Eucharistic Adoration at St. Ann (Reprise)

back in the summer of 2008, I posted this challenge to the parish.  I was serious then, and I am still serious. I’ve had one mother of ten take me  up on my challenge; I told her that I could only count her older at-home kids, since the younger 5 are all under the age of 9, and had to go where she goes…

Eucharistic Adoration is the single best gift that any of us can give to God and to the parish.  Spending time before the Blessed sacrament, especially in prayer for the parish, will bear more fruit than any other thing we can do.

So…go back and read my post.  the challenge was this:  I will spend an hour in Adoration for every three people who commit to an hour during the week.  I’ll pray for those folks, and I will pray for our parish an d our city.  And I will spend as much time as it takes to answer this commitment I am making.

So…how would you like to make me stay up at the church?  All it takes is showing up! Adoration hours are from noon to 10:30 pm every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, except for national holidays.  The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is prayed at noon, 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm each day; Evening Prayer is celebrated at 5:30 pm, and Night Prayer is celebrated before Reposition at 10:00 pm.

So…who’s showing up?

The Family Man

I just watched the movie The Family Man with my wife a little bit ago.  In this film, Jack (Nicholas Cage), an obscenely successful Wall Street arbitrage trader, Meets Cash (Don Cheadle), a thug who threatens to rob a store in which Jack is shopping on Christmas Eve late.  Turns out old Cash is not what he appears, and in response to a comment Jack makes about “having all he needs”, cash zaps Jack into a “glimpse” of the life he could have had if he’d made different decisions early on.  If you’ve never seen it, I highly recommend the movie, especially if you are a family man yourself.  Ladies, you have permission to not watch it, and to not force your husbands to watch it againt their will .

What I found intriguing, and even touching, about this movie is the subject of this post.  The point of the movie, without spoiling the plot for those who will rush out to Blockbuster to rent it, or onto Netflix  to have it sent to you, is that fulfillment in life comes in many forms, and it may not be in the form you think.  Typical motivational movie stock, right?

This is what struck me.

I am a 1982 graduate of the United States Military Academy; I count that time as among the most formative of my life.  I have classmates who are general officers; I have classmates who are presidents of companies (all you cellphone users, my classmate Brett Commoli runs your insurance company!).  I have former roomates who are senior State Department employees.  One of my classmates is a senior vice-president for the Brazilian operation of a large US firm.

Many of my classmates would qualify as rich; many others are influential, and will be rich later in their lives.  I graduated with men and women who are doctors, lawyers, captains of finance and industry; in short, the folks I went to school with are some outstanding people!

Others of us, though, have not aspired to such lofty positions.  Some of my classmates are stay-at-home moms; some are schoolteachers.  a few are pastors.  Like me, they have chosen, or had choices placed on them by their circumstances, to be people of simpler means and simpler aspirations.  They will never own apartments in New York; they will never jet off to tahiti for a vacation.  Some won’t even be able to pay their kids’ way through college without financial aid.  They will remain solidly middle-class all their lives.

But in the final analysis, just as the characters in “The Family Man” found out, their bank balances are not the pint of this thing we expperience as life.  Those who have achieved much are to be applauded; I am proud of every one of my sister and brother classmates who has reached to heights that we could only imagine as twenty-somethings leaving the Academy.  But there are more ways to achieve success than to earn a large salary, or to command the respect of large numbers of subordinates.

My classmates who are staying at home to raise children are raising the next generation of leaders in our nation.  Those who are ministers are nurturing the souls of those placed in their care.  The corporate drones are providing the living that keeps their families going.  And they are all, hopefully, happy in their states in life.  What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his soul, the Bible asks (Mark 8:36)?  In the end, it profits one nothing.  So, while I might dream of what might have been, I have to be mighty thankful for what is:  a wife who loves me, four daughters who think I am the smartest man in the world (OK, three, but the seventeen-year-old will come around in a coule of years!), a home that’s warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and a job that allows me to return home each day knowing that my efforts have actually improved someone’s life.  I could be richer; I could be prettier (OK, well, maybe that’s a stretch…I look pretty good!); I could have more education or a position of more authority.  But all of those things, in my life, require some trade-offs that I am not willing to make.  I am working to be as happy in the here-and-now as our situation warrants. 

God places each of us where He wants us to prosper.  While we can force our way into other places, ultimatelym, we will only really be happy in the place God has called us to.  My place is here in Bartlett, TN, with my wife and family, working both for my company and for the Kingdom of God.  Everything that isn’t consistent with that place, with those missions, is ultimately going to make me unhappy.

Thinking about what your life could have been like “if only…”?  Take a peek at the movie.  And consider what your life is like now.  How has god gifted you?  How are you making the best of what your life is like right now?

Some of us, most maybe, are blessed beyond our wildest dreams…

If we can just see it.

I am going to try this…

I am I’m the tenth hour of a 13 hour drive with another adult and 12 teen homeschoolers, to visit our nation’s Capitol, and to stand up for the 50,000,000 children who have died at the hands of the abortion industry since 1973.

Since you’re reading this, you have access to YouTube; check this short video at www.catholicvote.com. These guys say more in 41 seconds than has been said in a while!

Please pray for us, for safe travel, for protection from the cold, and for an end to abortion on demand in our nation!

We’re Off to See…

The tens of thousands of people who are converging on Washington, DC to commemorate the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade. Should be interesting.

You will see more about this over the coming months from me, but isn’t this interesting:

• Planned Parenthood’s clinics are usually located in economically depressed communities.

• Planned Parenthood’s clinics are usually located near concentrations of African-American households of lesser economic means.

• Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was a avid supporter of eugenics. Eugenics is the “science” of attempting to improve the human race by careful selection of those who mate and produce offspring. Guess who Marge didn’t want to have out there breeding? that’s right, Black Man: YOU.

