Vatican I Missal - Examples

My sister Mary asked for some examples of the language and reverence of which I was speaking of in my previous post about my Vatican I Missal.

Here are a few examples...

*********************

Let not the partaking of Your Body, O Lord Jesus Christ, which I, though unworthy, presume to receive, turn to my judgement and condemnation; but through Your goodness, may it become a safeguard and an effective remedy, both of soul and body. Who live and reign with God, the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.

Or

Accept, O Lord, the sacrifice by the immolation of which You have deigned to be appeased, and grant, we beseech You, that we may be cleansed through its virtue, and my offer You the acceptable affection of our love. Through our Lord.

Or

O Lord, we beseech You, grant that the sacrifice of our Lenten observance which we offer may both render our souls pleasing to You and give us the power of more ready continence. Through our Lord.

*********************

These examples show, first, vocabulary and sentence structure that is of higher education, using words most people wouldn't even know today because they are not expected to, and second, they are full of both humility and sincere appreciation for the separation between man and God... in my opinion.

Plus, the missal is full of great pictures which bring the Word of God to life and give us, as a community, a common visual reference to what we are hearing. I wish they would add pictures back into our missal today. I think it would add greatly to the Mass experience.

Vatican I Daily Missal

My father-in-law gave me a daily missal made in 1959, pre-Vatican II. As part of my Lenten prayer, I have been reading this missal everyday and I must say the differences between this Mass and the Mass I attend now are quite striking.

First and simply, the vocabulary used in the older missal is of a much higher education standard that what is used today. I guess it just goes to show you that if you lower our standards, we'll make sure and meet the challenge.

Secondly, the wording of the Mass was much more humble, much more focused on our unworthiness and imperfections and, contrastly, just how wonderful and perfect is our God. I prefer this approach not because of the focus on our sinfulness, which is plentiful... I mean, just watch the news... but because of its elevation of God as an Almighty Creator. As a perfect being who has a great plan for each of us if we just had the courage to attempt to attain it.

But, todays modern take on God is He's my friend, my buddy and when things get really bad, He's my Santa Claus who will give me what I want just because I ask for it.

The Feel Good Theology.

The Feel Good Theology does two things... it undermines the importance of God's expectation of our sacrifice and participation in His plan by turning the focus, instead, on our personal relationship with Him. I'm not saying a personal relationship with God is unimportant, but let's put it in perspective... He's God. We're imperfect, faulty and often ungrateful humans. Akin to an Angel hovering over a pile of pond scum. It's a BIG step down for God to reach our level, so let's appreciate that.

Secondly, it makes us lazy. It makes us expect life to by happy instead of it being spiritually fulfilling, when, often times, those two paths may not necessarily meet.

Overall, the true glory and awesomeness of God is lacking in our approach to our faith today, so I am thoroughly enjoying my trip down a pre-Vatican II daily missal, back when God sat rightfully on a pedestal and our job was to try to reach His perfection, not for Him to lower himself to our imperfection just so we can feel good about ourselves.

Chair of St. Peter

For Lent from the Catholic News Agency...

The Feast of the Chair of St. Peter celebrates the papacy and St. Peter as the first bishop of Rome. St. Peter's original name was Simon. He was married with children and was living and working in Capernaum as a fisherman when Jesus called him to be one of the Twelve Apostles.

Jesus bestowed to Peter a special place among the Apostles. He was one of the three who were with Christ on special occasions, such as the Transfiguration of Christ and the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemani. He was the only Apostle to whom Christ appeared on the first day after the Resurrection. Peter, in turn, often spoke on behalf of the Apostles.

When Jesus asked the Apostles: "Whom do men say that the Son of Man is?"

Simon replied: "Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

And Jesus said: "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood have not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to you: That you are Peter [Cephas, a rock], and upon this rock [Cephas] I will build my Church [ekklesian], and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven". (Mt 16:13-20)

In saying this Jesus made St. Peter the head of the entire community of believers and placed the spiritual guidance of the faithful in St. Peter’s hands.

However, St. Peter was not without faults. He was rash and reproached often by Christ. He had fallen asleep in the Garden of Gethsemani instead of praying, as Jesus had asked him to do. He also denied knowing Jesus three times after Christ’s arrest.

