Good advice: 50 lessons for life

Image by MocoLoco

Here's some good advice from Regina Brett, columnist for Cleveland's The Plain Dealer.

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others'.
___You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye.
___But don't worry: God never blinks.
16. Life is too short for long pity parties.
Get busy living, or get busy dying.
17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.
18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
___But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life,
___don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie.
___Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over-prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words:
___"In five years, will this matter?"
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will.
___Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is,
___not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's,
___we'd grab ours back.
41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
45. The best is yet to come.
46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
48. If you don't ask, you don't get.
49. Yield.
50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

(H/T Inside My Domestic Church)

Homily for Pentecost Sunday 2009

Image by Gisele Bauche

Homily for Pentecost Sunday
(Scriptures for Mass on the day of Pentecost)

So, the Spirit came upon the disciples as a strong driving wind
and as tongues of fire resting on their heads.

I wonder: if we had a new Pentecost
would you prefer to be knocked over by a strong wind
or have a flame settle just above the part in your hair?

Will it be wind strong and driving:
wind that forces you to lean into it as you walk;
wind so strong that if you don’t bow to it, you’ll be blown over;
wind strong enough strip a tree of leaves and branches
and strong enough to strip us of what we hold too tightly
what we reach for that is not ours…
wind strong enough to knock us down a peg or two;
wind strong to sweep us off our feet, like a lover driven to have us…

Or will it be tongues of fire, flames settling on our heads:
a flame strong enough to light our path in the dark times,
a flame bright enough to expose our hidden sins;
a flame warm enough to take the chill from a hardened heart
and melt our stubborn pride;
a flame of beauty drawing others to share our faith and hope;
a flame as pure as God: weightless yet weighted
by the Cross it brands upon our hearts…

So, which would we have? wind or flame? Neither?
Well, we need both - and God isn’t holding back on either.
But we have ways of sheltering ourselves
from the gusts of God’s wind moving in our lives
and ways of insulating ourselves from the heat of God’s desire
to light a fire under us to move us to speak and act as we ought.

The driving wind of God’s Spirit batters the injustices we tolerate
among nations, in our laws, at work, in our families
and in how we share what we have with those who have less.

The driving wind of God’s Spirit seeks to strip us
of our prejudice, our arrogance, our pride and resentments.

The wind of the Spirit comes to fan the flame of God’s presence in us,
such that our lives are warmth for those who need it,
light for those who seek the truth,
healing for the wounded,
and justice for those who are oppressed in any way.

Pentecost is meant to renew and refresh
the Spirit within and among us.

This day calls us to bow and to lean into the Spirit’s driving force
that we might go with it and not be left broken, scattered in its path.

Pentecost calls us to endure the heat of the inevitable friction generated
when the Gospel grates against our selfishness.

If all this sounds too daunting and demanding, keep in mind
that I’m speaking here of nothing more or less than
the gifts of the Holy Spirit we all received in Confirmation:
wisdom, understanding, right judgment, courage,
knowledge, reverence and awe in God’s presence.

Pentecost reminds us that we have gifts - already given to us -
though we may not yet have opened them.

At home, in my family, at work, at school, in our neighborhoods,
in this parish where and when and how is God’s Spirit
offering me wisdom to correct my foolishness?
understanding to curb of my stubbornness?
right judgment in the face of my bad choices?
courage to do and say what I fear doing and saying?
knowledge to open my mind and heart to truth?
reverence to help me to love what is pure and beautiful?
and awe in God’s presence -
all that I might grow in the life of the Spirit?

The gifts are all there and the wind and fire of God call me to open them.

In a few moments we'll pray for God’s Spirit to come upon our gifts,
the bread and wine we offer this morning in praise and thanksgiving,
and we'll pray that God’s Spirit make of them
the life, the body and blood of the risen Christ.

May the Spirit who makes holy our gifts
make holy and faithful the people who offer them.

-ConcordPastor

Pentecost Sequence

Illustration by Elizabeth Wang © Radiant Light 2006, www.radiantlight.org.uk

Here's a fine translation of the Pentecost Sequence by Sr. Irene Nowell, OSB. To hear the Gergorian chant for this piece, play the third selection from the top on the widget at the top of the side bar.

	Veni Sancte Spiritus, Et emitte caelitus Lucis tuae radium	Come, Holy Spirit, And send out from heaven Your radiant light.
	Veni pater pauperum, Veni dator munerum, Veni lumen cordium.	Come, father of the poor, Come, giver of gifts, Come, light of our hearts.
	Consolator optime, Dulcis hospes animae, Dulce refrigerium.	Best consoler, Sweet guest of the soul, Sweetness of cool refreshment.
	In labore requies, In aestu temperies, In fletu solatium.	Rest in labor, Relief in heat, Consolation in weeping.
	O lux beatissima, Reple cordis intima Tuorum fidelium.	O most blessed light, Fill the center of the hearts Of your faithful.
	Sine tuo numine, Nihil est in homine, Nihil est innoxium.	Without your divine power, There is nothing in humans, Nothing is innocent.
	Lava quod est sordidum, Riga quod est aridum, Sana quod est saucium.	Wash what is soiled, Water what is dry, Heal what is wounded.
	Flecte quod est rigidum, Fove quod est frigidum, Rege quod est devium.	Bend what is rigid, Warm what is chilled, Guide what is astray.
	Da tuis fidelibus, In te confidentibus, Sacrum septenarium.	Give to your faithful, Who trust in you, The seven sacred gifts.
	Da virtutis meritum, Da salutis exitum, Da perenne gaudium.	Give the reward of virtue, Give the goal of salvation, Give eternal joy.
	Amen. Alleluia.	Amen. Alleluia.

