Sunday Sermon Posted

We had a pleasant surprise this weekend when Fr. Adam Purdy showed up to say Mass. Father was pastor at St. Therese's from 2004-2005 and then was transferred to a mission in the Philippines. There he was prior of the brother's novitiate until he was recently transferred again to Manila to pastor Our Lady of Victories Church. In today's sermon recording, Father provided a briefing on his work in the Philippines and then good reflection points for the start of Advent.

Fr. Purdy pictured on the right complete with missionary beard

Engage in the Warfare, Stop FOCA!

Thanksgiving Weekend Photo Journal

Queen Isabella


Thanksgiving Dinner

Just minutes before Mary hit the woodpile and then off to the ER
They appear so calm in these pictures
Elizabeth from the girl's school visited for the holiday

Thanksgiving

We will be posting Thanksgiving pictures shortly. It was an eventful day yesterday. Just as we were about to sound the dinner bell, Mary Catherine took a tumble into the woodpile and needed to be taken to the hospital to seal a cut on her forehead. Dinner was put on hold for a bit, but all ended well and the food and company were wonderful. We are missing Andrew this year. We do have one of the mid-western Dominican school boarding girls with us this holiday weekend to share the turkey.

I want to mention a great talk by Father Wolfe, F.S.S.P., on a real flying nun. At the time the Pilgrims were bringing the heresy of Calvinism to our shores, the Indians were being brought the faith of Christ by the missionary orders throughout the Northeast, West and Southwest. In the regions of modern day Texas and New Mexico, where the appearances of this "flying" nun took place, the Franciscans were shoulding a good deal of the apostolic mandate. Several thousand remote Indians were learning the faith of Christ in preparation for baptism in a rather unusual (and indeed miraculous) way from a cloistered Franciscan nun thousands of miles away in Spain. Listen to this amazing story. Over ten thousand Indians were baptized and converted to the faith through the work of this holy "flying" nun whose name I will withhold in the post. I will hint that she is an Incorruptable, and even though her body is over three hundred years old, it looks as if she just laid her head down to sleep yesterday. All Glory to God!

-Albert

More to come...

Back to School

We had boarder, Mary Tagge, from the Domincan girl's school visiting with us this weekend. Consistent with the cowboy craze currently blazing through the house, Mary got a good dose of Gene Autry on Saturday. We tried to round the culture element off a bit, though, and took the girls to the Crane School of Music today for a concert featuring a number of choral and symphonic works. The girls are off to school again; but, it is a short week this week due to the holiday. We will be fetching our girls at lunchtime on Wednesday for Thanksgiving weekend.


Chris worked hard preparing the dining room and table for Sunday dinner and wanted a picture put up on the blog. It was not mentioned in the last post, but Christopher, Joseph and many of the boys of St. Therese Academy made up the schola for Mass today. They sang the entire Mass and did a fine job. It is great that the boys are learning Gregorian Chant and some of the Mass Propers at such a young age.

Sermon Posted

Father Hewko's sermon for the last Sunday after Pentecost entitled Scandal is now ready for download. Next Sunday begins the holy season of Advent.

Here is the Mass of the Last Sunday after Pentecost in its entirety from St. Nicolas Du Chardonet in Paris. It is easily understood why the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is described as "the most beautiful thing this side of heaven".

In the presence of the crucifix, the priest says his mass, and offers up the highest prayer which the church can devise for the salvation of the quick and the dead. He holds up his hands, he bows down, he kneels, and all the worship he can do he does -- more than all, he offers up the highest sacrifice and the best offering that any heart can devise -- that is Christ, the Son of the God of Heaven, under the form of bread and wine.
--St. Thomas More

Ghost Riders in the Sky

We cycle through some interesting periods of music at our home. There is the Irish period where the Clancy Brothers are playing day and night, or the Civil War period where the old military camp songs are beating on the ears with the boys (and girls!) marching around with their homemade flags and muzzle loaders. We are now firmly planted in the Gene Autry and cowboy songs period. The interesting bit about each one of these periods is that there are typically five songs that become the favorites. These five songs are played on repeat for days, weeks and sometimes months so that Mom and Dad get to know them real well and can hum and sing them wherever we go, dream about them, and even unconsciously emulate the singers accents and genre vocabulary in our everyday activity.

