Breaking News / Reclaiming the Family Dinner Hour

My father recently penned an article in which he touched upon his fond memories of the family eating together around the dinner table, and it encouraged some serious thinking on my part.  I'm the first to admit that dinner time for us is not always what it should be.  While we always eat together, we aren't quite so careful about eating at the table (with the television off).  As a borderline "news junkie," I admit it....  I enjoy eating dinner in front of the television.  There, it's out.  


I suppose I'm a recovering news junkie now, but that's another story.  The bottom line is that the family dinner table is a wonderful thing that I think is too often overlooked.  Let's face it, with the Middle East tensions and economic worries, there's a lot of sense in being informed on current events.  What I'm (slowly) learning, though, is that there are other options for getting the news than devoting your dinnertime to that activity--and the same goes for any other type of program, too.  What I have begun doing, for instance, is recording the news shows (or Dr. Who episodes) to watch them later.


It's not exactly rocket science, but it definitely is much easier to carry on a meaningful conversation at a quiet table with no distracting television or radio in the background.  It also helps children develop their table manners and conversational skills (sometimes some debate skills thrown in for good measure).  It's not an exaggeration, but simple moments like these really help parents learn who their children are growing up to become.  It is also a wonderful time to talk about faith and belief in God and trust in His Church--why we believe what we do.  


While life is easier on the surface now with luxuries we take for granted such as electricity and running water, sometimes I wonder what we've surrendered in exchange for these comforts.  Remember literature of the past century or two and recollect the fondness and warmth frequently reflected in the authors' vivid descriptions of family dinners--Charles Dickens, Daniel Defoe, and perhaps Robert Louis Stevenson come to mind.  (An interesting example of this kind of writing comes from early issues of Good Housekeeping.)  It's possible these described sentiments of old will begin to fade and vanish, becoming foreign concepts for future generations, if we let the opportunities to be true stewards of family time today slip by.  After all, for parents there is no option for "re-do."

Christ, the Lord is Risen Today!

While it may be a little early for this post, I likely won't have time again this weekend.  That being the case, Happy Easter to you and yours!

Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!

Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Lo! the Sun’s eclipse is over, Alleluia!
Lo! He sets in blood no more, Alleluia!

Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, Alleluia!
Christ hath burst the gates of hell, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia!
Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Hail, the Lord of earth and Heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to Thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail, the resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

King of glory, Soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, Thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing and thus to love, Alleluia!

Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!

But the pains that He endured, Alleluia!
Our salvation have procured, Alleluia!
Now above the sky He’s King, Alleluia!
Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!

Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!

Charles Wesley




Update:


Click Here to hear this hymn (from Queen of Peace Catholic Church on April 8, 2012).

The Connection Illusion

I'm not the first to reveal the irony of social media (and electronics in general) in regards to family life.  That is, something created supposedly to help bring us all together seems to do a much better job keeping us apart, isolated in our own little spaces with our eyes fixated on the flickering screen.  While we may know much more about our long lost friend Fred from Weiser, Idaho, the tradeoff often seems to be our immediate family.  I know I'm generalizing here, and it's true that some families are able to do an admirable job at monitoring and limiting electronic usage, but I don't think we're the only parents who have a challenge at times reigning in the electronic games or computer time.  


Looking back on my childhood, it's easy to romanticize the outside time component a little too much.  I was not exactly an outside kind of kid.  While I didn't spend every spare moment outside, I never resisted it either.  Something seems to have changed in the subsequent decades.  It's not just about the lack of real socialization or communication during online time either, it's a whole shift in communications.  Attention spans are shorter and vocabularies are smaller,too.  


I remember once finding an old newspaper stuffed inside a wall of my boyhood home.  It was less than a century old, but the vocabulary was grades above what passes for a newspaper today.  When vocabulary falls, our ability to express and articulate ourselves falters, as well.  In fact, that opens the subject of writing.  Look at instant messaging's effect on writing--it's downright depressing.  I'm not saying that we all should strive for the vocabulary of Charles Dickens, but, on second thought, let's all strive for the vocabulary of Charles Dickens.  


