Saint Talk: St. Ignatius of Loyola

Today we celebrate the Feast Day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, best known as the Jesuits. St. Ignatius, born in 1491, belonged to a Spanish noble family. In fact, he actually served as a court page during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.

Later in life, St. Ignatius joined the military. In 1521 he was injured in the Battle of Pamplona when a cannon ball crashed into his leg, causing severe fracture in which the bone protruded from his skin. Consistent with his vane nature, Ignatius underwent several painful surgeries without the benefit of modern anaesthesia to shave the bone down so he could look good in his stockings.

During one of the recoveries he was laid up in bed and asked for books to read. He had wanted to read some of the popular books on the adventures of knights, but instead he was stuck reading the lives of saints. At first, he examined their lives and thought he could do better. Ultimately, God used  his reading to as vehicle for his conversion. After recovering from his surgery, Ignatius went to Montserrat and went into seclusion for a year. Then he returned to Spain where he completed his formation by studying Theology. Later he would establish his Spiritual Exercises and form the Society of Jesus.

Lessons
St. Ignatius' life is one that portrays the importance of seeing the "before and after" pictures of the saints. Most didn't live their entire lives as saintly people. Like us most of them, had shortcomings that they had to overcome through the grace of God. Ignatius' story also demonstrates the importance of reading the lives of saints as part of our daily spiritual plans. In examining his life, we also see that even the saints needed to undergo periods of formation after experiencing conversion. Finally, we learn from Ignatius that just because we may begin to live our lives in concert with Christ, doesn't mean we won't encounter suffering. Instead, we are reminded that "each must take up their cross." (Mark 8:34-35)
Who Cares About the Saints?...Ignatius from Loyola Productions on Vimeo.

More on St. Ignatius:
Four Essays from Ignatius Press
Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius (free ebook)

Tuesday Tech Talk: Free Catholic eBook

Today, in honor of the Feast Day of St. Ignatius, Loyola Press is making one of its books available for FREE download in all major ebook formats. The book is entitled Call Me Lopez written by Margaret Slif and is a fictional account about a 21st Century woman's encounter with St. Ignatius.

You can download the book by going to the Loyola Press FREE eBook link.

Saint Talk: Martha, Martha Martha

At Jesus's Feet by Nathan Greene

July 29th is the feast day of St. Martha. She is a family favorite because Stacey, my wife, chose her as her patron when she was confirmed. I remember how seriously Stacey took her decision to find a patron for her confirmation. She wanted someone she relate to. She found this in St. Martha who is the patroness of cooks and housewives. Martha, along with her siblings Lazarus and Mary, was one of Jesus's closest friends. He spent a great deal of time with this family in Bethany.

I think Martha often gets a bad rap because we most remember the encounter with Christ in which she is chastised for being too occupied with hospitality.

As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary [who] sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)

I don't believe that Christ is telling Martha that service is bad, but instead he is telling her that the contemplative life is better. Nevertheless, the two sisters represent "the two dimensions of the spiritual life." (Ignatius Study Bible). Martha represents the active life of Christian service, while Mary signifies the life of contemplation, of prayer. We would all do well to have a balance spiritual life of both contemplation and service.

I would like to add that Martha redeems her image in a later story in the Bible. When her brother Lazarus has died, she is out waiting for Jesus to return to Bethany. John describes the encounter this way:

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. [But] even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” (John 11:20-27)

By this we can see that Martha was indeed a woman of great faith. Apparently she was no push over either as she is often portrayed as having slain a dragon. For more on this legend, you should read Dr. Taylor Marshall's take on it.

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to remind you of a family tradition we started a few years back. We celebrate Baptism Days and we celebrate Patron Saint Days. We don't do anything too extravagant, but today I took Stacey out to lunch after Mass and then out for some gelatin at Paciugo. I recommend you do the same in your family. It's a nice way to bring attention to the liturgy and to have an excuse to celebrate.

By the way, if you didn't get it, the title is a play on the Brady Bunch episode:

HHS Mandate Goes Into Effect August 1st

Conscience Cause

The Parable of the Sower

The Sower, van Gogh (1889)

Today's Gospel is one we are all quite familiar with - The Parable of the Sower. Matthew's depiction is taken from the 13th Chapter of Matthew which has been called the parabolic discourse because it contains seven different parables.

According to the commentary in the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (RSV), the parable demonstrates "how indifferent responses to the word of the kingdom (13:19) prove unfruitful (CCC 29)." On the flip side of this, the responsive heart bears bountiful fruit (13:23).

