Merry Christmas!

It's awesome being Catholic, while everyone else is tired from celebrating Christmas for the last month and a half, we are just getting started after the preparation period of Advent. :)

Seriously though, my prayers remain with you all. May God's blessings and peace be with you this Christmas season!

An aweome video, h/t to the Ironic Catholic:

O come Emmanuel!

Veni, veni, Emmanuel,

Captivum solve Israel,

Qui genit in exilio,

Privatus Dei Filio.

Gaude! Gaude! Emmanuel,

Nascetur pro te, Israel.

O come, O come Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel,

That mourns in lonely exile here,

Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel,

Shall come to thee O Israel.

Once again, the world is hurrying around, rushing to get the last minute gifts, or that perfect item for someone special. The pace quickens as the date of the Nativity of Our Lord draws near, with people concentrating on preparations for Christmas gift-giving and family gatherings. So many of us get so very wrapped up in getting ready for Christmas that we lose sight of what we are preparing for, or rather, what we should be preparing for: the coming of the Christ child.

My dear brothers and sisters, in this hustle and bustle of the holiday season, so many have abandoned the central reason for what this time is truly for. In great wisdom and clarity, the Church has set aside this period for us to prepare, in the right way, for the coming of the Incarnation. The season of Advent, which we have entered as of Sunday, is not for hurrying around getting that last minute deal and preparing for the in-laws to come to town, but is instead for preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ, and deepening our relationship with Him.

During Advent, we are called to contemplate His coming Incarnation. We are called to realize that the Almighty God, creator of the cosmos, has humbled Himself to dwell in the womb of the Virgin Mary and come forth at the Nativity as an infant child. What wonder, majesty, and humility God has shown in this extraordinary action!

Friends, I have a challenge for you all during this season of Advent. Why not step away from the craziness of the world, and step into a mode of prayerful contemplation of the coming of Christ?

This challenge that I place for you all applies to my non-Catholic and non-Christian friends as well. In your heart this Advent season, why not consider the impetus behind all of this gift-giving and visiting. Why do we go to all of this trouble? For some, it may indeed be a materialistic desire of getting the best and newest gift, for others it may be the noble motivation of wanting to be with family and friends. But both of these reasons fall woefully short of why this season even exists. Advent is indeed a time of prayer and preparation.

I challenge you all to enter this period of contemplation, peace, and consideration of what we are preparing for: the very Incarnation of the Christ child, who humbled Himself in the manger, and again on the cross, for the redemption of mankind.

May you all have a blessed and peaceful Advent and Christmas season my dear friends. You all remain in my prayers.

Pax Christi,

Dean

Sancta Dei Genetrix, ora pro nobis!

N.B.: I realize that posting has gone down to nothing since the summer, but as I am now in college full time, I am indeed without time. :) Please keep me and my fellow students in prayer as we approach finals, and prepare to go home to family and friends for Christmas. May we also enter into this Advent season more fully, without letting the worries of school distract us from the reason for the season…

Litany of Humility

I believe I may have posted this on the site before, but my friend Lee Anne reminded me of this beautiful prayer. This is something we would I all be good to strive for...

Many blessings,

Dean

Litany of Humility

By Cardinal Merry del Val

O Jesus meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed,

From the desire of being loved,

From the desire of being extolled,

From the desire of being honored,

From the desire of being praised,

From the desire of being preferred to others,

From the desire of being consulted,

From the desire of being approved,

Deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated,

From the fear of being despised,

From the fear of suffering rebukes,

From the fear of being calumniated,

From the fear of being forgotten,

From the fear of being ridiculed,

From the fear of being wronged,

From the fear of being suspected,

Deliver me, Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I,

That others may be esteemed more than I,

That in the opinion of the world, others may increase, and I may decrease,

That others may be chosen and I set aside,

That others may be praised and I unnoticed,

That others may be preferred to me in everything,

That others may become holier than I, provided that I become as holy as I should,

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. Amen.

Quote of the Day

"The man who fears to be alone will never be anything but lonely, no matter how much he may surround himself with people. But the man who learns, in solitude and recollection, to be at peace with his own loneliness, and to prefer its reality to the illusion of merely natural companionship, comes to know the invisible companionship of God." --Thomas Merton

Interesting Headlines

These just struck me as particularly interesting, all found on Drudge :

Obama: USA 'one of the largest Muslim countries in the world'...


OBAMA: Iran has the right to nuclear power...

Traces of cocaine 'found in Red Bull' in Hong Kong... (Gives a new definition to the term "energy drink")

VIDEO: Dem Leader says he hasn't read a single Sotomayor opinion... (You'd think that if you were voting on a possible future Supreme Court Justice, you might read some of her rulings.)

