Category Archives: Critical Mass

Epiphany… Finally

2023, blessings, Critical Mass, Home Life, Michigan, Troy

Every year, I like to do the Epiphany Home Blessing, a tradition in the Catholic Church.

Lord God of heaven and earth, you revealed your only-begotten Son to every nation by the guidance of a star. Bless this house and all who inhabit it. Fill us with the light of Christ, that our concern for others may reflect your love. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

We weren’t in Michigan last Epiphany, so the last time the house was blessed was 2021. It would be superstitious to say that it’s because it wasn’t blessed in 2022 that we had pipes burst and have to undergo major reconstruction, but…. 😉

This is the current state of our kitchen.

Today is the day we finally checked out of the hotel and moved back permanently into our house! Today, Donald also found the Epiphany Home Blessing card and chalk that we got from church. Together, we blessed the home for 2023.

We are so happy to finally be back home – really home! – and are looking forward to finding new local adventures!

Have a blessed day!

— Jenn & Donald

Funeral Preparations/Plans

Critical Mass, funeral

I originally had these plans listed on a separate page at the top of my blog under “The Bucket List,” when my terminal illness loomed more menacingly and present before me. However, I’ve been feeling great for a while and things do not seem to be progressing, so I’d rather file these away under a standard post that people can look for if needed and repurpose my Bucket List into an actual list of things to do and see. 😊 Below is the un-updated funeral plans. Remind me at some point to update them.

Okay, so Fr. JJ thinks that I should have a “Bucket List,” a list of the things that I would like to do before I die.  Fr. John thinks that it is a good idea to plan for your funeral.

Here is as good a place as any to do that, I suppose, so that people can just look it up online, instead of trying to find that one scrap of paper where I would have scribbled this stuff down. 

Funeral Songs:
The Servant Song
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee (or one of the other Ode to Joy variants)
Here I Am, Lord
Taste and See

Divine Mercy Chaplet: There’s not a place for this in the Funeral Mass, but as a rule, I prefer it sung. I don’t know the words otherwise. 😂
Rosary

I.  Vigil for the Deceased

Opening Prayer A:

Lord our God,
the death of our sister, Jenn
recalls our human condition
and the brevity of our lives on earth.
But for those who believe in your love
death is not the end,
nor does it destroy the bonds
that you forge in our lives.
We share the faith of your Son’s disciples
and the hope of the children of God.
Bring the light of Christ’s resurrection
to this time of testing and pain
as we pray for Jenn and for those who love her,
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Liturgy of the Word:

1st Reading:  ?  (Sir2:1-11, Jer 31:10-14)

Psalm:  ?

Gospel:  ?

Homily

Concluding Prayer A:

Lord Jesus, our Redeemer,
you willingly gave yourself up to death,
so that all might be saved and pass from death to life.
We humbly ask you to comfort your servants in their grief
and to receive Jenn into the arms of your mercy.
You alone are the Holy One,
you are mercy itself;
by dying you unlocked the gates of life for those who believe in you.
Forgive Jenn her sins,
and grant her a place of happiness, light, and peace
in the kingdom of your glory for ever and ever.
Amen.

II.  Funeral Liturgy — MASS!!!

Processional Song:  Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee

Opening Prayer B

O God,
to whom mercy and forgiveness belong,
hear our prayers on behalf of your servant Jenn,
whom you have called out of this world;
and because she put her hope and trust in you,
command that she be carried safely home to heaven
and come to enjoy your eternal reward.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Liturgy of the Word:

1st Reading:  Ezek 34:11-16 (or 11-31)

Psalm:  118 This is the Day

2nd Reading:  James 5:13-16

Gospel:  John 10:1-18, 25-30

Homily:  Fr. John

Intercessions:  ?

Liturgy of the Eucharist:

Eucharistic Prayer for Masses for Various Needs and Occasions:
III. Jesus, Way to the Father

It is truly right and just,
our duty and our salvation
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Father of holiness, Lord of heaven and earth,
through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through your eternal Word you created all things
and govern their course with infinite wisdom.
In the Word made flesh
you have given us a mediator
who has spoken your words to us
and called us to follow him.
He is the way that leads to you,
the truth that sets us free,
the life that makes our joy complete.
Through your Son
you gather into one family
men and women created for the glory of your name,
redeemed by the blood of the cross,
and sealed with the Holy Spirit.

