• 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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"Oh that today you would listen to his voice…"

An extract from my travel journal while in England:

23rd March 2011 – Reading, England

My tour of the UK begins today. This morning I gathered my things and went to the train station. After collecting all of the tickets for my upcoming journeys (the total cost of which  should really entitle me to my own private train), I set off for Leamington Spa to see a sign-language society friend from University.

While on the train I prayed Morning Prayer. Although I often find travelling very tedious, there is also something about it which I find draws my spirit to God. As the English countryside sped past my window, I prayed the opening Psalm of Morning Prayer:

“…Oh that today you would listen to His voice! Harden not your hearts!” – Psalm 95

 I don’t think it was by chance that the Church chose *this* psalm to be the opening prayer at the beginning of each new day. Before we face the world, with its troubles, trials and temptations, we need a reminder. We need to be reminded to attend to the Lord’s voice, both before we begin the day, and also to listen for it attentively, hidden amongst the noise and clamour of a busy world.  A heart, if it is to remain beating and life-giving, must not become stoney or calloused by time spent with the world.

As I begin this tour of England to see friends and family, I realise that I’m walking into a lot of situations where, quite frankly, I’m way out of my depth. What am I to say? What am I to do?

“Oh that today you would listen to His voice, harden not your heart” – Psalm 95

Friday Frivolity: Just because it made me laugh…

I haven’t put up any new blog entries for quite some time. This has been because I was on vacation/holiday in England for the past several weeks.

My trip was dominated by kids. For example, I got to meet my six-month-old niece for the first time, as well as spend some good time with my two-year-old godson and his family. In honour of this, here’s a video I came across on YouTube that just made me laugh…

…and also, since it is Friday…

Friday Frivolity: Heavenly Weapons

At the end of his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul urges his readers to put on the “armour of God”:

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”

According to the Monty Python boys, Paul missed one – the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch…

A Traveller’s Prayer

A few years ago, for my birthday, a good friend gave me a copy of “The Seven Story Mountain” which is the autobiography of Thomas Merton.

I have to admit that I didn’t really enjoy it as much as everyone else seemed to think that I should. I found it rather dry and I couldn’t relate much to either his spirituality or personality.

However, I recently started reading a little bit more of Merton and I’ve begun to find that we’re not as incompatible as I once thought…

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that, if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone”

Friday Frivolity: Happy Lent!

This Wednesday was “Ash Wednesday” and, therefore, we are now in the time known as “Lent”.  This is a traditional time in the Church for prayer, fasting and alms-giving. In order to be liturgically correct, this Friday we turn to the Monty Python monks of the Holy Grail for inspiration…

16% Checkup

…and so another month is torn off the calendar and we have now entered March. Time for a New Year’s Resolution check up!

1. Spend 30 minutes every day in Scripture: I’ve not done as well with this as I did in January. I’ve spent a good bit of time in the Word, but it really hasn’t been devotional reading. Summary: “Could try harder!”

2. More dancing: Hmm…really failed at this one in February. I had great plans but they were consistently scuppered by forces outside of my control. I really have to get on top of it this month…

3. No more rushing: Still doing well with this one. I’ve been pretty good at keeping my timetable balanced and reasonable.

4. No chocolate: Still haven’t touched a single piece. It’s getting hard though. A couple of times I’ve been at a café and I’ve very nearly bought myself a pain au chocolat without thinking. I can really sympathize with the Vicar of Dibley on this one:

5. Get into the best shape of my life: Not bad, but could still do better. I’ve got into the habit at work of doing push-ups and pull-ups each time I go downstairs to go to the bathroom or to get a drink. My diet has remained pretty modest. I still haven’t got back into the regular way of exercising though… :-/

6. At least five minutes of guitar practice every day: Still going great. I’ll probably start playing at the LifeTeen Mass soon.

7. Keep proper track of finances: Much better. I now have a “finance guy” who is badgering me to get things sorted. Things should be probably settled after I get back from England.

8. Get back to England for a couple of weeks: All flights are booked and the majority of people are now organised.

It has been a busy month. I’ve also taught teenagers to Foxtrot, started learning New Testament Greek, requested a Social Security Number, passed my Californian Driving Test and finished a Bible study on the Epistle of St. James. All in all, not bad…

Favourite People: Fulton Sheen

When musicians, artists and writers are interviewed, they are often asked about their influences.

Now, although I’m no Bono, something I’ve been meaning to do ever since I started this blog is to share with you some of my own influences.  These are the people who have made a profound impact upon me and substantially contributed to the person I am today.

In this post I would like to briefly talk about someone who has had an impact upon me and my faith fairly recently. In fact, up until nine months ago, I had never even heard of him. The person I’m talking about here is Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

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