Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand.Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Philippians 4:5-6

The Pope in the News

Meets with Anglican Primate

Condom Use in the News Again

The Ghosts of Past Pope's Haunts Papal Trip to Turkey which includes this:

"My readers were, for the most part, very supportive and pleased with what Benedict said in Regensburg," said Amy Welborn, who runs the popular US Catholic blog Open Book.

They also appreciated his call to Western Christians to reject a narrow, modern version of reason that he said shuts out faith and strips away the ethical foundations of society itself.

"They would like to see more Muslims have the same attitude toward their own faith, and particularly how that faith is lived out in the modern world," she said.

It should be noted that Ms. Welborn's husband lived in Turkey for one year of his life and frequently joined Muslims in a cup of chai (tea) and was edified by their fidelity to their beliefs. "In the Muslim's faithfulness, we can see how far we have become secularized in our beliefs," he said. (Not in the story but pertinent.)

Calendar Goes on Sale in Italy

The Brits: Pope Questions his Infallibility (about the Jesus book--and obviously reflecting total ignorance on what infallibility is)

Anti-pope protest planned for Istanbul this Sunday

Kissinger to Advise Pope?

From the National Catholic Register:

According to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Pope Benedict XVI has invited the 83-year-old former adviser to Richard Nixon to be a political consultant, and Kissinger has accepted.

Quoting an “authoritative” diplomatic source at the Holy See, the paper reported Nov. 4 that the Nobel laureate was asked at a recent private audience with the Holy Father to form part of a papal “advisory board” on foreign and political affairs.

Something to Give Thanks for...

That I didn't go to Florida for Thanksgiving, looking for relief from the cold...

Snow! Flakes spotted in Central Florida

The "Rain" of Pope Benedict XVI

Today's audience held in the wind and rain at St. Peter's...

1. New book on Jesus.
2. Will be accompanied by 2,000 Journalists on trip to Turkey
3. Prays for rain to stop:
   

   “Let us hope that the Lord is propitious and makes this rain stop,” said the pope, whose words were followed shortly afterwards by a timid ray of sun. “I would like to thank the Lord for giving us a moment of light and a break from the rain,” he added jokingly at the end of the audience.

   
   
   

Grace Acts on People in Different Ways

Great wisdom from Isaac of Nineveh (modern Iraq), especially because we often judge spirituality from our own perspective, rather than from God's. God has created us all differently and God's grace acts in a similar manner:

Some, spurred on by great enthusiasm, redouble the number of their prayers. Others, on the contrary, are led by innner peace to reduce the number of their prayers until they are saying one.

From Drinking from the Hidden Fountain: A Patristic Breviary : Ancient Wisdom for Today's World (Cistercian Studies, No 148)

Feast of the Presentation of Mary

From the Office of Readings (A Homily of St. Augustine):

Stretching out his hand over his disciples, the Lord Christ declared: Here are my mother and my brothers; anyone who does the will of my Father who sent me is my brother and sister and my mother. I would urge you to ponder these words. Did the Virgin Mary, who believed by faith and conceived by faith, who was the chosen one from whom our Saviour was born among men, who was created by Christ before Christ was created in her – did she not do the will of the Father? Indeed the blessed Mary certainly did the Father’s will, and so it was for her a greater thing to have been Christ’s disciple than to have been his mother, and she was more blessed in her discipleship than in her motherhood. Hers was the happiness of first bearing in her womb him whom she would obey as her master.
Now listen and see if the words of Scripture do not agree with what I have said. The Lord was passing by and crowds were following him. His miracles gave proof of divine power. and a woman cried out: Happy is the womb that bore you, blessed is that womb! But the Lord, not wishing people to seek happiness in a purely physical relationship, replied: More blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Mary heard God’s word and kept it, and so she is blessed. She kept God’s truth in her mind, a nobler thing than carrying his body in her womb. The truth and the body were both Christ: he was kept in Mary’s mind insofar as he is truth, he was carried in her womb insofar as he is man; but what is kept in the mind is of a higher order than what is carried in the womb.
The Virgin Mary is both holy and blessed, and yet the Church is greater than she. Mary is a part of the Church, a member of the Church, a holy, an eminent – the most eminent – member, but still only a member of the entire body. The body undoubtedly is greater than she, one of its members. This body has the Lord for its head, and head and body together make up the whole Christ. In other words, our head is divine – our head is God.
Now, beloved, give me your whole attention, for you also are members of Christ; you also are the body of Christ. Consider how you yourselves can be among those of whom the Lord said: Here are my mother and my brothers. Do you wonder how you can be the mother of Christ? He himself said: Whoever hears and fulfils the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother. As for our being the brothers and sisters of Christ, we can understand this because although there is only one inheritance and Christ is the only Son, his mercy would not allow him to remain alone. It was his wish that we too should be heirs of the Father, and co-heirs with himself.
Now having said that all of you are brothers of Christ, shall I not dare to call you his mother? Much less would I dare to deny his own words. Tell me how Mary became the mother of Christ, if it was not by giving birth to the members of Christ? You, to whom I am speaking, are the members of Christ. Of whom were you born? “Of Mother Church”, I hear the reply of your hearts. You became sons of this mother at your baptism, you came to birth then as members of Christ. Now you in your turn must draw to the font of baptism as many as you possibly can. You became sons when you were born there yourselves, and now by bringing others to birth in the same way, you have it in your power to become the mothers of Christ.

