St. Peter, St. Paul and…. the iPhone

Today we celebrate the great feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the dynamic duo of the Catholic Church, the veritable Batman and Robin of Christianity! It just so happens that today is also the debut of the infamous iPhone, a stunning piece of technology that’s now available all over the known universe.

So…. two great saints and one incredible gadget. On the same day…. Coincidence? Nope. I think this is an opportunity for some serious imagining-ation.

So let’s just imagine that these two pillars of the Church had the chance to spread the gospel with the help of the infamous iPhone….

I think St. Peter, bold, often impetuous and quick-tempered, might have picked it up with his callous fisherman fingers and…. dropped it into the sea. End of story.

St. Paul? Here’s a different story. Passionate, highly educated, leader of the pack of the Pharisees in his day, slightly neurotic perhaps? He would have LOVED this device. He’d have bookmarked all of the best biblical websites, downloaded stunning maps of the Mediterranean region for his mission trips, and have pie charts on the religious make up of the population of those various pagan communities well before he ever got there! You know it’s true!

Now… just when you think this blog is a little goofy, scandalous, anachronistic?… consider this sweet line from Pope Paul VI’s letter on technology. That’s right, written in 1963 to boot!

“Man’s genius has with God’s help produced marvelous technical inventions from creation, especially in our times. The Church, our mother, is particularly interested in those which directly touch man’s spirit and which have opened up new avenues of easy communication of all kinds of news, of ideas and orientations.”
– Pope Paul VI, Inter Mirifica

And try this one on for size, from Pope John Paul II:

The Internet causes billions of images to appear on millions of computer monitors around the planet. From this galaxy of sight and sound will the face of Christ emerge and the voice of Christ be heard? For it is only when his face is seen and his voice heard that the world will know the glad tidings of our redemption. This is the purpose of evangelization. And this is what will make the Internet a genuinely human space, for if there is no room for Christ, there is no room for man.
– Message for the 36th World Communications Day

The task of Catholics today is not to fear or run from the amazing developments in technology that surround us, but to see them as tools, gifts even, that we can use to spread the Gospel, our faith in Jesus, and the vision we have and hope for of a true civilization of love. Just take a cruise through the Internet, and do a search for Catholic blogs and you will find at least 2,330,000 of them!! Look up Catholic websites on Google and fall down mumbling this astounding digitary figure: 2,250,000!

Now, trust me. As sweet as the iPhone is (or the Blackberry ;), you can’t beat the face to face encounter and the power of the quiet witness of faith, in the diner, the grocery store, on the train or the bus, at the movies or the Sunday Mass sign of peace. The rest are just tools, the person before you is the temple where God truly dwells.

“Today it takes no great stretch of the imagination to envisage the earth as an interconnected globe humming with electronic transmissions – a chattering planet nestled in the provident silence of space. The ethical question is whether this is contributing to authentic human development and helping individuals and peoples to be true to their transcendent destiny.“

– Archbishop John Foley, former head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications:

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Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org

Goofin’ Off with the Family

Just goofing off today with the family, down from New York. The kids LOVE the new Mac’s “Photo Booth” program. I kinda dig it myself, can you tell? It has a bunch of wacky features that distort your face and take a snapshot, right from the monitor. (I have yet to blog about my conversion to the Mac from a PC. Yes, it was mainly those hilarious commercials that won me over. It was a little funky in the beginning with no right click or thumbnail views but I’ve since discovered the shortcuts. The Mac is…. awesome! Just for podcasting alone! I’ve tossed a few up at this link. Please let me know what you think. For now, I’ve simply read a few blogs from last year, but I think God has big plans! I’m excited. You can search for “The Heart of Things” or Bill Donaghy through iTunes and subscribe to them, or just go to the link here and subscribe. They’ll slip right into your iPod or computer media player justa lika ‘dat. More on this later!)

So the gang is getting ready for today’s adventures now, after a nice sleep in and a big honkin’ breakfast. Yesterday was a blast at Hershey Park, despite the torrents of rain and lightning that occasionally blew in. The new Boardwalk water park they have is INCREDIBLE! and a perfect thing to do when it’s 124 degrees outside. OK, one more pic before we sign off….

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Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org

Which Way Do I Go?

