The Knights of Columbus have began running a new pro-life radio ad encouraging people to "vote pro-life".
I don't know how to embed the audio so if you do, please educate me! Here is the link to the official press release from the Knights' website with the mp3
St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Abortion debate on facebook
I have successfully done a pretty good job of staying away from many internet message board debates, as they tend to get nasty really quickly and generally are not productive.
That being said, a friend on Facebook from the Catholic student group at UNCG posted a message and tagged all the members of the group to read it. Since I had attended several meetings while I was a grad student there. The message was basically a response to Nancy Pelosi's comments recently regarding abortion and the general topic of abortion as it pertains to this year's presidential election.
I will save you all the gritty details, but it progressed to comments about abstinence not being effective because people do not have the willpower to fight sexual urges, etc. A friend responded with one of the most eloquent responses I have read in a while. It speaks not only to the abortion debate but also to anything that people struggle with in life and it really drove home many good points. I have copied the salient portion for your reading pleasure.
"The fact is that people DO have the will power. God would not have created us to not do something and then not give all of us the power not to do it. God created each of us with the will power to follow His law if we so choose to. Saying that people don't have the will power makes it seem as though you don't think God has given us all the power to follow His laws, making Him seem like quite an unjust and unfair God. God has given us all the strength we need to follow what He asks. So please don't tell me people don't have the will power, they sure do have it. They have just decided to suppress it and take the easy way out. Life is hard, and it requires sacrifice and a whole hell of a lot of will power...but people don't want to accept that anymore. I am tired of this nation catering to evil because they just don't think people can handle sacrifice. People live up to the expectations you assign them. If you tell people they won't survive abstinence, then they won't."
How true, how true. The family unit is under attack because people are too selfish and proud to humble themselves before our Lord and allow Him to take control of their life. It is times like this that I truly worry about our society and the values that we embrace.
St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!
That being said, a friend on Facebook from the Catholic student group at UNCG posted a message and tagged all the members of the group to read it. Since I had attended several meetings while I was a grad student there. The message was basically a response to Nancy Pelosi's comments recently regarding abortion and the general topic of abortion as it pertains to this year's presidential election.
I will save you all the gritty details, but it progressed to comments about abstinence not being effective because people do not have the willpower to fight sexual urges, etc. A friend responded with one of the most eloquent responses I have read in a while. It speaks not only to the abortion debate but also to anything that people struggle with in life and it really drove home many good points. I have copied the salient portion for your reading pleasure.
"The fact is that people DO have the will power. God would not have created us to not do something and then not give all of us the power not to do it. God created each of us with the will power to follow His law if we so choose to. Saying that people don't have the will power makes it seem as though you don't think God has given us all the power to follow His laws, making Him seem like quite an unjust and unfair God. God has given us all the strength we need to follow what He asks. So please don't tell me people don't have the will power, they sure do have it. They have just decided to suppress it and take the easy way out. Life is hard, and it requires sacrifice and a whole hell of a lot of will power...but people don't want to accept that anymore. I am tired of this nation catering to evil because they just don't think people can handle sacrifice. People live up to the expectations you assign them. If you tell people they won't survive abstinence, then they won't."
How true, how true. The family unit is under attack because people are too selfish and proud to humble themselves before our Lord and allow Him to take control of their life. It is times like this that I truly worry about our society and the values that we embrace.
St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Dear young people
The following is an excerpt from the Papal address at World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto. The first portion of it was used in a song by Fr. Stan Fortuna called Cell 91, which is a tribute to Pope John Paul II (pretty rockin song if youve heard it or can find it, I havent been able to track it down online).
When I heard the song for the first time, the quote really struck me and has stuck in my head for about 6 years or so. It addresses the role of young people in Christian living and it really drives home the concept of the humble life and abandoning pop culture, which seems to be ever deprivating these days.
"It is the nature of human beings, and especially youth, to seek the Absolute, the meaning and fullness of life. Dear young people, do not be content with anything less than the highest ideals! Do not let yourselves be dispirited by those who are disillusioned with life and have grown deaf to the deepest and most authentic desires of their heart. You are right to be disappointed with hollow entertainment and passing fads, and with aiming at too little in life. If you have an ardent desire for the Lord you will steer clear of the mediocrity and conformism so widespread in our society."
Could you just imagine being in a crowd of a million young Catholics and hearing a Pope who is especially special to that crowd say these words? How could your life not be different?!
How often are we deaf to the deepest and most authentic desires of our hearts? Better yet, how often do we completely ignore these desires in favor of "hollow entertainment and passing fads"?!?! I believe that our generation, Catholic young adults, really have a great opportunity, no responsibility to uphold orthodoxy and moral living and not allow ourselves to be seduced by the things that we are "supposed" to want or do. Holiness requires us to be different!
St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!
When I heard the song for the first time, the quote really struck me and has stuck in my head for about 6 years or so. It addresses the role of young people in Christian living and it really drives home the concept of the humble life and abandoning pop culture, which seems to be ever deprivating these days.
"It is the nature of human beings, and especially youth, to seek the Absolute, the meaning and fullness of life. Dear young people, do not be content with anything less than the highest ideals! Do not let yourselves be dispirited by those who are disillusioned with life and have grown deaf to the deepest and most authentic desires of their heart. You are right to be disappointed with hollow entertainment and passing fads, and with aiming at too little in life. If you have an ardent desire for the Lord you will steer clear of the mediocrity and conformism so widespread in our society."
Could you just imagine being in a crowd of a million young Catholics and hearing a Pope who is especially special to that crowd say these words? How could your life not be different?!
How often are we deaf to the deepest and most authentic desires of our hearts? Better yet, how often do we completely ignore these desires in favor of "hollow entertainment and passing fads"?!?! I believe that our generation, Catholic young adults, really have a great opportunity, no responsibility to uphold orthodoxy and moral living and not allow ourselves to be seduced by the things that we are "supposed" to want or do. Holiness requires us to be different!