This seems to me to be consistent with our focus on Learn, Live and Share. What I mean is that most of us follow this pattern. First encounter Christ through some type of conversion experience. If we are properly disposed, this in turn leads us to seek out spiritual formation. As we are formed in the faith, we are moved to bear fruit, to evangelize. This parallels the experience outlined in Pope Paul VI's encyclical, Ecclesiam Suam: awareness, renewal and dialogue.

As we reflect on today's Gospel, we should consider what we are doing to bear fruit. Furthermore, we should also contemplate the ways we can make ourselves more available to God's Word.

I'll close with a thought from St. Josemaria Escriva:

The sower went out to sow, to scatter the seed at all the crossroads of this earth. What a blessed task we have. We have the job of making sure that in all the circumstances of time and place the word of God takes root, springs up and bears fruit. (The Forge, 970)

For further reading:
The Sower and the Seeds, Joe Catholic
Farming the Seeds of Faith, Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio
Understand Your Catholic Faith or Lose It, Father John Hardon, S.J.

Please enjoy this flash video that portrays the parable in a simple, but striking way.

The Uniqueness of Christianity

The Uniqueness of Christianity

Dr. Peter Kreeft's primer on the uniqueness of Christianity.

The God-Man and Superheroes

Any excuse to include Captain America.

When the The Avengers' movie opened, I wrote about our need for heroes. This summer has been packed with a number of superhero movies. The Avengers and The Amazing Spiderman have already been released. Tonight, the highly anticipated Dark Knight Rises will open to sold out theaters. We seem to clamor to see these movies even when it seems they have been rebooted too soon. Why are we drawn to see these movies?

Father Robert Barron suggests in his article What Christ Can Teach Superheroes that what fascinates us about all these superheroes, and the comic books on which they are based, "has something to do with Christianity; more precisely, with the strange hybrid figure around which all of the Christian religion revolves." He posits that these superheroes are analogous to the God-man, Christ, who are "hybrid combinations of the extraordinary and the ordinary."

Read the rest of his article or view the two videos below to get Father Barron's complete insights.

Stephen Covey:The Mormon Who Led Me Back to Catholicism

I was saddened two days ago to hear about the death of Stephen Covey, author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Years ago when I was starting out in my career in financial services, I read the 7 Habits for the first time. Reading Covey's books led me to become a student of leadership and self-improvement. One of the primary themes of his teachings was character development founded on values and principles.

Sometime after that first reading, I would read First Things First in which Covey outlined the concept that in order to lead a balanced life one must plan "to live, to love, to learn and to leave a legacy." I didn't know it at the time, but that simple mantra sparked the realization in me that something was missing. It may have been the moment that I first felt like St. Augustine: "Lord, my heart is restless until it rests in you" (St. Augustine, Confessions).

As I was writing this post, I remembered that I was first introduced to Covey by the chiropractor that was working on my neck after I had been involved in a car accident. He showed me his Franklin-Covey planner, recommended the 7 Habits and offered me a copy of the Book of Mormon. Although, I wasn't attending Mass or actively practicing my faith as a Catholic, I said, "no thanks, I am Catholic."  I did take him up on the 7 Habits and on the planning system. I never perfected the planning system, but reading Covey's books did open my mind (and my heart) to the notion that there was more to life than pursuit of the dollar. His writing planted the seeds of contemplation and introspection. Ultimately, I would realize that the values and principles I needed to base my life upon were always present in the Catholic Church.

Here's a video, in which Covey outlined some of his primary teachings. While Covey will be missed, he certainly has left behind a legacy.

Tuesday Tech Talk: More Free Stuff!

I posted links to three ways to get a free Brown Scapular. That was such a popular post, I thought I would follow up with another day of freebies in today's Tuesday Tech Talk.

Free for Catholics is a site dedicated to gathering all sorts of free offers of Catholic interest. It includes everything from free apps to sacramentals and voters' guides. Some of the freebies are trial subscriptions to Catholic magazines. Others include religious medals and even MP3 downloads of Venerable Fulton Sheen's talks.

One caveat – when you order from some of the ministries you may wind up on a mailing list. Of course that just means you'll receive more free stuff in the mail in return for your prayers and a small donation.

