I never thought I'd be back in deliverance ministry!

It had been more than twenty years since I had anything to do with deliverance, until last night. The Accuser of the Brethren now prowls website comment boxes seeking the ruin of souls, so it seems. Another lesson from this site's beginnings, overlooked a couple days ago:

8) The Accuser of the Brethren can have no foothold among us if we refuse to play his foul game. We must not accuse others, only ourselves. We cannot defend ourselves, even justly, by accusing anybody else of anything; not if we seek to live truly submitted lives.

So we pick up the bottle of virtual holy water and we command: Accuser of the Brethren, you have no place here. We accuse only ourselves. Be gone. And we pray: Lord Jesus, be our salvation. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

And all my readers, pray for me.
.

New and spiffy improvements

I've added a few more amenities to the site; a sitemeter and a really snazzy comments system. Have fun discussing, but I have no qualms about deleting those as can't keep a civil tongue, and getting rid of it entirely if it gets too tough to police.

Again, have fun (within reason).
.

An interview with my archbishop by the Journal Sentinel

What have I been telling you-all in Amy's and Mark's comments boxes about the hot hot issue of Sunday kneeling?!

Give it a read, you won't regret it.
.

The lessons of this blog's beginnings remain true.

1) The details of our long-ago-confessed and long-ago-forgiven sins and stupidities are the business only of God. They are not rightly the business of those who would turn them into cudgels.

2) The details of the sins of Other People are none of my business; I've enough troubles with my own.

3) Sins and stupidities do not negate goodness, wisdom, love, or generosity.

4) If we insist on having only perfect bishops who have only perfect priests, we will have neither bishops nor priests; for all of us have sinned, every single one of us has done spectacularly stupid things, and even the strongest and most faithful of us come equipped with two clay feet.

5) I have sinned and done incredibly dumb things; I have no right to ridicule, ever.

6) The judgment I judge is the judgment I will be judged by; the forgiveness I offer will be the forgiveness I receive. So how dare I even think of stringent judgment or withholding my forgiveness.

and, 7) from the last teaching of my gentle and devoted retired archbishop, who was the pariah when this website was birthed in the last week of May: . I have learned how frail my own human nature is, how in need of God’s loving embrace I am. Empty-handed for me now means a willingness to accept my humanity totally, just as Christ accepted that same human nature out of love. But for me it also means to be fully receptive to whatever God wants to place in those hands, to be ready with empty hands to receive new life.
But I am also aware much self-pity and pride remain. I must leave that pride behind. Each day I will try to leave room for God to enter into my life more and more. Ultimately I understand that the humanity God so loved and sought to redeem, including my own humanity, will be transformed by his loving embrace and grace.

These lessons will always remain the same, whether the current pariah's name is Rembert George W., or Gerard Serafin B., or Karen Marie Jochebed K. The truth endures.
.

To all my readers, please pray for my friend Gerard, without whom this website would not exist; he is undergoing a great trial and needs our intercession now.

Psalm 43

Defend me, take up my cause
against people who have no pity;
from the treacherous and the cunning
rescue me, God.

It is You, God, who are my shelter;
why do You abandon me?
Why must I walk so mournfully,
oppressed by the enemy?

Send out Your light and Your truth,
let these be my guide,
to lead me to Your holy mountain
and to the place where You live.

Then I shall go to the altar of God,
to the God of my joy.
I shall rejoice, I shall praise You on the harp,
my Lord, my God.

Why so downcast, my soul?
Why do you sigh within me?
Put your hope in God: I shall praise Him yet,
my saviour, my God.
.

Back in July, when I was in Ohio for the Knapp reunion, I posted this; now it's time to refer you-all to it again. Unlike the prayer, it's too long to retype, so I'll just give you a link to the archives and hope they work now [oh, blogger!].

From the Depths: Holy Anonymous of Sachsenhausen, priest, penitent
.

All Holy Penitents, pray for us

An email from my archbishop has been blogged at Pete Vere's CLOG. Please go there, and read it, and pray for all of us, "them" included.

I think it's time to repost this:

A Prayer for Michael Krejci, Russell Banner, John Bertolucci, and all the others.

Lord, we pray for Your priests who must now go away from us. They have reformed their lives, they have been penitent, they have been restored and have given us Your word and Your sacraments faithfully. Yet now, for the good of the whole Church, they must go into anonymous exile.