St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Catholic Vote 2008
Found this video roaming around the internet and thought it would be a good share for all ye faithful Catholics to share with your friends and family:
St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!
St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Favicon
Peep it.
Werd.
St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!
Werd.
St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!
An amateur discourse on humility
I am a man.
I struggle with things.
Man things.
These struggles have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember and I have fought mightily to rid them from my life.
There was a time in my life, in college, that I became apathetic to these things and allowed myself to fall deeper and deeper into my own selfishness and pride, never allowing my heart to be humbled enough to admit that I needed divine help in overcoming these things.
Then I met my future wife. While our relationship did not instantly make things better for me, and while we certainly had our struggles, her presence in my life allowed me to see the good that comes from purity and the value in that virtue.
I praise the Lord that for the past several months, I have been graced with the opportunity for regular confession and a renewed sense of culpability for these sins. One of my best friends and a priest-in-training, has been a great source of strength for me and has kept me accountable many times.
I know that I need humility and a deep sense of self-sacrifice in order to overcome these things completely. I believe God has blessed my wife and I with our bun-in-the-oven, and that this new page in our lives will help accomplish that.
There is an incredible amount of self-sacrifice that I am learning needs to happen in order to take care of a sick wife, maintain a household partially due to said sick wife, and work my first full time position. It is a tremendous responsibility and I am learning everyday how to love God in my work, love my wife at home, and love our child in the womb.
St. Joseph has been a newfound source of strength for me in this time of my life. His model as father, husband, and saint is one that is full of the virtues of purity, true humility, and self-abandonment. Devotion to St. Joseph began for me with the Novena to St. Joseph and I find myself thinking about his example more and more everyday.
Lord God, please grant me a true spirit of humility that I may serve you and serve my family everyday.
St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!
I struggle with things.
Man things.
These struggles have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember and I have fought mightily to rid them from my life.
There was a time in my life, in college, that I became apathetic to these things and allowed myself to fall deeper and deeper into my own selfishness and pride, never allowing my heart to be humbled enough to admit that I needed divine help in overcoming these things.
Then I met my future wife. While our relationship did not instantly make things better for me, and while we certainly had our struggles, her presence in my life allowed me to see the good that comes from purity and the value in that virtue.
I praise the Lord that for the past several months, I have been graced with the opportunity for regular confession and a renewed sense of culpability for these sins. One of my best friends and a priest-in-training, has been a great source of strength for me and has kept me accountable many times.
I know that I need humility and a deep sense of self-sacrifice in order to overcome these things completely. I believe God has blessed my wife and I with our bun-in-the-oven, and that this new page in our lives will help accomplish that.
There is an incredible amount of self-sacrifice that I am learning needs to happen in order to take care of a sick wife, maintain a household partially due to said sick wife, and work my first full time position. It is a tremendous responsibility and I am learning everyday how to love God in my work, love my wife at home, and love our child in the womb.
St. Joseph has been a newfound source of strength for me in this time of my life. His model as father, husband, and saint is one that is full of the virtues of purity, true humility, and self-abandonment. Devotion to St. Joseph began for me with the Novena to St. Joseph and I find myself thinking about his example more and more everyday.
Lord God, please grant me a true spirit of humility that I may serve you and serve my family everyday.
St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!
Friday, September 5, 2008
Exciting news from the NALMDW
The North American League of Male Dishwashers (NALMDW) has released their first annual preseason rankings and, much to my chigrin, I was snubbed of a Top 5 ranking.
This league bases its rankings on both speed of dishwashing as well as quality of washing job and overall impression. There are 5 judges that score the second two elements much like an Olympic diving or gymnastics competition. As such, none of these judges represent the country from which participants are from.
I feel that I should have been ranked higher, considering my depth of experience and admittedly nice job of washing that I do. Unfortunately, the powers to be considered the following 5 male dishwashers to be better than I:
1. Jesus (I guess I can't really argue this one that much, I mean, He is the Son of God after all; although, I am suspicious of how often he actually washed dishes, being the son of the best parents of all time).
2. Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire (I suppose he gets the nod here for the heroic measure........)
3. Vin Diesel as The Pacifier (I don't even think he ever washes a dish either, but rumor is that the French judge gave him a 10.0 because of his good looks......and the one-arm pushups).
4. This guy.
5. Michael Phelps (He's not even a registered member of the League but apparantely after saying that I would smash him in a dishwashing contest, he edged me out by 0.01s) [extra props to you if you laughed because you understand].
God bless all you men who wash dishes for yourself, your wife, or just for your sanity.
This league bases its rankings on both speed of dishwashing as well as quality of washing job and overall impression. There are 5 judges that score the second two elements much like an Olympic diving or gymnastics competition. As such, none of these judges represent the country from which participants are from.
I feel that I should have been ranked higher, considering my depth of experience and admittedly nice job of washing that I do. Unfortunately, the powers to be considered the following 5 male dishwashers to be better than I:
1. Jesus (I guess I can't really argue this one that much, I mean, He is the Son of God after all; although, I am suspicious of how often he actually washed dishes, being the son of the best parents of all time).
2. Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire (I suppose he gets the nod here for the heroic measure........)
3. Vin Diesel as The Pacifier (I don't even think he ever washes a dish either, but rumor is that the French judge gave him a 10.0 because of his good looks......and the one-arm pushups).
4. This guy.
5. Michael Phelps (He's not even a registered member of the League but apparantely after saying that I would smash him in a dishwashing contest, he edged me out by 0.01s) [extra props to you if you laughed because you understand].
God bless all you men who wash dishes for yourself, your wife, or just for your sanity.
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