The Very First Christian Missionaries

In those days Mary arose and went with haste
into the hill country, to a city of Judah.

Luke 1:39

In the scriptures Mary is a person of action but not frivolity; she does not pursue activity for its own sake. Rather she acts with God at His prompt and pace. Why did Mary decide to go to the home of Elizabeth? Undoubtedly the Holy Spirit, who had come upon her (Lk 1:35), unfolded the reason for the angel's reference to Elizabeth's pregnancy. Her state, as she considered what she should do was described by St. Peter Julian Eymard:

The Word was in Mary's womb. He inspired His Mother to visit Elizabeth; Mary carried to John his Master and King. John could not come, for his mother was too old to undertake that journey; Jesus Christ went to him. He did the same for us: we could not go to God; God came to us."

... This is the first Christian missionary journey undertaken for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Unborn Jesus initiates it, He and his mother go out prefiguring the missionary journeys initiated by Jesus, when He sent out first the twelve apostles and then the seventy disciples two by two (Mk 6:7 and Lk 10:1). Christians traveling on mission, in pairs, had not only a spiritual and psychological purpose, but also an ecclesiastical one; the two together are in communion one with the other, experiencing Christ's power acting through them and their different gifts and talents. In the case of pregnant Mary, here we have the quintessential communion, the epitome of communion with Christ. Two lives intertwine in the messianic mission and the world's greatest love.

Unborn Jesus Our Hope by George Peate

Now that is a concept that never occured to me for all that I have been used to the idea of thinking of Mary as the first Christian. I am already quite fond of the rosary mystery where Mary goes to visit Elizabeth. It may be my second favorite, right after the wedding at Cana. But this adds a whole new dimension for meditation. Wow!

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Halloween Countdown

Miss Cellania is having a Halloween countdown of her own which means loads of photos and links ... and jokes. I must recommend the one on the pumpkin post of a few days ago but I'll warn you that it is definitely rated R.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Odds and Ends

What's happening in the HC household?

ROSE - following the smashing success of their Julius Caesar musical, she and her friends have decided to make a musical about The Scarlet Letter. A school assignment? Nope. They're just doing it. So Rose has been writing songs (her lyrics set to Disney tunes) for a couple of weeks.

HANNAH - too much science can force big decisions. She's changing her major from zoology to wildlife and fisheries. Other than that she's having a grand time at A&M, although still counting down the weeks to Thanksgiving (as am I, truth be told).

TOM AND I - this is our very, very, very busy time of year at work. We're trying that duck trick of looking serene while paddling like hell below the surface.

HOUSEHOLD FAVORITE QUOTE OF THE MOMENT - "Grant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk. Now we stand by each other always." Sherman (Can you tell that Rose had to do a paper on Sherman and a powerpoint report on Grant? We are well schooled and quite a bit fonder of both those guys now that we have been inundated with information for some time.)

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Some Gems for You

GOD OR THE GIRL
I mentioned before that I was working my way through the episodes. I have gotten to the end and can highly recommend this DVD. It has a very inspirational view of the discernment process and the problems that people encounter along the way, whether it be well-meaning family members, friends, circumstances, or their own fears. I also especially appreciated the extra features which showed an episode about a candidate whose discernment process didn't get aired. It was just as interesting as the others and I was just as involved as I was with the other guys in seeing what his decision would be. The commentary from the priest who worked with the show about different aspects to the priesthood from faith to celibacy were good and I think would be reassuring to family and friends of someone who was interested in discerning a call to the priesthood. Highly recommended.

UNBORN JESUS OUR HOPE by George Peate
I usually don't recommend a book that I have not read but must make an exception in this case. I received this wonderful book yesterday and can tell after simply reading the first chapter that it is a real treasure. The premise of the book is to carefully and prayerfully consider the fact that Jesus spent 9 months in utero ... and that Jesus' time there still echoes throughout our lives today. I'm not sure how else to describe it and I know that sounds rather dry, so will direct you to The Pew Lady's glowing review which was what made me interested in the book to begin with. The author has a way of bringing forth ideas that make so much sense but that never occurred to me that you can be sure I will be sharing excerpts in the future. Definitely I will be recommending this to our Perpetua & Felicity Book Club as an Advent selection to read.

