10 Programming Languages

From eWeek: 10 Programming Languages You Should Learn Right Now.

1. PHP
2. C#
3. AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML)
4. JavaScript
5. Perl
6. C
7. Ruby and Ruby on Rails
8. Java
9. Python
10. VB.Net (Visual Basic .Net)

Garabandal: A Word to the Wise

So apparently a woman named Wendy Benedick had been organizing a charter trip for pilgrims to fly to Garabandal to be present for the alleged Miracle of Our Lady. Aside from the fact that the claims of Garabandal are highly questionable, there is absolutely no date given for the Miracle (and apparently it is only known by one of the supposed visionaries of Garabandal) other than that it would occur eight days after the preceding Warning. The information for the trip is noted on Sadie Jaramillo's website (emphasis mine):

Contact: Wendy Benedict(sic)-Pilgrimage Tours
Mail payments to Wendy Benedict (sic)...

Means of travel: A 470-seat 747-charter plane. Departure: JFK Airport, New York City, New York Arrival: Victoria or Bilboa, Spain. Date: (to be announced) In March, April or May based on the announcement by Conchita [one of the visionaries]. Cost: The price is $1,500.00 ($200.00 is non-refundable) per person from JFK to Spain (round trip). Cashier's check or money orders only (no personal checks). Other Necessities: It is recommended that you bring a sleeping bag, tent, and preserved food items as we will be camping at the foot of The Pines. Check back with this site at a later date for a recommended list of equipment. Also do not forget to have a current passport.

Please note!! - only Conchita knows the exact date of the Miracle. The Miracle will occur 8 days following Conchita's announcement. If people wait until the Warning occurs, they might not have enough time to make a booking on Wendy's flight or make any other travel arrangements. This is why those who are serious about being on this trip must call Wendy as soon as possible.

Well, it seems that some folks had enough faith in the claims of Garabandal to send their $1500 to Wendy Benedick in the hope of securing a place on this trip, without any real foreknowledge of when it was to occur. The plans turned sour when Wendy Benedick died in April of this year, and now a lot of these folks are in a dilly of a pickle trying to get their money back. Apparently she left absolutely no information concerning the charter trip she was organizing, and now all of the money is tied up in her estate, with all of the legal complications, struggles with creditors, and all the rest. There is a lesson to be learned here... but I can't quite put my finger on it!!

Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (Sept. 15)



From yesterday's Office of Readings; From a sermon by St. Bernard, abbot:

The martyrdom of the Virgin is set forth both in the prophecy of Simeon and in the actual story of our Lord's passion. The holy old man said of the infant Jesus: "He has been established as a sign which will be contradicted." He went on to say to Mary: "And your own heart will be pierced by a sword."

Truly, O blessed Mother, a sword has pierced your heart. For only by passing through your heart could the sword enter the flesh of your Son. Indeed, after your Jesus -- who belongs to everyone, but is especially yours -- gave up his life, the cruel spear, which was not withheld from his lifeless body, tore open his side. Clearly it did not touch his soul and could not harm him, but it did pierce your heart. For surely his soul was no longer there, but yours could not be torn away. Thus the violence of sorrow has cut through your heart, and we rightly call you more than martyr, since the effect of compassion in you has gone beyond the endurance of physical suffering.

Or were those words: "Woman, behold your Son," not more than a sword to you, truly piercing your heart, cutting through to the division between soul and spirit? What an exchange! John is given to you in place of Jesus, the servant in place of the Lord, the disciple in place of the master; the son of Zebedee replaces the Son of God, a mere man replaces God himself. How could these words not pierce your most loving heart, when the mere remembrance of them breaks ours, hearts of stone and iron though they are!

Do not be surprised, brothers, that Mary is said to be a martyr in spirit. Let him be surprised who does not remember the words of Paul, that one of the greatest crimes of the Gentiles was that they were without love. That was far from the heart of Mary; let it be far from her servants.

Perhaps someone will say: "Had she not known before that he would die?" Undoubtedly. "Did she not expect him to rise again at once?" Surely. "And still she grieved over her crucified Son?" Intensely. Who are you and what is the source of your wisdom that you are more surprised at the compassion of Mary that at the passion of Mary's Son? For if he could die in body, could she not die with him in spirit? He died in body through a love greater than anyone had known. She died in spirit through a love unlike any other since his.

Stabat Mater dolorósa juxta Crucem lacrimósa, dum pendébat Filius. Cujus ánimam geméntem, contristátam et doléntem, pertransivit gladius. O quam tristis et afflicta fuit illa benedicta Mater Unigéniti!

Benedict XVI: Faith, Reason and the University... and Islam?

Read what the pope actually said at Regensburg concerning Faith, Reason and the University. It is, of course, very good when read from beginning to end! Is a statement, a quotation, taken out of context, really a sound reason to start riots and burn him in effigy?

And it bothers me that it seems that the news media is the primary cause of this pain, provoking anger in the Muslim world by latching on to this quotation and reporting things like, "POPE SLAMS ISLAM", when in fact, the lecture has nothing to do with Islam itself, and only uses the quotation to develop its key points, including the condemnation of religious violence. One hopes that this lecture is translated into Arabic and other languages to allow people to understand it. The media involvement underscores the reality that, by and large, the media is no friend of ours if they encourage things like this.

Knowing that people are dear to our pope's mind and heart, I have no doubt that he is grieved by this, and so I expect him to address it further -- even if its cause was frivolous -- because the events underscore deeper realities. He won't ignore them. The Vatican is assuring people that the pope's feelings echo those expressed by the fathers of the Second Vatican Council in Nostra Aetate:

The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting.

Since in the course of centuries not a few quarrels and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Moslems, this sacred synod urges all to forget the past and to work sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together for the benefit of all mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom.

I once had a talent...