NBCNEWS anchor bows before president?

Venezuela Chavez says 'Comrade' Obama more left-wing...

And as for where I want to live when I grow up:

New Zealand rated most peaceful, USA 83rd...

(Those Kiwis have something going...)

Well said...

From my dear friend Lee Anne:

George Tiller was a very strange man. I am sorry he was killed - but I am NOT sorry that he can no longer act out his perverse killing rituals. I am not sorry that he can no longer injure another human being.

Over the next couple of days, weeks and months to come, we are going to hear how the pro-life people are crazy. How they kill those who abort babies. I am here to set the record straight - pro-life people do not believe in killing. The person who murdered George Tiller was not a pro-life person.

Read the rest of this excellent post here. There are also some very beautiful pictures...

Let us pray for the pro-life movement, and for the innocent lives being ended. Let us also pray for Tiller, his family, and his murderer...

Pro-abortion Dr. Tiller murdered needlessly outside of church

This is absolutely horrible news:

WICHITA, Kan. — George Tiller, a Wichita doctor who was one of the few doctors in the nation to perform late-term abortions, was shot to death on Sunday as he attended church, city officials in Wichita said.

Dr. Tiller, who had performed abortions since the 1970s, had long been a lightning rod for controversy over the issue of abortion, particularly in Kansas, where abortion opponents regularly protested outside his clinic and sometimes his home and church. In 1993, he was shot in both arms by an abortion opponent but recovered.

You can read the rest of the story here.

This story is sad from so many viewpoints.

First of all, and most importantly, a human life has been ended needlessly. Yes, this man did much to advance abortion, but this fact DOES NOT excuse his murder! Not only this, but the man was killed while attending church services!!!

This will have many repercussions I think for the pro-life community. We must all immediately and unequivocally denounce this horrible action. We seek to change this world through peaceful and just actions, not through the taking of human life. That is against our very outlook.

I have already seen comments on Facebook and articles surrounding this tragedy that concern me greatly. There are those that are cheering this event as a triumph for the Pro-Life movement. This is NOT a time to rejoice! We must pray for this man's soul, as we should for all of the departed. We must also pray for this man's family in this time of tragedy, and for the shooter, who it looks like has been apprehended.

Finally, we pray for all those who see this as some sort of victory, or are taking joy in this crime. Yes, what he did in life was a horrible thing. He supported the killing of millions. However, that does not justify the use of violence to end his actions. He is a human being, with the intrinsic God-given dignity given to us all, and his life is worth no less than anyone else's. VIOLENCE IS NOT THE ANSWER!!! Whether or not the shooter did this for activist reasons, I can guarantee you all that the media and our opponents will use this event to vilify pro-lifers.

May grace and peace be with us all.

Powerful Pro-Life Video

If you can't see the above video in email or an RSS reader, click here.

H/t to Jimmy Aikin.

California Supreme Court Upholds Proposition 8

I have to admit, I was surprised that our supreme court here in the golden state upheld Proposition 8, which  in California, establishes the definition of marriage as being between a man and woman. The voters spoke, and they listened:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The California Supreme Court upheld a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage Tuesday, but it also decided that the estimated 18,000 gay couples who tied the knot before the law took effect will stay wed.

Demonstrators outside the court yelled "shame on you!"

The 6-1 decision written by Chief Justice Ron George rejected an argument by gay rights activists that the ban revised the California Constitution's equal protection clause to such a dramatic degree that it first needed the Legislature's approval.

The court said the Californians have a right, through the ballot box, to change their constitution.

The rest of the article from the Associated Press can be read here.

The ruling did not mention of course the court's opinion as to whether they agree with Prop. 8, but they did say they were "limited to interpreting and applying the principles and rules embodied in the California Constitution, setting aside our own personal beliefs and values."

You mean to tell me that a court is there just to interpret laws and stay true to their intent, and not create their own laws? Go figure.

And kudos to the California Supreme court for doing the job they were supposed to do, instead of attempting to legislate from the bench. And thank you, justices, for listening to the California voters, and not giving in to pressure, even if of you do personally disagree with Proposition 8.

Thursday Humor - Theology Joke

Jesus and his disciples were walking around one day, when Jesus said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like 3x squared plus 8x minus 9." The disciples looked very puzzled, and finally asked Peter, "What on earth does Jesus mean -- the Kingdom of Heaven is like 3x squared plus 8x minus 9? Peter said, "Don't worry. It's just another one of his parabolas."

H/t to The Ironic Catholic