Narnia- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

My family and I saw a great movie last night, C.S. Lewis's "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", I highly recommend seeing this movie. It was pointed out to me, that C.S Lewis rarely spoke about the meaning of his books, because he wanted the work to stand on its own feet. But for this book, in an interview he was asked, "What's the point of the Dawn Treader?", and his answer, "Oh, the Dawn Treader, well that's about the spiritual life,". Its so true, and so beautiful. Because there is no major outside evil force like the "Lion, witch and the wardrobe," The main enemy in this book, is inside the characters, the struggles that each of them face. I wanted to point to 4 instances in the movie that we can all learn from,-

1.) Lucy's Struggle- Her major struggle was her desire to be more beautiful. The question she needed answering was, where is her worth? Is your worth tied up in your inherent dignity as a child of God? Or is your worth tied up in your brains, your strength, your beauty? Because if it is, then your happiness will always be fleeting, and as Lucy found out, jealousy will always be right behind you, keeping you away from your mission, because there's always someone smarter, stronger, more money, and more beauty, etc.

2.) Eustace and the Dragon- In Eustaces desire for greed, desire to be above others, he actually became like a dragon, only desiring gain. Before he knew it, he was a dragon. But there was no way out, no amount of money could buy his original self back. But Aslan came to the rescue, Eustace could not remove the scales, so Aslan does it free of charge. This is Jesus with His gift of grace, its totally free and open to everyone, and He can lead us back to ourselves, back to our senses.

3.) Edmund and the desire for manhood- I think the most powerful scene in the movie is at the very end, where Edmund is given a way out of the struggle by the White Witch. She says to him, "Edmund all you want is to be a Man, come with me and I will make you a man," He decides to overcome his fear, and stay to fight. I thought, wow, that sums up the whole struggle for a man. Every man is tempted to believe that the way to manhood is within sexual triumphs, but that is not it at all. The way to manhood is that we stay and fight as a servant. That we give ourselves away, and grow in virtue and self control.

The perfect character is really Reepicheep, the heroic mouse. He is small, but he knows that greatness is alive within him, so he has no fear. He knows that Aslan is never very far away, so fear is pointless anyway. But the greatest part of this character is that he sees the greatness alive in others as well. Its one thing to know that greatness is alive in our own hearts, its another to see it in everyone we meet. As C.S. Lewis was fond of saying, "There are no mere mortals,".

Things to look for in "Its a Wonderful Life"

Do youself a big favor and watch It's a Wonderful Life this Christmas, and here is something to look for. Check out the quote under the Mr. Bailey's photo- As George is trying to decide to stay or go, he looks long and hard at his father's picture in the boardroom, under the picture is a quote from the Catholic saint, St. Lawerence, "You can only take with you, that which you give away," Critics have always said the movie is corny or overly simplistic, but that is crazy, because in many way's "Its a Wonderful Life" is a very dark movie, think about it, he yells at his kids, he yells at his wife, he yells at his childrens teacher, and he ends up drunk on top of a bridge ready to commit suicide. Can you get much darker than that?

George Bailey is probably one of the greatest characthers in the history of movie's, probably because it stay's so true to life. There is a constant struggle in every man's heart, to live for yourself, or to die to yourself. Here's the best part of the movie, George Bailey chooses to die to himself, but he does it relunctly. People critize the characther, because it does seem that his life's choices are thrust upon him, so what is the greatness in that. But watch as George makes his first choice in the movie, as he reads the St. Lawarence quote, "You can only take with you, that which you give away," This shows that he understood the choice he was making was for others, and not for himself. There is incredible beauty in that, because as the following choices come, you can almost see those words coming into his head each time. "You can only take with you, that which you give away,".

The Importance of Joy in the Spriitual Life

Writer H.L. Mencken described Puritanism as “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” And G.K. Chesterton once famously remarked about puritans:

"In America, they have a feast to celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims. Here in England, we should have a feast to celebrate their departure. "

Those fears of religious faith haunt secular people even to this day, and I think in some sense they haunt the religious believer as well. Here's the saddest part of the whole story for both the non believer and the believer, its not true. Here's a passage from the book of isiah about heaven, but also about the Kingdom of God in man's soul now,

"On this mountain the LORD of hosts
will provide for all peoples
A feast of rich food and choice wines,
juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples,
The web that is woven over all nations;
he will destroy death forever.
The Lord GOD will wipe away
the tears from all faces;"

St. Teresa of Avila famously commented, "Lord save us from sour faced saints," All the great saints knew that the devil is so angry about a joyful soul, because a joyful soul has great trust in God. We're called to give up on Gossip, pettiness, envy, anger. We are not called to give up on fun, and in fact fun can help us in the spiritual life, because it keeps tempations at bay. Think about it, when were sad or stressed, those are the moments when we can fall into sin the easiest.

So go out and enjoy life, and have fun, do you think God created this massive world of unbelievable beauty so that we should not enjoy it?

Grateful for the Pope

Sorry for not posting in a while, but the New York Times woke me up this morning with their constant mis-reading of Pope Benedict the 16th. I wanted to quickly weigh in on the Pope's comments on condoms, because it says something about the hope and love in this man's heart. You might be asking what does the Pope's statement on condom's have to do with hope and love? The answer is everything, and that is what the world is missing within this debate.

The question for the Pope was on condoms for the prevention of Aids? Here's the Pope's answer-
There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality.

Here's where the hope and love comes in, the first thing I thought when I read this was, the Pope believes there's even hope for a male prostitute. In some sense, could you fall any lower in the world away from your dignity of a child of God than becoming a male prostitute?, but there's hope for conversion even for a male prostitute.

All the Pope is saying is that Prostitution is such a grave evil, so beyond the pale, that a condom is not even a part of the moral equation. Its almost silly, can you imagine two prostitutes, saying, "lets stop, the Pope has said that condoms are evil," But if a prostitute used a condom, it is an awakening in his heart to some goodness, he is basically saying, "I don't want to harm this person any further, I don't want to sicken this person with aids," Its the beginning of conscience to think those things. Lastly the Pope makes it clear that the only answer to the Aids crises is a humanization of sex. Sex is not a drug, it is literally a life giving, and life creating act. To reduce it to mere pleasure is a real catastrophe, and sad, here's the Pope,"

"This means that the sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalization of sexuality, which, after all, is precisely the dangerous source of the attitude of no longer seeing sexuality as the expression of love, but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves. This is why the fight against the banalization of sexuality is also a part of the struggle to ensure that sexuality is treated as a positive value and to enable it to have a positive effect on the whole of man’s being. "

What a great country

As the results from yesterday's election was rolling in last night, and pundits discussed what it all meant, the thing that was going through my mind was, "what a great country," The balance of powers is a beautiful thing. I don't like this blog to be political, but I was very happy last night for two reasons that relate to the Faith. 1.) The amount of pro-life candidates who won was incredibly hopeful, and 2.) The debt and size of government is a moral issue.

Every society has to decide how much taxation is too much, and when you reach the tipping point, then the next questions becomes, where do we spend it. We don't have a revenue problem in America, we actually have a very healthy revenue with a $14 trillion economy. So where should we spend the revenue that is coming in. When you reach a point that you are going into debt, that is when you start hurting the very engine that feeds the $14 trillion. That is not fair. Like any family or group, there comes a time when you have to go into debt for an emergency, and maybe we reached that point with the economy in 08', but in the fix, you have to make sure you feed the horse that is pulling the carriage. People ask me all the time, as a Christian, don't you feel obligated that people have health care, and the answer is certainly yes, in fact, I want people to have health care, housing, cloths, food, all of the basic necessities.