In addition to loss of our substantive connections, wasted time, and lost vocabulary, there are other elements, too.  Take e-mail, for instance.  Looking back to how hard I worked at staying in contact with friends after leaving my hometown for Seattle, one would think that e-mail would be a huge help in staying and keeping connected.  Not really.  Instead, I find people I know, at least, don't seem to write personal letters anymore.  E-mails are great, but it's even better to get an old fashioned hand-written letter, don't you think?  Besides the loss of these letters, there's also the frequent inability to reach people via e-mail.  Often times, the reason boils down to what you might call a "connections overload."  Some people seem so overwhelmed that they'd like to go crawl under the nearest rock--then they find out there's WiFi there, too.


I am not going so far as to suggest a Harrison Ford Mosquito Coast departure from modern life.  In fact, I'll be honest...  As a guy who considers writing his second job, I have to stay somewhat immersed in this stuff.  What I would suggest, though, is that everyone remember that technology is like like a good hammer, a tool.  We can't un-ring the technology bell and return to the 1970s.  (Yikes!  That's a scary thought.)  We can and should try to keep things in perspective.  Our iPhone can't be taken to eternity when we fall asleep for the last time someday.  In the end, when we look back on these years from some distant vantage point, time with family will be much more important than our high score on "Angry Birds."  Now...go get off the computer and read to your kids...I have to go tweet my cat's latest updates.
  

Etiquette at Mass

I'm no expert when it comes to etiquette at Mass, but I, at least, can recognize a problem when I see it.  Here is my top fifteen list of things we really shouldn't be doing (or sometimes should be doing) while we're attending Mass.  


1.  Genuflect towards the tabernacle before taking your seat.  This is a display of reverence, which acknowledges the real and mysterious presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.  


2.  Avoid talking loudly in the sanctuary.  Unless we've actually been asked to speak to the congregation, let's keep our voices down to a reverent level.  For those who are trying to worship, it's a distraction within Holy Mass.  There's a social dimension to Mass, but that shouldn't be our main reason for being there.


3.  Dress appropriately.  Mini-skirts, for instance, don't belong in the sanctuary.  They say "Look at me!" when we should be saying "Look at Him!"


4.  Unless unusual circumstances exist, come to Mass in clean clothes.  


5.  Ringing cell phones and pagers distract, too.  Turn them off.


6.  Don't eat in the sanctuary. This should go without saying, but, besides being poor form, it breaks the fast.


7.  An attitude of reverence and respect is necessary when coming forward in the Communion line.  Don't expect the priest or Extraordinary Minister of the Holy Communion to offer the Eucharist otherwise.  (When I was serving once as an EMHC, I had a teenager casually extend his hands which were entirely withdrawn inside the sleeves of his sweatshirt--and he didn't even make initial eye contact.)  


8.  Don't take the Eucharist in your hands to dip yourself into the chalice.  This is called intinction, and, according to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, the act of intinction is reserved for the priest, then placed on the tongue of the communicant.  (287)


9.   Keep your kiddos under control.  (A good book on this topic would be this one from Michael Rayes.)  We appreciate you bringing your kids to Mass, and we know it can be hard sometimes.  Most of us are very patient, but when the priest can no longer be heard, it's a good indicator that it's time to take your child out for a bit.


10.  It's inappropriate to leave Mass before the priest.  In fact, why don't you stay and sing the dismissal hymn?  Are we keeping you from something...?


11.  Don't be in such a rush to leave that you force others to exit the pew earlier than they would prefer.  That's pure and simple selfishness.  (Had an older lady do this to us once.  This was the same lady who put the kneeler down on my cast when my leg was broken.)


12.  As far as the music director is concerned, please don't ask the congregation to sing a hymn which fails to convey the message it purports to offer.  Understand that words mean things, and that many congregants will stop singing if the words fail to measure up.  


13.  As a worship leader or priest, try to avoid jargon of the day.  Environmental stewardship is one thing.  Teaching on recycling methods at length is probably a step or two too far.  While we should be engaging the present culture, our eyes at Mass should be turned more to the eternal than the temporal.


