Superior Priest

18DEC22 (22aA4). Christmas is naturally good, but it is also supernatural. In the midst of all the natural goodness let us remember the supernatural good. He comes to reveal Himself, but we can never fully comprehend his mystery, but we can always ponder and meditate.

JESUS

Manifest Infirmity, wondrous Humility,

in which all the greatness of God lay hidden:

He is both great in the nature of God

and small in the form of a servant.

But His greatness is not diminished by His smallness,

nor His smallness overwhelmed by His greatness.

He Himself with the Father and the Holy Spirit precedes all spans of time,

but on this day, issuing from His mother,

He stepped into the tide of the years.

* * * * *

He who made man, was made Man;

He was given existence by a mother whom

He brought into existence.

He finds no room in the inn, but

He builds a temple for Himself

in the hearts of those who believe.

Unspeakably wise, He is wisely speechless;

filling the world, He lies in a manger.

He is wrapped in swaddling clothes,

but He gives us a garment of immortality.

John the Baptist baptized Christ, the Giver of Baptism,

in waters made holy by the One Who was baptized.

* * * * *

In Him we see our God made visible,

and so are caught up in the love of the God we cannot see.

He came to pay a debt He didn’t owe

because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.

Such is the love of our God!

Then let us be kindled with love,

that we may come to His eternity!

By Marie E. Barfknecht

04DEC22 (22aA2). How is the 1% challenge (https://www.evangelicalcatholic.org/onepercent/) going this Advent? John the Baptist is a crazy person who is calling us to reality. Repent!! In order for repentance to be real and authentic it needs to be proceeded with changes and fruit. This can be difficult to know exactly how to repent and change. So the only effective way is to pray to precede the way forward.

27NOV22 (22aA1). Today begins Advent the season of anticipation, hope, and preparation. Advent is not a season to be in Christmas but is a mini lent. Two of the greatest things to focus on are prayer and almsgiving. I am taking the 1% challenge and I am challenging you as well to spend at least 1% of every day in advent on prayer: https://www.evangelicalcatholic.org/onepercent/

20NOV22 (22cKing). Jesus Christ is King of the Universe. He is king of this world, but is he King of your heart. We often try and create the world and God in our image with disastrous effect. Jesus came to teach us about truth and help form us into true humans formed in God’s image. Jesus only gave us a few direct imperative commandments. One of them was “Do this in remembrance of me” and so we celebrate Mass in fidelity to Jesus’ command and are formed by Him. During Advent we will celebrate Mass Ad Oreientem. Here is a short youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXzgVlK-reg  and a letter from a bishop encouraging the practice https://dioceseofgallup.org/celebrating-the-mass-ad-orientem/ and here is a priest from Minnesota’s explanation: https://icchurch.cc/ad-orientem/

13NOV22 (22cO33). It is the end… Remember Death. It is coming. As Christians we should not be flippant or scared, but prepare and be ready.

02NOV22. Today I talk with Paul Duenas and Tamami Elizabeth Hatakeyama about choir and music in the liturgy. I get to hear a little more about their experience and joys, I get to share about my love (but inability in music), and about the Church’s intention of music in the Mass.

30OCT22 (22cO31). Children have a love of something and those things they want to do again and again and again. God also has a young soul that takes great joy in monotony.  He creates and keeps in existence again and again. He wants to enter our home, our soul, through the Mass in especially the Eucharist.

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” (G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy)

23OCT22 (22cO30). We often take part in unhealthy comparisons. Either placing us in worse life situations than other people or thinking of ourselves as better than other people. Ultimately God loves each of us individually not in comparison. The only comparison we should do is between us and Jesus and we will lose every time. That puts us in the right place to pray with the Tax Collector “O God, have mercy on me a sinner”.

19OCT22. Megan and I discuss about three major events that are coming up. The piece that was played at the beginning and the end was “La Danse Macabre” which you can watch/listen to here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71fZhMXlGT4 .

15OCT22 (22cO29). Blessed Solanus Casey always encouraged to Thank God for answering our prayers even before we received them.