For All the Saints: Benjamin

I wrote once that the saints are hard corps. I used a battlefield story from the Korean War era to make my point about how the saints can motivate us to be better Christians. That is, unless they repel us and shame us with their bravery. Like today's saint, for example.

From “Magdalen” (A Few Words for Wednesday)

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Mary Magdalene. Our two daughters are named Martha and Marian, and I privately hoped that we would have a third daughter, named Madeleine. It didn't happen. I love this image by Alexander Ivanov (1806–1858). And then I came across this poem, “Magdalen.”

Because of the Franciscan Knots on My Rosary

This morning I made my first Franciscan knot. I am inordinately proud of this knot of mine. I only was able to make this knot because Marge, who has been making these knots for—pardon the pun—decades, guided my hands with her hands, which are knotted with arthritis. Marge, a daily communicant, retired nurse, and mother of five, offered to teach the teens in our youth group how to make rosaries. Loading plastic beads on a piece of nylon rope is not hard. Knowing how to make the knots between them is key. I learned this morning if you want to make a rosary out of cord, you have to know how to make the knot.

Because the Mystery Can Never Be Extinguished

My friend Bill has been AWOL from church for months. We used to sit side by side at Adoration and exchange signs of peace at daily Mass. But Bill has been out of work since late 2008, and I'm afraid that he is disconsolate, home alone much of the time. Every so often, though, Bill sends me a sign that his love for The Mystery is not extinguished. Today he sent me a video.

Because of the Living Stations of the Cross

I have a confession to make: the Stations of the Cross used to creep me out. Only in the past year have I begun to understand their beauty and significance. And that is thanks to the Living Stations of the Cross presented by the teens of the  St. Rose of Lima high school youth group in Freehold, New Jersey.

To Root for West Virginia in the Final Four

Why would a Catholic cheer for West Virginia against Duke, Butler, and Michigan State in the NCAA basketball championship? I am trying to be objective here. I am setting aside my intense dislike for Coach K's #1-ranked unit from Duke. (My daughter is concluding a stellar career at UNC, last year's champion and Duke's bitter rival.) No, I am looking at this from a strictly Catholic perspective, with rosary beads entwined in my fingers.

From the Batcave to the Garden (Music For Mondays)

Now that Batgirl is aboard and you have heard her theme song, just for old-times sake here is the original Batman theme song. This is where I get to say "atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed."

Because of Minor Miracles III (zzzzz)

At the beginning of January, I started a series of posts about this blog, how it began and evolved. I wrote three pieces about it, this one, this one, and this one. Then I went to sleep. Maybe you did too. But with Allison joining Frank and me this weekend, and with a new format up and running (spiffy, no?), I think this blog has finally reached a form to stick with for a while. So let me wrap this up.

Because the Catholic Liturgy is More Evocative than the Most Graphic Film

Once you love a book, you'll seldom like the movie based on it. That's why I am impressed with Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" films: they are surprisingly close to my own imagination of them! That's also why I was moved by the liturgy for Passion Sunday today. Because I had seen "The Passion of the Christ" again on Friday evening, and the film pales in comparison with the liturgy. Sorry, Mel.

Thanks Only to the Embrace of Christ

I continue to write about Communion and Liberation (CL) because it continues to be central to my life as a Catholic Christian. The monthly magazine of CL is Traces, and the April issue carries a powerful editorial on recent revelations of abuse in Ireland and the Pope’s response to them. If you have not yet read the Pope’s letter, it is here. What follows is the response in Traces:

The Bat is Out of the Bag

OK, that didn't take long. Our big announcement scheduled for 0500 hours on Sunday has already been scooped—by commenters, by EWTN, by Fox News—golly, the whole world knows. Someone even preempted our press schedule and posted a picture in the column to the left. (Who could that have been?) Yes, Allison Salerno, a.k.a. Batgirl, has joined the YIMC team, making us an unholy trinity. We thought we'd share our first official team picture:

Because We Don’t Sing Alleluia and Then We Do

Post by Allison  
My parish choir's alto section – all two of us – came a half hour early Thursday night to rehearsal to work with our music director on Georg Friedrich Händel's Hallelujah Chorus. As we sang, with our church enveloped in darkness and the world outside dark too, I realized being able to sing Alleluia – which means Praise God - is one of the reasons I am Catholic.

