Obadiah didn't have spellcheck back in the day

At the bottom it says Obadiah 15.

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog

Saints and Scripture Burning Bush

The picture above has a woman's face in the middle of the burning bush that Moses saw. The woman is Mary, the Theotokos. Many of the Church Fathers compared Mary to the burning bush because, even though she was pregnant with the Incarnate Word, she was never consumed and her nature remained unchanged.St Gregory of Nyssa said “What was prefigured at that time in the flame of the bush was openly manifested in the mystery of the Virgin … As on the mountain the bush burned but was not consumed, so the Virgin gave birth to the light and was not corrupted.”

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog

Remember when?

Long time readers of my blog might remember that I was still a seminarian when I began 50 Days After and that I used to have regular anti-Communist posts (I've since become less political, but I think I might bring them back). Its hard to believe I've been rambling on this blog for almost six years and the changes that happened in those six years are even more astounding.
I always find it humbling that people actually read this blog!
May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog

Sunday Snippets 28JAN

I've been relatively busy with posting this week. Of course on Sunday I posted with Saints and Scripture Sunday, this time about Zaccheus, then on Monday was my Wisdom from Father Jose posting and I joined in with Seven Quick Takes on Friday. Outside of my normal weekly postings is a caption contest of two Orthodox priests in Kudos for the Best Caption, a rambling about Jonah as an example of a vocations story in Jonah and Vocations, Father Pontifex Responds to "Why I Love Jesus, but Hate Religion", and a thought for the day in Handfuls of Sand. I almost forgot. I also took a picture of Princess's icon written by our parish priest, Father Damien.


May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog

Handfuls of Sand

A handful of sand, thrown into the sea, is what sinning is, when compared to God‚s Providence and mercy. Just as an abundant source of water is not impeded by a handful of dust, so also the Creator's mercy is not defeated by the sins of His creations.
St. Isaac the Syrian


May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog

7 Quick Takes 27JAN

1. I'm still trying to understand how or why the speaker at our Young Adult Ministry last night delved into the topic of "Faithful Citizenship" without any material/discussion on Natural Law or Social Contract.To understand the American system you have to understand Social Contract. To properly understand Catholic political thought one has to understand Natural Law. I don't get it.
2. I do very much enjoy the chance to meet new people and sometimes discuss these things to a depth that satisfies me. Its been a great experience. A year ago the only people I knew in town were other Soldiers and Hephzibah's family.
3. Last night I got the chance to talk with one of the guys who plays the music during the Adoration portion of the Young Adult Ministry and ask him why none of the songs are about the Eucharist directly or indirectly. He was a lot more receptive than I thought he would be.
4. I like taking Princess to new restaurants in theory, but in practice its usually more irritating than its worth. First off, when we try a new restaurant all I can usually get her to eat is something like chicken strips or hot dogs which defeats the purpose of going to any kind of ethnic restaurant. And then even if I order from the children's menu she never seems to eat more than two or three bites before she claims to be full. Of course she's hungry again in another half hour.
5. Had an interesting discussion yesterday with a guy who said that he was hesitant about whether or not God was calling him to the priesthood because he wants to make lots of money to give it to the poor. I had never heard that one. His friends explained that as a priest he would be giving all his time and talents to the people everyday. I explained that the rubber has to eventually meet the road. We can't all be the ones to donate money, someone has to eventually take that money and do something with it.
6. I never realized how much stuff with my house that I have put off, not had the time, or only just begun on it. That is until about three weeks ago when I took a whiteboard and filled it full of about 60 things I want/need to do around here. So far I've gotten about half at least underway. I've only actually completed about a dozen.
7. Also, (continued rambling from #1) why would a discussion on Faithful Citizenship not include the parable of the goats and sheep? As you can tell it left me flat.

