Kali's Story

CBC Radio brings the story of Kali this morning...of losing her parents to a drunk driver.  Accidents involving alcohol are on the rise in NB - from 32% to 40% of the fatal accidents in motor vehicles.  Click here to follow Kali's story (3 min) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8QAkxjJQug

I hear people often declare, "Who am I to say what is right or wrong for another person?"  The other choice is anarchy, folks.  To refuse to stand for right and wrong is to drown in the syrupy-slow suffocation of moral goodness..to flirt in the icy off-stage shadows, to refuse to strut our hour upon the stage.  The choice to engage the fundamental right-wrong discussion is fundamental - an orientation that flavors our life like a vanilla bean latte.  We choose to drift from the drama or to let our voice be heard.  I encourage us today - engage her (the drama) full-on...a drama that may involve naming sin for what it is.  

Too much alcohol clouds our judgment.  Might I suggest that this is a perfect illustration of what sin does.  Sin clouds our judgment - impairs discernment and disarms caution.  Sin patiently bears down upon our conscience to stop the double-talk...to forfeit the path of right.  The din of rebellion arises in the heart - "There are no absolutes.  I only believe this because religion taught it to me - it is irrelevant.  It is facile.  I am mature now - ready for complexity, daring and moral ambiguity!"

Kali does not force people to abandon their dangerous, careening path but she appeals to them.  As Pope John Paul II said, "The Church proposes" to those of unbelief "she does not impose." And propose Kali must...as she stands amidst the wreckage of her life.

Do we need to come face to face with the wreckage of our lives before we sober up?  

I know for my own life the encroachment of sin in my own life is often shown forth in avoidance of duty.  I begin - so subtly at first - to engage bad habits - like substituting my duties for personal preferences and pampering.  Soon I find myself completely introverted - tuned in only to the 'Me' channel.  My life becomes the "Me-Tube".  

--------------------------------------Appeal to the Attentive Father----------------------------------------

Father, thank you for sending Jesus your Son to us.
In this Advent season, prepare the 'inn' of our hearts
with silence as the straw for the creche, and adoration as
the swaddling cloth to wrap Him in.  Make us contemplatives
of a new order - able to hear Your voice and heed your word.

Father, I am sorry for putting off my duty - to prayer, to work, to accepting responsibility
for my own self-care...even making time for friendship.

I pray for Kali and her brother - I abhor the unfairness of the situation she lives with.   

I thank You for my own parents.  I ask - please bless them today.

I pray that Kali's story encourage us to do what is right. 

Father, as I prepare for this weekend's homily, as I prepare for this day
and try to own up to my responsibilities (work, play, struggle, rejoice!)
I ask your forgiveness
for my words are wobbly, my convictions are compromised and my decisions deficient.
I've spent more time hiding from my duties than fulfilling them.
Yet,
You ask only humility, zeal and perseverance.
I am prone to give up - seeing the mountain of my weaknesses
rather than investing in Your evidential power. 

Father, because I do not trust...I do not feel the strength to make the effort.
Instead I complain!

Attentive Father,
Allow me the grace to have the dish-pan hands of life.

And if there is any way possible, please allow me a visit home - today - if possible...with family and friends.  I miss their goodness to me.  It is like being in an environment that breathes - supports - new life in me.

If I am to remain here in town,
help me bring joy to those I meet.


~ Your son, Aaron

in the Desert

From Robert Barron's homily
Dorothy Day's one word to America:  "Repent."  John the Baptist says "Repent, change - literally 'meta-noos' - beyond-mind.
Go beyond the mind you have.  Change your perspective.  Change your way of seeing.  Most of us think our lives are about us: my projects, my plans, my ambitions.  Everyone else is my supporting cast.
You're life is not about you!  The Holy Spirit is about working in us what HE wants to accomplish in me.  Now my life becomes a kind of adventure not a fierce game of the ego.

Hope Cafe

I'd like help to realize my dreams.  Need someone, like a soul-dentist, to wrench them free and give me hope again...

And then there are the people I meet - who have nothing.  No family, no support systems, no steady living situation.  These are the forgotten.

There are those who have watched institutions they love crumble and ebb away.

And I wonder...what is this world trying to tell us?

