Slather me in cheez and onion: The Philly Cheesesteak Challenge

I’m not sure where I initially heard about the the Philly Cheesesteak Challange, but the idea stuck in my head like chewed up gum on the bottom of my shoe in the grocery store parking lot today. After all, nothing says culinary genius like fake cheese on bread. With meat. All in excessively excessive excess. So what is it?

Geno’s and Pat’s are two long-standing Philly institutions, cranking out cheesesteaks directly across the street from one another. In my head, the relationship between the pair is much like that of Cheers vs. Gary’s Olde Town Tavern, a heated rivalry that involves much fist-shaking and I’ll-get-you’s.

Over the years I’ve researched the challenge, pouring over write-ups and verifying the locations, talking to people who’d done it and learning the history of the establishments. Yes, I’d heard that both venues have declined through the years, rejected by Philly elders and Old Pharts for the newer, prettier offerings around town. But there festering away was a challenge too captivating to pass up: a Cheez Whiz’d hoagie at Pat’s, followed by a comparative second one from Geno’s across the street.

How. Barbarically. Awesome.

My annual baseball trip this year provided the right opportunity for such an inane feat. Not only would I be a bean toss away in Baltimore, but I’d be with a ragtag group that’s just lackadaisical enough to go along with the plan. I could taste the Yellow-5 already. So last week we sped off from Baltimore in our rented Chevy Equinox, passing through Delaware for the tiniest moment, arriving in Philly at the lunch hour.

First stop? Pat’s. Pat’s touts itself as the King of Steaks… And asks you not to make a “misteak” by going to somewhere else. Like Geno’s across the street. Pat’s, which opened in 1930, has history on its side; it’s in an old-school white building with a classic set-up. Thankfully, the folks who run the place have included a primer on the vernacular of placing your order because it’s that complicated.

I arrive at the front and spout my order with the feigned wisdom of a thousand Philly Phanatics: “Wit whiz,” I say. I rule at this.

The cheesesteak wit whiz at Pat’s looked exactly as you’d expect: A long hoagie roll, filled with iPad-thin sliced ribeye, then topped with diced onions and gluey-orange cheese. Just looking at it was magnificent—but biting into it was brilliance. The white bread was soft and welcoming; it has a velvety feel. The meat was cheesy, and the cheese was meaty. We licked the paper wrapping afterward. Nothing, it seems, could top this greatness. Except, maybe, a repeat performance.

PAT’S
Bread: 5 barbells
Meat: 3 barbells
cheese: 4 barbells
Overall ooze: 4.5 barbells
(All rankings out of 5 barbells)

Second stop? Geno’s. In contrast to its rival, Geno’s opened in 1966 in a neon-orange building; it’s covered in police paraphernalia and offers mostly standing/counter eating. The crowd at Geno’s was noticeably thinner. (That’s to say that there were fewer people there.) In fact, we skipped right up to the window, placed our order, and walked away with gut bomb in hand in under a minute.

Even wrapped in paper this thing looks large. (Side note: it also weighs slightly less than a V2 missile—but like the German at Pearl Harbor, I will not be defeated.) We unwrap and notice a few differences immediately. The bread at Geno’s was harder and dry—more like French bread than a loafy roll—and the cheese was thinner and scant. But less cheese meant we had a firmer grasp on the meat, which was sliced dollah-bill thin. And while the meat held tremendous flavor and polish, the bread and cheese fails left Geno’s far back, wallowing in the Philadelphia philth.

GENO’S
Bread: 3 barbells
Meat: 4 barbells
cheese: 2 barbells
Overall ooze: 2.5 barbells
(All rankings out of 5 barbells)

In sum, Pat’s was awesome, totally smoking the competition from Geno's. While I don’t generally seek out IBS, Pat’s is a sandwich I’d go back for.

(And with that, I hope Geno is shaking his grandpa fist somewhere.)

Finally, I now know that Houston’s newest cheesesteak place – Pappa Geno’s – offers a pretty authentic take on the sandwich. But ironically, it’s more akin to Pat’s than to its namesake. Perhaps they should have called it Pappa Patrick’s, butwhatdoiknow.

This Memorial Day is unlike any previous ones I’ve experienced before

Brethren, of the forty-something Memorial Day’s I’ve lived throughout my life, this one is unlike any other. The reason is because I’m here in the Outremer, helping to carry out the fight against the murderous horde that killed 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001, and tens of thousands elsewhere. Though the camp’s management has gone overboard to instill in it a festive environment – with patriotic decorations in the dining facility, a delicious cake decorated as a US flag, BBQs and stuff – the mood remains poignant. That’s because the mood was set at this morning’s ceremony, where we all formed and before the monument dedicated to our fallen comrades, we rendered the honors and respect due to them. During the ceremony, the command staff laid a wreath before the monument, taps was played, and guns fired in tribute. The names of all members of our task force who rendered the last measure of devotion were read, men from all armed services and from our coalition partners. Then the benediction, and we left.

Where do we get these men – and men embraces women unless otherwise indicated in the text – that they’ll pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty? How was it that a man from Kentucky, or Tennessee, or Texas; and others from Afghanistan, France, Canada, Australia, showed their love for others by dying for them? The answer lies in the mystery God himself, who forces no one to believe in Him but blesses those who die so that others may choose freely to love Him, or hate Him. Because God honors the sacrifice of those who die to protect human dignity, those who don’t debase it by lowly acts of hatred and murder to restrain that freedom. It is because we are made in His image that many from amongst us give their lives for the sake of others.

Right now, to me all the other wars and conflicts in the world are far away. I can only focus on this one. Today I had the opportunity to honor these heroes right on the land they consecrated with their blood.

…But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

I’ve been blessed by being here today. May the Lord bless us all on this Memorial Day, AD 2011.

Nautical pride

The Guaymenses are abuzz, getting ready for Navy Day June 1, when President Calderon will come to visit, and it's rumored Carlos Slim, CEO of TelMex and wealthiest man in Mexico (one of the richest in the world), may accompany him. Navy Day is a national annual event, and apparently a seaport is featured each year. This year it's Guaymas. We speculated whether Calderon will review the Navy exercises from the comfort of Sr. Slim's megayacht in the bay, but it would probably be more proper from the deck of a Mexican flagship with the admirals and their retinue.

The Mexican Navy, besides being the country's maritime military, also serves the same function as the US Coast Guard, rescuing distressed vessels, pursuing drug traffickers at sea, and protecting offshore oil wells.

Helicopters are thundering over San Carlos, the resort 'burb of Guaymas, and a big townwide cleanup is planned for the day before, to impress Calderon with our civic pride.

The Capt sports a paper suit, head stocking and gloves, plus a  respirator mask when he's painting, in 95+ degree heat. Note the dinghy behind him: that's going to need painting, too.

Pride and desperation is what's keeping us at the boat painting project, eight weeks after we started, eons after we lost enthusiasm for the project. It doesn't usually take this long to paint a boat, even a 33-footer, but we have never done this before, we haven't hired Mexican labor, and we're going by trial and error, with the expected mishaps. Gale-force winds most afternoons have slowed us down a little, too.

My responsibilities have been masking, a little sanding, and mixing paint. The masking often feels like giftwrapping, minus the fancy ribbon, and now that I've finished it does look a little giftwrapped, in a funky way. The gale-force winds managed to rip away about a quarter of my work, so the Capt invented a roller device so I could press the tape down more firmly.

Mixing is required because we're using white gelcoat, half-and-half with monomer (a purple liquid that always makes me think of Jim Jones' grape Koolaid), with a few drops of catalyst added just before it's poured into the sprayer. The morning sun is merciless in May, but in my paint-smeared shorts and tank-top, I can catch an occasional breeze. In his paper suit and a full face mask, the Capt feels like he's wearing a portable sauna. Since we're paying the boatyard by the day, he hasn't missed a day on the job since the beginning of April. He gets tired and cranky, but he perseveres.

This week we might actually finish, at least enough to put her back in the anchorage where she belongs. I can't wait to take photos of her, gleaming white in the water. Carlos Slim and the whole Mexican navy couldn't be any prouder.

