Humor

Don’t I Know It

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

One of the priests at morning Mass tends to ask questions during the homily. Often not just general knowledge questions.

This morning he asked a question and then said, “Don’t answer Jeff.” I found this funny, and I was surprised he even knew my name. I had never introduced myself, just thanked him for his homilies at various times.

On my way out, “He apologized for picking on me.” I told him it was okay because “I am an arrogant know-it-all.”

He laughed at that and tried to deny this; I told him he obviously didn’t know me.

At the recent Eucharistic Congress, Steve Ray asked questions during his presentation. I answered them all. The first one I answered, he replied that nobody had ever answered that one correctly. When I met him after his presentation, he said, “Hey, it’s the Answer Man.” I reveled in that because I am an arrogant know-it-all.

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Letter to John the Baptist
HumorParody

Letter to John the Baptist

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

From: Conference of the School of Prophets
To: John the Baptist

Dear John,

Having heard your preaching on the topic of marriage worthiness and other issues, we request that further dialog with Herod Antipas be postponed until we can all meet together in person. The serious nature of these issues – especially the imperative to forge substantive unity – makes it impossible to address them productively in the fractured and isolated current setting. The high standard of consensus among ourselves, the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and others is far from being achieved in the present moment. We are concerned that your weaponizing marriage does not follow sound theological and pastoral advice or create a new path for moving forward.

We take this opportunity to re-envision the best collegial structure for achieving that. We are concerned that you have lost your head and are acting rashly. We consider this a breach of rules and customs with this lack of collegial consultation before addressing governing bodies and tetrarchs. We look forward to dialoguing on “Marriage Coherence” and assure you of our prayerful and fraternal best wishes.

Signed, Blaise bar Cupich

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Sola Bookstore
Other

Sola Bookstore

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

I saw a Facebook ad for the “NTEB Bible Believers Bookstore” which the captions”St. Augustine’s ONLY Christian Bookstore!

I thought that can’t be correct. There is a Catholic book store at The Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche right next to the giant cross there.

Possibly the all-caps “ONLY” implies that this is one true and thus only Christian bookstore not run by heretics.

This really annoyed me the use of deceptive advertising for a Christian bookstore.

From their site: “Open 6 days a week, our King James only bookstore is a walk-in gospel outpost here in America’s oldest city of Saint Augustine, where the gospel of the grace of God is made available to the community in a powerful and hands-on way.”

So now I want to go there and troll them.

“Can I buy a RSV” – no

“How about an ESV” – no

“An ASV” – no.

Well, how about a KJV that doesn’t have missing books?

Noticeable on the images on the site is 1611 referring to to the original publishing date of the KJV, which included what is now called the Apocrypha.

So on their ad I asked them the question regarding whether they knew about The Shrine bookstore. Plus if they considered Catholics to be Christians.

The reply was:

Thank you for that info about the Shrine. The owner was a practicing catholic his whole life until about 30 years ago, when he got saved and became a Christian and believes the two are not in the same category. The shrine also does not come up when you search for Christian books stores in the area. Please feel free to stop by and see our store for yourself!

My most charitable interpretation is that they must be very poor researchers. A bare minimum Google search for “St. Augustine, Fl Christian bookstore” turns up The Shrine near the top of the list, and ironically their store does not show up with these search terms. Plus I noticed at least one other commenter before me mentioned The Shrine.

The owner was a practicing catholic his whole life until about 30 years ago, when he got saved and became a Christian and believes the two are not in the same category.

This appears to be a bit of an understatement as it seems that the apparent owner is Geoffrey Grider who is rather anti-Catholic to say the least.

Writing before about Pope Francis:

“Open up your Bible, find a blank spot next to John 5:43, take a pen and write “FULFILLED” in margin.”

They also have NTEC branded Chick Tracts. My parish has been blanketed at least twice this year with these tracts placed on cars.

“Of course, what they don’t know is that what they are encountering are not space aliens at all, they are the fallen angels connected with the Genesis 6 giants. Welcome back, we who believe the bible have been expecting your return.” NTEB, May 1, 2021.

Seems ligit.

So I was pretty annoyed about this Facebook advertisement, but now I see it as an opportunity to add Geoffrey Grider to my daily prayer list.

