• The Crucifix Prayer

    Blessed are you, Lord God,
    Father all-holy,
    for your boundless love
    The tree, once the source of shame
    and death for humankind,
    has become the cross
    of our redemption and life.

    When his hour had come to
    return to you in glory,
    the Lord Jesus,
    Our King, our Priest, and our Teacher,
    freely mounted the scaffold of the cross
    and made it his royal throne,
    his altar of sacrifice, his pulpit of truth.

    On the cross,
    lifted above the earth,
    he triumphed over our age-old enemy.
    Cloaked in his own blood,
    he drew all things to himself.

    On the cross,
    he opened out his arms
    and offered you his life;
    the sacrifice of the New Law
    that gives to the sacraments
    their saving power.

    On the cross,
    he proved what he had prophesied:
    the grain of wheat must die
    to bring forth an abundant harvest.

    Father,
    we honour this cross as the sign
    of our redemption.
    May we reap the harvest of salvation
    planted in pain by Christ Jesus.
    May our sins be nailed to his cross,
    the power of life released,
    pride conquered,
    and weakness turned to strength.

    May the cross be our comfort in trouble,
    our refuge in the face of danger,
    our safeguard on life’s journey
    until you welcome us to
    our heavenly home.

    Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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  • The Prayer of St. Ephrem

    {Making a prostration}

    O LORD, Master of my life,
    grant that I may not be infected with the
    spirit of slothfulness and inquisitiveness,
    with the spirit of ambition and vain talking.

    {Making a prostration}

    Grant instead to me, your servant,
    the spirit of purity and of humility,
    the spirit of patience and neighborly love.

    {Making a third prostration}

    O Lord and King,
    grant me the grace of being aware of my sins
    and of not thinking evil of those of my brethren.
    For you are blessed, now and ever, and forever.

    Amen.

    Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings,
    You have power over life and death.
    You know what is secret and hidden,
    and neither our thoughts nor our feelings
    are concealed from You.
    Cure me of duplicity;
    I have done evil before You.
    Now my life declines from day to day
    and my sins increase.
    O Lord, God of souls and bodies,
    You know the extreme frailty of my soul and my flesh.
    Grant me strength in my weakness, O Lord,
    and sustain me in my misery.
    Give me a grateful soul that I may
    never cease to recall Your benefits,
    O Lord most bountiful.
    Be not mindful of my many sins,
    but forgive me all my misdeeds.
    O Lord, disdain not my prayer –
    the prayer of a wretched sinner;
    sustain me with Your grace until the end,
    that it may protect me as in the past.
    It is Your grace which has taught me wisdom;
    blessed are they who follow her ways,
    for they shall receive the crown of glory.
    In spite of my unworthiness,
    I praise You and I glorify You,
    O Lord, for Your mercy to me is without limit.
    You have been my help and my protection.
    May the name of Your majesty be praised forever.
    To you, our God, be glory.
    Amen.

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  • PWJ: S4E103 – Bonus – “Season Finale” (Part 2)

    David, Andrew, and Matt wrap up Season 4 with the Season Finale. This is Part 2 of that Finale. Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/X4zq7Uk69KmYo1v3A

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  • PWJ: S4E102 – Bonus – “Season Finale” (Part 1)

    David, Andrew, and Matt wrap up Season 4 with the Season Finale. This is Part 1…

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  • PWJ: S4E101 – Bonus – “Jack vs Tollers”

    After the previously-planned interview fell through at the last minute, David sat down to record a solo episode to talk about his newborn son, Sidecar Day, blue flowers in Narnia, and also to make his tongue-in-cheek case as to why C.S. Lewis is better than J.R.R. Tolkien.

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  • PWJ: S4E100 – AH – “After Hours” with The Gray Havens

    The Gray Havens are an American Christian folk pop husband and wife duo, David and Licia Radford, from Crystal Lake, Illinois. On October 8th they will be releasing their new album, Blue Flower, so David Radford came on the show to talk to Andrew and David about how C.S. Lewis inspired their recent work.

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  • PWJ: S4E99 – AH – “After Hours” with Mike “Gomer” Gormley

    As we approach the end of Season 4, David is joined on the show by Michael “Gomer” Gormley. Among other things, they discuss Ted Lasso, tea, and the Atonement. Also, find out what Gomer would do if he ever became the Pope!

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  • PWJ: S4E98 – AH – “After Hours” with Patti Callahan

    New York Times bestselling author, Patti Callahan, returns to the show to talk about her forthcoming book, “Once Upon A Wardrobe”, which will be released on October 19th.