You and I are invited this Advent - to a place called 'hope'.
This place, I like to think, is a ambiance-filled cafe on the downtown corner of a sleepy town.
Hope is a place to be restored when there seems like nothing left.
When you feel gutted by the world and her emptiness...and the emptiness of soul that visits.

Hope is a cafe.
Its a place where you can warm up and let your shoulders down from 'stress'.
Its a place where you can discuss ideas,
be a momentary thespian (that is, theatre-speak for actor),
a momentary philosopher, a political or cultural commentator
and offer memorable diagnostics on the state of things.
Its a place where you speak your heart and feel the thrill of grasping new beginnings.

Hope is a place where people listen to one another.
They hear the deeper things - like the passion underlying someone's convictions.
Hope is a place where others take the pains to get to know you...
and in the process you get to know yourself.

So grab a mocha-whatever and join me at the cafe.
"Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead...
   and Christ will shine on you!"

- Father Aaron

St. Francis Xavier day

"How I wish I could return to the university of Paris where I studied, and run, like a madman, through the halls... 'Change your ways - you who value learning more than charity!  They face damnation because you are not willing to go on mission!"  - St. Francis Xavier (loose translation)

ps - Today is special to all X ring wearers.  I myself wear the green and gold 'T' :) www.stu.ca

Taize song for peace: http://www.taize.fr/IMG/mp3/taize_podcast_2010_11_29_advent-1.mp3

AaRoN's SoNg - FiLL mY cuP (liFe to tHe fuLL)

YHWH is my peace
He is the shalom of my soul
He is the Christmas lights on the tree of my heart
It is His face that shines in me
It is His face I long to see
to sit quietly, surrendered,...at peace.
I am blessed because He chose me
and it wasn't for my charm or smarts or good looks
He chose me 
because He loves me.
He wants to raise up a generation 
and bring breath back on the earth
He wants to renew creation
freeing us from the smog of confusion
He has been my Savior, my song, my Therapist, my hammock,
my TEAR TOWEL, my clawing post, my scapegoat, my peace, my Light
and MY HOPE 
(now THAT is worthy of a song!)
What He has done for me He will do for you.
*because all things are possible with God
(for this is the sixth month for Elizabeth, who was said
to be barren....God doesn't do 'barren' - He turns the desert
into running streams...)
That doesn't mean you won't feel pain
or travel the awe-full road of agony
or feel alone or weak in faith or embarrassed.
God is not looking for supermen.
God is thirsting for our LOVE.
His invitation to the world, my generation, is 
Take and Eat, this is My body, this is My blood.


* song written in response to a Bible study question in Deborah Allen's class.  
The assignment was to create your own song - modeled after Mary's song
(Luke 1:46-55).  This is my song of praise.  

Wednesday December 1st, World AIDS day

I was shocked this week on a CBC radio program dealing with HIV/Aids in the Maritimes - faced with a direct question: "What group is most at-risk for HIV infection?" the respondent refused to mention gay-men.  Before you sound the alarm, I am not suggesting HIV is a 'gay' disease.  However, I am only suggesting that, to my knowledge, the most at-risk group happens to be gay men.  I felt disturbed by the lack of honesty the respondent portrayed.  Instead, she answered, "Anyone who is engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse is most at risk."  Does anyone know the answer to the question as it was posed?

I have included below a paste from the blogsite Whispers in the Loggia:concerning Benedict XVI:

 "Meanwhile, considering the recent media melee/ad intra foodfight occasioned by the Pope's comments on condoms in his freshly-released chat-book, something worth watching in the days ahead in light of the fracas is the degree to which Benedict will maintain his pontificate's well-established practice of an annual appeal to mark World AIDS Day -- observed by the church and civil society alike on 1 December.

As the pontiff duly noted in Light of the World, "the church does more than anyone else" in its global care efforts for many of the over 40 million stricken with HIV/AIDS "because she does not speak from the tribunal of the newspapers, but helps her brothers and sisters where they are actually suffering."



From practically all sides, said work yet again went ignored amid the latex-wrapped storm of discourse that shrouded the Vatican over the last week... along those lines, though, given the particular ecclesial context of this World AIDS Day, here's a recap of B16's annual statements for the observance


General Audience, 30 November 2005:
Tomorrow, 1 December, is World AIDS Day, a United Nations initiative planned to call attention to the scourge of AIDS and to invite the International Community to a renewed commitment in the work of prevention and supportive assistance to those afflicted. The figures published are alarming!

