Not until Adoro pointed it out to me did I even give half a thought to the significance of today being a First Friday of the Sacred Heart. That’s because I was frantically busy for three hours turning the house upside down and inside out in order to find my passport. I needed it TODAY to take to the border on the US side in order to have my F-1 Student ‘visa’ finalized.

For those who don’t know, and that would be the majority of you, I am beginning classes at Sacred Heart Major Seminary across the river from us in Detroit. *I know*, now you want the story. Well, I guess it has to finally come out.

Believe me, this is the Reader’s Digest Version of the story with massive chapters left out but the long and the short of it is that I am beginning part time studies towards a Masters and this through the blessing of a Benefactor. Toward what end? That’s what I can’t say much about at this time. No, no it is not the diaconate and certainly not the priesthood.

What I can tell you is that I have not sought any of this out but I am the happy servant whose roll it is to willingly obey and to apply every ounce of myself to making good on the good works which God {may have} prepared beforehand for me to walk in. I say “may have” because I don’t know about you but I am unable to see into the future. Again, my job is to faithfully walk through the doors as they open – and I’ll tell you, there’s been more than one closed door in the past five years.

This whole finalizing everything on a First Friday could be no more significant that coincidence but it is now fact that I entered the USofEh today, a Sacred Heart First Friday, to have my paperwork finalized with US Homeland Security, in order that I can be a student in the States and I am grateful for the consolation that symbolism brings me.

Anyone I’ve ever heard talk about Matthew 6:19-21 has always made the obvious point about the falsity and temporal nature of the accumulation of things in contrast to making our life about gathering up those things which have an eternal nature and everlasting consequences. Indeed, this is a good point to make – Jesus made it.

I find myself considering not only how I, how we, store up material goods, physical things but about how we gather in and hold to worldly ideology, relativistic, populist concepts and constructs that are at best temporal and at worst antithetical to God’s ways and Word.

Even when an individual “thing” may not be intrinsically evil, the overall amassing of such is harmful for we who have been “created in Christ Jesus for good works,” {good and lasting things, temporal things which build upon our eternity with God} “which God has prepared for us beforehand, that we should walk in them.” [Eph 2:10]

Our Lord was doing that on the way to the Cross and on the Cross, walking in the way prepared for him beforehand, not buying in to false ideology, not gathering material stuff but storing up treasure, namely -us.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also – Matthew 6:19-21

So what exactly is the “treasure” I’m digging for? To be brief, objective truth as proclaimed under apostolic authority given by Christ to His Church.

Apart from this post I think this blog might already be off the rails.

Originally I was thinking more art, less armchair commentary {at least of the written out kind}, more personal in regard to my “faith journey” {I know, that phrase drives some folks batty, still…}, less controlled by following current news n’ whateva.

I mean, as far as armchair commentary on Catholicism there are others who do a much better job of it, same for being a wannabe apologist.

JulieD is a the Happy Catholic whom I’ve been reading off and on for almost as long as she’s been blogging. She’s got quality blogging, balance and purpose down. That’s why I take stock when she offers tips on blogging well.  I need to take her Tip #1 to heart:

Tip #1
Be yourself. Follow your passion.

There are tons of bloggers out there. But there is no one like you, so let us meet the real you.

Enthusiasm waxes and wanes over time for any activity. If it isn’t one that you truly care about then your blog will fade steadily away as other matters come along and it gets shoved to one side. Sharing something you truly care about keeps both you and your audience interested. Nothing can replace true enthusiasm and you can’t fake it.

Tell me what’s wrong with in linked title below. You can read the article to know what’s wrong but you don’t need to. You should be able to tell directly from the title.

Independent Catholic church ordains woman as priest

If you said “Independent Catholic church” you are correct. The Independent universal church; Uh, not.

From the article:

A woman was ordained as a Catholic priest in the Valley on Saturday in the kind of ceremony the Vatican recently condemned as one of the church’s most serious crimes.

As well as “ordaining” women “priests” they likely also think that their “priests” have the authority to consecrate the Eucharist. Sadly, having excommunicated themselves from the Church Christ instituted they are merely doling out plain old wine and wheat product to their followers, adding tragedy to travesty. No one can be an independent Catholic, it’s an oxymoron, it’s antithetical to the teaching of sacred Scripture and Church teaching.