101 STORIES OF THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION by Sister Patricia Proctor
While I'm making one exception of raving about a book I haven't read completely I might as well make another ... this book is a gem. The 101 stories that Sister Patricia has gathered range from short and simple to longer tales but all of them bare the writers' souls in one way or another in telling how reconciliation has set people free and filled their lives with grace. These are interspersed with various articles by more professional writers that offer insight from personal perspectives as well. This all adds up to a very practical book that can be read through or dipped into for goodies on a regular basis as I am doing in the evenings before I go to bed. I am sure you'll be seeing excerpts showing up here from this book as well. Highly recommended.

GREAT BOOKS FOR CATHOLICS
Jen has a very good basic list of Catholic books in pdf format. It is a compilation of the recommendations made to her of good reading for RCIA. I have read a surprising number of the books on that list and congratulate her and her advisors for coming up with such a solid list.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Quick Book Reviews

ISN'T IT ROMANTIC?: An Entertainment by Ron Hansen
Natalie is a French girl who is enchanted by all things American and takes a sight seeing trip designed to show her the real America. She is pursued by Pierre, her boyfriend, who is definitely not a fan of America but who is determined to get her to decide if she will marry him. They wind up in the tiny town of Seldom, Nebraska, where a comedy of language, relationships, and cultures ensues. Light, frothy, and a very quick read. I wouldn't buy it but I definitely would recommend it for checking out of the library and losing touch with reality for a little while.

THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova
SPOILERS at the bottom
I really enjoyed this book about various people, all historians, on the hunt of the infamous vampire Dracula. It is difficult to believe that this was the author's first book. She deftly managed to contantly keep the reader on tenterhooks between two or three intertwined stories through the entire 600 page length. As befits a book with such a title there is plenty of history, especially of the Ottoman empire and the Balkans. I literally raced through the last hundred pages to see the outcome of the various groups' convergence on their goal.

However, upon reflection after finishing the book I have two big problems which possibly other readers can help me resolve ... I do so want to love the book in its entirety. And this is where the spoilers come in.

First - I feel that to have a book given to the daughter at the end is cheating. Did they not watch Dracula turn to dust before their eyes? I think they did. It would have been much stronger to leave it that way.

Second - it seems to me that the main premise of the book is actually a huge hole in logic. For Dracula to deliberately give various historians that dragon book and then go to such lengths as killing those near to them in order to dissuade them from following up any research ... and then for the distribution of books to have the ultimate goal of luring historians to him to catalogue his treasure? No, no and no. Supposedly he was brilliant. If his agents are indeed all over the world, watching those promising specimens of historians to see which would serve his purposes best ... then why not just make off with whichever seems best at the time, discarding them once they have done all they can? That is the vampire way. Certainly it is Dracula's way.

Although I must say that I truly enjoyed the overall reason Dracula turned to vampirism ... because he despaired of salvation and then turned to surrounding himself with things. Very fitting.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

FEARLESS

Rose really wanted to see this one on the big screen so she and I went this weekend. It was a very straightforward story and not too difficult to see where it was going. However, we enjoyed it nonetheless. The film captured the feel of China in the days when only the Chinese held sway and the lush photography filled the eye (especially in the countryside scenes).

It is the story of a Chinese hero and martial arts fighter, Huo Yuanjia, who discovers that he must conquer his pride to truly understand what it is to be a great man. Wanting to follow in his father's footsteps as a martial arts expert, he is denied training because of his asthma. After he grows up, Huo takes great pride in defeating enemies but his pride is his undoing as he thinks that the measure of a champion is mere physical prowess. This attitude brings great tragedy upon his head and, broken, he winds up in the countryside among the simple people. Naturally, they teach him (blessedly without "wise man" style platitudes) to find himself and to know what is truly important in life. He goes from being a braggart to being wise and peaceful. Upon returning to his home, he finds that the British have been demeaning the Chinese as "weak men of the East" and takes on four of their champions to show that is not the case. Oh, after founding a premier martial arts school which promotes oneness and self knowledge ... natch.

