-    On page 56 in The Economist (March 13) there is an excellent article about the problems of the Church in Germany.

 -   You will enjoy Father Mark Plaushin’s article, “St. Francis de Sales’ Introduction to the Devout Life, 1609-2009” in the March issue of Homiletic & Pastoral Review.

Contributions

  (Let me and others know about a special non-profit organization you support)

     joyfulcatholic@comcast.net 

 

Other recommended Catholic Blogs

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (UK)

Catholic and enjoying it.

Connell Society for a Good Time

Deeps of time

Insight Scoop

Intentional Disciples

More than enough

 

Communiqués received 

Our mother has few weeks left and we are planning her final Mass, one that is joyful, uplifting and soothing. Mom always had an unwavering affection for the Blessed Virgin; therefore we are trying to find readings and music that would reflect Mom’s embracement of her Catholic faith and joy of life, her service to others and her strength..   

                                      wetseas@aol.com

Thank you for your note, letting me know of your kind mention of our work in your blog.

                   Steve Mosher, President of Population Research Institute

As Quintanilla says there are cultural differences. However, we Catholics can be happy that the Mass in whatever language is seen and experienced permitting different Rites because it believes in cultural approach and in the enrichment of Catholic faith in different forms of worship. I belong to Syro Malabar Rite which is confined to the State of Kerala in India. When we grow in the universal faith of Catholicism giving utmost value to family and its sacredness, there will be joy and satisfaction.

                   Kalapurra Thomas

Just found your blog. Nice place you got here! By the way, last I saw, the presidential dollar coin had “In God we trust” inscribed on the edge of the coin rather than either side.

                   S. Murphy

I found young Hugo’s article about the English and Spanish Masses to be thought provoking. Let’s hope our priests conducting the English services can learn from this.

                   Adam Wentworth

Your blog is one of my favorites on BlogSpot.

                   Jim Woods “56, male, last seen 1 day ago”

Young Hugo’s article confirmed the virtues of immigration. For example, 37 of the 40 of the finalists in the 2010 Intel Science Talent Search were children of recent arrivals from China, Japan and India. What does that tell you?

Roger Bertram

My favorite religious priest, layperson or organization

Special recognition is deserved for Mark Neilson, editor of Living Faith, Daily Catholic Devotions, published by Creative Communications for the Parish.  For many years, I have started my day by reading Living Faith, which never fails to inspire me. It is like benefiting from a brief visit with some of the best of today’s theologians.  I recommend that you subscribe to Living Faith (www.livingfaith.com.).

Thank you, Mark, for your outstanding contribution to our Catholic community!

(Now, tell me about your favorite Catholic priest, layperson or organization that is making a difference.)

joyfulcatholic@comcast.net

Quiz

 The first to send the right answers to joyfulcatholic@comcast.net will receive a gift copy of Light Reading for Good and Wayward Catholics.

1.     Which three disciples did Jesus take with him when he went up to the mountain where the Transfiguration took place?

 

2.   Who was the pope who commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?

           

3.     Who is the patron saint of brewers?

 

Chuckle time

In a remote Irish parish on the final day of Lent, the parish caretaker felt obligated to go to confession.  His sin was having stolen the priest’s watch. Inside the booth, in a disguised voice, he confessed he had stolen something, and the priest said to be absolved, he had to return it.

          The caretaker said, “Instead, I’ll give it to you.”

          “But I don’t want it,” replied the priest.

          After a moment of silence, the man said, “I have offered it to the man I stole it from, and he doesn’t want it.”

          “In that case,” the priest said, “I absolve you of your sins and you can keep whatever it is.”

Special Intentions List

As you pray with a broad brush, please include these loved ones, who have been submitted by our readers. You, too, are invited to send me names of your special persons who are in need of prayer. My address is joyfulcatholic@comcast.net. They will be on the list for 60 days. At the end of that time, if prayers are still needed, you merely have to renew the name.

Juanita Caldwell, Isola Todd, David Abbey, Amie Ellis, Linwood “Skip” Williams, Gerry Paradiso, Tom Medved, Eileen Grotsky,

Roseanne Somlock, Nicholas Gallagher, Tom Lewis, Donald Whitcomb, Violeta Zepeda, John Aylor, Rev. Joseph Marini, Enrique Portillo,

Sharon McPike, Tom Ryan, Joseph Normile, Jim Quimby,Russell Edwards, Rev. Lawrence Boedt, Gertrude Goldstein,

Rev. Stephen Huffstetter, Hugh Cannon, Eric Moore, Joan Barrett,

8-year-old Michael Fotta and his parents, Lolita Alvarez\,

Camilus Musselman

As you note, because of miraculous healings, several names have been deleted and added to our Deo Gratias list.