14.  As you pull into or out of the parking lot, remember where you are / have been.  Let your life be a reflection of Christ outside the walls of the church, too. This means, for instance, helping a person you see collapse in the parking lot or avoiding laying on your horn as you grab the desired parking spot.  


15.  For professing Catholics, confession is not a "recommended" activity, but a required Sacrament.  Remember also the warning of 1 Corinthians 11:27 concerning the taking of the Sacrament in an unworthy manner.  As Bishop Fulton Sheen warned in one of his latter talks, this is a serious offense and places both your spiritual and physical health in real danger.  Speak to your priest for more information.

Palm Sunday Reflections

It is my sincere hope that the season of Lent has brought you time for meaningful reflection and prayer as you look ahead to the joy of Easter.  I'd like to begin by sharing this Sunday's reading from the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 21:1-11

When Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem
and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives,
Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them,
“Go into the village opposite you,
and immediately you will find an ass tethered,
and a colt with her.
Untie them and bring them here to me.
And if anyone should say anything to you, reply,
‘The master has need of them.’
Then he will send them at once.”
This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet
might be fulfilled:Say to daughter Zion,
“Behold, your king comes to you,
meek and riding on an ass,
and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”
The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them.
They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them,
and he sat upon them.
The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road,
while others cut branches from the trees
and strewed them on the road.
The crowds preceding him and those following
kept crying out and saying:
“Hosanna to the Son of David;
blessed is the he who comes in the name of the Lord;
hosanna in the highest.”
And when he entered Jerusalem
the whole city was shaken and asked, “Who is this?”
And the crowds replied,
“This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Amidst all the hectic activity and planning for next week's Easter celebration, it's essential to pause and reflect upon what Easter brings each of us.  The most Holy Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross gives us the awe-inspiring gift of eternal salvation, if we stand with Christ.  This grace is not something we've earned, but, if the grace of Christ exists within us, our outward behavior and actions will (imperfectly) reflect His heavenly light. 

Lent is a particularly wonderful time to strengthen our prayer life.  Even if it's just a few minutes on some days, I encourage you to find that niche of time every day that you can devote to prayer and reading of His Word.  When prayer life is improved (along with regular Mass attendance and partaking of the Sacraments), your spiritual strength through Him who is within you will be much better equipped to successfully engage those daily struggles and temptations.  Without a strong prayer life, you're denying yourself a relationship with your Creator.  And as Saint Jerome said concerning reading of the Bible, "Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ."

It's a silly analogy in many ways...but take a look at picture accompanying this blog post.  I photographed this inquisitive red fox last month on the west side of San Juan Island in Washington State.  I had seen him in the distance and stopped the van on a narrow island road to catch the photos.  To my surprise, he just began ambling towards us as soon as I stopped.  (I suspect drivers sometimes give handouts of tasty morsels.)  What I find interesting is the degree to which the fox's paws are covered with mud and dirt.  It struck me that sin clings to us in a similar way if we fail to seek forgiveness. (Pilgrim's Progress use of the heavy back on Christian's back is a much better illustration.)  


Furthermore, if we fail to make the effort to improve ourselves, to strengthen our hearts against evil, then we are like a hunted animal returning time and again to the place where he knows there is peril lying in wait.  Trust in God!  

A Few More Words on Sanger--and Life

Originally, I had planned to devote several blog posts to the abortion question, but I think I've covered most of what I set out to address.  In closing, I would urge readers on the fence about Planned Parenthood's mission today to read-up on her founder.  Besides reading excerpts of her works, her quotes quickly convey many of her personal "qualities."  There's this favorite, for example, which was taken from Women and the New Race.  "The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it." 

Repeatedly, she refers to her desire for "thoroughbreds" when it comes to the generations to follow.  In other words, she is espousing eugenics.  This is the same belief which led to the rise to power of a certain German by the name of Hitler.  A good article on the September 1957 Mike Wallace interview of Sanger may be found at LifeSite News.  Also, I found the interview itself available courtesy the Harry Ransom Center, the University of Texas at Austin.  It's fascinating to watch this interview, to have the opportunity to not only analyze her words but also her mannerisms.

