Friday, October 28, 2005
Beckenbauer meets with the Pope  

Perhaps if had not been reading David Holford's posting on sports, I would not have considered posting this news item. However, there is something quite fascinating about Franz Beckenbauer. In soccer (Fussball), he has had the magic touch. When Germany defeated Holland in '74, it was a bit of a surprise because the Dutch were so good. He also had European success when the English and the Italians were dominating the continental trophies. After hanging up his boots, he demonstrated that rare ability to translate success as a player into success as a manager. As a manager, he was able to lead both Bayern Muenchen and, of course, the national team to numerous victories, including the World Cup. I am sure that next year's World Cup will also be a success in large part to his having been involved.

In general, it is always interesting to see how people react to meeting with the Holy Father. However, there is an added dimension of interest when it is someone like Beckenbauer. It is easy to forget that he, too, is simply another human being. It seems as if an audience with the Pope reminds people of their humanity and, for those who are open, strikes a deep chord within them.
Franz Beckenbauer, one of Germany's best soccer players ever, was able to meet Benedict XVI and said afterward: "This was one of the most moving moments of my life."

At the end of today's general audience in St. Peter's Square, Beckenbauer got his wish. The Holy Father granted a brief private audience to the Organizing Committee's delegation.

Beckenbauer is president of the German Organizing Committee of the 2006 Soccer World Cup. He wanted to culminate his welcome tour to the 31 countries that have won a place in this championship, by visiting the Pope, a fellow Bavarian.

Beckenbauer took advantage of the occasion to give the Pope a 2006 FIFA World Cup pennant.

Benedict XVI thanked him for the gift and wished him "lots of luck for the World Cup in Germany," adding that "I'll be watching many of the games on TV."

When he was archbishop of Munich, Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope) did not hide his support for the Bayern Munich soccer team.Zenit
Two things to note about this article. First, on a personal level, I was always a 'Gladbach fan as a Protestant. Since becoming Catholic, I have maintained my support for 'Gladbach, but I have also picked up an interest in the more well-known team from Bayern. Second, the Pope has time to watch football matches? I do not feel that I have time to watch any games, although I like to catch a few minutes here and there. My guess is that he is a far better manager of his time.

Posted by David at 4:30 AM  |  Comments (0)  | Link

Comments on Comments  

A brief note that I have turned on the word verification feature which Blogger offers for adding comments. I am sure that many have seen this elsewhere. For those for whom this is unfamiliar, it is not very complicated. Now when you click on the Comment link below the post, the add comment page which pops-up will have an additional box in which you must type a randomly-generated word which appears in a graphic above the box.

It is an unfortunately necessary additional step for adding comments. The step is necessary in order to thwart the comment spammers who are otherwise able to simply add irrelevant comments related to either selling something or simply promoting their blog without regard to the original post.

I appreciate all those who take the time to comment on the posts. Please continue to do so despite the additional step.

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Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Familiar Ideas  

I had heard it said many times before, but perhaps, because I just recently celebrated a birthday, a familiar idea really made a deep impression on me. In a book on parenting, I read the words, "You can live for yourself, or you can live for others." At some level, I have always understood the truth of those words, but for some reason, when I encountered the idea again this most recent time, I really had to think about how that applied to my life. How much of my life had been and continued to be a life pursued for myself? How many decisions do I make that only really consider the impact that my choice will have on me? Being married and a parent, one must think about others, but there is still quite a bit of my life, even indeed the parts which seem safe because of marriage and family concerns, in which I have quite a bit of room to be very selfish.

Moving from myself to others, my mind turned to examples of men and women who had lived for others. In recent history, we have our late Holy Father John Paul the Great who lived out his own writings in which he noted that a life of self-donation is the most authentic life. He left a powerful example by a life of service in which he gave of himself until his last breath. Throughout his life, he demonstrated another familiar idea which if one wants to lead, one must serve.

Another contemporary example is Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She is another example of a life lived for others. She simply gave of herself to help the men and women whom she found in her midst. Many make the point that she served the poor, as indeed she did as a specific mission of the religious order she founded, but she also served the entire world through her powerful example and words. It is interesting to note that although she did not seek to be a leader, she became one because of her service.