Free Brown Scapular

Since we are celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, I thought I would share a couple of ways to get a FREE Brown Scapular:

FreeBrownScapular.com - [UPDATE (2/5/14): apparently their is shipping fee for these now. As far as I can tell it's $2.10 for one scapular]

National Shrine of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Our Lady of Mount Carmel & The Brown Scapular

Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The feast was instituted by the Carmelites some time in the late 1300's, probably between 1376-1386. Tradition holds that the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Simon Stock on July 16, 1251 and promised him that whoever wore the Carmelite habit (specifically the Brown Scapular) devoutly, "would receive the gift of final perseverance" (Father Kieran Kavanaugh, 2008).

Our Lady of Mount Carmel is most closely associated with the Brown Scapular sacramental. Many Popes and Saints have encouraged devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the wearing of the Brown Scapular.

St. Josemaria Escriva described the devotion:

Wear on your breast the holy scapular of Carmel. There are many excellent Marian devotions, but few are so deep- rooted among the faithful, and have received so many blessings from the Popes. Besides, how maternal this sabbatine privilege is! (The Way, 500)

Blessed Pope John Paul II expressed the value of the devotion for all in his Message to the Carmelite Family (5):

Therefore two truths are evoked by the sign of the Scapular: on the one hand, the constant protection of the Blessed Virgin, not only on life's journey, but also at the moment of passing into the fullness of eternal glory; on the other, the awareness that devotion to her cannot be limited to prayers and tributes in her honour on certain occasions, but must become a "habit", that is, a permanent orientation of one's own Christian conduct, woven of prayer and interior life, through frequent reception of the sacraments and the concrete practice of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. In this way the Scapular becomes a sign of the "covenant" and reciprocal communion between Mary and the faithful: indeed, it concretely translates the gift of his Mother, which Jesus gave on the Cross to John and, through him, to all of us, and the entrustment of the beloved Apostle and of us to her, who became our spiritual Mother.

Ordering a Brown Scapular
To order & receive a FREE Scapular
To order & receive a FREE Scapular from the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
To purchase a well made Brown Scapular

FURTHER READING:
The Scapular Devotion, Catholic Culture
Brown Scapular: A Silent Devotion, Zenit News

Hope in Our Youth

Three weeks ago, I began my annual summer trip to Denton, Texas where I work as the Associate Director of Residential Life (aka Dorm Dad) for the Mean Green Debate Workshops. This means I leave the comfort and love of my home to live in a dorm hall at the University of North Texas with about 300 high school debate students for four weeks. In addition to the discomforts of living in college dorm room, I still have to find time to pray and attend Mass.

This is not always easy to work around my ever evolving, "on-call" schedule. Nevertheless, the MGW staff has always been great about accommodating my need to attend Sunday Mass. This year it has meant attending the 8:30AM Mass at Immaculate Conception here in Denton. My close friends and family know I am not a morning person. This has not been easy, especially after serving the late night duty the nigh before.

What has motivated (and necessitated) me to attend the early Mass has been a few of the campers who have asked to be taken to Mass during the brief "free" time they have on Sunday mornings. Most of the other campers sleep in, do laundry or meet family for breakfast at the local IHOP. I have been pleasantly surprised and genuinely impressed that these students are committed to attending Mass even though their parents aren't here to make them. This tells me, at some level, these kids get the meaning of the Mass. It also tells me that that their parents have instilled in them a love and appreciation for the Liturgy and the Eucharist. Most of all, it gives me hope.

Saint Talk: Blessed Kateri

By Lisa E. Brown

Today we celebrate the feast day of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha who will be canonized this October 20th. Her canonization will make her the first Native American to be classified as a saint by the Catholic Church.

Blessed Kateri, known as the Lily of the Mohawks, is credited as a patron of ecology and the environment. I chose this image of her because the artist accurately depicted her with pox marks on her face due to the small pox she contracted as a child. According to documents written by the Jesuits in the region where she grew up, Kateri was known as a modest and shy girl, devoted to the Eucharist.

On December 19, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged  the miracle needed for Blessed Kateri's canonization. The recognized miracle occurred in 2006 when a young boy suffered a flesh-eating bacterium after a lip injury he received while playing basketball. His parents asked Blessed Kateri for her intercession for their son's healing. Subsequently, he was inexplicably healed.

Oh Thank Heaven for 7-11

So today is Free Slurpee Day at 7-11. I stopped by the local 7-Eleven and they have at least eight different flavors fully loaded for the hot Texas summer heat. They even have a couple of sugar-free flavors for those of us losing weight.

I still remember when I was a boy, my brother and I riding our bikes to the not-so-nearby 7-eleven to get a Slurpee and see what sort of prize we might win on the bottom of the cup. I used to love the super hero tabs.

There is still some time to take your children out to get a Slurpee before the deal ends at 7pm.