New Blog!

Hi Friends!
After a few years I've decided to start blogging again.
You can find me here:

 See you over there!

Summer Blog Break

I suppose rather than limping along with a post a month I should just make it official and declare my blog on Summer Break until at least the end of the summer.

Matthias and I have been on the road practically every weekend for the last month. So between that and the continued ban of internet at home it is pretty hard to post.

For those of you wondering where we've been:
June 19 was "Fr. Pat's" ordination in Kentucky
June 26 was K & R's wedding in Denver
Last weekend was Independence Day at "my ancestral lake estate" - as I've decided to start calling my grandparent's (may they rest in peace) cottage.

The ordination and wedding were wonderful celebrations of holy sacraments, vocations, and, of course, our Notre Dame family. Both were most beautiful!


Enough for now.


...of course now that I've declared summer blog break I'm thinking of a million things I could be writing about!

Golden Moment

Last post: May 10. One post a month is pretty pathetic. What have I been doing?

Well, let me tell you, the other night I had the craziest dream...

...I dreamed that Golden Tate had decided to abandon us and move out to the West Coast. (Come back, Golden!) So there he was in this snazzy apartment building hanging out with his new buds (what, Golden, we were really not good enough for you?) And his buddy said, "mmmmm you know what I want some maple bars, I'll get you one too." Golden agreed and they went to this doughnut shop that just randomly happens to be in their apartment building.

BUT it was 3:00am and the shop was closed. "No problem," says Golden's friend, "They always leave the back door open," and all of a sudden he's in the store! He brings out several maple bars and he and Golden devour them. Mmmm mmm mmm.

THEN the cops arrive! Golden Tate just stands there with crumbs all over him and says "But they are so irresistible!!"

The cops shrug their shoulders "Don't we know! Trust us, we know the best donuts in town, and boy, you found 'em." So even though they were about to haul Golden off to jail, they wrote him a warning (which I'm pretty sure was actually a note that said "Make sure you grab some for us next time.)

Just when I thought this dream couldn't get any weirder suddenly Pete Carroll comes out of no where! Gosh, I hate Pete Carroll....what a creep...like Reggie Bush...&*#$ Trojans...BUT...here's the kicker (no puns intended) Petie is Golden's coach! WOAH! WHAT?


Pete mumbles something about Irish $#*! and then "I'm not disappointed in the guy being at a doughnut shop when they've got maple bars like Top Pot has...However, under the circumstances ... I think they were closed, or something like that, or they were trying to close. So that's definitely wrong, and we've talked about it and addressed it. And he's most remorseful. But I do understand the allure of the maple bars.....they are soooooo good....irresistible! Oh yes, they CAN be irresistible. Golden, did you get some for me too?"

Golden then handed him a bag of doughnuts and promised that he'd pay for them the next time.


Then I realized the TRUTH behind Charlie's weight problem...he'd taught his players to get him doughnuts at all times of the day at all costs.

Watch out Pete! (Not that I really care about you or your weight)


It was the wackiest dream I'd had in a really long time...


...oh wait. That wasn't a dream. That ACTUALLY HAPPENED and it's one of the sports headlines in practically every paper.

Oy.


Good job, Golden.




PS I just found the 911 call
Apparently Golden's buddy actually stole a night baker's keys to get back in, but Golden brought the keys back to her.

OOPS!

Dear Friends and Readers,

Somewhere along the way, I accidentally unlinked my Sober Sophomore email account from my regular account that I check daily.

If sometime over the last year (maybe even longer than that!) you sent an email to the email address I have on the sidebar and I never responded, it is because I only just discovered it this morning.

My deepest apologies to you all.

Os Justi

Os justi meditabitur sapientiam,
et lingua ejus loquetur judicium.
Lex Dei ejus in corde ipsius:
et non supplantabuntur gressus ejus.

RIP - "Nana"

Not too long ago, right before a friend of mine lost his grandfather, he commented that deaths always seem to come in threes. There was Ralph, then Gail, and this morning my grandmother joined them.

Tomorrow would have been her 93rd birthday.

Pray for the repose of her soul and for all of us, her family. She joins my grandfather and aunt (her only daughter) and is survived by her three sons (including my father) and their wives and children.

You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
Say to the LORD, "My refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust."