Of course, the example par excellence is our Lord Jesus Christ. He stated that His own mission was to serve and not to be served. He came to give his life as a ransom for many. He poured Himself out in service to those who He encountered, and, indeed, for the whole world through His Passion and Death. Just yesterday, I read chapter eight of St. Matthew's Gospel. In this chapter which follows the Sermon on the Mount, St. Matthew captures this idea of service for others by recording a number of Jesus' healings. Every part of that chapter is a story about Jesus healing someone or casting out a demon. It is as if, St. Matthew wants to make the point that Jesus did not simply preach a nice sermon about loving your neighbor, He lived it out completely in His giving of Himself for the sake of others.

All of these examples, point to the fact of how deficient I am in my living my life for others. I wondered what I could do about that. One answer came recently when it was suggested to me a way in which I can examine the past twenty-four hours of my life at the end of the day. There are, of course, many ways to perform a daily examination of conscience, but the one which was suggested to me appealed to me, because it is really quite simple and it is another familiar idea. The concept is that there is a hierarchy of love for people in my life. God is first, my wife is second, my daughter is third, family and friends are next, and I am last. The examen is to simply think about the times during the past day in which I have or have not maintained that hierarchy. How many times have I put myself first or put someone else ahead of God? Or are there times when I have kept everything in the right order? It has already proved to be quite fruitful in helping me to see where I am falling short in order that I can pray more specifically for the grace to overcome my selfishness in those areas. At least, I think that I am finding the areas which need to be targeted for work.

Posted by David at 8:00 AM  |  Comments (0)  | 

Monday, October 24, 2005
Chilean Saints  

I am not certain why, but I am very taken with Chilean saints. For the two with whom I have learned something about their lives, I have had an immediate affinity. First, I learned about St. Terese of the Andes in July, and I thought that this woman was truly a beautiful saint. She came from a well-off family that took their faith seriously, and this family life was the seedbed for her religious vocation.

Perhaps what strikes me the most about her is that she learned at such an early age the holy call to devote everything to the love of Christ. Her affirmative response to that call enabled her to overcome her natural tendencies and to live a life filled with deeds of love.
She wakened to the life of grace while still quite young. She affirms that God drew her at the age of six to begin to spare no effort in directing her capacity to love totally towards him. "It was shortly after the 1906 earthquake that Jesus began to claim my heart for himself." (Diary n. 3, p. 26).

Juanita possessed an enormous capacity to love and to be loved joined with an extraordinary intelligence. God allowed her to experience his presence. With this knowledge he purified her and made her his own through what it entails to take up the cross. Knowing him, she loved him; and loving him, she bound herself totally to him.

Once this child understood that love demonstrates itself in deeds rather than words, the result was that she expressed her love through every action of her life. She examined herself sincerely and wisely and understood that in order to belong to God it was necessary to die to herself in all that did not belong to him.

Her natural inclinations were completely contrary to the demands of the Gospel. She was proud, self-centered, stubborn, with all the defects that these things suppose, as is the common lot. But where she differed from the general run, was to carry out continual warfare on every impulse that did not arise from love.

At the age of ten she became a new person. What lay immediately behind this was the fact that she was going to make her first Communion. Understanding that nobody less that God was going to dwell within her, she set about acquiring all the virtues that would make her less unworthy of this grace. In the shortest possible time she managed to transform her character completely. Source
This account renders a most challenging but very beautiful example of what I am called to do. I have so many faults, but I am not attacking them as she did. She understood what one Jesuit priest noted that is there has only ever been one war and that is the war between our will and God's Will. She wanted God's Will to win so she fought her own natural will in order to concede to His.