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog

Fr Pontifex responds to "Why I Love Jesus, but Hate Religion"

My favorite parts that really hit the nail on head, IMHO:
“the teacher will teach when the students are ready to listen”
"lines about building big churches and feeding the poor sound a bit like Judas when the perfume was being poured"
"blaming religion for contradiction is like staring at death and blaming the hearse"
"if I have the jersey and I'm playing for the Bulls, there's going to be some boundaries, regulations, and rules"



h/t to Being Frank

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog

Jonah and Vocations

So it occurs to me that the story of Jonah can be seen as a story of his vocation as well. God has called on him to be His prophet to Nineveh. We are each called to a vocation where we can spread the Gospel with the talents we are given, just as apparently among Jonah's talents was preaching.
However, many of us like Jonah turn away from that which our God has called us to. In these cases, He has various methods to convince us to see things His way (i.e.  storm and spending three days inside the Leviathan). I suppose how long this convincing takes depends on the hardness of our hearts, but we are each called to go to our own Nineveh with the message given to us.

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog

Wisdom from Father Jose 10

The world will revolve, but you stay steady on your faith. -- Father Jose Ramirez

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog

Kudos for the Best Caption

source
One of the comments had a tinyURL that led to this picture:

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog

Saints and Scripture Zaccheus

Today was Zaccheus Sunday in the Byzantine Churches. As such, the Gospel reading was the story of Zaccheus:

And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who He was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, "Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house."
And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, "That He was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner."
And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold."
And Jesus said unto him, "This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."-- Luke 19:1-10

I read somewhere (I forgot save the link) that Zaccheus climbing into the sycamore was symbolic of Zaccheus taking up his cross (Paul mentions Jesus dying on the cross as bearing the sin of hanging from a tree) and dying to himself and his greedy desires in order to see who is Jesus.
When I did a Google Image search for pictures of Zaccheus, some of the pictures displayed were from the Garden of Eden. It does occur to me that it is almost the reverse of Adam and Eve partaking of the forbidden fruit. As Adam and Eve picked the forbidden fruit from the tree and mankind fell, Jesus called Zaccheus from the tree and brought salvation to his house in order "to save that which was lost".
According to some traditions, he followed St Peter after the Ascension of our Lord and became bishop of Caesarea.
May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog

Icon of Holy Family

Father Damien wrote this icon for us:

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog

St Sebastian

Today is the Memorial of St Sebastian. As such I am re-posting a picture from one of my LOLSaints postings.

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog

Two new videos from Cradle Catholic

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog

Member of the Roman Curia speaks on Tebow

First of all, I think its interesting that the Vatican has a "Church and Sport" section in the Pontifical Council for the Laity. I heard once that the Catholic Church has the world's largest bureaucracy and it might well be true. As to the article, I found this section thought provoking.

ZENIT: OK, but does prayer really have a place in football? Surely God doesn't care about who wins the Super Bowl -- or does he?

Father Lixey: Judging from his public statements, Tebow is one of the few and most prominent religious athletes to recognize that God does not care about the score of football games. Tebow considers his missionary and philanthropic work much more important than football, but at the same time, possible, because of it. We all too often equate prayer with only asking good things from God, where prayer is only used "to obtain something" i.e., victory, health, or a miracle. The Catechism reminds us that prayer is also "the raising of one's mind and heart to God" and that we "we must remember God more often that we draw breath."

Certainly there are moments and places more conducive to prayer, but there is no reason that all religious manifestations be entirely banned from the public square. These external manifestations of one's beliefs are impressive precisely because they are public. Just as Christians once fell to their knees at the sound of the Angelus bell to remember the Incarnation, or just as the cab driver makes the point of getting out of his car to bow down toward Mecca in prayer, I see no reason why a professional football player cannot offer a prayer of thanksgiving or point to heaven instead of doing a lewd victory dance in the end zone.

Nonetheless, these external manifestations can make some people feel uneasy and it is not certain how long this will be "allowed" in the NFL. The Danish Football Federation complained to FIFA for permitting members of the Brazilian national to gather together in prayer after their victory of the 2009 Confederations Cup. FIFA's president responded by warning that any religious manifestation would not be permitted in the 2010 World Cup.

See the rest.
May God bless all who read my ramblings,

Adopt A Catholic Blog