I will never forget February 28, 1998. That’s the day I got in my old Chevy Eurosport wagon with the sweet rims and starting driving, without a clue as to where I was going…

I had just spent 4 years in the seminary; steeped in the Church’s rich liturgy, intoxicated by the beauty of prayer, captivated by the teachings of the Catholic Church, discovering brothers in the spirit I never knew I had, from Allentown to Peoria, Alabama to Nebraska, and it was a period of the deepest peace for my restless spirit. I had just earned a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, and was at the half way point, still a couple years from ordination, when suddenly the bells of peace stopped peeling, and the certainty of seminary life dissipated like incense at evening prayer.

I had always believed that I was in the right place at the right time; that God had surely led me to this place of discernment, and that like Peter on the mountaintop I could say it was truly “good for me to be here.” But the end of the seminary, the goal of ordination, was always a little foggy for me. “No worries,” I thought to myself (and shared with my spiritual director); “God will lead me then as He is now and always has.” And this was affirmed. Isn’t it supposed to be like that after all, a daily walk, a day by day as the song goes? We pray every day, “give us this day our daily bread”? But this way is actually harder than it sounds, especially for our culture today, so consumed with having financial security, stability, insurance, overdraft protection! et cetera! The daily bread prayer says don’t worry about tomorrow, tomorrow has troubles of it’s own (see Matthew 6:26).

God’s ways are not our ways, His plans are not the blueprints we would have drafted. His timing is perfect, but it seems our watches just can’t sync up with that Divine Clock! After 6 months of prayer, more discernment, spiritual direction, and the advice of good friends, I drove away from the seminary into an unknown future. And I remember looking back and saying “I was born there.” That’s how good God was to me in that place of community, prayer, and study. And I would suggest to any man who feels the pull to a possible vocation to listen and respond. Who knows where God will lead you?

The daily mass readings this week have been spotlighting our man Abraham. There have been boatloads written about this patriarch, the father of faith. I love Abraham. It was in the midst of my clouds and troubles about leaving the seminary that I first understood just how heroic Abraham really was. Providentially, we were studying Genesis and Abraham’s story in one of my graduate courses in the late winter of 1998. Here’s a guy who had it all: “Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.” He was quite cozy in the town of Ur and was actually ready for retirement by our standards. Then it got a little foggy for Abe….

The LORD said to Abram: “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.

The seminary had become a home to me, a place of deep peace and comfort. This should have been the first sign. The seminary is a transitional place, a garden where you grow, but where you must also be uprooted and transplanted into the world. Seminary actually means “seed bed.” No one remains a seminarian forever. Some leave as priests, fathers for the flock of God; others leave as better formed men of faith who go on to become husbands and fathers of a domestic church, the family.

We can’t stay on the mountaintop, and build a permanent tent to hang out in! That was Peter’s mistake on the Mount of the Transfiguration. I suppose I wanted that peace too badly, and ended up trying to grasp it when the thought came that I must let it go.

“Go forth… to a land that I will show you.”

Wow, the power of those words. The invitation to journey, to leap, to trust completely. I was scared out of my mind in 1998. But looking back, what a ride! What lessons I’ve learned, and continue to learn as the Father continues to form me. Our past is such a rich treasure house for us to keep as we move into the future!

So where has He lead you, and where will He lead you still? Do you need to know everything? Do you need the map all drawn out and highlighted for you? Or can you just “go forth” and let God guide you? I certainly struggle with this walk of faith, but I’ve learned to trust Him all the more; to know just when to move and when to sit back and let go of the wheel. And today I am not alone, but another journeys with me!

I have another date that I will never forget. August 9, 2003. That’s the day I found my vocation, my peace and my place. To stand beside a woman of faith who is for me a pure gift, a guide and a companion on this journey. As a husband and we pray soon as a father, I hope to walk this road just as Abraham did; in faith and trust and with wild abandon. In the words of Peter Kreeft “There is one and only one possible road to joy: selfless love.” That selfless love is the bottom line for all of us. It gives us the power to launch into His love and the plans He has made for us.

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Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org

Bed, Bath and Beyond My Expectations

So I’m “off” from teaching for the summer, and this of course creates “time” for me to…. “do things.” So on top of the list was our need/desire to purchase a new showerhead. Our previous showerhead was installed by the previous owner, in 1946.

We love our previous owner. She lives out west now. Our Lansdowne domicile was her home (and previously the home of her mother) dating back to the 1920’s! When we came on board, there were still rotary phones in here (weighing in at about 53 pounds each). If I wanted to I could have called Commissioner Gordon anytime I wanted to. I think rotary phones are going to come back on the scene. They just have to! Our phones are too small today. They’re as thin as a stick of Juicy Fruit! It’s like talking into a toothpick.