I caught myself the other day almost picking up some chewing tobacco and a Stetson. I've been thinking a lot about Ghost Riders in the Sky lately, for reasons mentioned above, and I'll admit that life on the ranch is beginning to sound quite appealing. Yippee Yi Yea!

-Albert
+Feast of the Presentation of Mary

So many math problems, so little time to sleep...

Isabella's Name Day

Today is the Feast of St. Elizabeth (Isabella) of Hungary and our Isabella's name day. For the occasion, mom made Baklava!

Craft Fair

Below are a few pictures from the craft fair held at the Dominican school this past Saturday. Given that it was the first year, it did very well both in terms of the number of vendors and the customers. It also provided the chance for some of the local community to come in and see the school and meet the good Sisters and students. There were a few surprises by some who never realized a Catholic school of that caliber was recently planted in their own backyard.

The community will have another opportunity today to see the school in action. The Dominican Sisters and girls are out on their pilgrimage walking through the streets and downtown as they stop at three local Catholic churches for various prayers and devotions. Hopefully someone is taking pictures that I can get hold of later and post.

Sermon Posted

Today's sermon at St. Theresa's entitled The Assimilating Power of Christ is now available for download. Fr. Timothy Pfieffer, Prior of BVM Church and Academy in Syracuse, delivered today's sermon in his usual thought provoking and humorous style.

I received a letter from the Bishop of Peoria yesterday concerning the canonization process of Archbishop Fulton Sheen which is moving along quite well with all the necessary documentation as well as verified miracles. Enclosed with the letter was a wonderful Holy Card and canonization prayer which I will scan shortly and post. Bishop Sheen was certainly one of the great bishops of the twentieth century, and I look forward to the day when he is recognized a saint. I've added a short clip below from one of his ABC Life is Worth Living television programs back in the 1950s.

There is not much to report from the family front. It was a relatively low-key weekend. The girl's will be on pilgrimage this Tuesday as they walk to three separate churches for the Pauline year indulgence. No more news from Andrew since he's spent the last few days at a basketball match in Indianapolis. To all of our friends and family scattered everywhere, we love you and are praying for you.

Feast of St. Albert

All of the children, at least the ones in this state, are home today on a rainy Saturday. Mom is up helping at a Craft Fair to raise funds for the Dominican school. The boys and I picked up a load of wood. Hopefully we have enough to make it through the winter depending upon how long the winter will be this year.

Andrew called Thursday night but could not talk for long. Basketball practice started at La Salette so he is busy with that, along with getting his first fat lip during Rugby practice. Academics seem to be coming together for him now and he is reporting good grades in Math which was an initial struggle for him. In all, Andrew is doing very well and has found his niche, thanks be to God. He has received several invitations for Thanksgiving this year and will therefore accept one and travel home with another boy who lives within reasonable driving distance of the school to gobble some turkey.

Today is the feast day of my patron saint, Albert the Great (1206-1280), partron of scientists and teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas. Below are two excerpts related to St. Albert, one from G.K. Chesterton's biography on St. Thomas Aquinas and the other a commentary by St. Albert on the Gospel of Luke and the Holy Eucharist:

Albert, the Swabian, rightly called the Great, was the founder of modern science," says G.K. Chesterton in his book Saint Thomas Aquinas, The Dumb Ox. "The great German, known in his most famous period as a professor in Paris, was previously for some time professor at Cologne... Among the students thronging into the lecture-rooms there was one student, conspicuous by his tall and bulky figure [see, another "Great" Dominican saint ~LB] and completely failing or refusing to be conspicuous for anything else. He was so dumb in the debates that his fellows began to assume an American significance in the word dumbness; for in that land it is a synonym for dullness. It is clear that, before long, even his imposing stature began to have only the ignominious immensity of the big boy left behind in the lowest form. He was called the Dumb Ox...

[Albertus Magnus] gave Thomas small jobs to do, of annotation or exposition; he persuaded him to banish his banshfulness so as to take part in at least one debate. He was a very shrewd old man and had studied the habits of other animals besides the salamander and the unicorn. He had studied many specimens of the most monstrous of all monstrosities; that is called Man. He knew the signs and marks of the sort of man, who is in an innocent way something of a monster among men. He was too good a school-master not to know that the dunce is not always a dunce. He learned with amusement that this dunce had been nicknamed the Dumb Ox by his school-fellows... Aquinas was still generally known only as one obscure and obstinately unresponsive pupil, among many more brilliant and promising pupils, when the great Albert broke silence with his famous cry and prophecy; "You call him a Dumb Ox; I tell you this Dumb Ox shall bellow so loud that his bellowing will fill the world."