The greatest way to lift the largest amount of people out of poverty, is a vibrant economy. St. Paul says, "let those who will not work, not eat," St. Paul knew that there was people in the society of his time that could not work, because they were sick, or handicapped. But he also knew that if you could work, than work was a good for man, and that if you could work, you should work.

We have to remember what pays for those services, and its our work. That is why I think Bill Clinton was so successful with Welfare reform, making work a condition of welfare. It is compassionate to live in reality, and we were made to use our creative gifts for work. We have to do the things that make our economy strong, so that we can pay for the necessary things in society. Going into debt only saddlebags a very healthy horse.

The 2 Dreams from "No Country for Old Men"

I can't say I would recommend either the book or the movie, because they are both very violent. But I have an affinity for Cormac McCarthey's book's because of the amazing talent this man has, he is an artist, and the spiritual depth is always very present. But it needs to be stated that his books are dark, and the movie's from the books are dark. But I don't think he uses violence for the sake of violence, he is using it as a tool to make a point.

I wanted to focus on the 2 dreams at the end of the book and the end of the movie, because I think there extremely powerful. The first dream is very small, but carries huge importance, "he met his father in town, and he gave me some money, but I lost it," His father passed onto him a tradition of goodness, but he lost it. We have to take authentic tradition, and build our life upon it, because much of the wisdom has been hard one, but if we don't, we will repeat all the same mistakes of the past. Within the Catholic Church there is literally a gold mine of saints, sinners, doctrine, art, liturgy, you name it, and we can learn from all of it.

The second dream is the most clear hint of the books intent, his father is riding his horse in the snow, the cold, and the dark, and he is going ahead of him to fix a fire. The world in this book is very dark, and clearly our own world is very dark, but what the sheriff finally learns is his fathers key message, that you can't spend your time worry about how dark the world is, you need to spend your time and energy "fix in a fire, in all that cold, and all that dark," That is really our mission, to reflect God's goodness and to be a part of God's goodness and beauty in the world.

Every time we do good for others, we are fix en that fire in the dark. That is why I love the "green card" of Alcoholics Anonymous so much, because they offer as one of the cures for alcoholism, to do 3 hidden acts of charity everyday. The clear implication is to get the focus off ourselves and onto other people, these small acts move the foundation of the world, and we are spending our energy in the right way, "fix en that fire in the dark".

The Powerful Message of Hoosiers

Every October 15th I have a tradition that I've passed on to my kids to watch the movie Hoosiers. October 15th is the official start of the college basketball season, and I've been doing this since my freshman year of high school. I used to just love the basketball element of the movie, which is terrific. The story of an incredible underdog that goes on to win the Indiana State championship. Recently, the other elements of the movie have really grabbed me, and there's two major theme's that run through the movie, which are huge!

1.) Forgiveness and a Second Chance- The movie chronicles a successful college basketball coach Norman Dale, who actually won a Division 1 national championship, but during a game was so angry with a player, that he hit him closed fist to the jaw. He was fired and banned from ever coaching college basketball again. He is given a second chance by a Christian head master in Indiana, at a small farm school. His conversion could have stopped there, but he continues the blessing by giving everyone that he comes into contact a second chance. The disrespectful players, the teachers and parents who can't stand him, and most dramatically, the second chance of Scooter, played unbelievably by Dennis Hopper (Everytime I watch it, I always say to my wife, this guy is an acting genius). I have said many times on this blog the quote from George Foreman, "Foregiveness is the thin line that holds the world together," There are so many blessings that God is ready to pour out if we foregive.

2.) Focus on the Bigger Picture- A couple weeks back I quoted the Orthodox monk from the Vanity Fair Article, "The smart man accepts, the idiot insists,", or said much better by Jesus, "Focus on the Kingdom of God, and all things will be added besides,". Norman Dale was given a second chance, and the rest of the time he simply focuses in on doing the next right thing. If we do the next right thing, God will take care of the big picture. Its difficult when we want to win in the short-term by sacrificing our morals, but this is where Faith and Trust come in, the times we want to push back, we have to give it over to God and Trust.

Fasting from Technology

I was given a great idea from First Things Magazine, to fast from all technology on Sunday's each week. So I tried it from 5:00 pm on Saturday to Monday morning, and I have to say that it was an incredible blessing. It let me focus on rest, when your checking your text's and your e-mails through out the day, your not completely resting.

Technology can be an incredible gift, I always think of the road system of the early Roman Empire, which allowed St Paul to travel freely and spread the gospel far and wide. When used as a tool, technology can be a huge blessing for spreading the gospel, and bringing people together. But it can also become an idol. Here is a quote from the Lord of the Rings on the Ring by Bilbo, see how much it resembles the way we view Smart Phones, and computers.

"Now that it comes to it, I don't like parting with it at all, I may say, and I don't really see why I should. Why do you want me to? he asked, "It would be a relief in a way not to be bothered with it, It has been growing on my mind recently, sometimes I've felt it like an eye looking at me, and I am always wanting to put it on and disappear, don't you know, or wondering if its safe, and pulling it out to be sure. I tried to lock it up, but I found I couldn't rest without it in my pocket. I don't know why, but I can't seem to make up my mind,"

That was a word for word quote from the Lord of the Rings. I didn't change anything. The words that jumped out at me, were, "I was always wanting to put it on and disappear". That is the main point, that technology has accomplished bringing worlds together, but in some ways it has made us grow apart from the people closest to us, because instead of engaging around a table, or becoming a better conversationalist, we can go to our nearest computer or smart phone, and disappear like Bilbo. The problem for Bilbo, Gollum and Frodo, if you use the ring too much, you lose your ability to be a hobbit. If a human disappears through technology too much, they lose their humanity.

My wife and I were laughing so hard the other night, when two high school kids were walking up the street, and they were both texting while they walked, not talking to each other, so I called out, "are you texting each other," It seems At&t stole my joke, in a recent commercial a couple over dinner texts each other instead of talking to each other.

The whole point is to make sure that technology never becomes an idol, that we use it as a tool, and one good way to secure against this, is just to turn it off from time to time, which for me, will continue to be on Sunday's.

The Beauty of Modesty

A Missionary priest that I'm friends with told me a story of riding a bus in the country of Nicaragua. When he boarded the bus in the country, the women were dressed so modestly that he was overcome by their beauty, to the point were he actually desired to give up his seat on the bus, he wanted to protect them. Then as they entered the city, a group of women poured onto the bus, and he felt an incredible desire to guard his eye's, because these women were dressed so immodestly. He was struck that these women all looked alike, they had almost the exact same features, but the first group led him to want to protect, they inspired manly virtues in him, while the second group inspired fear in him, and probably lust in many of the other men from the bus. Whether intentional or not, the dress brought out the worst desires of the men involved, while the first group brought out the best in all the men involved.

I thought about this while watching the Alfred Hitchcock movie, Rear Window with Grace Kelly, and then right after the movie, my wife and I finished the movie, we watched the end of the tv show "Dancing with the Stars,". During the movie, I watched one of the most physically beautiful women ever for two hours, and her dress was so modest and dignified that it led me to a good place, it gave me the desire to protect. I even commented on this to my wife during the film, that her dignity let me focus on her actual acting, her craft.

Then we watched the interviewer for Dancing with the Stars, and I had the exact opposite desire, it was fear, for her dignity and for my own. Grace Kelly was a lot more physically beautiful, but never for a moment was I afraid of her beauty. Modesty in culture is a good thing, but were afraid to speak about it, because we don't want to sound repressive or prudish. But its true, and its not only true for the men involved. Its true because the dignity of woman is important.

A lot has been made in our culture that men should grow up, and start seeing women properly, that if men lust after a women dressed immodestly, then he should have a change of heart, and see women's true beauty. This is all good, men should constantly strive to see women as God intended, but the more that women can do to lead men to the proper place, the better, for every one's dignity involved.