Benedict on the Cover of Time

I think there is a sense that the West is desperate for a voice to be raised against Islam's violent adherents...

From Time:

Benedict XVI's journey to Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, is laden with the wounds of history both ancient and painfully contemporary. The Pope's controversial Sept. 12 lecture in Regensburg, Germany, quoted a 14th century exchange between a Byzantine Christian Emperor and a Muslim intellectual in which the Emperor made some distinctly uncomplimentary observations about Islam. The Pope admitted that the Emperor's statement was brusque. But his point in reaching so far back into history was to demonstrate that problems between the Christian West and Islam long precede today's "war on terrorism."

Prayers Answered!

When you compile a book of prayers, you hope that they will be prayed--and more importantly that those praying will experience the power of prayer in their lives. That is what makes this blog post so important--it is a witness to the power of prayer.

Thanks also for the recommendation:

Besides thanking God for my son's health and speedy recovery, I'd like to thank all my family, friends and fellow bloggers who offered up prayers on his behalf. Most especially, I'd like to acknowledge the celestial assistance of two saints: St. Apollonia, the patron of tooth problems who will continue to be petitioned by me for her prayers until Fritz's adult teeth grow in properly, and St. John Newmann to whom our family prayed a novena before Fritz's biopsy when we feared he had cancer. I found the novena in a book I love: (Mention Your Request Here): The Church's Most Powerful Novenas by Michael Dubruiel. This book has been updated and is due for re-release later this month. I highly recommend it.

And now, back to life as usual. I wonder what fantastic, miraculous gift God will give me today...

Just a note on the revision...
The cover is more of a burgundy, than the brown shown in the image on Amazon. The revision includes added novenas and their history, including:

Mother Teresa's express novena, the rosary novena, the novena to the Precious Blood and Padre Pio's Sacred Heart Novena.

Praise for Father Joe Classen's Book

From the National Catholic Register:

Often, when my wife and I reach a mountain summit after a good three- or four-hour climb, I’m so elated over the accomplishment — and so awestruck by the view — that I want to start singing that line from the Latin Sanctus: Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua! “Heaven and earth are full of your glory!”

Father Joseph Classen would understand.

While not primarily a hiker or mountain climber, this young priest of the Archdiocese of St. Louis spends a lot of time in the wilderness and appreciates its beauty as the work of the Creator. Here he takes us along on his expeditions in the various hunting and fishing seasons of the year: stalking deer with a bow and arrow, casting his line into trout streams and chasing elusive wild turkey. The trips are leavened with self-effacing humor as he lets us see how God uses nature to check his pride.

And from the Catholic News Service:

His spirituality developed when he was a boy spending time in the outdoors and he thought about the priesthood, but later those thoughts faded. Just as many others do, he went through a period of questioning his faith. In college, he returned to the church, he said.

Hunting and fishing, he said, is hands-on stewardship and a way of taking an active role in the food chain. People who hunt and fish have a deep respect for food, he added.

