The Life of Virtue

...nothing special about this post.  I just wanted everyone to know about which of God's creatures greeted me this morning as I went to dip my finger in the Holy Water before Mass.  If crickets were going to join us in Heaven, I'm sure that this one would be well on his way.  He was nearly drowning in the sacramental font.

In spite of my horrific dancing skills, I am ready to don the proverbial shoes!  My wife and I recently found out that we are expecting our second child in the spring of 2010! We are so excited, and a little overwhelmed.  We have been praying about this for quite some time, and we have been asking God to provide a home that is more spacious in order to meet our growing needs.  The Lord has seen fit to answer the first prayer by bringing this new life into the world.  He has not seen fit to answer our second prayer: we remain in our small home for the time being.  God's message to us, His "wait for my time," will not deter us from giving thanks and praise for this precious new life. Please pray for me and for my family.  Through your intercession, God might grant our requests sooner rather than later.  I pray for God's blessing upon all of you!

[The following article is used with the permission of the editor of the West Tennessee Catholic , my diocese's weekly newspaper.  I wrote it to prove how cool it is to be a youth minister!] On a Thursday evening, forty-seven pilgrims boarded a bus for the fourteen-hour ride from Collierville, Tennessee to Steubenville, Ohio.  They were on a pilgrimage during which they would grow close to each other, grow close to Jesus Christ, and worship our loving God who is “Above All” (1 Chronicles 29:11).  Those words of King David from the Old Testament served as the theme for this series of retreat conferences that will take place at various locations around the country throughout the summer. Many of the retreat-goers had been to such conferences before, and so they were expecting similar things.  However, this retreat was like no other conference during previous years.  This truly was an experience above all others for this parish youth group, and it was a retreat that won’t be soon forgo...

St. Francis, the founder of the Order of Friars Minor, was known to have a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother.  Obviously, that devotion was a quality bequeathed to his spiritual posterity, and a compiled list of such heritage would include many friars in various communities of Franciscan lineage throughout the past eight centuries (e.g., Capuchin Friars of the Renewal, Third Order Regulars, et al).  One name, however, seems to reside near the top of that long list: St. Bonaventure, the "Seraphic Doctor." If Christ was at the center of St. Bonaventure's rich mystical theology and writing, Mary certainly occupied a place of near-equal importance (as should be the case with great catechesis and theology).  On many occasions, St. Bonaventure spoke or wrote with great passion and conviction about the blessedness and "excelling sublimity of the Virgin."  In fact, it was through one of his passionate exhortations that the Angelus prayer appeared in the Church's...