The Smart person accepts, the Idiot Insists

You really need to do yourself a favor and read online Michael Lewis article in Vanity Fair this month on the Orthodox monks from Greece that made over 1 billion dollars in real estate. The monk that pulled all of this off has a saying over the door of his office that reads, "THE SMART PERSON ACCEPTS, THE IDIOT INSISTS"......the monk explained to the writer the following: Take whatever is thrown at you and build upon it. "YES....and" rather than NO....but".

What incredible advice, and lessons to build a life upon. Take what is thrown at you, and build upon it. Say yes to your life, And I'm going to do the following. Instead of spending your life on the no of your life, but it could have been so much different.

Its so sad to watch people spend their life as a victim, if I had better parents my life would be different, if I had different friends, a different spouse, a different job, went to a different school, lived in a different area. There is so much in life to complain about, there really is, and its not getting you anywhere. The humble man accepts where he is in life, and builds, because its really the only place to start building. The prideful person just keeps on insisting on his own way.
The monk goes on to say, "The idiot is bound by his pride, it always has to be his way. This is also true of the person who is deceptive or doing things wrong. He always tries to justify himself.
A person who is bright in regard to his spiritual life is humble. He accepts what others tell him -- criticism -- ideas -- and works with them."

The humble person is always thinking about building, not looking back. The other thing that we forget, is that our weakness, sins, and sufferings could be where our greatest gift is found, but if we're not open to it we won't find it. The following quote is from Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses,
"...those who have endured some misfortune will always be set apart but that it is just that misfortune which is their gift and which is their strength and that they must make their way back into the common enterprise of man for without they do so it cannot go forward and they themselves will wither in bitterness"

"Yes to life, and" not, "no to life, but"

Windows and Doors

I am reading a small book that Pope Benedict wrote when he was a cardinal with the name "On Conscience", and he reflects on something that really struck me. When people only follow their personal conscience, they believe that they are living in a state of radical freedom, they are the masters of their own universe, but the truth is they are locked in their own small world, with their only context for reality being, their own thoughts and feelings. The person that allows his conscience to be purified by Jesus and by the Church, lives with the doors and windows of his soul completely open, because the Church is working with 2010 years of experience, and countless sinners and saints as teachers. Its the height of hubris to wake up in the year 2010 and think that you know it all.

That part of the book deals with a worldly deformed conscience, the other end of the spectrum is the deformed conscience of the sincere believer, this is known as scrupulosity, when the conscience convicts a person when there is in fact no sin or a very minor offense. It struck me that both have a similar problem, being closed in on oneself. Being closed. Both have a need to open the windows and doors of the soul.

Michael O'Brien in his book Sophia House has a central character who struggles with severe scrupulosity, and he is always writing in a diary, watching himself closely, when at the end of the book he realizes something powerful, life is only a real life, when its lived outward toward God and towards others. He writes in his diary,

"This is my final entry in these archives, no longer do I need these mirrors, for all around me are windows and doors," Peter Kreeft says it best, "Don't look at yourself so much, look at God and other people, there a lot more interesting,"

It was incredibly interesting to me that both Pope Benedict and Michael O'Brien used the image of Windows and Doors to describe the opposite end of a deformed conscience. One sure fire way to avoid struggles with conscience is to unite closely with the Bible and the Church, because there is hard won wisdom in both, and age old truth that sinners and saints have testified to.

A River Runs Through It

"My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things - trout as well as eternal salvation - come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy."

My wife and I watched "A River Runs Through it," on Friday night, and I have to say we loved it. We watched it before, but it never struck us as a great movie. But this time it did, maybe because we're parents now, maybe because the scenery is absolutely breathtaking.

There's some major theme's that run through the movie, the most obvious, is the desire to help those you love, and the acceptance that they may not even want your help, but that we need to do it anyway, because that is a key part of our humanity.

Something else struck me, and that is the similarities to the Bible's Story of the Prodigal Son, which happened to be Sunday's Gospel. This Elder brother is clearly more magnanimous than the Bible's version, but the similarities run through the whole movie. It shed light on something about the Bible's Prodigal Son's story. The Father in the movie, absolutely loves his Prodigal Son, he is fun to be around, he is kind, he is strong. The Father sees all the greatness about his son, but doesn't allow himself to see the weakness. I thought about two things, first, many times people who have addictions when they get help, become exceptional people, because they learn humility the hard way, and they learn to trust God and not themselves the hard way, and a lot of times their curiosity and zeal for life if directed the right way, becomes a terrific pearl for the world. The Second thing, I wonder if God doesn't see us in a similar way, because He is the one that gave us those gifts in the first place, He sees the greatness that this person can become, and He constantly desires us to wake up, and allow Him to direct those desires.

I strongly recommend re-watching "A River Runs Through it", if for no other reason than the amazing scenery.

The Great Gift of Work

Labor day was yesterday, so I wanted to post today on the joy of work. There's so much that can be said, but I wanted to focus on the gift that work is. Sort of an ode to work.

1.) Fear Reliever- The best way to dispel fear is meaningful action. In an NPR interview with George Foreman, he was asked why so many professional athletes make tons of money, to only lose it eventually. He had a great answer, "Most people have this small fear in them, that if circumstances were only slightly different, they might actually starve, this fear keeps them hungry, desiring to earn, while the person who has made significant money, feels that he can rest a while, and stops earning, once you have stopped, its very difficult to start again," This small fear is not a bad thing, it keeps our senses heightened, and keeps us hungry for meaningful work that dispels this fear.

2.) Greater Faith- The farmer needs to do everything right, wake early, till the soil well, but at the end of the day, he needs to trust that it will rain. This is completely out of his control, so he petitions God for help. The same is true for us, we can't worry about things outside of our control, we need to do our best, and then ask God in faith to fill in for those things that are lacking. In this way, work serves to strengthen our faith, because God does come through for us, and we get to see it in a tangible way.

3.) Enlarging our heart- Because work is such a deep part of man, we have the privilege of helping others through our work, both through work well done, and its a big part of Catholic tradition, to work hard to earn a lot of money so to give a lot of money to the poor. God made us to be magnanimous, because he's magnanimous . A desire to make a lot of money to support others, and give to the poor is a legit part of our desires, and a gift that God allows.

4.) Creativity- No one is more creative than God, there is no greater artist. We are made in his image and likeness, so its natural that we should want to create, and be creative. Work gives us this platform, to work on beauty.

All of these examples, are all the more reasons to pray for people that are out of work right now. With unemployment high, its an incredible work of mercy, to offer our contacts to others that they may find meaningful work. May God bless this country this year, that many men may find the joy of work;

The need for Silence

Mother Teresa's 100th birthday is approaching and I was struck by this quote that is with all of the announcements about her birth, because she is literally credited with hundreds of famous quotes,

"We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature—trees, flowers, grass—grow in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls." Mother Teresa.



This has been hitting me a lot recently, the need for silence. Technology has become such an assault on our senses, that if you don't actively seek silence everyday you will not find it. I am not against technology, as I am a proud owner of the iPhone, and I can see the good that technology brings to man, the danger is only when we become a slave to these things. A clear sign that we are becoming a slave, is when we value what's fake more than we value what's real.



This leaped off the page for me in the book Mr. Blue, which was required reading at all Jesuit high schools. The book was written in 1928, and it talks about a time when men will rather, "look at the ceilings in their rooms,", then , "explore the fields, the streams, the ocean, the mountains, the flowers,". Think about this for a second, that is exactly what has happened to kids today. They would rather play video games in their rooms, fake adventures, then find real adventures in the real world. It happens to adults to, our blackberry's, our iPhone, our gadgets, and we forsake what is most real, Our spouse, our kids, nature.