-ConcordPastor

Ave Maria: May, the month of Mary

Image by MDR

This is the last in an occasional series of Ave's during May, a month of special devotion to Mary.

The moment I saw the fine photo above of the this magnificent iris I knew I wanted to use it for one of these musical Marian posts. Something of the gentle beauty of this flower, not to mention its blue and white color scheme, seemed just perfect for this devotional series. (Click on the image above for a larger version.)

The Ave Maria I've chosen is a favorite of many, the one by Franz Schubert. (Here's the interesting back story on Schubert's famous composition.) This performance by Andrea Bocelli is a fine one and the video offers both the Latin and German lyrics.



-ConcordPastor

Preparing for Pentecost

When preparing for or celebrating Pentecost this weekend, turn to the widget at the top of the sidebar for some Music for Pentecost. To find this weekend's scriptures, take a look at this earlier post. Some parishes encourage folks to wear something red on Pentecost (the liturgical color of the day and a reminder of the tongues of fire that came to rest over the heads of believers on this day. In my own parish, we'll sing Evening Prayer at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday night, followed by a concert.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.

And kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your spirit, Lord, and they shall be created.
And you shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray...

O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit
instructed the hearts of your faithful,
grant that in the same Spirit we may be truly wise
and ever rejoice in his consolation,
through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Here comes the sun - I hope!

Around where I live we haven't seen the sun for a while, just clouds and rain - and it's cold! So for my neighbors or anyone else in the same kind of clime, here's something to tide us over until the sun comes out to brighten and warm us up...

Nominees Sotomayor and Diaz

Since Deacon Greg at the Bench has already done the work, I'm pleased to send you in his direction for infomration on President Obama's nominees for the Supreme Court (Judge Sonia Sotomayor) and Ambassador (Professor Miguel Diaz) to the Holy See - both Roman Catholics.

Thanks, Greg!

-ConcordPastor

Changing your mind on life...

H/T to Kelly at Lady in the Pew for drawing attention to a column by David Harsanyi in the Denver Post. Here's a snip:

After a life of being pro-choice, I began to seriously ponder the question. I oppose the death penalty because there is a slim chance that an innocent person might be executed and I don't believe the state should have the authority to take a citizen's life. So don't I owe an nascent human life at least the same deference? Just in case?

You may not consider a fetus a "human life" in early pregnancy, though it has its own DNA and medical science continues to find ways to keep the fetus viable outside the womb earlier and earlier.

But it's difficult to understand how those who harp about the importance of "science" in public policy can draw an arbitrary timeline in the pregnancy, defining when human life is worth saving and when it can be terminated.

The more I thought about it, the creepier the issue got.

(Read the complete article here.)

Will religious orders refuse further payment of abuse settlements?

Irish sex abuse crisis
(For other posts on this topic, click here.)

Here are some snips from a lengthy AP report on the the Irish government's call for responsible religious orders to pay a more fair share of the financial settlements with children abused in their schools over the past 70 years:

The Catholic orders responsible for abusing Ireland's poorest children say they're struggling to come up with money to help their victims. Yet investigations into their net worth paint a very different picture — that of nuns and brothers with billions worth of carefully sheltered assets worldwide.

Irish government leaders said Wednesday they expect the 18 religious orders involved in abusing children in workhouse-style schools to pay a much greater share of compensation to 14,000 state-recognized victims. They also demanded that the secretive orders reveal the true scope of their wealth for the first time in face-to-face negotiations with the government.

"We have to ascertain how much they actually have. The government is adamant and determined that they will make an appropriate contribution," Defense Minister Willie O'Dea said.

The push follows last week's publication of a nine-year investigation into the widespread sexual, physical and psychological abuse of children in church care from the 1930s to 1990s, when the last of the special schools, reformatories and orphanages closed.

On Wednesday, about half of the 18 orders announced they would meet with the government. All reiterated apologies for their role in harming children — but none said they would contribute more than promised in a 2002 deal with the government that left taxpayers paying almost all of the $1.5 billion bill to settle the abuse claims.
...

The Conference of Religious in Ireland, an umbrella body, said the 18 orders are planning a private strategy session Friday in Dublin to decide on a common approach to the government.

Experts on the global fight against abuse claims say the orders won't shed light on their finances voluntarily.

"First off, don't trust anything they say," said the Rev. Thomas Doyle, an American Catholic priest who is an expert on canon law and a champion of abuse victims' rights. "And be prepared to follow up the urging for voluntary donation or contribution with some form of force."

