Get Behind me Satan! *updated*

So the title of this comes from the Gospel from Sunday Aug. 31st, it was the continuation of the Gospel from the week before. The idea of St. Peter being so good one day and so bad the next as always amused me, as well it really does sum up how must of us are. I was once told to read the Passion, and watch Jesus of Nazareth (the movie) during Holy Week to "make up" for what I thought was a "bad Lent" and to see whom I was most like. Sometimes I say Mary because of my name, but almost always when I think about it, I'm Peter. We all are, one day I can say OK JESUS, and the next day unfortunately deny Jesus, but when it comes down to it and it matters I say THAT'S RIGHT I'M WITH JESUS.

Interestingly the word deny comes up in the Gospel. "Deny one's self, take up your cross and follow me" are the words of Jesus we hear. Recently I've been leaning towards wishing to hear Fr. Brian's homilies, but Fr. George did a good job with this one. I laughed when the homily started because Fr. George did his typical joke to get everyone to pay attention and because I said to myself "I didn't read Fr. Jim's homily before Mass this week, must mean this one will be decent." It's usually true that if I read Fr. Jim's homily via his blog before I go to Mass that the one at St. A's is lacking. Fr. George's was decent, it didn't blow me out of the water, but honestly most don't.

Fr. George focused on the aspect of deny one's self which leads many times to taking up a cross that was expected yet unexpected and finally it all leads to following Jesus. I remember Fr. George saying that deny one's self meant we didn't need all the material possessions that we so often want and "need." He spoke about how when we deny ourselves something that we can gain from in. In denying one's self one is to cling to Jesus, hence why this line usually get quoted by people. Fr. George mentioned at one point and I remember this because I'm usually surprised when he touches upon the topic of "pro-life" activities from the pulpit. He spoke about how taking up one's cross means going against the tide in some cases and while those are not his exact words, it did make me think of the election and the "pro-life" movement. It was a basic stand up for what you believe in type homily, which I guess I need reminding of everyone once in a while.

The week before I happened to have Fr. Brian at Mass, and it tells you something that nearly 2 weeks later I still remember the homily. I happened to be sitting in the first pew, which I haven't done since my days at Seton Hall. I felt a little too close to the presider's chair, but alas that wasn't too big of a deal. The week before August 24th was the Gospel where Jesus commends Peter for knowing who He is and getting it right. Jesus does add in, this was revealed to you, which it is. Fr. Brian tied this into the apostolic succession and the succession of St. Peter to the current Pope. I remember Fr. Brian speaking about Humane Vitae and how we should read what the popes have written especially the current Holy Father and the last one. I laughed as Fr. Brian said that because I have read the writings of JP2 and I am currently reading Jesus of Nazareth by PB16 (as Fr. Brian calls him)and was reading Humane Vitae. Fr. Brian spoke of how Paul VI's document was prophetic in essence and he went on to point out 3 passages about how if artifical contraception was allowed that the country would do down hill, well as Fr. Brian put it, "I think he (Pope Pius VI) hit that one on the head.

What makes Fr. Brian's homily so interesting is that later on that night while a good friend and I were watching TV our other good friend called us to complain about the homily she got. (Side note the 3 of us earned the nickname unholy- holy trinity, as the 3 of us were RCIA sponsors and well for the most part inseparable in college) Any way my friend's homily was about how there were three major mistakes in the Church: Galileo, the Crusades, and Humane Vitae. I turned to my friend who was watching tv with me when I head her repeat what she heard and I said, oh no way, let me tell you about my homily.

At one church you have a good holy priest speaking about how Humane Vitae was a great document and that we need to read what the Popes have written and to listen to what they say, while at another you have a deacon who speaks of how the same document was a giant mistake in the Church.

This is why people don't know what to do, or what to believe. It amuses me that on on the same day these homilies were given that Nancy Pelosi was stepping in the largest pile of crap she could find. Props to the bishops who have used this as a teaching moment and those that continue to do so. It saddens me when people don't know or fully understand the Church that they were raised in, let alone ordained to a ministry in. People are confused because they can hear two different things and nothing is said as to whom is right. Thankfully the bishops came out and defended the Church and Her teachings.

May St. Peter continue to pray for us as we need it.

a pro-life woman as VP

Now this is exciting. Seriously, I feel like running around screaming like a little kid! McCain picks Sarah Palin aka the pro-life governor of Alaska as his running mate. The stories abound that Hillary supporters are now voting for McCain as he has picked a woman.

Fox News' breaking story

Catholic.org's breaking news

More on Mrs. Palin via foxnews

What I like is that she gave birth to down syndrome baby in April. After she was told you know there's a chance there could be something wrong with the baby, she went ahead and had the baby anyway. Her oldest boy who's 19 enlisted and is being shipped out to Iraq on Sept. 11th. (I got that tidbit from Catholic.org and I'm trying to find that link.)

This is really exciting!

Pelosi steps in it big time!

So on Sunday Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was asked about abortion more specifically when does life begin and she sent herself down a certain river without a paddle.

Tom Brokaw on Meet the Press posed the question "If Senator Obama were to come to you and say 'Help me out here, Madame Speaker. When does life begin?' what would you tell him?" Pelosi did her best to answer the question, but she up and died and showed that she knows nothing about the teachings of the faith she practices. There's to much to actually post their conversation, but I will give a link to it, better than that I'll just post the you tube video.




As you can hear she thinks she is prepared and knows what she is talking about. However she has received more coverage in the last two days than she probably expected or wanted, considering that most of the coverage has been via Catholic blogs and from Bishops and some of her fellow Catholics responding with how wrong she is on the subject.