And so we praise your mighty deeds
and join with the hosts of angels,
as they proclaim your glory without end:
…

You are truly blessed, O God of holiness:
you accompany us with love
as we journey through life.
Blessed too is your Son, Jesus Christ,
who is present among us
and whose love gathers us together.
As once he did for his disciples,
Christ now opens the scriptures for us
and breaks the bread.
…

Keep your Church alert in faith to the signs of the times
and eager to accept the challenge of the gospel.
Open our hearts to the needs of all humanity,
so that sharing their grief and anguish,
their joy and hope,
we may faithfully bring them the good news of salvation
and advance together on the way to your kingdom.

Be mindful of our brothers and sisters
who have fallen asleep in the peace of Christ,
and all the dead whose faith only you can know.
Lead them to the fullness of the resurrection
and gladden them with the light of your face.

When our pilgrimage on earth is complete,
welcome us into your heavenly home,
where we shall dwell with you for ever.
There, with Mary, the Virgin Mother of God,
with the apostles, the martyrs,
[St. N.,] and all the saints,
we shall praise you and give you glory.
through Jesus Christ, your Son.

III.  Rite of Committal

Scripture Verse:  John 6:39

Concluding Prayer A:

God of holiness and power,
accept our prayers on behalf of your servant Jenn;
do not count her deeds against her,
for in her heart she desired to do your will.
As her faith united her to your people on earth,
so may your mercy join her to the angels in heaven.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

And I would really, really like Fr. John to do the homily.  It would be nice if Fr. John, Fr. JJ and Fr. Stanley were there.  And any of my other priests.  And the Pope — I like him.  Someone make sure to invite the Pope.  Thanks!

Pieta Casket

What else do I need to plan out? Suggestions and comments welcome in the comment box!

Praying for You

2021, Critical Mass, Prayer/Prayer Requests, Scripture

Sirach 2: 1-6

My son, if you come forward to serve the Lord,
remain in justice and in fear,
and prepare yourself for temptation.

Set your heart right and be steadfast,
incline your ear, and receive words of understanding,
and do not be hasty in time of calamity.

Await God’s patience, cling to him and do not depart,
that you may be wise in all your ways.

Accept whatever is brought upon you,
and endure it in sorrow;
in changes that humble you be patient.

For gold and silver are tested in the fire,
and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.

Trust in God, and he will help you;
hope in him, and he will make your ways straight.

Stay in fear of him, and grow old in him.

Quiet Mornings

2020, Critical Mass, Prayer/Prayer Requests, Routines

When I adhere to it, I really am loving my quiet morning routine. After getting ready for the day and having some breakfast, I sit down for some spiritual reading time. This morning I continued reading in Pope Benedict’s Infancy Narratives, concerning John the Baptist.

Music helps to influence your emotions, so while I tend to listen to upbeat music when getting ready (this morning, it was classic Christmas tunes), when I’m reading in the morning, I like to switch over to something more … churchy. This morning I put on some Gregorian chant.

The best mornings were the mornings that I got to go to morning Mass on my way in to work. We would gather at 6:30 am in the Day Chapel at Our Lady of Good Counsel and pray together. At the end of Mass, Jesus would be put out on the altar and we would sing O Salutaris Hostia to Him. That’s something I miss, so I think at the end of my spiritual reading time, I’ll bring that song back.

I find that it always helps my work day when I pray first. I feel that I am more kind, more productive, and more focused, than days where I don’t take explicit time to pray.

There’s always something printed on my vitamin packet, whether a quote or a question. Today, it was:

“We don’t realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme self who is eternally at peace.”

Elizabeth Gilbert

I’m not sure who Elizabeth Gilbert is, but I feel that supreme self is the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

Have a blessed morning!

Drifting into December

Critical Mass

December starts now. The last month of a very unusual year. I’ve been attempting to create more routines to my days, and am trying to build in specific times during the day where I can read, pray, and reflect.

This nighttime one can be difficult, because I’m very good at working or distracting myself until exhaustion, then falling into bed. Even now, it’s quite late, but I wanted to jot down a few thoughts.

Going into Advent, it’s supposed to be this quiet, penitential time where you prepare yourself for the miracle of God made flesh. Too often, it ends up being a blur of planning and frenetic activity as the days tick by faster than ever. We have decorating to do, cards to send, presents to buy and wrap, outfits and meals to plan, and countless other tasks that seems to all gang up and attack you at once.