Lord, You know them, every one. Give them the courage and strength and grace to bear this for You and Your holy Church. Support and heal them, as You did Miriam in her leprous shame, and as You did David the King after his great crimes. Let Your light shine in and through them, as it did in Margaret of Cortona and Mary of Egypt, in Your anonymous one of Sachsenhausen, and in so many of Your holy penitents through all ages.

We, who are also sinners, beg this of You, our all-good Lord. Amen.

[originally posted 07/28/2002]
.

Office of Readings "On Pastors" --- how long, O Lord?!

For the last week or more and till the end of this one, our Church in her wisdom [?] has us reading Ezechiel's prophecies and the homily "On Pastors" by St. Augustine. Otherwise known as "Fifty ways your pastor and your bishop can screw up." Yes, Lord, we know how our bishops can screw up --- this year's long Lent and very early long Dormition Fast have taught us that if they've taught us nothing else. I know, these readings come around every September; but they've never been quite so oppressive before as they are this time around.

Where is the corresponding "On Parishioners" or maybe "On the Putative Faithful" to remind us of our duties and responsibilities to our pastors, and the fifty ways we can and do screw up? We have a duty to honor and care for our pastors, just as they have a duty to honor and care for us. We have a duty to actually pay attention when they try to teach us, and to work hard to understand their teaching and conform our lives to it; just like their duty to listen to us and to teach us the ways of God. We have a duty to pray for them, and not just in the Eucharistic Prayer on Sundays; just like it is their duty to pray for us. And on and on ....

As we continue praying "On Pastors" for the rest of this week, let us not gloat; let us remember that we have duties to match every one of their duties that St Augustine is taking them to task for, and in many ways we've been equal screw-ups with our pastors and bishops. It was never intended that all the holiness of the Church come from the priest, and maybe the nuns; the holiness of the Church is to come from all of us --- or more correctly, from our Lord through every single one of us. We cannot get away with or be satisfied with anything less than sanctity of life, any of us. Not just St Augustine's targets this fortnight, but me and you and all of us! Lord, have mercy; all saints of God, pray for us.
.

Put On the Whole Armor of God: St. Patrick's Breastplate

I bind unto myself today
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.

I bind this day to me forever,
by power of faith, Christ's Incarnation;
his baptism in the Jordan river;
his death on cross for my salvation;
his bursting from the spiced tomb;
his riding up the heavenly way;
his coming at the day of doom:
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
of the great love of cherubim;
the sweet "Well done" in judgement hour;
the service of the seraphim;
confessors' faith, apostles' word,
the patriarchs' prayers, the prophets' scrolls;
all good deeds done unto the Lord,
and purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
the virtues of the starlit heaven,
the glorious sun's life-giving ray,
the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free,
the whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea,
around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
the power of God to hold and lead,
his eye to watch, his might to stay,
his ear to hearken to my need;
the wisdom of my God to teach,
his hand to guide, his shield to ward;
the word of God to give me speech,
his heavenly host to be my guard.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature hath creation,
eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord!
.

to close the autumn Ember Days: A Song of Thanksgiving found on a Society of Creative Anachronism filksong site. (It's really more a winter Ember Days or Christmas feast song, but I still couldn't resist; the Lord preserves us even if it isn't snow season quite yet, this is Wisconsin, snow won't be long away.)

A Song of Thanksgiving
Mar Yaakov HaMizrachi

[Notes from Yaakov: This popped into my head for Thanksgiving, but I don't know that it is everyone's cup of tea. It can be sung to the tune of "An Astrologer's Song" (Kippling/Fish)]

The harvest is in and the fire on the hearth.
Let cruel Borealis blow down from the North!
With fellowship, laughter and bowls of good cheer,
We'll drive out the cold and the dark of the year!

The barn brims to bursting with corn and with beast.
What we could not store we now set for our feast.
We'll sit by the fire and eat drink and sing,
While Earth sleeps in snow and prepares for the spring.

But even in revels- forget not oh man!
Nor boast that thy plenty comes by thine own hand!
Recall what you owe to the bounty of God-
His Mercy that keeps you well-fed clothed and shod.

He gave us good measure of sun and sweet rain.
He blessed all our laboir; He healed all our pain.
Give thanks that he brought us here healthy and warm.
(And pray He protects us from sickness and storm!)

Oh Lord bless this company gathered today,
And smile as we lift up our glasses and say:
"With fellowship, laughter and bowls of good cheer,
We'll drive off the cold and the dark of the year!"
.

Matthew Levi and his coming out party!

