Introducing Pax Christi Massachusetts

This is my group.

Church of Santa Claus in Jail

 Santa Claus is our American version of Saint Nicholas.  St. Nicholas was Bishop of Myra.  In 325 the Emperor called together a Council in Nicea, because some important questions were creating some pretty hot debates among the Bishops.  It was over the nature of God.  The main theological issues were about Jesus: was He more human than divine, or more divine than human, was He equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit?

A priest, Arius, claimed that Jesus was not eternal, He was created by the Father. This was a much debated issue.  So much so, that Nicholas had had enough.  He got up and crossed the room and punched Arius in the nose.  Yes, he assaulted him.  Yes, the Bishop Myra punched the Bishop of Alexendria in the face.  Yes, Nicholas punched Arius.  

Hence, Bishop Nicholas was put in jail for the rest of the Council.  For Nicholas, he had to pay a fine and was apologetic.  Embarrassed to say the least.  However, he had the satisfaction of knowing that the bishops agreed with him and condemned Arius' claims as heresy and incorporated the nonscriptural word homoousios (of one substance) in a creed to signify the absolute equality of the Son with the Father.  It is called the Nicene Creed.  

The Apostles Creed is said more often.  The Nicene Creed is prayed during Lent and Easter, probably because that's the time focused on Jesus' death and resurrection.

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
 of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
 the Only Begotten Son of God,
 born of the Father before all ages.
 God from God, Light from Light,
 true God from true God,
 begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
 through him all things were made.
 For us men and for our salvation
 he came down from heaven,
 and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
 and became man.
 For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
 he suffered death and was buried,
 and rose again on the third day
 in accordance with the Scriptures.
 He ascended into heaven
 and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
 He will come again in glory
 to judge the living and the dead
 and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
 who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
 who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
 who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
 I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
 and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
 and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Why Are Our Crosses and Statues Covered?

 The fifth Sunday of Lent is called Passiontide.  Some parishes cover the statues and crosses starting this Sunday until Easter.  Why?  From the Holy Spirit Parish in San Jose, California.

First of all, we use veils to alert us of the special time that we are in. When we walk into church and notice everything is covered, we immediately know that something is different. These last two weeks of Lent are meant to be a time of immediate preparation for the Sacred Triduum and these veils are a forceful reminder to get ready. 

Secondly, the veils focus our attention on the words being said at Mass. When we listen to the Passion narrative, our senses are allowed to focus on the striking words from the Gospel and truly enter into the scene. 

Third, the Church uses veils to produce a heightened sense of anticipation for Easter Sunday. This is further actualized when you attend daily Mass and see the veils each day. You don’t want them to be there because they are hiding some very beautiful images. 

And therein lies the whole point: the veils are not meant to be there forever. The images need to be unveiled; it is unnatural for them to be covered. 

The unveiling before the Easter Vigil is a great reminder of our own life on earth. We live in a “veiled” world, in exile from our true home. It is only through salvation that the veil is lifted and we are finally able to see the beauty of everything in our lives. 

Offering It UP

Making these wreaths was an act of penance.  I thought it would be a fun craft to do with my grandchildren.  Nada!  They got bored in five minutes and I was stuck with the chore and it was hard work.  

     The wreaths are straw.  One has loose, long straws.  The other one has tighter straws.  Both were difficult to stab the cloth into, but the looser straws often didn't hold the cloth, and both often spit back the stabbed cloth.

    It took 4 yards of material.  I'd say $ 50.  The wreaths were used before so I didn't have to buy them.  Still.  For $ 50 I could have bought a couple of nice decorations.

    I cut the material with pinking shears and it was very tiresome.  No wonder the grands quit.  It took days to stab the cut material into the wreaths.  Many a time what I stabbed in, bounced back out.  When I thought I was done, I lifted up the wreath and the wreath started to snow down the cloth.

    Ugh.  I kept stabbing until you see what resulted.  I won't keep these wreaths out in the wind.  And I'll take them in, every night.

    This was a penitential offering for sure.  

 

How to Preach

 Robert Curtis' new Lay Dominican book, From the Devotional to Preaching is meant to help Lay Dominicans get out of the "prayer group" mode.  Way too often, the Lay Dominican Fraternities settle for meeting once a month to pray.  They seem to suffer from inertia.

