This scene is not in the book (like a lot of the movie version of Two Towers). But it is pretty sweet.
…Did you know that when a man is ordained a bishop, two deacons hold the book of the Gospels open over his head?
Meanwhile, the ordaining prelate prays the consecratory prayer.
…Speaking of hope, here is today’s homily…
Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two…He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” (Mark 6:7, 10-11)
The Lord Jesus sent the Apostles out to teach the human race about getting to heaven. The Apostles preached repentance and healed the sick. They were able to restore those who believed to moral and physical health.
My homily this Sunday will be about hoping for heaven, no matter what.
The perfect counter-example is Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
I wish I could find a way to put Macbeth in my homily, but I have not the skill…
Macbeth kills Duncan and becomes king, as the witches predicted.
Nonetheless, Macbeth is overcome with fear that his friend Banquo’s heirs will be kings in the future.
Act III, Scene 1:
MACBETH.
To be thus is nothing;
But to be safely thus…
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown,
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrench’d with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If ‘t be so,
For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murder’d;
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace
Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man,
To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!
Macbeth concludes that he has vainly ‘put rancours in the vessel of my peace’ and given his ‘eternal jewel’ to the ‘common enemy of man.’
In other words: “Since I already sold my soul to the devil, I might as well kill Banquo, too.”
When you are expecting a delivery, you look for the UPS man or the FedEx man. When he arrives, he hands the package to you. You might ignore the UPS man and focus on the package.
Of course, the UPS man or the FedEx man is just doing his job. But the fact that there is a UPS and a FedEx to get our deliveries to us is pretty amazing. These companies deliver all over the world.
There is one delivery that is uniquely wonderful, uniquely important: the peace of Christ. This is a delivery that comes to us from some place other than earth.
The Lord came down from heaven to give us His peace. And He established a company that delivers divine peace to every city, town, and village, through generation after generation, until the end of time.
The priest is the like the FedEx man—just doing his job.
But maybe Pope Benedict is asking us all to step back and appreciate the marvel of this delivery system. The system is so solid and reliable, we easily take it for granted. But where would we be without it?
Pope Paul VI praying at the tomb of St. Maria Goretti
Every word, every glance, every movement of Jesus Christ–all were perfectly truthful.
In everything the Lord did while He was on earth, He expressed true love, selfless love.
In Him, and in our Lady, we behold perfect harmony of body and soul, perfect integrity and purity, perfect control of bodily desire.
This is the virtue of chastity: being temperate and reasonable in all of our physical actions.
In 1900, Maria Goretti’s father died. She was ten. When she was almost twelve, one of her father’s former co-workers began to make amorous advances towards her.
She rebuffed him. He threatened her with death.
She tried to dissuade him: “It is a mortal sin. You don’t want to go to hell.”
On July 6, 1902, lust got the better of him. He followed through on his threats. He stabbed Maria to death. As she died, she prayed that he would repent.
He did repent. After spending three decades in jail, he went to Maria’s mother and begged her forgiveness. They went to Mass and received Holy Communion together.
Of course I couldn’t watch every minute of the match. I had to go to church.
But I can tell you this: Roddick won more games than Federer. Roger won two sets on tie-breakers. In fact, Roddick held serve every game he served (38 games)–until the 77th game of the match.
On the other hand, Roger had 50 aces. Fifty. He won his last three service games on something like fifteen serves.
In other words, this match was what happens when an irresistible force meets and immovable object. Awesome.
I always will be a Federer fan. Nonetheless:
1) The runner-up this year lost with more class than the runner-up last year.
2) The top prize for the day goes to Rod Laver. As soon as the sun began to shine on the royal box at Centre Court, Laver produced a straw hat with a green ribbon. He nestled it smartly on his head.
Tell my rebellious people, Thus says the Lord! Whether they heed or resist, they shall know that you are my prophet. –Ezekiel 2:4-5
St. Francis Xavier
It is the mission of the Church to communicate to the world the sublime truth about God. This mission includes teaching the truths of faith and morals. Sometimes people embrace the Church’s message with great enthusiasm. On the other hand, some people do not like to hear that they are doing wrong.
In the course of His teaching, Christ reminded His fellow Jews that they could not take their friendship with God for granted.
He taught them that being a true Israelite is not a matter of who your parents are, but of loving and obeying the heavenly Father. He taught them that the true Israelite is not the one who sacrifices bulls and goats, but the one who sacrifices selfish interests for the good of others. Above all, the Lord Jesus taught that He Himself is the Lord of Israel, Who became man to save His people.
For everyone seeking the truth, the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ is the most delightful and wonderful thing ever.
The Williams sisters love each other. They inspire each other. They each claim that they are as good as they are because of the other one.
Yet here they are at Centre Court at Wimbledon, trying to make the other one cry.
Many things do us proud. It does our nation proud to have three out of four Wimbledon finalists be Americans, two of them sisters. (Serena won it! by the way)
But on Independence Day let’s remember that we are dependent on God for everything. Our nation is dependent on God for everything. To God be all the glory!
King Lear divided his kingdom between his two daughters and decided to retire.
He retained only his faithful knights and the title of king.
His daughters Regan and Goneril conspired against him. Lear traveled between his two daughters’ castles to live a month at a time. The daughters decided not to accommodate the King’s full retinue of knights.
GONERIL Hear me, my lord;
What need you five and twenty, ten, or five,
To follow in a house where twice so many
Have a command to tend you?
REGAN What need one?
KING LEAR O, reason not the need: our basest beggars
Are in the poorest thing superfluous:
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man’s life’s as cheap as beast’s: thou art a lady;
If only to go warm were gorgeous,
Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear’st,
Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But, for true need,–
You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need!
Here is James Earl Jones doing this scene. It is worth watching all ten minutes. Your spine will tingle at the end.
Human embryonic stem cells may be used in research using NIH funds, if the cells were derived from human embryos that were created for reproductive purposes, were no longer needed for this purpose…
Needed? Like you need some ball-bearings to fix your dishwasher?
When you and I were embryos, who debated about whether we were ‘needed’?
Elena Dementieva
The most inhuman slavemasters have talked about ‘needing’ their human chattel. But civilized people do not reason the need for human beings.
None of us are needed. Our Creator does not need us human beings any more than He needs a pedicure.
He wants us. He freely wills us into existence–every last one of us, no matter how small.
Click here for a thorough commentary on the Draft NIH Guidelines.
…Serena almost lost her Wimbledon semifinal. Elena Dementieva played with so much heart, I almost started rooting for her. (Please do not tell my beloved Serena.)
The Russian had a match point after two hours and fifteen minutes. She did not capitalize. Serena finally dispatched her at 2:49. Unforgettable match.
Meanwhile, Venus won in 51 minutes. So the Williams sisters will meet again in the Final.
But Summers’ being picked for the NBA makes a lot more sense than Spaniard Ricky Rubio being picked fifth (by the Minnesota Timberwolves–after the Wizards traded away the pick).
If you were tuned into every moment of Olympic basketball last summer, you will remember Rubio as Spain’s short guard who attempted a lot of nifty passes.
I will be a monkey’s uncle if either Summers or Rubio ever makes much of an impact. But DaJuan could school Rubio up and down the court any day of the week.
The whole Rubio rage is just weird. Someone spiked the Kool-Aid in Minnesota. The Wizards got the better end of the deal.
…Did you know that when a man is ordained a bishop, two deacons hold the book of the Gospels open over his head?
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