quotes on: Christmas
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Christmas
16 Amazingly Terrible Christmas Cards
A Christmas Message From Fr. Ray
Christmas 2010
“Come, then, let us observe the Feast”: the first known Christmas sermon
“Do not be afraid”: a Christmas homily
Screwtape and Christmas
Seasons greetings
The best advice I ever got about serving Mass at Christmas
the digital story of the Nativity
The work of Christmas begins link . link&background
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A Christmas Message From Fr. Ray
Christmas 2010
“Come, then, let us observe the Feast”: the first known Christmas sermon
“Do not be afraid”: a Christmas homily
Screwtape and Christmas
Seasons greetings
The best advice I ever got about serving Mass at Christmas
the digital story of the Nativity
The work of Christmas begins link . link&background
back to index C
Christmas quotes
Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. - Janice Maeditere
Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. - Norman Vincent Peale
aa2
Cycle A: Second Sunday in Advent
Homily for December 5, 2010: 2nd Sunday of Advent/Rite of Welcome
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Homily for December 5, 2010: 2nd Sunday of Advent/Rite of Welcome
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aa3
Cycle A: Third Sunday in Advent
Homily for December 12, 2010: 3rd Sunday of Advent recovered
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Homily for December 12, 2010: 3rd Sunday of Advent recovered
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Doubting Thomas
For over a decade, I belonged to St Thomas the Apostle parish in Smyrna GA. The parish during that time was staffed by Missionaries of laSalette. For 5 years, one of the priests was a citizen of India, know as Fr Joy.
While at the church, Fr Joy arranged a donation of a larger than life portrait of the Saint from his home country, where St Thomas was said to have evangelized.
The painting is remarkable in a way that led me to the insight I am about to relate.
The saint is shown facing forward, with one hand raised. Several of the fingers are up and several are folded down. The upraised fingers are shown red, as if he had just removed them from Jesus' wounded hand.
One commentator, who I deeply admire and respect, at the link describes Jesus as scarred. But if Jesus presented himself to Thomas as scarred, there would have been no blood. I think a better word is wounded. Wounds ooze blood. Once healed, they do not.
When I first meditated on this, it came to me that presents an opportunity to think about healing.
I think most people like to think of healing as restoration to a prior condition. That seems to be the goal of medicine today. Scars are viewed as undesireable. The commentator linked to above held in his parable that scars can be a badge of honor.
Wounds, on the other hand, seem to be thought of as unhealed. Which made the painting of Thomas so remarkable. At the time of the encounter of Jesus with Thomas, he was resurrected. I think most Christians would hold that resurrection is a kind or class of healing.
Was the artist rejecting that notion?
I think not. I think that rather the artist was presenting a deep insight into what might be healing.
We use the term "breaking open the word" to describe exegesis of the scriptures. The scriptures speak of "breaking open hearts", esecially those that might have hardened.
I have experienced the brokenness of divorce and of involuntary unemployment -- the latter four times. I find that having been wounded injured by these events, I was also in some sense broken open. I can empathize more and better now. I can accept the metaphor of scarred, but find wounded better because the brokenness has not gone away.
Nor is it unwelcome.
Let us pray for all who have experienced brokenness or are going through it at this moment, that they will experience like Thomas the Lord, in, b and through whose wounds we are saved.
While at the church, Fr Joy arranged a donation of a larger than life portrait of the Saint from his home country, where St Thomas was said to have evangelized.
The painting is remarkable in a way that led me to the insight I am about to relate.
The saint is shown facing forward, with one hand raised. Several of the fingers are up and several are folded down. The upraised fingers are shown red, as if he had just removed them from Jesus' wounded hand.
One commentator, who I deeply admire and respect, at the link describes Jesus as scarred. But if Jesus presented himself to Thomas as scarred, there would have been no blood. I think a better word is wounded. Wounds ooze blood. Once healed, they do not.
When I first meditated on this, it came to me that presents an opportunity to think about healing.
I think most people like to think of healing as restoration to a prior condition. That seems to be the goal of medicine today. Scars are viewed as undesireable. The commentator linked to above held in his parable that scars can be a badge of honor.
