Category: Catholicism

Mega Mass Meme

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Last weekend we had the “Mega Mass” here in San Diego, where the Bishop celebrated the Eucharistic liturgy with approximately 600 Young Adults. Since I now only occasionally go to a Roman Rite Mass, I did find it a little strange. Among the things which now seem a little alien to me, in particular, is receiving the Eucharist from someone other than a priest.

Although I didn’t receive Communion from a priest, I received from the next best thing, the SWAT commando of Catholics, my friend Artzell. Art has a way of bringing out the uber-Catholic in me. The first time we met, we ended up having a huge argument as to which of us had the more powerful patron Saint and which of us most desired martyrdom 🙂

So anyway, to mark the occasion, I created a meme parodying the Dos Equis adverts:

Artzell Bautista

The article Mega Mass Meme first appeared on RestlessPilgrim.net

Androgynous Israel?

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A very short post today. I just wanted to share a little “ah hah!” moment I had recently.

A little while back I went to vespers at an Eastern Orthodox parish. The format of the service was almost identical to that of my Eastern Catholic parish. The only real differences were alternative melodic forms and slightly different English translations.

Vespers

During my visit I noticed something about the translation of one of the psalms. Several times Israel was referred to in the masculine form, “him”. This rather surprised me since I typically think of Israel as feminine, the people to whom God has espoused Himself and which, under the New Testament, flowers into the Church, the Bride of Christ.

…I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers…which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. – Jeremiah 31:32

After Vespers a few of us were talking to the priest and I raised this question. We agreed that Israel was probably referred to using the masculine gender to highlight the relationship of sonship between God and Israel:

And you [Moses] shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my first-born son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me”…’ – Exodus 4:22-23

Under the Old Covenant, God became Father to Israel and Israel became God’s first-born son, the elder brother among the nations, to manifest the wisdom of God and to lead the Gentiles back home.

The article Androgynous Israel? first appeared on RestlessPilgrim.net

Do I have to go to Church today?

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Holy Day of Obligation?! That’s like saying someone forced you to eat ice-cream and sprinkles!

There appears to be some confusion over the status of the Feast of the Assumption so I thought I’d do a really quick post and clear things up. If you’re a Roman Rite Catholic in the United States then, yes, today is a Holy Day of Obligation.

Where has all the confusion come from? Well, the U.S. Bishops received permission from the Vatican to abrogate certain Holy Days if the feast in question is on either a Saturday or Monday. The Feast of the Assumption falls into this category, leading to the rather bizarre situation whereby it was not a Holy Day of Obligation in 2009 and 2011, but it was during the intervening years. However, since today is a Thursday (and not either a Saturday or Monday), it’s time to start looking for a lunchtime or evening Mass… 🙂

Screen Shot 2013-08-15 at 7.54.01 AM

“If you’re complaining that you HAVE TO go to church today
for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother,
then you need to get your priorities in check, SON!” – Joe Q

Catholic Dating: Occam’s Razor

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Since beginning this series a couple of weeks ago, I have received a lot of positive feedback. This has come almost exclusively from the ladies. Well, let’s see how long that lasts… 😉

So far in my response to the question “Why doesn’t that nice Catholic boy ask me out?”, I have omitted a rather obvious possible answer: he doesn’t want to.

Occam’s Razor states, broadly speaking, that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. So, if a gentleman doesn’t ask out a lady, the simplest explanation is that he’s not sufficiently motivated to do so. It’s tough, I know, but it’s a legitimate explanation.

On the whole, when someone wants something, he seeks it out. If he doesn’t, then the chances are that he doesn’t really want it enough. So, in general, if a guy really wants to ask a girl out, he will. If he doesn’t, then he won’t.

Friendship to Romance?

Why am I saying this and running the risk of offending my female readers?

I’m bringing this up because in the past when I’ve heard the fairer sex complain about a guy’s lack of romantic advances, I’ve sometimes felt that they were willing to accept any explanation other than the simplest answer. These lamentations have sometimes turned into complicated defenses for a guy’s apparent lack of romantic attention. Could it just be that he didn’t want to be more than a platonic friend?

He's Just Not That Into You

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