... for creating names, just because...

Patch:

Anyway, Matt, you can't worry yourself so much about the policies of the University...

Matt:

I like to anyway...

Alan (me):

C'mon, Match, you have to look on the bright side...

Patch:

Yeah..

Matt:

Did you just call me Match?

Alan:

Hm. Yes, I certainly did.

Patch:

That's what happened to me; My name used to be Pat. Just accept it, Match.

Match:

Okay.... Alatch.

Alan:

Hmm. No.

And it was so. You had to be there. Though of course, this was certainly no Tu es Petrus moment, because I could never arrogate myself to that level... but just so...

And then there was Musical Taste

Your Taste in Music:

80's Alternative: High Influence 90's Alternative: High Influence Progressive Rock: High Influence 80's Pop: Medium Influence 80's Rock: Medium Influence

How's Your Taste in Music?

I don't know... it's true enough, I suppose, but what about Mozart, Lassus, Victoria, Byrd, Tallis, DuFay, and Palestrina?! These guys could give Pink Floyd a solid trouncing any day of the week...

The Blessed Virgin Compared To The Air We Breathe

by Gerald Manley Hopkins, S.J.

WILD air, world-mothering air,
Nestling me everywhere,
That each eyelash or hair
Girdles; goes home betwixt
The fleeciest, frailest-flixed
Snowflake; that 's fairly mixed
With, riddles, and is rife
In every least thing's life;
This needful, never spent,
And nursing element;
My more than meat and drink,
My meal at every wink;
This air, which, by life's law,
My lung must draw and draw
Now but to breathe its praise,
Minds me in many ways
Of her who not only
Gave God's infinity
Dwindled to infancy
Welcome in womb and breast,
Birth, milk, and all the rest
But mothers each new grace
That does now reach our race --
Mary Immaculate,
Merely a woman, yet
Whose presence, power is
Great as no goddess's
Was deemèd, dreamèd; who
This one work has to do --
Let all God's glory through,
God's glory which would go
Through her and from her flow
Off, and no way but so.
I say that we are wound
With mercy round and round
As if with air: the same
Is Mary, more by name.
She, wild web, wondrous robe,
Mantles the guilty globe,
Since God has let dispense
Her prayers his providence:
Nay, more than almoner,
The sweet alms' self is her
And men are meant to share
Her life as life does air.
If I have understood,
She holds high motherhood
Towards all our ghostly good
And plays in grace her part
About man's beating heart,
Laying, like air's fine flood,
The deathdance in his blood;
Yet no part but what will
Be Christ our Saviour still.
Of her flesh he took flesh:
He does take fresh and fresh,
Though much the mystery how,
Not flesh but spirit now
And makes, O marvellous!
New Nazareths in us,
Where she shall yet conceive
Him, morning, noon, and eve;
New Bethlems, and he born
There, evening, noon, and morn --
Bethlem or Nazareth,
Men here may draw like breath
More Christ and baffle death;
Who, born so, comes to be
New self and nobler me
In each one and each one
More makes, when all is done,
Both God's and Mary's Son.
Again, look overhead
How air is azurèd;
O how! nay do but stand
Where you can lift your hand
Skywards: rich, rich it laps
Round the four fingergaps.
Yet such a sapphire-shot,
Charged, steepèd sky will not
Stain light. Yea, mark you this:
It does no prejudice.
The glass-blue days are those
When every colour glows,
Each shape and shadow shows.
Blue be it: this blue heaven
The seven or seven times seven
Hued sunbeam will transmit
Perfect, not alter it.
Or if there does some soft,
On things aloof, aloft,
Bloom breathe, that one breath more
Earth is the fairer for.
Whereas did air not make
This bath of blue and slake
His fire, the sun would shake,
A blear and blinding ball
With blackness bound, and all
The thick stars round him roll
Flashing like flecks of coal,
Quartz-fret, or sparks of salt,
In grimy vasty vault.
So God was god of old:
A mother came to mould
Those limbs like ours which are
What must make our daystar
Much dearer to mankind;
Whose glory bare would blind
Or less would win man's mind.
Through her we may see him
Made sweeter, not made dim,
And her hand leaves his light
Sifted to suit our sight.
Be thou then, O thou dear
Mother, my atmosphere;
My happier world, wherein
To wend and meet no sin;
Above me, round me lie
Fronting my froward eye
With sweet and scarless sky;
Stir in my ears, speak there
Of God's love, O live air,
Of patience, penance, prayer:
World-mothering air, air wild,
Wound with thee, in thee isled,
Fold home, fast fold thy child.

Cocky Convert Syndrome

After I was received into the Catholic Church in 1997, I was a cocky convert; I must've driven my college roomies nuts. Mea culpa! It took a few years for me to realize that I didn't have to "know everything" all of the time; that it's okay to have to grow-up in the faith a bit more, studying it, and most importantly, humbly living it out. Today, I feel much more grounded and solid in my faith than I did in 1997. I feel I can much more easily articulate sound teaching (at least I hope it's sound!) without getting frustrated with others or bursting an artery in my brain.

I think the cockiness arose from the fact that I felt I had to constantly justify my decision, which was a big one, and when I felt the prompting of the Spirit to accept the sacraments, I was sure I was doing the right thing. There were those who couldn't accept what I did, and I recall how a few months before my reception into the Church, my Baptist youth pastor (who had, up until that point, encouraged my study of the Catholic Faith) sent me a very warm Valentine's card urging me to reconsider my "choice of church" for fear that I had been too influenced by Satan and the Catholic "mystique". It's so easy to throw around the Scriptural and Patristic one-line proof-texts, thinking "Here it is, why can't you see it?! You have to see it!" And then I think, if this is real faith, and if this is truly God's gift, then maybe I have to let them see it in me too... in my life, in my choices. After all, it is the Holy Spirit who touches hearts.