Curtis' book shows them how to move from sitting back to get going. Lay Dominicans belong to the Order of Preachers.  They should be preaching and this book shows them how.  Actually, preaching opportunities abound, if only the Laity had eyes to see.  Not only are preaching opportunities presented but other books, periodicals, etc. listed. 

Massachusetts

 This is a book review of Massachusetts by Nancy Zaroulis.  This is historical fiction.  Although I enjoyed this book, I wonder if people not from MA would like it.  I knew everything Zaroulis was writing about.  I enjoyed the family she followed from the Mayflower through the 60's.  Would non-Baystaters think it was boring?  I'll have to let a friend read it.

It was interesting to re-visit the history I learned and as the story progressed to my era, I was there.  I was in the crowd.  

He Wanted Peace

 Please pray for my grandkids to open their hearts and minds to God.  I teach them their religion.  They live in a very secular world.  Sadly, their parents are no help.  They tolerate what I'm doing.  The family never prays, never goes to church.

Actually, the family I grew up was similar and I'm a God-fearing believer.  You want to know what the difference is?  The culture I grew up in, the 1950's, was safe and God believing.  I went to public school and every morning we began with the reading of a psalm.  One afternoon a week we were given religious education.  I watched TV with shows like Father Knows Best, My Three Sons, the Mickey Mouse Club, the Nelson Family, Danny Thomas, etc.  

Anyway, today I had planned a YOU TUBE video.  Last week we drove two Jewish ladies to a Purim dinner at their Chabad Center.  I thought today, I would tell them the story of Purim.  This involves the explanation that our Bible, Catholic, differs from the Protestant Bible because we have these stories.  And that the Jews celebrate these stories in their traditions, like Hannukah and Purim.  I told them that Purim is about the story of Esther, and we were going to watch a video of the story.

How long? They asked.  I responded that it wasn't long, about 15 minutes.

We all sat on the couch, and I started the video.  The twelve-year-old said she had to go to the bathroom.  I know she'd stay in there for a long time, so I said we would wait for her to come back.  She only wanted to get out of watching the video.  She came back grumbling that she shouldn't have to watch this because she already knew the story.  

I called her bluff.

Tell us the story.  

She began.  It's about Esther.  

What about Esther?  

He wanted peace.

Stop right there.  In the first place, Esther is a girl, and the story has nothing to do with peace.

So, we started the video.  She took out her phone and was watching something.

I took the phone away and she complained that she could watch both. 

Too bad.  No phone, besides this video is only 15 minutes.

Well, after 15 minutes, they both complained that it was longer than 15 minutes.

It turned out to be 22 minutes.

Once done, they both got up and ran away.

I was too demoralized to tell them to stay to discuss the video.  Upon retrospect, they wouldn't have discussed it like they should have, anyway.  They would have said it was stupid...yada yada.

I don't know what to do.  How do I get my grandchildren to have a personal relationship with Jesus?  I want them to fall in love with Him.

The Golden Rose

 Laetare Sunday is this Sunday.  Not all the time, but the pope bestows a golden rose to people, churches, or shrines, on this day.  Laetare is joyful and the rose represents the joyful majesty of Jesus, our redeemer.  

Attitude Adjustment

 Lect                          LECTIO:                                                   Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a

The LORD said to Samuel:
"Fill your horn with oil and be on your way.
I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem,
for I have chosen my king from among his sons."

As Jesse and his sons came to the sacrifice,
Samuel looked at Eliab and thought,
"Surely the LORD's anointed is here before him."
But the LORD said to Samuel:
"Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature,
because I have rejected him.
Not as man sees does God see,
because man sees the appearance
but the LORD looks into the heart."
In the same way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel,
but Samuel said to Jesse,
"The LORD has not chosen any one of these."
Then Samuel asked Jesse,
"Are these all the sons you have?"
Jesse replied,
"There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep."
Samuel said to Jesse,
"Send for him;
we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until he arrives here."
Jesse sent and had the young man brought to them.
He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold
and making a splendid appearance.
The LORD said,
"There—anoint him, for this is the one!"
Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand,
anointed David in the presence of his brothers;
and from that day on, the spirit of the LORD rushed upon David.

STUDIUM:

When people judge by outward appearance, they may overlook
people who lack the particular qualities society currently popularize.  
Appearance doesn't show what people are really like or how upright
they are, or honest, or hardworking, or kind--virtues that are
important.  Fortunately, God knows our hearts and judges by faith
and character.  So, we must learn to get to know people before
we judge them.