 

Pray with a Broad Brush

Open letter to Bishop Thomas Tobin 

If you had been the priest instructing me during my conversion to the Church, which happened before you were born, I would still be a Protestant. At that time I learned that being a Catholic was committing oneself to Christ and his teachings. It meant devoting one’s life to love of God and love of all others. Joining the Church would entitle me to receive the Eucharist and benefit from the other Sacraments.

          In your letter to Congressman Patrick Kennedy, you imply that when one becomes a Catholic, this person relinquishes freedom of thought and action. As demanded by the four most prominent dictators of the last century, all must conform to the dictates of authority.  Back then, citizens who did not commit to ordered thinking, talking and acting were considered traitors. Your requirement for membership in the Church calls for mandated conscience. And in your opinion, Catholic laypeople should be like robots, which nod in unison when Church leaders press the button. I have never studied theology, but I doubt if that is what Christ had in mind when he initiated the Church.

          You would like for Catholics to act as do pawn Congresspersons who vote as instructed by their Party, regarding of what they think of the merits of pending legislature. Although this is effective in cramming through legislation, I don’t think it should have a role in our Catholic religion.

          I pray for you.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, the whole group of   disciples joyfully began to praise God at the top of their voices for the miracles they had seen.

                                                                                      Luke 19:37 

 

Pray with a Broad Brush 

Never underestimate the effectiveness of your prayer.  In this world of unseen magical mystery, no one knows by what means one’s thoughts can affect another person.  But it can and often does. So, recognize this fact and put it to good use.  In my six-man prayer group which has been meeting for over a dozen years, we have had so many healings for those on our Special Intentions List that we refer to it as our Miracle List.

          One summer, I was at a “Salvador Dali Happening” in a town in the Costa Brava region of Spain. The event was staged in the large market center where a string of bed sheets had been strung from wires.  When the great maestro appeared with his perfected waxed moustache, he took hoses filled with different colored waters and playfully sprayed designs on the hanging sheets and also splattered some of us in the crowd. Then he laughed and shouted, “Now you can tell your grandchildren you were painted by Dali!”

          That day, rather than painting on a small canvas, this artist created large patterns on the sheets.  In the same way, I find it invigorating to expand a secret prayer for many people. It can be done anywhere.  Often when I am on a plane or bus, I will pray for all the passengers.  While waiting in a crowded bustling airport, I might pray for everyone there.  I can imagine an anxious soul seated at the other end of the building, suddenly getting a tingle of comfort from my prayer, never knowing where it came from. This makes me feel like a generous and anonymous billionaire.

          So throughout the day, test your power of prayer by using it generously for all within your area of being. Be aware of your prayer-power and don’t be stingy.  Also, realize that out-going prayers have a boomerang effect.

          In 1550, Blosius the Venerable, abbot of a Benediction abbey in Liessies, France, wrote, “Each man, without any exception whatever, must sincerely love as himself all others spiritually, desiring for them the grace of God and everlasting happiness. He should look upon all as bothers and sisters, called to the same happiness as himself.”

Admired sayings

“A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.”

                                      Abigail “Dear Abby” Van Buren

Haiku time

          A joyful Catholic

          gives joy and love to all, so

          joyful Catholic be!

(Send me yours: joyfulcatholic@comcast.net)

Current news

          In response to an atheist appealing to a Florida judge for an Atheist Holy Day, the judge told his attorney, “The calendar says April 1 is April Fools Day. Psalm 14.1 states, ‘The fool says in his heart, there is no God.’ Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that, if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1 is his day. Court is adjourned!”

Joyful Catholic Quiz

The first winner of a gift copy of Light Reading for Good and Wayward Catholics, who clocked in at 8:40AM on November 10^th, is Luella Margarita in Key West, FL.

1.     Saint Luke died by hanging in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the non-believers.

2.     At the Vatican, Saint Peter’s Basilica was built in the 16^th century as a replacement of the original structure.

3.     Saint Jane Frances de Chantal is the saint who was married, had seven children; she established the order of Visitation nuns and eight-five monasteries before her death in 1641.

Chuckle time

Elderly parishioner: Oh, Father Moran, you have had such an interesting life, you should write your autobiography.  

Father Moran: As a matter of fact, I have been recording my life story. But I am so busy, it probably will be published postmortem.

Elderly parishioner: Well, the sooner the better.

My favorite priest

 Father John Mericantante,

Pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Pahokee, Florida.

Pahokee is a small agricultural community on the shores of Lake Okeechobee in central Florida.  The earth is rich and black, and from December to June it brings forth wonderful crops of vegetables and sugar cane. Later in the year an occasional September hurricane or a freeze in January/February can destroy those wonderful crops.  The people doing the back-breaking work to raise these crops are mostly poor migrants who came from Central and Latin America and are trying to eke out a meager living for themselves and their families.  The majority of them are Catholics. 