I have this vision in my head of winters as being a time where you can curl up under a blanket with a hot chocolate and a good book. My winters are not often this way. I don’t take that space in the cadence of my days to lean into the change of the season.

Do I want to change? This is a good question. I quite like being busy and feeling productive. But productivity without real purpose feels like so much wasted effort. In 6 months, will the things that I have chosen to do have benefited me in some way?

What work am I doing within my soul? How are the choices I’m making (or not making!) helping me to be the person God envisions me being? What good can I do in the lives of others, if only I take the time to get out of my own thoughts and look outward?

We shall see. 🙂

Let me know what your dreams are for yourself this December.

Ignite Conference 2020: Day 1

2020, Critical Mass, Evangelization, Presentations/Talks

As I was signing up on Eventbrite for Mass on Sunday, this conference was suggested to me. Since it is Pentecost weekend, the topic of the conference is appropriately Evangelization. It is hosted by a Dominican order from Ireland, but they do have some international speakers, including Ralph Martin and Scott Hahn.

I came into the conference a little late, so there was a section with Fr. Mike Schmitz and a panel on Evangelization and Youth that I missed. But here are some of the things talked about in the other sessions along with a few of my thoughts.

Panel on Evangelization in the Family

One suggestion was to try to minimize your outward displays of anger or impatience with your spouse, particularly in front of your children. A practical way to do this could be to remind yourself frequently, “I freely chose this person and gave them my whole heart and my trust.”

It sounds simple and pretty obvious advice, right? Just don’t fight, kids! But in practice it can be very difficult. Any relationship between two flawed individuals is going to have some bumps along the way, and we are all flawed. The extent to which you are able to control your reactions can depend on a multitude of factors, including your base temperament (and your spouse’s), external stressors, and how far along you are in growing in virtue. You can help your relationship by committing every day to outdoing your spouse in honoring the other, by looking at situations from their perspective, and by praying and taking your struggles to the Lord.

One question that came up was, “In a mixed marriage, how can you evangelize without disrupting the marriage bond?” They stated that it’s very important to respect each other and love each other. Like Mother Teresa said, “Love until it hurts.” What you do have in common (regarding the faith), share as a family.

Ralph Martin

How essential is the call to holiness? It is what the Holy Spirit has been emphasizing since the second Vatican Council. It is the same holiness, the same conformation to Christ for all. This is why we need to learn to love each other more and more as brothers and sisters, and re-emphasize the power of Pentecost in evangelization.

What is a good definition of holiness? Jesus teaches us:

And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that he is one, and there is no other but he; and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Mark 13:32-33. RSV-SCE.

It’s not about increasing acts of piety (unless you are competing with Fr. Lee for Piety Points), but to grow in love and transform your heart. Hate what God hates; what God hates is sin.

In his book, “The Fulfillment of All Desire,” Therese remarks about saying Yes to our identity: holiness isn’t a burden, it’s a blessing. God is trying to give to us so that we can experience the fullness of His love. However, we are often the ones getting in our own way. We know we are called to holiness…

BUT I’m just a lay person. Every single one of us is called to holiness. We are created in the image and likeness of God. We reflect something of God Himself just by existing. If you are baptized, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you and are called to be preacher, prophet, and king.

BUT … later. We have the illusion that there will be some better time in our life that will allow us to become more serious about our faith life. There will not be a better time than right now. Why would you postpone a greater freedom/love/apostolic fruitfulness/blossoming of your vocation?

BUT there’s no way I can do what the saints have done. The lives of the saints can inspire us, but they can also discourage us. We can think that we don’t have what it takes and decide instead to aim for Purgatory. There are two problems with this. First, nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say to aim for Purgatory. What He does say is to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. And to pick up your cross every day and follow Him. Denying our disordered desires is the only way. Second, we don’t always hit the targets we are aiming for. If we aim for Heaven and miss, thanks be to God there is Purgatory, which can purify us of the sins we still clung to at the time of our death. However, if we aim for Purgatory and miss….

