Father Nguyen Van Ly

From Prisoneralert.com
On February 19, 2007, Father Nguyen Van Ly was arrested in Hue, Vietnam for distributing material “harmful to the state.” In March, he was sentenced to eight years in prison. He has issued statements criticizing the government’s confiscation of church property, lack of seminary training and the influence of the state in church teachings. We invite you to write a letter of encouragement to Father Ly. We have experienced incredible results when readers write to believers who have been imprisoned for their faith. The letters often result in shorter prison sentences. Send a letter of encouragement to Father Ly and let him know you are praying. Also, write to the Vietnamese government requesting he be released. Let your friends know about suffering believers in Vietnam and encourage them to pray and write too. Get involved. Pray and write today.
Address for Father Nguyen Van Ly
Ba Le Thi Phu DungC5/1H Tran Nao, Khu Pho 1
Phuong Binn Khanh, Quan 2
TP Ho Chi Minh
VIETNAM

Please noteWhen writing a letter, never mention the name of the source of your information or the name of any organization such as Voice of the Martyrs or Prisoner Alert. It is not dangerous for a prisoner to receive letters from individuals, but if an organization is mentioned they may be accused of links with ‘foreign organizations’ and receive harsher sentences. Also, please do not state anything negative about their government. For the latest information, including letter writing tools and helps, please visit PrisonerAlert.com.
Excerpt from an actual letter created on PrisonerAlert.com
I gave thanks for you when I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray the eyes, ears and hearts of those who persecute you may open to Jesus. Philippians 1:29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Salvation is from the Jews...

In the Gospel reading today we heard Jesus says that "salvation is from the Jews". It reminded me of last weeks readings.
The Gospel reading was of course the Transfiguration and the Old Testament reading was from Genesis and the Lord told Abraham, "All the communities of the earthshall find blessing in you." Just as Jesus chose to ride in Peter's boat to cross the Sea of Galilee, He and the other Persons of the Holy Trinity chose Israel as the vessel to carrry the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. Through the Jews we have Jesus, who is the fulfillment of the Law, and we are blessed by Israel with the gift of Jesus and His New Covenant.
The Transfiguration drives the point home. Jesus was glorified and the Apostles saw Him in His Glory with Moses and Elijah. Moses wrote the Law and Elijah was a great prophet of the Old Covenant who foretold of Jesus' coming. The juxtaposition of these men with the glorified Christ shows Christ's greatness over both and that they preached Christ's message before the Incarnation.

Eco Stations and Passion of the Earth

Fr. Z (and subsequently others) posted about the Ecological Stations of the Cross. Then I remebered something from the Benedictine Monastery near my hometown.
They have what they call the Passion of the Earth.
A quick excerpt before I continue: "And so God dreams and hopes as the cosmos stands poised at a point of decision. A new paroxysm of divine, human, and cosmic energy stands ready to explode and heal. We will decide: a re-creation or continue destruction; a dream of hope or the nightmare of our greed."
While the Ecological Stations of the Cross are at least nominally about the Passion of Christ, these are blatantly just some eco-spiritual... I'll let you decide.
Btw, these are also the same women who pray the Lord's prayer as "Our Mother, Our Father who art in heaven..."

Meme

I have been tagged by Bill
Here are the rules:
(1) Link to the person that tagged you.
(2) Post the rules on your blog.
(3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
(4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
(5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

1. I don't know why, but I love orange kittens.
2. I have around a dozen books that I have been meaning to finish, some of them for a few years.
3. I have owned the Lord of the Rings trilogy for over 10 years, but I have yet to read any of them.
4. I don't like being outside without a hat of some kind.
5. My toes are almost as long as my fingers.
6. I can tell you exactly which James Bond movie it is just by watching about 30 seconds of it.

I tag ASimple Sinner, Catholicandgop, Anita, Kim, Irenaeus, Mark

Communion on the Tongue

As I waited for Mass to start yesterday, I watched the little kids practicing for their First Communion. The teacher told to receive the Eucharist on their non-dominant hand and to cross themselves after receiving Jesus.
I couldn't help but wonder though, why was there no mention of bowing before you received the host? and why was there no mention of receiving the host on your tongue? After all receiving the Eucharist on the tongue is the most reverent way to receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. I think the teacher was doing the children a disservice by not telling them about receiving the Eucharist on the tongue. Then again, she may not know either.

baptism

Yesterday, my daughter was baptized. My little girl joined the New Covenant and was born of water and the Holy Spirit.
I would have pictures, but I forgot the camera at home.

Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral

This is Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral in Spokane, Washington. I have always found it amusing that directly accross the street from the cathedral is a giant Masonic temple.

Duh

Study Finds that Catholics who Attend Mass are less likely to Divorce

More Catholic Protests in Hanoi

I was reading at Catholic News Agency that Catholics in Vietnam are again protesting against illegal government seizure of Church property. This is of course is after the successful protests to return the nunciature to the Church. Maybe this, like the Solidarity movement in Poland, is the beginning of the end for Communist opppresion in Vietnam.
Our Lady of La Vang, pray for the Church in Vietnam.

First Page

When you type 08 Olympics in google. My post about the Beijing Olympics in on the first page. Its toward the bottom of the page, but still I am impressed how my humble blog can make the first page.

By any chance

By any chance, does anyone out there know anything about the Apostleship of the Cross?

Spread the Love Award

I am little late on this one. Sorry about that.
Therese has tagged me with the spread the love award. Btw, thank you Therese.
I am passing this award onto
Faith and Country
Would you like Blog with that?
Byzantine Texas

prayer

I find that since the birth of my daughter I am praying more and more...
...
for patience.

Search Kindly.org

Search Kindly.org is a non-profit search engine that donates a lump sump at the end of the month to a charity chosen by the users. It generates revenue from the ads on the search results. 100% of ad revenue goes to the charity.

Well, the poll is up to decide for February which charity will get the money raised that month.
The choices are:

UN Refugee Agency
Tibet Aid
Ronald McDonald House Charities
Native American Rights Fund
Luke Society
Hats Off for Cancer

Of these Luke Society is the only Christian organization. It is a medical mission organization (St Luke, the Evangelist, was a doctor)You can vote for a charity by going here. Tibet Aid is winning currently. We should go the site and raise votes for the Luke Society. It would also help if you linked to the poll site on your blog and encouraged others to vote for Luke Society.
You can vote 2 or 3 times a day, but you have to wait about 8 hours. Your visit also generates ad revenue for charity.
Remember, vote early and vote often.

Politics in the Liturgy

I got the image from Alive and Young.

I pity the fool

Alive and Young had a great post on what Mr T would say about going to Mass. He says in part...
“Mass, it is the place where heaven and earth meet in heavenly worship fool! You can’t heavenly worship on your couch. The Spirit takes us up to Heaven to worship God in unity with the angels and saints. So, get off you butt, and ask the Spirit to prepare you and inspire you to go to mass. It is the Spirit that prepares us for the mystery of all time: it is unique, eternal, and both in and out of our world. It is a mystery fool! Stop trying to figure everything out, fool! Just get up and go! Jesus is waiting."

H/T to Would You Like Blog With That?

Catholic Jokes

From Fisheaters
A Jesuit, a Dominican, and a Trappist were marooned on a desert island. They found a magic lamp, and after some discussion decided to rub it. Lo and behold, a genie appeared and offered them three wishes. They decided it was only fair that they could each have one wish. The Jesuit said he wanted to teach at the world's most famous university, and poof, he was gone! The Dominican wished to preach in the world's largest church, and poof, he was gone! Then the Trappist said, "Gee, I already got my wish!"

****

A little boy became anxious in church during an especially long homily. After a time, he spotted the red candle by the tabernacle. He turned to his dad and asked, "When the light turns green can we go home."

Bats in the Church

There was once a beautiful church, but the trouble was that it was infested with bats and that was causing many problems.
To fix the problem, a Franciscan was recruited since St Francis was known to be good with animals. The Franciscan coaxed the bats into boxes and released them far from the church. However, they returned the next night.
Next a Jesuit was brought to help. However, his solution was to bring a shotgun and open fire, so he was sent away before he could wreak his havoc on this beautiful church.
Finally, a parish priest was brought in to help. He catechized the bats and then they were all baptized. The bats have not been seen since.

Speyer Cathedral

This is the Cathedral of Ste Mary and St Stephen. I was actually confirmed in this cathedral.

St Francis Xavier Cathedral, Adelaide

I was thinking that its about time I posted pics of an Australian cathedral. I was originally thinking about Darwin, but, in honor of Therese, I decided instead on St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Adelaide.