The Chaplet of St. Michael the Archangel

Brethren, since my presence in the Outremer I’ve added to my prayer rule the Chaplet of St. Michael the Archangel-along with the Liturgy of the Hours, the Holy Rosary, and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. I invite all of you to add this chaplet to your own prayer rule. Also, you should adopt it for a good meditation and prayer during times of Spiritual Warfare.

The Chaplet of St. Michael is a wonderful way to honor this great Archangel along with the other nine Choirs of Angels. What do we mean by Choirs? It seems that God has created various orders of Angels. Sacred Scripture distinguishes nine such groupings: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations, Powers, Virtues, Principalities, Archangels and Angels (Isa. 6:2; Gen. 3:24; Col. 1:16; Eph. 1:21; Rom. 8:38). There may be more groupings but these are the only ones that have been revealed to us. The Seraphim is believed to be the highest Choir, the most intimately united to God, while the Angelic Choir is the lowest.

The history of this Chaplet goes back to a devout Servant of God, Antonia d'Astonac, who had a vision of St. Michael. He told Antonia to honor him by nine salutations to the nine Choirs of Angels. St. Michael promised that whoever would practice this devotion in his honor would have, when approaching Holy Communion, an escort of nine angels chosen from each of the nine Choirs. In addition, for those who would recite the Chaplet daily, he promised his continual assistance and that of all the holy angels during life.

The Chaplet of St. Michael

[Make a sincere Act of Contrition.]

O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father, etc.

[Say one Our Father and three Hail Marys after each of the following nine salutations in honor of the nine Choirs of Angels]

1. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Seraphim may the Lord make us worthy to burn with the fire of perfect charity.
Amen.

2. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Cherubim may the Lord grant us the grace to leave the ways of sin and run in the paths of Christian perfection.
Amen.

3. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Thrones may the Lord infuse into our hearts a true and sincere spirit of humility.
Amen.

4. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Dominations may the Lord give us grace to govern our senses and overcome any unruly passions.
Amen.

5. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Virtues may the Lord preserve us from evil and falling into temptation. Amen.

6. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Powers may the Lord protect our souls against the snares and temptations of the devil.
Amen.

7. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Principalities may God fill our souls with a true spirit of obedience. Amen.

8. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Archangels may the Lord give us perseverance in faith and in all good works in order that we may attain the glory of Heaven.
Amen.

9. By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Angels may the Lord grant us to be protected by them in this mortal life and conducted in the life to come to Heaven.
Amen.

Say one Our Father in honor of each of the following leading Angels: St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael and our Guardian Angel.

Concluding prayers:

O glorious prince St. Michael, chief and commander of the heavenly hosts, guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits, servant in the house of the Divine King and our admirable conductor, you who shine with excellence and superhuman virtue deliver us from all evil, who turn to you with confidence and enable us by your gracious protection to serve God more and more faithfully every day.

Pray for us, O glorious St. Michael, Prince of the Church of Jesus Christ, that we may be made worthy of His promises.

Almighty and Everlasting God, Who, by a prodigy of goodness and a merciful desire for the salvation of all men, has appointed the most glorious Archangel St. Michael Prince of Your Church, make us worthy, we ask You, to be delivered from all our enemies, that none of them may harass us at the hour of death, but that we may be conducted by him into Your Presence.This we ask through the merits of
Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

Source: EWTN.

HuffPost: Has Atheism Become a Religion? My Considered Thoughts

Brethren the Huffington Post published a very interesting post, entitled Has Atheism Become a Religion?, which I think you ought to read. My comments were too long for the comments’ box, so I chose to share my thoughts and my experience as a blog post.
I toyed with "spiritual" atheism a couple of times during my adult life - including Theravada Buddhism and "Buddhism without beliefs" - a quest that took me to reexamine the roots of Western Civilization and the fusion of science, philosophy, and values that in Rome was made of Jerusalem and Athens. At all times I kept a "phenomenological" observation of my own internal stream of consciousness, and of my rational, and moral reasoning processes-in other words, of my conscience.

I reached the conclusion that atheism is ultimately irrational and that it does in fact bases itself on the perception of the "ultimate irrationality" of the universe, a perception reached by self-styled, ultimate "rational minds" that are the very product of that irrationality. This cognitive dissonance allows otherwise genial minds like that of Stephen Hawking to assert with a straight face that God has been removed as an explanation for the existence of the universe. The same dissonance, along with a healthy dose of hubris, empowers the evangelists of the new atheism like Dawkins and Harris, whose in-your-face hatred make for great bookselling and sound bites, but for little else. Then, on the fringes, we find people like Paul Myers, a professor of biology at the University of Minnesota at Morris, famous for his circus-acts of desecrating allegedly consecrated hosts. The rabble he attracts is considerable, the same kind of rabble attracted by the spectacles of “circus freaks,” attracted by what is bent, deformed, and grotesque, and of the same level of decency as the professor, or lack thereof.

Myers' egregious behavior and clear abuse of academic freedom leads me to observe that the fringes of the new atheist movement are disturbingly close to, and separated by a tenuous line from, the worst excesses brought about by Islamic fascism. But I digress.

That atheists have "spiritual needs" comes as no surprise to me. "Spirit" exists, despite the condescending denial often heard from neo-atheists. The best proof is the need for spiritual fulfillment atheists express and their demands to have their needs met. In my own experience, that deepest spiritual need comes from an intuition that the universe is indeed ultimately rational, that it has a beginning, a meaning, and a purpose, and that the human awareness of that need for rational meaning is no mere delusion, but a constitutive part of our humanity. Our spiritual hunger is as real and objective as our physical hunger. To deny human spiritual hunger is as foolish as denying physical hunger, as also denying the fact that, if unsatisfied, both hungers lead to death, albeit of a spiritual kind. One kills our bodies, the other our humanity.

St. Augustine said it best: "Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee." True that, true that.

Friday Tidbits

OK after almost being sick for a whole month tomorrow I will give it a try and hopefully I will be able to sing without my voice going all over the place. My sister and brother in law will join me at El Salvadoreño for a night of song and poetry. I have a feeling she will like it.

"Viernes de Bohemia" (Bohemian Friday) is a good way to spend our Friday afternoon in the company of a bunch of great people. I have enjoyed every time I have been there as there is so much talent from everyone there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy birthday Laila. One year already, how fast.

Graduation

Alexis!
If I close my eyes it feels like yesterday so how did 33 years go by so fast. I’ve written about this before because not too long ago my daughters went through the same thing my niece just experienced last Monday. Yes, I am talking about High School graduation.

As I stood there listening to these kids give their speeches about chasing dreams and how the sky is the limit I couldn't help but think how time just swooshed over my head without warning. So in essence dreaming is good but tackling their goals is better. Back in the day having that High School diploma for many of us meant we were ready to go out into the world find a job and make a living and maybe advance in your career based on your merit.

Not so anymore, a High School diploma nowadays really does not mean much, it only means you are ready for the next level which is earning a college or university degree and the faster you tackle that the better. This also mean in many cases a big debt of college loans and school fees, but it also represents the opportunity to get a better paid job as most employers now look for educated candidates as opposed to experienced.

Me congratulating Alexis on her accomplishments.
So as I look back I realized that 33 years really went by too fast. For today’s graduates 33 years from now is so far away in a distant future. Life goes on and we continue to create our own paths.

I have been blessed with a good career that I enjoy. Even with my limited chances of advancement given my also limited education I really am in no position to complain, I have most of the things I want in life considering my budget but best of all I have something no money can buy… my family!

To my graduates, Alexis and Kerissa, do go and chase those dreams and don’t be afraid to conquer the world. You guys made it this far, keep going, don’t stop, but make sure to enjoy the voyage. Congratulations to the two of you my class of 2011 graduates from a class on '78 one.

Alexis' adoring fans.

Our Lady’s Visitation

Father Nicolas Schwizer

Our entire life, when it is authentically Christian, is directed toward love. Only love makes our existence great and fruitful and guarantees us eternal salvation. And we know that Christian love has two dimensions. The horizontal dimension: to love mankind, our brothers and sisters. And the vertical dimension: to love God, our Lord.