There was a story in the paper about a teenager who was talking on her cell phone and it slipped right into her ear canal! (Now she just has to think about sending a text message and pow! off it goes). That’s cool and everything, but a rotary phone…. ah! there’s a phone you can depend on! Big, bold and brassy, you know just where to find it. And it can hold papers down too….. and small children.

Back to the showerhead…

I figured I would go to a store that would house all of my needs in one convenient location. I knew inevitably that other “needs” would surface (we also “needed” a CD/DVD rack thingee, an alarm clock, and a really cool candle with three, that’s right THREE wicks). All of these varied items, I knew deep down, could be found at….

!!!

Now here’s why I’m blogging about this seemingly mundane experience (mind you, in lieu of this week’s Mission Moment, there are NO mundane experiences. See below): from the moment I entered “BED, BATH, AND BEYOND!!” I was greeted and affirmed as a human person. It was down right overwhelming! I’m not referring here to the usual “Have a nice day” that dribbles out of the corner of a cashier’s face because THEY WILL BE FIRED IF THEY DON’T SAY IT. I’m talking about, in the midst of this ME ME ME generation, a sincere and selfless concern for…. me….. came flowing out of every employee’s soul at
!

From around every corner of the store, happy and aproned employees were looking me straight in the eye and asking me if I needed anything, if I found everything OK… did I want to sit down and just talk about my needs today. It was amazing. It was refreshing! I was proud to be a consumer! I was no longer a cog in the wheel, just a tiny piece of the puzzle that is the American economy. I was a PERSON! At last!

Maybe that’s why they call it Bed, Bath, and… Beyond?

Even as I closed off the purchases with the cashier, I was affronted by extreme measures of kindness:

“Do you have any coupons?”

“Well, no…. I left ’em at home.”

“No problem, you can always bring in your receipt later with the coupon and get the refund.”

Whaaaaa!!!!! That was so ….. nice.

So just to let you know, dear readers, there is still a place where basic human kindness is practiced. Heck, it flourishes! And in this place you can also pick up a sweet Oxygenics® Five-Star Resort Spa Chrome Fixed Shower Head!

That thing kicks like karate!

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This week’s Mission Moment:

Holy is the dish and drain, the soap and sink, and the cup and plate and the warm wool socks, and the cold white tile, showerheads and good dry towels and frying eggs sound like psalms, with bits of salt measured in my palm. It’s all a part of a sacrament, as holy as a day is spent…

– Carrie Newcomer

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Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org

Evan Almighty: A Review

Ah, the movies! We gorge ourselves on them just as we do on the popcorn, skittles, and soft drinks that go with them. Sometimes we swallow the most unhealthy of snacks without thinking; so also we can swallow whatever the silver screen throws at us. And then we go home… and think nothing of it.

“Ya see that movie, “Blah Blah: Revenge of the Whatever?” “Yeah, we saw it. It was pretty good.”

But deep down we thought it stunk. We know Hollywood could do better. Heck, WE could do better! How can we take our kids to stuff like this?

Enter “Evan Almighty”….

Tagged as “a comedy of biblical proportions”, I got to see a private screening last night, along with about 300 of my closest friends from all over the tri-state area. Now to be honest, I was ready for cheese. I saw the trailers. I thought the insta-beard thing was weird, and the animals crawling from behind every bush was just a wee bit…. outlandish. I figured this was just another attempt of Hollywood’s newly formed Christian Department to toss a bone to believers. “Heck, that Passion of the Christ movie brought them out of the woodwork! Who knew?”

But in the first 5 minutes, I found myself smiling…. impressed…. even delighted. I guess I came in with a pretty arrogant attitude! Granted, we have good reason to be suspect. Most of these films are so generic, so wimpy (going back to George Burns with Oh God I, II, and wasn’t there a III? and Bruce Almighty); they’re hardly biblical. They’re like cream of wheat, or oatmeal. None of the spice of the gospel. And in these films about God showing up as an old man in the 21st century, there never seems to be a real acknowledgement of the fact that He already came, and that God now does in fact have a face: it’s Jesus.

So that being said, if you put that aside and meet this film, Evan Almighty where it is…. in the midst of a secular society, grown fat and sluggish with materialist philosophy and capitalism, then it does have a few gems to treasure and timeless truths that ring loud and clear. Here are a few thoughts of mine (please feel free to share your own):

Morgan Freeman is a better God than George Burns, I have to admit. He’s just so smooth. And he has a host of great one liners in this film.