The second Chilean saint with whom I have become fascinated by is the newly canonized Saint Alberto Hurtado. The Holy Father raised him to the altar this past Sunday, October 23rd, and it must be with tremendous joy that the Chilean people receive another saint as one from their own. He was born in poverty, and he grew up to become a priest who served the poor. Like many saints, he accomplished much in his life, and his list of activities is very long. He is impressive because of his desire to serve and then serve some more.
Alberto's father died when the boy was four years old, and he grew up in poverty. Educated at the Jesuit College in Santiago, Chile. He early felt a call to religion, and to work with those as poor as himself. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1923, and was ordained in 1933. He taught religion at Colegion San Ignacio, trained teachers at the Catholic University in Santiago, led retreats for young men, and worked in the poor areas of the city whenever he could. In 1941 he wrote Is Chile a Catholic Country?, and became national chaplain to the youth movement Catholic Action. During a retreat in 1944 he started the work that would lead to El Hagar de Cristo which shelters the homeless and tries to rescue abandoned children, and was later modeled somewhat on the American Boys Town movement. In 1947 Father Hurtado founded the Chilean Trade Union Association (ASICH) to promote a Christian labour-union movement. He founded the journal Mensaje, dedicated to explaining the Church's teaching, in 1951. He wrote several works in his later years on trade unions, social humanism and the Christian social order. Source
I am reminded of the idea that in order to accomplish much in this life, one must be completely under God's control. He, alone, can enable us to complete the things we must do with the resources He has given us. It is doubtful that many of the saints, including Fr. Alberto, would have accomplished what they did without God's grace. They availed themselves of what God gives in order that they might give it all back to Him in what they did. Once again, I am challenged because I am lazy and spiritually lethargic. I need to take a lesson from this holy saint and turn to God completely in order to do what He has called me to do.

Saints Terese and Alberto, pray for us!




   


Pictures Source

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Sunday, October 23, 2005
Living with a Living Will?  

I just recently became aware of this very well-written piece on living wills entitled "Killing Wills" which clearly articulates many of the problems associated with these much promoted documents.
It's a pity that the mainstream press and media overlooked the fact that Terri Schiavo, while still in full capacity, could never have consented to the removal of enteral nourishment upon the event of a profound neurological insult. Indeed, it wasn't until 9 years after Schiavo suffered her injuries, and at least a year after her husband and guardian petitioned the court for the authority to withdraw her tube-provided food and water, that such an act could take place and - even then - only under certain circumstances. It is, therefore, unreasonable and disingenuous for columnists, bioethicists and 'scratch' attorneys to promote the idea that a simple piece of paper would have circumvented the predicament that the Schiavo case triggered. It is also completely false to say that a living will, in the traditional sense, is a document crafted to protect the patient’s best interests. It's anything but.
...
A living will has nothing to do with living. It, instead, has everything to do with dying. It has to do with granting permission to others to withdraw medically necessary care from you so that you can either die naturally or die quickly – whichever comes first. For many people, the provision of artificial life support when death is eminent can seem unreasonable and unwanted. That's certainly understandable. But, consenting to such a thing can be a hazard inasmuch as it opens the door for the removal of medically necessary treatment when death isn't eminent.
Read the entire piece at Pamela Hennessy's Blog

Anecdotes such as the one included in the article, show the problems with placing your care in the hands of the medical community when it comes to end-of-life scenarios. It seems that often a living will only confuses the situation because it provides language which can be interpreted in several ways, and of course, no document can cover all of the possibilities which might occur. As noted on EWTN's site, it is far better to designate someone to have the authority to make your medical decisions in the event that you are no longer able to do so.

Not too long ago, through second hand sources, I learned of a woman in her forties, with whom I was familiar, who died suddenly due to complications associated with a viral infection. Within days of the initial symptoms, she had died despite being taken to the hospital. The reason that she died might have been that more aggressive care was not given to her sooner or it was not continued for a longer period. The reason for the care not being provided sooner or sustained longer might be that her living will was interpreted to say that she would not want that type of care.

Once at the hospital, her living will was located, and the medical community decided to follow what she had written which included not using any "heroic measures" to keep her alive. I am of the belief that she never envisioned that the condition which would prompt looking at her living will would be some type of viral infection nor that it would happen to her at such an early age unless it was some type of horrible accident. In other words, her living will was not written for the scenario she found herself in, and it is unlikely, in my opinion, that she would not have wanted "heroic measures" applied to keep her alive and attempt to restore her from the condition in which she found herself.