It is easy to speak about love and charity, but it is difficult to live them because to love means to serve and to serve requires renunciation of self. Therefore, the Lord gave us the Blessed Virgin as an ideal image. She is the great servant of God, and likewise, the servant of mankind.

At the hour of the Annunciation, She proclaims herself the handmaid of the Lord. She surrenders her entire life in order to fulfill the task which God has entrusted to her through the angel. In an instant, She changes all the plans and projects she had. She completely forgets her own interests.

The same thing happens to her with Elizabeth. She learns that her cousin is with child and she leaves immediately, in spite of the long trip. And she stays with her for three months, attending her until the birth of John the Baptist.

It does not occur to her to feel superior, and she does not look for pretexts for being pregnant or for not being able to dare such a long trip. She does all this because she knows that in the Kingdom of God, the first are the ones who know how to become the servants to everyone.

Our own Christian life should also be formed and developed in these same two dimensions: the commitment to brothers and sisters and the service to God. And one dimension cannot be separated from the other.

Therefore, the more we want to communicate with men and women, so much more must we be in communion with God. And the more we want to be near God, so much more must we be near mankind.

What else does the Gospel tell us? It tells us of some of the miraculous happenings in the encounter of the two women: the child leaps for joy in the womb of his mother; Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit, she recognizes the Lord present and she begins to prophesy. And we ask ourselves: Is it the Blessed Virgin who performs these miracles? It can only be explained by the intimate and profound unity between Mary and Jesus. That unity begins with the Annunciation and endures throughout her life and beyond. And it is manifested for the first time in the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth.

Mary never acts alone, but always in this perfect unity between Mother and Son. Where Mary is, Jesus is also. It is the mystery of the infinite fruitfulness of her life as mother.

And if we want to be like Her, then it should also be the mystery of our life. In which sense? We unite ourselves, we attach ourselves to Mary, our Mother and Queen. What does She then do? She attaches us – with all the roots of our being – to her Son, Jesus Christ.

Because Mary is the place of encounter with Christ, She leads us towards Him, She guides us, She takes care of us and accompanies us on our journey towards Him.

But, Mary not only leads us towards Christ, She brings – above all – Jesus to the world and to mankind. It is her great task as Mother of God.

And on her visit to the home of Elizabeth, she realizes – for the first time – her great mission: She takes her Son to her. And the Lord of the world, incarnate in her maternal body, manifests his presence through these miracles.

Mary did this more than 2,000 years ago. But she also does it today: she brings Christ to all of us.

Questions for reflection

1. Do I take Christ to others?

2. How do I serve others?

3. Am I an element of unity?

Catechism of the Catholic Church Now Available in EPUB Format

Brethren, after looking all over the WWW for a suitable copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) in EPUB format, suitable for reading in a variety of mobile devices, and despairing, I took it upon myself to do it. Now I want to make it available to all of you.

Caveat emptor: this is a working, but imperfect product done by an imperfect human being. Because converting the entire CCC into one EPUB file resulted in a large, unwieldy file, I divided it into four parts, following the four part division of the CCC itself.

You may download a Zip file containing the 4 EPUB parts from here. If you can improve it in any way, be my guest. But please share it back with me.

May the Lord bless you as you study the teaching He entrusted to His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

- Download the Catechism of the Catholic Church in EPUB Format from my Google Docs.

Still Loving My Roll As a Choirboy

Well, as you all may remember I joined the church choir back on February of 2010 and what an amazing journey that has been. I fought it for so long as I knew that it would be a big commitment and that it required time and effort yet once in it has been so effortless and very rewarding. Even when asked to cover two masses which last year was common it never felt like an imposition but actually I was glad to stay and serve.

It had been a month since I got sick and my throat had been so closed that no note was coming out, but today finally it opened up almost fully and I was able to finally sing without sounding like a teenager going through puberty.

Today we were mostly inspired because somehow every song we sang sounded fairly decent, considering that we are for the most part a very disorganized group full of limitations, when it comes to singing to the Lord we try to do the very best we can, when you sing to Him the limitations are out the window because He wants for us not to be the best but to be the best we can. Amazingly enough once inside the church we all sound different and the community really appreciates our efforts by always joining in while using us as their guides.

Notice that in many of the videos I post the congregation is singing as well and yet we all sing in unison as one. More than once I have gotten chills especially when I notice their participation. Today was such a day.

The priest whom also has a wonderful voice often joins us in song as well, it's kindda funny when we all of a sudden hear the additional male voice and don't realize it's him until we see him, his little lavalier mic is pretty powerful and he loves to harmonize and to add phrases that normally aren't in the book. When he does that I always think of it as a win win situation cause everyone loves it.

As my sister says, when singing to the Lord is not about singing ugly just because He will appreciate it anyway, because to Him we should always offer the best of ourselves.



I hope you appreciate these songs because we sure love singing them.

Book Review: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Islam

Though not an idiot, I read the first edition of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Islam shortly after 9/11 and found it informative, and even attractive. I come to this book repeteadly as a first-hand reference tool about the tenets of Islam and recommend its reading as a primer to anyone interested in finding out more about Islam from a Muslim-American convert's perspective.

Now, despite the good intentions of the author, the book reaffirmed in my mind that Islamic morality is inferior, that the Ummah's or ulema's claims for Islam as a simple religion is disingenous or even misleading, and they - and the author - seem either unaware or uninterested of the wide body of Christian critical appraisals of Islam in existence.

But, it's not the author's fault that the book didn't have a proselitistic effect upon me nor am I accusing the author of having proselytistic intentions in the book, at least not primarily. The author is not to be blamed for my free conscience exercising a choice for Christ and against Muhammad.

The greatest praise I can give to Imam Yahiya Emmerich is that, if I didn't know who Jesus really is, and had grown in a home with little or no Christianity, before 9/11 I would've found his presentation intriguing and perhaps, persuasive.
All these things considered, this book is a worth reading.

For all Catholics out there, I suggest you read this one for a good counterpoint: Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics.

I 'm Still Here

Wow, how is it that I have not posted anything here. Well, let's fix that right this instant. First of all I am still around and very much alive thank God for that. I have not done much these days other than work and attend the "Viernes de Bohemia", been sick for the past three weeks in a row with this cough that just does not want to part ways and I am pretty much sick of it, pun intended.

I had my debut at Viernes Bohemio over a month ago and to date I have not been able to perform for my friends again. I am hoping next Friday will be the day as my sister and brother in law will join me. I am excited for that so come on throat get well already and let me sing. In the meantime I settle for just listening to the always talented singers and poets there.

All eyes on the performer in turn.
I am really looking forward to next weekend as first and foremost my gf is coming to see me from California. The anticipation started mounting since last week. In addition my youngest granddaughter is getting baptised next Saturday and also getting her first birthday celebration on that same day. So, needless to say it will be an awesome weekend.

Princess Laila.
Have I mentioned that my Diego is playing baseball, yeah finally, last year he did the socker thing, so this year is baseball, have to keep these kids active and fit. It is so exciting to see them play even when they miss hitting that ball time and time again.

This is Diego a.k.a. "One awesome kid"
So there, I hope to catch up with you all very soon. But life changes always alter the daily routine but I promise not for long. Love ya all.

I've Centipeded myself

There's a story about the Centipede, who was asked by the Grasshopper how he managed to coordinate and walk on all those 100 legs. All his life the Centipede had gotten around just fine, but when now he had to stop and think about it. And suddenly he was tripping all over himself.

That's me, now that I've started guitar lessons.

My last lessons were back in the Dark Ages, and they focused mostly on learning chords the easiest way possible, and using them in songs. No bar chords, no fancy minor/diminished fifths. But this time instructions cover how to hold my guitar (nicknamed Lulu), how short my strap should be (I never even used a strap before) and where my fretting fingers should be. I've found that of all but one of the chords I've been playing, from A to G and all their variations, I've been playing wrong! Caramba! I'm supposed to keep the fretting fingers close to the strings to speed up my fretting but I have an annoying habit of keeping my little finger crooked as though I'm imbibing High Tea! I'm playing scales (boooorrrrring). I'm barring chords, cringing at the muffled sound. I'm told my customary thumb-strumming is not acceptable; the thumb is only supposed to strum the low E and A, and I have to use the other fingers for the D, G, B and high E. All this time those other four fingers have been on vacation and now they're expected to go to work.

