Alas

Alas, keeping up regularly with the blog has been a challenge of late. It is a busy time of the year as school wraps and work projects ramp. I will try to get some pictures and commentary up soon. I also have a good sermon to post from yesterday. In the meantime, I've encouraged other family members to fill in. We'll see how it goes...

St. Therese Class Trip

The boys took a class trip to Upper Canada Village yesterday.  Apparently, some of the Chinese tourists thought the boys were part of the attraction...

Happy Feast of Pentecost

Veni, Creator Spiritus - mentes tuorum visita,

Imple superna gratia - quae tu creasti pectora

First Holy Communion for Joshua

---

From Our Lord's Lips, to those of the original Apostles, to their successors in an unbroken chain throughout the centuries, down to us. We believe, dear Lord. To whom else shall we go?

Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him.

After this many of his disciples went back; and walked no more with him. Then Jesus said to the twelve: Will you also go away?  And Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
-St. John 6:54-57,67-69

For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord, until he come.  Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself: and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord.
-1 Cor 11:26-29

Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God ... They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes.
-St. Ignatius of Antioch, 1st Century (St. Ignatius of Antioch received episcopal consecration at the hands of the original apostles, likely by St. Peter himself).

For we do not take these things as ordinary bread or ordinary drink. Just as our Savior Jesus Christ was made flesh by the word of God and took on flesh and blood for our salvation, so also were we taught that the food, for which thanksgiving has been made through the word of prayer instituted by him, and from which our blood and flesh are nourished after the change, is the flesh of that Jesus who was made flesh. Indeed, the Apostles, in the records left by them which are called gospels, handed on that it was commanded to them in this manner: Jesus, having taken bread and given thanks said, ``Do this in memory of me, this is my body.'' Likewise, having taken the cup and given thanks, he said, ``This is my blood'', and he gave it to them alone.
-St. Justin Martyr, Early 2nd Century

---

Pictures of Joshua's big day are in the following post.  Father's excellent sermon, St. Pascal and the Holy Eucharist, can be downloaded in the sermon links on the left.

Joshua's First Holy Communion Pictures

Pictures

Pictures of Chris' birthday party, my mother, sister and beautiful new niece...

Happy Birthday, Frenchie!

Happy Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ!

Evidence from John Chrysostom, Egeria, Gregory of Nyssa, and Church historian Socrates, suggest that Ascension Day probably originated in the 4th century AD. However, Augustine says the festival is apostolic. Often the feast was celebrated with a procession, symbolizing Christ's journey to the Mount of Olives. The Paschal Candle (lighted at the Easter Vigil) is extinguished on Ascension Day. It is often celebrated as an octave, the proper preface and Ascension collect being used until the Saturday before Pentecost.

Blessed Duns Scotus Film in the Making

Another good film project underway, this time about the 14th century Scottish Franciscan John Duns Scotus.

Mother's Day in the North Country

Happy Mother's Day!   Big week this week... Mom visits for a few days, Ascension Thursday, Chris' Birthday and capped off next Sunday with Joshua's First Holy Communion.

Joshua's First Confession

Joshua had his first Confession this morning to pave the way to his First Holy Communion next Sunday. He and the other First Communion children are on a little day of recollection today with Father Hewko.

When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost.  Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.
- John 20:22-23 [after the Resurrection, Christ gives His apostles, and hence their successors, the power to bind and loose sins]

New Movie About Our Lady of Lourdes

Filmed with a cast consisting entirely of children!

Trip to Manchester

I had a nice (long) scenic trip to Manchester VT and back yesterday on business. Personally, I prefer southern Vermont over northern for charm and natural beauty.  Manchester is where Leslie and I honeymooned. Coincidentally, a have a co-worker who was married on the exact same day in the exact year as us and also honeymooned in Manchester.

Anticipating Next Season

Happy Feast of St. Monica, an example par excellence that persistence in prayer can, through God's Mercy, bring souls that seem the most lost home.

Layman's Verdict on Armida

Leslie and I attended the final Live HD Met broadcast featuring Rossini's Armida this past weekend starring Crane graduate and star soprano Renee Fleming. On a historic note, this is the first time Armida was performed at the Met and it has enjoyed few public performances since its premiere in 1817. One challenge in staging Armida is the fact that the opera calls for six tenors, a tall order in a very narrow field of world class singers that can fill those roles and are available to sing together for an entire production run.