Standout performances come from Sun Li as a blind girl in the countryside and Dong Yong who portrays Huo's best friend. It is no Hero, but then, what is?

Also, Rose and I perhaps had a different context when viewing this than other people in the theater with us. I was thrilled because, after doing ChinesePod lessons daily for some time, I actually understood many words and phrases of the dialogue. Sometimes even entire sentences! Woohoo! Rose recognized several kung fu moves that she has learned. Also the weapons used in the challenge scenes matched those that hang on the wall of her kung fu school.

Bottom line: there is much to be enjoyed about this film but it all is right on the surface. Don't go looking for too much more than what you see. Highly enjoyable nonetheless.

(HC rating: Good despite lack of flubber)

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Halloween Countdown

Georgette gives us two good Halloween preps with Hauntings and Catholic Ghost Busters and then follows it up with Catholic Ghost Stories. Check it out!

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Halloween Countdown

We'll put a "two-fer" out there for the weekend.


Savage Chickens, which is a daily "must" for me, will be featuring Halloween cartoons every day until Halloween as well as have a contest.

DARK GATE HORROR PODCAST

Ellen has been a fan of all things horror since she was small. She discusses classic and modern horror movies, literature, etc. including related genres of thrillers and mystery. She does a very good job of looking at these. Give her a listen.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Halloween Countdown

Where better to prepare for Halloween than at All Halloween Blog which is where I found this delightfully seasonal poem.

A haunted hallway with candles a glow
A secret door to where? no one knows
Candy by the door, lightning all around
Mist becoming thick slowly moving all through town
And suddenly we hear them, singing in their way
Moaning, screaming, laughing...bleeding on the hay
The laughter ends abruptly, with the sounds of screams
On a night such as this, we celebrate Halloween

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

The Devil Has Quoted Scripture

You know, in all the arguments I have heard for why the Magisterium and Tradition are a must in conjunction with Scripture ... I have never heard it put this way. And yet it makes more sense to me in a very basic way than those other arguments. Brilliant. Leave it to David Scott, eh?

Early church leaders insisted that the Scriptures be read and understood within the context of the church's tradition. They had learned by experience. Many of the problems and heresies of the early church had stemmed from a rejection of this principle, as charismatic leaders and sects advanced wild theories and fanciful speculations they said were based on the Bible.

"The Devil himself has quoted Scripture texts," Jerome noted ruefully, referring to Satan's temptation of Jesus in Matthew's Gospel. "We could all, while preserving the letter of Scripture, read into it some novel doctrine."

But God did not send his word into the world only to leave it alone to be interpreted according to the whims, dictates, and tastes of whoever heard it. That is why the word was given to us in the church. This is the message of a dramatic scene in the Acts of the Apostles. The Holy Spirit tells the apostle Philip to strike up a conversation with an official of the queen of Ethiopia's court. Seated in his chariot, the official is reading the prophet Isaiah. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asks. The official replies, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" So Philip interprets the Scriptures -- "starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus." Then the man asks to be baptized.

For the early church, and for Catholics today, the Bible was meant to be read with the apostles, in the church. As Peter said bluntly, "No prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation." The apostles alone had learned the proper reading of Scripture from the mouth of the Master. They alone had been given what Paul called "the mind of Christ" and the Spirit to guide them deeper into its truths and mysteries. This understanding in the Spirit had been passed on to the bishops, who were entrusted with the apostles' "own position of teaching authority," as St. Irenaeus, the great apologist and bishop of Lyons, said in the second century.

