Category: Catholicism

Daughters Of The King

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The regularity of my posts in recent times has been pretty lamentable, but at least I can now finally explain why.  Much of my time over the last couple of months has been taken up with preparations for “Daughters Of The King”…

Genesis

The whole idea began back in August at Dan’s bachelor weekend.  Together with eight other guys, I spent the weekend hiking and camping a few hour’s drive from San Diego. While we were catching our breath halfway up a mountain, one of our number, Mike, shared with us an idea he had…

Mike wanted to put together some sort of event for all the ladies in our lives: friends, girlfriends, wives, sisters and mothers.  He wanted an evening for the guys to gather together specifically to honour all of the ladies.  Quite an extraordinary idea to come out of a bachelor weekend, hey?

Planning

Towards the end of September we began preparations.  I sent out an email to all the men on the JP2 mailing list, inviting them to join us in this unique enterprise.  Twenty men stepped up to the challenge…

We initially met at my apartment, drank some beer and discussed what kind of event we might organize. We were not short of ideas!  (In later meetings we would institute the “Don’t suggest an idea unless you’re willing to take it on yourself” rule!)  After much discussion, the idea we settled upon was to throw a classy gala evening in the parish hall of Our Lady of the Rosary.  We decided that the event would be completely free to the ladies and that the men would cook and serve all of the food.

We had wanted to hold the event on the same date as some Marian Feast, but we ended up choosing November 21st, the Feast of Christ the King.  From the title of this feast, we quickly settled upon the name of our event, since we would be spending the evening honouring the daughters of our aforementioned King.  Only later would we realise that this date is, in fact, actually also a minor Marian Feast, The Presentation of Mary, the commemoration of Our Lady’s presentation as a child in the Temple.

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Beginning Ignatius’ letter to Polycarp

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Well, we’re finally here!  The last letter of St. Ignatius of Antioch!  I’m posting this a bit earlier than usual because the next couple of weeks are going to be rather busy.

Each of the Ignatius’ letters are special for different reasons, but his letter to Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, holds a special place in my heart.

In some ways it reminds me of the book of Proverbs, since Ignatius often offers Polycarp advice in the form of short exhortations.

This is the only personal letter Ignatius wrote to a fellow bishop and should, in my not so humble opinion, be required reading for all pastors and all those who minister in the Church.

When I have friends who enter the seminary, they usually receive a card from me with a quotation which comes from somewhere in this letter.  Whenever I become discouraged in the ministries in which I serve, this is the document I usually dig out.

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

I said this was Ignatius’ last letter, but that is not strictly true, for there was one final letter he wrote, to both his “God Jesus Christ” and to the “Catholic Church”. However, this was a letter of a different kind…  Rather than being written in private, this letter was written in an amphitheatre before thousands of jeering Romans.  Rather than using parchment, he used his own flesh and, in place of ink, his own blood.

St. Ignatius, pray for us.

Beginning Ignatius’ letter to the Smyrnaeans

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The final two letters of St. Ignatius which we read are both sent to the city of Smyrna.  The first letter is sent to the Church as a whole, the second specifically to their bishop, Polycarp.

This first letter is special for many reasons, but particularly because it contains Ignatius’ clearest declaration of faith about the Eucharist, as well as being the earliest recorded use of the phrase “Catholic Church”. Invented at Nicea?  I don’t think so.

Here is my abridged version of the letter:

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

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.

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