Doyle said the Irish orders "must be forced by a power greater than themselves, and that's the courts and the Irish government, to make sure the compensation comes, even to the point of forcibly divesting them of properties."

The order most deeply implicated in the abuse report, the Christian Brothers, was founded two centuries ago in Ireland but has spread across the globe. It has the biggest property empire and faces exposure to abuse claims ranging from the United States to Canada, Australia and Ireland.
...

A 2001 investigation by Irish broadcasters RTE into Christian Brothers' mounting legal fights worldwide estimated the order's global property assets, including its Rome headquarters, in excess of $1.4 billion.

Brother Edmund Garvey, spokesman for the Christian Brothers in Ireland and the order's former world leader, estimated this week that its approximately 100 schools in Ireland alone are worth $560 million.

Last year it transferred control of its Irish school network to a Dublin-based trust. Garvey insisted the trust was designed to defend the long-term viability of the order's schools, not protect the order from lawsuits. He said the order was ready to surrender Irish assets but was struggling financially to care for its 250 largely elderly brothers in Ireland.
...

The Irish Times, Ireland's newspaper of record, urged the government Wednesday to go harder after the orders.

"Their clumsy and self-serving efforts to protect their own interests are rapidly alienating whatever limited support they have. This is how institutions perish. The gross imbalance which leaves the state paying 90 percent ... is indefensible," the newspaper said in an editorial...
Irish sex abuse crisis
(Read the complete AP report)

Ave Maria: May, the month of Mary

Another in an occasional series of Ave's in May...

I hear the Schubert Ave Maria quite often at weddings and funerals. Sometimes I hear it beautifully performed and at other times... well, not so beautifully rendered.

Here's and instrumental performance by Emmanuel Rossfelder which is stunning in its artistry and interpretation.



-ConcordPastor

Got music?

We do now! I'm pleased to add a new widget to the sidebar. It's a handy way of sharing some music with you and I hope you find it a help to prayer and reflection. Just click on one of the titles in the list and enjoy the selection. If you have the time to give a listen to these pieces for Pentecost, let me know which ones you liked and why.

-ConcordPastor

We can only imagine...

The musical style here might not be my first choice but the sentiment, the truth in the lyrics is definitely right out of my creed as a Christian.

I think of 1 Corinthians 2:7-10...

We can only imagine what eye has not seen and ear has not heard...

This song came from a friend who, with many in our parish, lost a dear sister in Christ this past weekend: Gina.

Gina is a very special woman whose simplicity and dependency on others was a grace, a blessing, an epiphany of God among us.

With her family and her many friends at MinuteMan ARC, we trust with deep confidence that Gina no longer only imagines but now knows the glory of God...

But we... we can only imagine...

H/T to JMC

-ConcordPastor

Further commentary on Obama-Noonan at ND

Image: ABCNews

Sandro Magister has a fine summary of the Obama-Notre Dame scene from a number of perspectives including that of Robert Imbelli, theology professor at Boston College.

For those who are interested in these issues on levels deeper than headlines and sound bytes, I highly recommend Magister's post.

It includes Imbelli's fine commentary on both Obama's speech and John Noonan's Laetare speech at ND's commencement and links to both texts as well as links to other pertinent commentaries on both side of the question.

-ConcordPastor

Word for the Weekend - Pentecost: May 30/31

Image by CoolChaser.com (Click for a larger version!)

It's time to prepare for Pentecost Sunday!

With Pentecost comes the close of the Easter season.

There are a number of options for readings in the lectionary: for the vigil of Pentecost and for Pentecost day. All of those texts can be found here. The commentary at the St. Louis site focuses largely on the readings for Pentecost day as do the notes for helping children prepare to hear the Word as found on the Sadlier site.

To prepare to hear the texts that will be proclaimed in your parish, you would need to contact the parish and inquire which readings will be proclaimed and preached. If you're not inclined to make that call, just look over all the readings or ponder the graphic above (click to enlarge) and prayerfully wonder about the Holy Spirit in your own daily life...

In my parish we'll be hearing:

Acts 2:1-11
1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13
John 20:19-23

John 15:26-27; 16:12-15 (7:30 only)

-Concord Pastor

Ave Maria: May, the month of Mary

Another in a series of occasional Ave's in this month of May...

This video features Bobby McFerrin and a huge audience, the composition of which I've not been able to discover. The video includes a fairly lengthy intro by McFerrin but please be patient and wait for the music to begin. As McFerrin instructs, the Bach-Gounod setting of the Ave is the combination of two musical pieces. A Bach prelude is the foundation and the Gounod setting of the Marian prayer sits atop it - tenderly and delicately so.

Besides the beauty of the composition, I find this performance particularly moving for the way McFerrin pulls together the voice of a large audience with his simple and amazing vocalizing of the prelude. What sends shivers up my spine each time I hear this is less McFerrin's vocal prowess and more the song the people make and his ability to draw that from them and to support it with a simple melody that bubbles from throat and mouth.

What comes of this unrehearsed collaboration is a thing of beauty.

-ConcordPastor

Dublin's Archbishop on the child abuse report

Image: IrishTimes.com

(For other posts on this topic, click here.)