God will rescue you from the fowler's snare, from the destroying plague,

Will shelter you with pinions, spread wings that you may take refuge; God's faithfulness is a protecting shield.

You shall not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day,

Nor the pestilence that roams in darkness, nor the plague that ravages at noon.

Though a thousand fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, near you it shall not come.

You need simply watch; the punishment of the wicked you will see.

You have the LORD for your refuge; you have made the Most High your stronghold.

No evil shall befall you, no affliction come near your tent.

For God commands the angels to guard you in all your ways.

With their hands they shall support you, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

You shall tread upon the asp and the viper, trample the lion and the dragon.

Whoever clings to me I will deliver; whoever knows my name I will set on high.

All who call upon me I will answer; I will be with them in distress; I will deliver them and give them honor.

With length of days I will satisfy them and show them my saving power.

~ Psalm 91

Miserere

Miserere mei, Deus: secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.
Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum, dele iniquitatem meam.
Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea: et a peccato meo munda me.
Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco: et peccatum meum contra me est semper.
Tibi soli peccavi, et malum coram te feci: ut iustificeris in sermonibus tuis, et vincas cum iudicaris.
Ecce enim in inquitatibus conceptus sum: et in peccatis concepit me mater mea.
Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti: incerta et occulta sapientiae tuae manifestasti mihi.
Asperges me, hyssopo, et mundabor: lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.
Auditui meo dabis gaudium et laetitiam: et exsultabunt ossa humiliata.
Averte faciem tuam a peccatis meis: et omnes iniquitates meas dele.
Cor mundum crea in me, Deus: et spiritum rectum innova in visceribus meis.
Ne proiicias me a facie tua: et spiritum sanctum tuum ne auferas a me.
Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui: et spiritu principali confirma me.
Docebo iniquos vias tuas: et impii ad te convertentur.
Libera me de sanguinibus, Deus, Deus salutis meae: et exsultabit lingua mea iustitiam tuam.
Domine, labia mea aperies: et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam.
Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium, dedissem utique: holocaustis non delectaberis.
Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus: cor contritum, et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies.
Benigne fac, Domine, in bona voluntate tua Sion: ut aedificentur muri Ierusalem.
Tunc acceptabis sacrificium iustitiae, oblationes, et holocausta: tunc imponent super altare tuum vitulos.

Saint Joseph - old or young?

Today we celebrate the solemn feast of St. Joseph.

We see St. Joseph's image is everywhere, but how much do we really know about this saint?

He is the patron and protector of the Church, just as he was he protector and patron of Our Lord and Lady while they walked this earth. We know that he was a "just and holy man" - the perfect pious gentleman. We usually think of him as a bearded man in green and brown holding the Christ Child and a staff of lilies.

But how much more do we know?


St. Joseph never speaks in the Gospels. We find him in Matthew and Luke, but only briefly. The Gospels say little about him. Yet we know that he was a carpenter. We read that he was a "just man" from the line of David. His age at the time of his betrothal and marriage to Our Lady is highly debated.

Many of our statues and images depict him as a middle-aged or even elderly man. We sing in the Cherry Tree Carol "Joseph was an old man, a very old man was he, when he married Mary in the land of Galilee."

But was Joseph really old?

The concept of the elderly Joseph comes from the apocryphal gospel The Protoevangelium of James. There we read:

And when she was twelve years old there was held a council of the priests, saying: "Behold, Mary has reached the age of twelve years in the temple of the Lord. What then shall we do with her, lest perchance she defile the sanctuary of the Lord?"

And they said to the high priest: "You stand by the altar of the Lord; go in, and pray concerning her"... behold an angel of the Lord stood by him, saying unto him: "Zacharias, Zacharias, go out and assemble the widowers of the people, and let them bring each his rod; and to whomsoever the Lord shall show a sign, his wife shall she be." And the heralds went out through all the circuit of Judæa, and the trumpet of the Lord sounded, and all ran.

And Joseph, throwing away his axe, went out to meet them; and when they had assembled, they went away to the high priest, taking with them their rods. And he, taking the rods of all of them, entered into the temple...and Joseph took his rod last; and, behold, a dove came out of the rod, and flew upon Joseph's head.

And the priest said to Joseph, "You have been chosen by lot to take into your keeping the virgin of the Lord."