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The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – Volume 366 – 23 June 2021

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller
pope-francis2-300x187

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 18 June 2021 to 23 June 2021.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post on Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

General Audiences

Speeches

Papal Tweets

  • “The current pandemic has reminded us that there are no differences or boundaries between those suffering. The time has come to eliminate inequality and to cure injustice that is undermining the health of the entire human family.” @Pontifex 18 June 2021
  • “Underlying all our strengths and weaknesses, stronger than all our past hurts and failures, or our fears and concerns about the future, there is this great truth: we are beloved sons and daughters.” @Pontifex 18 June 2021
  • “God knows that the only way to save us, to heal us from within, is by loving us. He knows that we become better only by accepting his unfailing love, an unchanging love that changes us.” @Pontifex 19 June 2021
  • “How often we leave the Lord in a corner, at the bottom of the boat of life, to wake Him only in a moment of need! Let us ask for the grace of a faith that never tires of seeking the Lord, of knocking at the door of his heart. #GospelOfTheDay (Mk 4:35–41)” @Pontifex 20 June 2021
  • “With the Bishops of Myanmar I plead that humanitarian corridors be allowed and that churches, pagodas, monasteries, mosques, temples, schools and hospitals be respected as neutral places of refuge. May the Heart of Christ touch the hearts of all bringing peace to Myanmar!” @Pontifex 20 June 2021
  • “Let us open our hearts to refugees, making our own their sorrows and joys; may we learn from their courageous resilience! In this way, together we can help create a more humane community, one big family. #WorldRefugeeDay” @Pontifex 20 June 2021
  • “Christ is alive and desires that each of you live. He is the true beauty and youth of this world. Everything he touches becomes young, becomes new, full of life and meaning.” @Pontifex 21 June 2021
  • “Even at the darkest moments, as in these months of pandemic, the Lord continues to send angels to console our loneliness and to remind us: “I am with you always”. #IamWithYouAlways
    @laityfamilylife Message” @Pontifex 22 June 2021
  • “Dear grandmother, dear grandfather, the Lord’s closeness will grant to all, even the frailest among us, the strength needed to embark on a new journey along the path of dreams, memory and prayer. #DayforGrandparentsandtheElderly
    @laityfamilylife” @Pontifex 22 June 2021
  • “The path indicated by Saint Paul in his Letter to the Galatians is the path of meek and obedient trust, in the certainty that the Holy Spirit works in the Church in every age. #GeneralAudience” @Pontifex 23 June 2021

Papal Instagram

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Meatball to the Narrow Way
Scripture

Meatball to the Narrow Way

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

From today’s Gospel reading:

Matthew 7:13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

I was thinking about this passage and the type of narrowness that usually comes to mind. That to enter in something we see as essential to ourselves has to be jettisoned. The thought of this shedding brings us no feeling of joy. There is an aspect of this idea that is indeed true, but it is also too constricted.

Indeed, to enter the narrow gate, you have to be broad like the saints. They entered this gate because their love is comprehensive. Vast enough to love God, neighbor, and themselves. Wise enough to know that there is no Law of the Conservation of Love. God can work with what is small like in St. Therese’s Little Way. In Therese’s smallness she embraced the world becoming a missionary from a hidden place. Entering the narrow gate is not tunnel vision, it leads to the Beatific vision.

I know I can think of the narrow gate and almost despair at the idea. I can see my ego getting in the way and blocking my attempt to transcend the gate.

Truck stuck in tunnel
Truck stuck in tunnel

I see myself so narrowly and keep forgetting that God, who has brought me thus far, can get me farther if he so desires. If I grab Jesus’ hand, he can lead me through. I wish I lived my life like these pious thoughts that come to me at times.

I also had this tangental thought of getting behind a saint and following him through the gate. A kind of spiritual drafting, like cycling where there is less resistance when following the lead cyclist riding in close. In many ways, this is what the saints can do for us. The reality that we should be doing the same to reduce the burdens of those behind us. It is terrifying in the implication of this responsibility to help others also enter through. Yet, it should horrify us to evade this and restrict our love.

The last image that came to me was the “meatball” onboard an Aircraft Carrier.

Aircraft Carrier Landing System
Aircraft Carrier Landing System

Having witnessed hundreds of landing on board a carrier, it always amazed me the precision required to drop out of the sky at a specific angle and height and then catch the wire to slow down. Once I was flown out to land on a carrier, I was even more surprised by how small the ship looked from above.

I thought about the freedom of the plane to zoom around the skies, looping in delight, yawing not yawning. Yet to make a successful landing, the pilot must focus on the meatball to get the glidepath in the terminal phase of the landing.

The freedom of the plane in turn reminded me of this part of Chesterton’s Orthodoxy:

“Catholic doctrine and discipline may be walls; but they are the walls of a playground.”