Closely following Christ's example, the Church has always considered care of the sick as an integral part of her mission. I therefore encourage the many initiatives promoted especially by the Ecclesial Community to rout this disease, and I feel close to persons with AIDS and their families, invoking for them the help and comfort of the Lord.

Angelus, 26 November 2006:

This coming December 1 marks World AIDS Day. I wish greatly that this occasion promotes an increased responsibility for the care of this illness, together with the pledge of avoiding each instance of discrimination toward the many stricken with it. Calling the comfort of the Lord upon the sick and their families, I encourage the many initiatives that the Church maintains in this area.

General Audience, 28 November 2007:

World AIDS Day will be celebrated this coming 1 December. I am spiritually close to all who suffer from this terrible disease as well as to their families, especially those afflicted by the loss of a spouse. I assure all of them of my prayers.


I would also like to urge all people of good will to multiply their efforts to prevent the spread of the HIV virus, to oppose the contempt that often affects those who have the disease and to care for the sick, especially when they are still children.

Angelus, 29 November 2009:
[This coming 1 December sees the world day against AIDS.] My thoughts and prayers go to every person afflicted by this disease, especially the children, the very poor, and all those who are rejected. The Church does all it can to fight AIDS through its institutions and workers. I urge everyone to make their own contribution through prayers and actual care, so that those suffering from the HIV virus may experience the presence of the Lord, source of comfort and hope. Lastly, I hope that, through more coordinated efforts, we may be able to stop and eradicate this disease.

Needless to say, anyone interested in the "other shoe" might want to keep an eye for what happens at Wednesday's Audience."

AK:    LET US PRAY.  ACT.  BECOME EDUCATED. 
FIND WAYS TO WORK TOGETHER WITH THOSE WHO HOLD BELIEFS THAT CAUSE TENSION WITH THE CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVE. 

Any ideas?

Why Theology of Ice Cream? What's in a name?

The concept of the THEOLOGY OF ICE CREAM was borne as a book title I thought would be interesting.  When I was a child, my father would take me for ice cream and I could always have TWO flavors.  I never begged Dad for 1/2 a scoop, it was a given that I could choose two.  I could count on it!  What I noticed is that I often forget that my HEAVENLY Father is even more generous! The theology of ice cream reminds us that God invites us to a TWO SCOOPS approach - we need not beg for half a scoop of life!  ~  A K

The always 'on the mark' Timothy Dolan offers a fascinating reflection on Dorothy Day.
http://www.osvdailytake.com/2010/11/six-insights-from-dorothy-day.html

THE BELOVED SIDELINES

The sidelines is where we gather when we feel we cannot carry our pain any further.  We drop the cross, telling ourselves, "Whoa, enough is enough.  I'll get back to this later."  Then we go for a drink of water.  Then we have a hot-dog.  Then we begin to become attracted to any disparate number of things.  Finally, we begin to diagnose the cross, we theorize its relevance, we chat about it with others and bask on some sunscreen while slurping our ice-caps.  But the one thing we do not do...is carry it.  And the anxiety escalates exponentially.

Carry the cross.  This is what I must do.  Without a big speech.  Without attention from the fickle crowd.  Without delay.

This will bruise the darkness and break the hold.  I will be His disciple and He will help me scale any wall - especially the most imposing wall...the wall of my resistance.  Do you know what is the most difficult wall to overcome?  Any task that I just don't WANT to do.

"A thanksgiving sacrifice honors me" says the Lord - thanksgiving, because we did some task not because we wanted to, but because it is our duty.  Duty quickly becomes devotion when waves of peace flow into our hearts because we have sacrificed our preferences and offered our energies to the task at hand. 

Jesus, please help me carry the Cross.
Trudging slowly but surely through the waves of anxiety.
And with your help, seeing that in fact the goal
is not nearly as impossible as I once made it out to be.

Keep me safe from the sidelines.

Father Aaron C. Knox

----------
Pretty serious stuff, eh?  Ha.  Well, remember to smiles me bay.  Its good fer ye.

Yippers.  Almost makes me want to get off the sidelines...carry the cross.  Ice-cap anyone?