H/T: BlogsforTerri

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Thursday, October 20, 2005
More Thinking About Hope  

During his general audience on Wednesday, Benedict XVI provided a commentary on Psalm 129. In his comments, he highlighted the basis of our hope which is that God "is always ready to forgive and to be reconciled with sinners":
Today I would like to reflect with you on the "De Profundis," Psalm 129, one of the best-known penitential psalms. It is a celebration of the mercy of God, who is always ready to forgive and to be reconciled with sinners. Even from the depths of his suffering, the psalmist recognizes that God is a loving Father, and for this he reveres him.

From this confidence in God's love springs hope, both for the individual and for the whole people of Israel. Even though they often sin against him, the Lord has redeemed them from slavery and from "all their iniquity."

St. Ambrose, in his Commentary, reminds us that God not only forgives our sins when we confess to him, but he gives us new and unexpected graces. For example, Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, not only had his speech restored when he repented of his doubt, but he was granted the gift of prophecy.

St. Ambrose says this: "Never lose hope in divine forgiveness, however great your sin. With God there can always be a change of heart, if you acknowledge your offense." Source
These are powerful words on which to meditate because they provide a true understanding of our hope. Our hope is in the Lord Who alone can take away our sin and give us the grace to live a holy life. The strength of this message is that God Whom we have offended with our sins is the same one who longs to absolve us of our sins. On a human level, it would be rare to find someone who would long to forgive the person who has deeply offended him. Instead most of us long to see the meeting out of justice to the person who has really wronged us.

God calls us to forgive even as He forgives. He calls us to be people who provide hope because we demonstrate the forgiveness that He longs to share with each of us. It is probably the most difficult task He asks us to do because there are so many things that we do to one another that we naturally have no desire to forgive. However, God considers it so important that He tells us that if we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven.
Forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us
Perhaps it is so important for us to forgive because if we do not forgive, we do not give hope. Instead, by not forgiving, we communicate that there just might not be any hope for someone because there is an offense that cannot be forgiven. Thank God that is not true. If I believe in this message of hope, the question I must ask myself is whether by my actions I am communicating to others that God does indeed desire to forgive us our sins, or am I just giving the person more reason to be without hope.

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Sunday, October 16, 2005
Thinking about Hope  

In recent days, I have sensed the need to better understand the virtue of hope. It seems like of the three theological virtues, hope is the least understood in our modern era.

From a purely natural point of view, faith is grasped by most people. We simply understand that we must put our trust in someone or something outside of ourselves. Most people, if they are honest, realize that they are not able to journey through life "on their own". Along the way, they must believe in something outside of themselves that assists them, shapes the way they live, and provides them guidance. This is faith. However, it also becomes clear that there are many things in which we cannot place our trust. Ultimately, the Church teaches, we can understand through grace that God is calling us to Him through faith. He is calling us to believe in Him and all that He has revealed to us. The assurance in Him is because He is Truth. We can be confident that we are grasping the Truth when we lay hold of Him and commit all to Him. The tasks is not easy by any stretch of the imagination, but it is the one which alone fulfills who we really are to become.

Charity, or more commonly, love, is a virtue which is much more difficult for us moderns to understand because there are so many confusing ideas about what love is. However, I would suggest that there are many very good examples of what love truly is. Everyone can conceive of Blessed Mother Teresa's love. We recognize that she truly loved those whom she served. The late John Paul the Great is another example. Many may have disagreed with his firm proclamation of the teaching of the Church, but few would deny that he loved people. His countless trips around the globe demonstrated how he loved people and wanted them to have better lives because their lives were transformed by the Truth.

Closer to home, we recognize the love of parents for their children. We are able to understand that love, not the devil, is in the details. Love cares about the details of our lives. So the parent who does the mundane tasks of raising children is truly the example of love. The parent is able to grasp at some level that God is in that small task of fixing a sandwich or remembering a detail of a child's day. God wants to be there so He has placed the parent there to be His instrument for being there for the child.

The challenge for us moderns is to understand this self donating love as a model for the entirety of our lives. It is not a small portion. Instead it should be the very mark of our lives. The confusion surrounding our understanding of love is that we think it is something, when in reality it is Someone. Someone who loves us and wants us to participate in His love and to share it with others.