MEDITATIO:

I spend hours fixing my hair and putting makeup on, doing my nails, and 
picking out clothes.  I hope I spend more time in fixing my attitude and
getting right with God.  At the end of life, God will look at my inside, not the
outside.

ORATIO:

You are the One Who gives grace.  I ask for the grace to be all You want
me to be.  I want to do Your Will.

CONTEMPLATIO:

Thy Will be done.

RESOLUTIO:

When I get ready in the morning, I need to set aside time to connect with
the Lord.  My attention to my attitude is more important than make-up.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys is a historical novel.  The reader views the story through four eyes: Joana, a Lithuania nurse.  Emilia, a fifteen-year-old pregnant Pole, raped by the Russians, Florian, a German apprentice art restorer who didn't want to cooperate anymore.  Alfred, a deranged German sailor.

Everyone has heard stories of what the Russians do to their occupied countries.  They raped their way through Europe in WWII.  Poor Emilia is traumatized. She would have been raped again, were it not for Florian, who saved her.  After that, Emilia sticks to Florian like white on rice.  Joana runs hither and thither doing whatever to help.  Alfred is a haunting, dangerous creep.

They are all fleeing the Russians.  They want to get on a boat and get away as fast as they can.  The four protagonist, plus a little boy, all end up on the ship, Wilhelm Guftloff.

The ocean liner looks formidable, doesn't it?  So did the Titanic.

It was sunk by Russian torpedoes.  Too many drown including Alfred and Emilia.  Emilia had her baby on ship and the newborn survives, adopted by Joanna and Florian, plus the little boy.  

Heart wrenching, exciting and a good read.  It's history and it can be stranger than fiction.  My only thought is a question.  What does the title mean, Salt to Sea?  I think it means that salt is a precious commodity like people.
 

Lessons in Farce

 Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus is the latest hit novel.  Everyone who reads it, loves it. I'm the exception.  At first, I liked it.  It is an easy read and I laughed out loud at the protagonist's witty quips.  Then there is that all important theme of misogyny -- women treated as second class citizens.  But gradually, her lack of social filters, empathy, caricatures, and just her lack of perception of common sense began to wear on me.  I realized that Elizabeth Zott, the main character had Asperger's, or something else on the autism spectrum.  And I'm laughing!  

The reader is supposed to laugh at someone's handicap!  Elizabeth Zott, and her soul-mate, Calvin Evans, were social misfits with their anti-social behavior.

The story wasn't funny, anymore.

Yes, the novel has important themes but they're cliches.  There also was too flippant treatment of suicide, death, and rape. Another thing that bothered me was the male bashing and mockery of religion.  Even the minister admits he doesn't believe in God.  If you are a person of faith, brace yourself.  It wasn't necessary.  Science and religion are compatible.  You can't have science without faith.

You can see where the author's agenda was polarizing.  Unless, Bonnie Garmus set out to write a farce.  Her characters were hyperbolically unrealistic, especially the dog with a vocabulary larger than the readers'.  Who has a neighbor that would welcome babysitting at four in the morning?  The ending was too nicely tied up, which nails the unrealistic story as farce.

Praying for Central America

 

How many continents are there?  How many learned there are seven?

Today we are going to pray for those countries in the Central American region.  When you count the seven continents, Central America isn’t one of them.  The area between North America and South America isn’t a continent.  This area is considered North America. There are seven countries that touch each other stretching down from US to South America.  There are islands in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, also.

Today, we are praying for all the countries in this area that are afflicted with violence, especially Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama and Belize.  We will include the islands in Caribbean, especially Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.  Also, we will add the South American country of Colombia because all these countries have similar problems of income inequality, unemployment, drug wars, political instability and murder.

None of these countries are places to bring up a family, which is why we have the immigration problem at our southern border. In Mexico, there is a city called the most violent in the world, Juarez.  Guatemala, El Salvador are overrun with gang warfare.  Haiti, besides never recovering from natural disasters, has no way to combat the numerous gangs that have taken over communities.  It is so bad that some police stations are abandoned because the police have run away. The United Nations has said that gangs have established a climate of terror, characterized by looting, assassinations, kidnappings, extortion, rape and murder.  One gang is accused of killing seven police officers in Haiti’s National Police Department in a single day in January 2023. Schools are closed.  There’s little public transportation. Father Antoine Macaire Christian Noah was kidnapped for ransom, a month ago, on February 7

Armed gangs are running the countries of Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The South American country of Columbia is included in this list of countries plagued by violence, lack of opportunities, economic despair, and drug warfare.  Columbia has the world’s largest area dedicated to the cultivation of cocaine.  Similar to farms in our area being bought by developers to build condos, in Colombia, people are pushed out for the cultivation of cocaine.  Approximately half of the world’s supply of cocaine is produced in Colombia. With all this drug trafficking, there is violence.  The Colombian government has agreements with the revolutionary group, known as FARC-Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia.  But FARC is only one of the many armed guerilla groups in Colombia.

