Happy Feast of St. Nicholas

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Originally uploaded by kc0lex@sbcglobal.net

We went to the local Orthodox Cathedral (one in every neighborhood, right?) for Great Vespers, crafts and a visit from you know who. The older two loved it. I will post more later, trying to put something together to show a good chunk of the season of advent.

Under the Mercy,
Matthew S

Six degrees from Mother Teresa to Darth Vader

So, one of my friends tied Yoda to G.K. Chesterron, really an amazing feat shown as follows:

1. Yoda was friends with Ben "Obi-Wan" Kenobi.
2. Kenobi was played by Alec Guinness.
3. In 1954 Alec Guinness played Father Brown in a movie that is either titled Father Brown or The Detective. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046970/)
4. G.K. Chesterton wrote the original Fr. Brown stories.

And to think, I never would have figured this out if I'd actually been sleeping.


Well, in the comments to this it was noted that this was an impressive accomplishement, a challenge was laid down:

That's fine... now connect Darth Vader to Mother Teresa. MWAH HA HA HA!

Well, my friend only felt it could be easily done using the Mystical Body of Christ.

Well, here it is in three degrees:

1. Mother Teresa was in the 1986 documentary about her narrated by Richard Attenborough.
2. Richard Attenborough was in Jurrasic Park with Samuel L Jackson
3. Samuel L Jackson played Mace Windu in Episode's 1, 2 and 3 with Darth Vader.

Well, that wasn't really hard but its funny.....with Yoda back to Chesterton we could do all kinds of interesting things.

Ok, done with the time wasting fun for now.

Under the Mercy,

Matthew S

Listen to Spe Salvi (mp3 format)

Thanks to the Curt Jester for this, I haven't listened to it so I can't vouch for it but it should work well knowing the quality of Jeff's blog.

Jay has taken over the reins for another week, here is the current edition of the Catholic Carnival located at Living Catholocism. Head on over and take a look.

Under the Mercy,
Matthew S

WWJD? Ummmm, maybe not! ! !

One of the worst fads to come out of Christianity is the marketing of a simple question that people now ask to figure out what they should do when faced with a challenge of how they are to act. WWJD, What Would Jesus Do? Honestly, while the answer may be interesting, insightful or maybe even beneficial I know it's the wrong question to ask.

First, let's take a look at what the answers to the question could be:

1. Forgiving sins of others (pretty sure this is reserved to God)
2. Feeding the Poor (yes, this is a good one)
3. Loving our neighbor (again, just an awesome thing to do)
4. Dividing households
5. Setting the earth ablaze
6. Throwing tables over and driving people out of the room with a whip

The main problem that I have with the question, WWJD, is that we are not Jesus, we are not God and we should not have the attitude that we should act as God acts. A better question would be "Jesus, What do You Want Me to Do?" Yeah, I understand that it isn't as fashionable, catchy and probably wouldn't make lots of money if you tried to market it. Marketing and money aren't what life is all about.

I do believe we should imitate Christ in His humanity and humble ourself to the will of the Father, no to be like him but because He asked us to take up our cross and follow Him. As the Lord's prayer, where Jesus taught us to pray, Thy will be done, not My will be done.

The biggest reason we must submit to God and His will is that we are not able to read hearts. We should do what Christ wants of us and not what we think Christ would do.

Let Go
Let God

Under the Mercy,

Matthew S

Someone Turned 1

SighMy youngest (for now) daughter turned 1 today (November 24, 2007). You can read my version (that's right, a guy's point of view) of the birth story. Here are pictures from the past 21 months (beginning of pregnancy on).

Happy birthday baby girl, Daddy loves you!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Let us give thanks.




Under the Mercy,
Matthew S

Rubrics for Toddlers: Section 1 Introductory Rites

Selections from a document I found hidden in a diaper bag at Church. . . . .


49. When they reach the sanctuary, the priest, the deacon, and the ministers reverence the altar with a profound bow.

The Toddler should bow and crawl under the pew immediately in front of them to determine if any food was left at the prior Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.


51. Then the priest invites those present to take part in the Act of Penitence, which, after a brief pause for silence, the entire community carries out through a formula of general confession. The rite concludes with the priest's absolution, which, however, lacks the efficacy of the Sacrament of Penance.

As a sign of true sorrow for having been caught under the pew eating stale dry cereal the Toddler should now throw himself or herself on the floor, kicking, wailing and gnashing teeth.

The Collect

54. Next the priest invites the people to pray. All, together with the priest, observe a brief silence so that they may be conscious of the fact that they are in God's presence and may formulate their petitions mentally. . . . . . .

Lest the joy and beauty of a Toddler be forgotten let your voice be raised to the heavens in a song unrelated. This helps direct the intention of the congregation in prayer to pray for the Toddler directly.
. . . . . . . .

The people, uniting themselves to this entreaty, make the prayer their own with the acclamation Amen.

The Toddler should wait until all others have said Amen and then exclaim rather loudly, Amen!



There is always only one collect used in a Mass.

The use of one collect at Mass does not preclude Amen from being recited multiple times, loudly, by the Toddler


Under the Mercy,

Matthew S

Odd searches

Every now and then (okay, almost daily) I look through a list of refering pages to my blog. I have had 3-4 people, 2 of them today, that have come across my blog by searching for some derivative of the phrase "how many pounds of green beans per person".

I love Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there, I hope you can be with your family or call your family. If you cannot, say a prayer for them. Say a prayer for those who cannot be with their family and say a prayer for those that will be protecting and serving tommorow.

I will be with my parents for lunch and then working.

God bless all of you.

Under the Mercy,

Matthew S

It's movie night

When we watch movies (DVD's on the computer or hauling the 19 inch television out of a storage closet in the storage room and hooking everything up on a table) its an event becuase it is rare. Needless to say, everyone in the house shows up.

I did say everyone showed up, well for the family movie they did. Now, my beautiful wife and I are going to watch the second movie after I set the horse out to pasture.


Reviews to come and I hope its obvious who watched what movies.

Under the Mercy,
Matthew S