Hope might be the most difficult for us to grasp. At least in the English language, hope is sort of a wistful desire that something will be a certain way. For example, "I certainly hope it does not rain." The fact is the weather will be what it will be, and hope has little to do with it. Here is what the Catechism says about hope,
Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."(Heb 10:23) "The Holy Spirit . . . he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:6-7)

The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men's activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1817-1818
I suppose that the problem we have understanding hope is that we moderns have no concept of heaven and eternal life. If we do believe in it, it all seems so dull compared to what is happening right now. Heaven is out there somewhere at some time in the future. Sure we would like to go to heaven, because if there is a hell, it does seem a worse alternative. But we have no idea what heaven is about.

I remember hearing in school that historically movements of religion that focused on the afterlife occurred when the lives of people were essentially miserable. I would consider this the extreme, but there is an important point in this idea. If we rightly understand the suffering in our lives, we will naturally desire the "correcting" of all of these troubles. In other words, we know at some level that sin has marred things, and we also know that this is not the way things are supposed to be. Through hope, we trust in God's promise of the Kingdom of Heaven, and we look forward the re-establishment of the way things are supposed to be.

My understanding is that hope is best understood through suffering. That is why it can be difficult for us to understand this virtue. We are trying to avoid suffering in our lives. This is so much the case, that it is almost seems that it is our single most important goal in American society, in particular. The irony is that each of us is suffering quite a bit. However, we simply endure it with gritted teeth or cover it over with some other thing and declare freedom from the tyranny of suffering. Growing up, this was the lesson I was taught, and it is only in recent years that I have begun to open myself up to embracing the suffering in my life and using it as a vehicle for growth.

As someone has said, acceptance is the key to mental health. A real understanding of hope begins when we accept the reality of our lives with all of the suffering we experience. Such acceptance makes God's offer of heaven much more meaningful. It also opens us up to a "real" relationship with Him because we realize that He allows that suffering. The full understanding of that idea can either drive us closer to Him or make us pull away from such a God who would allow such suffering. For us moderns, it is that dividing line that might keep us from even seeking to understand what hope is.

Posted by David at 9:30 AM  |  Comments (0)  | 

Meme: Getting to Know Me  

In the realm of blogs there is a thing called a meme which seems a bit like a chain letter, which by the way, I believe were banned. The difference, however, seems to be that there is no obligation or at least no curses associated with not passing the meme on to someone else. The basic idea is that you get "tagged" by another blog, and you are urged to answer some questions related to the meme. Well, I was tagged by Catholic Fire. The following are my answers to at least some of the questions:

Getting to know me...

Five things I plan to do before I die:

1. Write more.
2. Play the piano again.
3. Spend more time examining my life.
4. Learn how to fly fish.
5. Pay off all my debts.

Five things I can do:

1. Web and computer programming.
2. Study (School work.)
3. Speak in public.
4. Play soccer (football).
5. Work with numbers.

Five things I cannot do:

1. Swim (at least not very well).
2. Tell a funny story.
3. Be punctual.
4. Keep things clean.
5. Remember faces.

Five things that attract me to the opposite sex:

1. Authenticity.
2. Kindness.
3. Desire to live a good life.
4. Ability to discern the truth.
5. Has a relationship with God.

(All characteristics which my wife possesses.)

Five things I say most often:

1. Right.
2. OK.
3. Are you sure ...?
4. No.
5. I am not sure.

(I suppose there should be a five things, I should say more often.)

Five Celebrity Crushes:

Not really something I would think about nor do I think that I have any.

Five People to whom I am passing on this meme:

1. David's Daily Diversions
2. Danielle Bean
3. Caelum et Terra
4. St. Joseph's Vanguard
5. Doxology

I am not sure how I am supposed to "tag" the next people. For now I will just include the URL. However, if someone knows if this is to be more formal, please let me know. Also, for those who are "tagged", I am in no way obligating you. I understand if you have no plans to pass along the meme. (In my case, I felt obligated to do so for other reasons.) For anyone else, this is an opportunity to check out some blogs by other folks.