~ Father A

Leo's Advice

Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgement will be surer.  Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen. - Leonardo Da Vinci


get live streaming for National Theology of the Body forum: http://tobcongress.com/

Archbishop Timothy Dolan - New York

Great article reproduced here by the always intriguing Timothy Dolan! 


Putting Sunday Mass First

Just a week after the awful earthquake in Haiti last January, I was able to visit that suffering island. I was especially eager to meet our 300 Catholic Relief Services staff members who continue the 60-year presence of CRS in that impoverished country. As you can imagine, they were exhausted, emotionally drained, mourning the huge losses and on the brink of discouragement. My visit with them was moving.

As I got ready to leave them that Saturday afternoon, I asked if there were anything else I could do for them. A young woman raised her hand. I expected her to ask for more medicine, tents, drinking water, food and workers. Perhaps, I thought, she would beg me to "get the message out" here at home about the agony of Haiti.

Instead, all she asked was, "Can a priest say Mass for us tomorrow, on Sunday?"

Can you imagine? What a tremendous inspiration she was! In the midst of all the horror, from out of her exhaustion and helplessness, she simply wanted Sunday Mass!

Think about it: she realistically knew that, without the grace of the Eucharist, without God's help, she would be useless. All over Port-au-Prince she was seeing the dying of Jesus on the cross. She knew she needed the Mass—the renewal of the dying and rising of Jesus—more than ever!

By now you know I'm "hung up" on Sunday Mass. To be sure, we've got problems galore in the Church. You don't need me to enumerate them—just turn on TV or buy a newspaper.

We won't be able to do anything about them if we do not put first things first. "Seek first the Kingdom of God..." as Jesus exhorted us.

That means, on the first day of the week, the day of His Resurrection, we long for the same grace that tearful CRS worker in Haiti desired: Sunday Mass.

Those many of you who are faithful to Sunday, and even weekday Mass know that during this glorious Easter season we often have our readings from episodes in the Gospel when Jesus, just risen from the dead, visits with His disciples, and also from the Acts of the Apostles recounting the earliest days of the Church.

Notice (like last Sunday's Gospel) that Jesus very often appears to His friends at a meal. He eats with them! He breaks bread with them!

Guess what? That's the Eucharist! Jesus was doing again what He had done on the night before He died, Holy Thursday, at His Last Supper.

Recall that, in the early Church, what distinguished the first followers of Jesus was that they faithfully came together every Sunday to pray, hear His word and "break bread."

There it is again! Sunday Mass!

People ask me all the time, "What's the major problem in the Church today?"

They're hoping for a juicy answer. They're disappointed when I reply, "Two-thirds of our Catholic people no longer attend Mass every Sunday."

Not long ago, the board of trustees of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., of which I am a member, heard a young priest from China share his appreciation for the chance to have studied at the university. He had finished his doctorate and was eager to get back home to China.

Mind you, things for the Church in China are far from rosy. "Where will you live?" we asked the young priest.

"I don't know," he replied.

"Does your bishop have an assignment for you?" we inquired.

"My bishop is in jail," he somberly responded.

"So what will you do?" we wondered aloud.

"I will offer Mass," the young Chinese priest smilingly replied. "I will visit villages and celebrate Mass in barns, around kitchen tables, in garages, in fields and the people will come. They will risk harassment and arrest, but they will come. They will come to Mass because they realize it makes them Catholic, it sustains and strengthens them. They will come to Mass..."

And we don't...

See you at Mass!

follow Archbishop Timothy Dolan's blog at: http://blog.archny.org/


LISTEN TO HIS 2010 ORDINATION HOMILY *perhaps the best I've heard!
http://www.archny.org/pastoral/2010-ordination-to-priesthood/

The Litany of God the Father 
                                     Crafted by: Father Philip Melvin, a classmate and friend.


Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.
Daddy Abba, have mercy on us.
Fearful Father, have mercy on us.
Merciful Father, have mercy on us.
Almighty Father, have mercy on us.
Eternal Father, have mercy on us.
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.
Father of Mary, mother of Your only begotten Son, have mercy on us.
Our Father, have mercy on us.
Father of lights, in whom there is no shadow of change, have mercy on us.
Father from whom is sent the promised Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Father before whom time and space lie prostrate, have mercy on us.
Father before whom the Angels cry: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, have mercy on us.
Father who did not even spare His own Son, have mercy on us.
Father, incomprehensible yet irresistible, have mercy on us.
Father, so unloved by us weak creatures, have mercy on us.
Father, whose choice it was to love us in the Chalice, have mercy on us.
Father, whose Will rejoices the faithful more then all riches, have mercy on us.
Father, author of the soul's worth, have mercy on us.
Father, most jealous lover, have mercy on us.
Father, absolute Truth, have mercy on us.
Father, unconditional Love, have mercy on us.
Father, the Mighty one of Israel, have mercy on us.
Father, from whom every family on earth receives its name, have mercy on us.
Father, the Great Amen of His holy people, have mercy on us.
Father, upon whose bosom alone Jesus sought to rest His Sacred head, have mercy on us.
Father, upon whose hands we are inscribed, have mercy on us.
Father, pride of the Child Jesus in the Temple, have mercy on us.
Father, Daddy of all the Baptized, have mercy on us.
Father, loves destination and eternal abode, have mercy on us.
Father, the joy sought in the darkness of Gethsemane's garden, have mercy on us.
Father, You alone and nothing else is needed, have mercy on us.
Father, whose patience overshadows the confessional, have mercy on us.
Father, recipient and glory of all priestly sacrifice, have mercy on us.
Father, who delights to kill the fatted calf, have mercy on us.
Father of orphans, have mercy on us.
Father, wealth of the poor, have mercy on us.
Father of the Divine Bridegroom, have mercy on us.
Father, unapproachable Light which beckons us forth, have mercy on us.
Father, whose majesty is equaled only by humanity's need for You, have mercy on us.
Father, King of the great wedding banquet, have mercy on us.
Father, who inhabits the praises of His Church, have mercy on us.
Father, author of Life, have mercy on us.
Father, who delights to give us the kingdom, have mercy on us.
Father, who gives us the True Bread from heaven, have mercy on us.
Father, the Law-giver and the Just Judge, have mercy on us.
Father, whose wisdom shows itself in the folly of the Cross, have mercy on us.
Father, whose purity is seductive, have mercy on us.
Father, who rested on the 7th day, have mercy on us.
Father whose pockets are deep and whose hands are not cheap, have mercy on us.
Father, the longed-for Jubilee of all creation, have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, continue revealing the face of Your Father.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, make us worthy of such a Father.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, teach us to cuddle in the arms of the Father.

Verse: No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Response: Lord, be our way, our Truth and our life.

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus Christ, You learned obedience through what You suffered. Teach us to suffer all things gracefully so as to be obedient sons and daughters of our Father who is in heaven. May every Cross we confront in our daily living be borne for the joy of offering the Father sacrifices that remind Him of Your perfect sacrifice. We ask You to accomplish this by saturating our hearts, minds and souls with the power and warmth of Your Holy Spirit who with You and the Father are One God, forever and ever. Amen.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen - click below

http://www.americancatholictruthsociety.com/articles/sheen.htm

Kateri Tekakwitha - Lily of the Mohawks

I believe Kateri is interceding for me, and us here in Fredericton, NB!
....and I like the priest in this video - something honest and good about him.
A good spirit...reminds me of many of the priests I have met.

I pray Kateri stirs up some holy disobedience...to combat the stifling spirit.

Join me in reading more about Kateri here:
http://www.thelifeofkateritekakwitha.net/en/pc/chapter1.html

Seeing Beyond

I am a red-letter Christian, 

sort of*. 

I believe the first disciples of Christ,

especially throughout the beginning centuries, 

show that they operated according the the Scriptures. 

And I also believe that what I do is in accord with Biblical principles,

especially the Mass. 

Speaking of which, today is the celebration of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

i found it super interesting to see that in the readings

for today, (see http://usccb.org/nab/062910b.shtml - if interested), 

there is reference to chains.  The story of Peter's being rescued from prison

by an Angel is the first reading at Mass today.  I found this interesting in the

context of TJ's prayer last night (Trinitea's Tea House Prayer shop - Fredericton) 

about being 'unchained' and several spontaneous prayers about things being unchained with keys.  

Keys - of course, figure large in the Gospel chosen for today.  Jesus tells Peter,

"You are Peter...and on this rock I will build my Church - and the gates of hell

shall not prevail against it".  This presupposes that the gates of Hell will be stormed...

wow, there is a vision for evangelization!  