Dublin's Archbishop Diarmuid Martin writes an opinon piece for IrishTimes.com in the wake of the publication of the Ryan Commission report on abuse of children in Catholic institutions in Ireland.
Irish sex abuse crisis
Here's a quote; the complete article is here:

...

The first thing the church has to do is to move out of any mode of denial. That was the position for far too long and it is still there.

Yes, there was abuse in other quarters. Yes, childcare policy in Ireland at the time was totally inadequate. But the church presented itself as different to others and as better than others and as more moral than others. Its record should have shown that and it did not. Ryan reveals church institutions where children were placed in the care of people with practically no morals.

Where the church is involved in social care it should be in the vanguard. That is different to a situation in which the church proclaims that it is in the vanguard. In industrial schools the church, with good intentions, became involved in a Victorian model of childcare and became more Victorian than the Victorians, and when Victorianism was shown to be wrong, those responsible did not have the foresight to recognise that and children were exposed to pathological Victorianism.

There is a sense of shock among many good priests and religious at what has happened. But that sense of shock should not slip into a situation in which they feel themselves almost as the victims. No one in the church must ever try to water down or reformulate the suffering of survivors. Let the survivors speak and tell their stories as they experienced them.

...

-ConcordPastor

Monday Morning Offering - 48

Image: George Mendoza
Memorial Day Prayer
Good morning, good God!

I'm praying today, Lord:
remembering those who died,
who passed from this life to the next,
who have at last met you, their Maker,
lover of their souls...

I'm praying today, Lord:
remembering those gone long before,
marked with the sign of faith,
marked as your own in ways unknown
to me and others' grief...

I'm praying today, Lord:
remembering those who gave their lives
without a thought of self,
who laid down all that I might stand
in freedom dearly won...

I'm praying today, Lord:
remembering selfless souls and
hearts with courage purpled true,
so sure and brave on danger's roads
where I'd not dare to tread...

I'm praying today, Lord:
remembering love in sacrifice
so freely, fully given,
so easily forgotten by just the ones
for whom the gift was made...

I'm praying today, Lord,
and of''ring you my memories now
in thanks for those who loved
as you have loved by giving all
for all who stand in need...

I'm praying today, Lord:
Receive my morning offering
for those who now may need
my heart laid down and given up
that they, too, might be free.

Good God of Monday mornings,
of every memory mine,
be with me on this special day
and every day this week...

Amen.

-ConcordPastor

Homily for the Seventh Sunday of Easter

Word frequency in Constitution on Church in Modern World
Image by Many-Eyes
(Click on image for larger version)

This gospel can be confusing!
Jesus tells us that we’re IN the world,
that indeed he SENDS us into the world
even though we don’t BELONG to the world, and what’s more:
he’s not going to ask his Father to take us OUT of the world -
he will only ask to keep us from the evil one…

There’s a great document from Vatican Council II titled:
The Pastoral Constitution On The Church In The Modern World.

Here’s its first sentence:
The joys and the hopes, the griefs and anxieties
of the people of this age,
especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted,
are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties
of the followers of Christ.
Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts.

“Genuinely human…”
There, I believe, is the key to our understanding today’s gospel.

Our relationship with the world is meant to be our intimacy
with everything that is genuinely human within it
because we can be sure that whatever is genuinely human is from God
- and not from the “evil one.”

What belongs to God is genuinely human and therefore belongs to us -
and what belongs to the evil one - is not.

Knowing the difference between the two20is the task
and it’s not always an easy one.

Although my conscience should be a good guide here,
if I let my conscience get out of shape for lack of exercising it,
I can begin to blur the distinctions so important for discerning
what is genuinely human and so deserving of an echo in my heart -
and what is not.

How might I get my conscience back in shape?
Consider the ancient counsel that we should pray
when we rise in the morning and pray when we go to sleep at night.

If I pray as I begin my day,
I ask God to accompany me, to walk with me
through all the situations, circumstances, relationships,
conversations and desires my day may bring me.

Or are there parts of my day, things on my schedule, plans I have
I’d prefer God not be part of?
things God might prefer not to be part of?

If I pray for and plan my day to be genuinely human,
then there’ll be no part of my day
I’d want to exclude from God’s company.

And in the evening, when I look back on the day behind me,
how much of my day do I want to share with God, place in his hands
for safe-keeping through the night?

Or are their parts of my day
(situations, circumstances, relationships, conversations and desires)
I’d prefer to keep in my back pocket,
hoping that God won’t see them?

Chances are, moments I’m inclined to hide from God
may be less than genuinely human
and less than deserving of an echo in my heart
as I say goodnight to the Lord.

The same is true at the Lord’s table when we gather on Sunday,
sorting out a week’s worth of living in the world,
discerning the genuinely human by sharing what is genuinely divine
in the sacrament of the Eucharist.
At this altar, Jesus (himself so genuinely human and genuinely divine)
nourishes our desire to belong to him,
consecrating our humanity in the truth of the Word,
that our lives might echo the divine,
the will of the Father of Jesus, God of us all.

May the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties
of the people of our world
especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted,
be our joys and hopes, our grief and anxiety
as we follow Christ.