Peter delivered the first public sermon after the Pentecost and won a large number of converts. He also performed many miracles and defended the freedom of the Apostles to preach the Gospels. He preached in Jerusalem, Judaea, and as far north as Syria.

He was arrested in Jerusalem under Herod Agrippa I, but miraculously escaped execution. He left Jerusalem and eventually went to Rome, where he preached during the last portion of his life. He was crucified there, head downwards, as he had desired to suffer, saying that he did not deserve to die as Christ had died.

The date of St. Peter's death is not clear. Historians estimate he was executed between the years 64 and 68. His remains now rest beneath the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Nice Quote...

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
-- Abraham Lincoln

Veronica Mars - Season 1 (2004)

Kristen Bell plays the lead character Veronica Mars with such charm and subtlty that this show quickly becomes addictive. The plot revolves around a modern day Nancy Drew who's father is a private eye. Veronica, a junior in high-school helps her Dad solve cases during the day while, at the same time, makes extra bucks on the side solving teen drama issues/investigations at school. She's both the most sought after and most despised student at fictional Neptune High.

Season 1 introduces the storyline in very quick fashion. We find out in the first episode that Veronica's best friend was killed and that Veronica's dad, as Sheriff, suspected the dead girl's father of the murder. The father/suspect, who runs a Bill Gates-ish software company, is cleared when another person confesses. The subsequent embarrassment and growing public pressure cause Veronica's father to be fired, her mother to leave them and her friends at school to dislike her. But, as one would have it, things are not as they seem. Over the course of the first season, each individual teen investigation that is dealt with per show is coupled with a long, intertwining uncovering of who really killed Veronica's best friend.

The cast is very good and Bell really carries the show. My teen daughter and I started watching the show this year at the beginning of Season 3, were so enamored by it that we rented Season 1 and haven't looked back since. Rare is a teen show that is smart and funny and charming and real and adventurous all at the same time. Veronica Mars is one of those shows that sets its goals high and actually achieves them.

So who really killed Veronica's best friend? Well, you'll have to watch and find out for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

For those of you not wanting to jump back two seasons, you can start watching this show at any time. They always catch the audience up to speed on the relevant information needed at the beginning of each show. So don't be shy and check it out.

The Eight Stages of Society

I saw an interesting presentation on the various stages of civilizations. The sad thing is that it appears we are in the final stages...

From bondage to spiritual faith
From spiritual faith to great courage
From great courage to liberty
From liberty to abundance
From abundance to complacency
From complacency to apathy
From apathy to governmental dependence
From governmental dependence to bondage

The scary thing is that, if this is true, we are at stage seven of eight. I guess only reverting back to spiritual faith could save us.

But is there enough faith left in this country to do just that? I fear not.

St. Claude de la Colombiere (1641-1682)

From Catholic News Agency...

Claude de la Colombiere was beatified in 1929 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1992.

Claude de la Colombiere was born on February 2nd, 1641 in a small town in the diocese of Grenoble, France. Claude's parents were very devout as is evidenced by the vocations of their children a Jesuit, a Sulpician Father, a Diocesan Priest and a Visitation Nun.

In 1650 Claude was sent to a junior college in Lyons run by the Jesuits. At the age of seventeen Claude felt the inward calling to the religious life.He entered the Jesuit novitiate house in Avignon.

In 1675, after his solemn profession as a Jesuit, he was appointed superior at Paray-le-Monial, in which the convent of St. Margaret Mary was located. Here he became her spiritual director, encouraged her in the spread of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, and was described by our Lord as His "faithful and perfect friend."

Because of his remarkable gifts and judgment, he was sent to England, to be court preacher to the duchess of York, wife of the future James II, and took up residence in London. His radiant personality and splendid gifts were noted by everyone. When the alleged "Popish Plot" to assassinate King Charles II shook the country, Blessed Claude was accused of complicity in the plot and imprisoned. Through the intervention of Louis XIV of France, he was released, then banished from the country. He spent his last years at Paray-le-Monial.

He died on February 15, 1682, an apostle of the devotion to the Sacred Heart.

St. Pete "Catholic" Blows It

You wanna know why Catholic education is taking a nose dive in this country? Because Catholic schools are not Catholic enough to be considered Catholic and not good enough to compete with elite private schools. The end result is an expensive school with pseudo-Catholic teachings that only confuses our children and, inevitably, weakens our faith.

This year at St. Pete "Catholic" High School the sophomore literature class was given the task of reading a book printed by MTV in which an observer in high school passively watches people engage in masturbation, rape, drug use, homosexuality, promiscuity and bad parenting, among other things.

Should these subjects be taught in school? Sure.

Should they be taught in a Catholic school? Absolutely.

But, should they be taught using a book that passively observes, in graphic detail, various aforementioned activities without any moral or ethical discussion or consequence? Absolutely not. And should such a book be used in a Catholic high school, a book in which the only reference to Catholicism is that the main character's lack of any religious faith is due to his parents having attended Catholic school?

Hello? Does that make sense? What ruling idiot thought that was a good idea?

Its hard to discuss such matters without it quickly being construed into "those darn ultra-conservative Catholics want to shield their kids from everything." That's not true at all here. All of the subjects could and should be discussed in Catholic schools, but not based on a book that holds none of the acts up to the standards demanded by the Catholic faith.

As stated before, the book explains in detail the acts mentioned, including a scene where two drunk teens engage in foreplay, where the man slips his hands into the girls blouse and pants even though she's repeatedly saying No. Or a scene where this main character brings his sister to get an abortion, after which, on the drive home, while discussing another subject they break into deep, hearty laughter.

You can just feel the remorse for killing the fetus, can't you? The weight of the potential consequences of sexuality, right? It's a perfect example of Catholicism in action, isn't it?

Really, you just have to randomly open up the book and you'll feel like you're reading Playboy or Penthouse magazine. When concerned parents discussed this matter with the priest Principal, their concerns were basically disregarded. As a matter of fact, the priest said he had actually read it himself two years previously and approved the book. He thought it would spur discussion.

What a complete moron.

If I were to convert this book into a film, I would have to put a big XXX rating on its cover... it's that graphic. This priest's justification for using this book... this book out of all of the books in print today... is equivalent of having the kids watch a porn video with with the expectation that it's to spur discussion on a Catholic view on abstinence.

It just shows you how pathetic Church leadership is today. What an embarrassment.

Do they expect me to believe that there is not ONE book out there that covers the same subjects in a way that is less graphic and that might even, oh I don't know, articulate potential consequences of certain actions on your life, let alone your soul? There's not ONE? MTV has cornered the market on providing thought-provoking books on sexuality to Catholic educators? Is that what they're telling me?

So, we are left with yet another Catholic school blowing it.

Our kids today are getting inundated with consequence-less sexuality on a daily basis. Other than the home, Catholic schools are the last places dedicated, faithful parents have to look for assistance in filtering through the barrage of illicit behavior by, instead, tempering them through the beliefs and expectations of our faith. Yet, time after time, our schools that call themselves Catholic fail this very simple task.

Why would I spend $40,000 to send my child to St. Pete "Catholic" when I could send my kid to a public school for free and get the same curriculum? Well, now, I'm not.

Is this a condemnation of this book? No. It's a condemnation of our church leadership. It's about entrusting my children in the hands of people who make so blatantly bad choices. What other bad choices are being made there? And do I want to risk finding out?

Nope.

For what it's worth, my children will not be going to St. Pete "Catholic" as we had planned. That's $80,000 of my money that just left the school's coffers.

I hope that spurs a lot of discussion.

German Relatives

Picture of two old people sitting in Germany. Somehow, they're related to me. Charles, please explain.

UPDATE - Part 2: Paul had a friend of a friend from Germany translate this the best they could.

"A colleague forwarded this blog post to a German friend and he took the time to send back a translation. Here it is,

“Bless you, who have spent together 30 years with faithfulness and love. Who have tried to make each other happy with constantly renewed drive. The tune of two faithful hearts easily fights off all the earthly pain.”

The translator is a little unsure that he translated it correctly, but he admits that he did the best he could.

Maybe Charles will visit the site now."

UPDATE: I talked with Charles (since he's "too busy" to visit the blog) and he said it is Anton and Gertrude Benz. They came to the U.S. in 1851 arriving on a boat called St. Nicholas. The document is an anniversary card for the Benz's. I tried to translate it, but I couldn't get all of the words. However, words such as faithful and affectionate and anniversary and bless and fun and so forth makes me believe this was a joyous invitation to their anniversary where they would restate their vows. Their 30th anniversary perhaps? The anniversary was to be held in Boston on Jan 8, 1874... just over 133 years ago. Amazing.

(click on pic for larger image)

Some Things Never Change...

"In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress."
-- John Adams

Facing the Giants (2006)

A few years ago I stumbled across a simple Christian film called Flywheel made by a Baptist church in Georgia. Despite its technical limitations, Flywheel is a wonderful and fulfilling family Christian flick.

Those same filmmakers have followed up with another gem in Christian family fare... Facing the Giants. The story involves a high-school football coach who battles six years of losing football, a car that won't run, a house that smells and a marriage in which he and his wife are unable to have any children.

When the coach turns to Jesus, things start to fall into place. He changes his approach to a very simple one... If we succeed, we praise God. If we fail, we praise God. We must give our best in all we do to honor God. This philosophy bleeds through to the players and the people around him and their fortunes begin to change.

Granted, Facing the Giants travels over familiar cinematic ground and there are not a lot of real surprises as the story unfolds. But, the journey is exceedingly satisfying. Why? Because we all want Jesus to be that obvious in our lives. We want to see such clear cut tangible results from our faith. So, when the team improves and other minor miracles occur, we’re glad, even if we're not surprised.

The writing is clever, moving and often times quite funny. The actors, all of whom are volunteers, do a very good job and the end result is a film that pulls at the heart and the spiritual strings... sure we've heard the song before, but we don't mind because it sounds so beautiful.

With Flywheel (made for $20,000) and Facing the Giants ($100,000), the folks at Sherwood Baptist Church have made films with more substance, depth, weight and emotional impact than Hollywood movies made for 100 times their cost. These guys believe that Jesus is the best screenwriter, director, editor, cinematographer, etc. and that their job is to offer the film up to him and he'll make the magic happen. And, with Facing the Giants, they've created another piece of Christian family magic.

This is one film my kids have demanded we add to our DVD library. I'm only too happy to oblige.

Unidentified (2006)

What is the real purpose behind UFOs? How does that work into a Christian fundamentalist view of the Bible and Jesus? Those are the questions asked and answered in the Christian film Unidentified. The story starts out with varying people in a small Texas town who see a UFO. Two reporters for a non-tabloid, bipartisan magazine visit the town to investigate. As it turns out, one reporter is an atheist, the other a part-time Christian.

As the story unfolds, as the experiences of the abductees are relayed and as more sightings occur, the reporters each pursue opposite sides of the story. The part-time Christian investigates to determine if the events are real and the atheist investigates to see if the UFO phenomenon is all a clever ruse used by others to make money. The story concludes with both sides being explained, but with the UFO sightings identified as a deception by demons and Satan to pull people away from Christ as the rapture approaches.

The overall concept and potential of Unidentified are exciting, unfortunately the implementation of the story plays out like a TV movie of the week. There's a lot of talking, and I mean a lot, with almost no visualization or cinematic imagery at all. Explanations are told instead of shown, which makes for an uninteresting film experience.

Plus, the effect of the film would have been far greater had it come out ten years ago, before 9/11, when shows like the X-Files and numerous Roswell, Texas books were so popular. Now, in a post-9/11 world, we're too focused on the real dramas in the war on terror to put much emotional weight into UFO sightings.

I've enjoyed the work of Rich Christiano and these filmmakers before (Time Changer), but, even though Unidentified has its heart in the right place it unfortunately it misses the mark.

And Even More Pics

And the last of the pics...

The boys playing the addictive Wii

DC "rolls" a strike.

Peter and Kristi

Matt, Paul and Andrew

My great sis, Mary.

Pete and Pete

Even More Christmas Pics

Here are a few more pics from the holidays...

Nothing gets between me and my caffeine.

KT and Sarah, who sits in a guy-cringing pose.

Laura, Gabe, Dea, KT, DC and
Sarah making Christmas cookies.

Laura, Pete and KT as "Angels"

Sarah in her "big sister's" lap

More Christmas Pics

And some more...

Pete and kids

DC and Dea in Helen, GA.

Gabe's Gator wallet.

Gabe and his new Gator blanket.

Mom making her edible Christmas presents.

Some Christmas Pics

This past Christmas we spent with my parents in NC, as my father has trouble traveling. We spent a lot of time at my niece KT's house, at my parents house and at my brother Steve's house. All in all, we had a GREAT time.

Below are some pics from the trip.

Sarah and DC


Luke


Luke in drag...


Laura making gingerbread cookies


Gabe, our fire-keeper, in his full Gatorness

Severed Rewrite - Version 4

Writing is Rewriting.

That's the axiom and there was rarely a more true statement every written... or rewritten.

I've recently finished the fourth re-write of my Christian action flick called Severed. It amazes me how much this story has grown and changed over time.

The story is much more concise and effective and tight and its Christian aspects of martyrdom has expanded over this past two drafts. There are probably a few more revisions in its life, but I think they will be minor changes this point forward.

I had also discussed with my wife changing the name to Lambs of God(s), referring to both the sacrificial nature of martyrdom as well as the seemingly opposing viewpoints of God where one religion proclaims believing means loving your enemy and for the other it means destroying your enemy... therein lies the (s) in the title.

My wife thought the name change was too controversial and would be perceived as taking away from Jesus, the true Lamb of God, which, of course I'm not. As a matter of fact, I'm actually portraying that the character's sacrifices, no matter how great to them, are extremely insignificant compared to a sacrifice which forgive the sins of the entire world. But I understood her point. The message may get lost in the controversy. But, would the controversy be a bad thing?

I don't know. Plus, my daughter mentioned that some religions are not allowed to use a capital G when speaking of God as it is offensive to them, but using a small g would be offensive to us, so the God(s) part may not work and if changed to god(s) it may not work either.

All that being said, I think the Lambs of God(s) title captures the sense of the film far better than Severed, but it may not be the right title in the end.

First things first... I have to figure out how to shoot the film no matter what its name ends up being!

Baden-Baden, Anton Benz's Hometown

Here are some pics Charles found that show Baden-Baden, Germany, the hometown of Anton Benz, our distant relative.




You can read more about Anton Benz in this previous post.

Thanks for the pics, Charles.

6-Pack + 17 Yrs x 2 Surgeries = 2 Liter

When I used to act for a living, my primary concern was making sure my product, i.e. me, was in the best shape I could be. I spent hours a day at the gym and it paid off. I was never in better shape.

The thing I worked hardest on was my stomach. We have, in our genome, a thing called The Bauer Belly. So, I was determined never to fall prey to its inevitable power and fought the insistent genetics by doing hundreds of sit-ups a night while watching TV.

While converting some old VHS tapes to DVD, I stumbled across a video of me at my peak (see below).

Well, 17 years and two intestinal surgeries later, my once proud six-pack has turned into a two-liter that no amount of sit-ups will ever fix. My flattened tummy muscles have been forever destroyed and I am left looking in the mirror wishing I could look as I once did. I mean, hell, I still sit in front of the TV, except now, doing 100 crunches would only exacerbate my already malformed stomach muscles.

Oh well, at least I can say I had a six-pack once... a long, long, long time ago.

And don't even get me started on my once full head of dark hair...

Aunt Alice Passed Away

My father's sister, Alice, passed away yesterday. She had the same firey personality as my Dad. His once large family has been reduced over time to my father, his brother Clary and his brother Bernie.

My mom's family of six now remains only herself and her sister Mary.

It must be so hard, as you age, to watch all of those you know and love to pass on to the other side. Being the youngest of eight I wonder if I, too, will be one of the last remaining of my family in the decades to come.

My prayers go out to everyone touched by Alice's bright life, especially my wonderful and wounded parents.

Her funeral will be held in Hot Springs and her ashes will be interred Kokomo, Indiana.