Because We’re Having Too Much Fun Here

Synchronize watches, YIMC-ers! We have a big announcement scheduled for 0500 hours on Passion Sunday. That would be tomorrow. You don't want to miss this. No, it has nothing to do with immigrants. Or scandal. Or soccer. Itching to find out? Desperate to know? Can't wait another second? Well, we'll give you a hint, but we're betting you'll never guess. . . .

For Your Lenten Friday Night at the Movies VI

10.000 feet still? What the heck just happened! Ladies and gentlemen, don't be alarmed. The last time I spoke to you I had said that we would be cruising at 10,000 feet again this week. Instead Webster and I had to land this puppy due to a fire warning light on our starboard engine.

Because of the Seven Last Words

Guest post by Warren Jewell
I have five Crucifixes on my walls. They represent my favorite icon of my God, as Son and Savior, as Brother and Servant. In my suffering of one thing and another, the Crucifix reminds me just how much suffering God Himself bore for me. No simple cross, without a corpus, is enough, for a simple cross is but a marker, as in a graveyard. The Cross is His most evocative throne. Now, you tell me: what good is the throne without the King?

Because Nothing Matters, Until Everything Does

Allison recently wrote a good post about soccer and sports. I want to be clear: This is not a rebuttal to her post. I agree with much of what she had to say in that post, and with many of the comments as well. But forget sports, school work, home work, our careers, our relationships, our involvement in society, our intelligence, our physical gifts or impediments for a second. None of it matters unless our love of Christ is the center of our existence. For as Qoheleth says in Ecclesiastes, all is vanity. However, when we are Christ centered people, then everything matters.

Because We Welcome Immigrants

Guest post by Allison 
Because my own family has roots in both Latin America and Europe, it has been painful for me to hear some Catholic friends tell me how they fear the influx of Latinos into their churches. I wish these fellow travelers could have come with me and my son Friday night when we visited Saint Paul's Roman Catholic Church in Princeton, New Jersey, for Spanish Stations of Cross.

To Become Like Little Children

This afternoon my friend Carol led my fourth-grade religious ed class through the Stations of the Cross. Teaching this class this year has been a revelation, and while I look forward to the summer break, I will miss these kids. They continue to teach me.

Thanks to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich

"On the day upon which the Church celebrates the feast, I had a vision of Mary's Annunciation."

At daily Adoration I have been reading slowly The Life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the visions of German visionary and stigmatist Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824). I opened the book today (volume one of four) and found that I had reached the Annunciation, which we celebrate tomorrow. It reads:

Because of the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Guest post by Allison Salerno
Tomorrow, nine months before Christmas, our Church celebrates the Feast of the Annunciation—the moment when God became Incarnate in the womb of an unmarried, virgin teenager. So important is this start to our Lord's life that the only time we Catholics bow when we recite the Nicene Creed is when we say "by the power of the Holy Spirit, [Jesus] was born of the Virgin Mary and became man."

Because Jesus Beats the Devil at Martin Luther’s Game

Reading my daily gospel chapter (Matthew 4), I started out thinking, "So why four Gospels?" Islam has one Koran, one truth never to be challenged, on pain of death. By approving a canon of four Gospels, the Church Fathers opened themselves to, nay invited multiple interpretations. As though the story of Christ's life among us had been made by Akira Kurosawa and the four Gospels were a Greek "Rashomon."

“And Death Shall Have No Dominion” (A Few Words for Wednesday)

I know, Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (1914–1953) was an agnostic, and this poem hardly offers a Christian world view. It takes shots at the Inquisition (“twisting on racks”) and offers a vision of the afterlife that is antic, caustic, not Catholic. Still, and although he died a drunken mess when I was but two, I have always loved Thomas’s poetry, ever since Mr. Griswold taught us “Fern Hill” in eighth grade.

