Wednesday, April 7th
I'll only be posting readings and reflections through Easter
With the Holy Easter Triduum and Easter day itself upon us, I wanted to let everyone know that for the next few days I'll just be posting like I would on Sunday's: A quote of the day from scription and a short reflection on that scripture.
I wish everyone a happy Easter and a holy time of prayer!
kencraw on 04.07.04 @ 01:22 PM PST [link]
What makes a person Catholic
With all that has been in the news about John Kerry's Catholicism, I keep coming back to the question of what makes us Catholic?
-Is it following all the teachings of the Catholic Church? No, we all fail at this at times.
-Is it desiring to follow all the teachings of the Catholic Church? If yes, always? We all have times where we don't know if we agree with our Church.
-Is it believing in the Nicene Creed? No, that's clearly not enough.
-Is it the Creed and faithfully attending the Catholic Church? Getting closer, but what about important teachings like Eucharist?
-Is it believing some key set of teachings and attending the Catholic Church? OK, but what are those teachings exactly? Canon Law is so confusing. And what about attending other Churches? And taking communion there? I know good Catholics who would even though I'm sure Canon law disallows it. I dare not deny them their Catholicism.
So what is it?
kencraw on 04.07.04 @ 01:11 PM PST [link]
Quote of the Day
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
-John F. Kennedy, the only Catholic President
kencraw on 04.07.04 @ 01:01 PM PST [link]
Tuesday, April 6th
Pope continues good to talk on important matters
This Zenit article reports on the Pope's visit with University students in business emploring them to understand the power that advertisements have and that it can be used for both good and bad. I think that's another topic we need to be focusing more on. The Pope has been on an awesome track lately speaking about business and related problems in society!
kencraw on 04.06.04 @ 05:16 PM PST [link]
Quote of the Day
"'Smite me oh mighty smiter.' Now, I'm not much for blaspheming but that one made me laugh.
-God (played by Morgan Freeman) talking to, and quoting, Bruce (played by Jim Carey) in the movie 'Bruce Almighty'.
kencraw on 04.06.04 @ 05:10 PM PST [link]
Monday, April 5th
Ever wondered what the deal is with Easter Eggs?
I sure have. I mean what in God's name (yes, God's name) do they have to do with Easter? Well I heard two good reasons to get behind Easter Eggs this year:
1. In the past part of the Lenten fast in some areas included eggs. To eat them at Easter was a special joy because of the long fast that had just been completed.
2. That the shell was symbolic of the tomb of Christ and the egg was the new life of Christ. I'm not so sure what that means that we hard-boil our symbolic Christ, but I'll go with it anyway.
OK, #1 was a better explaination. Next year my fast will include eggs, or maybe all dairy... umm, maybe just eggs. In any case, happy Easter Egg hunts for everyone. May every egg be found before the lawn mower gets to them.
kencraw on 04.05.04 @ 02:37 PM PST [link]
A Hundred and Fifty Thousand a year is all we ask
This Zenit article says that 150,000 new Catholics will be initiated into the Catholic Church this Easter Vigil. What a wonderful gift they all are for The Church! Our prayers are with all of them. At my parish the number is about 20.
kencraw on 04.05.04 @ 02:32 PM PST [link]
China here we come
This article/opinion about having lots of children and no longer giving tax credits for all but the first couple made me blow a fuse or two. My favorite line, now having a chance to cool down, is the most telling one:
"After all, with all due respect to Chairman Mao, we can't randomly assign parents to have different numbers of offspring for the purposes of social experimentation—that is, to find out if additional kids handicap offspring."
Why again do we need to give 'all due respect' to Chairman Mao? Oh, because you want to reduce the number of children we have. We're not allowed to do the social experimentation like Chairman Mao, but we are allowed to change the tax code to encourage it. Did I get that right? 
kencraw on 04.05.04 @ 02:03 PM PST [link]
Is the shroud of Turin for real?
I've seen a couple of documentaries and read a few articles like this one about the veracity of the shroud of Turin. It seems that there are more and more reasons to believe that the carbon dating, the largest argument for its forgery, was inaccurate.
I for one am a believer that it is real, but don't feel that one must believe it is so to be a person of faith. I am curious, what do all of you think?
kencraw on 04.05.04 @ 01:52 PM PST [link]
Quote of the Day
“It is a sweet and pious belief that the infusion of Mary's soul was effected without original sin; so that in the very infusion of her soul she was also purified from original sin and adorned with God's gifts, receiving a pure soul infused by God; thus from the first moment she began to live she was free from all sin”
-Martin Luther, Sermon: "On the Day of the Conception of the Mother of God," 1527 (A little something to keep our Protestant brothers and sisters on their toes. 
Sounds a bit like the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception which wasn't spoken definitively by The Church until the 19th century.)
kencraw on 04.05.04 @ 01:48 PM PST [link]
Sunday, April 4th
Thoughts on today's Gospel reading
Today we celebrate Palm Sunday and read the Passion account. It is such an interesting thing to celebrate Christ coming into Jerusalem when we know that it ends in his death. Of course we know that in death he triumphed, but we don't seem to celebrate Palm Sunday as if we're celebrating his soon to occur death. We celebrate it as if he humanly triumphed in going into Jerusalem.
In any case, the section of the Passion account according to Luke that I used for my Quote of the Day is the heart of the anti-Semetic charges against Mel Gibson and in essence, against Christians. What is forgotten is that we all must accept, that we too are part of this crowd. The biggest mistake that one can make is to be arrogant enough to think that they'd be a better person and avoid the temptation to let our pride get in the way of our faith in a critical moment like this one.
We all fail God at times and there is no reason to elevate ourselves over the crowd. They failed just like we do. Today, all Mass attending Catholics yelled out as a part of the Gospel reading, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" to remind ourselves of this truth. May we all have the courage to embrace our weakness, pick up our crosses and turn to God and ask for His forgiveness.
kencraw on 04.04.04 @ 09:33 PM PST [link]
Quote of the Day
"Again Pilate addressed them, still wishing to release Jesus,
but they continued their shouting,
"Crucify him! Crucify him!"
Pilate addressed them a third time,
"What evil has this man done?
I found him guilty of no capital crime.
Therefore I shall have him flogged and then release him."
With loud shouts, however,
they persisted in calling for his crucifixion,
and their voices prevailed."
-Luke 23:20-23 from today's Gospel reading (the Passion account)
kencraw on 04.04.04 @ 09:25 PM PST [link]