Armida, set during the great Crusades,  depicts the struggle between virtue (duty and honor) and pleasure. The Crusader warrior Rinaldo is bewitched by the sorceress Armida who has fallen in love with him. Yielding to her charms, he retreats to her enchanted island of pleasure where he forgets his former greatness as a warrior and lives in a illusory world of comfort and ease held together with the help of demons who appear to be at Armida's disposal. Rinaldo is rescued at the end by two companions who come to restore him as leader of the Crusader army.

Armida should normally be an opera for the entire family because it depicts strongly a struggle all too familiar in the spiritual life, the human desire for ease and pleasure versus the struggle to attain virtue performing one's duty. Unfortunately, some of the costuming and some of the suggestive nature of the dances in the ballet portion of Act II are not good for children's eyes, especially adolescent boys. This was the only disappointing feature of the opera for me. The staging could have been done in such a way that adults would have more implicitly understood the sensual temptations of Rinaldo all the while sailing over the heads of the younger crowd. Instead of employing a greater artistic technique here, the director seemed to drift more toward the Hollywood model. The scene wasn't horrible, but it crossed the line just enough for my taste.

Overall, there is much to like about the Met's production of Armida. Some of my further disjointed thoughts follow.

Pleasure itself is depicted as an illusion. Pleasure is fleeting and there needs to be something above it to build a foundation on, to form true character. When Rinaldo's fellow warriors come to rescue him, they show him the depths to which he has sunk dressed in his effeminate garb complete with a wreath of flowers on his head.  A life steeped in base pleasure is effeminate. Once awakened from his stupor, Rinaldo forcefully proclaims that he is what he once was "I am still Rinaldo!" and strength and sensibility returns. He is later tempted again by the pleadings of Armida, but appeals to duty and honor help him to resist and overcome the temptation. Appeals to God and Heaven from his companions also work to break the demonic spell over Rinaldo and the effect of the island.

A couple other distinctive notes that struck me include the notion of true enduring love versus lust. While Armida may have genuinely loved Rinaldo, he did not return that love and so, through the use of her sorcery, she lures him by his base passions, gradually getting him to suspend his noble sensibilities and depriving him of his strength.  There are also striking scenes depicting a power struggle between love and vengeance, particularly in the character of Armida when she is abandoned by Rinaldo at the end of the opera. The audience is also reminded that Hell cannot be controlled... in the end it controls you. Armida uses the power of Hell throughout the opera to get what she wants. This power turns on her in the end. When she summons her demons in Act III to return Rinaldo to her, Hell is mysteriously silent to her request. When Rinaldo finally takes to the sea, Hell is there again to turn her heart to despair and finally vengeance. In many respects Armida is a tragic heroine who is lost in her own illusion and a slave to the forces who she thought her ally.

Leslie and I have had a great run with the Met HD series this season and I highly recommend it. I was never much of an opera fan, but I've grown from some appreciation to becoming a huge fan in just a few months. In culinary terms, it is like going from hamburger to a big juicey steak.  I've enjoyed the music, the stories, and the theatrics.  We are also finding that the children really enjoy them.  We've watched Hansel and Gretel, The Barber of Seville, The Magic Flute and Turandot at home.

Happy Feast of St. Joseph the Worker

O glorious Joseph! Who concealed your incomparable and regal dignity of custodian of Jesus and of the Virgin Mary under the humble appearance of a craftsman and provided for them with your work, protect with loving power your sons, especially entrusted to you. You know their anxieties and sufferings, because you yourself experienced them at the side of Jesus and of His Mother. Do not allow them, oppressed by so many worries, to forget the purpose for which they were created by God. Do not allow the seeds of distrust to take hold of their immortal souls. Remind all the workers that in the fields, in factories, in mines, and in scientific laboratories, they are not working, rejoicing, or suffering alone, but at their side is Jesus, with Mary, His Mother and ours, to sustain them, to dry the sweat of their brow, giving value to their toil. Teach them to turn work into a very high instrument of sanctification as you did. Amen.