Today is the feast of St. Matthew, apostle and evangelist, one of Jesus' more unique characters.

For, you see, Matthew had really sunk low in the world. He calls himself Matthew, but the other gospel writers call him Levi. This meant he had a hereditary job, serving the Lord in the holy temple; or at least that was what he was supposed to be doing. What he actually was doing was collecting taxes.

Back then, tax collecting wasn't an upright or honorable profession, this was long, long before the IRS. Tax collecting was one of the least honorable trades to be had, socially on a par with prostitution as a way of life. The occupiers didn't collect their own taxes; they hired out that job to independent contractors, who were paid a percentage of the take. So the less honest and more vicious one was, the richer one got. Not only was the tax collector collaborating with those rotten Roman occupation forces, he was (almost universally) fleecing his own people besides! And this life of well-to-do outcast collaborator, public sinner, was Matthew Levi's.

Jesus came to get him at the tax collector's office. Jesus called to Matthew, and Matthew wasted no time leaving the office not only for the day but for keeps. [When tough times came later, the fisher folk occasionally went back to fishing for their support, which could be done honorably and without sinning; but Matthew never went back to the office, the temptation levels were just too high.]

But, before he left town and went out on the road with Jesus, he had Jesus over to his house and threw a rip-roaring good party with Jesus the guest of honor and the rest of the guest list being Matthew's friends, the only sort of friends a tax collector could have: other tax collectors, Roman collaborators of other occupations, and other public sinners. Not a respectable upstanding citizen in the lot of them. Yet, these were Matthew's friends. Matthew had been found by Jesus and was getting out; he wasn't going to go before all his friends got to meet Jesus also.

Here's how St. Bede preached about this party, in the passage in today's Office of Readings: This conversion of one tax collector gave many men, those from his own profession and other sinners, an example of repentance and pardon. Notice also the happy and true anticipation of his future status as apostle and teacher of the nations. No sooner was he converted than Matthew drew after him a whole crowd of sinners along the same road to salvation. He took up his appointed duties while still taking his first steps in the faith, and from that hour he fulfilled his obligations and thus grew in merit. ...

Matthew, apostle and evangelist, faithful friend, pray for us.
.

A Kid Brother of St. Frank: Richard Wayne Mullins
October 21, 1955 - September 19, 1997

I have absolutely no difficulty appropriating Rich Mullins for the catholica; not only is the work of God roaringly obvious, but he was within days of his reception into the Catholic Church at the time of his death in an automobile accident.

An interview Rich Mullins gave to the Catholic Register in April, 1997

Column about Rich Mullins, his instructor in the faith, and his Catholicity.

Eternal rest grant unto him, let perpetual light shine upon him.
.

Oh, My Lord from the oratorio "Canticle of the Plains"

"Canticle of the Plains" is the story of Frank of Wichita, a disillusioned Civil War veteran seeking after God. (Frank of Wichita bears an awful lot of resemblance to a thirteenth century guy also named Frank.....) by Rich Mullins and two other Kid Brothers, Mitch McVicker and Beaker. The real-life 13th century St. Francis is credited with inventing the Stations of the Cross.

When I think that the world would rise to condemn You,
Oh, my Lord; oh, my Lord.
Well it makes me cry.
You know it makes me tremble.
Oh, my Lord; oh, my Lord;
Oh my Jesus, sweet lamb of God.

You emptied Yourself and became just like us.
Then You set aside Your glory
and You took up that cross.
Through the crowd, through the cursing soldiers,
oh, my Lord; oh, my Lord.
You fell to the ground with the cross upon Your shoulders.

Oh, my Lord; oh, my Lord;
oh, my Jesus; oh, Man of sorrows.
When You saw Your mother standing there upon that road,
did You feel the pain of the sword that would soon pierce her soul?
Oh, my Lord; yes, oh, my Lord.
Oh, my Lord; yes, oh, my Lord. .....

Well a man was made to help carry that weight,
and a woman was moved to wipe the blood from Your face.
And then You fell again,
and You're taking more than a man could take.

You said, "Sisters, sisters, don't you weep for me."
Oh, my Lord; oh, my Lord.
And then once again fell down to Your knees.
Oh, my Lord; oh, my Lord;
oh, my Jesus, God's only one.

Well, they stripped off Your clothes,
then they cast their lots.
Oooh, they stretched out Your arms
and nailed Your hands to that cross.

