It Ain’t Easy Being Green… Or Is It?

Kermit the Frog used to sing, “It ain’t easy being green” but today, in our eco-conscious climate, it seems being “green” has never been easier. It’s a regular agenda, and not just from the crunchy cons, or the liberal left. Enter Pope Benedict:

Contemplating the beauty of creation inspires us to recognize the love of the Creator, that Love which “moves the sun and the other stars”…. It is imperative that mankind renew and strengthen “that covenant between human beings and the environment, which should mirror the creative love of God, from whom we come and towards whom we are journeying.
– Pope Benedict XVI

A Covenant with Creation?

For Catholics, this whole Green Movement isn’t just a passing fad. It was part of our marching orders way back in Eden; “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over all living things.” For most of our subsequent story, sadly, that call to stewardship, harmony, fecundity, and dominion, has decayed into a twisted domination. The word subdue meant to remember our headship as human persons and not fall into the trap of idolatry (the earth becoming an idol). But we went too far and laid waste to the land, like little Saurons creating our own little Mordors over and over again.

In the Holy Father’s Message for the Celebration of the World Day for Peace, given just a few weeks ago as we entered into the year of Our Lord 2010, he called attention to the pure gift of the environment we so often take for granted, saying:

“Many people experience peace and tranquillity, renewal and reinvigoration, when they come into close contact with the beauty and harmony of nature. There exists a certain reciprocity: as we care for creation, we realize that God, through creation, cares for us.”

That’s a uniquely Catholic vision… a sacramental vision. God, through creation, cares for us. The stuff of the earth, the swirl of molecules, the dance of matter, the splendid mosaic of earth and sky and water; all of this grand display is a storybook for us. God speaks through it all! What a wonderful thing. Everything is full of His wonders. A line from a Peter Mayer song comes to mind; “This morning outside I stood, saw a little red-winged bird, shining like a burning bush, singing like a Scripture verse. Made me want to bow my head… everything is holy now.”

I think a good dose of the natural world does wonders for the soul, especially in these days when it seems only the latest gadget is capable of instilling wonder and “magic.” Granted, we have some amazing works to ponder, but none are so magical as those that flow right from the Mind of God. Who can fashion a single seed, pregnant with the uniqueness of a rose, a giant Redwood, a human life? Only God. What a wonderful world! Great and wonderful are Your works O Lord! Let’s give them a second look, a long and penetrating gaze, and drink in the gratuitous beauty that God filled them with. For this cup overflows just for us!

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

A Heart for Haiti

I was in Haiti in 2002, driving through the rubble of the streets of Cite Soleil with a missionary priest named Fr. Tom Hagan (you can read an update of his experiences here). It looked as if an earthquake had already struck the land, and that was almost 8 years ago.

Why Haiti? Why so much sorrow and pain?

Something I can’t stop thinking about in my pondering of what’s happened is the thought that Haiti is the broken body of Christ. More than a thought, it’s the realization that Haiti is the broken body of Christ.

Haiti is like the youngest of Jacob’s sons, sold into bondage at the hands of jealous, greedy brothers. Haiti is the Suffering Servant in the Prophet Isaiah, whose back has been whipped in its sad history of slavery, and its beard plucked by the grasping hands of countries stripping its once fertile land of resources. Haiti is “making up for the things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ,” in the mysterious words of St. Paul. Haiti is a never-ending Passion Play.

If we believe that God came into our world out of love to take on our sorrows, than we can see God in Haiti. Mother Teresa always said that Jesus is in the distressing disguise of the poor.

God has come into our world, become one of us, become all of us. He doesn’t wear humanity over His Divinity like a robe that He casts off in the end. Jesus has married Divinity to humanity forever, world without end! Jesus is in every suffering, He has already suffered and he suffers still in everyone who suffers. Jesus is in Haiti.

At the Hands Together house in Port au Prince, where I stayed a few days with Fr. Tom, one of the most memorable sights was of the tabernacle in his little chapel. At first it caught me off guard. It looked like an old shoe box, or a pile of garbage. But a lamp burned beside it, and a Real Presence was there, in the midst of the slums of Cite Soleil.