From a commentary by Saint Albert the Great on the Gospel of Luke:

"Do this in remembrance of me." Two things should be noted here. The first is the command that we should use this sacrament, which is indicated when Jesus says, "Do this." The second is that this sacrament commemorates the Lord's going to death for our sake.

This sacrament is profitable because it grants remission of sins; it is most useful because it bestows the fullness of grace on us in this life. "The Father of spirits instructs us in what is useful for our sanctification." And his sanctification is in Christ's sacrifice, that is, when he offers himself in this sacrament to the Father for our redemption to us for our use.

Christ could not have commanded anything more beneficial, for this sacrament is the fruit of the tree of life. Anyone who receives this sacrament with the devotion of sincere faith will never taste death. "It is a tree of life for those who grasp it, and blessed is he who holds it fast. The man who feeds on me shall live on account of me."

Nor could he have commanded anything more lovable, for this sacrament produces love and union. It is characteristic of the greatest love to give itself as food. "Had not the men of my text exclaimed: Who will feed us with his flesh to satisfy our hunger? as if to say: I have loved them and they have loved me so much that I desire to be within them, and they wish to receive me so that they may become my members. There is no more intimate or more natural means for them to be united to me, and I to them.

Nor could he have commanded anything which is more like eternal life. Eternal life flows from this sacrament because God with all sweetness pours himself out upon the blessed.

-Albert
+Feast of St. Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus)

Humanism with a Vengeance

I thought the following excerpt from Michael Davies on the evolution of humanism to be quite timely. In an Obama America, we will likely see secular humanism with a vengeance never witnessed before on these shores. He has already promised it in the so called "Freedom of Choice Act", and the hate crimes legislation that would attempt to silence opposition to the killing of unborn children and the sodomization of America through stiff legal penalties. Anyone who publically opposes acts that defy the Divine Law will be subjected to fines and potential imprisonment. Coincidentally, this is already happening in Canada. So much for America's cherished freedom. You are free only when you agree with the collective conscience and will of the state. Sound familiar? Read this, look around, and watch the headlines closely over the next year or so:

Initially, there was no conflict between Humanism and the Church. Many humanists were also ecclesiastics. But as time passed, it became clear that the movement was tending to relegate religion to a place where it had little or no influence on human thought or human behavior; This tendency was implicit rather than explicit. It gave rise to the attitude that whereas faith is valid in its own domain, reason should be concerned only with what is scientifically demonstrable. The Creator-creature relationship was not formally denied, but attention became focused almost exclusively on man, to the neglect of God, who was, effectively, confined to the sacristy. Man was seen as an autonomous being, the focus of truth in a world of which he was master and which he had the ability to subdue and perfect, a being capable of building an earthly paradise by his own efforts, a utopia. The extent to which these ideas were reflected in the principles of the French Revolution, and later in atheistic Communism, hardly needs pointing out.

The practical result of Humanism was the divinization of man. The more God was diminished, the more man exalted himself and became his own God. In his book Christian Humanism Professor Thomas Molnar provides us with the following definition:

"Humanism was a doctrine, or network of doctrines, putting man in place of God, and endowing him with features that he was inevitably to abuse." [1]

I have mentioned the extent to which the principles of Humanism reached their logical conclusion in the French Revolution and in Communism, but the Protestant Reformation cannot be exempted from this charge. Our Lord Jesus Christ founded a visible
Church, His Mystical Body, to continue His mission in the world until He comes again in glory. This Church was endowed with a visible head, the Bishop of Rome, the Vicar of Jesus Christ. A vicar is a person who is authorized to perform a function on behalf of another, as his officially designated deputy.

The Bishop of Rome has the authority to teach infallibly the true meaning of the Scriptures as intended by their Divine Author. The Protestant Reformers repudiated the authority of the Vicar of Christ, and hence the authority of Christ Himself. They claimed to accept the authority of the Scriptures, but the inevitable logic of Protestantism is that they accept the authority of Scripture as each individual Protestant interprets it. In other words, every Protestant makes his own reason his ultimate authority in religious matters. It has often been said that, in the final analysis, every Protestant is his own pope. We can go further still and state that in the final analysis Protestantism makes each Protestant into his own god. This is Humanism with a vengeance.