The outcome of all this awkwardness is predictable. I have an endless list of excuses why I can't practice. Negativity is prodding me, telling me the jig is up and I should have known I'd never succeed at playing the guitar. I'm too old, too clumsy. The pads of my fingers are too fat. My instructor Peter, a very accomplished British guitarist and luthier (he makes and repairs stringed instruments) is urging me to come for two classes a week, but I've already missed a session because I haven't practiced enough to suit myself. He's very positive and encouraging, but he's no match for the silly twit in my head that insists it's hopeless. I avoid even looking at my guitar, much less picking it up, strapping it on and playing.

So Lulu hangs on the wall looking lonely and neglected, though she has recently received a tuneup from Peter and sounds better than she ever has before. And I putter around the house looking for busywork, while doing a lot of navel-gazing in an effort to locate and demolish the source of my pessimism, until I realize that the navel-gazing is just another tactic to put off practicing. I have impeded (or centipeded) myself.

I'm just going to take it a little at a time. Put one foot ahead, follow with the foot on the opposite side, repeat with all the other 98 feet...


Photo: Peter in performance. You should hear his version of "It Ain't Necessarily So."

Who would you follow? Jesus or Muhammad?

A Jesus-Muhammad Comparison

Brethren, I will share with you two stories, one from the New Testament, and the other from the Hadith or authoritative Islamic tradition, second only in authority to the Koran. Read them well and compare them, and then ask yourself, who would you rather follow? Jesus, or Muhammad?

John 8:2-11 (NIV)

² At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. ³ The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴ and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹ At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Sahih Muslim, Book 17: Number 4206:

… He (the narrator) said: There came to him (the Holy Prophet) a woman from Ghamid and said: Allah's Messenger, I have committed adultery, so purify me. He (the Holy Prophet) turned her away. On the following day she said: Allah's Messenger, Why do you turn me away? Perhaps, you turn me away as you turned away Ma'iz. By Allah, I have become pregnant. He said: Well, if you insist upon it, then go away until you give birth to (the child). When she was delivered she came with the child (wrapped) in a rag and said: Here is the child whom I have given birth to. He said: Go away and suckle him until you wean him. When she had weaned him, she came to him (the Holy Prophet) with the child who was holding a piece of bread in his hand. She said: Allah's Apostle, here is he as I have weaned him and he eats food. He (the Holy Prophet) entrusted the child to one of the Muslims and then pronounced punishment. And she was put in a ditch up to her chest and he commanded people and they stoned her. Khalid b Walid came forward with a stone which he flung at her head and there spurted blood on the face of Khalid and so he abused her. Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) heard his (Khalid's) curse that he had huried upon her. Thereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said: Khalid, be gentle. By Him in Whose Hand is my life, she has made such a repentance that even if a wrongful tax-collector were to repent, he would have been forgiven. Then giving command regarding her, he prayed over her and she was buried.

Questions to think and discuss

• Who showed that God is merciful and compassionate?
• What effect did each of these stories have on their respective audiences and then the civilizations they spawned, once internalized by their societies?
• Does theology affect culture? How?
• Are all religions essentially the same? Do they all reveal the existence of a loving, merciful God in the same way?
• In the end. who would you follow, Jesus or Muhammad?

Pakistan Needs a “Come to Allah” Moment

News Analysis

Brethren, today I wish to comment on the following three news clips:

• Karzai Told to Dump U.S. - Pakistan Urges Afghanistan to Ally With Islamabad, Beijing. Pakistan is lobbying Afghanistan's president against building a long-term strategic partnership with the U.S., urging him instead to look to Pakistan—and its Chinese ally—for help in striking a peace deal with the Taliban and rebuilding the economy, Afghan officials say. The pitch was made at an April 16 meeting in Kabul by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who bluntly told Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the Americans had failed them both, according to Afghans familiar with the meeting. Mr. Karzai should forget about allowing a long-term U.S. military presence in his country, Mr. Gilani said, according to the Afghans. Pakistan's bid to cut the U.S. out of Afghanistan's future is the clearest sign to date that, as the nearly 10-year war's endgame begins, tensions between Washington and Islamabad threaten to scuttle America's prospects of ending the conflict on its own terms.
  
• Pakistan's ISI has a 'relationship' with the Haqqani Network: Admiral Mullen. During a visit designed (at least on the surface) to improve the crumbling US-Pakistan relationship, Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, broached a sore subject in Islamabad (and more importantly, Rawalpindi, the real seat of power): Pakistan's support for the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network. [Note the original quote and format below was from Dawn, but the link is no longer valid, see here for a version.
  
• An of course, the killing of Osama Bin Laden in a military city deep inside Pakistan, and the subsequent embarrassed reactions of the establishment in said country (here and here), amidst persisting questions of Pakistani complicity or rank ineptitude.

Now that I’ve been in the Outremer for a while, and that I have seen rescue helicopters lifting up and landing – I say a prayer every time I see one – and my share of funerals stateside, I’ve got an opinion.

In the US we say when we want someone to have an epiphanic conversion leading to a change of direction in  life, that such a person needs to “Come to Jesus”, without necessarily meaning a conversion to Christianity. The phrase has become a figure of speech without religious connotations. But, since I don’t want to be accused of cultural insensitivity, I will rephrase it this way: Pakistan needs to “come to Allah.” Pakistan’s leaders need to recognize that they have reached a watershed in their relations with the US and that a clear path is ahead of them: they are either with us or with the terrorists. The Obama Administration is probably loath to express itself in this timeless Bushism, but I believe they have recognized that Pakistan should be presented with the clear choice.

Their denials notwithstanding, and their adolescent rant about the violation of their sovereignty by the US, it seems to me that Pakistan’s military and intelligence elites do support the Haqqani terrorist cartel in Afghanistan, as well as the “good Taliban” commanders who have found refuge in their country, at the cost of numerous American and coalition lives. They play this game to avoid an Indian ascendancy over Pakistan in a future free and peaceful Afghanistan and in this manner, avoid the “Indian encirclement” of Pakistan. Because for Pakistan, the one and principal enemy is India, a huge, boisterous democracy next door where prosperity has begun to dawn.

The civilian government in Pakistan is powerless to control the military and intelligence establishment which are the final arbiters of Pakistan’s  political destiny. The Pakistani civilian politicians deny knowledge of their military and intelligence establishment’s ongoing support to terrorists in Pakistan and the civilian authorities may be  clueless indeed, but that’s by design.

As an American, I’m tired of Pakistani excuses, denials, and procrastination on the issue of terrorism. I also take deep offense at their attempt to induce Karzai to align himself with Pakistan and China because we were “a power in decline.” Shortly after, this “power in decline” reached out deep into their country and killed the most wanted man in the world, emptied his lair of every juicy tidbit of information and left before their third-rate military could react and I am happy at this slap in the face.

But what concerns me the most are the American and coalition casualties that will be due to Pakistan’s support to the Haqqani gang and the Taliban. I suggest to our President and Congress that if Pakistan chooses wrongly in this war and the casualties keep coming thanks to Pakistani support to the terrorists, that we invite India into the International Stabilization and Assistance Force (ISAF), invite India’s military along, and place Indian advisors on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. I think that will stem the violence, and also be poetic justice of sorts.

Pakistan, whether we go that way or not, is for you to decide. Choose wisely.

Identity of K-9 involved in Bin Laden raid revealed

Brethren, I guess you can tell I am a dog person. That came after 30. Before that I was a cat person. Anyway, thanks to Rebecca Frankel, of Foreign Policy Magazine, “The dog that started it all has been identified -- or so we think. The canine member of the U.S. Navy SEAL Team 6 that took down Osama bin Laden -- a Belgian Malinois who answers to the name of Cairo. The above picture captures an exemplar of the breed.