Again, technology offers the world a lot of good things, but we just have to be careful that it doesn't become an idol. The answer in my opinion is silence, nothing is more real than God's grace in our souls.

The Importance of Rest

Here is a great quote from Pope Benedict's Angelus a couple weeks back;

"Dear Friends, as I said, this Gospel passage is very important at vacation time, because it recalls the fact that the human person must work, must involve himself in domestic and professional concerns, to be sure, but he has need of God before all else, who is the interior light of love and truth. Without love, even the most important activities lose value and do not bring joy. Without a profound meaning, everything we do is reduced to sterile and disordered activism. And who gives us love and truth if not Jesus Christ? So let us learn, brothers and sisters, to help each other, to work together, but first of all to choose together the better part, which is and will always be our greater good.”

My goal for August this year is to use the opportunity that the month provides for additional silence and rest.

Bourne Identity

My wife and I watched the movie "The Bourne Identity" on Saturday night, it has been about 7 years since I've seen the movie, and I forgot how good the movie was. What gets lost in all the high paced thrills is the important message inherent in the movie., Our Identity. Don't get me wrong, Hollywood is Hollywood, and they have no problem messing up any good story with their misunderstandings about sex, in the movie, Jason Bourne sleeps with a girl he has known for about 48 hours, that really sends all the right messages, (But, hey I'm sure they loved each other?).

That was the only negative caveat. Because the message was powerful. Jason Bourne is a secret agent for the CIA, and he is involved in a failed mission where he is shot and wounded on his head, losing all memory of who he is. He is saved by a fishing boat, and he is literally left trying to reconstruct his life from the middle of the ocean. The first thing he says to the fishing boat captain is, "I don't know who I am", "I don't know where I'm going,". If you can't answer those two questions, life will be very challenging.

Here's where the movie gets really good, he starts seeing that he has all of these incredible powers, but he doesn't understand why, or what it tells him about his identity. There's a great scene where he's in a cafe and tells the girl , "I memorized every license plate in the parking lot, I can run 20 minutes all out with out getting tired," What normal person can do that? Jason Bourne's dilemma is really every humans dilemma, we have these incredible powers, think this through, "we can create a human life from literally nothing," The minds power, the intellects power is almost endless. But what does it tell us? We find ourselves in the middle of nowhere with all of these incredible powers, but we still haven't answered those first two questions, "Who am I", "Where am I going,"

The movie gets even deeper from there, because by ourselves those questions are very difficult to answer, so a girl named Maria helps him find the answers. Art is a beautiful thing, because it can take on meaning for the viewer that the artist did not originally intend. Two major points came to me about this, number 1, the person most suited for helping us answer this question is a girl named Maria, our Lady was the vessel that God used to bring Jesus to the world, and she is still introducing Jesus to souls everyday 2010 years later. We have to go to Mary, and she will take us by the hand to Jesus, the Rosary is as powerful a tool as there is to meet Mary. The second thought that came to me was, how powerful love is to lead us to answer those questions. Every healthy relationship should lead us to those answers, never away from them.

By the way, for me the answer to those questions are, (Who am I)- I'm a child of God, (Where am I going,?) Heaven. For Jason Bourne, all of his powers clearly pointed to a person that was a secret agent, for the Human, these gifts and powers that we all posses lead us to the answer, we must be a child of God the Father, our desire to create, our desire for beauty, our desire for love all point to the same place. Jesus will take us there if we surrender to Him.

Men that love Silence

My kids and I have really fallen in love with fishing this summer. Once you get the bug, its hard to get it out of your system, there are only a few highs quite like catching a fish in life. The moment the fish takes the bait, and your rod gets pulled down, then the fight begins, its pure adrenaline. Plus, the sun and the water, and being with friends, what a gift.

It led me to contemplate why Jesus chose fisherman as his first apostles. Here are a few reflections that I came up with that may help you in the spiritual life;

1.) Trust- In fishing, and also in the life of faith, you do your best, you set the line as well as you can, you get the proper bait for the fish you want, the best lines and tackle, but at the end of the day, you can't see what is happening under the water, you simply do your best, and trust God to provide. This requires trust, humility and simplicity. We can't worry about the results, we can simply do our best, and trust God to take care of it from there. This leads to great peace, because truth be told, if you do your part, the fish come.

2.) People, and Places- Alcoholics Anonymous has the famous saying about staying sober, or all forms of recovery, take care of people, places and things. In fishing, I've noticed that a huge part of success is going to the right spots, and usually when you get there, there's a lot of other good fisherman around. Life is very similar, we all have a desire for happiness, going to the right places is a huge part of this, and most times we find that there's a lot of people of good will all around those places. It strengthens our trust in man's goodness.

3.) Silence- This was the major point that I came away with, we fished at night once, and the common noise you heard was, shhhhhhhhh. Because we all became aware, that silence was the best chance for success in fishing. I envisioned the apostles, all scolding one another, to keep silent, and I pictured these strong men, who all came to love silence, because it was part of their job, the same is true in life, Faith grows in silence, it gives God the chance to speak to our souls. We need to find time to love silence everyday.

As with so many things in life, God makes enjoyable those things we need to live. We have to eat, so it could have been a drudgery to sustain ourselves, but God made eating something to be enjoyable. Which leads me to the last and best part of fishing, which is eating your catch.

“Saving nature’s unborn from Gulf oil disaster,”

The above was a headline from CNN this morning, and I really felt I needed to blog on this, because it moved me in two ways. First, how sad I am for the people and the animals in the gulf, I try to remember them ever day in my prayers, because in times like these its important to remember that God can work a miracle there, so we need to ask Him for one. But second, I tried to think of an instance where our journalist would use the same language for an unborn baby.

The Pro abortion movement has been able to steal language from the Pro-life movement with words like Choice, freedom. When in reality abortion has nothing to do with Choice and Freedom, because only one of the people involved is exercising and choice or freedom. My brother in law made a great point to me last weekend, that abortion as legal, should not even be a discussion, children deserve protection under the law, even from their parents, this is true from the moment they breath their first breath and it should be true from conception to natural death. The state and the individual don't have the right to take a life.

Whenever I mention abortion on this blog, I always feel moved for the women who have had an abortion, because they have been lied to more than anyone by the world. But the good news for them is confession, no priest will judge you, and the healing grace of Christ will heal the wound. I love this quote from my favorite boxer George Foreman, "Forgiveness is the thread that holds the whole world together," Its the thing we all need the most in the world, for ourselves and others.

The Joy of Confession

I had a great experience of Confession last week, with a Jesuit no less. Which for people that know me, the Jesuits are a little too liberal for my liking, but the beauty of all the sacraments are that they don't depend on the ideology or the worthiness or unworthiness of the person ministering the sacrament, God is ultimately the author. If God is the author of the Sacraments, then its important to listen, even if you have differing views on the world than that particular priest. This time there was two extremely important lessons, #1. From St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, if you really look closely at all sin, at the heart of the sin is usually ingratitude. Take gossip for example, if we were more gratitude for our lives and the beauty all around, we wouldn't waste time with the futility of gossip. Dishonesty, if we were grateful for our lives, we wouldn't seek to manipulate the world in anyway. Unchastity, jealousy, fear, etc, etc. So many times it points back to ingratitude.