Wounds, on the other hand, seem to be thought of as unhealed. Which made the painting of Thomas so remarkable. At the time of the encounter of Jesus with Thomas, he was resurrected. I think most Christians would hold that resurrection is a kind or class of healing.
Was the artist rejecting that notion?
I think not. I think that rather the artist was presenting a deep insight into what might be healing.
We use the term "breaking open the word" to describe exegesis of the scriptures. The scriptures speak of "breaking open hearts", esecially those that might have hardened.
I have experienced the brokenness of divorce and of involuntary unemployment -- the latter four times. I find that having been wounded injured by these events, I was also in some sense broken open. I can empathize more and better now. I can accept the metaphor of scarred, but find wounded better because the brokenness has not gone away.
Nor is it unwelcome.
Let us pray for all who have experienced brokenness or are going through it at this moment, that they will experience like Thomas the Lord, in, b and through whose wounds we are saved.
parable: Keep your fork
I first used the following story (author unknown) in a Thought For The Day message several years ago, and have since used it in a funeral service. It remains one of my readers' all-time favorites. I hope you enjoy seeing it again.
The sound of Martha's voice on the other end of the telephone always brought a smile to Brother Jim's face. She was not only one of the oldest members of the congregation, but one of the most faithful.
Aunt Martie, as all of the children called her, just seemed to ooze faith, hope, and love wherever she went. This time, however, there seemed to be an unusual tone to her words. "Preacher, could you stop by this afternoon? I need to talk with you." "Of course, I'll be there around three. Is that ok?"
It didn't take long for Jim to discover the reason for what he had only sensed in her voice before. As they sat facing each other in the quiet of her small living room. Martha shared the news that her doctor had just discovered a previously undetected tumor. "He says I probably have six months to live". Martha's words were naturally serious, yet there was a definite calm about her. "I'm so sorry to...." but before Jim could finish, Martha interrupted. "Don't be. The Lord has been good. I have lived a long life. I'm ready to go. You know that." "I know," Jim whispered with a reassuring nod.
"But I do want to talk with you about my funeral. I have been thinking about it, and there are things that I know I want." The two talked quietly for a long time. They talked about Martha's favorite hymns, the passages of Scripture that had meant so much to her through the years, and the many memories they shared from the five years Jim had been with Central Church.
When it seemed that they had covered just about everything, Aunt Martie paused, looked up at Jim with a twinkle in her eye, and then added, "One more thing, preacher. When they bury me, I want my old Bible in one hand and a fork in the other". "A fork?" Jim was sure he had heard everything, but this caught him by surprise. "Why do you want to be buried with a fork?"
"I have been thinking about all of the church dinners and banquets that I attended through the years," she explained, "I couldn't begin to count them all. But one thing sticks in my mind -- At those really nice get-togethers, when the meal was almost finished, a server or maybe the hostess would come by to collect the dirty dishes. I can hear the words now. Sometimes, at the best ones, somebody would lean over my shoulder and whisper, 'You can keep your fork.' And do you know what that meant? Dessert was coming! "It didn't mean a cup of Jell-O or pudding or even a dish of ice cream. You don't need a fork for that. It meant the good stuff, like chocolate cake or cherry pie! When they told me I could keep my fork, I knew the best was yet to come!
"That's exactly what I want people to talk about at my funeral. Oh, they can talk about all the good times we had together. That would be nice. But when they walk by my casket and look at my pretty blue dress, I want them to turn to one another and say, 'Why the fork'? That's what I want you to say, I want you to tell them, that I kept my fork because the best is yet to come!"
Truly, for a child of God, the best is yet to come.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you." (1Pt 1:3-4)
- TFTD
The sound of Martha's voice on the other end of the telephone always brought a smile to Brother Jim's face. She was not only one of the oldest members of the congregation, but one of the most faithful.
Aunt Martie, as all of the children called her, just seemed to ooze faith, hope, and love wherever she went. This time, however, there seemed to be an unusual tone to her words. "Preacher, could you stop by this afternoon? I need to talk with you." "Of course, I'll be there around three. Is that ok?"