See a broken heart --- it's what made You die.
Oh, my Lord; oh, my Lord.
And the blood and the water flowed out from Your side.
Oh, my Lord; oh, my Lord;
oh, my Jesus, Giver of Grace.

You know, gentle hands they took You down
and laid You in that grave scene.
No one believed You'd be back in three short days.

Oh, my Lord; oh, my Lord.
Oh, my Lord; oh, my Lord. .....yes.

copyright 1996, Kid Brothers of St. Frank.
.

We Are Not As Strong As We Think We Are by Rich Mullins

Well, it took the hand of God Almighty
to part the waters of the sea,
but it only took one little lie
to separate you and me.
Oh, we are not as strong as we think we are.

And they say that one day Joshua
made the sun stand still in the sky,
but I can't even keep these thoughts of you from passing by.
Oh, we are not as strong as we think we are.

We are frail,
we are fearfully and wonderfully made;
forged in the fires of human passion,
choking on the fumes of selfish rage.
And with these our hells and our heavens
so few inches apart,
we must be awfully small
and not as strong as we think we are.

And the Master said their faith was
gonna make them mountains move;
but me, I tremble like a hill on a fault line
just at the thought of how I lost you.
Oh, we are not as strong as we think we are.

We are frail,
we are fearfully and wonderfully made;
forged in the fires of human passion,
choking on the fumes of selfish rage.
And with these our hells and our heavens
so few inches apart,
we must be awfully small
and not as strong as we think we are.

And if you make me laugh,
I know I could make you like me,
'cause when I laugh I can be a lot of fun.
But we can't do that; I know that it is frightening.
What I don't know is why we can't hold on.
We can't hold on.

It took the hand of God Almighty
to part the waters of the sea,
but it only took one little lie
to separate you and me.
Oh, we are not as strong as we think we are.

When you love you walk on the water,
just don't stumble on the waves.
We all want to go there something awful,
but to stand there it takes some grace,
'cause oh, we are not as strong
as we think we are.

No, we are not as strong
as we think we are.

Walk on the water.
Walk on the water.
If we could just hold on;
Just hold on.

copyright 1996, Class Reunion Music, Kid Brothers of St. Frank Publishing
.

"Be faithful. Trust. Be not afraid. Cast out into the deep. Be saints."


Our Lady, Mother of the Church

Stride forward faithfully, fearlessly;
following our Lord, our Beloved;
even in pursuit of Him,
setting out boldly, travelling light,
keeping our eyes on only the one thing ----
not the one thing more, but the one only thing.

"Who possesses God finds nothing is wanting.
God alone suffices."

As the mother of our Lord, our mother, ever did;
Mother of God, Mother of the Church,
in joy, in chaos, in sorrow, in glory, in all things.
.

Conformities --- May we be made conformable to the death of the Son, and thus share also in His resurrection.

On this day in 1224, St. Francis was fasting and praying in one of his favorite retreating places, up on Mt. Alverna, when he had a vision of his beloved Lord crucified; a vision that drew him so deeply that, when the vision went away, it now only left him glowing with love and joy in his heart, but it also left him physically marked, even the body joining in on the union with the Lord Jesus his Beloved in everything.

And, also conformed but in less dramatic fashion, this is also the feast day of St. Robert Bellarmine, the heroic Jesuit scholar, bishop, and doctor of the Church; and of St. Hildegarde of Bingen, the holy abbess and polygenius. Pray to God for us.
.

Reminiscent of the ladder of divine ascent...is this poem by Langston Hughes

Mother to Son

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor-
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn your back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you find it kinder hard.
Don't you fall now-
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
.

A Plea for the Poor, by John Woolman

The URL for the entire Plea is: http://home.earthlink.net/~quakerswfla/woolman-plea.html

Chapter Ten

“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father” [Mt. 10:29].

The way of carrying on wars, common in the world, is so far distinguishable from the purity of Christ’s religion that many scruple to join in them. Those who are so redeemed from the love of the world as to possess nothing in a selfish spirit, their “life is hid with Christ in God” [Col. 3:3], and these he preserves in resignedness, even in times of commotion. As they possess nothing but what pertains to his family, anxious thoughts about wealth or dominion hath little or nothing in them to work upon, and they learn contentment in being disposed of according to his will who, being omnipotent and always mindful of his children, causeth all things to work for their good. But where that spirit which loves riches works, and in its working gathers wealth and cleaves to customs which have their root in selfpleasing, this spirit, thus separating from universal love, seeks help from that power which stands in the separation; and whatever name it hath, it still desires to defend the treasures thus gotten. This is like a chain where the end of one link encloses the end of another. The rising up of a desire to attain wealth is the beginning. This desire being cherished moves to action, and riches thus gotten please self, and while self hath a life in them it desires to have them defended.