So my advice in Confession was, "focus on gratitude for everything," and #2, this priest related a story of a bishop at a confirmation, who for the question period, asked the kids to list their fears, and 1 by 1, the kids listed their fears, (afraid of the dark, afraid of heights, afraid of suffering, etc, etc.) The list grew and grew, to the point where the parents were twitching in their seats. But finally the Bishop stopped everyone, and said, "there's a lot to be afraid of in the world, and that is why God has given us the Holy Spirit, so ask the Holy Spirit to come into the home of your heart, and watch your fears get evicted,"

Two great pieces of advice for the summer- Gratitude for everything, and allowing the Holy Spirit to remove all our fears,"

Never Giving up and allowing ourselves to be helped

I participated in a triathlon over the weekend, and I was incredibly moved by an event that happened during the race. A group by the name of Cadence, which takes kids that are from difficult social backgrounds, and introduces them to training for running and cycling, which through participation in races does an amazing job at building confidence, and they have achieved some tremendous results, of kids who were couch potatoes, losing significant unhealthy weight, and doing better in school. About 20 kids entered the triathlon last year, but could not do the swim, because they never learned how to. When the event was over, the kids felt so great, that 3 of them proclaimed we want to do the whole thing next year. So a company that donates a lot of money to Cadence, agreed to pay for swim lessons for the kids, and I mean swim lessons from the very beginning, they each never swam before in their lives, the kids were 14 through 16. Over a year, they trained, and were ready for the swim on Saturday. Five guys from the company that sponsored their training swam around them for safety reasons, and about half way through the 1/2 mile swim in open water, the youngest boy had a pretty major panic attacked, and wanted to get out of the water, the main executive who sponsored the team put the boy on his back to help him calm down, and said to him, "your safe, let me carry you to the finish line,", the young guy agreed, and my friend did breast-stroke with a 200 pound kid on his back for 1/2 the race, they made it to the bike, were the kids literally dominated with their speed in biking and running.

There was an amazing lesson here, we know that happiness is only possible if we live lives that help others, when we give of our strength, but the opposite is also true, we need to be willing to allow ourselves to be helped. Our weakness is nothing to be ashamed of, and the kid did not quit, he finished the race, he allowed himself to be helped in areas where he was weak, and he made it to areas where he was strong. Allow yourself to be helped by God and by others, we do our best, and then in humility, we let God take it from there.

The Power of Beauty

I read a great article on the painter Thomas Kincade last week from the journal First Things www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2010/06/thomas-kinkadersquos-cottage-fantasy. The premise of the article is that Beauty matters, you will be shocked at the power of Thomas Kincade's early works, but he seems to have traded the pursuit of objective beauty for commercial success, judge for yourself. Above is a painting that I really like from Thomas Kincade which brings the viewer into a summer night. I was searching for Fyodor Dostoevsky's quote "Beauty will save the world," and instead found 8 quotes that will get your week off to a great start. Much of our life's success hinges on understanding that our hunger for beauty is really just a hunger for God's love. Once we figure that out, so much of life just falls into place.

>"Beauty is a terrible and awful thing! It is terrible because it has not been fathomed, for God sets us nothing but riddles. Here the boundaries meet and all contradictions exist side by side."
- Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.
Fyodor Dostoevsky

Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad.
Fyodor Dostoevsky

If there is no God, everything is permitted.
Fyodor Dostoevsky

Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.
Fyodor Dostoevsky

One can know a man from his laugh, and if you like a man's laugh before you know anything of him, you may confidently say that he is a good man.
Fyodor Dostoevsky

To live without Hope is to Cease to live.
Fyodor Dostoevsky

To love someone means to see him as God intended him.
Fyodor Dostoevsky

Levity and the Spiritual Life

Levity and Joy are so important to the spiritual life, because they are the antithesis of Discouragement and hopelessness. The reason its so important to fight against discouragement and hopelessness is because these are the times when we are most easily tempted. When we are thankful and full of joy, we are more likely to choose virtue and love. The saints knew this well, below are some examples.
St. Thomas More- thought that Levity was such an important part of the spiritual life that he actually bought a pet Monkey to run around his house, because he always wanted his home to be a place of jokes and laughter. In fact, basically the last thing Thomas More ever said was a joke. He told the person that was about to behead him that, he'd better sharpen the blade, because he was known to be "thick-necked". What Faith, he is about to get his head removed, and he is cracking jokes.
St. Phillip Neri- Was known as the Clown, he valued Joy and Laughter so much. Whenever a person came to confession taking themselves to seriously, he would give them a penance to lighten them up, for example he asked one man to shave 1/2 of his beard for a week. He begged God for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and God gave it to him in abundance. It was discovered at his death that his heart was almost double the normal size, he was so kind to people in confession, that people reported feeling warm whenever they would leave confession with him. He was truly a Lion from the pulpit, but a lamb in the confessional.
John Paul II- It was found out after his death, that he would sneak out of the Vatican to make ski trips in the northern part of Italy. He thought exercise was so important, that he asked the Vatican when he became Pope to build a swimming pool, when they stated it would be too expensive to build one, he replied, can you imagine how expensive it would be to elect a new pope, and they built the pool. When a reporter spotted him skiing one time as Pope, he was amazed how talented he was, and asked, "isn't it a scandal that the Pope is such a good skier," to which JP II responded, "It would only be a scandal if the Pope weren't a great skier,"
St. Francis of Assisi- It was said that whenever a brother would come into the community looking downcast, he would tell them, "return to your cell for prayer, until you discover the Joy of your salvation,"
We are made for Joy, just look at children, its their natural response to life. Prayer and the Sacraments are the road to Joy, especially confession and the Eucharist. As St. Francis said, after spending time before the tabernacle its very hard not to find the Joy of our life. I love the below quote from Tolkien,
"Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament . . . There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves upon earth . . . which every man's heart desires."

Positive News for a Change

I am always harping on the news and the media for giving the world so much negativity, when the truth is the world has so much wonder to enjoy. But when the media gets it right, I think its fair to give them credit.

1.) Better than Perfect: The blown perfect game last week for Detroit Tigers Pitcher Armando Galarraga was the first major news story. When I first heard it, my immediate thought was to give him the perfect game, it was obvious that he deserved it. Until I heard George Will's commentary in the Washington Post. He said that if you give it away, all you have is the 21st perfect game in history, but what happened was actually better than a perfect game. The actions of the pitcher and the umpire, was an incredible life lesson, and it made me realize what's terrific about the imperfections in baseball. Baseball mirrors life, in baseball the imperfections make it great, maybe we should realize that life's imperfections are what make life great. The truth of the matter is, "you can pitch a perfect game, literally do everything right, and on the very last play, the umpire kicks the call," True in baseball, and true in life. In life, we should expect that maybe God has something better planned.

2.) One of my heroes dies: John Wooden died on Friday night last week, and again the media caught the true essence of the man. I've never met John Wooden, so I can't vouch for anything about him, however I have to say that I have been greatly influenced by his thought and his philosophy since college. What has always struck me most about him, was how he placed process over results as the true measure of uncovering our own greatness. He never mentioned the word win, it was only about meeting our potential. When he was asked about this in a pbs special, the interviewer took exception with him, "I find it very hard to believe that after 10 national championships that you never cared about winning," Wooden stopped him, "oh no, you have it wrong, I cared about winning everyday of my life, I just never let the scoreboard be the judge of whether I won or lost," He would speak often about how there were many games where they lost on the scoreboard, but they won, because they met their potential.

3.) Shrek- Forever after: I took the kids to see Shrek, Forever after over the weekend, and I was expecting Hollywood to give my kids plenty of worldly ideas for their minds. But thankfully the exact opposite happened, I was amazed that Hollywood has given the world a true gem with this movie. It was fun, and had an incredible message: Life is sacred, so live it with true thanksgiving everyday.