It didn't take long for Jim to discover the reason for what he had only sensed in her voice before. As they sat facing each other in the quiet of her small living room. Martha shared the news that her doctor had just discovered a previously undetected tumor. "He says I probably have six months to live". Martha's words were naturally serious, yet there was a definite calm about her. "I'm so sorry to...." but before Jim could finish, Martha interrupted. "Don't be. The Lord has been good. I have lived a long life. I'm ready to go. You know that." "I know," Jim whispered with a reassuring nod.
"But I do want to talk with you about my funeral. I have been thinking about it, and there are things that I know I want." The two talked quietly for a long time. They talked about Martha's favorite hymns, the passages of Scripture that had meant so much to her through the years, and the many memories they shared from the five years Jim had been with Central Church.
When it seemed that they had covered just about everything, Aunt Martie paused, looked up at Jim with a twinkle in her eye, and then added, "One more thing, preacher. When they bury me, I want my old Bible in one hand and a fork in the other". "A fork?" Jim was sure he had heard everything, but this caught him by surprise. "Why do you want to be buried with a fork?"
"I have been thinking about all of the church dinners and banquets that I attended through the years," she explained, "I couldn't begin to count them all. But one thing sticks in my mind -- At those really nice get-togethers, when the meal was almost finished, a server or maybe the hostess would come by to collect the dirty dishes. I can hear the words now. Sometimes, at the best ones, somebody would lean over my shoulder and whisper, 'You can keep your fork.' And do you know what that meant? Dessert was coming! "It didn't mean a cup of Jell-O or pudding or even a dish of ice cream. You don't need a fork for that. It meant the good stuff, like chocolate cake or cherry pie! When they told me I could keep my fork, I knew the best was yet to come!
"That's exactly what I want people to talk about at my funeral. Oh, they can talk about all the good times we had together. That would be nice. But when they walk by my casket and look at my pretty blue dress, I want them to turn to one another and say, 'Why the fork'? That's what I want you to say, I want you to tell them, that I kept my fork because the best is yet to come!"
Truly, for a child of God, the best is yet to come.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you." (1Pt 1:3-4)
- TFTD
M
| Index | Abbreviations |
|---|---|
| John Gillespie Magee Jr Lawrence M Mandyck Martyrs Mary, the Mother of God John McCrae Thomas Merton | m. mother on birth line me. member of (followed by organization then dates) |
| back to home | |
Advent
The season of Advent begins with the fourth Sunday before Christmas. "Advent" is a Latin word meaning "the coming." During the season of Advent, Christians across the world prepare for the celebration of the coming of the Lord into the world through the birth of his Son Jesus Christ. Advent is a time to celebrate light in the midst of darkness, as symbolized best by the Advent wreath.Advent: Hope or Delusion? bit 1 . bit 2 . bit 3 . bit 4 by Thomas Merton
Advent: a poem by Thomas Merton
An Advent Prayer by Henri Nouwen
Is “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” anti-Semitic?
The Advent Conspiracy, 2010
The Advent Wreath
prayer for the 1st Monday in Advent
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return to cycle A
return to cycle B
return to cycle C
V
| Index | Abbreviations |
|---|---|
| Vatican II Vechta Fr John J. Veret Veteran's Day vision [the] Visitation vocation Voltaire | vi. visitation, usually at funeral home (followed by date then place) |
| back to home | |
diaconate
- A bishop makes the case for women deacons
- Any discussion of reviving the female diaconate must not include Holy Orders
- Behold, the Orthodox deacons of Ethiopia
Bishop issues pastoral letter on diaconate to clear up “misunderstandings and misinterpretations” - Chicago pastor pushing for women deacons
- Ephrem the deacon
- Muller and deacons: “Only a man can represent this relation of Christ with the Church”
- NCR 2011Feb4 dead link
- On deacons: “The most important homily they preach is the example of their daily life”
- Stephen protodeacon
- The Women Deacons of the Armenian Church
Point to ponder #8: Thinking with the people of God - Were the Apostles the First Deacons?
What is the “mind of the Church”?