I think another reason for the cockiness is the amount of attention converts get nowadays... from their parishes, friends, and family. Suddenly it seems there's something special to someone who would choose to accept the faith most are born in to. Yes, it may be true that most adult converts may have studied the faith to a level beyond the average cradle catholic, yet when it comes to the lived experience of that faith, converts are just beginners. We need the entire community. We're Catholic, after all, and we're all called to be saints.

And so I get worried when I see the potential for cocky convert syndrome in other converts, who obviously have a good zeal and love for the Church. The ability to articulate the truths of the faith is not automatic and takes more than just an intellectual understanding; Rather, the lived experience of these truths can give substance to the belief.

St. Augustine of Hippo, pray for us!

On the Dignity (and Spirituality) of Work

Mike Aquilina of The Way of the Fathers has an excellent reminder concerning the consistent Christian respect for the dignity of work -- an important thing to remember and think about on this Labor Day.

Our late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, wrote in his encyclical on the dignity of Human Work, Laborem Exercens (emphasis mine):

The Church is convinced that work is a fundamental dimension of man's existence on earth. She is confirmed in this conviction by considering the whole heritage of the many sciences devoted to man: anthropology, palaeontology, history, sociology, psychology and so on; they all seem to bear witness to this reality in an irrefutable way. But the source of the Church's conviction is above all the revealed word of God, and therefore what is a conviction of the intellect is also a conviction of faith.

The pope goes on to discuss the formation of a spirituality of work:

At the same time she sees it as her particular duty to form a spirituality of work which will help all people to come closer, through work, to God, the Creator and Redeemer, to participate in his salvific plan for man and the world and to deepen their friendship with Christ in their lives by accepting, through faith, a living participation in his threefold mission as Priest, Prophet and King...

Of course, this notion is nothing new to the Gospel, but it is a message that our present world desperately needs to hear. This is particularly why the Second Vatican Council gave such importance to the subject in its pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world, Gaudium et Spes. The pope goes on to echo this document:

Awareness that man's work is a participation in God's activity ought to permeate, as the Council teaches, even "the most ordinary everyday activities. For, while providing the substance of life for themselves and their families, men and women are performing their activities in a way which appropriately benefits society. They can justly consider that by their labour they are unfolding the Creator's work, consulting the advantages of their brothers and sisters, and contributing by their personal industry to the realization in history of the divine plan".

This Christian spirituality of work should be a heritage shared by all. Especially in the modern age, the spirituality of work should show the maturity called for by the tensions and restlessness of mind and heart. "Far from thinking that works produced by man's own talent and energy are in opposition to God's power, and that the rational creature exists as a kind of rival to the Creator, Christians are convinced that the triumphs of the human race are a sign of God's greatness and the flowering of his own mysterious design. For the greater man's power becomes, the farther his individual and community responsibility extends. ... People are not deterred by the Christian message from building up the world, or impelled to neglect the welfare of their fellows. They are, rather, more stringently bound to do these very things".

The knowledge that by means of work man shares in the work of creation constitutes the most profound motive for undertaking it in various sectors.

Do we approach our work in this way? It is a challenge, certainly. This very understanding of the sanctification of work, the ordinary work of life, as a means of encountering God is central to the teachings of Opus Dei, underscored by the Second Vatican Council: Be a saint through your work and further the Work of God. Take a moment today to read the encyclical and meditate on its message concerning the dignity and indeed the spirituality of human work.

My Wedding Day

Here are a couple of pictures of my wife, Christina, and me on our wedding day.

The entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church. Already Baptism, the entry into the People of God, is a nuptial mystery; it is so to speak the nuptial bath which precedes the wedding feast, the Eucharist. Christian marriage in its turn becomes an efficacious sign, the sacrament of the covenant of Christ and the Church. Since it signifies and communicates grace, marriage between baptized persons is a true sacrament of the New Covenant.
     - Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1617

Thank you to everyone for your prayerful support -- please continue to pray for us and for our married life!

First Crush

Laetitia Winery in Arroyo Grande, CA, opens its harvest season with the crushing of grapes in its rare basket presses. We visited the winery the day after our wedding, not too long before we left California, and enjoyed a tasting and a visit with these amazing presses. The winery is just one of several wineries that have popped up all up and down the central and south California coast within the last 15 years. Even our class in Natural Family Planning was held at a winery tasting room up in Paso Robles, CA. So cool! :)

St. Augustine, pray for us



Today I celebrate the feast day of my patron, St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. I am certainly no expert of all of his writing, and St. Blog's is filled with Augustine scholars, so I will leave that for now. Augustine's witness was an important part of my becoming a Roman Catholic. He effectively taught me how to put my intellect to proper use in the sincere pursuit of truth. The pursuit of real truth, that is, as opposed to a self-serving pursuit of truth that seeks it when it is good but avoids it when it starts to reveal things about one's self. The pursuit of real truth is, ultimately, the embrace of that Truth that is the person of Jesus Christ. This is what I believe St. Augustine refers to in Ch. 23, Book 10 of his Confessions when he says that Truth by which all things else are true.

So this selection from Augustine's Confessions is my favorite exposition on the nature of truth. Here is what he writes in the original Latin (emphasis mine):

cur autem veritas parit odium et inimicus eis factus est homo tuus verum praedicans, cum ametur beata vita, quae non est nisi gaudium de veritate, nisi quia sic amatur veritas ut, quicumque aliud amant, hoc quod amant velint esse veritatem, et quia falli nollent, nolunt convinci quod falsi sint? itaque propter eam rem oderunt veritatem, quam pro veritate amant. amant eam lucentem, oderunt eam redarguentem. quia enim falli nolunt et fallere volunt, amant eam cum se ipsa indicat, et oderunt eam cum eos ipsos indicat. inde retribuet eis ut, qui se ab ea manifestari nolunt, et eos nolentes manifestet et eis ipsa non sit manifesta.