Because the First Shall Be Last

Those who attack the Pope and the Vatican, thinking that this might bring down the Catholic Church, will never succeed. They are looking through the wrong end of the telescope. They are beating the donkey on his rear end instead of on his head; a donkey only moves faster when you beat its tail. The Catholic Church is not the Pope and cardinals. The Catholic Church is us.

For Chants Such as These (Music for Mondays)

It's Monday, and looking very gloomy in my neck of the woods. Pop music? Not interested. Blues? I feel them, but no. I need something a lot more holy than that today. Spring may have sprung, but it still felt like I was in hibernation this morning. Here are a few selections that fit the bill for my frame of mind. 

Because Soccer Doesn’t Matter

Guest post by Allison Salerno 
Yesterday afternoon, our ten-year-old recorded nine saves during his two quarters as goalie, helping lead his traveling soccer team to a 4-0 victory over the U-10 team a few towns over. I watched intently from the sidelines and felt oddly indifferent to it all. My lack of reaction was so apparent that parents sitting next to me were saying things like, "Did you miss it? Your son just made a really great save."

Because of Vespers

Guest Post by Allison Salerno
We Roman Catholics have nearly forgotten the tradition of Vespers. A parishioner approached my priest last week after Sunday Vespers, wondering why we have started to incorporate “Anglican traditions” into our own. Thanks to some dedicated parishioners,  our sons get to grow up knowing Vespers is very much a “Catholic thing.”

Because It Allows Me to See Everything Differently, Even “Avatar” in IMAX 3-D

Saturday was a day of contrasts. I ate lunch in Boston’s North End with Z and other friends from Communion and Liberation (CL). Over pasta with salmon, we discussed CL and its “main instrument,” the School of Community. In the evening, I had a dinner date with my sweetheart: a vegetarian meal on Long Wharf followed by Avatar in IMAX 3-D at the Boston Aquarium. I came home exhausted.

Because I Am Still But God’s Child

Guest post by Warren Jewell 
You might call this an old man’s prayer, or my prayer on realizing that my mortality is just around the corner. In effect, on my pilgrimage, I may not make the next crossroad, or fork in the road. This prayer is less a pledge of allegiance than an acknowledgment that I am still but God’s child: at times wrong, at times sanctified, but never less than His.

Because of Passiontide

Guest post by Allison 
When I walked into our church one afternoon this week for choir rehearsal, I immediately noticed the purple cloths draped over the statues of Madonna and Child, St. Therese of Liseux, St. Joseph, St. Paul, and St. Anthony of Padua. Draped too, behind the ambo, was the sculpted stone depiction of the four Gospels. Thursday morning, two elderly male parishioners stood on a stepladder to cover the large crucifix above the altar in purple cloth, too.

For Your Lenten Friday Night at the Movies V

This is your co-pilot once again.  It is a beautiful afternoon up here in the cockpit.  Cruising now at only 10,000 feet.  We're safe from small arms fire, but still within range of SAM's (Surface to Air missles). Oh I don't want to alarm you or anything, but as we get closer to the end of Lent, the cross-country flight will draw to a close and we'll be back to flying sorties over enemy territory. Close Air Support, etc. Ten thousand feet is getting down to where Webster and I usually live. We'll cruise at this altitude next Friday too.

Because I Don’t Have to Eat Fish Today

Our esteemed guest poster Allison Salerno has a nose for news. Thanks to which, I'm having steak for dinner! What, no fish on Friday during Lent?! Not thanks to my patron saint, Joseph, whose solemnity we celebrate today. I say it's just another good reason to cultivate a devotion to the husband of the Virgin Mary and the Custodian of our Redeemer. Thanks, St. Joe! Here's the word from the Archdiocese of Chicago, forwarded by Allison:

For the Love of St. Joseph: A Novena (Day 9 and His Feast Day)

Two years ago today, I realized that I didn't want to take Thomas (More) as my confirmation name, I wanted to take Joseph. Taking "A Man for All Seasons" as my patron was aiming too high, I thought: statesman, writer, martyr. Joseph was more my speed: husband, father, worker. It was a fortuitous choice. Three days later was the Easter Vigil, and my father drove up from Connecticut to witness my reception into the Catholic Church. Three months later, Dad was dying of melanoma. I did not know at the time that St. Joseph is the patron saint of a happy death.