The Best Things about Summer

Now that summer has unofficially kicked off with Memorial day, I wanted to offer some of my personal favorite things. Summer offers so many things to look forward to and enjoy, here's only a few, I hope to contuinue to add to the list over the next week:

1.) Summer Food (Bar-b-q's)- I absolutely love summer food, this could be a list in and of itself, I always think how food reflects God's goodness in so many ways, He could have just made the body to have limited needs from food, and those needs don't have to be enjoyable either, but God made it so that we need food to survive, and we can enjoy it. Corn on the cob, Jersey tomato's, wine or beer while over-looking the ocean at the beach, sea-food, water-ice, this could be a post unto itself. Food is a great opportunity for gratitude.
2.) Swimming- Pools, Ocean, Bay, Lakes- I love it all, and the fun things you can do- Surfing, water-skiing, body-surfing, exercise. Again, water reflects the goodness of God, we need it for survival, but God makes it enjoyable, I even like drinking water.
3.) Increased Family Time- There are so many things to do together as a family in the summer- Beach time, bike rides, concerts together, parades, baseball games, hikes, going for walks together at night time. We need exercise for health, but God makes it fun.
4.) Vacation-

I will add to this list as the week goes on, and please add any comments about the best things of summer;

Memorial Day Special

With Memorial day approaching this coming weekend, I wanted to offer a blog solely in honor of Memorial day. I've been reading Ronald Reagan's biography, "When Character was King," and have to say that I am even more impressed with him than I was before. His last speech before leaving the white house started with a story about a Navy ship that was sailing in the seas off Vietnam, and they came upon a boat of refugee's, about 30 people, and one of the men who could barely speak English stood up and said, "Hey American sailor, Hey Freedom man," Its such a simple story, but it really moved me. I remember once traveling in Europe, and in my terminal there were 5-7 American soldiers returning home to America, and just their presence gave me so much comfort. Reagan recounted how moved he was when he heard the story, because it says everything about who we are as a people. "Freedom Man". Our freedom is what makes us great, and our American soldiers really see themselves as defenders of freedom in the world. I think about it everyday, how great America truly is. Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

But as Victor Frankl said, "If you are going to have a statue of Liberty, then you need a statue of Responsibility," Boy have we seen that in this country over our history, how Freedoms and Liberties can quickly turn into narcissism if we are not careful. But the genius of this country, is that we take our chances with more freedom everyday, because the desire for the True, the Good and Beautiful are present in every human life. But it needs to be constantly pointed out that the foundation of this country is not just more Liberty for its own sake, but more Liberty to do the right thing. More Freedom to choose the Good, the True and the Beautiful. What would be great about doing the right thing, if you were forced to do it.

That's why I really think the answer to the way our country has moved closer to Socialism is to become even more generous to the poor, to become more charitable. When we are over taxed, it becomes harder to give, but that is one of the ways to show the goodness present in Capitalism.

The Dignity of Atticus Fitch

My wife and I watched the classic movie "To Kill a Mockingbird" last night. If you haven't seen it or haven't seen it in a while, then do yourself a major favor and rent it this summer. There's so many incredible messages in the movie and even more in the book. I wanted to point out two points that really stuck with me, the first is the dignity of Atticus Fitch's poverty. In the very beginning of the movie, Scout asked her dad, "Atticus are we poor?", to which he responds, "we most certainly are,". He works for the local courthouse, so he clearly doesn't have a lot of money. But that is not his focus, his children and his work are his focus. Its sad in our culture that we attribute happiness to wealth, or greatness to how much we have, or how comfortable we are. Hollywood did the world a tremendous service with a character like Atticus Fitch, because he shows for our eyes, that greatness comes from the truth in love, not from money.

The second point is done in such an artistic way, that I have to admit being dumbstruck by its brilliance. How much son's want greatness from their fathers, and here's the good news, how our son's will measure greatness has nothing to do with money. It will have to do with the amount of times we choose to be strong, even when it hurts. There's a beautiful scene at the start of the film, when Atticus is sitting by himself on the porch swing, and his children are talking in their beds before falling asleep, Scout asks her brother, "was mom pretty?" Atticus over hears the conversation, as he rocks slowly by himself on the swing. Here is a man that has made a choice to stand in the gap for his children, even though its incredibly lonely and painfully, he doesn't leave them.

The final courtroom scene has probably released enough tears over the past 50 + years to cause major flooding through-out the world, as the entire black community is gathered in the loft of the courthouse, and as Atticus prepares to walk out, everyone stands to let him pass. His daughter is laying down from being tired, and the Reverend finally says, "please stand, your father is passing," Trust me, do yourself a favor and rent this movie this summer.

Humility and Happiness

GK Chesterton has a famous quote, "Without humility you can not enjoy anything, not even your pride," I've been reading Tom Wolfe's book, "Bonfire of the Vanities," Tom Wolfe's Wikipedia page claims that he is an atheist, and he might be, but he also seems to enjoy exploring religious themes. The books title actually comes from the book of Ecclesiastes, "Vanity of Vanities, all things are vanity,"

The one things about the book that I don't like is Tom Wolfe's lack of concern for common decency in describing things, I'm ok with starkness in literature, my favorite writers are extremely stark, Tolkien, Cormac McCarthy. But they do it in a serious way, to make a point. Tom Wolfe in my opinion, is too immodest in dealing with everyday faults, but at times in my opinion it lacks seriousness.

But what I have loved about the book is how clearly it proves the above quote from Chesterton, "Without humility you can not enjoy anything," The central character Sherman McCoy is a man with a life full of incredible blessings, he's extremely wealthy, he has a beautiful wife, a beautiful child, all of the privileges of life, etc, etc. But he is full of pride, and has no happiness. Sherman McCoy is not the only one where pride ruins things, the book is cast full of characters where their root sin is pride. It clearly shows people that are poor, outcast, that struggle because they refuse to accept humility. There is a difference between humiliation and humility. Humility is something that the rich, poor, and middle class all need.

Here's the good news, the opposite quote is also true, "with humility we can enjoy all things," Part of the lesson is of humility is that we can not make ourselves the center of the universe. Peter Kreft has a great quote, "Focus on God and other people, there a lot more interesting," There is so much in life to enjoy, people, nature, ideas, art, etc, that's enough reason to focus on humility.

The Sea and The Mystery of God

I have to say that I am completely and utterly fascinated by the Ocean, the grandeur and mystery. When I look back I'm actually surprised that I have never blogged on the ocean before, because of my deep attraction to it. My wife and I were listening to Peter Kreft's talk on the ocean, and we were mesmerized for over an hour, he could have went on for the entire night, and you would still want more, it was quite possibly the best talk I've ever listened to, probably because of love the subject so much. (you can find it for your ipod at http://www.peterkreft.com/).

I've always been taken by the beauty, the grandeur, the mystery, but there's something more that I was never able to put my finger on, and Peter Kreft hit it, the ocean is a lover. That's why people for centuries have referred to the ocean as She. The color and the smell is different every time you experience it. Think about that, and like every good lover, every time you have an encounter with the Ocean, you are always, and I mean always Renewed and Inspired, that's what great lovers do, they renew and inspire. Bad lovers, suck life out of their subject, like a vampire, good lovers infuse life. That's why the example of Jesus and a Vampire is important, the one sucks your blood out and takes, the other actually gives you His blood, and fills you with Life- The Eucharist.

The Ocean is a good Lover, its stormy sometimes, but we love even that, we love everything about it, because it reflects so much of who God is. He is full of mystery, but he's also close. Think of all the times you have simply flopped around the shore of the ocean and time stopped, the ocean was that close and personal. We have something of a holy fear of the ocean, not because its bad, but because its powerful, and awesome, we give that under-tow potential the respect it deserves and rightly so. God should be feared, because He is awesome and powerful.