Sic, sic, etiam sic animus humanus, etiam sic caecus et languidus, turpis atque indecens latere vult, se autem ut lateat aliquid non vult. contra illi redditur, ut ipse non lateat veritatem, ipsum autem veritas lateat. tamen etiam sic, dum miser est, veris mavult gaudere quam falsis. beatus ergo erit, si nulla interpellante molestia de ipsa, per quam vera sunt omnia, sola veritate gaudebit.

I print the Latin here to point out the juxtaposition in his language between noun and verb references to love (amor) vs. hatred (odium), and truth (veritas) vs. that thing [people] love in place of truth (rem quam pro veritate amant). It's interesting to me to see the way Augustine carefully sets and mixes the dueling themes here in opposition: For example, Love vs. Hatred is Truth vs. Hatred, and Truth vs. that other thing is really Love vs. love of that other thing which isn't true. So it is that a false, self-serving love is not real love, just as a false, self-serving pursuit of truth is not a pursuit of real truth.

Next, if you notice, Truth here is not portrayed as something merely sought, but as something that is active. Truth elucidates; it arouses hatred in those who falsely seek it, and joy (inevitably) in those who seek it with sincerity. This is because real Truth sheds light on everything. As I have emphasized in the text, amant eam lucentem, oderunt eam redarguentem -- they love [truth] when it enlightens them, they hate [truth] when it reprehends [accuses, or unveils] them.

This is where Augustine grabs you, sic, sic, etiam sic (thus, thus, even thus!), to make his ultimate point about the human soul. Man finds himself in the balance between wanting to see what Truth elucidates and not wanting to see his own faults unveiled by Truth. Here even the most lazy soul, honestly desiring Truth, will seek it and find true joy in eventually finding it -- that truth, as Augustine writes, per quam vera sunt omnia (by which all things are true). The sincere pursuit of truth is the pursuit of the One who makes things true, the One who is Truth, who brings to light our sins and sanctifies us by His grace so that we might be made holy in our pursuit of Him.

Here is a full English translation (not mine, somebody elses!):

Why does truth call forth hatred? Why is Your servant treated as an enemy by those to whom he preaches the truth, if happiness is loved, which is simply joy in truth? Simply because truth is loved in such a way that those who love some other thing want it to be the truth, and precisely because they do not wish to be deceived, are unwilling to be convinced that they are deceived. Thus they hate the truth for the sake of that other thing which they love because they take it for truth. They love truth when it enlightens them, they hate truth when it accuses them. Because they do not wish to be deceived, and do wish to deceive, they love truth when it reveals itself, and hate it when it reveals them. Thus it shall reward them as they deserve: those who do not wish to be revealed by truth, truth will unmask against their will, but it will not reveal itself to them.

Thus, thus, even thus, does the human mind, blind and inert, vile and ill-behaved, desires to keep itself concealed, yet desire that nothing should be concealed from itself. But the contrary happens to it - it cannot lie hidden from truth, but only truth from it. Even so, for all its worthlessness, the human mind would rather find its joy in truth than falsehood. So that it shall be happy if, with no other thing to distract, it shall one day come to rejoice in that sole Truth by which all things are true.

Theater District Open House

This afternoon after mass, Christina and I went to downtown Houston to check out the annual Theater District Open House. It's basically an afternoon where all of the theaters are open, and you have a chance to see inside the theaters, take tours, walk around backstage, chat with actors and theater workers, as well as check out some free performances. You also get some opportunities for ticket discounts. We got down there later than we anticipated, but we managed to fill up the afternoon!

First, we checked out the Wortham Center, home of the renowned Houston Grand Opera. We went on a tour of some of the place -- what an amazing theater! We then grabbed lunch at the Hard Rock cafe and then checked out some of the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, where the Broadway shows and local theater company productions are done -- a very different building from the Wortham Center. Finally, we caught a free concert of the Houston Symphony at Jones Hall. We're looking forward to seeing some really good shows this season!

The Little Way

Check out this website devoted to St. Therese of Lisieux and Carmelite spirituality: www.thelittleway.com, run by a catholic bookstore in Salinas California called Corpus Christi Book+Store (also an associated blog).

The Testament of King St. Louis IX

... From a spiritual testament by King Saint Louis IX to his son, courtesy of Canterbury Tales.

My dearest son, my first instruction is that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your strength. Without this there is no salvation. Keep yourself, my son, from everything that you know displeases God, that is to say, from every mortal sin. You should permit yourself to be tormented by every kind of martyrdom before you would allow yourself to commit a mortal sin.

If the Lord has permitted you to have some trial, bear it willingly and with gratitude, considering that it has happened for your good and that perhaps you well deserved it. If the Lord bestows upon you any kind of prosperity, thank him humbly and see that you become no worse for it, either though vain pride or anything else, because you ought not to oppose God or offend him in the matter of his gifts.

Be kindhearted to the poor, the unfortunate and the afflicted. Give them as much help and consolation oas you can. Thank God for all the benefits he has bestowed upon you, that you may be worthy to receive greater. Always side with the poor rather than with the rich, until you are certain of the truth.

Be devout and obedient to our mother the Church of Rome and the Supreme Pontiff as your spiritual father.

In conclusion, dearest son, I give you every blessing that a loving father can give a sons. May the three Persons of the Holy Trinity and all the saints protect you from every evil. And may the Lord give you the grace to do his will so that he may be served and honored through you, that in the next life we may together come to see him, love him and praise him unceasingly. Amen.

L'Absinthe

by Edgar Degas



I don't know what it is about this painting that fascinates me... perhaps its the woman's melancholy expression, or the full glass of cloudy absinthe sitting in front of her.