I also want to turn your attention to two photo-essays by Rebecca Frankel, War Dog and War Dog II. You’ll be amazed what military dogs can do, and the extent to which the military services go to care for them.

Afghanistan from the air

Brethren, as you may know already, I am rendering military service in the Outremer country of Afghanistan – OK, so not a part of the original “Outremer” but you get the picture.

Speaking of pictures, earlier this week I was able to leave the safe confines of my installation to network with people elsewhere, and I took 11 aerial photos. I am reproducing three of them here, along with a few brief comments.

This is the Bagram district of Afghanistan. This area is a high desert but melting snow from the nearby Hindu Kush generates enough water for the Afghan to build canals and irrigate large expanses of land.

Those little squares and rectangles you see there are the typical and traditional Afghan homes. People live in these enclosed compounds surrounded by 6-foot high walls. I think of these homes as little metaphors of the country: inward-looking, suspicious of outsiders, oriented to home and hearth, afraid of the outside world, and tied to the land.

The Hindu Kush, the mighty mountain range that surrounds so many places around the country. Afghanistan holds great potential for echo-tourism: hiking, mountain climbing and landmine-clearing. If it weren't for the wars and the fact that Afghans tend to look inward, this country could be a tourism paradise.

Check out the other 11 aerial photos. Finally, please pray for the safety of all coalition troops, of US troops in particular, and pray for peace in Afghanistan.

Pope Benedict XVI: On the Universal Religious Sense

Source: Zenit.org

VATICAN CITY, MAY 11, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the Italian-language catechesis Benedict XVI gave today during the general audience held in St. Peter's Square. With his address the Pope continued the new series of catechesis on the subject of prayer.

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today I would like to continue reflecting on how prayer and the religious sense have been a part of mankind throughout history.

We live in an age in which the signs of secularism are evident. It seems that God has disappeared from the horizon of many persons or that he has become a reality before which one remains indifferent. However, at the same time we see many signs that indicate to us an awakening of the religious sense, a rediscovery of the importance of God for man's life, a need of spirituality, of surmounting a purely horizontal, material vision of human life. Analyzing recent history, the prediction has failed of those who in the age of the Enlightenment proclaimed the disappearance of religions and exalted absolute reason, separated from faith, a reason that would have dispelled the darkness of religious dogmas and dissolved "the world of the sacred," restoring to man his liberty, his dignity and his autonomy from God. The experience of the last century, with the two tragic World Wars, put in crisis that progress that autonomous reason, man without God, seemed to be able to guarantee.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms: "In the act of creation, God calls every being from nothingness into existence. [...] Even after losing through his sin his likeness to God, man remains an image of his Creator, and retains the desire for the one who calls him into existence. All religions bear witness to men's essential search for God" (No. 2566). We could say -- as I showed in the previous catechesis -- that there has been no great civilization, from the most ancient times up to our days, which has not been religious.

Man is religious by nature, he is homo religiosus as he is homo sapiens and homo faber. "The desire for God," the Catechism also affirms, "is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God" (No. 27). The image of the Creator is imprinted in his being and he feels the need to find a light to give an answer to the questions that have to do with the profound meaning of reality; an answer that he cannot find in himself, in progress, in empirical science. Homo religiosus does not emerge only from the ancient world, but he crosses the whole history of humanity.

To this end, the rich terrain of human experience has witnessed the emergence of different forms of religiosity, in the attempt to respond to the desire for plenitude and happiness, to the need of salvation, to the search for meaning. "Digital" man and the caveman alike seek in religious experience the ways to overcome his finitude and to ensure his precarious earthly adventure. Moreover, life without a transcendent horizon would not have complete meaning, and the happiness to which we tend, is projected toward a future, toward a tomorrow that is yet to be attained.

In the declaration "Nostra Aetate," the Second Vatican Council stressed it synthetically. It states: Men expect from the various religions answers to the unsolved riddles of the human condition, which today, even as in former times, deeply stir the hearts of men: What is man? What is the meaning, the aim of our life? What is moral good, what sin? Whence suffering and what purpose does it serve? Which is the road to true happiness? What are death, judgment and retribution after death? What, finally, is that ultimate inexpressible mystery which encompasses our existence: whence do we come, and where are we going?" (No. 1). Man knows that he cannot answer on his own his fundamental need to understand. Even if he is deluded and still believes that he is self-sufficient, he has the experience that he is not sufficient unto himself. He needs to open himself to the other, to something or someone, which can give him what he lacks, he must come out of himself toward the One who can fill the extent and profundity of his desire.

Man bears within himself a thirst for the infinite, a nostalgia for eternity, a search for beauty, a desire for love, a need for light and truth, which drive him toward the Absolute; man bears within himself the desire for God. And man knows, in some way, that he can address himself to God, that he can pray to him. St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest theologians of history, defines prayer as the "expression of man's desire for God." This attraction toward God, which God himself has placed in man, is the soul of prayer, which is cloaked in many forms and modalities according to the history, time, moment, grace and finally the sin of each one of those who pray. In fact, man's history has known varied forms of prayer, because he has developed different modalities of openness toward the on High and toward the Beyond, so much so that we can recognize prayer as an experience present in every religion and culture.

In fact, dear brothers and sisters, as we saw last Wednesday, prayer is not linked to a particular context, but is found inscribed in every person's heart and in every civilization.

Of course, when we speak of prayer as man's experience in as much as man, of the homo orans, it is necessary to keep in mind that this is an interior attitude, rather than a series of practices and formulas, a way of being before God, rather than carrying out acts of worship or pronouncing words. Prayer has its center and founds its roots in the most profound being of the person; that is why it is not easily decipherable and for the same reason, it can be subject to misunderstandings and mystifications. Also in this sense we can understand the expression: it is difficult to pray. In fact, prayer is the place par excellence of gratuitousness, of the tension towards the Invisible, the Unexpected, the Ineffable. Because of this, the experience of prayer is a challenge for everyone, a "grace" to be invoked, a gift of the One whom we address.

In all the periods of history, in prayer man considers himself and his situation before God, from God and in regard to God, and he experiences himself as being a creature in need of help, incapable of achieving by himself the fulfillment of his existence and his hope. The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein reminded that "to pray means to feel that the meaning of the world is outside the world." In the dynamic of this relationship with the One who gives meaning to existence, with God, prayer has one of its typical expressions in the gesture of kneeling. It is a gesture that bears in itself a radical ambivalence: in fact, I can be obliged to kneel -- condition of indigence and slavery -- or I can kneel spontaneously, confessing my limit and, hence, my need for the Other. To Him I confess that I am weak, needy, a "sinner."

In the experience of prayer, the human creature expresses all his awareness of himself, all that he is able to understand of his existence and, at the same time, he addresses himself wholly to the Being before whom he is, he orients his soul to that Mystery from which he awaits the fulfillment of his most profound desires and help to surmount the indigence of his life. In this looking at the Other, in this addressing "the beyond" is the essence of prayer, as experience of a reality that surpasses the sentient and the contingent.

However, the full realization of man's search is found only in the God who reveals himself. Prayer, which is the opening and raising of the heart to God, becomes a personal relationship with Him. And even if man forgets his Creator, the living and true God does not fail to call man to the mysterious encounter of prayer. As the Catechism affirms: "In prayer, the faithful God's initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is always a response. As God gradually reveals himself and reveals man to himself, prayer appears as a reciprocal call, a covenant drama. Through words and actions, this drama engages the heart. It unfolds throughout the whole history of salvation" (No. 2567).

Dear brothers and sisters, let us learn to spend more time before God, let us learn to recognize in silence the God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ, to recognize in the depth of ourselves his voice that calls us and leads us back to the profundity of our existence, to the fount of life, to the source of salvation, to make us go beyond the limits of our life and to open ourselves to the measure of God, to the relationship with Him who is Infinite Love. Thank you!

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to make music in your name, O Most High”

Brethren, the first psalm from today’s Morning Prayer moved me in a special way, considering my place and circumstances. I want to share it with you:

Ant. 1 You have filled me with gladness, Lord, I will sing for joy at the works of your hands, alleluia.