The ocean always gives us its best, we should model this in our own life, to focus on giving energy and strength to those around us, and never sucking or controlling. The ocean doesn't try to control us, because it doesn't have to, the beauty of its self gift is enough already, it doesn't have to convince us to come back again, we are just drawn to it.

I am always amazed that when I swim in the ocean, I am revived for hours on end, and then at night I sleep with completely peace. Great spouses do the same thing, its a perfect example to follow, to make ourselves the gift, to think of others first!

Anything Possible with The Eucharist

I heard a great homily on Friday morning from Father Shaun Mahoney, the chaplain at Temple University's Newmann center. He related a story that his father always told from a physicist teacher of his 70 years ago. The teacher would start the year by placing a cup of water at the front of his class, and state with great enthusiasm, "there is enough energy in that cup of water to drive the largest ship in the world from Europe and back,". It was right at the time that America was fascinated by the power of atoms.

Father Shaun pointed to the tabernacle, and stated, "there is enough power in that tabernacle to do anything", The power of God is real, and He is present in the tabernacle. For us to visit at anytime during the day. Mother Teresa would often speak of the desperate lack of love in the world. The Eucharist is the great answer to this need. Jesus accepts us, and brings us into his heart. In my mind its no accident, that as the Eucharist was being given on Holy Thursday night, the gospel gives us the image of St. John laying his head on the chest of Jesus, and listening to his heart. That is what we are called to when we sit in front of the tabernacle, to place our head on the chest of Jesus, and listen to His great heart.

In the world there are certain problems that sadly can not be overcome, but with the Eucharist there is no problem that can not be solved, or at least be carried through. I have seen it. That is the great invitation this week, to listen to the heart of Christ.

Andy Rooney on Desire

Its funny because I was prepared to blog this morning on desire, and as I watched 60 Minutes last night, it appears that Andy Rooney beat me to it. His whole pitch last night was about how it would be great if science could do something about man's desires. He had some funny jokes about how every day at lunch he always sees 2 cookies and he needs to eat both of them, why can't he just take 1. His thesis was, science has come a long way, why don't they create a pill that will take away our desire. His example taken to the extreme is Tiger Woods, why wasn't he satisfied with 1 beautiful wife. The examples go on and on. Man's desires and his appetites are in some way insatiable. As I was listening to Andy Rooney, it dawned on me that it would be terrible to remove our desires. The beauty of having 2 cookies in front of you and you want both, is first off, lets be grateful that cookies are enjoyable and #2 every time we choose the good, every time we choose only 1 cookie our will is strengthened.

Man's heart is like a great river, when its running inside the banks of that river, everything works fine, when the river runs over the borders, its worries get spread 1 mile wide and an inch deep. That's the beauty of the moral life within the Catholic Faith, when we stay within the heart of the Church our will is strengthened and our desires are directed to the right places.

The answer comes back to gratitude for how God made us, not removing our desires. If we were to take away all desire, we would live in an incredibly boring world, we might have a lot of thin people, but it would be boring, and we wouldn't get the joy of choosing only 1 cookie.

The Great Easter Season

Its almost like God perfectly planned when the world would celebrate the Easter season. Actually, he did plan it perfectly. Lent is always strategically placed at the end of winter, its the final death blow to a cold and dark season. Athletes know this as the time in the game when you need to dig in, get in your stance more, fight through the pain and discomfort. Then the victory comes and its time to celebrate. Only difference is that the victory is not ours, but in the magnimitity of God, we get to celebrate like it is. Even if you failed in your lenten journey, celebration is still required during Easter. Because again, its not about us, Thanksgiving is about looking outward, at what God has done and is doing, and at others. Celebration and Thanksgiving is a powerful tool in the world. The Church offers 40 days for penance and renewal, but they offer 50 days for celebration. When ever I hear that the Church is not balanced, I always respond your right, the Church faults mightily on the side of Mercy, Joy and Thanksgiving. But most people don't focus on what the church actually teaches, they get their doctrine from the New York Times, Boston Globe, and Wall Street Journal.

This upcoming Sunday proves my point. Divine Mercy Sunday is always the Sunday after Easter. The perfect time for Confession. God is ready to wipe the slate clean for you, I mean completely clean. Think about this for a second about "balance". The alcoholic drives his car into a tree, injuring himself, and having to spend the next 2 years in prison. He apologizes to the Court and the world, they both decide to forgive him. But that apology does not take away the temporal effects of what he did, he will still spend 2 years in jail, and have permanent injuries from the Crash. In God's Court its much different, when we sin, there are temporal punishments and long term punishments, but during Divine Mercy Sunday, God not only forgives us, but He takes away all the temporal effects of our sin on our soul. Its literally as if you never sinned. Talk about balance. All we have to do is run to that merciful Father. There is no better week!

Your Spouse is first.

My wife and I went to a great concert on last Friday night, and the singer, an Irish tenor Mark Forrest, told a great story about Gregory Peck, how he converted to Catholicism towards the end of his life, and about a time that Mark sang at an award ceremony for Peck. During Gregory Peck's acceptance speech, he stated, that the only thing that really matter to him was, "being a great father," It was an awesome sentiment. But right when I heard it, I thought to myself that it was slightly out of order.

In my opinion the order that even kids prefer is for a father to be a great husband to their mom, and the great father part falls naturally in line. John Wooden has a great quote, "If you want to do something great for your kids, love their mother," It really makes perfect sense, because all kids love their moms. Its mom's that kids run to when they skim their knee, not dad's. Kids love their mom's. So whenever a father doesn't love his spouse, it creates an enormous credibility problem with the kids, because you have failed the only test your kids are giving you, you've failed the only test they want you to pass.

Men have a legitimate desire in their hearts, they want to be a great father. They want to provide for and love their kids. But sometimes the order gets messed up, the start needs to be with your spouse. Every time you hug your wife in front of your kids, or get her flowers, or say a kind word, its ultimately the kids who receive that love, because that's the action they want from you.

Having said all that, its true that life is rarely that easy. We have all done things and said things that hurt our spouse, and in turn hurt our children. But as the saying from the Church Fathers goes, "Every moment the world begins anew," applies here as well. If we haven't been the spouse we are capable of being, then there is no better time to start than today, with Easter 13 days away, there's no better resolution for the final days of Lent.

Great E-mail for Lent

Sorry for not posting this week, my sister sent this e-mail along to me last night, and I thought you would enjoy it, I will be back posting on Monday,

1. Keep skid chains on your tongue; always say less than you think. Cultivate a low, persuasive voice. How you say it counts more than what you say.
2. Make promises sparingly, and keep them faithfully, no matter what it costs.
3. Never let an oppurtunity pass to say a kind and encouraging word to or about somebody. Praise good work, regardless of who did it. If criticism is needed, crticize helpfully, never spitefully.
4. Be interested in others, their pursuits, their work, their homes and their families. Make merry with those who rejoice; with those who weep, mourn. Let everyone you meet, however humble, feel that you regard him as a person of importance.
5. Be cheerful. Don't burden or depress those around you by dwelling on your minor aches and pains and small disappointments. Remember, everyone is carrying some kind of a load.
6. Keep an open mind. Discuss but don't argue. It is a mark of a superior mind to be able to disagree without being disagreeable.
7. Let your virtues, if you have any, speak for themselves. Refuse to talk of another's vices. Discourage gossip. It is a waste of valuable time and can be extremely destructive.
8. Be careful of another's feelings. Wit and humor at the other person's expense are rarely worth it and may hurt when least expected.
9. Pay no attention to ill-natured remarks about you. Remember, the person who carried the message may not be the most accurate reporter in the world. Simply live so that nobody will believe them. Disordered nerves and bad digestion are a common cause of backbiting.
10. Don't be too anxious about the credit due you. Do your best, adn be patient. Forget about yourself, and let others "remember." Success is much sweeter that way.