Father John was sent to St. Mary’s 10 years ago, without speaking Spanish, and he has submerged himself totally in their culture and needs, helping in every way possible.  For example, the water in Pahokee is very often not drinkable and he shares the clean water from the rectory’s filtering system with whoever needed it.  He has assisted in completing paperwork, obtaining housing etc. for his parishioners whenever asked. 

St. Mary’s Church is tiny and behind it there are two small wooden sheds, one for food and one for clothing and appliances.  People from other communities, members of the Knights of Columbus and unaffiliated private citizens bring the above-mentioned items to St. Mary’s.  Some are given away, some are sold at very low prices and any “profits” are then used to pay such things as electric bills for the needy.  When we bring a van full of items, Father helps unload the bags and boxes.  He has also arranged to have a clinic on the premises where doctors give their time without charge to give medical aid to the poor people in the area.  

He was recently offered a transfer to another parish but he chose to remain in Pahokee with the community that needs him so much.  In the midst of all this poverty a very special thing occurred last year: an anonymous donor gave $750,000 to St. Mary’s Church so that a new, larger Church can be built.  Hopefully, there will be a ground-breaking soon.  Fr. John is a very special person and a very special priest.

Submitted by Anita and Bob Kehlhofer in Atlantis, Florida

(Submit your favorite priest to joyfulcatholic@comcast.net)

Special Intentions

As you pray with a broad brush, please include these loved ones, who have been submitted by our readers. You, too, are invited to send me names of your special persons who are in need of prayer. My address is joyfulcatholic@comcast.net. They will be on the list for 60 days. At the end of that time, if prayers are still needed, you merely have to renew the name.

Juanita Caldwell, David Abbey, Amie Ellis, Linwood “Skip” Williams, Gerry Paradiso, Nick DeCarlo, Tom Medved, Bob Haines, Eileen Grotsky,

Rebecca Matthews, Roseanne Somlock, Nicholas Gallagher, Tom Lewis,

Susan McGahee, Violeta Zepeda, Rev. Joseph Healy, John Aylor,

Rev. Joseph Marini, Enrique Portillo, Sharon McPike, Joe Berger, Tom Ryan

Communion, Juicy Fruit Flavor

You will discharge your labor well if you perform with gaiety,

quietly, courageously, constantly.

Bishop Joseph Fenwick (1846)

 Communion, Juicy Fruit Flavor At Mass last Sunday I had a thought provoking experience. Two rows in front and sitting alone slightly to the right was a neatly dressed young man. I estimate he was in his late twenties.  What attracted my attention was that he was obviously chewing gum.

He seemed attentive during the service while he constantly chewed in a slightly rotary movement. At the time for Communion, I followed him up the aisle and watched as he received the Sacred Host.  He chewed going and returning to his seat.  At the end of Mass when we walked out of the church, he was ahead of me, still enjoying his gum.

          Wild thoughts raced through my mind.  What action took place inside the young man’s mouth when he received the Host?  Had he stashed the chewing gum in the corner of his cheek so that he could quickly swallow the Host before he resumed chewing?  Or, God forbid, did he crush the Host into the gum?

          I have since wondered what action I should have taken.  Had he insulted my wife sitting beside me, there would have been a scene. Instead, his action implied lack of respect for the Son of God, and I was silent. My excuse for inaction was to put the blame on others.

The fellow was probably born fifteen years after Vatican II Conference.  Since then, the Church has successfully undervalued the Eucharist and Communion Sacraments in favor of a busy Mass which eliminated Mystery, silence and meditation.  As do too many Catholics, the gum-chewer probably considers the Host to be merely a spiritual vitamin pill, freely dispensed during the service as a doctor might give a sample placebo to his patients.

When I converted to Catholicism over fifty years ago, I was attracted by the spiritual reality of God having become man and the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the very Body and Blood of the risen Christ. But the young man, whose behavior upset me, probably has scant knowledge of the dogmas of Incarnation and Communion.  Who should have prevented his ignorance?

          My only consolation is the fact that this young man was at Mass. 

(And what are your thoughts?)

 Take The Joyful Catholic Quiz- Just Click Here!

The winner of the gift copy of Light Reading for Good and Wayward Catholics is Adrienne, who logged in at 7:05 PM on August 13.. 

 

Chuckle Time

  One beautiful Sunday morning, a priest who wanted to play golf, asked his associate to cover for him at early Mass. Observing this from on high, this annoyed St. Peter, who asked God, “Are you going to let him get away with it?”  God told him to be patient.

          On the 4^th hole, the priest, playing alone, hit the most fabulous shot of his life — 420 feet straight towards the green. When he walked to the ball, the priest realized he had made a hole-in-one. This puzzled St. Peter who asked God, “What kind of punishment do you call that?”         

          God smiled and said, “Who’s he going to tell?”

 

My favorite priest

(Submit your recommendation for your favorite priest in the tab above)