May nothing genuinely human fail to raise an echo in our hearts.

-ConcordPastor

"Flags In" for Memorial Day - and a prayer...

Memorial Day Weekend

H/T to The Deacon's Bench

-ConcordPastor

Australian Church apologizes for abuse of migrant children

Migrant children were on average just nine years old

(For other posts on this topic, click here.)

H/T to Clerical Whispers for this deeply disturbing report from the BBC:

Australia's Roman Catholic Church publicly apologised on Thursday to British and Maltese child migrants who suffered abuse including rape, whippings and slave labour in religious institutions.

The apology was delivered at a parliamentary inquiry into child migration.

Two church bodies said the programme, in which more than 1,000 British and 310 Maltese children were sent to Australian Catholic schools between the late 1930s and 1960s, resulted in "suffering and dislocation".

Many children were raped, whipped, stripped of their names and forced to scramble for food thrown on the floor. Some children were also made to do hard labour, including construction work, at some schools.

The Church said it has allocated about $1m to help former child immigrants go back to their countries of origin, especially to meet relatives, as well as for counselling.

The child migration scheme, partly organised by the Church, was aimed at bringing "pure white stock" from Britain to former colonies. It ran from about 1850 right up to 1967.

Spokesman Tony Shanahan said the Church was "painfully aware" that some children suffered physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

"We are sorry that some of those vulnerable children who should have found care and protection in our Catholic institutions suffered abuse."

Mr Shanahan added that the UK and Australian government should also take responsibility for the issue.

The International Association of Former Child Migrants Vice- President, Don Coleshill, who was shipped to Australia from Britain as a five-year-old in 1937, accepted the apology with "a very large grain of salt".

"They are only hollow words unless you say you want to do something to substantiate or support the apology," he said.

Although numbers are unclear, it is believed that a total of 130,000 were "exported" from Britain over a period of 100 years.

Children left in homes, due to broken marriages or family pressures, were sent from Britain, which in turn was relieved of caring from them.

Although classified as orphans, most children did in fact have parents, who were often unaware their children were sent away.

The full details of the scheme emerged as late as 1998 during a parliamentary inquiry in Britain.

The inquiry found that migrant children were subjected to systematic abuse in religious schools in Australia, New Zealand and other countries.

Here's a government report which includes response from several religious orders going back to 1993. Here's a report from Catholic Social Services in Australia with quotes from the apology statement (which I've been unable to locate online).

-ConcordPastor

A prayer for hard times

Image: America Magazine Blog

I found this fine prayer written by James Martin, SJ over at the America Magazine Blog. ( Other prayers on the same theme are collected with this one at Beliefnet.) Please pass this along to others you know who may need a prayer just like this.

Please

O my God,
I know that you love me.
And I know that you want me to be happy, safe and secure,
But sometimes it's so hard to find you in all my troubles.
I know that there are many people worse off than me,
But please help me with my problems.
I'm so worried, God.
Please help me find the support I need.
Please help me not to worry too much.
Please help me to be humble enough to accept help from others.
Please help me to stay away from the "what ifs" and the "if onlys."
Please help me to remember to help others, even when I still need help.
And please help me to trust
in your loving kindness, your care and your grace.
Because I know that you love me, and you know that I love you.
And if all you want to give me right now is your love,
Please let that be enough for me.

Amen.

On the virtue theory and the report from Ireland

Image: CouncilOfEurope

(For other posts on this topic, click here.)

Cathleen Kaveny at dotCommonweal posts this on the report of abuse of children in Catholic institutions in Ireland:

Most people are virtue theorists — or rather, practitioners of virtue theory–whether they know it or not. On difficult moral questions, most people trust the judgment of those who have shown themselves to exemplify probity of mind and judgment about a thousand incidents, important and unimportant. We trust the claim that a way of life is important and good because we trust the judgment of those who are further along that way. Conversely, we do not trust, and ought not trust, those who advocate patterns of life whose destructive nature we can see for ourselves, or who have proven themselves morally deficient in important and grave respects. It’s not a question of one or two mistakes–it’s a question of a pattern of life.

This sensible instinct to trust those whom we have reason to believe are trustworthy is what is strained in the Irish abuse cases.

No polemic against the existence of God, no DaVinci Code, no evolutionary biologist, will do more to undermine the authority of the Catholic Church and its claim to discern and to proclaim truth, and to point toward a life of human flourishing, than this report will...
Irish sex abuse crisis

US Bishops post new site on economic crisis

Image: NPLC

From a press release from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB):

In response to the current economic crisis and its moral and human impacts, a new USCCB Web site has been developed to better share Catholic social teaching on economic life and how it can shape the responses of Catholics to the economic crisis.

Catholic Teaching on Economic Life features the ten-point "A Catholic Framework for Economic Life," which is downloadable in handout form. The Web site is sponsored by the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The site includes statements on economic life from both the U.S. bishops and Pope Benedict XVI and the Holy See, ideas for parishes, stories of groups responding to the crisis, prayer guides, Podcasts, videos, and even an interactive quiz. The site also features a database of information on issues related to the crisis, including health, housing, labor, and trade. All resources are designed for practical use on the parish level for making sense of the economic crisis...