St. John Paul II gives us some practical wisdom. Principles that govern the spiritual journey:

  • The spiritual journey is totally dependent on the grace of God.
    • There is a secret about reliance upon God and becoming a beggar before the Lord and pleading to Him to change our stony hearts.
    • St. Therese is a great teacher. She showed us how helpful it can be to turn your perspective from seeing the Lord from the perspective of the world, to looking at the world from the arms of the Lord.
    • You can trust the Lord. He has the ability to care for you. Know of the pureness of His love for you. He will never leave you.
  • Our effort is necessary.
    • Go to the most fearful place in your soul. Say, with faith, “Jesus, I trust in You.” Think about your death and trust Jesus for all those things: for the perfect timing/method of your death, for the people you will be leaving behind, for your purification.
    • We need to give the effort of paying attention to God. The main way we do this is via prayer.
    • We have to say Yes. God will not force us to love Him against our will.
    • Today is an opportunity for you. If you’ve hardened your heart against the Lord, today is an opportunity to reconcile yourself to Him.
    • What about the sins of the Church? Despite all the weaknesses, we hold this treasure (of our faith) in earthen vessels (sometimes translated as cracked pots). Just because the container is faulty, it doesn’t follow that the treasure is any less treasure. For all the problems, the Church still contains the fullness of the faith handed down by Jesus.
  • There are some painful dimensions to the process of purification. We have a basic disorder on our soul from Original Sin, wounds from the sins of others, and our own sins.
  • Even though it takes effort and can be painful, there is nothing better that you can do but to desire every day to make progress in your spiritual life. The more you come in harmony with God’s life, the better you will be a light in the lives of others.

St. Therese used to fall asleep during prayer. And the purpose of the Carmelite life was to pray! She wasn’t discouraged because she knew that God would still love her through that. Even sleepy, distracted prayer times can be efficacious. Persevering in personal prayer is important.

Turn away from those things which are impeding your union with God. Sin never helps. The very nature of temptation is to say, “Hey! This sin will help!” However, it always wounds the soul and sets us further back from the communion and peace that we desire.

What are some serious sins that we do not talk about? Environmental concern is important, but it may not send you to Hell. There are many resources which talk about the gravity of sexual sin: the Catechism of the Catholic Church, St. Paul’s teachings, Revelation…. Sins against the body are serious because we are one body and one spirit with Jesus. We cannot be complicit with going along with the culture’s message that these things aren’t important. St. Augustine was enslaved to sexual sin and could not free himself of his own willpower. He did what he could and eventually God provided him the grace to be delivered from this.

After we turn away from serious sin, we still need to chase after venial sins. There are inadvertent venial sins (the residue of our fallen nature) and advertent venial sins (E.g. I know I shouldn’t, but this is just a little thing.). However, it’s no little thing to knowingly offend God. Decide that you never want to freely offend the Lord, even in small matters.

St. Francis de Sales talks about affection for sin. Maybe you are not longer committing a sin, but you have a nostalgia for it, or maybe you are thinking about it, even if you do not commit the sin. Any indulgence of temptation, you need to release to the Lord.

  • The Hebrews could have made the journey to the Promised Land in 8 days, but it took 40 years because their nostalgia for sin (Egypt) delayed their spiritual progress.
  • We need to close some doors and not leave them open. We need to go through the One Door of Jesus.

There are four main ways Jesus is present to us: Eucharist, priests, the Word of God, and the indwelling presence of God. During the quarantine, we didn’t have access to the first two of these, but we still had access to the second two. We need to learn to live the Christian life within ourselves and not rely solely on external sources of grace. We need to be able to carry on the faith no matter what.

Panel on Evangelization in Media

Wendy Grace/Katie Ascough (Called to More)

Being able to access faith-filled content is great, but it’s very important to have access to faith-filled content that is local to you, where you can hear truth being proclaimed in your own language by people speaking with your accent, and providing insights and examples from your own culture.

Radio is a great medium for evangelization because it is commonly seen as a friend, as something approachable and non-threatening. Christian music in particular can be very powerful, and it is recommended that you start your children listening to it at a young age. As a parent, have you looked up the lyrics on the top 10 songs being played on secular radio? It is shocking the messages that are being consumed by our young people.

“I’m not a Catholic journalist; I’m a journalist who happens to be Catholic. It’s just part of who I am.” We need to bring our faith into all corners of our lives. Be bold in your faith! Others are likely more curious than anything.