D
| Index | Abbreviations |
|---|---|
| Dorothy Day Antoine de Saint Exupery Michael E. DeSanctis René Descartes diaconate dog | d. died (followed by date then place) |
| back to home | |
monogamy
While doing a crossword puzzle, I asked for my husband's help.
The word is eight letters long and starts with m, and the clue is 'tiresome sameness'.he answered. - Donna-Van NoteMonogamy,
B
| Index | Abbreviations | |
|---|---|---|
| Francis Bacon Baptism André Bessette Bible Bieste blessings blogorrhea Hector Lemuel "Butch" Bourg Jr brevity Adele Joseph Brise | bureaucracy BVS Roussel Byles | b. born (followed by date then place) back to home |
Assumption
Deacon's Bench 2010 . 2011
Homily for the Vigil of the Assumption
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Homily for the Vigil of the Assumption
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liturgy reading commentary
All Saints . All Souls
Annunciation . Assumption
Baptism of Jesus
Christ the King
Christmas
Epiphany
Holy Family
Immaculate Conception
Mary, the Mother of God
Nativity of St John the Baptist
Triduum: Holy Thursday . Good Friday . Easter Vigil
[the] Visitation
non-festal liturgy
cycle A . cycle B . cycle C
back to scripture
Annunciation . Assumption
Baptism of Jesus
Christ the King
Christmas
Epiphany
Holy Family
Immaculate Conception
Mary, the Mother of God
Nativity of St John the Baptist
Triduum: Holy Thursday . Good Friday . Easter Vigil
[the] Visitation
non-festal liturgy
cycle A . cycle B . cycle C
back to scripture
cycle C
Advent: . ca1 . ca2 . ca3 . ca4 (2009 2012)
Ordinary Time: . co3 . co4 . co5 . co10 . co11 . co12 . co14 . co15 . co16 . co17 . co19 . co22 . co23 . co26 . co27 . co28 . co29 . co30 . co31 . co32 . co33 (2010 2013)
Lent: . Ash Wednesday . cl1 . cl2 . cl3 . cl4 . cl5 . Palm (2010 2013)
Easter: . ce1 . ce2 . ce3 . ce4 . ce5 . ce6 . ce7 . Pentecost . Trinity Sunday . Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) (2010 2013)
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Ordinary Time: . co3 . co4 . co5 . co10 . co11 . co12 . co14 . co15 . co16 . co17 . co19 . co22 . co23 . co26 . co27 . co28 . co29 . co30 . co31 . co32 . co33 (2010 2013)
Lent: . Ash Wednesday . cl1 . cl2 . cl3 . cl4 . cl5 . Palm (2010 2013)
Easter: . ce1 . ce2 . ce3 . ce4 . ce5 . ce6 . ce7 . Pentecost . Trinity Sunday . Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) (2010 2013)
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2001Sep11
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/911-pictures-911-photos-911-images/19629049
http://ncronline.org/blogs/small-c-catholic/911-finding-hope-islam-america
http://blog.beliefnet.com/deaconsbench/2010/09/homily-for-september-11-2010.html
http://blog.beliefnet.com/deaconsbench/2010/09/the-way-we-were-the-twin-towers-before-911.html
http://blog.beliefnet.com/deaconsbench/2010/09/forgotten-the-muslim-prayer-room-in-the-twin-towers.html
http://blog.beliefnet.com/deaconsbench/2010/09/post-3.html
~~~
http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/the-terror-threat-in-america-over-time-from-2001-to-2010/19629251
http://ncronline.org/blogs/small-c-catholic/911-finding-hope-islam-america
http://blog.beliefnet.com/deaconsbench/2010/09/homily-for-september-11-2010.html
http://blog.beliefnet.com/deaconsbench/2010/09/the-way-we-were-the-twin-towers-before-911.html
http://blog.beliefnet.com/deaconsbench/2010/09/forgotten-the-muslim-prayer-room-in-the-twin-towers.html
http://blog.beliefnet.com/deaconsbench/2010/09/post-3.html
~~~
http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/the-terror-threat-in-america-over-time-from-2001-to-2010/19629251
John Henry Newman
http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=10002
http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/newman-sense-and-consent-faithful
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/hijacking-or-setting-him-free-benedict-loves-newman
http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/newman-still-commands-our-attention
http://www.uscatholic.org/blog/2010/09/whose-newman
http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Sep2010/Feature1.asp
http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/newman-sense-and-consent-faithful
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/hijacking-or-setting-him-free-benedict-loves-newman
http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/newman-still-commands-our-attention
http://www.uscatholic.org/blog/2010/09/whose-newman
http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Sep2010/Feature1.asp
Third Axle Alternative
Ever wonder where [[ISO 9000]] got its name?