Click here for the new site.

Elementary, my dear Watson!*

It's the birthday (1859) of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes was a favorite of mine in my younger days and there are times, usually in the summer, when I still pick up a Holmes mystery story. At this point I know how they all turn out - but following Sherlock's mind is always an adventure in itself.

*Yes, I'm enough of a fan to know that Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson!"

Image: Imagineer

-ConcordPastor

Weekend Update: the Word!

Image: Mykelladesign

Have you taken some time to ponder the scriptures for this coming weekend? For those texts and background material on them (for both adults and children) check out this previous post. That post will help you determine if your diocese will celebrate the Seventh Sunday of Easter (as in my archdiocese) or Ascension Day (as in the majority of US dioceses).

At least take a moment to figure out what feast your parish will be celebrating on May 24.

And remember, Memorial Day is a civil, not a religious holiday!

-ConcordPastor

More on the report on abuse in Ireland

Irish sex abuse crisis
The blog Clerical Whispers has a number of posts on the Commission's report on abuse of children in Catholic institutions in Ireland, too many for me to provide links for here. For more information, then, go to Clerical Whispers and just begin scrolling down through this tragic history.

State also negligent in abuse of Irish children

Image: KeithsMommy97

(For other posts on this topic, click here.)

More on the report issued yesterday on the abuse of children at Catholic institutions in Ireland:

Irish State officials stood idly by as thousands of children were subjected to a horrific litany of physical and sexual abuse in institutions run by religious orders.

The damning report by the Ryan Commission, published yesterday, found the Irish Department of Education did nothing to prevent a staggering cycle of abuse spanning more than half a century in the Republic.

But the findings failed to satisfy many victims who criticised the report for concealing the identities of abusers.

More than 1,000 victims also refused to give evidence or cooperate with two key committees set up by the commission amid claims that it was too adversarial and legalistic.

The report found government officials were aware of widespread physical, emotional and sexual trauma inflicted on children by Catholic priests, brothers and nuns. But instead of tackling the problem, complaints by parents and others were not properly investigated by the department.
...
Irish sex abuse crisis
(see the complete article in the Belfast Telegraph)

A response and challenge to Obama' s commencement speech

H/T to Bob Imbelli at dotCommonweal for the link to a post by Michael Stokes Paulsen at Moral Accountability in which he offers a response and challenge to Barack Obama's comments on abortion in his commmencement speech at Notre Dame:

Speaking at Notre Dame’s commencement, President Obama said that he wanted to embrace “common ground” on abortion. Most pro-lifers will greet that assertion with considerable skepticism. Measured by substantive positions, rather than graduation rhetoric, Barack Obama is the most extreme pro-abortion president in our nation’s history: he supports partial-birth abortion; he opposes protecting the lives of children (accidentally) born alive during an abortion; he supports mandatory abortion funding with tax dollars; he supports the “Freedom of Choice Act” to entrench and even expand abortion rights (though he has recently that it’s not a “priority” for him right now); and he has, in the past, declared a pro-abortion litmus test for judicial appointments.

But what if we were to take the President seriously, in his stated desire to reduce abortion? How might the President demonstrate, in real, concrete ways, that his remarks should be taken seriously and not as false advertising?

I propose five questions for the President, as a test of his seriousness of purpose in seeking “common ground” on abortion.

1. Mr. President, we all agree that abortion is, at least, a tragic choice. Will you, Mr. President, publicly state that it is your wish that women not have abortions, whenever humanly possible? Will you state that you think that the “choice” you wish to preserve should be exercised in favor of preserving the developing life of the unborn child? Will you lead in this way? Will you urge, and support through policy, adoption instead of abortion? If you are serious in seeking common ground, surely this is ground we can all share.
...

(For Paulsen's questions 2 through 5, read his complete post)

Prayer for the healing of the abused

As the report of the tragic history of abuse in Ireland unfolds, let us pray...

God of endless love,
ever caring, ever strong,
always present, always just:
You gave your only Son to save us
by the blood of his cross.

Gentle Jesus, shepherd of peace,
join to your own suffering
the pain of all who have been hurt in body, mind, and spirit
by those who betrayed the trust placed in them.

Hear our cries as we agonize
over the harm done to our brothers and sisters.

Breathe wisdom into our prayers,
soothe restless hearts with hope,
steady shaken spirits with faith:

Show us the way to justice and wholeness,
enlightened by truth and enfolded in your mercy.

Holy Spirit, comforter of hearts,
heal your people’s wounds and transform our brokenness.

Grant us courage and wisdom, humility and grace,
so that we may act with justice and find peace in you.

We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Irish sex abuse crisis
Image: OurAdopt
Prayer: USCCB

(For other posts on this topic, click here.)

After all the pomp and circumstance...