There is one more country and a situation that I want to specifically pray for, and that is the country of Nicaragua because the Catholic Church is being suppressed there.  The President, Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Morilla, have been repressing the Catholic Church because the church is criticizing the government, especially Ortega. This year alone, the Ortega-Morillo government has arrested several priests, expelled missionaries, shut down Catholic radio stations, closed down a Catholic university and banned religious processions like Stations of the Cross.  Bishop Rolando Jose Alvarez has been put in prison and sentenced to 26 years.  Amnesty International says the attacks are a plan to silence all opposition that criticizes the government.

There is so much to pray for: an end to drug trafficking, violence, gang warfare, income inequality, unemployment, and even natural disasters.  Lord hear our prayers, we beg your mercy to grace these countries with peace, law, and order, justice, human rights, and freedom to express their love of God.

Holy Mother, we ask your intercession as we pray your Rosary.

Egocentricity

 The time is 1950s, I am in the sixth grade.  I walked to school, and going home I walked in a patrol line. The sixth graders were leaders of the patrol lines.  One sixth grader walked in front, another in back, and if there were more sixth graders, they would walk beside the line of children.  Patrol leaders wore white belts across their chests with a shiny white badge pinned to it.  

Early in the sixth grade, the principal, Mrs. Woodbury, came into the class to talk to us about patrol lines, i.e., how we were now leaders in the school, role models, loyal, and respected. Then she said that one of us were to be chosen "captain" of the patrol leaders.

Who would that be?  Could it be me? I wondered.

The principal continued; this child was a good student.  That's me.  This child was well behaved.  That's me.  Friendly--that's me.  Kind--that's me.  Got along well with adults as well as children.  That's me.  Supportive and loyal to Oakland Avenue School.  That's me.  A good example--that's me, me, ME!  

I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

The child's name was Ellen Jane Smotlack.  Ellen Jane Smotlack?  Not me?  I was shocked, not me.  I'm still in shock.  Not that Ellen Jane Smotlack was not a good choice, but n-o-t ME?  How could this be?  Not me.  Unbelievable.

                           Nowadays, the belts are phlorescent green instead of white.

Jonah is Not Welcome

 Fishermen, sailors and mariners are a suspicious bunch.  Because Jonah in Jonah 1: 7-11 causes a storm, he is considered bad luck.  Sure it's just folklore, myth, a story, but why take the chance.  No Jonah's allowed.

But, read on, Jonah comes back.  It prefigures the Resurrection!

Walking in Others' Shoes

 So I'm at Walmart and the only checkout line is backed up and I overheard an associate say, Oh, they're just too lazy to check themselves out!

I copied this from Facebook, but it is a reminder not to be so quick to state your opinions. Think where people are coming from.

When I turned to look at the line, I was furious. Everyone in that line was well over 70 years old.

You listen here Mr. 20-something-year-old Walmart Associate. These folks are the backbone of this country. These folks are not lazy. They were not born into a computer generation. While you were playing video games and learning to navigate a computer, they were working in the steel mills, mines, dress and shoe factories, restaurants, stores, and countless other jobs, without the aid of a computer or your silly little phone you have your head buried in all while making between $14 and $16 an hour....You twerps would have never made it back in our day...

These "Lazy people" can still work circles around you and they have a work ethic and drive that you probably know nothing about. Just because someone doesn't feel comfortable using a self-checkout does not make them lazy.

And before I forget it... those lazy people pay your salary. Instead of you and others walking around being judgmental someone could have offered to help them on the self-checkout.

If you ever have to get your vegetables from the ground instead of the produce department guess who you are going to need help from... those lazy people!

Be careful of the toes you step on today... they might be attached to the butt you have to kiss tomorrow!

Copied and Pasted - Feel free to do likewise!

Amen Amen

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