I believe the first to respond was Archbishop Chaput from Denver. Over on the Archdiocese of Denver's web page you will find this .
I am assuming that the good Bishop was quick to answer for a few reasons. One, the Democratic National Convention is in his city, second, he just wrote a book on "Serving the Nation by Living our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life", and thirdly because he is the type of bishop to come and stand up for the Church and Her teaching.

I have mainly been doing my reading of this story on two sitesAmerican Papist and Fr. Z's What Does The Prayer Really Say. American Papist points out that ten of Pelosi's fellow Representatives wrote a letter responding to her and asking her to apologize for what she has done to help reduce the scandal it has caused. Even the Bishops came out as a group and said something on their web page, it's actually on the main page.

I am sure there will be more on this story, but I needed a place to put all the links that I found about this story. I'm glad the Bishops and other Catholics are standing up to defend when life begins, which is at conception scientifically and theologically. Animation of the fetus (Latin for little one) is what St. Augustine and others were debating and saying was 3 months not when live begins. I am sure that I will be blogging more on this issue later too.

Running!

The 10 week program I would like to try from Runner's World..

I tried 30 mins of walk 3 run 2 which was apparently ahead of what I was supposed to be doing, so I'm opting to walk for 30 the next few days and then on Monday re-start the whole running thing. :)

our 10-Week Training Plan

The following running schedule was created by Budd Coates, Health Promotions Manager at Rodale Inc., who instructs a corporate beginning running program. Coates has taken nonrunners and, in 10 weeks, helped them reach their goal of running the 3.5-mile Chase Corporate Challenge.

Before you start with this schedule, get your legs ready with eight days of walking: walk for 20 minutes a day for the first four days, then increase to 30 minutes a day for four more days. Now you're ready to begin with week 1.

Each week of the program, do your run/walk workouts on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and take Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday off.

10-WEEK TRAINING SCHEDULE

Week 1
Run 2 minutes,
walk 4 minutes.
Repeat 5 times.

Week 2
Run 3 minutes,
walk 3 minutes.
Repeat five times.

Week 3
Run 5 minutes,
walk 2.5 minutes.
Repeat four times.

Week 4
Run 7 minutes,
walk 3 minutes.
Repeat three times.

Week 5
Run 8 minutes,
walk 2 minutes.
Repeat three times.

Week 6
Run 9 minutes,
walk 2 minutes.
Repeat twice, then
run 8 minutes.

Week 7
Run 9 minutes,
walk 1 minute.
Repeat three times

Week 8
Run 13 minutes,
walk 2 minutes.
Repeat twice.

Week 9
Run 14 minutes,
walk 1 minute.
Repeat twice.

Week 10
Run 30 minutes.

Note: After completing week 9, if you feel tired, repeat this week of training before moving on to week 10.

Don't rock the boat

I guess the title for this blog should really be "Get out of the boat" as the past few homilies that have stuck with me have involved Fr. Brian and Deacon George telling us in their respective homily to step out of the comfort zone.

I don't mention Deacon George's homilies very often as the deacons only preach once a month in our parish and I usually end up with one of the other 3 deacons at the parish. I like Deacon George for many reasons, for starters he converted to Catholicism simply because his daughter one day asked "daddy why don't you come to church with us?" That was all he needed to get the ball rolling. I first met Deacon George through his son Michael who was a member of the parish youth group with me.

More to come later... off to bed I go as I'm off to the Bronx Zoo with some friends later on today.

Absolutely disturbing...

From PP's NY facebook group... "Did you know that MANY New York City Public Schools do not offer Comprehensive Sex Ed? CALL 311 today and tell them you believe sex education should be required in all NYC schools. It's a fast, free way to make a difference!"

There's more disturbing shit on the page, but I prefer not to be all bitchy and ready to beat something before going to bed. I'm sure I'll be adding to this post.

Homilies

I try to blog about the homily I hear each week as long as it affects me. I've noticed a pattern of it mainly being about Fr. Brian's homilies which are for the most part always awesome. I have taken to reading Fr. Jim's homilies over at his blog who is likewise just as awesome.

Fr. Geoff from Michigan whom I met through youth ministry at St. Anthony's who met him through Catholic Heart Work Camp says that awesome is an overused word. I agree with him, it is over used, but I can't think of another word to use to describe Fr. Brian's and Fr. Jim's homilies.

Any way, Mad Men on "on demand" has caught my attention so I'm off to watch it.

Sometimes I wonder

Seriously, if you teens to be active in the parish and you want them to be good Catholics they need to be formed correctly. Yes it's nice to give them the "potter (as in someone who makes pottery, not harry)retreat" and other things but they need to be formed correctly! If they know what and Who the Eucharist is, they will come to love it, trust me I should know.

I've spent the last 6.5 years trying to figure out what to do with a BA in Religious Studies and wanting to do ministry in the Church, but I don't know anymore. I know where and what my gifts are, but no one seems to want them.

Sometimes I wonder was it worth changing from nursing to religion. All these issues wouldn't exist if I just stayed a nursing major or hell even if I kept up my Irish step dancing, I would be a TCRG aka teacher by now, but alas hindsight is 20/20.

I need a drink.

Vote for David Wright!

Go vote for David Wright, I don't care who you vote for on the AL side, but on the NL side I want to see David Wright in the All Star Game despite his horrible performance recently!

Some wickedly great homilies!

Over on Fr. Jim's blog there's a pretty good homily for today! Fr. Brian over at St. Anthony's had a good homily too, which is usually the case. Fr. Brian tied right into the whole "proud to be Catholic and proud to be American" aspect of the weekend. Humility-generosity-charity more to come on this in a little while!