Jesus gives Peter the 'keys of the kingdom' - that

whatever is bound on earth will be bound in heaven...a biblical reference in Catholic 

tradition to the sacrament of reconciliation.

Back to modern day.  Also of interest, on the same night we gathered, Pope Benedict announced the formation of a new international council for evangelization - targeting in specific those nations once

evangelized and now fallen into secularism, hedonism and relativism.  Wow, that doesn't 

happen everyday.  And furthermore, he pointed to the need for Christians to work together for

the full unity Christ prayed for.  In fact, the feast of Peter and Paul stands for and highlights unity.

It is interesting that Peter, who 'holds the keys' would make such an 

announcement from the Eternal City on the very day we were gathered together in full ecumenical array at a Tea shop in Fredericton, NB.  The Spirit is so cool.

Father Aaron

here:  see http://www.zenit.org/article-29734?l=english for Benedict's full homily.  

Feel free to send this blog to your friends or post it to your Facebook account. 

http://aaronchristopherknox.blogspot.com/

A further note on 'red-letter'

* I do not see teachings/precepts that flow from that which is not 'red-letter' (Christ's verbal text in the Holy Scriptures) as extra or irrelevant or 'man-made'.  Far from it!  I can imagine that the reason for taking up such a position is because of the scandal that comes from feeling like any other system of belief appears to be too bound-up/technical/rule-bound/devoid of spirit.  But its hard to get away from the human dynamic.  In that vein, 'Non-denominational' is by now a denomination in its own right. :) 

Anyways, my interest is not debate.  However, I could not resist a wee comment.  Its an Irish thing.  Or maybe a Scottish thing.  How bout those family roots - no wonder I'm so neurotic! 

* I love good film.  I hear that Faith Like Potatoes is excellent!  Not as titillating as Iron Man II perhaps, but wait for the good stuff to hit the heart!  With love, rather than a plasma blast.  I can think of no one I'd like to plasma blast...but then again, it is early in the day.

Have you heard Matt Maher?  You can find him on Youtube.  A Catholic worship artist who has performed with Hillsong Australia, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, etc.

His song, Alive Again (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6w5szlpedY), 

is modeled after Saint Augustine's great prayer...

"Late have I loved you, O beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you" 

- full text?  see http://feastofsaints.com/ancientnew.htm

......

Vivat Jesu!  Long live Jesus.  Long live 'the King'. 

" Few things are important,
indeed only One. "


With Love, 
Father Aaron


Further reading:
Archbishop Timothy Dolan's blog: 
http://www.facebook.com/notes/archbishop-timothy-dolan/to-whom-shall-we-go/405920263074

Archbishop Charles Chaput's latest: 
http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/4113

For the unlikely lover of liturgy:
*one of the greats: Guardini - http://www.jknirp.com/guardf.htm

Mother Knows Best

WHY MUST WE GIVE OURSELVES TO GOD?
- Mother Teresa

Why must we give ourselves fully to God?  

Because God has given Himself to us.  

If God who owes nothing to us is ready to impart to us no less than Himself,

shall we answer with just a fraction of ourselves?

                        
To hear Mother speak in person/downloadable audio:
http://catholicaudio.blogspot.com/2008/12/mother-theresas-1994-prayer-breakfast.html

Hi.
If you got to this blogspot its probably because you know me.
And if you know me, well, we probably haven't talked in a while.
"Things are going well...I'm in Fredericton...priesthood is great...I went to France
awhile back..."  Ok, i'll be honest - what I'd rather do is share some of my writing/thoughts.
The blog entitled 'Diocesan Cigarettes' is my latest work.  My hope is
that is strikes you as entertaining, sarcastic yet with a subtle oak aftertaste.
I know it can be painstaking to read electronic screens.  But I hope you enjoy. Click on
Older Post to see 'Diocesan Cigarettes'.

Diocesan Cigarettes...

*Disclaimer of claimability: 

The litany of saints was prayed over me when I was ordained a priest.  Maybe this article is written under their snickering guidance.  Or perhaps they are terribly upset with it and rushing to their prayer stalls.  In any event, I hope to be keeping them busy.*

Hi.

True story: 

The parking lot of the church continues to be a haven for lethal potholes.  