I am now thinking of the narrow gate as the meatball for my terminal phase. Plus more than that, that I want to have coattails to help others follow.Meatball to the Narrow Way

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National Confession Revival
conversionSacraments

National Confession Revival

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Ed Condon at The Pillar asks Do the bishops need a document on the sacrament of penance, too?

Had the bishops of previous decades offered an unapologetic presentation of the moral consequences of cooperating in abortion then, when the appearance of partisanship was less acute, the matter would be nowhere near as politically contentious as it is today.

When you kick the can down the road, the can is still there. In this case, the can is now considered weaponized.

The appearance of some bishops to emphasize that we are all sinners almost to the point of inferring that, since all of us are, none of us need to worry about it, can be seen as a real contributor to the current pastoral crisis. This too, has been a generational problem for the U.S. bishops, born out of an ecclesial culture of the 1970s, which bought into a wider popular cultural ridicule of so-called “Catholic guilt.”

The deemphasis of the Sacrament of Penance over at least the last fifty years has its foreseen results. This, combined with cultural Pelagianism and the loss of the sense of sin, is a toxic cocktail within the Church. The loss of the understanding of sin means that there is no need of a savior. We don’t need to be saved from our sins if we are “only human” and thus imperfect. We acknowledge our failings and want to do better but have lost the connection in how we have offended God. We are trying to put band-aids on problems instead of addressing that our wounds are healed by the wounds of Christ in this sacrament. We were created to give glory to God and our very telos (perfection) is to do so. The grace given us in confession when our sins our forgiven help us to realize our utter dependence on God for everything. We can develop gratitude and thankfulness, which enables us to enter into worshipping God more fully. In turn we can also enter more deeply into the great mystery of Jesus in the Eucharist.

The USSCB has been planning over the last year for a multi-year National Eucharistic Revival (details). This is partly in response to polls taken on belief in the Eucharist among even Mass-going Catholics. I am not aware of polls regarding belief in the Sacrament of Penance and its necessity, likely they would be even more dismal. Possibly, we also need a National Confession Revival. The Pillar article asks if the conference should write document on the Sacrament of Penance? Consider me skeptical regarding USSCB efforts in the first place. I can’t think of any of their documents or efforts that can be categorized as brilliant successes. The more visible Fortnight for Freedom program had no apparent effect during the President Obama years to curtail the assault on religious freedom. Maybe this would have been worse without it?

Most Catholic here are unaware, for the most part, of these conference efforts. Usually, it is only Catholic policy wonks, such as myself, who even read their documents. Bishop conferences are historically a relatively new thing and so far we have no examples of them sparking a revival. It has always been saints that have done so. Individuals or small groups have called others to personal revival through their example and holiness. Still, I wish them luck as possibly it can inspire individual bishops and individuals to focus on the reality of the Eucharist. We should be praying that God raises up saints for us for such a revival.

“Now in history there is no Revolution that is not a Restoration. Among the many things that leave me doubtful about the modern habit of fixing eyes on the future, none is stronger than this: that all the men in history who have really done anything with the future have had their eyes fixed upon the past.” – G.K. Chesterton

So a new document on confession should at least be seen as part of the same effort for Eucharistic revival. My opinion is that primarily confession needs once again to be more visible. “If you have it, they will come” is my “Field of Dreams” theology here. In most parishes, as far as I can tell, confession is available publicly sometime before the Saturday Vigil Mass. So for many Catholic it is hidden and out of the way. Many will not see people in line to confession as a regular occurrence. In the parish I came into the Church in, they have confession before every single Mass. My current parish has it available every day. It gives me a feeling of joy to see people in line for confession. It is both a reminder of my own need for the sacrament and a feeling of joy knowing others are having their sins forgiven and given grace. The Church builds on the constant conversion of each of us.

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The NYT, Politicians, and Celebrities Weigh In
PoliticsPro-lifePunditry

The NYT, Politicians, and Celebrities Weigh In

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

When I saw the New York Times’ Headline Pope’s Silence Speaks Volumes on Controversial Communion Vote by U.S. Bishops I knew it would be worth a laugh.

As mind-numbing stupid as I expected.

☑ Quoting Austen Ivereigh
☑ CDF Document seen as slap-down
☑ US dominant Conservative bishops not following Pope Francis’ more pastoral approach

Apparently they are totally unaware that of the text produced by Latin American bishops in 2007 led by then Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio. Or that he might have even coined the term “Eucharistic Coherence”. Or even the existing document by the USCCB on the subject.

Most reporting on the Church should just redirect to The Pillar so that you get informed, not POV-slanted-narrative.

Plus we have the flurry of politicians and celebrities weighing in with opinions that show they have not spent 1 second looking into why their gotcha-proof-of-hypocrispy just might be vaporous. Straw prices will probably climb with the scarcity due to all the straw men being constructed.