Thanks Again to CL, A Charism for Our Times

I was talking with a friend at breakfast the other day, and we were talking about Communion and Liberation (CL), the ecclesial movement in which we both take part. A thought jumped to the tip of my tongue, then out into the room. And as thoughts can do, it is still knocking around in my head. My friend was asking why the readings for CL are so obtuse. And of course he's right. Reading the books of Father Luigi Giussani (left with JPII) is a challenge not only to the intellect but also to the compassion. I mean, why can't he just come out and say it?!

YIMC Book Club, “Mere Christianity,” Week 9

This week we read Book IV, Chapters 9,10, and 11.

Can you hear Barry Manilow sing Looks like we made it? Are you turning cartwheels or heaving a sigh of relief? Show of hands: How many of you actually stuck it out and read the whole thing? On second thought, don't answer that. Don't worry about it either, because you could get away with reading just Book IV of Mere Christianity and come away with a new appreciation for the path you have chosen.

For the Love of St. Joseph: A Novena (Day 8)

If you don't believe that Church tradition develops under the influence of the Holy Spirit, listen to how St. Joseph has been almost methodically "upgraded," along with the Holy Family, by one Pope after another since the nineteenth century. This was not just a case of Popes waking up in the middle of the night and thinking to themselves, "Gee, I'd like to do something nice for St. Joe."

“A Prayer for My Daughter” (A Few Words for Wednesday)

It’s St. Patrick’s Day, so we’d best pick an Irish poet for this regular feature—or else I’ll be in Dutch with my Irish wife, the erstwhile Katie McNiff. Yeats or Wilde? That was my question. Oscar Wilde, for all his flamboyance, had a deeply spiritual side. (Read his “De Profundis” some day when you feel that God is far away.) But with one daughter of mine being received into the Catholic Church at Easter and the other embarked on an exciting new career path, I have to go with William Butler Yeats (left) and his beautiful prayer for his own daughter. St. Joseph would have understood:

For the Love of St. Joseph: A Novena (Day 7)

This series of posts on St. Joseph has drawn few formal comments to YIM Catholic. But friends have taken me aside, both in person and on line, to say that St. Joseph has attracted their attention. At the end of our visit today, my real-life friend Joan of Beverly noted the remarkable coincidence that devotion to St. Joseph is peaking in an age when the family is under attack more than ever. On-line friends Mujerlatina and Maria have been commenting too. Maria came up with this 100-year-old volume on Devotion to St. Joseph, a treasure I haven’t dug into yet.

Because We Don’t Celebrate Sin

Guest post by Allison 
I don’t have any delusions about the human race. We’ve been messing up our lives ever since Eve ate that apple. While we all keep sinning, in recent years in our popular culture a new trend has taken hold: celebrating sin.

For Timely Passages Like These from the LOTH for Today

Its been a while since I did a post on the LOTH, our acronym for the Liturgy of the Hours.  We could have called the Prayer of the Church the DO for Divine Office, but we went with LOTH instead. And shame on me for only just now getting to praying it, but pardon me too: I work for a living.

YIMC Book Club Roll Call—Final Exam is Thursday

Wow, around the New Year I said this about C.S. Lewis and Mere Christianity:

He better be bringing his “Little Deuce Coupe.”

And he has. Or maybe it's more like an Aston Martin Vantage V-8.  Whatever he’s driving, Jack has been proving something that Chuck Yeager said regarding pilots and aircraft.  Which is more important Chuck?

Thanks to My Jewish Neighbors

Guest post by Allison 
People who visit my town on a Saturday might think it’s a “Jewish town.” That is because a sizable number of residents are Orthodox Jews who observe the Sabbath, in part, by walking to synagogue. This town is extraordinarily diverse and includes graduate students, recent immigrants from China and Mexico, college professors and a generations-old African American community. But at a time when Americans talk about declining morals and values, my Orthodox Jewish neighbors are among those who have inspired my family to greater religious devotion to our Catholic faith.

