Tag Archives: faith

Hungry Hungry Augustine…of Hippo

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OK, so the title is cheesy. Sue me. Anyhow, the remains of St. Augustine, my patron,
were taken to Rome recently and Zenit published a few articles about the occasion.

Pope
Receives Relics of St. Augustine
John
Paul II’s Prayer to St. Augustine
Augustine
Faced an Emptiness, Says Cardinal Ratzinger

“O Lord my God, I believe in you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Insofar as I can, insofar as you have given me the power, I have sought you. I became weary and I labored. O Lord my God, my sole hope, help me to believe and never to cease seeking you. Grant that I may always and ardently seek out your countenance. Give me the strength to seek you, for you help me to find you and you have more and more given me the hope of finding you. Here I am before you with my firmness and my infirmity. Preserve the first and heal the second. Here I am before you with my strength and my ignorance. Where you have opened the door to me, welcome me at the entrance; where you have closed the door to me, open to my cry; enable me to remember you, to understand you, and to love you. Amen.” – Saint Augustine

Stuck in the Middle With You

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One of my frequent commenters, Steve, has often lamented that conservative Christians have had to vote for right-wing candidates in order to advance their pro-life agenda. He'd like to see a Christian Left that embraced protecting the sanctity of life as a progressive ideal. I can't blame him. I'd like to someday see a candidate like Dorothy Day, St. Francis of Assissi, or Mother Teresa. I disagree with much of the Republican platform, but I may find myself increasingly resorting to voting for Republicans to fight the Culture of Death. That doesn't make me comfortable or confident. If only the Democrats can see their failure to connect with America this election as an opportunity to win back moral conservatives who the've marginalized and driven away. I won't hold my breath.

Rightward Shift May Squeeze Centrists
By Charles Babington and Juliet Eilperin

"Tuesday's Republican sweep of the South will reshape the next Senate, replacing moderate Democrats sometimes willing to cross party lines with ardent GOP conservatives who will press their leaders for a more right-leaning agenda, according to analysts."

A Contrite Heart You Will Not Scorn

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As my sidebar bio says, I have traditionalist and neo-traditionalist sympathies. We traditional types must always guard ourselves from succumbing to Pharisaic tendencies. It's easy for the pious and overly-devotional (POD) to look down their noses at the progressives sharing the pew with them. This Sunday's gospel reading gave me an idea for a modern retelling of a parable for Pharisaical Catholics. Wisdom! Be attentive!

This is parable is for some who trust in themselves that they are righteous and despise others: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a traditionalist and the other a progressive. The traditionalist stood and prayed thus with himself, `God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, ultra-feminists, pro-choicers, divorcees, or even like this progressive. I go to mass seven days a week, I give tithes of all that I get.'  But the progressive, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, `God, be merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Real Men Live Sacramentally

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This reminds me a little of Promise
Keepers:

Bringing
men back to church

THE founders of a new movement in Brisbane [called Men Alive] believe they are awakening one of the Church’s ‘sleeping giants’ – men.[…]Men Alive uses the words of St Ireneaus as its inspiration – ‘God is glorified when men are fully alive’. The group says the movement was founded ‘in response to a great need evident in the hearts and lives of men and a great need in the life of the Church’.