I am a bit tired of being lectured by those who think murdering the pre-born is A-OK, but denying the Eucharist (which they probably don’t even believe in the reality of) as a high crime.

I saw one Catholic Congressman tweet a list that would make a fine list of items to go into confession with to repent of. Instead it is a brag and a dare to the USCCB.

Plus I want every single one of these critics to become saints. I want them to love Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament so much that worldly fascinations with the spirit of the age will seem like a mess of pottage that they were tricked into receiving (thus rejecting somebody else’s birthright – to be born).

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Lessons from Working at Home
Tech

Lessons from Working at Home

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Last year when I started working at home at the start of the pandemic, I set up shop in my Florida room. I needed space to work with both my work laptop and my personal one. At the time, our VPN was limited to only corporate-owned machines. So I retasked a folding long picnic table as the base for all this equipment and cables to share a monitor. So I lived with this Adhoc setup for quite a while. It was very functional and an aesthetic eyesore. This disorder annoyed me, but hey, it was only a temporary situation!

I had learned over this time that working and using my Florida Room was pretty great as far as having sunlight and a view of the weather. Even during storms, it was much preferable to a cubicle farm. Plus, being able to listen to music and podcasts without headphones is also great. I had started using my guitar FRFR speakers as also computer speakers. So a mixer takes input from my computer, iPad, and guitar effects processor. The downside was all the visible cable and power strips.

During this last week, I decided to remedy the situation and to simplify and set up a more permanent solution. Before the pandemic, I had an iMac and a desk that added a collapsible standing desk. Unfortunately, this went unused since I needed room for two laptops at the time. I moved my main computer table into this location instead. I also traded in my laptop for a Mac Mini – it covered the cost.

So it has been a long week organizing and setting up the new computer. I am somewhat compulsive about setting up new machines. I have documented notes I maintain regarding what I want to install and set it up to my tastes. I rarely restore from a backup. I love that new minty-fresh OS feeling optimized to what I had learned since the last time.

I do like to stand while working because it kind of changes your attitude. It is easy to get comfy in a chair and not move about except to make coffee and to – ah – dispose of processed coffee. I can now unrhythmically prance about while listening to music for one thing. Plus, when I collapse the desk back down to sit for a while, I feel that it is a deserved rest.

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The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – Volume 365 – 16 June 2021

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller
pope-francis2-300x187

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 8 June 2019 to 16 June 2021.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

General Audiences

Homilies

Messages

Papal Tweets

  • “Perseverance is the gift of God by which all His other gifts are maintained. Let us pray that, as individuals and as Church, we might persevere in doing good, and not to lose sight of what counts.” @Pontifex 10 June 2021
  • “I invite each one of you to look with confidence to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to repeat often, especially during this month of June: Jesus, meek and humble of heart, transform our hearts and teach us to love God and our neighbor with generosity.” @Pontifex 11 June 2021
  • “Children are the future of the human family: all of us are expected to promote their growth, health and tranquility. #NoChildLabourDay” @Pontifex 12 June 2021
  • “Mary’s heart is like a pearl of incomparable splendour, formed and smoothed by patient acceptance of God’s will through the mysteries of Jesus meditated in prayer. #ImmaculateHeartofMary” @Pontifex 12 June 2021
  • “The seed of our good works can seem like a small thing, yet all that is good pertains to God, and thus it humbly, slowly bears fruit. Good always grows in a humble, hidden, often invisible way. #GospelOfTheDay” @Pontifex 13 June 2021
  • “I am particularly close to the people of Tigray, Ethiopia, affected by a serious humanitarian crisis. Let us #PrayTogether so that the violence ceases, food and health assistance is guaranteed to all, and social harmony is restored as soon as possible.” @Pontifex 13 June 2021
  • “Today is World Blood Donor Day. I sincerely thank the volunteers and I encourage them to continue their work, bearing witness to the values of generosity and gratuitousness.” @Pontifex 14 June 2021
  • “How evangelical it would be if we could say with all truth: we too are poor, because only in this way will we truly be able to recognize them, to make them part of our lives and an instrument of our salvation. Message” @Pontifex 14 June 2021
  • “Where there is no honour for the #eldery, there is no future for the young. #WEAAD” @Pontifex 15 June 2021
  • “Our prayers are fulfilled and completed when we intercede for others and take care of their concerns and needs. #Prayer does not separate us or isolate us from anyone, as it is love for all. #GeneralAudience” @Pontifex 16 June 2021

Papal Instagram

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