Let’s be clear, none of these people are Catholic (Eastern or Western Rite), none of them are in full communion with the Pope and all of them are in dire need of prayer because their souls are in mortal danger.

P.S. Tonsure tip to Fr LW Gonzales of overheardinthesacristy who re-posted the article here.

Amen, to this phrase which was the closing salutation in an personal e-mail.

Keep the Faith as you hand it on.

A lot of people have a lot of ideas on how to stay happily married. My friend Adoro has one here which correctly asserts the concept of marriage as a Vocation of the Church. She tells married folks to put up or shut up and get on with their Vocation rather than trying to out blame the other for the failures that occur.

Well, you know, maybe that’s what some folks need to hear, blunt as it is. The Church has always taught that the Vocation of marriage is about quite a bit more than two people just hanging out together with the paper work to show they are due whatever the state affords them. That”s why in the Church Jesus established marriage is nothing short of being a Sacrament, one of only seven.

While that’s all true I think we all know folks who have understood, at least theoretically understood Vocation and still ended up adding their names to the statistics rock pile.

My advice, on this 27th day of the month that marks our twenty seventh year together, were I asked to give it, would be: communication, affirmation, repetition. If you don’t think that’s spiritual enough I can only say those three things take plenty of work, sacrifice, unselfishness and whatever other elements one might deem more spiritual. Phhht.

And what are we DOING for our 27/27?

We’re going to spend the day apart, biking around one of Canada’s nicest provincial parks, stop to eat, bring books to read and maybe even pray the Rosary together under a tree, then some special super being prepared, perhaps even now by our adult kids then Confession followed by Mass. That’s good anniversary in my book.

She probably doesn’t want this kind of attention.

Well, too bad Mother; that’s the price of being made a saint.

Pray for us, would you? – as most of us, even at our best, are rather substandard.

-

Postscriptium: We don’t even mind if you spare a prayer or two for the lug nut protesters at the Empire State building tonight. Really, is protesting something like that a way of honouring you? I dunno…maybe they could just go help the poor for a couple of hours.

UPDATED: a really nice reflection by Fr. Robert Barron – much better than my post.

Reflecting on some problems that arise when a local priest {or bishop etc. for that matter} uses his unilateral authority to usurp that of the Pope’s authority and Holy Spirit guided wisdom, and decides like Old Blue Eyes to do it his way instead, a convert frival recently said

I didn’t jump on the barque of Peter to be left adrift on someone else’s rowboat thankyouverymuch.

Whoa, on the mark Mr.Frival.

Along with “Send In the Clowns”, “I Did it My Way” is among my short list of all time belch songs but never more so than after converting and making the Catholic connection — make that, after making the connection between those sentiments and “Cafeteria Catholicism”.

Oh, no doubt I love the Catholic Church! So, please, let’s follow the Holy Father who is following the Chief Cornerstone and send out the clowns and get back to doing things His way; “thankyouverymuch.”

Postscritpium: Hey, what’s Fr. Frank B Local saying in that bubble? Fill it in, in the combox.

My friend Russ was accused of sharing too much of his faith on Facebook, by a fellow Christian, a non Catholic Christian. Russ replied “If you discovered a treasure, you would share it with others. That’s how I feel about my Catholic faith.”

Penn Gillette gives about as good an answer to that as I’ve ever heard in one of his vlogs:

“I’ve always said, I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize…If you believe there’s a heaven and hell and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life and that, well, it’s not really worth tellin’ them this just because it would make it socially awkward…ah, how much to you have to hate somebody to *not* proselytize? How much do you have to hate someone to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?

I mean, if I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn’t believe it but that trick was bearing down on you – there’s a certain point where I tackle you and *this* is more important than that.

This guy was a really good guy. He was polite and honest and sane and he cared enough about me to proselytize and give me a bible…

Gillette goes on to say that he knows “there is no God and that one polite person doesn’t change that but I’ll tell you, he was a very, very, very good man -”