From Wikipedia:

Painted in 1876, it depicts two figures, a woman and man, who sit in the center and right of this painting, respectively. The man, wearing a hat, looks right, off the canvas, while the woman, dressed formally and also wearing a hat, stares vacantly downward. A glass filled with the titular greenish liquid, absinthe, sits before her. The woman in the painting is the actress Ellen Andrée, the man Marcellin Desboutin, painter, engraver and, at the same time, celebrated Bohemian character. The café where they are taking their refreshment is the Café de la Nouvelle-Athènes in Paris. n its first showing in 1876 it was panned by critics, who called it ugly and disgusting. It was put into storage until an 1892 exhibit where it was booed off the easel.

It was shown again in 1893 in England, this time titled "L'Absinthe" where it sparked controversy. The persons represented in the painting were considered by English critics to be shockingly degraded and uncouth...

Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary (belated)

Rerum Supremo in Vertice...

You are given your place,
O Virgin, O Queen,
at creation's highest point;
enriched abundantly are you
with beauty of every kind.

Amidst all the rest of created things
you shine forth
as the finest of God's works,
for it was your destiny to bear a Son:
a Son, but also the very One who created you.

Just as Christ was king,
purpled, blood-stained
on that exalted tree,
so are you, sharer in his suffering,
the mother of all who live.

Adorned with praises so high,
look upon us who rejoice in you;
in your joy, accept the proclaiming song
that we pour forth gladly unto you.

To the Father, and to the Advocate blest,
and to the Son be great glory given;
they have enclothed you
with a garment of grace
most wondrous to behold.
Amen.

Regina Caeli, ora pro nobis...

I wasn't aborted...

Petitioning for Life, by Julia Gorin. From the WSJ OpinionJournal:

The Web site of Ms. Magazine--yes, it still exists--is calling on readers to sign a petition: "I have had an abortion. I publicly join the millions of women in the United States who have had an abortion in demanding a repeal of laws that restrict women's reproductive freedom."

Well, so much for the right to privacy. If Ms. readers hadn't had so many abortions, there might be more Ms. readers. As for the rest of us, here's a petition we could all sign: "I wasn't aborted."

Having narrowly escaped being aborted, I'd be the first in line.

On the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Christina and I attended mass this evening at our parish in Sugar Land to celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Lots of chant, song, and incense, and of course, a powerful message concerning the role of Mary in bringing us toward Christ and to the salvation God offers through His grace. The Marian dogmas tell us volumes about Christ. That is where their fundamental foundation lies, but we also have a relationship with her as we do with the whole Church in heaven and on earth. Our pastor underscored the fundamental point: We worship God alone, and we honor Mary precisely because Christ honored Mary, and Christ says to us as he said to John, Behold your mother (John 19:27). I like this meditation by St. Josemaría Escrivá:

The Catholic faith sees Mary as a sign of God's special love. God calls us his friends; his grace acts in us, winning us from sin, enabling us to reflect in some way the features of Christ, even though we are still wretched dirt. We are not stranded people whom God has promised to save. His salvation is already at work in us. In our relationship to God, we are not blind men yearning for light and crying in anguished darkness. We are children who know our Father loves us.

Mary tells us about this warmth and security. That's why her name goes straight to our heart. Our relationship with our own mother may show us how to treat Mary, the Lady of the Sweet Name. We have to love God with the same heart with which we love our parents, our brothers and sisters, the other members of our family, our friends. And we must love Mary with that same heart, too.

- St. Josemaría Escrivá, from Christ is Passing By, 142

The Body Worlds Horror

Neda Ulaby of NPR discusses the controversy over the Body Worlds exhibits in science museums around the country. Note also this story about the pregnant woman display. LifeSite also discusses it. The exhibit is currently "on display" here at the Museum of Natural Science in Houston. ... what Bill said...

I remember my fascination when a close doctor friend of mine took me to the cadaver room of the medical school he was attending at the time -- after the students had finished their dissection of the bodies. Aside from the remains of the corpses, do you know what filled the room? Bouquets of roses and assortments of flowers, thank-you cards, lengthy letters written by the medical students themselves to honor the dignity of the lives of those who had donated their bodies so that they could learn. The remains would then be later deposited in a respectful way, not put on public display for money. Quite different from what I see here -- bodies of questionable origin, put on public display and posed in ridiculous forms, as folks pay thousands of dollars to have a look before they go about their lives. No respect. No honor. It is honorable to show respect to the dead and to the remains of the dead, and it is a corporal work of mercy to bury the dead.

Is Dogma So Constraining?

Not at all! Dogma is progressive.

In its moral relativism, the culture in which we live despises the notion of religious dogma. Those of us who happen to profess dogma are labeled as closed-minded buffoons who are incapable of real thought and honest inquiry. For those who have no desire to learn or strive to believe anything, or develop a real, working understanding of their religious faith, this might be true. But the actual principle of dogma is nothing of the sort!

Dogma is actually a progressive method. It enables progressive thought. If human beings have any hope of growing or evolving in any way in the pursuit of truth, we have to be dogmatic about things - in fact, it's inherent in our brains that this is so. And so one isn't so shocked to find that all real, academic disciplines, including mathematics, philosophy, and all fields of science, are dogmatic by nature. It allows one to build upon the proven conclusions of one's predecessors... to ask, learn, and teach succeeding generations to enable them to go even further.

Dogma is healthy to a thinking brain. It is essential to real education. The great Catholic intellectual G.K. Chesterton summed it up best in Ch.4 of What's Wrong With the World:

It is quaint that people talk of separating dogma from education. Dogma is actually the only thing that cannot be separated from education. It is education. A teacher who is not dogmatic is simply a teacher who is not teaching.