Not long ago I was approved as a vendor for a company whose name you'd instantly recognize were I dopey enough to make snide comments about a new client. My new client outsourced its vendor approval process to a company proud of its [[ISO 9000]] certification.
The process began in August and completed the end of December.
That's how [[ISO 9000]] got its name: It means your processes are certified to have at least 9,000 steps each.
Between us, my contacts and I jumped through a lot of [[flaming hoopflaming hoops]]. Which makes little apparent sense. If bringing me in is a profitable proposition, the company should have accelerated the process to get the benefit earlier. Otherwise, someone should have rejected the idea right away so we could all get on with our lives.
We should define terms. A flaming hoop is an activity that is required, but does little or nothing to help evaluate an idea. The only challenge in clearing a flaming hoop is going through the effort - everyone willing to do so passes the test.
Flaming hoops are, by any rational analysis, pure waste, so why would executives who are, in theory, rational and talented create so many of them?
As an exercise in pure reason, make the hypothetical assumption that flaming hoops aren't examples of the Dilbert or Peter principles ... that executives have good reasons for erecting them and mandating their use. Our challenge is to figure out their reasons using nothing but logic and inference.
My hypothesis: It's an example of what I'm starting to call the Third Axle Alternative.
A third axle is what a motorist welds onto a car instead of fixing the flat tire. It's someone adding a kludge because t?ey aren't willing to fix the problem.
Through the miracle of mixed metaphors, a bunch of flaming hoops is a third axle. Here's how I think it works:
The executives in charge at my new client don't trust their employees' business judgment, and especially they don't trust their employees to exhibit prudent spending discipline. That's my guess.
If they're right about their employees they have a big problem, and it's a tough one to solve. The company would have to do much more than replace its current employees with better ones ... and doing just that would require a tremendous effort, for all the obvious reasons.
But it wouldn't solve the problem, because someone hired all of these bad employees ... lots of someones. Leave them in place to hire the replacements and the company will end up with bad employees again. Better to fire everyone who helped hire such an untrustworthy workforce.
But wait! It's even worse! Someone hired the bad managers. Those people have to go too. By the time the company has replaced everyone it can't trust to display good business judgment, up and down the chain of command, it will have lost so much institutional knowledge that it won't be able to continue to operate.
And so the company welds on a third axle: Flaming hoops. Far from being a display of inept management, it's a deliberate plan. Make the process of spending sufficiently annoying and employees will think long and hard before putting themselves through it.
The company hasn't fixed the problem, of course. It has the same untrustworthy employees and the same bad managers it had before. What it's done instead is to create what would be called in Sarbanes-Oxley-land a "compensating control."
A third axle.
The fallacy in all of this is presuming the company has so many untrustworthy managers and staff in the first place. Very few employees come to work every day planning to fail at what they do, after all. Even fewer come to work every day with malicious intent.
If employees don't know what constitutes a good business decision, the root cause isn't that they're a bunch of losers. It's more likely that nobody in management, from the CEO on down, has ever thought to explain what they think a good business decision looks like, let alone how to make one.
Whether it hasn't been a priority, or too many managers are the sort of egotistical souls who figure the effort would be wasted on mere mortals, or an endless stream of crises has never left the time, or (and it's very common) it's because everyone "trusts their gut" and can't explain how that works in any coherent way ... whatever the reason, employees are (to layer on yet another metaphor) left in the dark.
And then blamed for not seeing the light.
- Bob Lewis Keep the Joint Running 2010Feb1
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