Catholic Passion by David Scott

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Reality Check

This should be shown to every girl you know ... and some of the boys too. We all need a shake up to understand what is real.

Via The Daily Eudemon.

Halloween Countdown

Tweedlesketch is celebrating 31 days of Halloween with original monster cards. These are really great! Via No Blasters.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Marriage and Self-Sacrifice

I think my relationship with my wife is the best chance I will ever have to love my neighbor as myself. My success or failure as a lover will show most clearly with her. She is my best occasion for self-sacrifice, the bloodless martyrdom of daily life. My children also demand self-sacrifice, and on a greater scale, but there is a mandatory element to my fatherly efforts. They are my children; their dependence on me is nearly total. To neglect them would be an obvious moral failure. Even when they are at their worst, I do not wish they would raise themselves. Deirdre is another story. She is far more autonomous; she took care of herself before we married. I sometimes wish that she would do for herself some of the things she asks of me. I like to sit and read and be left alone. Overcoming that wish to the point of granting her requests cheerfully, or even anticipating them, is a small but constant opportunity for charity.

She is my best lesson in the pain of sin. The relative innocence of children may make them ideal candidates as earthly stand-ins for God. When you sin against them, the injustice of it shines forth -- they're just kids. But Deirdre loves me as on other, and I her. When I sin against her -- when I break a promise, speak a cutting word, or fail in my duty -- I see the pain in her face, and the ingratitude of it hits home. How can I wound one who loves me so well? I see the wild incongruity of it: I love her so much in my better moments, the good she does is the source of so much of my happiness; how can I forget this?

Swimming with Scapulars by Matthew Lickona

Anyone who has been married for any length of time knows this one, kids or no kids. But Matthew Lickona puts it so clearly and so well that it was a really good reminder for me of the fact that we are living our faith every day, all the time, with the people who are closest to us.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Halloween Countdown

(source)

(Because there's nothing for kicking off a Halloween countdown like some really bad jokes...)

How do you fix a broken pumpkin?
With a pumpkin patch.

What do you get when you cross a vampire and a snowman?
Frostbite...

How do witches keep their hair in place while flying?
With scare spray...

Do zombies eat popcorn with their fingers?
No, they eat the fingers separately...

What did one ghost say to the other ghost?
"Do you believe in people?"

What do you call someone who puts poison in a person's corn flakes?
A cereal killer...

Why do mummies have trouble keeping friends?
They're so wrapped up in themselves...

What kind of streets do zombies like the best?
Dead ends...

What is a ghost's favorite mode of transportation?
A scareplane...

What type of dog do vampire's like the best?
Bloodhounds...

What does a vampire never order at a restaurant?
A stake sandwich...

What is a skeleton's favorite musical instrument?
A trombone...

What do birds give out on Halloween night?
Tweets...

Why do vampires need mouthwash?
They have bat breath...

Why did the Vampire subscribe to the Wall Street Journal?
He heard it had great circulation...

Learning From Our Family

*headslap* This is so basic but makes so much sense. Why has it never been explained to me this way before? That family example may be the best I have ever heard.

Establishing a canon did not mean the bishops started handing out Bibles. Most people in the fourth century did not know how to read, and it would be another thousand years before the technology for mass-producing books was developed. For centuries the Scriptures were circulated in hand-copied manuscripts and guarded lovingly by local churches.

But even if they could have put a Bible in each person's hands, the successors of the apostles would never have thought that to be sufficient. Scripture was never envisioned as standing apart from the church in which it was born, apart from the tradition -- the new way of life handed on by the apostles.

The Catholic does not limit the word of God to only the words found in the Bible. As St. Bernard of Clairvaux said, the word is "not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate and living." Catholics are not "people of the book." We are children of the witnesses, begotten of the words and deeds of those who first saw the Lord.