Update on 18 October 2005 I have received three responses to my attempts to pass on the meme. Rebecca of Doxology kindly pointed out that she had already been tagged. Dave at David's Daily Diversions obliged, as did Devin at St. Joseph's Vanguard. To those who were tagged, I want to say thanks for the taking up the meme. For others, if you click on the links in this paragraph, you can view their responses.

Posted by David at 8:15 AM  |  Comments (3)  | 

Tuesday, October 11, 2005
A Higher Standard  

I have heard it said that acceptance is the key to mental health. Surely part of any type of genuine acceptance is forgiveness. Because Jesus wanted us to know real peace in our lives, He told the disciples that they should be willing to forgive someone who has offended them seventy times seven times. In other words, they should be ready to continue to forgive someone although they continued to hurt them.

How difficult are these words of Jesus to implement in our own lives! We are constantly being offended by this person or that person. Often it is those who are closest to us who are the most egregious repeat offenders. They definitely can be the most difficult to forgive because they cause the worst scars. The wounds of those who should love us are so much deeper than the wounds of our enemies.

Many of us carry around wounds from those who injured us even long ago, and we simply do not know what to do with this pain. It really hurts, and although we try to see past it, we just cannot. We find it to be too painful. Why is it that we cannot forgive even we try to? We know that forgiving does not mean setting ourselves up to be doormats for someone who constantly wants to wipe their feet of bitterness and anger., but we cannot seem to completely forgive and move past what happened.

The difficulty with forgiving as Jesus asks us to forgive is that because we are human, we are ready to implement a higher standard than God Himself has for forgiving someone. Think about what God does when He forgives us our sins. He asks us to come to Him in humility acknowledging our sins before Him. In other words, He wants us to be contrite by simply recognizing the reality that He is God, we are creatures, and we have offended Him as His creatures by acting in a way that is against our own selves and Him. Also, note that He asks us to confess our sins to Him not in public but in private. He does not forgive us based on the idea that we will never again sin against Him nor that we will not again commit that very same sin. He extends this mercy despite the fact that He knows exactly what we will do in the future. Finally, realize that His forgiveness is complete. He actually removes the sin and "forgets" that sin.

Now look at our standards for forgiveness. We want people to come crawling to us begging for mercy in order that we might decide whether we will accept their apology. We always want to hold on to the option of not accepting the apology in order that we can keep the person "captive" to the offense that he committed against us. We want people to be very sure that they are on shaky ground with us. The person has no idea whether we will even give him the time of day to listen to his apology. Also, we would not mind if the person had to make a public proclamation of what he did wrong although the matter might be very private. (There is a time and place for public acknowledgment of wrong, most of the offenses against us are essentially private matters.) Finally, we are very wary of accepting an apology because we know this person, and we are sure that they are just going to do something to us again that will once again hurt us. By accepting his apology, we believe that we are just giving them an invitation to hurt us again.

It is that last "criteria" that we have that probably is the most often used reason for not forgiving someone. The problem with this idea is the fact that in forgiving someone, all the forgiving is on our side. In other words, we are in charge of forgiving, not the other person. We are the ones who can acknowledge that a wrong has taken place, but we are not going to hold against that person. The other person might have no idea that he has even done anything wrong. When we tie our forgiveness to the other person's apology or acknowledgment, we are tying ourselves to the other person in a way that prevents us from actually forgiving the other person.

God's way is that the generosity of forgiveness is all on His side. He is waiting to apply that forgiveness to our souls, but if we never come to Him to confess our sins, His forgiveness will not be given to us. Our not coming to Him does not take away the fact that He is offering complete forgiveness of our sins. We see this in Jesus Christ who did not wait for us to come to Him, but came to us and acted to atone for our sins. Now He offers that atonement to all of us because we have all sinned against Him.

Similarly, we must pray to God for the grace to forgive even those most bitter hurts without waiting for the person who sinned against us to say as much as a word to us. This does not mean we set ourselves up again to be hurt by that person. Instead, we remember that the forgiveness is all on our side. It is also on our side to avoid being hurt again by the person who hurt us. God does the same. He does not forgive us our sins and then not give us the grace to avoid the same sins. Instead, He gives us everything we need to turn from the next occasion of that sin. We can do the same, by making it more difficult for the person to sin against us if the situation is such that it warrants such an action.