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  • PWJ: S4E97 – AH – “After Hours” with The Tolkien Road

    A few months ago, John and Greta from The Tolkien Road podcast did a series of episodes on religion in Tolkien’s Legendarium. David invited him onto the show to talk about those episodes and to encourage the Pints With Jack listeners to listen to them.

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  • PWJ: S4E96 – AH – “After Hours” with Rod Bennett

    Author Rod Bennett joined David to talk about a presentation on he gave at a big Christian rock festival about C.S. Lewis’ relationship to “Pulp Fiction”.

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Music Monday: Red Sky

After a couple of weeks of Aramaic chant, we return to Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)…

When I was little, I was taught the rhyme “Red sky at night, Shepherd’s delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning”. The idea being expressed in these couplets was that a red sky in the evening signalled good weather the following day, but a red sky in the morning bode poorer weather later in the day.

Today’s song is from Brandon Heath’s album Don’t Get Comfortable and is called “Red Sky”. Over the years it has been one of those songs I’ve reached for when life has been tough. It’s hard not to connect with the poetic plea for God to “Cover me with the red sky tonight, the promise of a better day to come”

There’s a man on my street
He reminds me everyday
Better take what you can get
Cause there’s nothing more than this
Daylight fades into the ground,
Oh Lord I need You now

Cover me
With the red sky tonight
The promise of a better day to come
Sing over me
An angelic symphony
Tell me everything will be alright
With the red sky tonight

We’re so taking with our fear
Now we’re folded up in shame
With our feet nailed to the floor
We’re the only ones to blame
I can’t help but wonder why
Nobody bats an eye
You can see it in the faces
Of all the passers by

I’ll sail into the sun
And when the day is done
I need you in the night
To wake me in the dawn
I see you in the sun
When the day is done

The name “Jehovah”

Since I haven’t written about Jehovah Witnesses in a while, I thought that today I would address the origin of one of this group’s distinctive practices – exclusive use of the name “Jehovah”.

watchtower

If you ever come across Jehovah’s Witnesses, either on the street or if they come to your door, it’s not unusual for them to emphasize that God’s name is “Jehovah” and the only appropriate name to be used in reference to Him. They might even go further and claim that other Christian groups have “hidden” the name of God despite, as we will see, that this word was first invented inside the Catholic Church.

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Pilgrim Podcast: Episode 0

coverIn the past I have toyed around with the idea of starting a podcast. For example, during Lent one year I produced a series of YouTube videos on the Epistle to the Philippians, I extracted the audio from each video and setup a podcast feed so that people could easily follow along with the study on their iPods. However, I never really committed to doing a podcast in its own right…until now.

At the bottom of this post, you’ll find the inaugrual episode of the new Restless Pilgrim Podcast where I outline this new project.

I’m sure there will be plenty of new challenges ahead as I try to do record a weekly podcast. Even in simply producing this short, initial episode I discovered that I say “um” in my speech far more often than I had imagined! However, I’m sure that this new endeavor will give me ample opportunity to grow, to learn more about the world of podcasting and hopefully to become a better evangelist, learning to articulate the truths of the Catholic Faith more clearly and charitably.

Episode 0: Inaugual Podcast (Download)

Friday Frivolity: Cleric Carpool Karaoke

In recent years, I’ve been delighted by the number of British entertainers who have won success and popularity in the US entertainment industry.

In particular, the unlikely candidate of James Corden has become extremely popular. He hosts The Late Late Show which includes “Carpool Karaoke”, a segment of the show where he drives around in a car with his guests, singing along to songs on the radio. As strange as it sounds, it’s highly entertaing!

Well, Rockford Diocese will not be outdone…

Buffering the Vampire Slayer

bufferingthevampireslayer_1000xI’ve always been an avid fan of podcasts, but in recent months my habit has been increasing somewhat. Even while I was walking the Camino De Santiago, I’d listen to a couple of podcasts each day, catching up on shows such as The Art of CatholicThe Catholic Man Show, and Hobo For Christ.

Early on in my journey across Spain, iTunes recommended a podcast called “Buffering The Vampire Slayer”. This was a podcast about the popular Joss Whedon show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which tells the story of a teenage girl who fights the forces of darkness who converge upon her town of Sunnydale.

I had seen the movie while I was still a teenager and, although it was a little goofy, I rather enjoyed it. I was initially unconvinced by the subsequent TV adaptation, but I soon grew to like it. Throughout university, my housemate Andy and I would always set aside time to watch the latest episodes, as well as those of Buffy’s companion show, Angel. It’s therefore not much surprise that I decided to heed iTunes’ recommendation and give the podcast a go…

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