Then Father explained, Jesus dwells with his people, and Jesus has become one of his own. So for the poor who live in cardboard homes, reinforced with sheet metal and tin, Jesus has a home of the same material. The Blessed Eucharist is there, in poverty, just as our brothers and sisters, made in God’s image, are there in the garbage and in the desolation of the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

Let us pray that Haiti, like Jesus, will return to the Land of the Living, rise from the darkness of the grave, and that we, brothers and sisters throughout the world, will continue to rise up and be present at this tomb. That we lend hearts and hands to this land of brave men and women, suffering souls who have suffered long and hard.

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To view the faces and places (and some rough video)

of my time in Haiti, click here.

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

Bible Smackdown – The Moses Edition

When Pope John Paul II called for a New Evangelization, he asked that it be “new in ardor, methods, and expressions.” I hope this is what he meant… Bible Smackdown is one of my ridiculous attempts (and successes, mind you) at getting my students to read and know (and love I hope) the Bible – the people, places, events, and lessons to be learned in the Word. So enjoy this little “teaser trailer” of our last episode!

THE SKINNY:
1. There are three teams, electing one “Moses” each (beards and robes provided).

2. All the students compile trivia questions from the appropriate book(s) of the Bible, our notes, etc. I add a few of my own as well.

3. I ask a question of the prospective Moseses… ending with the sonorous “ding” of Tibetian chimes, and the points go to the first hand up with the correct answer!

Two heseds (Hebrew for ‘mercy’) are given a game, where a Moses can ask his team for help “remembering” his life story and God’s work in it.

THE PRIZE:

The winning team gets to skip a homework assignment the following week!

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

A Few Good Men

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

The 13th Day

“In a world torn apart by persecution, war and oppression, three children were chosen to offer a message of hope. Based on the memoirs of Sister Lucia Santos and independent eye-witness accounts, The 13th Day dramatizes the incredible true story of three shepherd children from the village of Fatima in Portugal who experienced six apparitions with a Lady from Heaven between May and October 1917, which culminated in the final prophesied miracle.

The lady, who later revealed herself to be the Blessed Virgin Mary, gave a secret to the children told in three parts, from a harrowing vision of hell, to prophetic warnings of future events including the advent and timing of the Second World War, the spread of communism, and the attempted assassination of the Pope.

Stylistically beautiful and technically innovative, writer-directors Ian and Dominic Higgins use state-of-the-art digital effects to create stunning images of the visions and the final miracle that have never before been fully realized on screen. This film was shot on location in Portugal and in England.”

– from the trailer

For more information on The 13th Day visit www.The13thDayMovie.com

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

Real Men Pray the Rosary (and Women too!)

On a dusty road in Ireland’s countryside, back in the early years of the 20th century, a man was walking, communing with nature and with God. His fingers whispered through the beads, offering a prayer to the One through the soft repetition of words found in scripture…. “Our Father, Who is in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name….” “Hail Mary, full of grace…” He was stopped by British soldiers. The beads he prayed upon were nearly forced down his throat in an act of bestial bigotry. That man was my great grandfather, William.

I can still recall nights when my own father, William, would fall asleep in the chair holding his beads, stressing to us the importance of faith, of the rosary, of meditation on the Passion of Our Lord, and on the mysteries of the Gospels encapsulated in every set of “mysteries.”

Every action teaches, every reaction reinforces something for good or ill. Every move of the hand, every slip of the tongue. All the more reason then to train the tongue, and to mold the mind on the pattern of a higher love. That’s the goal of the Rosary….

Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. For the Catholic, the rosary is the soundtrack of the Gospel, the music of the meditation on the Word of God that keeps us tethered as it were by a string of beads to the life of Jesus and the life Mary in Scripture. May we take a hold of that life-line today, singing again the Song of Mary on the dusty roads we walk… “My soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit finds joy in God my Savior!”

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

Two Excellent Lectures Coming to the Philadelphia Area

“MARRIAGE AND FAMILY – THE CHURCH AND THE EMERGING CULTURE”

Lecture: HELEN ALVARE, Associate Professor of Law, George Mason University & Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2009 ♦ 12:15 P.M.

SAINT MONICA PARISH AUDITORIUM

635 FIRST AVENUE, BERWYN

FREE WILL OFFERING

“JOHN PAUL II AND EDITH TEIN: TRUTH & CONSEQUENCES”

Lecture: Scholar GEORGE WEIGEL

5th Annual Edith Stein Lecture Series

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.