Part of the key to our mental health is forgiveness. It enables us to get past the actions of others that keep us from moving forward in our lives. We need to remember that forgiveness is on our side. We are in charge of forgiving regardless of the reaction of the person who has sinned against us. We should also remember that in forgiving, God, too, is on our side.

Posted by David at 8:00 AM  |  Comments (0)  | 

Monday, October 10, 2005
For Those Who Have Ears to Hear  

In case you are wondering if God is still active in the world today, consider the story of Salvatore Crisafulli who is 38-year-old Italian man who recently came out of a two-year coma. Although some doctors had given up hope for the father of four children, the story of his beginning to speak again was made known on the very same day that an Italian bioethics committee was voting on whether food and water should be administered to patients who are considered to be in a persistent vegetative state. The committee decided that such food and water is not a medical treatment, and it should not be denied patients simply because of their lack of consciousness.

Two years ago, Mr. Crisafulli was involved in an accident that left him in a coma. His brother Pietro Crisafulli oversaw his care for the past two years. Despite a negative prognosis offered for his brother, he cared for his brother without help for over a year. Earlier this year, he was able to get his brother admitted to a hospital where doctors began to believe that Mr. Crisafulli might actually be conscious although he was in a coma. Indeed, after he began to speak, Mr. Crisafulli indicated that he heard and understood everything that had happened around him over the past two years. Mr. Crisafulli came out of his coma about three months ago, and he recently began to speak with his first word, as his mother noted, being "Mamma".

The event is being hailed as a miracle, which of course it is:
"My brother speaks and remembers. I don't expect that he will be the way he was, but it is already a miracle," Pietro [Crisafulli] was quoted as saying. "And to think that some doctors said that it was all useless, and he would be dead in three or four months." Source


H/T: BlogsforTerri

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Saturday, October 01, 2005
Papal Prayer Intentions for October  

General - That Christians may not be discouraged by the attacks of secularized society, but with complete trust, may bear witness to their faith and hope.

Missionary - That the faithful may join to their fundamental duty of prayer the support also of economic contributions to the missionary works.

The Holy Father shortly before his election addressed the focus of the general prayer intention, namely secularization, in a lecture he gave on April 1, 2005:
And in the wake of this form of rationality, Europe has developed a culture that, in a manner unknown before now to humanity, excludes God from the public conscience, either by denying Him altogether, or by judging that His existence is not demonstrable, uncertain and, therefore, belonging to the realm of subjective choices, something, in any case, irrelevant to public life. This purely functional rationality, so to speak, has implied a disorder of the moral conscience altogether new for cultures existing up to now, as it deems rational only that which can be proved with experiments. As morality belongs to an altogether different sphere, it disappears as a category unto itself…. In a world based on calculation, it is the calculation of consequences that determines what must or must not be considered moral. Nothing is good or bad in itself, everything depends on the consequences that an action allows one to foresee. … The attempt, carried to the extreme, to manage human affairs disdaining God completely leads us increasingly to the edge of the abyss, to man’s ever greater isolation from reality...
Above all, that of which we are in need at this moment in history are men who, through an enlightened and lived faith, render God credible in this world. The negative testimony of Christians who speak about God and live against Him, has darkened God’s image and opened the door to disbelief. We need people who have their gaze directed to God, to understand true humanity. We need men whose intellects are enlightened by the light of God, and whose hearts God opens, so that their intellects can speak to the intellects of others, and so that their hearts are able to open up to the hearts of others. Only through men who have been touched by God, can God come near to men. We need men like [St.] Benedict of Norcia…. The recommendations to his monks presented at the end of his "Rule" are guidelines that show us also the way that leads on high, beyond the crisis and the ruins..."May they love one another with fraternal affection… Fear God in love... Put absolutely nothing before Christ who will be able to lead all to eternal life."

--Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI

Posted by David at 9:00 AM  |  Comments (1)  | Link