Sunday, November 30, 2008

Mary Moments Carnival

Catholic Carnival 200 is up at Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering.
I just discovered the Mary Moments Carnival today. Its a monthly Carnival dedicated to the Blessed Mother. Check out November
I filed it under Catholic Carnival because I didn't want to create another category (I already have too many) and its still Catholic and a Carnival.

Adopt A Catholic Blog

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Not all return

Please keep 1LT William Jernigan and his family in your prayers. He was a friend of mine.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

100 places

In no particular order, 100 Places I want to see in my life. Just thought I'd share.
  1. The Holy Land
  2. Arctic Ocean
  3. Vailankanni
  4. Indian Ocean
  5. Antarctic Ocean
  6. Falkland Islands
  7. Lalibela, Ethiopia
  8. Possible site of Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia
  9. London
  10. Lourdes
  11. Athens
  12. Thermopylae
  13. Ruins of Ephesus
  14. Moscow
  15. St Petersburg
  16. Chichen Itza
  17. Pyramids of Egypt
  18. Istanbul
  19. New York
  20. Boston
  21. Philadelphia
  22. Montreal
  23. Australia
  24. New Zealand
  25. Tahiti
  26. Hawaii
  27. Ulan Baatar
  28. Lome, Togo
  29. Rio de Janeiro
  30. Washington, DC
  31. Lisieux
  32. Rouen
  33. Chunnel
  34. Gibraltar
  35. New Orleans
  36. Gettysburg
  37. Valley Forge
  38. American Battlefield Cemetery in Mexico City
  39. Village at the bottom of the Grand Canyon
  40. Las Vegas
  41. Lichtenstein
  42. Andorra
  43. San Marino
  44. Nazca Lines
  45. Monaco
  46. Avignon
  47. Monte Cassino
  48. Kathmandu
  49. Zanzibar
  50. Dar-es-Salaam
  51. Charleston, SC
  52. Ireland
  53. Fulda, Germany
  54. Oberomergau, to see the Passion Play
  55. Havana
  56. Akita
  57. American Battlefield Cemeteries in Europe
  58. Crazy Horse
  59. Stone Mountain
  60. Dubai
  61. All 50 States-27 down, 23 left
  62. Pearl Harbor
  63. Guadalupe
  64. Easter Island
  65. St Helena Island
  66. Leaning Tower of Pisa
  67. St Pierre et Miquelon
  68. Prague
  69. Budapest
  70. Malta
  71. Taj Mahal
  72. Goa
  73. Versailles
  74. Alamo
  75. Vicksburg
  76. Transylvania
  77. West Point
  78. Stonehenge
  79. Lexington/Concord
  80. Yorktown
  81. Arlington
  82. Costa Rica
  83. Belize
  84. Victoria Falls
  85. Amazon River
  86. Lake Itasca
  87. Amsterdam
  88. Cape Canaveral
  89. Dakar
  90. Dodge City
  91. Auschwitz
  92. Marathon
  93. Bataan/Corregidor
  94. Naples
  95. Florence
  96. Venice
  97. Great Salt Lake
  98. Dead Sea
  99. Maccu Piccu
  100. Singapore
--green bold indicates I have been there since I wrote this list (6 complete so far)

Friday, November 14, 2008

Premio Dardos

Sunny from Faith and Country has honored me with the Premio Dardos award.
This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.
The rules to follow are :1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2) Pass the award to other 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment.
Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
My 15 blogs of choice:
  1. Catholic Cavemen
  2. B Movie Catechism
  3. The Curt Jester
  4. Infused Knowledge
  5. Transitus Tiber
  6. Steve Ray's Blog
  7. Dominican Idaho
  8. Aussie Coffee Shop
  9. Adrienne's Catholic Corner
  10. Maureen Martin
  11. Idaho Hicks in Austria
  12. Sonitus Sanctus
  13. Ironic Catholic
  14. Holy Cards for your Inspiration
  15. Alive and Young
Sunny, I still keep you and your blog in my prayers.
There are still lots and lots of Catholic blogs out there to adopt.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Sacrifice

I have decided to use this deployment to finally read the Bible cover to cover. Genesis and Exodus were fairly quite despite all the "begats". Leviticus is a bit dry to say the least and is proving a challenge.
With that said, what I have read has given me something to think about in regards to sacrifice. There is a lot said about sacrifice in these first three books.
Exodus says at least three times that I can recall that the Israelites are to dedicate, that is sacrifice, their firstborn from their animals and among their children. Donkeys however can be redeemed by sacrificing a lamb instead and their firstborn children MUST be redeemed. As St Paul wrote, Jesus is the "firstborn of all creation". While God has been merciful to His people and not allowed them to sacrifice their children, He sacrificed His Son, His Firstborn for us.
Of course, Jesus' sacrifice of Himself on the cross was the lasting Sacrifice for all eternity and His Body and Blood offered on our altars is a continuing participation in that one Sacrifice. I couldn't help as I read through these books, but to notice parallels between the Old Testament sacrifices and the Eucharist.
As Isaac carried the wood that was for sacrificing himself up the hill, he asked his father Abraham where was the animal for the sacrifice. His father answered him that, "God will provide the lamb." Over course we know that later, the Lamb of God, carried the wood of the cross up Calvary hill and sacrificed Himself and we share in this Sacrifice every time we partake in the Eucharist.
Also, Leviticus prescribes sacrifices for sins of the people, priests, and individuals. These sacrifices are no longer called for since Christ's Sacrifice is for all sin. Fat from the animals and certain organs were placed on the altar to burn, but the meat was eaten by the priests. Christ as both Priest and Sacrifice now offers us his flesh eternally as His Sacrifice of Self for our sins.
I forget where exactly, but somewhere in Exodus around the Ten Commandments chapters, Moses sprinkled the Israelites with blood from a sacrificed animal as part entering the people into the Old Covenant. I thought about that compared with receiving Christ's Blood internally as part of renewing the New Covenant. I am not sure if there's anything to that, but I thought it was an interesting comparison.
At one point the Law called for the sinner to publicly declare his sins before the sacrifice. I like confession better today.