Author: pilgrim

My Confirmation Prayer

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The Scripture which will be proclaimed at Mass in the upcoming weeks looks at the subject of prayer.

The other day, whilst surfing the Internet, I came across the prayer which I used during my time of preparation prior to receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation.  To my surprise, I found that there was an “extra bit” that I had not heard before.  Here it is:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen.

–Reinhold Niebuhr

I think I need this right now.

Friday Frivolity: The Catholic Pick-Up Song

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A few weeks ago I compiled the list of “Top Twenty Catholic Pick-up Lines” (Part 1, Part 2).  Did you wonder what it might be like if somebody incorporated them into a song? Well, wonder no more! Thanks to Jenna for bringing this video to my attention.

(The song begins about about the 1:10 mark)

As I was watching this I realized that a lot of these lines aren’t new, they’ve been used at least since ever there was a Romeo and a Juliet…

Romeo: “If I profane with my unworthiest hand, this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss”

Juliet: “Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this; for saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss”

Romeo: “Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?”

Juliet: “Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer”

Romeo: “O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; they pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair”

Juliet: “Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake”

Romeo: “Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take.Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged…”

[kissing noises]

Beginning Ignatius’ letter to the Philadelphians

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Ignatius is moving!

Thus far we have been reading the letters this inspirational martyr wrote from the city of Smyrna, but we must now follow him to Troas where he will write his last three letters before completing his journey to Rome and to the mouths of the wild beasts!

Ignatius now addresses the schism and the Judaising attempts at the church in the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia. Here is my abridged version of the letter:

“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Philadelphians” PDF
“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Philadelphians” Audio

Beginning Ignatius’ letter to the Ephesians

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This week in the JP2 Group we will be continuing our study of the letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch, martyr of the early 2nd Century.

Last week we read his words to the Trallians where Ignatius presents unity with the bishop as a defence against heresy. This week we move on to the letter he wrote to the Ephesians, the community in which Paul lived for three years and to whom he wrote a letter which we find in Sacred Scripture.

In this letter Ignatius pulls together all the different topics we have seen him address in his letters thus far: unity, the episcopacy, heresy, the Eucharist etc. However, as well as being a nice revision of all we have seen thus far, he also gives us some advice on how to deal with those outside the Church.

After looking at several different translations, I have, again, created my own abridged version so that we will be able to complete our study of this letter in a single evening.  The letter to the Ephesians is quite long so unfortunately I had to cut quite a bit. Anyway, here it is:

“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Ephesians” PDF
“St. Ignatius of Antioch’s letter to the Ephesians” Audio

Another Patristics Resource

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Wow, they just keep coming!  Soon there will be published yet another “user friendly” resource for the writings of the Early Church Fathers! I just got the following email from Karl Keating, president of Catholic Answers:

My debate was a beautiful failure. My opponent was Dave Hunt, an inveterate anti-Catholic, a Fundamentalist writer of risible but widely-read books that “exposed” the Catholic Church… Our venue was a large hall near Detroit. The place was packed, chiefly with people who weren’t sympathetic to the points I was trying to make. One such listener was Alex Jones, then pastor of an inner-city Pentecostal church.

Years later, when Steve Ray introduced me to Alex, he said I was responsible for Alex’s conversion to the Catholic faith—but that Alex hadn’t been impressed by a single argument I made during that debate (Ouch!)

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