For the Love of St. Joseph: A Novena (Day 6)

My novena to St. Joseph is nearing the end. His Feast Day crowns the week, on Friday. The devotion for today brings me to the heart of my love for St. Joseph—as the Patron of Families. “St. Joseph,” it begins, “I venerate you as the gentle head of the Holy Family. The Holy Family was the scene of your life’s work in its origin, in its guidance, in its protection, in your labor for Jesus and Mary, and even in your death in their arms.”

Introducing Ollabelle (Music for Mondays)

Since hearing them last year on Pandora Radio, I have been a big fan of the largely invisible musical quintet “Ollabelle.” Here’s their Wikipedia page, which has about as much info as I’ve found anywhere. The notable member, perhaps, is Amy Helm, daughter of The Band drummer Levon Helm, though I’m not really a music junkie, so Glenn Patscha, Byron Isaac, Fiona McBain, or even Tony Leone may be somehow more important. Anyway, what is it with these people? There’s nothing overtly Evangelical, and certainly nothing Catholic, about their story, but tell me they aren’t “religious”!

To Teach the Faith to Teens

Guest post by Allison 
On Friday, which marked the two-month anniversary of the Haitian earthquake, our parish youth group met in our parish hall to fast and pray and raise money for Haiti. It was a quiet, meditative evening for the handful of teens and their parents who gathered to offer up our temporary discomfort as a prayer to relive the suffering of the 200,000 Haitians who died in the earthquake and of the millions who survived. No matter how inconsequential we feel on this planet, faith gives us the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others. I pray we pass on the Church's spiritual gems to the next generation of Catholics.

A Former Anglican Answers: What About a Non-Catholic Spouse?

EPG’s latest question from the opposite bank of the Tiber, about how a convert should deal with a non-Catholic spouse, has drawn some useful comments, with a particularly powerful testimony from Mary P. Coincidentally, I encountered another answer to the question Saturday morning, when convert and distinguished author Dr. Thomas Howard (left) talked before our men’s group about his “Path to the Ancient Church.”

For the Love of St. Joseph: A Novena (Day 5)

I  can’t imagine living without the saints—real men and women who have proved the Christian claim for 2000 years—and yet that’s just what I did as a Protestant for the first 56 years of my life. I didn’t pay them any attention. How could I have lived without St. Joseph alone? On what grounds? He is the model of fatherhood (I have two daughters whom I adore), of what it means to be a husband (and a wife I double adore), of working hard (don’t we all?), and of a happy death (in the arms of Jesus and Mary). Why would I not be interested in St. Joseph? Why would anyone not?

Personal Thoughts on the Scandal on a Sunday

To locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, or repel the enemy assault by fire and close combat.

That short, terse statement is the mission of the Marine Corps rifle squad. I learned it long ago. It was seared into my memory at Parris Island, never to be forgotten. It comes readily to my mind now as more stories of abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests continue to come to light.

Because Catholics Really Can Take a Joke (Especially on Laetare Sunday)

Guest post by Allison 
Today, the fourth in Lent, our Church celebrates Laetare Sunday, or Refreshment Sunday. This means we are halfway through our Lenten journeys. The Church in her wisdom, understands that we may need to pause during this pentitential season. One of my parish friends seggests we think of Laetare Sunday as “halftime for Lent.” Among the signs of joy you might have seen this morning at Mass was your parish priest in rose-colored vestments. You might have seen flowers on the altar and you might have the organ at Mass and Vespers.

For the Love of St. Joseph: A Novena (Day 4)

Precisely today, with the Church and even my Pope under attack for scandal in Germany, a cause of great sadness, we’ve never needed St. Joseph more. He is the patron saint of dozens of people and places, including carpenters, fathers, married people, unborn children, and the dying. Since 1847, by decree of Pope Pius IX, he is also the patron of the Universal Catholic Church. Today, our Church needs his intercession.

Because God is the Only Hypothesis Necessary

In my work writing the history of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, I have interviewed dozens upon dozens of leading physicians, surgeons, and biomedical researchers. Recently, I have begun asking many of them a question: Is there any room for God in your world of biomedical science? Friday I received an answer that took me aback.