• 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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Peter Kreeft on Islam

I actually had this post scheduled for mid-November, but I thought I’d post it a little early because of the recent media storm concerning pressure over classroom crucifixes from Muslims at a private Catholic University. In this entry I have a video of a debate Peter Kreeft had on the subject of Islam. He tells a story at 35:09 that I think is particularly relevant to the current controversy.

I have devoted quite a lot of time to studying Islam and probably read in total about a third of the Qur’an. Despite the fact that Islam is a major world religion, I often find awareness of basic Muslim beliefs rather lacking among Christians. A little while ago I produced a series of posts about Islam in an attempt to provide a basic introduction to the religion.

I often have rather animated conversations with another member of the Catholic community here in San Diego on the subject of Islam. A lot of these conversations revolve around how Islam should be viewed by Catholics. I was therefore delighted the other day when I stumbled upon a debate Professor Peter Kreeft had on this very subject…

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Disturbing numbers

Today I looked up the number of abortions which happen worldwide in the space of a year. The number was truly shocking:

42 Million 56 Million

42….million…that number is just far too big for me to even try and wrap my head around. How about the number just in the US?

1.37 Million 638,169

1.37….million… Even that number is too large for me to even attempt to visualize… What would that be per day?

3,700 1,748

Over three and a half thousand abortions a day in the USA… To put that into context, September 11th, the event that shook the world, claimed approximately 2,977 lives…

I recall hearing a soundbite on TV of a certain politician defending the current abortion laws and saying that he wanted abortion to be “safe, legal and rare”.

I’m sure there’s constant medical progress towards protecting the mother’s health during the abortion procedure.

Abortion is certainly legal.

But rare?

With great accent comes great responsibility

While we’re on the subject of great power and responsibility, I just wanted to share with you a recent post I saw over at “Stuff Christians Like” entitled People who pray with British accents:

“When I hear someone pray with a British accent, they sound like it’s coming out of their mouth in cursive…”
– John Acuff

Having an English accent in America is something of a blessing and a curse.

It’s constantly assumed that I’m from Australia. I’m regularly asked to repeat myself while on the phone because people can’t understand what I’ve said. I’m often asked if I know so-and-so who lives in London. I regularly have to explain the difference between England, the UK and Great Britain.

On the plus side, people assume that I’m more intelligent than I actually am… 🙂

Sunday Lectionary: Power and Responsibility

Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time: October 30, 2011

The Readings this week focus around the relationship between power and responsibility. It answers the question: what does the Lord demand of a leader?

In the First Reading, the Prophet Malachi speaks out against the Levite priests for abusing their position of power. They did not honour their privileged relationship with God. King David sings in the Psalm about the attitude which they should have had: humility rather than pride.

In the Second Reading we gain insight into St. Paul’s relationship with the Church in Thessalonica. Although Paul had founded that church and although he had legitimate authority over them as an Apostle he speaks tenderly to them and lovingly, as one might expect a good father.

Not so with the Pharisees! In the Gospel Jesus condemns them for not practising what they preach, for placing heavy burdens on the Children of Israel and for constantly seeking public adulation.

Jesus then turns the concept of leadership on its head. If you want to be great in the Kingdom, he says, you must humble yourself and serve. As a great man once said, with great power comes great responsibility…

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Favourite People: Peter Kreeft

Today I wanted to honour another one of my favourite people. The person I would like to enthuse about today is Dr. Peter Kreeft, professor of philosophy at Boston College and, quite frankly, one of the most intellectually engaging speakers I’ve ever heard.

Professor Kreeft first came to my attention when one of my friends mentioned in an email that she really liked his books. Up until that point, I had never heard of him. Following the recommendation, I went to his website and listened to some of his talks which are available online.

After listening to the first talk, I concluded what I almost always conclude after listening to one of his lectures: “I am so dumb! My mind is so dull!”. Like Grandpa Sheen, Kreeft has an amazing ability to forge links between ideas which I would never have considered to be even remotely connected.

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