And so why shouldn't Christ's Church also employ dogma to teach succeeding generations important truths about God? In paragraph 89, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

Dogmas are lights along the path of faith; they illuminate it and make it secure. Conversely, if our life is upright, our intellect and heart will be open to welcome the light shed by the dogmas of faith.

In our case, the Church's proven conclusions are actually fruits of the Spirit that allow Christians of succeeding generations to better understand the fullness of God's revelation given in the person of Jesus Christ. God does this because left by ourselves, we would merely screw everything up and prevent others from understanding Him. Thus, we can understand things and speak about God today in ways that were very difficult for earlier Christian communities to grasp and articulate -- yet what we know today is organically rooted in what they were given by Christ. This is because real learning builds on itself. If every generation had to start from scratch, where would we be? Dogma therefore elucidates truth.

It may be, as the Catechism implies, that those who say that dogma only obscures truth merely don't like what it is that dogma actually brings to light -- namely that Christianity is more than just a shallow, flighty "I'm okay, you're okay" emotionalism. That we are indeed a sinful people who are called to reject sin, repent, and walk rightly with God and each other in a REAL relationship. But these same dogmas also teach us that God loves us, is merciful with us, and freely gives us everything we need to know Him, love Him, and walk uprightly with Him.

Jesus in Cowboy Boots and Other News

I had to start this off with one of those oddities of life that could only be found in Texas. If you're ever near Paris, TX, stop on over at Evergreen Cemetery to view the very interesting grave statue known to the locals as Jesus in Cowboy Boots. Nice snakeskins! Actually, I don't think anybody knows who is supposed to be depicted in the statue... just a guy in boots leaning on a cross I guess. The melancholy cowboy... but I wonder what the magdalene conspiracy folks are saying about this!

On our way to Houston, we stopped to spend a couple days on San Antonio's famous RiverWalk. A most excellent time! We visited the ancient Cathedral of San Fernando, strolled the city, and saw the Alamo, of course. And we recommend the Hotel Contessa on the RiverWalk and also Las Ramblas, the Spanish restaurant located downstairs. Good eatin'! Also, be sure to check out the riverwalk... especially at night.

Things are settling down here since we moved in. We've almost completed our unpacking, and we've got some new furniture on the way. I went back to work after my timeoff this week, and I love it! I will be working with some really interesting technology (compilers - programming language translation), and I'm on a great team with some great people whom I look forward to getting to know.

And just to know, it wasn't too long ago that our new home town of Sugar Land, TX was named the #3 best place to live in the nation by CNNMoney magazine. We really like living here as one can find just about everything within 15 minutes of our house, including tons of stores and restaurants, and a couple of very large movie theaters. And if you want a lot more culture and the arts, it's only a very swift 30 minutes into the city of Houston where you can find museums as well as the infamous theater district. We're planning on seeing Mozart's Don Giovanni there in the Fall.

We're also happy to be in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. Our new parish of St. Theresa's in Sugar Land is very solid, and we're not TOO far from the Anglican Use parish of Our Lady of Walsingham! About two weeks ago we attended one of the Cafe Catholica young adult events sponsored by the archdiocese. We were quite impressed not only to see more than 300 young adults there, but also to see that their ages were quite spread out. Prior to going, we were a little concerned that we would be the oldest ones there (as happens frequently in California groups). But we saw many young adults with their spouses and even their children there, all coming together to demonstrate their love of the Church and their interest to learn about it and each other. We also met the speaker, auxiliary bishop Joe Vasquez, for the first time.

Just last weekend, we took a little trip down to Galveston Island to visit the beach and to see some sights. It was good to see the ocean again, but it was rather crowded. This time, we have a busy weekend planned... and tonight, Shakespeare in the park!

If you're ever in the area and can stand the heat, drop me a line!

Hello from Houston

Just a quick note to let everyone know that the wedding went well, and we are now settling into our home here in the Houston area. I will certainly blog more soon about all of the details! :)

Another year, another...

... birthday. 28 today. Am I really that old??

On a related note, I will be taking a little blogging break for a while. Lots of things coming up -- our wedding, our move, job transfer, etc, etc...

Anyway, for now, so long, and thanks for all the fish!

The Mystery of His Will

to sum up all things in Christ...

From the letter of St. Paul to the Church of Ephesus (1:3-14):

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavens,
as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world,
to be holy and without blemish before him.
In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ,
in accord with the favor of his will,
for the praise of the glory of his grace
that he granted us in the beloved.
In him we have redemption by his blood,
the forgiveness of transgressions,
in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us.
In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us
the mystery of his will in accord with his favor
that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times,
to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.

In him we were also chosen,
destined in accord with the purpose of the One
who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will,
so that we might exist for the praise of his glory,
we who first hoped in Christ.
In him you also, who have heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him,
were sealed with the promised holy Spirit,
which is the first installment of our inheritance
toward redemption as God's possession, to the praise of his glory.

Just in case you needed a reminder...

Guillaume DuFay and Weddings



The preparations for the big day are winding up. In the midst of buying a house and planning a wedding, it is so easy to get lost in various details. One of the more fun things about planning for the big day has been the nuptial mass.

In particular, our friend, the inimitable Prof. Alejandro Enrique Planchart, has assembled a small choir, which he will direct, to sing for us a 15th century polyphonic mass setting, namely the Missa Sine Nomine, composed by Guillaume DuFay (the fellow on the left in the picture above). As I have learned, DuFay originally composed this mass for another wedding, that of Carlo Malatesta da Pesaro to Vittoria Colonna di Lorenzo (niece of Pope Martin V) at Rimini on July 24th, 1423. The musical setting itself is very short, about 15-16 minutes total. For the presentation of flowers to the Blessed Virgin, the choir will sing DuFay's very short Ave Regina Caelorum.