The readings this week are difficult.  I do not feel motivated to preach. 

The music ministers need a visit, the deck needs fixing, the car is due for repair, i need an eye examination and new glasses.  

And amidst the sea-squall of things, oh - and a homily too...a question wells up...

- what is the significance?

The diocese is worried about lawsuits and restoring buildings.

Is 'evangelization' on the top of anyone's list?

Listen, I have the answer: We don't need another strategy, we need cigarettes.  

My grandmother Sadie Knox smoked cigarettes.  

I think priests, seminarians, and especially bishops, should 

get special benefits for smoking.  

And just think, if we all sat around and smoked together, that

would be a communal activity that could bond us closer together.

That's how they did it in the old days.  I wonder

if we might have been better off in some ways?  Self-care is good (and all

the rage these days), but imagine crying tears of laughter or pain into a good scotch with a trusted priest friend.  

You know what gets me?  It seems everyone has the answer to how to 'fix' things.

"The Bishop should do this or that" - yes, many arm-chair bishops reign over diocesan-living-rooms.  If only we could handle the fact that God has chosen and given us a bishop...one whom I happen to admire and believe in.  But even if I didn't, even if I wouldn't share my last cigarette with him - NEWS FLASH - he would still be Christ's vicar for our part of the world!  I wish more people 'got' it...namely, that 

meta-reform at the diocesan level is tied to personal-reform (ie. conversion of heart, maturity).  

I come to this scholarly and ecclesiastically refined question:

"Who will come, and light a fire under us?"  

The answer?  The Holy Spirit.

Seriously, if the Spirit had to do it today, 

would it be tongues of fire on the head...or flames of fire on the arse?  

Hey, don't get me wrong.  I am at least as guilty of inaction, resistance and fear as the next person.  I am reluctant to risk my reputation, instead clutching onto less important things as if they were the last cigarette on earth.  What I hate most - and love most - is meeting people genuinely given over to building up the kingdom.  O, these hateful lovely people make all us arm-chair philosophs look so, well, stuffy.  Instead, these have translated love for Christ into action.  O how it burns when we see them succeeding.  And yet they also encourage us to step out from the shadows and to 'let our light shine'.

I think our choices as a diocese, and a presbyterate are simple.  

Smoke or pray.  Work together or be disconnected.  

Show concern for our discipleship and fight for it, or go with the tide of self-righteous, self-help, self-religiousity that surrounds us.  

Take up our cross and follow Jesus, the Church, our Bishop, the Pope.  

Or follow the crowd, popular culture, political ideologues, music performers or enlightened individuals.  

Elisha followed Elijah.  

Saint Paul followed Jesus.

There is a cost.  

There is a great line in a movie I once liked, 

"Get busy living, or get busy dying..."

Well, the gospel seems to invite us to get on with it.

What will it be...endless posturing - excuses?  Frustration...

or discipleship?  

Discipleship allows us to overcome the bonds of doubt and follow Jesus without fear. 

As the song says, 

When my name gets called up yonder, I hope to be in that number,

when the saints go marching in...

I sing that song, 'when the saints go marching in' most often in a nursing home in Stanley.  I would be lying if I said the resident who sings it didn't strike me as inspiring.  She has given her last smoke away.  She knows where she wants to go. She knows the song-sheet she wishes to sing from.

Back to the potholes, the car repairs, the million things to 'do'.  

I am challenged to bring these things to prayer.  My life to prayer. 

To pray like I need guidance...and love.  

Without prayer I am just a fearful, unconfident faker.  

But with the Spirit, I am a son of God, who has nothing to fear,

because I have experienced God's unconditional love.

I guess it all ends here.  At the Eucharist.  The sacrament of God's love.

The expression of the Father's unconditional love.

We need that even more than we need strategies, protocols, cigarettes, or anything else that is really nice. 

We need Jesus, risen from the dead.

We need the Cross.

We need evangelization.

We need disciples. 

Aaron C. Knox

*For insurance purposes, the carrier of this article wishes to strenuously object to the referencing of smoking cigarettes.  Smoking is a semi-legal and semi-logical endemical pandemic that shall cut short the life of millions of citizens of this globe. ...On second thought, due to non-rational population-explosion worries, we rescind the above and thank you for smoking.