Wealth is attended with power, by which bargains and proceedings contrary to universal righteousness are supported; and here oppression, carried on with worldly policy and order, clothes itself with the name of justice and becomes like a seed of discord in the soil; and as this spirit which wanders from the pure habitation prevails, so the seed of war swells and sprouts and grows and becomes strong, till much fruits are ripened. Thus cometh the harvest spoken of by the prophet, which is “a heap in the day of grief, and of desperate sorrow” [Is. 17:11].

Oh, that we who declare against wars and acknowledge our trust to be in God only, may walk in the Light and therein examine our foundation and motives in holding great estates! May we look upon our treasures and the furniture of our houses and the garments in which we array ourselves and try whether the seeds of war have any nourishment in these our possessions or not. Holding treasures in the self-pleasing spirit is a strong plant, the fruit whereof ripens fast. A day of outward distress is coming and divine love calls to prepare against it! Harken then, Oh ye children who have known the Light, and come forth! Leave everything which our Lord Jesus Christ does not own. Think not his pattern too plain or too coarse for you. Think not a small portion in this life too little, but let us live in his spirit and walk as he walked, and he will preserve us in the greatest troubles.

Remember the Ember Days

This coming Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday are the Ember Days.

The Ember Days are an ancient observance and devotion --- already in the fifth century they were well-known and described as being of apostolic origin.

The Ember Days are observed on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following St. Lucy's day (December 13), following Ash Wednesday, following Pentecost Sunday, and following the feast of the Triumph of the Cross (yesterday, September 14th). Roughly at the turning of each season, we fast and abstain, and give alms, and pray, to thank God for sustaining us with the gifts of nature through the cycle of the seasons, to help us learn to use those gifts wisely and moderately, and to assist the needy.

We don't have to give up the Ember Days. We need them in some ways more than ever in our times, to remind us that our daily food doesn't really come from the supermarket --- it comes from our earth, from the hard work of farming people, from rain and sun and snow cover at the proper times, and from proper stewardship of the earth's goods by the proper use of the land and the water and the air.

So we pray, we fast, we do works of reparation and mercy. We remind ourselves that we depend on God --- not on Kraft, Nabisco, and General Mills --- to sustain us always.

(Thanks to CINJustAnn listserv for the reminder.... more info can be found at the Access to Catholic Social Justice Teaching site in the sidebar links)
.

The Triumph of the Cross

It requires great self-denial and resignation of ourselves to God to attain that state wherein we freely cease from fighting. ....Whoever rightly attains to it, does in some degree feel that Spirit in which our Redeemer gave His life for us. (John Woolman)

Behold, behold, the wood of the cross,
on which is hung our Salvation;
O come, let us adore! (Liturgy of Good Friday)

We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You,
for by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

O my Lord, Messiah and (truly!) King,
You have been lifted up, and have triumphed.
You Yourself mend our lives, and draw us to Yourself,
and make Yourself our greatest yearning, greatest gift.

We who lifted You up from the earth ---
not far, not nearly to the sky, let alone the heavens ---
intending only evil; or not intending at all, "just following orders,"
just another execution in a busy day

It was for us that You took everything we gave,
that You offered Yourself, unresisting,
(and You, our Messiah and Lord, are God;
You had the power to save Yourself)
so that when we had done our very worst
Your forgiveness and Your triumph would rescue us,
very thankful and truly humble.

We know what we have done.
We know of what we are capable.
We look upon Your cross
and our sin remains before us,
we cannot ignore the truth of ourselves.

We deny You. We are cowards and run away from You.
We drag You all over the city, from courtroom to courtroom.
For You, our King, we weave a crown of thornbush to force upon Your head.
We beat You. We mock You. We parade You through the streets.
We disdignify You, stripping You of everything.
And, clothed only in welts and bruises and Your own blood,
we nail You to a cross to torture You to death.

Our sin is always before us,
and yet,
and yet,
so also is Your mercy,
so also Your forgiveness,
so also Your great offering.

And, in time's fullness,
the sign of Jonah ---
even Death itself is conquered, vanquished;
so we might proceed from life to Life true and eternal,
Life that knows no end.
.