I'd like to move towards conclusion with a small quote a bit from the Fact Sheet for the Unborn Infant Pain Relief Act.  The information contained within the quote comes from the research of Dr. Paul Ranalli, neurologist, University of Toronto.

FACT:  Unborn children at 20 weeks 

gestation probably feel pain more      

intensely than adults. This is a 

“uniquely vulnerable time, since the 

pain system is fully established, yet the 

higher level pain-modifying system has 

barely begun to develop.”

I would also encourage readers to take a look at what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say on the issue of abortion.  The eloquent words carry a clarity of thought and authority worthy of much deep thought and contemplation.  In short, I urge readers not to sit back and avoid taking a stand for the unborn. Some may say that the current state of affairs is as good as we're going to get. While that may sadly be true, this doesn't excuse the faithful from trying to do what they can for the most vulnerable persons among us.

What is the Legacy of Margaret Sanger?

With the topic of abortion being discussed on the airwaves so much lately, I thought it might be a good time to devote a blog entry or two to the issue.  When you hear people  making statements along the lines of "abortion on demand is a right of all women" or the particularly bewildering whine of "keep your laws off my body," * we're hearing echoes of Margaret Sanger's voice, but who was she?  

Much controversy surrounds Sanger, the founder of today’s Planned Parenthood.  Born into a large family in 1883, she devoted her life to a variety of causes, but birth control was consistently at the top of her list.  It is the relationship and motivation between her causes which appears to be one of the keys in understanding this figure.  For example, she was a strong proponent of eugenics and appears to have been racist in regards to those of African heritage.  She wrote derisively about the poor and those of African heritage in works such as the Pivot of Civilization.  H. G. Wells penned the following within the introduction to this chilling book. “We want fewer and better children who can be reared up to their full possibilities in unencumbered homes, and we cannot make the social life and the world-peace we are determined to make, with the ill-bred, ill-trained swarms of inferior citizens that you inflict upon us.”   

What is Sanger’s continuing legacy?  As Pope John Paul II characterized this general movement towards moral entropy in 1995, it has become a “culture of death”. The culture of death represents a formidable obstacle to be overcome if Christians are to be successful in curtailing the moral and demographic injury inflicted through abortion on demand.  The Christian should peacefully do what is within his power to make individuals aware of alternatives to and the finality of abortion—finality everywhere, that is, but within the grieving mother’s own heart and mind over the coming years.  The enduring legacy of Margaret Sanger is seen in the fact that (at last check) a quarter of all pregnancies in the United States today ends in abortion.  This means that our nation loses 1.31 million unborn persons with each passing year.  

The Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church in 1930 reversed itself and approved the first uses of contraception for its members.  Other Protestant denominations quickly jumped on this bandwagon.  Less than a quarter century later, the field of eugenics was reaching its height of popularity.  Catholic writers such as G.K. Chesterton warned that this was a dangerous road to travel down, but many began to believe that it was society’s right and duty to improve upon God’s creation.  A number of state laws were passed, for example, which required sterilization of those persons who were deemed inferior to the rest of society, “for the greater good”.  This desire to exercise increased direction and control upon procreation soon led to even more effective birth control methods such as the pill, which was introduced in the United States in 1965.  A year later, abortion, something abhorred by the Church since the First Century, began to be seen as yet another birth control alternative.

Believers are warned in Leviticus 18:21,"Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD."  As G.K. Chesterton wrote in The Everlasting Man, the devouring diety called Moloch might have never existed, but "his meal was not a myth."  The reader is reminded of God's love and intimate knowledge of the unborn child in passages such as Jeremiah 1:5 and Psalm 139:15-16.  Both the Christian and the Jew have the duty to present an opposite force for good and life in the world.  Because, as Saint Augustine wrote in Confessions, God “is life itself, immutable.” 

* As beings in possession of physical natures, this particular line of reasonsing would be amusing--except for the lack of critical thinking it betrays.  All laws concern our behavior, and all behavior is externalized through our physical form--e.g. thoughts lead to actions.  Does the speaker perhaps wish only our thoughts be subject to law?  




The above photo was taken at Roche Harbor, San Juan Island, WA.