Alumnae Hall Theater at Immaculata University

** Admission is Free **

Advanced phone registration is recommended

Please RSVP to Bambi Girafalco (610) 647-4400 x3438

or bgirafalco@immaculata.edu by September 23, 2009

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

How Babies Can Save the Human Race

First off, let’s all agree that the world is presently screwed up. For proof, click here. We’re too busy, too angry, too focused on work, too ignorant towards each other, too selfish, too lazy, etc… (or is it just me?)

Well, don’t despair! I’ve discovered in the past 10 months that salvation is near at hand.

BABIES CAN SAVE THE PLANET.

Oddly enough, you may have heard just the opposite. Some propose that babies eat up the planet’s resources, that there is a “population crisis”, and that we should all feel very, very guilty and irresponsible for not routinely contracepting and for ever considering having more than 1.5 children. Because aside from being stinky, babies leave a “carbon footprint” everywhere they go. As to the “population crisis” click here and check out Caritas in Veritate, section 44 to top it off.

But I believe the secret to building a happy, vibrant, life-affirming, love-soaked Civilization lies in a healthy abundance of those squishy Little People who are utterly dependent on us Big People. Here are Ten Reasons Why Babies Will Save the Human Race (feel free to add more reasons through the comment link below):

1. Babies make people talk to each other in parks, who normally might not give each other the time of day. Talking to people builds friendships, friendships build communities, communities build parks. Babies hang out in parks (and around and around we go!)

2. Babies learn EVERYTHING from their parents, by watching, listening, studying, and looking up at Mommy and Daddy…. and so should we.

3. Babies are the greatest “man-made” creations in the universe; they shall grow up and outlive the stars, each in their own way altering the course of human history, each absolutely unique and unrepeatable. How cool is that?

4. Babies are the fruit of the sexual union between a man and a woman. We need to be reminded that that’s how it works.

5. Babies are aware of everything and everything amazes them: lights, noise, colors, tinfoil, keys. We could all stand to be amazed again by the ordinary things around us.

6. Babies smell really good.

7. Babies conversely can smell really BAD. They need us to clean up their “poopy.” A constant reminder that we have our own “poopy” to clean up.

8. Babies are completely innocent, regardless of the way they were conceived, and have no guile, no sarcasm, no agendas. They are pure as the driven snow, fresh as a sea breeze, vulnerable as a flower. We need more purity, sea breezes, and flowers in this world.

9. Babies need us and we all need to feel needed.

10. Babies see the world as their playground, a wonderful gift made just for them. And so should we.

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

What’s Inside You?

One filled with joy preaches without preaching.
– Blessed Mother Teresa

Some people are seemingly always happy. Like the Psalmist says, “They have heard no evil news.” They float, they roll, they fly, they bear it and wear it well in all manner of circumstances. They actually believe Blessed Julian of Norwich’s famous phrase “All shall be well, in all manner of things. All shall be well.”

Please understand, I don’t mean a kind of flaky, out of touch, dilusional happy. I mean content, satisfied, fulfilled; actually possessing a deep peace at their center, regardless of the choppy waves on the surface of things.

I think the better word here is JOY. Happiness is too often the effect of happenstance, stuff happening to you.

“Hey, it’s stopped raining!”
“Ooo, a quarter!”
“I don’t have to pay for my parking?”

Real Joy flows more from convictions than it does from conditions. That’s why when the saints were suffering in such terrible conditions, they could still smile, be at peace, love. They had conviction. Their hearts were not shallow puddles that could tremble at the slightest atmospheric changes, but rather were deep wells of trust in God.

So there it is… a goal to shoot for; to place your pursuit of happiness not in feelings but in the freedom of your will. To begin to construct your conviction that all shall be well. To build the well within, and let God fill that well with His Grace. We’ll discover that even as bad as things may feel, they can never again rob us of His Joy.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Rom. 8:35-37)

It’s been said that if the joy Christians proclaimed with their lips were shining on their faces, there would be no unbelievers. Well, “peace begins with a smile” (Mother Teresa). So let us “rejoice always…. I say it again, rejoice!” (St. Paul) There’s a gloomy world out there that needs some serious silliness and “There’s no such thing as a sad saint.” (St. Theresa of Avila)

Thanks to Cecilia for the video below! The ending just about sums it up!

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

Validation

Thanks Mark Shea, for posting this on your blog. That was a well spent 15 minutes! Enjoy this funny and positively charming video…… and remember…. “You… are…. great!”

“Peace begins with a smile.”
– Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

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