(As Evan drives to work, God appears in the backseat of the car and Evan screams at the top of his lungs. Morgan Freeman says “Let it out, son. It’s the beginning of wisdom.”)

There are powerful lessons about stewardship, self-sacrifice, family love and the place of work sprinkled throughout the movie. Evan learns much as he is literally stripped of an unhealthy preoccupation with himself, and his obsession with being neat. He eventually does choose, albeit almost too reluctantly, to do what God asks of him, even at the risk of losing his job and the affection and understanding of his wife and three sons. He also learns the key to life: a right relationship with God. In their first meeting, Evan asks the Stranger Morgan Freeman, “Do I know you?” and the answer comes “Not as well as I’d like you too.” (NICE!)

One of my favorite scenes takes place (OK, spoiler) in a diner between God and Evan’s wife. She’s despondent and feels like Evan has become unreachable. When a Mysterious Waiter appears, He draws out her sorrow and offers some powerful insights to help her. “When a person asks God for patience,” He says to her, “should God just give them patience, or opportunities to become more patient?” “If a person asks for courage, should God just give them courage, or opportunities for them to be courageous?” That’s good stuff….

All in all, Evan Almighty is a happy film with plenty of laughs and good lessons for the whole family. It’s family, in fact, that ends up being the real treasure here; a treasure that the Baxters almost lost and then found again. The overall message was clear; we ourselves should be faithful, side by side, two by two as it were, loving each other in the simplest of ways; performing Acts of Random Kindness for God and others is how we too can build our own ARK, gather others in, and therefore with Him, change the world.

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For a more scrutinizing and in depth review of the film, read Steven D. Greydanus’ article here.

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Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org

Our Trip to the Canadian Rockies

Well, thanks to .Mac we have our trip pictures loaded (at least 96 out of 490 pics!). You can check out the website by clicking here. We saw so much in such a short span of time! Enjoy!

Let the earth bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever. Mountains and hills, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Everything growing from the earth, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. You springs, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Seas and rivers, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. You dolphins and all water creatures, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. All you birds of the air, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. You sons of men, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

– Daniel 3:74-82

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Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org

Roadblock!

On our way through Jasper, surrounded by ridiculous amounts of natural beauty, these three Bighorn Sheep suddenly bounced down into the road from the craggy cliffs above. I wish we had this kind of “gaper delay” in Philly!

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Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org

Just a Teaser!

Here’s a glimpse of the Canadian Rockies from the top of Mt. Whistler!
Hope to have a web album posted by the weekend.

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

– Bilbo Baggins, Lord of the Rings

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Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org

Oh Canada!

Just waiting in the Edmonton International Airport now, ready to head south and home again!

We’ve had an amazing time up here in the Great White North. Friday and Saturday we spent in Edmonton, Alberta, at the National Symposium for COLF, the Catholic Organization for Life and Family here in Canada. (Check out the work of COLF for the New Evangelization here: www.colf.ca). There was a good turnout; wonderful people, young and old, men and women, from across the provinces, and even some from the States. Teens and teachers, married and religious, bishops and priests, and the curious as well. Enthusiasm for the Theology of the Body is strong here, and those who heard the late Pope John Paul II’s reflections on marriage, sexuality, and the meaning of life were genuinely inspired! We got a good dose of “northern hospitality” and the talk I gave on Friday seemed to be well received!

On Saturday we made our way west to the Canadian Rockies. Jasper National Park was a treasure for the eyes and we found ourselves totally awestruck by the grandeur of the mountains and the brilliant lakes and rivers. Incredible! Can’t wait to get back and post some pics!

SNAPSHOTS

+ staying at a little log chalet on the banks of the Athabasca River, in the heart of the mountains

+ the wild beast devouring or being devoured and screeching that woke Rebecca up at 2am, as I slept soundly… doh!

+ the sound and fury of the mountain waters rushing over cold stones

+ the color of the lakes and streams here is insane! Rebecca said it was “lac beauvert” (beautiful green).

+ watching black bears (from a distance!) dart across route 93

+ climbing the winding road on the way to Maligne Lake, as Bighorn Sheep grazed along the rocky slopes of the roadside, about 4 feet from our car

+ eating real buffalo… man, that was tasty

+ taking a tram (little red car suspended ridiculously high on thin wires over jagged rocks) up to the top of Mt. Whistler, high above the treeline

+ finding that little church on Sunday and singing the same songs I grew up with 3000 miles away

+ the Icefields Highway that slid through the biggest mountains we’ve ever seen for hours and hours…. and hours!