In a message on a Web site promoting the book Father Classen said he doesn't consider hunting or fishing a sport but a way to sustain life and feed others, as it was intended. He quotes the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states that it is legitimate to use animals for food and clothing

Editor of Catholic Anchorage Paper Quits

Says calls for her firing had nothing to do with it...(personally I doubt that)...

From the Anchorage Press:

The editor of the Catholic Anchor, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Anchorage, is leaving the paper after only two months on the job. Maia Nolan's resignation comes after she was criticized for comments she made on a personal blog about a year-and-a-half ago, regarding the late Pope John Paul II. Nolan says she's leaving the paper to focus on a master's degree in creative writing.

“Ultimately, I resigned because I'm a full-time grad student,” Nolan said this week.

Forget About Politicians and Lay People, What About Priests?

Dissent from church teaching usually comes from the altar...as an old saying has it "every heresy comes from the altar" meaning the clergy. Until there is some real policing of dissenting clerics, clerics who've lost their faith, etc.--I doubt anyone can expect the laity to walk lockstep when their pastors aren't. For every John Kerry there is a Jesuit or Paulist priest advising him that he can do and say what he wants (in good conscience) and remain a Catholic in good standing. Why? Because they (the clerics) do this and aren't removed or even reprimanded.

In today's Tennessean, a priest who was reprimanded for two years, but then allowed to speak out again and does so today:

On birth control, Breen said, "I really think if the bishops had two or
three children, they'd be better informed on what constitutes great parenthood.
Catholics have already examined their conscience and determined (birth control)
is a necessary part of parenthood."

A clasmate of Cardinal Levada's, btw.

Michael Brown's Dream of the Bishop's Conference

AS BISHOPS BEGIN MAJOR CONFERENCE, THERE ARE MANY MATTERS TO DREAM ABOUT

Confusion in the Press? Pope to Hold Summit on Married Priests?

My guess is that this has more to do with Milingo, than the issue...

Pope Benedict XVI to hold Vatican summit on married priests

Five Best Books to Understanding Islam

From the Wall Street Journal's "Sense of Ummah"

"Pope Urban Rules"

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel (the best sports writer out there):

"This looks like it could be the year of the Gator," Spurrier said afterward. "Everything's going right for them."

Said game-saving UF defensive end Jarvis Moss, the man who blocked the game-winning kick and one other: "We can sense something special is going on. We're going all the way. There's no doubt in my mind we're going to wind up in Arizona [playing in the national-title game]."

Spurrier -- a k a Stevie Spoiler -- beat the Gators last year and ruined Florida's chances of winning an SEC title. And Saturday, he came into his old Swamping grounds and nearly cost the Gators a chance at possibly winning a national title.

Before the game, Spurrier's wife, Jerri, whom he met at UF and married 40 years ago, sat anxiously in a luxury box with a worried look on her face. Like everybody else in the stadium, she probably felt confused and conflicted. Here was Steve Spurrier, who named The Swamp, trying to drain The Swamp. Here was Steve Spurrier, the father of Florida football, trying to burn down the family home.

"This isn't fun," Jerri said with a pained expression.

Actually, it was a blast -- one of the most uptight, unnerving, emotionally charged games I've ever witnessed. A game of mixed emotions and split allegiances, a game of duality and dichotomy. Afterward, Spurrier, the old boy from Florida, waved at a section of cheering Florida fans. And then Spurrier, the new head Gamecock, gave the thumbs-up sign to a section of disappointed South Carolina fans. Perhaps Spurrier's son-in-law, Jay Moody, a UF grad, put it best when he said afterward, "I don't know if I'm supposed to be happy or sad."

There was no question how Meyer felt afterward -- delighted, excited, fired up, jacked up and, mostly, relieved. He knew he had to win this game, not just to help keep Florida's national championship hopes alive, but to help kill UF's massive man-crush on Spurrier.

No doubt about it, the Urban Legend needed badly to beat the real legend. Even though Meyer said in the days leading up to the game that this was "about beating South Carolina," nobody believed him. And afterward, he admitted beating Spur-Dog was bigger than he let on.