Historian Michael Davies with the future Pope Benedict XVI

Catholics did not, of course, remain free from these influences, and in 1907, in the fifth year of his pontificate, Pope St. Pius X felt obliged to promulgate his encyclical letter Pascendi Dominici Gregis, condemning the errors of that Protestantized version of Catholicism known as Modernism, the ultimate logic of which, explained the Pope, was atheism. The most deplorable example of man's self-deification in our day is man's arrogation to himself of God's supreme and most fundamental authority, that is, His authority over life and death.

"I," says contemporary man, "shall decide for myself when a new human life shall begin and, once it has begun, whether it shall continue or be terminated. I shall use contraception to ensure that no new life is conceived without my consent, and, should a conception take place that I deem inconvenient, I shall terminate it by abortion." The next step in this diabolical process will be the legalization of euthanasia.

-Albert
+Feast of Saints of the Benedictine Order

New Sermons Posted

I have posted two new Fr. Hewko sermons from All Saints Day this year and the 25th Sunday after Pentecost. Unfortunately, I had a flight issue over the weekend coming back from Seattle that resulted in an unexpected overnight stay in Chicago; so, I missed recording this past Sunday's sermon.

I heard an excellent talk from the witty and poignant Fr. George Rutler on the way home entitled The Crisis of Saints. You can get it here for just $1 and it is worth every penny. Here are a few good quotes:

Not to be a saint is to be less than fully human. To have a golden civilization, we need golden men and women.

Political Correctness is the denial of the truth of God for it denies what God has ordained as correct. G.K. Chesterton said 'the most bigoted people in the world are the people who do not have any conviction at all' ... the ground of bigotry is indifference.

Fear of truth is fear of Christ, for Christ told us the ultimate truth is the cross. Our civilization has gone through an enormous decline because it has walked away from that challenge that God gave us when he came into this world, take up your cross and come after me. Nothing is more politically incorrect than that; but no, nothing is more divinely correct than that.

You will be enriched by the talk. Fr. Rutler, much like the great Cardinal John Henry Newman of the 19th century, is an Oxford scholar and Anglican convert.  He is well known for his books and sermons, including the preaching of the Good Friday sermon at St. Agnes in New York, an honor that once belonged to Bishop Fulton Sheen. Many of Bishop Sheen's gifts and characteristics as an orator, whether intentional or not,  are unmistakable in Fr. Rutler's own style, with a little Texas added to spice things up a bit. 

On a family note, we have a couple of birthdays coming up on Leslie's side of the family, Leslie's grandmother and Aunt Bea. We wish them all of the best and a very happy birthday.

Obama and the Laughable Beast

Lawyer Christopher Ferrara brilliantly nails the cunning sophistry that brought this country to an Obama presidency in his latest article Obama and the Laughable Beast.

Mocha, please

I realize the trivial nature of my more recent posts, but I thought I would post this for my coffee aficionado wife. And, to my defense, this is a chronicle of the life of a family, and beauty is often found in the hum-drum rhythm of normal daily life. For example, step back and think about how good and loving God is in providing that enjoyable first cup of coffee to you in the morning. How often the small things are taken for granted.

It's Friday, a very nice chat again with the Barrista this morning, and the mocha is good. Deo Gratias. It's been a quick week. I fly out early tomorrow afternoon already.

My good friend's mother is in having heart surgery this morning. Please keep her in your prayers.

-Albert

Thursday Mini Photo Journal

Here are a few pictures with captions of my last full day out at Patterns and Practices. I have to apologize for the pictures. I have a dirty lens that I just cannot seem to get clean, bad lighting, bad composition, and I lost my Photoshop license years ago. Now that we have Obama to spread the wealth around like a good comrade, perhaps I will end up with some of Donald Trump's money so that I can buy a new camera.


It is Seattle (Redmond to be precise). This is what my mornings have looked like all week except for Wednesday. I did see the sun once.

Behold the Microsoft Conference Center where I've been spending some long hours. At least the food is good.


After I ordered my post-lunch mocha, The Barrista (circled on the right) was telling me how today the orders were all blending together and that she ended up making the wrong drinks for folks on several occasions. We then chatted about the hyper-complexity of the world in which we live after which she handed me a double latte. I didn't have the heart to tell her.


Question: Ever wonder what happens to all that graffiti when it is torn down to make way for new construction?