Regarding the use of media during the pandemic, it has been fairly inline with the percentage of the faithful who attend Mass in person: we may have lost some who are not technically-inclined, but are gaining some people who are tech-savvy, but who haven’t ventured to a Mass.

It can be helpful for people who have young children. Trying to get to a holy hour may be a struggle, but having the flexibility to have access to praise and worship online and be able to attend from your home can help to share the faith with your children.

Brian O’Driscoll

Brian leads the apostolate, Paving the Way Home, that seeks to explain what the Church teaches and why. In Ireland, they have a very devotional faith, but it may lack in scholarship and deeper understanding.

He is starting two new Podcasts: Paving the Way Home Podcast and Faith and Reason Podcast.

St. John Paul II told us to go to all the marketplaces and proclaim the Gospel. All of our young people are involved in the internet in some way. Be bold and step out of your comfort zone. You never know what’s going on in someone’s life and how your sharing of your faith may affect them.

Dominic

Alpha is about the person-to-person contact and primary evangelization. How do you do evangelization when you cannot physically bring people together? Many parishes have started to run Alpha online. They’ve found that people are still finding this to work, because people may be more comfortable being in their own homes and this security allows them to talk about deep issues. Babysitting and other related barriers to participation are removed.

Post-pandemic, will these online offerings continue? This is a fascinating question. Online evangelization will not go away. Even older people in our society have internet access these days. The challenge is what do you do online? How do you make the most of it?

Sister Miriam Heidland SOLT

I didn’t catch a lot of this session, as I popped over to the NASA/SpaceX launch, but the first question addressed was, “What am I supposed to be doing with this time (COVID pandemic/quarantine) and what does it mean?” Sister Miriam relayed a word that she received from the Lord that this is a very sacred time that you won’t get again. So we are to be attentive to the workings of God in our lives. And to soften our hearts anywhere they are hard or afraid.

Tomorrow’s Agenda

Join me tomorrow for the final day of the conference: Ignite: Be a Light in the Darkness. I’ve converted the times below to Eastern Daylight Time. Ireland is 5 hours ahead of EDT.

Sunday, May 31, 2020

  • 8 am – Mass – Bishop Fintan
  • 9 am – Ralph Martin
  • 10 am – Have your say: Interactive panel on Evangelizing Culture
  • 11 am – Patrick Tacey
  • 11:30 am – Have your say: Interactive panel on Catholic Education
  • 12:15 pm – Fr. Mike Schmitz
  • 1:15 pm – Evening Prayer
  • 2 pm – Have your say: Interactive panel on Evangelization Ireland 2020
  • 3 pm – Dr. Scott Hahn

Thanos Snap

2019, Critical Mass, Reflections on Paul

This afternoon, I finished the fiction book I had been reading over the past few weeks and debated what I was going to pick up next. It had been the end of a series and I didn’t really want to jump right into some other fictional world just yet.

I drifted from bookcase to bookcase, glossing over titles and colored spines. Finally, I landed on a volume on my Catholic bookcase, “Apostle of the Crucified Lord,” by Michael J. Gorman. This is a book from my Pauline literature course at Seminary. We had read a good quantity of the book, but not everything. Perhaps now would be a good time to go back and read the remaining pages?

Apostle of the Crucified Lord by Michael J. Gorman

As with most of my Catholic books, I have underlined and annotated the pages as I have read, so I know that reading through the remaining pages will take me more time than reading a work of fiction. I think that I want to turn this more into a reflection/Bible study as well, so the sections where we are going to examine, E.g. Galatians, I want to read that chapter in the Bible before reading that part of the book.

Just as a disclaimer before I begin: I am not sure if I will share the entirety of my reading/studying experience here, and I will likely *not* complete the study questions at the end of each chapter. However, if I do write more blog posts for this book, I’ll tag them with apostleofthecrucifiedlord, so that you can find them more easily. 🙂

Now, for what caused me to write this blog post in the first place. I was reading about Paul’s conversion, and how he went from being a zealous persecutor of the early Christians to a zealous evangelist for Christianity, especially to the Gentiles. We probably all know the story: Paul was riding to Damascus, had a vision of the Lord, fell off his horse (was there really a horse, though?), and was blinded, etc.