Image: NERA

From "The Speech of Saruman" in Tolkien’s The Two Towers:

"Those who listened unwarily to that voice could seldom report the words that they heard; and if they did, they wondered, for little power remained in them. Mostly they remembered only that it was a delight to hear the voice speaking, all that it said seemed wise and reasonable, and desire awoke in them by swift agreement to seem wise themselves. When others spoke they seemed harsh and uncouth by contrast; and if they gainsaid the voice, anger was kindled in the hearts of those under the spell. For some the spell lasted only while the voice spoke to them, and when it spake to another they smiled, as men do who see through a juggler’s trick while others gape at it. For many the sound of the voice alone was enough to hold them enthralled; but for those whom it conquered the spell endured when they were far away, and ever they heard that soft voice whispering and urging them. But none were unmoved; none rejected its pleas and its commands without an effort of mind and will, so long as its master had control of it."

H/T to WDTPRS

Word for the Weekend - May 24

The eleven apostles "gave lots" to determine if Barsabas or Matthias would replace Judas. This icon depicts this scene, indicating that the scrolls were somehow involved in choosing.

Some readers live where the Ascension is celebrated this Sunday while others live where this will be the Seventh Sunday of Easter. Confused? Check here for clarity (changing the dates for 2009).

In either case, here for the scriptures and background material on them (clicking on the day your diocese is celebrating) and here for hints to help children prepare to hear the Word this weekend (also clicking on the link appropriate for your church's calendar.

Folks celebrating the Ascension might want to check my post on that day here.

If you're celebrating the 7th Sunday of Easter (just one week after that is Pentecost and the close of the Easter season) you'll find the first lesson taken from the Acts of the Apostles and the story of how a successor to Judas was elected (in the good old scriptural fashion: casting lots! This may have been a roll of the dice, drawing the short straw or perhaps the flip of a coin!

The second lesson is from the first letter of John and continues John's playing on the phrase, "God is love..."

The gospel for the Seventh Sunday is a pericope from Jesus' "high priestly prayer" for his disciples. (Be sure to read Larry Gillick's treatment of "the world" in his commentary at the St. Louis University site.)

-ConcordPastor

Ascension Thursday

The Ascension of Christ by Dali (click on image for larger version)

A number of paintings depicting the Ascension feature two feet at the top of the canvas, sometimes over a group of disciples staring up at them, sometimes including heavenly hosts awaiting the Lord's return to the Father's right hand. Dali's contemporary rendering is above, Kulmbach's classical version is below.

Is it Ascension Thursday where you live? Or will your local church celebrate Ascension Sunday? The answer can be found here.

You can find the scriptures for Ascension day here. The Preface prayer for the Ascension offers a brief theological summary of what the Church celebrates on this 40th day after Easter. The theology is in the verbs!

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks and praise. Today the Lord Jesus, the king of glory, the conqueror of sin and death, ascended to heaven while the angels sang his praises.

Christ, the mediator between God and humankind, judge of the world and Lord of all, has passed beyond our sight, not to abandon us but to be our hope. Christ is the beginning, the head of the Church; where he has gone, we hope to follow.

The joy of the resurrection and ascension renews the whole world, while the choirs of heaven sing for ever to your glory: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

-ConcordPastor

Child abuse in Catholic institutions in Ireland

The five-volume, 2,600-page report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse in state-funded Roman Catholic Church-run institutions is displayed in Dublin, Ireland, following a press conference. (Complete text of the Commission's report)
Irish sex abuse crisis
(For other posts on this topic, click here.)

Michael Paulson at the Boston Globe's Articles of Faith links us to a report on child abuse in Catholic-run institutions in Ireland.

There seems to be no end to this tragic story...

A much awaited report on abuse at Catholic institutions in Ireland was released today by the government-sponsored Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.

The conclusions are shocking, even given how much has been revealed in recent years about sexual abuse of minors:

"Physical and emotional abuse and neglect were features of the institutions. Sexual abuse occurred in many of them, particularly boys’ institutions. Schools were run in a severe, regimented manner that imposed unreasonable and oppressive discipline on children and even on staff."

(Paulson's complete post)

(complete text of the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse)

-ConcordPastor

A little entertainment - on a big piano!

Remember when Tom Hanks and his boss played Heart and Soul and Chop Sticks on the giant piano in the movie Big?

Well, you ain't heard nothing yet!

H/T to CBM for this great video!

-ConcordPastor

How sweet it is!

Had dinner with some friends this evening and on my way home I stopped to pick up some coffee for the morning brew. Dinner hadn't included dessert and I thought that on my 36th anniversary a sweet treat was in order. In the store I started heading towards the cookies and then remembered that about a week ago in a parishioner's home for lunch I was introduced for the first time to Dibs - a wonderful bite-size ice cream goody from Edy's: imagine miniature chocolate-covered ice cream bars.

Straight to the frozen food aisle and there I discovered that there are varieties of Dibs! I chose the Nestle Crunch Dibs: bite-size chunks of vanilla ice cream, dipped in chocolate sprinkled with the crunch from Nestle's Crunch bars!

If you haven't tried 'em - you have to!

-ConcordPastor

When I was 26, it was a very good year!

I'm happy to share with you that it was 36 years ago today that I was ordained a priest for service in the Archdiocese of Boston. It's hard to believe that I've been ordained for more than half my 62 years!