So ends a great journey and a wonderful experience of the North! Oh Canada, we’ll be back I’m sure!

+

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld

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Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org

Three Thoughts That Have Changed My Life

This Thursday, Rebecca and I are flying up to Western Canada and I’ll be giving an all day seminar on the Theology of the Body (please pray for us!). We can’t wait to share this message with our brothers and sisters “up north” …. (and seeing the Canadian Rockies is a wee bit exciting, I’m not gonna lie!)

I was asked not long ago to share what I thought might be the three most powerful thoughts to come from a study of Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body (a series of biblical reflections written by the late Pope John Paul II, called “one of the boldest reconfigurations of Catholic theology in centuries.” It addresses some of the most fundamental and important questions of human existence!)

Well, here are the three things that continually fill me with wonder and awe, and are daily becoming the tripod on which I stand to view God, Life and Everything in Between…

1. The body is holy.
2. Marriage is an appetizer.
3. God is a Lover.

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1. The body is holy.
So many of us grow up being conditioned to think that are bodies are somehow dirty, our desires always sinful, and sex is a guilty pleasure (even among the married!) We seem to forget that it was God Himself Who gave us our bodies! In the beginning, He declared them to be “very good,” and the first commandment He gave us was not a “Thou Shalt NOT” but a life-affirming, joyful, and ecstatic exclamation to “Be fruitful and multiply!”

So our bodies are holy, aka unique, set apart, different and wholly one with our souls. Not pieces of luggage our souls are wrapped in until death do us part. Our bodies are destined to share in the glory (or the horror) that is to come. The body is “a unique composite – a unity of spirit and matter, soul and body, fashioned in the image of God and destined to live forever.”

They/we are made for a communion, of which marriage is just a little glimmer! It’s the sad consequence of sin that has caused a rift in the body/soul harmony. Everyone today, in a hundred different ways, is trying to figure out how to restore the balance.

Our bodies are temples, really. I think we sometimes consider them to more like parish youth centers, or maybe modestly carpeted church basements. But they are TEMPLES! Something beautiful, something theological is expressed in and through our bodies! What is it?

2. Marriage is an appetizer.
The truth is we are made for COMMUNION. And we must become a gift for others in order for this communion to happen. It happens in a spiritual way primarily, but marriage here below gives it the physical sign for us to see, and for many of us, to experience.

Man is meant to become a total gift for woman and woman is meant to receive this gift from man, and then… life comes from the union of the two. This giving and receiving is the great dance, the spousal meaning of our bodies proclaims it. It points to the fact that in the end there will be the final realization of God’s plan for humanity and the universe. And that is…. (tadah!)

1. That we sit on clouds and strum harps?
2. We fan God on His Throne with palm branches saying “Yeah God!” ?

No… the final realization is the Wedding Feast of Heaven, when we at last come to see that God wants, not simply for us to follow the rules, be good, clean up our acts…. but above all God wants to MARRY US! Draw us into the Great Embrace of His Triune Love, a love that has ceaselessly been swirling about in the Love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! So marriage here below echoes that hope, gives us a glimmer of the love to come, and offers us even now that mysterious equation found in families: 1 + 1 = 1

One gives to another in love and makes another…. 1 + 1 = 1 and 1 = 3, a family. You’ve got three persons in one family. Sound familiar? The very mystery of Who God Is is stamped right in our bodies as male and female! We’re so much more than biology…. we’re biology that speaks a theology, a word about God!

3. God is a Lover.
This word that marriage speaks about God is that He is above all a Lover. Are we ready for this? Even though it is in fact love we all long for, did we ever think that God was the source of this Love? His is more than a Father’s love, or a Grandfather’s. His is the beginning and end of Love. Look at the saints and mystics….. their prayer became rapture, their hearts were wooed by the Divine. Pope John Paul II said “Prayer can progress as a genuine dialogue of love, to the point of rendering the person wholly possessed by the Divine Beloved, vibrating at the Spirit’s touch, resting filially on the Father’s heart. This is the lived experience of Christ’s promise…” (Novo Millennio Ineunte 33)

WOOHOOOOO!!!! If these truths don’t lead your heart to cry out for God and the deepest meaning of your own life, then I don’t know what can. So let’s trade in any false loves, any counterfeits we’ve bought into…. and we’ll cry out these ancient prayers from the Psalms:

“As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God. My being thirsts for God, the living God. When can I go and see the face of God?” (Psalm 42)

“My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the LORD. My heart and flesh cry out for the living God.” (Psalm 84)

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Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org