"It means a lot -- more than I'll ever admit to, more than anybody will ever know," Meyer said.

Yes, there always will be a Spurrier shadow hanging over whoever is UF's coach, but the victory Saturday let a stream of light pierce through and shine onto Meyer and the program he has turned into a national-title contender in just two years. It was Meyer's offense that drove down the field when it had to Saturday. It was Spurrier's offense that mismanaged the clock at the end, wasted time and didn't even use all of its timeouts.

He might have left UF five years ago, but the Spurrier coaching era didn't really and truly end until Saturday.

King Steve has been conquered.

Pope Urban rules.

God once again is grinning on the Gators.

Pope's Angelus "Commit Yourself to Overcoming Hunger"

From the International Tribune:

"In any case, every person and every family can and must do something to alleviate hunger in the world, adopting a style of life and consumption compatible with safeguarding creation and with criteria of justice toward whose who cultivate the land in every country," Benedict said.

The U.N. agency, in a report late last month, said that 10 years after global leaders had pledged to halve the number of the world's hungry, almost no progress has been made, with some 854 million people worldwide still suffering from undernourishment.

Benedict urged the faithful to join him in "committing ourselves concretely to defeat the scourge of hunger" and promote justice and solidarity.

Village Used in "Borat" Plans to Sue Actor, Studio

Real village used in Romania...

From The Daily Mail:

But now the villagers of this tiny, close-knit community have angrily accused the comedian of exploiting them, after discovering his new blockbuster film portrays them as a backward group of rapists, abortionists and prostitutes, who happily engage in casual incest.

They claim film-makers lied to them about the true nature of the project, which they believed would be a documentary about their hardship, rather than a comedy mocking their poverty and isolation.

Villagers say they were paid just £3 each for this humiliation, for a film that took around £27million at the worldwide box office in its first week of release.

Now they are planning to scrape together whatever modest sums they can muster to sue Baron Cohen and fellow film-makers, claiming they never gave their consent to be so cruelly misrepresented.

Cardinal Arinze on Mass in Latin

From Saint Louis Today:

In his address on Saturday, titled, "Language in the Latin Rite Liturgy: Latin and Vernacular," Arinze said the Roman church used Greek in its early years, but was "Latinized" in the fourth century. "The Roman rite has Latin as its official language," he said. The great religions of the world all "hold on" to their founding languages — Judaism to Hebrew and Aramaic, Islam to Arabic, Hindu to Sanskrit and Buddhism to Pali.

"Is it a small matter," he asked, for priests or bishops from around the world to be able to speak to each other in universal language of the church? Or for "a million students" who gather for World Youth Day every few years "to be able to say parts of the Mass in Latin?"

In an hourlong, often humorous, address that received several standing ovations, Arinze suggested that, in order to give Catholics options, large parishes offer the Mass in Latin at least once a week, and in smaller, rural parishes, at least once a month. (Homilies, he said, should always be in the faithful's native language.) Latin "suits a church that is universal. It has a stability modern languages don't have," he said.

Last month Vatican officials said Pope Benedict XVI would soon loosen restrictions on the Latin, or Tridentine, Mass. In the 1960s the Second Vatican Council approved the use of vernacular translations of the Tridentine Mass, and today most Catholics are familiar with the celebration of Mass in their own languages.

Why the Republicans Lost Congress

And why a third vible party is needed right now!

From Chuck Baldwin Online:

As the Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, said, "If the Republican Party truly wants to know why they lost, they need only look in the mirror. The most vulnerable seats in both houses were those held by politicians who had abandoned the pro-life and the pro-marriage principles that first brought them to power."

As an example of the GOP's neglect to fight for conservative principles, Euteneuer noted the loss of pro-life legislation in South Dakota. He correctly said, "While South Dakotans fought valiantly to defend their babies, we once again witnessed an almost total lack of support from the national [Republican] leadership."

Euteneuer is right. George Bush's neocons have all but decimated whatever genuine conservatism remained in the GOP, and they did it on the backs of the faithful conservatives still in the party.

There is also no question that the American people are fed up with Bush's war in Iraq. They are tired of being lied to about why our young men and women were sent to war, and they are tired about being lied to about why they are still there.