Since the mass falls coincidentally on the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, we desired that our nuptials be celebrated within the context of this great feast, with its images of divine vocation, birth, and fruitfulness. Therefore, we will be using the proper for the day, and our choir will chant the Introit, etc. To quote the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 49:1-6):

The LORD called me from birth, from my mother's womb he gave me my name.

Now let's just hope things go off without a hitch (yeah, right). Sacred polyphony has contributed a great deal to our spiritual growth, and it has rooted us in a very meaningful connection with our Roman Catholic heritage. Therefore, we had hoped to include it in our celebration, but without pretense or ostentation. We're hoping to have a great celebration of prayer and feasting with our family and friends on this day.

Moving to Houston

Wow, sorry it has been so long since my last posting spree. The truth is, to use the standard excuse, I haven't had any time. But I do have exciting news.

First of all, I want to announce that in less than two months, my soon-to-be wife and I will be moving to the Houston, TX area. I timed the blog announcement to correspond with the formal announcement of my job transfer within the company in which I work (TI). We also recently submitted an offer on a house in Sugar Land, and after some negotiation, our offer was accepted, and so now we enter the critical period. It's all very new for us, so we are doing what we can! Please pray for us!

We are very excited about the move. Speaking for myself, after having been a Californian for the last 19 years, I know that I will miss California. I know that I will miss being involved in ministry with my community and local church. I am looking forward to new career opportunities and opportunities for ministry, as God directs. Please pray that we are open to new challenges.

Moving to the South is somewhat of a homecoming for me -- I'm originally from Alabama and have family scattered throughout the South. However, it will be a huge change for my fiancee, Christina, because she is 100% California born-and-raised.

And we will not forget the Santa Maria tri-tip. Never, never ever ever!

Love One Another

From today's Gospel reading

This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.

There is so much that can be said about this -- 2000 years, and of course, our recent encyclical! But on the basic level, you know, being the human being that I am, I sometimes think about how much of a challenge it is even to love those who get on my nerves. Grrr... But now I think of the little reflection (#174) from The Way, written by St. Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei:

Don't say: 'That person gets on my nerves.' Think: 'That person sanctifies me.'

And suddenly things come into focus. God works in our everyday lives and in our ordinary relationships with everybody we know. Each and every one of our relationships has meaning. This one is worth a million. Thanks.

Opus Dei and Corporal Mortification (and Poseidon)

Fr. Michael Barrett, a priest of Opus Dei and director of the Holy Cross Chapel and Catholic Resource Center in Houston, TX, responds to The Da Vinci Code's portrayal of Opus Dei and its views on Corporal Mortification:

The Da Vinci Code's bloody depictions of mortification are grotesque exaggerations that have nothing to do with reality. Obviously the movie makers were looking for shock value, and the real use of the cilice and discipline would have been too tame. In reality, they cause a fairly low level of discomfort comparable to fasting. There is no blood, no injury, nothing to harm a person's health, nothing traumatic. If it caused any harm, the Church would not allow it.

Fr. Barrett is a good man. When I first saw the trailer for The Da Vinci Code, I had to laugh - Particularly when it showed the Opus Dei Albino Monk literally ripping a cilice from his flesh and beating himself senseless with a discipline. Yeah, right.

Bill Cork offers some views on the film itself. I went to the movies too, but being a fan of large ships and disaster flicks, I couldn't resist the urge to see Poseidon. I liked the special effects and some decent action sequences, but I still prefer the 70's classic. :)

To Texas

Going to Houston, TX for the rest of the week. Will write more later!

St. Joseph, pray for us!

Well, it is actually true...

I grew up on grits, fried chicken, black-eyed peas, fried okra, turnip greens, and corn bread, but it's been going on 20 years since I last lived in the South.

Displaced Southerner You are 79% true Southern!

You're pretty Southern, but something is keeping you from being a true Southern Belle or Gentleman. Maybe you've moved, or maybe your parents were Yankees and brought you up without ever taking you fishing or hunting or to Memaw's for chicken and black-eyed peas. You know your Southern facts and culture, but that literature still escapes you. And when you order tea at a restaurant, you expect it to come "unsweet." Yikes. Next time you have the chance, visit a classic Southern downtown area and spend an afternoon just soaking it in... Montgomery, Birmingham, Jackson, Natchez, Memphis, Charleston, Atlanta, or even New Orleans!

Link: The Southern-ness Test written by gwennykate. Thanks to DonJim.

Television: NotSoClever tricks

I've seen all of these happen, and if you've been a fairly regular watcher of television over the last 10 or 20 years, you probably have too... If you really think about it, TV is ridiculous! (duh!) ;)

Chuck Cunningham syndrome:

Chuck Cunningham syndrome is a term of criticism, applied when a regular character (ie: main character, supporting character, recurring character) in a television series is removed with little or no explanation.

The term derives from the Chuck Cunningham character in the American series Happy Days. Chuck, the oldest of the three children in the Cunningham family, initially appeared in the episode "Love and the Happy Days" (in the show Love, American Style), which served as the pilot for what became the Happy Days series. However, in Happy Days Chuck appeared as a superfluous character (usually on his way to basketball practice). He was written out of the series at the beginning of the second season with the explanation that he was going to college. After the second season, he was never mentioned again; subsequent episodes referred to the Cunninghams as having two, rather than three, children.

Jumping the shark:

Jumping the shark is a metaphor that has been used by US TV critics and fans since the 1990s to denote the tipping point at which a TV series is deemed to have passed its peak. Once a show has "jumped the shark," fans sense a noticeable decline in quality or feel the show has undergone too many changes to retain its original charm.

The phrase was popularized by Jon Hein on his website jumptheshark.com. It alludes to a scene in the TV series Happy Days when the popular character Fonzie, on water skis, literally jumps over a shark.