But Joseph refused, saying: "I have children, and I am an old man, and she is a young girl. I am afraid lest I become a laughing-stock to the sons of Israel."

And the priest said to Joseph: "Fear the Lord your God, and remember what the Lord did to Dathan, and Abiram, and Korah; how the earth opened, and they were swallowed up on account of their contradiction. And now fear, O Joseph, lest the same things happen in your house."

And Joseph was afraid, and took her into his keeping. And Joseph said to Mary: "Behold, I have received you from the temple of the Lord; and now I leave you in my house, and go away to build my buildings, and I shall come to you. The Lord will protect you."

Here we see St. Joseph as an old widower, with children, and frankly, a bit of a jerk.

So was that St. Joseph? The Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, certainly did not think so as he condemned the Protoevangelium as "apocryphal ravings."

While St. Thomas doesn't offer any insights on the life of St. Joseph, a number of holy mystics do. Ven. Maria de Agrida and Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich both write of St. Joseph as seen in their visions.

Ven. Maria writes in The Mystical City of God that:

"Among the number was Joseph, a native of Nazareth. and then living in Jerusalem; for he was one of the descendants of the royal race of David. He was then thirty-three years of age, of handsome person and pleasing countenance, but also of incomparable modesty and gravity; above all he was most chaste in thought and conduct, and most saintly in all his inclinations. From his twelfth year he had made and kept the vow of chastity. He was related to the Virgin Mary in the third degree, and was known for the utmost purity of his life, holy and irreprehensible in the eyes of God and of men."

Bl. Anne Catherine, in The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, does not specify St. Joseph's age, but merely that he was "unmarried." His actions and demeanor in her writings do, however, seem more reflective of a younger man than an older one.

To note a third: Padre Pio reportedly insisted the St. Joseph was even younger - perhaps only 18 when espoused to Our Lady.

Numerous other scholars and theologians have agreed that Joseph was certainly not old. A number believe that he may have been even as young at 16 - only a year or two older than Our Lady.

Why would St. Joseph's age matter? Perhaps it doesn't, but it seems easy enough to believe that an old man, already a father, would be more likely to live chastely with a girl he could regard as his granddaughter (or at least daughter). The virtue required of a teenage or young adult man to care for a pregnant girl, help her raise her son, all the while living a perfectly chaste life, without committing a single personal sin, would be truly heroic. That is the kind of virtue that merits the title "Patron of the Universal Church" and the kind of virtue you'd hope the patron of husbands would possess.


Further Reading:

The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich
The Mystical City of God: The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, Ven. Mary of Jesus of Agrida
Redemptoris Custos, Pope John Paul II
or follow any of the links in the text
Cross-posted over at the Pious Sodality.

Conference Announcement

Notre Dame Right to Life

announces its

5th Annual
Collegiate Conference
April 9 & 10, 2010

For the last five years, the student prolife organization of the University of Notre Dame has hosted an annual conference discussing topics pertinent to the prolife movement.

This year's speakers include:
George Weigel,
Fr. Thomas Berg
Joan Lewis
Dr. Maureen Condic
and
keynote speaker: Francis Cardinal George


The conference is open to all (university student or not). For non-Notre Dame students, they are asking a small donation of $10 to help defray the cost of the conference.

Notre Dame's an easy drive from Chicago, Milwaukee, Peoria, Indianapolis, Detroit, etc. Regardless of where you are, but especially if you're anywhere nearby, you should consider coming.

If you'd like to attend, registration may be found here.


My personal recommendation:
As a veteran conference chair and NDRTL president, I cannot encourage you enough to attend this conference. There are a number of annual conferences at Notre Dame that are well worth attending - notably the Center For Ethics & Culture's Fall Conference & the Edith Stein Project. The NDRTL conference, however, is often overlooked, and it really shouldn't be. The speakers, frankly, are always of the highest caliber and the attendees are very committed to discussing and pursuing the issues of the conference. I should also mention it's the cheapest. For non-students, the others cost over $100, but the NDRTL conference is FREE (unless you want to donate $10 - and instead of listening to undergrads read their papers, you get to listen internationally renowned leaders speak. Please promote this conference and help move it's status from Notre Dame's Best Kept Secret to Notre Dame's Most Popular Event.

Lenten Wreath

Today I got my act together and posted about Lenten Wreaths over on the Church Ladies' Blog.




Take a look.