Psalm 92
Praise of God the Creator
Sing in praise of Christ’s redeeming work (Saint Athanasius).

It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to make music in your name, O Most High,
to proclaim your love in the morning
and your truth in the watches of the night,
on the ten-stringed lyre and the lute,
with the murmuring sound of the harp.

for the work of your hands I shout with joy.
O Lord, how great are your works!
How deep are your designs!
The foolish man cannot know this
and the fool cannot understand.

Though the wicked spring up like grass
and all who do evil thrive,
they are doomed to be eternally destroyed.
But you, Lord, are eternally on high.
See how your enemies perish;
all doers of evil are scattered.

To me you give the wild ox’s strength;
you anoint me with the purest oil.
My eyes looked in triumph on my foes;
my ears heard gladly of their fall.
The just will flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a Lebanon cedar.

Planted in the house of the Lord
they will flourish in the courts of our God,
still bearing fruit when they are old,
still full of sap, still green,
to proclaim that the Lord is just.
In him, my rock, there is no wrong.

Commentary.  Though I don’t necessary disagree with St. Athanasius, I must say that this is one of those psalms that are perfect to be prayed while in a war zone, as this psalm originally was in all probability. In war one gets to know oneself much better, recognizing with glaring clarity the enemy without, and the enemy within. The Lord promises to those who ware faithful to Him, victory over both kinds of enemy. This is also why this psalm fills me with joy and hope.

To All Moms of The World

This is something I wrote about three years ago and it's probably already posted here in the blog but I figure I can post it again for all of you wonderful mom's of the world.

Oh sorry it's in Spanish.




Para Las Madres En Mi Vida

Porque todas son muy lindas
Porque todas son muy bellas
Porque aunque no lo decimos
No somos nada sin ellas

Vienen de muchos tamaños
Vienen de muchos colores
No se que hariamos sin ellas
Pues bien sufririamos horrores

Pues bien todo les pedimos
Y ellas bien que lo hacen
Pues de donde sacan tanto
De donde les sale el coraje

Una maletita magica
Pareciera que trajeran
Pues en ella todo encuetran
Lo que en nos no existiera

Dame un Kleenex
Dame un "wipey"
Saca el rimel y el esmalte
La aspirina y la pomada
Medicina y la lana

Como le hacen
Si no es magia
Es que viene en su ADN
Yo no se de que estan echas
Como es que todo lo tienen

Hoy por hoy solo les digo
Que en este lindo 10 de Mayo
Celebraremos contentos
Esta bendicion del año

Un dia no es suficiente
Un dia de cada año
Para un ser tan eficiente
Celebremos todo el año

jmelo

Feliz dia de las Madres. Que hariamos sin ustedes.
Las quiero mucho.

Who was the K-9 Hero?

While Americans yearn to talk to the SEAL team that terminated Bin Laden in his alcove, what I want to know is the identity of the bomb-sniffing K-9 that accompanied them on their dangerous mission. What’s the name of the dog? It’s breed? Will he too receive a nation’s thanks?

I truly hope so.

* Update 5/7/2011: The President met with the SEAL team and the K-9, according to CNN. Cool!

My Weekend in Cali

On our way to La Puente.
The weekend again just not enough time but at least long enough to achieve the goals and dreams of a new beginning. The way I see it we pretty much date every night only thing is I am in Arizona and she is in California but we are making it work, thus the saying "Where there's a will there's a way".

My daughter and I got there with plenty of daylight, that was strange as we always get there when it's dark. My lil sister once again busted the kitchen utensils out and cooked us a mean fish, ummmmm good.

Then it was shower time and get ready for a night of dancing, karaoke, and fun, and since we get in celebration mood some got a little too tipsy but I'll be nice enough not to mention any names je je je.

Saturday was nice too as I got to meet her parents. Actually I had meet her dad three weeks ago but met her mom this past weekend and if I am hearing this correctly I passed the test and I think they approve, yey for me. It was her dad's birthday too so they were all busy cooking carne asada and pollo al carbon, ummmm all good and tasty, then all the wonderful side dishes and I winded up so full.

Best friends.
Sunday we were invited to yet another birthday party with more food that I could handle and drinks too. Luckily I had my designated driver whom drove the first four hours of our trip back to Phoenix.

All in all, the weekend was a total success. And it seems that for now we will have to repeat this at least once a month, I for one am willing to travel as many times as needed, but eventually we will have to narrow that gap big time.


My daughter and her cousins took advantage of the nice weather and went to the beach. Although I was still to windy and cold.

My daugher and my niece with me.

Musings on weeds and puppies

My brain seems to have hardwired itself to begin waking up at 4a.m. every morning. Not that I mind, now that the spring breezes have subsided, leaving behind a foretaste of the oppressive heat to come in another couple of months. At four, an hour before the beginnings of sunrise, the air is cool, the neighborhood is quiet. It's a good time to walk dogs. (I hear a collective sigh, as my faithful readers mutter, "There she goes again about the dogs...")

I woke thinking about a litter of five puppies in the back yard of a rental house where a Canadian couple are reluctantly packing to go home. They can't take the puppies. Somehow we have to find a place for them to go before Sunday, and it's Wednesday already.

I call them Yoda's Gang, because one of them makes me think of Yoda from Star Wars. Those ears. Those eyes, wise beyond their years. This is Yoda.

In addition to the four shown here, Yoda's gang includes a little white one. Don't know why I'm drawn to white dogs, other than the fact that they're a lot easier to thoroughly search for fleas and ticks. There's a vulnerability about a white dog that appeals to me. And they're easy to see when you're walking with them at four in the morning.

The Canine Refuge where I volunteer is already swamped with puppies, and when I proposed taking  Yoda's Gang, I was outvoted. The Canadians and I are all losing sleep over this dilemma.

An email was waiting for me this morning that brought some encouragement: we have an online newspaper here called "What's Up San Carlos," and the publishers want a photo each week for one of our puppies. The owner of Ruby Wine Bar down at the Marina wants to feature our dogs every week. My Spanish teacher emailed me yesterday that a friend wants a puppy. I clutch at every little bit of hope I can get, because I'm feeling overwhelmed. Every day,  someone is asking me if the Refuge can take another abandoned puppy or dog or litter. Now I know how it feels to manage an orphanage.

I'm reminded of weeds. One Spanish expression for "weeds" is "malas hierbas." Bad grass. Not pedigreed plants, not the kind you cultivate from seed, or raise from cuttings and pamper with special concoctions, but the kind that pops up on its own in such quantity you despair of ever getting rid of it.

And yet, weeds can sometimes be beautiful. A little vine volunteered in one of my flowerpots, after the flowers I had planted there languished and died. Dwarf grape leaves, fragile tendrils, tiny white flowers and—its defense system—obstinate little green burrs. It flourished vigorously even though I skipped that pot when I watered the others. I finally gave up and adopted the weed, since its will to live was so strong. I have no idea what plant it is. I've decided to give it a place of honor next to my back door. This is my weed.

Individually, weeds can be appreciated for their unique characteristics -- those miniature leaves, delicate tendrils and blossoms like little stars. But if I had a yard full of them, I'd be calling for the gardener to root them out because the burrs would be sticking to my dogs' fur. The weed is simply doing what it lives to do — be fruitful and multiply — but when it reaches critical mass, we no longer appreciate its uniqueness and beauty and reach for the hoe and garden shears.

At the Refuge we have at the moment a garden of little weeds, every one of them beautiful. Some resemble little German Shepherds, Labradors or Rottweilers, others are unabashedly members of a breed we laughingly call Sonoran Shorthair: medium-size, deer-like legs, slender, long muzzles and big brown eyes. Some golden, some brown and a few white or spotted like Dalmatians.

I don't know if we can find good homes, or homes of any kind, for them all. We are committed to giving them a good start, with their vaccinations, and we try to spay or neuter every one before we allow it to be adopted. All this veterinary work can't be done in a day, it requires weeks, and meanwhile we must feed them, dab eye ointment on them, clean up after them with rigorous applications of bleach and detergent. Yesterday the vet came to the Refuge to vaccinate seven puppies. By providing our own meds, we saved considerably on the cost, so we'll be driving to Hermosillo next week to buy more vaccine (a benefit of living in Mexico). A local organization called SBPA supplies us with certificates for free spaying and neutering. We have a lot to be grateful for, and we try not to think too much about the future. So we'll just take it a day at a time, a puppy at a time.