Parents do not raise children only by lecturing them about right and wrong and repeating stories and words of wisdom handed down from long-dead relatives. Instead, they build a home life in which the family's character and values are passed on as much by shared experience and example as by words. It is the same with the family of God, the church. Our life in Christ grows not only through reading the words of our ancestors in the faith, but also by doing the things they did, sharing in the rituals and practices they received from Christ.

Catholic Passion by David Scott

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Chock Full of Songs That Makes Us Roll Our Eyes

Sent to me by ever so insightful, Laura H.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

The True Religion, the One Way of Salvation

Jesus is more than a great religious teacher, and his church is not merely one religious institution among many. Catholics believe that the church is the true religion, the one true way of salvation. All other religious figures and institutions are incomplete in comparison to the Catholic Church. How could they not be, if Jesus really is who he said he was, as Catholics believe?

The ancient religions of the world -- especially Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam -- contain much that is beautiful, noble, and true. And these religions, especially, continue to impel people to heights of holiness, wisdom, and love. Catholics believe that all that holy and true in these faiths is a gift of God, a reflection of the desire for God that he places in every human heart. But no matter how sublime the other religions of the world, only the Catholic Church contains all the gifts that God wants to bestow on his children. Only the church can bring us to divine life...

This is, after all, what Jesus taught. He said that no one can go to the Father except through him. To be saved we have to be born again of water and Spirit in baptism. To have eternal life we have to eat his flesh and drink his blood in the Eucharist. Salvation, as our Lord revealed it, means meeting him in his church, which he established to continue his saving presence in history.

However, whom Jesus saves may not be limited to those we see being baptized and made a part of the Catholic Church. Those whom Jesus saves, those who are really "in" the church, remain a secret known only to God. "In the ineffable forethought of God, many who appear to be outside are within, while many who seem to be within are without --- the Lord knows his own," Augustine once observed.

Catholic Passion by David Scott

This is why we can be ecumenical while simultaneously believing that the Catholic Church is the one true path.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Who Needs Prayer Wheels ...

... when you've got these? Now that's classic Engrish.

Engrish.com

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Finding Freedom in the Bonds of Love

The walls of the house signify the boundary enclosing the particular place where these few people are engaged in enacting the rite of love, that is, of exchanged life. They experience it under many forms: the love of the parents for each other is one form; the love of the mother for her son, say, is another, and for her daughter another; and the father for his daughter and for his son; and the older brother for the younger sister, or the older sister for the younger brother. There are a dozen variations on the theme, but the same theme; namely, that we find real life where mutual responsibility and commitment turn out to be forms of joy. It is love that liberates the participants for this. Love sets them free from the calculating and jockeying and tallying up of scores that we find in mere politics, where we have to protect people with half-measure such as equality and rights and self-determination. Love opens onto a vastly more splendid order of things; and the forms of love at work in an ordinary family are like introductions to this splendor.

This family bond is there in the fabric of ordinary human life, giving us all this chance to participate in the Real Thing. All forms of love furnish this chance in one way or another, of course --love for one's country, or for one's community, or one's master or friend. Wherever love operates, there we find some exhibition of the principle. But the obvious place where we find the natural occasion for the whole race to enact the rite is the household -- in other words,in the biological family.

No one supposes that these four or five or six people are a select breed, tailored to get along with each other perfectly, or picked because they are better than anyone else. Rather, it is as though the great lesson in love that we must all learn sooner or later has been made obvious, easy, and natural by being carried along in the arms of sheer biology...

Splendor in the Ordinary: Your Home as a Holy Place by Thomas Howard

This just seems to continue the message from yesterday about God putting us right smack in the middle of the place we need to be to learn what we need to know. Once again, we've just got to recognize it to help us get the most advantage from the lesson.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity

Adoration Prayers ... Another Chance!

I will be in adoration ... yes again! lucky, lucky me! ... for an hour early Saturday morning. If anyone would like me to take a special intention to Jesus for them just send me an email (julie @ glyphnet . com) with "Adoration" in the subject line. I'll already have all those from my Prayer Journal and also those that I took with me for last week.

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity