Wizards in Winter

One of my favorite songs called "Wizards in Winter". It is performed by the Trans Siberian Orchestra and has been coordinated with a Christmas light show.

God's Abounding Forgiveness and Mercy (Ch. 13, Qst. 1)

King Manasseh became king of Israel and Judah after the death of his father, Hezekiah. Manasseh was pure evil destroying every good thing his father had built up; building up high places, bringing back idols, and burning his own sons as sacrifices to pagan gods. This man was bad news.

However, all evil and wicked actions have reactions/consequences. In the case of Manessah, the consequences came in the event of the Assyrians swiftly attacking and conquering Jerusalem, carrying off Manessah in chains. This is when the evil king took a turn for the better and something amazing happened. Having lost all hope, the distressed Manessah humbled himself before God and prayed to him. God received him and brought him back to Jerusalem.

We can see in the course of Manessah’s action and God’s response the sacrament of reconciliation, which is the act of human beings asking God to forgive them after committing a fault. Manessah knew that he had lived a life of profound evil and placed himself in God’s hands, asking God to forgive him the faults he had committed. God listened to him and returned him to Jerusalem where Manessah tried to straighten out the mistakes he had made previously. He got rid of the foreign cults and the pagan altars and made sacrifices of Thanksgiving in the Temple. As a result of his conversion, he reigned over Israel and Judah longer than any king had before him.

The tie between Manessah’s turning to God a thoroughly evil kingship and the sacrament of reconciliation holds a strong meaning for us as Christians. Because of God’s unlimited love for us, if we detest and are profoundly sorry for our sins, God will forgive us our faults. This does not mean, however, that we can do anything we want, because of the knowledge that God will love us anyways and forgive us whenever necessary. I believe that would be considered taking advantage of God’s mercy. We are such sinners and already do not deserve God’s forgiveness as is. As humans, it is impossible to reach heaven without God. Testing God’s love for us is very treacherous, because God could unexpectedly end our lives.

Just as Manessah repented, we should also repent and we should do it as soon as we can and we shouldn’t wait until the last minute, because we never know when the end of our story will come. God is ready to forgive each and every one of us, no matter how grave the matter. In order for this to take place, we as God’s children need to place each moment of every day of our lives in His hands.

Don't Be Lazy! (Ch. 12, Qst. 1)

After reigning over Israel for forty years, King Solomon departed from this life into the next and kingship befell his son Rehoboam who had grown up in the court of his father and had known nothing but a life of luxury. Now Solomon had harshly reigned over his people, laying on them much suffering and difficult labor. When Solomon died, the elders came to his son asking if he might lighten their burden.

Sending them away, Rehoboam brought in his father’s counselors; some very wise old men. He asked how he should respond to the elders. They advised him to become a servant to his people and speak good words to them and if he did this he would be rewarded in that they would never leave him and always be his faithful servants. This advice did not sit well with Rehoboam, a man who had been accustomed to living a life of laziness in the grandness of the his father’s court. Hoping for an alternative, Rehoboam turned to the young men who befriended and grew up with him sharing in his idleness and wasting themselves away. Of course, being accustomed the same ways of living as their friend they told him to add more weight to the people’s burden. It was going to be worse for the people under the reign of Rehoboam than it had been under King Solomon! In making this decision, he was displaying a want of being more powerful than his father and proving it to the people under him by adding more weight to their already heavy burden.

The decision of Rehoboam resulted in disaster, but it also marks one of the seven capital sins – the sin of covetousness. The Catholic Encyclopedia states that this is not a grievous sin, except in certain conditions which involve offense of God or the neighbor. In other words, “when one is prepared to employ illicit or unjust means to satisfy the desire of riches”. Rehoboam was prepared to burden the people more heavily and to “chastise them with scorpions”. In doing this, he was refusing to serve them or to take some of their labor upon himself. They instead would work more in order that his riches and comfort in his vast halls would grow larger than they were in the reign of his father.

Besides the sin of covetousness, Rehoboam was also adding to his idleness almost to the point of slothfulness. He wanted to continue lying around in his court wasting his life away with his friends. The last thing he wanted to do was to take some of Israel’s work upon his own shoulders.

The lives of the people of Israel were made almost worse after King Solomon died and King Rehoboam took over. He succumbed to the evils of greed and slothfulness in order that he might be more comfortable in his court and keep his fair share of work down to a minimum. We can compare the sins of Rehoboam to two of the seven capital sins: covetousness and slothfulness. As human beings trying to conform ourselves to the perfection of God, we need to avoid these two sins that we might get along peaceably with our neighbors and be able to love God as he loves us by serving one another.

Howler Power

In case you are wondering, this is my dog Sam. He howls whenever I play my accordion, so my sister thought why not catch some live footage. You can hear me playing the set dance, "King of the Fairies" off screen.

(He mostly howls when I play in minor, which matches up with a study. Dogs are more likely to respond to music played in a minor key.) Enjoy the proof!

You Are Mashed Potatoes

Oridnary, comforting, and more than a little predictable You're the glue that holds everyone together.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

Parents' Weekend!!!!!

It's that time of the month, or week, or day; the time to vent about how hectic things are at JP Catholic in the life of a sophomore (namely myself). So many projects (and classes, work study, and activities), so little time!

This weekend is Parents' Weekend; a time when students' parents come from all over the country to visit their "kids" for the weekend. My parents are from San Diego, but it's still exciting all the same. Yesterday, several parents came to observe classes. We all then ate an excellent lunch consisting of croissant sandwiches, apples, cookies, chips, soft drinks, and bottled water. Dr. Connolly gave his infamous talk about the school's three most important aspects: students, faculty, and benefactors. He pointed out with no subtlety at all whatsoever that if anyone had a million dollars burning a hole in their pocket, feel free to give it to the university.

At about 5pm, I went out to Island's with my family for dinner. My brother got the Big Wave, my dad got some sort of blue cheese burger, my sister and my mom got giant salads, and I got the Sunset Burger. We split a giant basket of fries with ranch dressing.

With full stomachs, my dad headed home (he's been working fifty hours a week) and the rest of us headed to Good Shepherd Parish for a talk given by Dr. Brant Pitre and Dr. Scott Hahn. Needless to say, they were AMAZING. I was trembling with excitement when we left.

Tonight is the 4th Annual John Paul the Great Catholic University Gala. Several of the students are going and we are supposed to mingle with the benefactors and have intelligent conversations until about 7pm. At that time, we will settle ourselves for a lovely dinner and listen to Dr. Connolly ask for money and listen to Joe Campo who is one of the head people working for Grassroots Films. We are actually supposed to see one of his films tomorrow. It will be an exciting night to say the least.

Aside from all this, I still have a lot of homework. I think to myself, as soon as I am finished with this huge project, things should get much easier. Of course, they don't. Oh well. This is the life of a college student. To think that I'm paying thousands of dollars a year to do all this homework and take lots of tests. I'd much rather just buy the degree.

That's all for now. The fun is about to begin!

The Ark of the Covenant of the Old Testament vs. The Tabernacle of Today (Chapter 10, Question 1)

As children of God, we are called to listen to his Word in the Bible and to learn from individuals such as the early prophets who provide examples for us through their successes and failures. We can learn from them because they are like us. They, like us, each had fallen natures and faults of their own. King David, “a man after God’s own heart”, was one of these individuals; a good man profoundly loved by God, but a man like us, who made mistakes, because he too had a fallen nature. In 2 Samuel 6, David tries to have the Ark of the Covenant brought to Jerusalem, but because he did not prepare properly, disaster came out of it. The Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament is the Tabernacle of today, because God dwells within it. Therefore, the Ark needs to be treated with great respect. What special sacrament did God provide us with so that he might be present within us and what signs of respect should be shown towards that sacrament, whether it be in a Church or during the Mass?

2 Samuel 6 begins with David’s first attempt to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. His preparation is poor; a new cart pulled by oxen is their (David, and all the house of Israel) means of transportation for the Ark and the journey is arduous going over unstable terrain. “And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled.” (2 Sam. 6:6) Uzzah died on the spot, for God had given specific instruction that no one who was unclean must touch the ark. The people of Israel had not prepared properly for the journey in that they had not cleansed themselves beforehand.

This story holds great meaning for Catholics, especially because of the great gift that God has given us in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. When receiving this sacrament, we are actually consuming the body, blood, soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ in his entire being. He becomes truly present within us and because he is complete within each one of us, we become one body in Christ. It is one of the most important and precious mysteries in the Church.

Jesus is God and God is perfect. Therefore, when receiving Jesus, who is so great that no words could describe his greatness, it is important that we are in his good favor. When David decided to bring the Ark into Jerusalem, he failed to prepare the people. They were still unclean and when Uzzah touched the Ark he died. When communicants who are in a state of mortal sin receive Jesus in the Eucharist, it is an act of immense disrespect against God. This is a mortal sin in itself, and when we are in this state, we lose all sanctifying grace. We die spiritually and no longer are in communion with God. And if we physically die in this state, we are forever damned and separated from God. Before receiving the Eucharist, we must cleanse our souls by means of Confession.

When we enter a Church, the presence of the Tabernacle, or when we attend Mass, it is critical that we show respect for the presence of God in these places. For example, before entering a pew or receiving Jesus, we might bow or genuflect. In Queen Elizabeth’s presence we do these things as a sign of respect for her royal status. It would be considered very rude and inconsiderate if we forgot to bow, curtsy, or turned our back on her. She’s just the queen of England. God is King of all creation; the entire universe. Our respect for him should be one hundred times greater than for the queen of England.

The Ark of the Covenant from the Old Testament and the Tabernacle of today have similarities with one another. Both are dwelling places of God and they are two types of houses for Him in the midst of his children. Inside the Ark of the Covenant dwell three things: the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod, and the manna which was used to feed Israel for forty years in the desert. The manna is crucial when comparing the Tabernacle with the Ark. The manna was a flake like substance which tasted of honey and God commanded Moses to fill a container with the manna and to keep it as a memorial of how God fed the people of Israel in the wilderness. In the Tabernacle, we keep a container which holds the Eucharist in the appearance of unleavened bread (flat wafer-like substance). The Ark of the Covenant was overlaid with gold and made of the finest wood. The Tabernacle is also made with gold. The Bible also says that the Ark of the Covenant was like a tent. When the Tabernacle doors are opened, the priest draws aside a fine cloth.

As with the rest of the stories in the Bible, we can learn from the story of David’s journey with the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament and why it is so relevant to the Eucharist and the Tabernacle today. Since the Eucharist is indeed the entirety of Jesus Christ present in the most holy sacrifice of the altar, it is critical that we pay Him the respect that he deserves through our actions and by cleansing our souls. Otherwise, we will doom ourselves to an eternal fate of separation from God. We can also learn about the Tabernacle by reading this story, because there are so many similarities between the Ark and the Tabernacle. The story of the Ark traveling to Jerusalem holds many underlying meanings for us as Catholics and only if we meditate on it, will we find the messages that God is trying to convey to us.