As overly dramatic as that might sound to modern ears, it is clear that Saul/Paul had some intense encounter with the Lord and a swift change of heart. And, thinking about it, his experience does have some similarities to my own conversion. (You can read a little more about my joining the church here.) But, basically, I woke up one morning and without really knowing what the Catholic church was about and not knowing any Catholics, I had the conviction that I was going to be Catholic. It wasn’t really a decision, but more like a recognition of an inner truth. I haven’t looked back or questioned a thing since that day.

Prevenient Grace: The species of actual grace which, as an illumination or inspiration of the Holy Spirit, precedes the free determination of the will. It is held to mark the beginning of all activity leading to justification, which cannot be achieved without it, but its acceptance or rejection depends on man’s free choice.

The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church

By prevenient grace, the Holy Spirit flipped a switch in me that day. As I read I came across this, “A conversion may be defined, more fully, as a radical reorientation of one’s fundamental commitment that is expressed in three things: convictions, or belief; conduct, or behavior; and community affiliation, or belonging.”

It doesn’t always feel that I had this radical reorientation, but my life is definitely very different and my faith has colored every aspect of my thoughts and actions. Instead, it feels comfortable and inevitable, like *of course* this is how things were always supposed to be. However, the reality is more like the drama as Paul tells it. Whether it felt momentous or not, the Holy Spirit did a Thanos Snap on me that day and my life has never been the same. Thanks be to God!

Remain in Him

Critical Mass, faith, Scripture

With every New Year comes a spate of New Year’s Resolutions. I look forward eagerly to this time of renewal and enthusiasm for goals and planning and getting back to the things that I love and the things that I value. Every year, however, I always find myself ill-prepared and scrambling. I’m rarely ready to start right out of the gate, and I never have enough pre-planning done to make my goals sustainable. There’s nothing different in that regard this year.

For a while, I’ve felt at least somewhat distant from God. Not that I believe any less. Just… It’s hard to put into words. I want to have a passionate faith. But just wanting something does not make it happen.

And I know that feelings are not something which can be controlled, only actions, but they certainly can make things more difficult. The more that I feel disengaged, the more that I need to put myself in His presence.

I had a planner that I dedicated to my faith life last year and it went largely untouched. This year, I again have a planner dedicated to my faith life, and I’m hoping to be able to use it more. To want to use it more. To grow, instead of stagnate, in my faith. I haven’t decided yet how I will set it up, but I think it’s more important this year to let it grow organically, rather than impose a set pattern from the beginning and then abandon it if the pattern no longer works for me.

I don’t yet have a reading plan for Scripture. There’s one to start soon in my Llamas Do Scripture group, and there’s always the daily lectionary, but this evening as I sat down to read after writing down in my planner my feelings, I decided to go into my Laudate app on my phone. The daily Scripture reading they suggested was entitled “Remain in Him,” 1 John 2: 27-28.

But the anointing which you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that any one should teach you; as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

It seems terribly appropriate, right?

The app gives suggestions on how to remain in Jesus: read Scripture, pray, receive the Eucharist, serve others.

Abide in Him or Remain in Him seem, to me, to be active things. Do it. Don’t wish you had a more fiery faith, just live it. Even if you are not feeling it right now. He’s there whether you feel His presence or not. He loves you no less now than before. Human hearts have this quality that makes us say, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” or “Time makes you forget,” but God’s heart is not fickle like this. God’s heart is steadfast, hesed.

Fr. John’s Daily Pontiffications

Critical Mass,

Fr. John has been breaking down and discussing events and issues surrounding the Holy Father, Pope Francis’s, trip to the US. Well worth a watch! Enjoy!

Daily Pontiffications #1

Daily Pontiffications #2

Daily Pontiffications #3

Daily Pontiffications #4

I’ll keep this page updated as new Pontiffications are published!

God Bless!

First Day of 20th Grade!

Critical Mass, Fun at Work, Grad School/Seminary

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I’ve always loved the start of a new school year! I love learning, and there’s something intoxicating about the smell of new office supplies. After a three year hiatus, I have returned to grad school as of the past Spring semester. Today, I start classes for Fall semester. I will be taking Synoptics and Foundations of the Christian Moral Life. I can’t wait to begin!

With me in the photo are Brandon (my co-worker, who is on his 17th year of school), and Jarrod (my supervisor, on year 24 and his 2nd Master’s degree). We thought it would be fun to add our photos to the slew of “First Day” photos cropping up on Facebook.