Cousin Oliver:

Cousin Oliver is a jargon used by TV critics when the creators of a TV show decide that the addition of a cute child actor to the cast will improve the ratings of the show, or as a replacement for child cast members that have grown up since the show started.

Fonzie Syndrome:

Fonzie syndrome is a phenomenon on TV programs in which a character that had originally been a one-off character or a supporting cast member becomes a/the central and/or most popular character on the show. The term comes from the American sitcom Happy Days, in which the character of Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli (played by Henry Winkler) started out as a minor, fringe character but quickly evolved into the focal point of the series.

Retcon:

Retroactive continuity is the adding of new information to "historical" material, or deliberately changing previously established facts in a work of serial fiction. The change itself is referred to as a "retcon", and the act of writing and publishing a retcon is called "retconning".

Marriage as being caught up in God's Love

From the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes) from the Second Vatican Council (paragraph 48)

Husband and wife, by the covenant of marriage, are no longer two, but one flesh. By their intimate union of persons and of actions they give mutual help and service to each other, experience the meaning of the unity, and gain an ever deeper understanding of it day by day. This intimate union in the mutual self-giving of two persons, as well as the good of the children, demands full fidelity from both, and an indissoluble unity between them. Christ the Lord has abundantly blessed this richly complex love, which springs from the divine source of love and is founded on the model of his union with the Church.

In earlier times God met his people in a covenant of love and fidelity. So now the Savior of mankind, the Bridegroom of the Church, meets Christian husbands and wives in the sacrament of matrimony. Further, he remains with them in order that, as he loved the Church and gave himself up for her, so husband and wife may, in mutual self-giving, love each other with perpetual fidelity.

True married love is caught up into God's love; it is guided and enriched by the redeeming power of Christ and the saving action of the Church, in order that the partners may be effectively led to God and receive help and strength in the sublime responsibility of parenthood. Christian partners are therefore strengthened, and as it were consecrated, by a special sacrament for the duties and the dignity of their state. By the power of this sacrament they fulfill their obligations to each other and to their family and are filled with the spirit of Christ. This spirit pervades their whole lives with faith, hope and love. Thus they promote their own perfection and each other's sanctification, and so contribute together to the greater glory of God.

So it is crucial and important that the Church recognizes in marriage a sacrament through which God bestows grace through the couple for their mutual sanctification and ultimate salvation. God, in freely sharing grace, invites us to participate in His very divine life, redeeming us and raising us out of the pit of our sinfulness. And we know that God is Love, and that through marriage, God's invitation also includes the unique opportunity to participate in His very nature which is His continual act of wanting to love, the result of which is the creation of new life. Thus, by His grace in marriage, we are given insight into the very Creation of the universe, and the Creator's will for you and for me. We are then, in a sense, made co-creators with God.

RIP Fr. Anthony

Fr. Anthony Peter Runtz, CJ

Funeral Mass was celebrated April 17 at St. Louis de Montfort Church, Santa Maria, for Josephite Father Anthony Peter Runtz, 78, who died April 11.

Born in New York City of English-Irish parents and educated in England, he served in the British Army signal corps before entering the seminary. He completed his seminary studies at College Melle in Belgium and was ordained in 1958 at Weybridge, Surrey, England. From 1960-64, he was housemaster of St. George College, Weybridge, and from 1964-67, he taught religion and industrial arts at Pius X-St. Matthias High School in Downey while obtaining a master's degree in teaching from Loyola University.

Father Runtz served as an associate pastor at several Santa Barbara Region parishes, including St. Mary of the Assumption and St. Louis de Montfort (Santa Maria), San Roque (Santa Barbara) and Sacred Heart (Ventura). While pastor of St. Louis de Montfort in the '70s, the parish doubled in size from 800 to 1,600 families.

A talented woodworker, he produced cabinetry and furniture for the St. Louis de Montfort rectory, parish hall and church as well as for the Sisquoc chapel, St. Anthony's Church in Los Alamos and St. Mary's in Santa Maria. Burial took place at the Josephite plot of Santa Maria Cemetery on April 18.

Requiescat in pace...

Universal Indult Confusion

I don't get it. If the Holy Father were to grant wider permission for the mass celebrated according to the 1962 Roman Missal without serious consensus among the bishops, it would really surprise me. Would the pope really want to circumvent the authority of the local bishop to regulate the liturgy in his own diocese? Okay, okay, before you cry, Bring on the circumvention!, let's examine the principle of doing this. We live in an era in which the prevailing belief in many circles about bishops still seems to be that they should function merely as papal administrators and nothing more. Both Benedict XVI and his predecessor, John Paul II, have often emphasized the teaching of the Second Vatican Council with respect to the proper role of bishops as a college to counteract this erroneous belief. While the pope certainly has the authority to grant wider permission, it doesn't seem likely that he believes it to be prudent at this juncture to do so without such a consensus among his brother bishops. So it also may be a while before Rome and the SSPX are really able to join hands and sing Kum Ba Yah.

But what about the confusion a move like this would cause in the larger church? With Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council spoke rightly of liturgical reform. Can the church soundly educate the faithful around the world that giving every priest permission to celebrate the liturgy according to the 1962 Roman Missal does not mean that it wasn't actually in need of reform? Can it fight the perception that there would not be two coexisting missals, one previously in need of reform, and one that identifies itself as the fruit of that reform?

Of course, if you prefer the Tridentine mass, perhaps you don't care one way or the other. But I think you should. Yes, yes, I understand the need for true liturgical reform, and I am not necessarily an opponent of the Tridentine mass and can sometimes be seen at Cardinal Mahony's weekly indult in Ventura, CA. Yet how can I not see this through the lens of what the Second Vatican Council taught? Somehow I don't see a universal indult solving any of the real liturgical or ecclesiological problems we are faced with today. Or maybe I am all wrong..? It wouldn't be the first time.