"The passing moment is all we can be sure of; it is only common sense to extract its utmost value from it; the future will one day be the present and will seem as unimportant as the present does now."

W. Somerset Maugham

“Father Elijah” Novel Heading to Film

Brethren, I received this today from Michael O’Brien, author of Father Elijah: An Apocalypse, and I want to share it with you:

3 May, 2011

Dear friends of StudiObrien,

For the past several years, many of you have written to me to say that you believe my novel Father Elijah would make an excellent film. A number of film companies have felt the same. Since the book was first published in 1996, I recall at least eight film-makers in North America and Europe approaching me to discuss a film. Most of the interested firms were small and brave enterprises, but two of them were major corporations, including Columbia Tristar in the late 1990's. Both my publisher and myself advised the latter that we would consider giving them film rights if, and only if, the essential spiritual meaning of the story was respected. We understood that there are always adaptations needed when bringing a novel to film, but we did not want any distortion of aspects such as the nature of the Church, the holiness of the priesthood, and the unfolding of salvation history. No contract was signed, but Tristar began development of preliminary film treatments for our consideration. However, these treatments grew increasingly more disordered, until in the end it looked like the true meaning of the story had been radically undermined. Because of confidentiality I cannot discuss all that went on, but at least I can say that we firmly refused to consider any corruption of the novel's spiritual significance and mission in the world. As a result, the project was dropped. I was relieved when this happened, because as the work's author I could not bear to see it prostituted in the name of profit.

Other companies and individual film makers, people with higher motivation, have made contact with a view to making a film of the novel but for various reasons (usually funding, and often a fear that the book's orthodoxy would make it a risky venture) they did not pursue it. It has always been my unshakable position that it is better to have no film than a corrupt one. My publisher, Ignatius Press, to its eternal merit, is firmly committed to this as well.

Now, significant doors are opening. I would ask you to visit the site of the Catholic production company Mission2films. Its director Anton Casta and my son John O'Brien have co-written a very fine script, artistically and technically of the highest quality and faithful to the original story. In addition, during the past three years Anton Casta has brought together a development team from around the world, a team that has lately been joined by major Catholic film producers in Europe. We are on the verge of a great step forward. Much of this is dependent, however, on a final rewriting of the script in order to bring Father Elijah to the screen. For this reason I invite you to prayerfully consider making a donation to Mission2Films, with the purpose of funding this essential next step. You can make a donation directly online at the Mission2Films website:

http://mission2films.com/site/about-us/donation.html

If you prefer, you can send me a cheque addressed to my name, with "for Fr. Elijah filmscript" on the envelope. I will then forward the entire amount to the script-writers.

My postal address is:
"Fr. Eliah Filmscript"
Michael D. O'Brien,
P.O. Box 294,
Combermere, Ontario
K0J 1L0
Canada.

We cannot provide a tax deductible receipt, so this is what Mother Theresa would call pure heart money. As you can readily intuit from this letter, we are not wealthy. What we are doing is stepping forward in radical faith, with few financial resources, depending entirely on Divine Providence. If you cannot make a donation, please offer a prayer for God's will in this brave enterprise. Above all, His holy will, whatever it may be.

The producers committed to the project are waiting for revisions to the script to be completed before taking the next steps. When the final script is ready, and all the other production elements are in place, film rights will be requested from the publisher, and major funding obtained for the actual filming. Our task at this point is to do the duty of the moment.

With heartfelt thanks for your prayers and encouragement over these past years.

In Jesus Christ our Risen Saviour,

Michael O'Brien

I hope you to consider your material and prayerful support for this very worthy project.

- Read also my review of Father Elijah: An Apocalypse

What We Can Learn from the Early Church Fathers: Re-Christianization of America

Author: Servant of God Father John Hardon | Source: Father Hardon Archives

There is one thing that we Catholics today need to learn from the faithful Catholics in the early Church. We speak of the Church in the early centuries as the Church of Martyrs. However, the early Church was also the Church of defenders of the faith.

Already during Christ’s public ministry, many of His disciples left Him because they would not accept His teaching. Remember what St. John described in the sixth chapter of his Gospel? Jesus had just told the people that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Otherwise they would not preserve the life of the soul without which no one can enter heaven. Many of His closest followers said to themselves’, “This is impossible language. Who can believe it?”

One reason why the apostle John was spared until the end of the first century was that he might defend Christ’s teaching which already then was being questioned and denied by those who called themselves Christians. With the close of the apostolic age, errors among professed Christians multiplied and heretical ideas began to penetrate the Church founded by Christ.

All this is an introduction to what I wish to share with you. My plan is to briefly identify some of these heresies which the early Fathers of the Church had to refute in order to preserve the true faith. Then I would like to tell you something about how our own responsibility to re-christianize our own beloved country.

Heresies in the Early Church

We might begin by briefly defining what a heretic is. In the strict sense, a heretic is a baptized person who denies or doubts one or more revealed truths of Christianity.

Immediately we must distinguish the heresies which arose in the Church before the Council of Nicea (A.D. 325), and those after Nicea. Before the Council of Nicea, the two most serious heresies were Gnosticism and Montanism. Each of these was the seed bed of all major heresies that have plagued Christianity over the centuries.

The Gnostics were Gentiles who called themselves Christians. They claimed a kind of secret superior wisdom regarding the truths of philosophy and religion, and they handed on this alleged wisdom to those privileged to gain admittance to their ranks. Gnosticism was a patch-work of all the errors of its time. In general, Gnostics held that there were two supreme principles or gods; a god of Spirit, Light and Good, and a god of Matter, or Darkness, and Evil. They either denied or corrupted the Catholic doctrine of the Incarnation and consequently most of the teaching of the Church. Although they condemned bodily pleasure as evil in itself, they went to extremes of immorality as well as extremes of mortification.

Very similar to Gnosticism was the heresy of Montanism. Its founder was Montanus, a native of Phrygia. The fundamental error of Montanism lay in substituting private illumination for the official teaching of the Church. With the aid of two women associates, Montanus announced the approaching end of the world. Preparation for the final judgment was to be made by a rigorous asceticism and a severe morality that allowed no pardon for mortal sins. Marriage was discouraged and everything was to be held in common. As a preparation for the end of the world, the Holy Spirit was said to have become incarnate in Montanus. The prophecies of Montanus were uttered as part of the spectacular ecstasies.

The first Council of Nicea was also the first general council of the Catholic Church. It condemned the heresy of Arius. He was a priest of Alexandria. He preached that Jesus Christ was not incarnate God. He was supported by Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, and gained thousands of followers by putting his teaching in popular songs.

The heresy of Arius was solemnly condemned and the true teaching about Christ’s divinity was formulated in the Nicene Creed which still forms part of every Sunday Mass.

How We are to Defend the Catholic Faith in Our Day

We call the early defenders of the true faith “Fathers of the Church.” This is not surprising since they were the ones who preserved the Church from the devastating errors that plagued Christianity from apostolic times. There are over one hundred Fathers of the Church, whose principal qualities were orthodoxy, sanctity, and approval by the Church.

These three qualities are the formula for our own times. But there is one major difference between the conditions in the early Church and the situation in our day. No doubt there were heresies since the dawn of Christianity. But there was nothing of what we are now experiencing in countries like the United States.

America has to be re-evangelized because it has become de-Christianized. This is not my opinion. It is not even an opinion. It is a provable fact.

There are certain basic premises of Christianity which are easily identified. Even where a person is not professedly Catholic, there are principles of faith and norms of morality that those who profess to be Christians should believe and put into practice.

A Christian believes in the existence of a personal God who is the Creator of the human race. A Christian believes that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ. Thus Christmas Day is the birthday of Christ, the Son of the Virgin Mary; and Good Friday is the commemoration of His death by crucifixion on Calvary. Easter Sunday is the feast of Christ's resurrection from the dead.

