"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
In our Advent study this week, we touched on the subject of priesthood and I asked my favourite trick question: how many priests are there in the Catholic Church? Fr. Mike answers this question in the rather oddly-titled video “Why we don’t drink coffee at Mass”…
#TeaForLife
Today is my Confirmation Anniversary. As with my Patronal Feast Day, I always make a point of celebrating in some way. This year I celebrated by eating Battenburg Cake for breakfast 🙂
Unlike most people, I wasn’t confirmed by a bishop. Instead, I was confirmed by the Abbott of the monastery to which my school was attached. Last year I made a point of digging out my sacramental records and I managed to get hold of the monastery’s log book:
Who knew that the Latin for “Lewis” is “Ludovicus”? 🙂
Around the country there have been quite a few reports that this has been an incredibly fruitful year for Catholicism, with large numbers of people entering the Church. In the San Diego Diocese alone, we had 1,342 people join this Easter. One of them was a housemate of mine, Nathan:
Nathan is an richly gifted guy and, like his confirmation Saint, Ambrose, he is going to be a real asset to the Church and a real force for good in the Kingdom. Please say a prayer for him and, if you meet him in person, give him a high-five 🙂
Today is my patron’s Feast Day…
St. Peter, weak-willed and head-strong, pray for me.
This Thursday, a friend of mine received the Sacrament of Confirmation at a parish here in San Diego…
“Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit” – Acts 8:14-17
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.