May 19, 1973 was a beautiful day: the sun was shining and it was a tad cool - not unlike today in Concord. After ordination I jumped into my blue Volkswagen bug and drove north to a gathering of family and friends at my parents' home in Danvers. I remember driving across the Tobin Bridge and saying to myself, "Well, now you're a priest..." and I thought, "It's going to take a while for this to sink in!" And, truth be told, it's still sinking in: so many changes in the world, in the church, in my family, in me over the past 36 years. Some of those changes have been sad, others joyful, many of them a great surprise - but in all of them, the love of God making itself known, healing the grief and lifting up the joy. If you would like to share in this anniversary with me, please pray today: for all priests; for the priests of the class of 1973 in Boston; and for any priest who has been a blessing in your life. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

And a Happy Anniversary to Deacon Greg over on his Bench!

-ConcordPastor

And another speech from the Notre Dame commencement

Here's the text of John Noonan's "Laetare Remarks" from the 2009 Notre Dame commencement on Sunday (video here):

Mr. President, Father President, Distinguished Faculty and Guests, Members of the Class of 2009, Families and Friends.

Graduates, you know today is a great day. It is a great day not only for you but for your parents and grandparents. They celebrate the completion of a passage – a passage you have made and they have made possible. The values they imparted to you have been tended here, intertwined with your increasingly independent lives as you face the urgent moral matters of the turbulent modern world.

For me, today brings me back to my own beginnings at Notre Dame. Recruited by Father Ted, I rejoiced in the ambience of Notre Dame – an ambience created by the love brought to it by faculty, staff, students, loyal alumni and the priests of Holy Cross. This love sustains a specially American institution situated as an integral part of an ancient, global institution, the Catholic Church. At the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council – Vatican II – we used to say of the next council, “On to Notre Dame I.” It’s still a valid hope.

I turn to issues before you as Americans prepared to participate in our urgent moral matters. Some things we have in common. Some things all of us know are wrong.
Genocide is wrong.
Torture is wrong.
Slavery is wrong.

In these matters, our moral vision is clear. Our moral vision has had a voice to vindicate those unable to speak. Our moral vision is shared by the civilized world.

It was not so always. The clarity of our moral vision has come out of clashes. It has come by experience, by suffering, by strenuous debate. It has come from the insight and courage of gifted leaders. It has come from the light radiating from the Gospel.

The hesitations, the doubts, the qualifications, the outright opposition of others delayed the day of victory for each of the great moral causes where the truth ultimately prevailed. The champions of the cause were frustrated – frustrated most of all by those who should have been their friends.

Consider, for example, the relations of two men rightly called giants, Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. As late as August 14, 1862, the President advised emancipated slaves to emigrate – to emigrate, as the President vaguely put it, to “somewhere in Central America.” The President’s advice, Douglass wrote, was “ridiculous.” The President’s comments confirmed Douglass’s conviction that the President did not get two facts fundamental to a just solution – first, that black Americans were Americans; second, that Americans did not want to live somewhere else. Little over one month later, enlightenment began to dawn. The President issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

For half a century now, a great debate has gone on in this country about a matter touching the inviolability of human life in a mother’s womb, the rights of a woman with respect to her own body, the duties of doctors, the obligations of parents, and the role of government in a decision that is patently personal and significantly social.

The matter of this debate was too serious to be settled by pollsters and pundits; too delicate to be decided by physical force or by banners and slogans, pickets and placards; too basic for settlement to be based on a vote by judges. The matter was settled – so it seemed – thirty-six years ago. The settlement was still-born. Debate intensified. Debate is not now about to close. At its center are the claims of conflicting consciences.

By conscience, as you graduates of 2009 know, we apprehend what God asks of us and what the love of our neighbor requires. More than the voice of your mother, more than an emotional impulse, this mysterious, impalpable, imprescriptible, indestructible, and indispensable guide governs our moral life. Each one is different. You may suggest what my conscience should say, but you cannot tell me what my conscience must say.

That’s the rub when your moral vision is clear and the other fellow’s is cloudy. You become impatient, the more frustrated if the other fellow is a friend – an old friend or a potential friend. Why can’t he or she see it? To satisfy that frustration by shunning or denouncing your unseeing companion will accomplish little beyond expressing your own exasperation.

Help your cause by hurting your friends? No. What does work is prayer, patience, empathy, and the love that encircles the other person, a fellow creature attempting to do what he or she sees as right.

One friend is not here today, whose absence I regret. By a lonely, courageous, and conscientious choice she declined the honor she deserved. I respect her decision. At the same time, I am here to confirm that all consciences are not the same; that we can recognize great goodness in our nation’s president without defending all of his multitudinous decisions; and that we can rejoice on this wholly happy occasion.

We can rejoice that we live in a country where dialogue, however difficult, is doable; where the resolution of our differences is done in peaceful ways; where our president is a man of conscience. We can rejoice with you, members of the Class of ‘09, as your voices join the dialogue and declare your own consciences on the urgent moral matters that will be settled only when they are settled right.

“Great is truth. It will prevail.” This scriptural text is inscribed on the Laetare Medal. Believing the Bible, sustained by this message taken from it, we can work together. Yes! We can work together, serenely secure in that trust that the truth will out.