A Christian believes there are certain moral laws that are divinely binding on all human beings; that pre-marital relations are fornication, and extra marital sex activity is adultery. A Christian believes that marital relations between husband and wife are sacred and that artificial birth control is a sin. A Christian believes that sex activity between two men or two women is sodomy and a crime that characterized the pagan nations of antiquity and destroyed their civilizations. A Christian believes that the willful destruction of unborn human life is murder and abominable in the eyes of God.

A Christian believes that marriage is a lifetime commitment and that divorce with remarriage is forbidden by Jesus Christ even among Christians who are not Catholic. Marital instability was frowned upon and an embarrassment to Protestants. For Catholics there was never any question of a "temporary" marriage or of a "part time" commitment to one's marriage vows.

A Christian welcomed children and Christian families were sizable and the population growing and our schools flourishing. Something drastic happened. Every one of the features identified as typical of a Christian civilization is, to say the least, under trial.

Our Holy Father in speaking to the bishops from Western countries is telling them in the plainest possible words that their people need to be re-evangelized. And I believe I know the Pope's mind well enough to say that he also believes the United States needs to be re-Christianized.

What Does Re-Evangelization Mean?

Our next question is, “what does re-evangelization mean?” It means re-conversion. It means bringing people whose ancestry was Christian; who may even have been baptized; who may even have been professed Catholics but who no longer believe in the basic truths revealed by Christ and taught by the Church for 1900 years.

Re-evangelization means more than converting people from a life of sin. It means converting people's minds to accept on divine authority what God has revealed. It means bringing unbelievers, who had abandoned their Christian faith, to become believers.

The very term, "re-evangelization," is new to our vocabulary. And the reason is not hard to find. Our century is witnessing the most widespread and devastating loss of faith among Christians – including Catholics – in the history of Christianity. We must make sure we know what we are saying. In the Western world, there has been a massive abandonment of Christian belief, and a corresponding abandonment of Christian morality.

Recently I received a phone call from a priest in California who asked whether Catholics in a given Western state could vote "Yes" on a ballot which allowed direct abortion under certain circumstances. The other choice was to vote unrestricted abortion. In other words, American citizens are no longer being given the option to vote against all direct killing of the unborn.

We return to our question; "What does re-evangelization mean?" And we repeat: Re-evangelization means restoring the Christian faith to millions in our country who no longer believe:

• That God became man in the person of Jesus Christ.
• That Christ died on the Cross for the redemption of the human race.
• That Christ rose from the dead.
• That Christ founded a Church, vested with divine authority to teach revealed truth and command obedience in His name.
• That Christ instituted the sacraments which confer the grace they signify including the Eucharist which is Jesus Christ really present in the Blessed Sacrament.
• That there is a heaven and a hell, and that there is, consequently, eternal life for the saved and eternal death for the lost.

How is the Re-Evangelization of Our Country to be Done?

Our next logical question is: How is this re-evangelization to be done? The answer is simple to put in words, but not easy to put into practice. Re-evangelization is to be done in the same way as evangelization.

Of course, re-evangelization is more demanding. It is always harder to reconvert a former believer than it is to convert a non-Christian to Christianity; or a non-Catholic to the Catholic Church. Re-evangelization is more difficult, may be less appealing, and is more costly in time, effort, energy and human resources.

I would synthesize the answer to, "How to re- evangelize" by saying, if we are to restore the Christian and Catholic faith in our country we must:

• Know our Catholic faith
• Live our Catholic faith
• Pray our Catholic faith
• Share our Catholic faith

These are my four recommendations for re-evangelization. They are also the directives of especially Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. But before going into them, let me make it clear that what all the Popes are saying, or I am saying, will fall on deaf ears unless we are first deeply convinced that we are each personally obligated to labor for the re-evangelization of America.

We are our brothers' and sisters' keepers. On the last day we shall be judged on how selfless we were in giving food and drink and clothing to those in need. And the deepest need of our fellow Americans is to recover their lost Christian faith.

I said there were four principal ways that we are to re-evangelize. We are to:

1. KNOW THE CATHOLIC FAITH

   We are the most academically educated people in human history. Yet most Catholics do not really understand their faith.

   • What it means to believe. What it means to be baptized.
   • What is the Real Presence.
   • Why there must be a Catholic priesthood.
   • Why a valid sacramental, consummated marriage cannot be dissolved by any human authority.
   • Why all deliberate sexual pleasure outside of marriage is a grave sin.
   • Why contraception is a mockery and a travesty of matrimony.
   • Why there is a purgatory; and why hell is eternal.
   • Why everything in this world is part of God's Providence.
   • Why pain is such a blessing and patience makes us more like God, who became man that He might die on the Cross for our sins.
2. LIVE OUR CATHOLIC FAITH
   • If we are ever going to re-evangelize our country we must not only believe our faith and know what we believe. We must put our faith into practice.
   • I would choose especially two virtues that we must all practice if we hope to reconvert our country. They are chastity and charity. Over the years I have been teaching everyone willing to listen that these two virtues were the ones practiced by the Christians of the first centuries, which brought about the conversion of the Roman Empire.
   • I make bold to say that it was the failure to practice these two virtues which has brought about the widespread de-Christianization of countries like our own.
   • Let's face it. What are the two sins that are most common in the human race? Are they not:
     • Selfishness
     • And lust?
   • Re-conversion means just that: bringing people back to the God from whom they have strayed. But how to do this? By the practice of chastity and charity among those whom God wants to use as the channels of His grace of re-conversion.
   • God uses chaste people to convert sinners to chastity.
   • God uses loving, self-sacrificing people to convert the self-centered and self-willed, and self-conceited back to His grace and the practice of charity – without which no one will be saved.
3. PRAY OUR CATHOLIC FAITH
   • We have no choice. Either we become men and women of prayer or all this talk about re-evangelizing America is so much pious rhetoric.
   • The re-conversion of America depends on the grace of God.
   • The grace of God depends on our prayers.
   • This means many things:
     1. Praying for the re-conversion of a particular person
     2. Praying for the re-conversion of our country
     3. Praying for the re-conversion of those who have lost their faith, which they once possessed.
   • Above all, this means that we become, if we are not yet, men and women who pray: daily, privately, with others, before the Blessed Sacrament, vocally, and mentally. In a word, we pray!
4. SHARE OUR CATHOLIC FAITH
   There is more to this injunction than meets the eye. We must sincerely, seriously, strive to share with others what we ourselves as Catholics believe. In practice this means that we live out the warning of Christ. He tells us if you proclaim me to others, I will proclaim you to my heavenly Father. In other words, we are to use every opportunity to communicate to others what Christ has so generously given to us. Our conversations should be Catholic. We should talk about what we believe. Our correspondence should be Catholic, and, dare I say, consciously apostolic.
   Above all, we must ask ourselves whether we are using the media of communication in order to share the divine faith which the Holy Spirit has given to us. It is now twenty years since I was told by the Holy See to do everything in my power to alert Catholics in America that they must use the media to preserve and promote the one true faith. Otherwise, so Pope Paul VI told his emissary, the Catholic Church in the United States is in great danger of being not only weakened, but in some parts of our country even wiped out.
   These media include print and radio, television, and recording, the computer, and the whole science of electronics which the enemies of Catholicism are exploiting to destroy what God became men to establish by His death on the cross.

Closing Prayer

I would like to close with the prayer of St. Francis Xavier. May I suggest that we offer this prayer together for all those of our own country who have lost their Christian faith.

"O God, the everlasting Creator of all things, remember that the souls of unbelievers have been created by you and formed in your own image and likeness.

"Remember that your Son Jesus endured a most painful death for their salvation. Permit not; I beseech you, Lord, that your Son should any longer be despised by unbelievers. But He appeased by the prayers of saintly men and of the Church, the spouse of your most holy Son, and be mindful of your mercy.

"Forget their idolatry and unbelief and bring it about that they, too, may some day acknowledge Him, whom you have sent, Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who is our salvation, our life and resurrection, by whom we have been saved and delivered, to whom be glory for endless ages. Amen."