Lent and the Tongue

My kids and I saw a couple walking their dog yesterday, and he was on a leash that was only connected to his mouth, but this small lease controlled the whole dog. It made me think about the image that St. James uses in his epsitle about the tongue. The two images that he uses are a large ship being controlled by a rudder, and a large horse being controlled by a brittle. This is such a huge lesson for us, the power of the tongue.

If ever there was a great resolution for Lent, its to give up gossip and verbiage. Because I am learning more and more that our tongue controls so much of our Christian Life. Its a small part of our body, but its a rudder for the whole ship. This is such a struggle for me, but I know its the fasting that God seeks. To fast from speaking negatively at all. We will approach the whole day with joy, if we can win the battle of the tongue!

Achingly Beautiful

As usual my best posts don't come from me, this is from Michael Novaks wife's eulogy at her funeral, it represents the heart of a Christian marriage. The Beauty here will furnish your soul all week.

Thank you, lady, for reminding me what it was like
To fall in love with Karen.
Fifty years ago. It was her eyes that did me in,
Blue as the sapphire stonesShe bought along the
Indian Ocean.Blue, with sadness deep behind them,
And merriment like candle’s flames on golden foil.
Eyes incapable of malice,Radiant from her heart.
We talked and talked, newly met,
Though we had knownEach other ever since forever.

We knew the darkness and the night —
That may have been our deepest bond.
We weren’t afraid of night.
A woman who has suffered much, as Tolstoi wrote,Inflames a lover’s heart.
I cannot say if Karen loved me.
That was a word she rationed,
As if in uttering it she lost her self –
Which fighting to hold safe so many years,
Impressionable and unconflictive(As she wished to be) she could not give away.
To say would utterly destroy her, poof!Like dust she’d blow away.
No, it was crucial that she act with love
But seldom say the word.
Crucial that she trust.Crucial to stay the Self
She had, so much embattled, won.

But oh! I loved her
And loving her burst into joy,
An oven suddenly ignited.
Who could not love her shyness,
Her evasive smile of pleasure.
Her self-dramatizing humor about herself?
Her idle dream had been to be an actress
A comedienne of dance and music,
Light of heart and blithe.
What she really wantedWas to be the next Picasso.
Kokoschka had told her that she could.

She was self-mockingly insistent
That her I married, for her mind,
To which I readily agreed
Although not wholly true.
Yes,Without her darkness of experience,
Without her wit,
Without her flashes to the heart of things,
My soul could not have been so deeply wounded.
But I was stricken also by her figureAnd her shy, shy smile.

Still later, then, her works of art I saw,
Which took my breath away.
A woman always struggling,
Always suffering,Conflicted, active, bold.Uncompromisingly,
She stripped away the skin from straining sinews
And showed live bones in pain(Or maybe only tension)
And underneath each face the mask of death.
She saw life trulyIn its awfulness and joy.
Fiercest angels did she wrestle.
“Every angel,” her Rilke wrote, “is terrible.”

Parting (in 1962), I handed her my novel,
About a soul stripped down to nothingness
Yet rejoicing in the dark(Where alone God can be found).
Her favorite books were Avila’s,
And The Dark Night of the Soul.Mine, too.
She thought I’d been pretentious,
She later wrote,
For handing her my book.
But she read it on the plane
One end to the other.
She slyly hinted that she liked it.

So we were free to love like children
Who had learned to trust,
Yet knew the fingers on the windowpane,
In darkness and in rain.We were made to meet.
Or so I felt in thirty minutes
Across the booth from her in Harvard Square.
Most extraordinary thing:I had described her in my novel
Two years before we met.
Lovely girl, an artist,Upon Bernini’s bridge at midnight
When the Tiber turned to silver
Beneath a silver moon.*

So I knew that I had known her
And would marry her.Knew, but didn’t say a word.
For four days we did nothing
But go out together.
She was fearless driving Boston streets.
was what convinced me
She was tough.
More tough than I.
Which was in my dream.

I knew I loved her, almost bam!
It took her longer:
Three close suitors in hot pursuit,
Each one aspiring lawyer as if
In answer to her lawyer father’s prayers.
One did love her mightily, I later learned.
Thank God she took a leap toward me.

We were apart all summer,
She at the Worcester School of Art,
And I in Europe, steadily describing to her
All I saw, and quietly insinuating…
We were meant to meet.
A hundred letters sent in all–Desperate to hold her heart.

Just last month,My sister found her photo,
Sitting on my parents’ lawnIn September, 1962.
My brother Dick (whom K. had met at Harvard)
Was on his way to Bangladesh,
And Karen planned her drive from Iowa
To pick me up, both Harvard-bound,To bid dear Dick farewell.(Little did we know it was forever.)

She sits upon the lawn her knees drawn up
In short black shorts, a Vee-striped blouse
Of orange and brown, and on her head
A turban striped the same.
A skinny, gawky kid in shell-rimmed glasses
Sits as close to her as decency permits.
Can that be me?
Even then I asked myself,Can this be me?
How can that fellow sit with such a oneIn total inner peace?

Our honeymoon some ten months thence,
On Minnesota’s Forest Lake–
My beloved walked into the bath,
A towel on arm but not a stitch of clothes,
And closed the door.
Let out a piercing shriek, fell back,
Slid downward noisily onto the floor.
Had burglers broken in?
Leaping to the door, I saw a bat attacking her.I
pulled her out, and stepped inside
To face the bat, and illumination struck my mind:
“So this is what a married man is for?”Gulping folded up a towel to swing
And watched its swoopsAs closely as a pitcher’s wicked curve
When it buzzed in and dove at me.
I caught it fairly, brought it down
But in the motion felled myself.
Here Karen showed her wit,Broke in, a basket in her hands
Which she slapped down upon the now-dazed bat.
“How do we get it out of here?”I asked with weak male reason.
She answered me with motion,
Returning with a cardboard square
To slip beneath the basket.
Cool as a cop she marched it to the darkened door
And flicked it up into the night.
What a cool, cool girl, I marvel,Then and now.

St Thomas (Aquinas) wrote, “Of all friendships,Marriage is by far the greatest.”
I used to tell my classes that,
And say that it is true.
The only thing – I used to warn – is this:
If you don’t like the truth about yourself,
Then don’t get married.When you live close in,
Illusions are expensive.So once the honeymoon is over,
Your lover’s duty is
To puncture every one of yours –One by painful one.
My lover pricked an awful lot of mine.
Especially my conceits.

Annoying faults my lover also had,
So I did edit them, much to her pain.
She had a low opinion of herself,
So one more fault was more than she could bear.
I added to her pain. I’m sorry that I did.

Oh, Glory! I loved Karen,Love her still.
Irradiant soul.Valiant, courageous, strong,
Yet soft and vulnerable.
Beautiful with full and loving sensual beauty.
Funny, amusing, telling tales about herself –
Confessing all her silly faultsBefore I found them out.
She was wonderful to hug.She loved to hug.
She needed many hugs –Or maybe I did.

And now she seems so close to me.
I commune with her incessantly
Since now she sees me even to my inner self.
I hear her laughing quite a lot
As I go bouncing light to light\
And wall to wall, a pinballIn a slanted box.
She enjoysMy blunders. Always has.
It seems she has told everyone(Before she died)

I worried her–“He doesn’t know a thing around the house.
“He cannot do it for himself.”
It isn’t true, of course. I do okay.
But in an obvious sense, b’god,The girl was right.

There is no other like her. She is unique.
I was lucky, lucky, lucky,
To be with her for nearly fifty years.
That is why I look at photos,
Read old letters,
and let the burning
Burn my soul.