Answer: It is immortalized as "modern art" in the MS Conference Center, of course. Raphael and Titian have nothing on this. I will admit it is rather colorful.

That is all. Tomorrow I have a half day of sessions and then I am off to do who knows what. I've discovered that my tolerance for traffic has weakened these last few years. I will probably travel down to Chateau Ste. Michelle winery and tour around a bit. I'm not sure that I will buy anything because one, I don't have any money, and two, the airlines make it ridiculously difficult to get wine home. There is a First Friday Mass and Holy Hour tomorrow night in Seattle at the same church I visited Monday for All Souls so I definately plan to be there.

-Albert

Exclusive Blog Announcement

Now we will see if any family members or friends visit the blog. Come to find out yesterday that a new member of the family has arrived and is expected to make his or her appearance in about eight months or so.

St. Therese Academy First Half-Marathon

Today the boys from St. Therese Academy ran a half-marathon to raise money for the school. Thank you to all the friends and family who sent donations. Chris completed 13 miles + 1 extra mile because he dropped one of the rubber band counters. Joseph completed 10 miles and Joshua completed 6 miles.

Congratulations boys!!!

Election 2008

Conference Miscellany

The second day of the Geek summit draws to a close. I don't think I've mentioned on this blog yet that my profession is software engineering. Anyway, one thing that is great about Seattle is the coffee (and I don't mean Starbucks!) and it is plentiful and free! Microsoft catering has also come a long way since I was out here last. I've had no need to purchase dinner when I arrive back at the hotel in the evening after the sessions. I wonder if C2 would allow me to use the savings on my meal allocations for wine down the road at Chateau St. Michelle? Hmmm... Probably not.

This is an excellent conference and one that is injecting some renewed enthusiasm into areas of my work that have become very dry and tedious in recent months. Patterns and Practices is a conference of my choosing, as opposed to one mandated by C2 for some particular customer or business purpose, so I am focused on my core areas of interest in software engineering.

I've intentionally been avoiding the news today so that I don't get worked up and distracted by polling results. However, I know that it currently does not look good for an Obama defeat. I'm off to pray. If Obama wins, it will be a day that lives in infamy, and not in the good sense. I think that America is so worked up over money that they are completely blind to the radical social agenda that is about to be unleashed. I have to believe that if your average good American understood that, they would be so sickened by it that they could never vote for the Obamanation. The "unbiased" media has done a masterful job of keeping those issues cleaverly hidden in the background.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

-Albert
+Feast of St. Charles Borromeo

To Joshua

Love, Dad

All Souls Day

I am getting this post up just as All Soul's Day draws to a close out here on the west coast.  Hopefully my writing is somewhat coherent.  After a day at Microsoft of powerpoint slides and computer code, along with the full effects of jet lag and time change, my brain is really protesting any activity other than a good night's sleep at this point.

With God's Grace (and a little navigational help from St. Anthony), I was able to get to Mass tonight in Seattle.  The bishop here just recently sought a priest from the F.S.S.P. to permanently pastor a community dedicated exclusively to the Traditional Mass and rites.   The Una Voce chapter of Seattle has fought decades for this and it was great to see a little rosebud of tradition beginning to flourish out in an area that's been a desert for a long time.  

On a similar note, Bishop Fellay of the F.S.S.P.X.  has just called for a new rosary crusade beginning on the Feast of All Saints through Christmas for the Holy Father and the liberation of Catholic Tradition.  The Society's last rosary crusade, yielding a prayer storm to heaven of over two million rosaries from around the world,  was held for the intention of the liberation of the Traditional Mass.  Within several months of the conclusion of that crusade, Pope Benedict released the Motu Proprio liberating the Mass of all time.  The Mass where I assisted tonight was a fruit of that crusade and the Motu Proprio.  Deo Gratias!  There is much to hope for from this new crusade as well.

We remember our dearly departed relatives in a special way today and throughout the remainder of the month.  May God have mercy on their souls and may perpetual light shine upon them. 

+ Requiscat in pace +  

Joshua's Aaron Charles' 5th Birthday Celebration

We decided to celebrate Joshua's birthday a few days early this year because Al will be away at a conference next Tuesday and the girls will be back at school. He enjoyed all of his gifts. Many thanks to those who sent cards, packages and well wishes. There are a few pictures below. Unfortunately the batteries died on our camera and we could not get cake pictures this year.

Feast of All Saints

Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us.

Phil. 3:17