• Planned Parenthood has been responsible for the majority of the 50,000,000 children killed through abortion since 1973 in the United States.

• Planned Parenthood is the recipient of a decent chunk of federal funding for its efforts (of course *none* of those funds are used directly in providing access to abortion…of *course* not).

Pro-choice…pro-life…interesting choices of words. Time somebody else stood alongside the hundreds of thousands trying to rid our country of this scourge. Guess I’m up!

Natural Family Planning and Protestants

It’s always interesting to me to find articles that talk about how Protestants “discover” some truth in Catholic teaching that they’d previously rejected.  With a hat tip to Deacon Greg Kandra of The Deacon’s Bench blog, here’s a very nice article about the “discovery” of NFP by Protestants.  God bless ‘em; I congratulate anyone who decides to give Truth a try.  

Take a look.  And feel free to get in touch if you want to talk about it.

A Prayer for Priests

I served the bishop yesterday (August 9, 2008 ) at our parish during the ordination to the diaconate of two men, seminarians who will be ordained to the priesthood next spring. While observing all of the priests in attendance, I was put in mind of this post by Deacon Greg Kandra.

For all that has gone on in our parish over the last few years, I don’t think anyone could deny that prayer is needed for ALL our priests, not only the ones assigned by the Bishop to St. Ann Bartlett, but ALL of the priests of the Diocese of Memphis.  They are a tremendous bunch of men; talented every one of them in different ways, and a blessing to us all.  But from out here, it’s hard to know *what* struggles any particular priest may be facing at any given time: it’s their job to be strong for all of *us*, and they don’t let on that they themselves are facing challenges every day.

Pray for our priests, people.  They need our love and support, and they need our prayer.  How much holier a parish, a diocese, a universal Church might we be of we all lifted our shepherds in prayer instead of just observing their faults?

Peace!

Here’s One for All You School Parents (and the rest of us, too!)

Deacon Greg Kandra reports on a Catholic School with…wait for it…NO TUITION. Nada. For NOBODY. See the Story Here.

I don’t know about you, but this made me think.  At a time when our parish is struggling financially, to the point of putting in flourescent lighting in the church and locking buildings to save on utility costs, here’s a parish that manages to educate almost 400 students…with no tuition.  One that has done it consistently for 25 years.  One that does NOT have an endowment to work from (as do our diocese’s Jubilee Schools).

How?  Simple:  the people of the parish tithe.  Just like our separated brethren at Bellevue Baptist.  Works out to about $550 per family in their case.

I’m not suggesting that we go to a no-tuition model for our school… but it makes ya think, don’t it?  What could we be doing differently as a parish family…to make things work better?  Needs prayer, methinks…

Saying “See Ya Later…”

Those of you who know me from St. Ann are probably aware that our oldest, Deanna, left home yesterday, July 29, 2008, for San Antonio, TX on her way to a year in Mexico to serve as a Missioner for the Mi Casa Foundation.  Deanna will be stationed in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico (the 3d largest city in Mexico, I understand), and will be working at El Buen Pastor home for young girls ages 6-12.  The children in residence there are orphaned, abandoned or abused; Deanna will be working with another Missioner, Lauren from Scranton, PA, and a nun who’s permanently assigned there.

Nice, right?  And of course we’re proud of her, and we wish her well, and we hope all goes as God intends it to.  She sure will be fluent in Spanish when she returns.

But this departure is a “first” for our little family.  There have ALWAYS been the two, or three, or four girls here.  People have taken trips, even loooong trips, but at the end of it, everyone was together.  This time, though, when Deanna left us for that plane, in many ways she’ll *never* be back.  Oh, I expect her to show up after this Mexico adventure, and to move back into her room…for a time.  But the fact is that, when she returns, she will be Grown.  And she will no longer be a permanent resident of our household.  Always welcome, sure.  But never again one of our four little girls who live at the Jones house.

So what about that?  I am of course conflicted: on the one hand, to know that I don’t have to be responsible for her daily upkeep is nice; on the other hand…well, she’s my little girl.  And she’s leaving. Strike that.  She’s left.  And now there are three.

Time passes oh so swiftly.  One day, your kids are drooling on your shoulder as you carried their exhausted carcass through the end of yet another family adventure; the next day, you’re waving goodbye through the TSA security screening area, and watching them walk away.  And the time in between seems like it’ll never end…until it does.

So what’s my point?  Well…I’m a little sad.  And I feel a WHOLE lot older.  But I also know that we’ve spent 22 years preparing her for this adventure, and we know that God has called her to embark on it, so we’re happy for her.  And we’re happy for our family; we’ll be enriched, too, be her experience abroad.  And at the end of the day, God’s will is what all six of us are trying to live our lives to be about.  So now we get our first true test.

Please pray for Deana, and pray for us, that we’ll not miss her TOO much.

God bless!

Feast of Sts. Joachim and Ann Celebration at Our Parish

Folks,

Please don’t forget the potluck/picnic after the 11:30 a.m. Mass on this Sunday, July 27, 2008 in celebration of the Feast of Sts. Joachim and Ann, our parish’s patrons.  Bring a side dish to share, and come eat hotdogs and hamburgers with the rest of the parish.

It’s time we started hanging out together and being family, don’t'cha think?

On this Anniversary of the Promulgation of the encyclical Humanae Vitae…

Here’s a link to a blog post by The American Papist, highlighting Natural Family Planning Week from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops: http://www.americanpapist.com/2008/07/good-us-bishops-launch-natural-family.html.

It may not be popular, y’all…but it’s true and right. If you have any questions regarding NFP, please post a comment. If Ann MArie (my wife) and I cannot answer them, we have “other resources”…