Wise Words on Wednesday: Postponing the cure
Why do you hasten to remove anything which hurts your eye, while if something affects your soul, you postpone the cure until next year?
– Horace
Month: August 2015
The Sabbatical Plan
A week ago I began my sabbatical. Following my spiritual director’s suggestion, I spent that first week away on retreat. I spent my time at a monastery, dedicating the next two months of discernment to the Lord.
The monastery I visited was a Benedictine monastery in Oregon. Having grown up around Benedictine monks, I felt very much at home. It was wonderful having the rhythm of my day guided by the monastic office, even if the (very loud) bell rang for Vigils at 5:30am each day!
It was really nice to have some time away and get a complete change of scenery. I got plenty of rest and spent most of my time reading and writing. It was so good to quiet the noise inside and to have an opportunity collect my thoughts.
I got back Sunday evening and yesterday I spent planning, working out the day-to-day routine of the months ahead…
The Plan
In the mornings I’ll be going to Matins and Divine Liturgy and then I’ll repair to a coffee shop to work on the book for a couple of hours. I’ll try and go to a different coffee shop each day and I’m planning on keeping track of them on this map:
I’ll then come home and cook lunch. I do love cooking but normally I’m too rushed/lazy/impatient to do it. Therefore, during this sabbatical, I’m going to endeavor to expand my usual repertoire of dishes by following a recipe each day.
The afternoons will begin with an hour of exploring new technologies which will then be followed by a long walk through one of Seattle’s many beautiful parks. I’ll listen to a lecture on my iPod, but I’ll always spend the last half an hour in peaceful silence. When I get back I’ll spend some time reading the mountain of books I’ve assembled.
The evenings will be spent relaxing, working out and the odd Holy Hour.
This Week…
This week, during my walks I will be listening to John – The Sacramental Gospel from St. Paul’s Center for Biblical Theology. The meals I will cook will include Spicy Salmon with Bok Choy, Chicken Curry, Salmon With Creamy Cucumber-Fennel Salad, Pasta With Turkey and Broccoli and Southwestern Beef Chili With Corn.
Another reason to love Wil
If you’re a sci-fi nerd like I am, you’ll immediately recognize the name Wil Wheaton. Wil played Wesley Crusher in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. In recent years Wil has become something of a champion for nerd culture, even earning himself several cameo roles in the geeky sit-com The Big Bang Theory. I’m obviously a huge fan 🙂
A few weeks ago I found out something about Wil that I had never known – he suffers from depression. Here’s a video I came across recently where he describes his experience:
My time with the Catholic Five
Last weekend I was a guest on The Catholic Five and had a blast. Here’s the section of the show where I got to talk about the book I’m currently writing:
Music Monday: Lift your head weary sinner
What’s worship music without a banjo? Today’s Music Monday is from the rather spectacular “Lift your heard weary sinner” from Crowder:
Lift your head weary sinner, the river’s just ahead
Down the path of forgiveness, salvation’s waiting there
You built a mighty fortress 10,000 burdens high
Love is here to lift you up, here to lift you high
If you’re lost and wandering
Come stumbling in like a prodigal child
See the walls start crumbling
Let the gates of glory open wide
All who’ve strayed and walked away, unspeakable things you’ve done
Fix your eyes on the mountain, let the past be dead and gone
Come all saints and sinners, you can’t outrun God
Whatever you’ve done can’t overcome the power of the blood
If you’re lost and wrecked again
Come stumbling in like a prodigal child
See the walls start crumbling
Let the gates of glory be open wide
Weekly Young Adult-only Mass?
A little while ago, one of my friends suggested that there should be a parish where there is a Young Adult Mass held every week for all members of the Diocese. The idea was that it would be really nice to have a place where the younger members of the Diocese could gather knowing that there would be lots of other young adults present. There would be superb music, excellent preaching and lots of young people.
There was a time in my own journey when I would have enthusiastically embraced this idea. In fact, in our Diocese we have a similar event each year, known as “Mega Mass”, where all the young adults come together and it’s very successful. However, I think that a weekly event would be extremely problematic.
No wrinklies allowed!
Aside from the politics of selecting a parish in the Diocese and personal preferences concerning music, establishing a young adult Mass would be difficult because it’s not like you could stop those who did not fall into the young adult age range from attending. As a consequence, if the young adult Mass were mostly made up of those outside the young adult age range, it is unlikely that it would attract many more young adults.
On the other hand, if the Mass did start to attract more and more young adults, I fear that it would end up depopulating other parishes of their young adults which I think would be disastrous. Something of this dynamic often exists naturally, with one or two parishes of the diocese being known as the “young adult parish”, robbing surrounding parishes of their young adults. Who will be the next generation in these parishes?
My other serious concern with an idea like this is that it plays into a kind of ecclesial consumerism which we’ve seen very clearly in the Protestant world. Obviously, we want music to be good, preaching to be inspiring and for our churches to be filled with the young, but part of me can’t help but think that to enter into such an initiative would be to start training people to think that these are the primary things which should be used to determine what makes going to Mass important. It also sets up a problem further down the line because what happens if the music takes a bit of a downturn? What if the homilies get a little stale? What if the young adult population dips? There will always be some other church somewhere which does it better and if that’s what we’ve trained people to value most, why would they want to stay in the Catholic Church?
What are you thoughts? Would you ever want to see a Young Adult Mass every week in the Diocese?
Top Five Ways to be a Rockstar Godparent
Over the last few years I’ve had the honour of sponsoring several people for Baptism and Confirmation. Over my time as a godparent, I’ve asked other sponsors what they do to live out this special vocation.
In today’s post I’ve assembled all the advice I’ve heard from other godparents and sponsors and come up with the top five ways to godparent like a rockstar…
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