Quote of the Week

Steve Jobs on having children:

"It’s 10,000 times better than anything I’ve ever done.”

On having his biography commissioned:

For Pro-Life Thoughts Inspired By A Food Critic

I unwittingly came across one of the best Pro-Life articles I’ve ever read (via the mainstream media) in the latest on-line edition of Time magazine. The funny thing is, the author probably didn't realize that is what he was writing about. But that’s the wonderful way unintended graces work themselves out. You write one thing, and I see another, which in a nutshell is why sola scriptura is nonsense (but that's a post for another day).

Breaking: Minor Miracle(s) at Casa del Weathers

So there I was, just reading the morning paper after breakfast while sipping a cup of coffee when my daughter and my youngest son came tumbling down the stairs to share with me some miraculous news. My daughter's report went something like this:

For Your Holiday Friday Night at the Movies: Soul Surfer

Are you ready for Summer to be over and for the kids to head back to school? Well guess what. My kids have been back in school since 3 weeks ago. Ugh! But just like the kids who don't start school until after Labor Day, their consolation is a long weekend now.

Because Love Went to Madrid, And Its Cup Runneth Over

May it find its way through to all the corners of the world. Thanks to Marc Barnes, you can see for yourself.

Postcards from WYD: Hey...I Know That "Kid!"

Remember I told you that Marc Barnes, aka "the Kid" , and blogger at BadCatholic, was in Madrid for World Youth Day? The proof is above. That photograph is one of 106 that Life Teen International has posted over on their Facebook page. Here's another with Marc and his buddies,

I Hear Guitars...And Lot's of Reverence.

The English version of the World Youth Day theme song...sing along!

For Letters to Sons Like These by St. Stephen, King of Hungary

"My boy, at present you have the fun and I do the work; but your labors are on the way."

Now, that sounds like something I would say. Today is the Feast of St. Stephen of Hungary, who wrote the words you see above. What follows are a few excerpts from letters he wrote to his son Emeric (who also was canonized on the same day in 1083). St. Stephen is known as the first Christian king of Hungary, and his life is celebrated there with due pomp and pageantry yearly on August 20th.

"The Kid" Goes to Madrid!

This past Saturday, I shared a little e-mail I received from someone who was converted and called to a vocation while attending World Youth Day back in 2005. Nobody read that post, which means it must have been a pretty important one. No one ever reads posts like those.

For Vivaldi's Gloria

Last night I had the supreme privilege and pleasure of hearing our eldest son play with his chamber music ensemble a concert of Bach and Vivaldi at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Trenton, New Jersey. (Here they are performing in Florence several years ago. )  What moved me the most was when the children performed Vivaldi's Gloria, accompanying  the Absalom Jones Inspirational Choir.

For "The Risk of Education"

The late Fr. Luigi Giussani, who founded the international Communion and Liberation movement, sometimes is hard for me to follow. Our School of Community is reading his seminal work "The Religious Sense," and, to be honest, I would find it tough to grasp were it not for the skilled summaries provided by the woman who leads our weekly group.

This weekend, I bought another of his books, one that is easily accessible to me: "The Risk of Education. " The subtitle is: Discovering our Ultimate Destiny.  I recommend this book to anyone who is a teacher or a parent or who hopes to be.

Because the Disciples Were Just Like You (Friday Funnies)

Let me start this post with a hat-tip to Brandon Vogt, convert and Catholic blogger over at The Thin Veil. You may recall that Brandon hosted one of our book club meetings once.

He posted a link on his Facebook page today to a blog of a fellow named Don Miller who, you guessed it, I had never heard of before today. This is reason #1367 for why I didn't give up Facebook for Lent.

Because I Need to Face Reality

My friend Martina said something funny and true tonight during our School of Community: once you own a certain model of car, you start seeing it everywhere. Likewise, she said, once you begin to see Christ, you begin to see Him everywhere. Because He is.

My involvement with the ecclesiastical movement known as Communion and Liberation has helped me to discern the presence of Christ in my daily life. I have come to understand that my faith is not a tool to shield me from reality or protect me from the world; rather it is a way to help me understand that Christ is present in every moment and that He is embedded in the details of the realities I face.

Because Sexually, You Aren't a "Black Box"

Feast of St. Alexis Falconieri 

This is Joe Six-pack here. I haven't received much hate mail in a while so I must be doing something wrong. Therefore, I will explain sex to everyone who stumbles in here today.

After all, for some strange reason the modern world believes the wacky idea that sex is a "black box" that simply cannot be understood.

For Faith In Action: The March For Life (Part II)

Chapter 3: The Youth Mass for Life.

When the idea to come to the March for Life came over me (see embedded link above), I knew that I wanted to attend Mass before the march began. I remembered where the Wee Kirk on the Hill is, and I also remembered a few other parishes from our trip back in the summer. I went to the March for Life website and clicked on the Factsheet to see if anything was planned worship-wise.

For Faith In Action: The March For Life (Part I)

-Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

Chapter I: Mission Impossible? Not When It's a Mission from God

What possesses a man to embark, in the middle of a Sunday afternoon, on an unplanned trip that will take 36 hours, 1000 miles of driving, and absolutely no idea how he will pull it all off? Faith and prayer is what I chock it up to. That, and having a wonderful wife. Oh, and did I mention I took my entire family with me, and at a moments notice?

I just felt like we needed to be at the March for Life, is all.

To Pray for Charles Kavanagh and To Give Thanks for Lunar Eclipses

Our teenager was looking over my shoulder one night as I read a New York Times article about one of my former pastors. "What does defrocked mean?" he asked me. "It means this man no longer is a priest," I explained. For years I have intermittently followed the case of Charles Kavanagh, a man who once served as a priest my childhood parish. Acting on authority of the Vatican, a church tribunal last week found the man guilty of sexually abusing a teenager in the 1970s. The statue of limitations for any civil trial had long since run out but "between July 2002 and July 2003 the district attorney's office worked closely with the Archdiocese and found the allegations to be credible." 

Because the Sacrament of Reconciliation Can Happen Anywhere, At Any Time

It's not my intention to make my child look bad. Suffice it to say, one of our sons made a serious lapse in judgment the other day. He did something wrong and he knew it. My husband and I told him so and he was contrite. We've grounded him for a week. And then this morning, our son and I stopped by our parish after the 8 a.m. Mass so he could go to confession. I reminded him to lay it all out on the table, to leave no aspect of this unfortunate incident unsaid.

Because Life is Like an Epic Poem (Not a Report Card)

—Feast of St. Zachary 

Report cards used to be a once every nine week event. Remember those halcyon days? Information technology being what it is, nowadays we can check our children's grades daily. Oh, the horror!

I say that because lately, the picture hasn't been pretty for several of my little darlings. Not that I ever hoped that my kids would make straight A's or anything like that. That would be a miracle, considering my part of their genetic make up.

Because Stuff Doesn't Last

Yesterday, the day after his 11th birthday, our youngest son came to me, saying he needed new shoes. Talk about an understatement. (See photo above) I bought him those sneakers last spring. He said he'd be willing to continue to wear his canvas and rubber Chuck Taylor Hi-Tops if I would please just buy him a new pair.