Unapologetic Catholic

100 Catholic Patron Saints Quiz: Patrons for all

Here's a quiz for you.  See if you can identify the saint with the patronage.  Some are pretty easy.  Some can be guessed with a little knowledge of scripture and history.  Some stumped me completely.  Is there some reason why St. Thomas More is the patron saint of both lawyers and difficult marriages?  Some saints have multiple patronages.  St. Joseph, understandably is in great demand for workers, fathers, those near death and real estate agents.  Some patronages have multiple saints--ugly people for example, may need all the help they can get.  Saints Drogo and Germaine, pray for us!

I'm not sure there's an official list of patron saints, but I do like to be able to check out some of the background of saints to see why they might be the patron of a particular activity.  Now I know why there are so many parishes named for St. Emydius in California.  (Google if you don't believe me!)

The 100 patron saint list doesn't include some of my favorites.  My own special patron did not make the list.  Neither did my confirmation name saint I selected because my parents were told they might be childless.  Obviously, they were not.

Somebody I pray to for special reason , who is not a saint--yet.

Me too

A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones” (Proverbs 14:30.

Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?” (Proverbs 27:4)

On one hand, Flos Carmelli has a post on his private envy. I can only add, "Me, too."  My doubts are so overwhelming at times, I get choked up.

On the other hand, Joe Carter at the Evangelical Outpost is plagued by certainty.

On a positive note, religious doubt may have health benefits.  Or maybe not.

A worthy wife

When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls.
Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize.
She brings him good, and not evil, all the days of her life.
She obtains wool and flax and makes cloth with skillful hands.

Proverbs 31:10-13

I have been very lucky to have first hand experience with the truth of this scripture.

Curiously, I haven't found a similar passage about husbands.  Maybe wives don't need to be told this truth as often?

Training the boy

Thorns and snares are on the path of the crooked; he who would safeguard his life will shun them.
Train a boy in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not swerve from it.
The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
He who sows iniquity reaps calamity, and the rod destroys his labors.

             Proverbs  22: 5-8

My son has not been going the "way he should go."  Yet, I must leave this in God's hands, reluctantly.

I hope someday to kill a fatted calf.

How to tell the difference between truth and falsehood.

A faithful witness will not lie: but a deceitful witness uttereth a lie.
A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: the learning of the wise is easy.
Go against a foolish man, and he knoweth not the lips of prudence.
The wisdom of a discreet man is to understand his way: and the imprudence of fools erreth.

Proverbs 14:5-8

Telling the difference between the truth and a lie is sometimes painfully simple.  Other times, it's maddeningly frustrating.  Sometimes those who speak wisdom and integrity do so very quietly.  Today, have I listened to others as well as I could?

Fatherhood

My son, forget not my law, and let thy heart keep my commandments.

For they shall add to thee length of days, and years of life, and peace.

Let not mercy aud truth leave thee, put them about thy neck, and write them in the tables of thy heart.

And thou shalt find grace, and good understanding before God and men.

Proverbs 3:1-4

Pondering on fatherhood lately.   My son struggles.  What wisdom can I pass to him?  What if he doesn't want to hear?

What wisdom of my father's did I ignore?  What wisdom of God's am I still ignoring?

Semper Fidelis

Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost takes on Andrew Sullivan.  Those who are familiar with Joe Carter know him to be a highly effective evangelical apologist.  He is forthright, focused on scripture and is a proponent of Pope John Paul’s culture of life.  He has a lot in common with orthodox Catholics and conservative politicians.  He is witty, educated and tolerates a lively and contentious combox debate, seldom seen in the blogsphere.  I disagree with him a lot and agree with him a lot, but all his posts either focus my own thoughts or are just hilarious.

To no ones’ surprise, he has some fundamental disagreements with Andrew Sullivan. 

To begin, he makes what I would have assumed to be an unremarkable observation. He is about to administer some harsh and strongly worded fraternal correction and therefore describes Andrew Sullivan as “a brother in Christ.”

Surprisingly, this creates an uproar in the comments.  Joe correctly points out that all fellow Christians are brothers in Christ and that does not mean that he endorses Sullivan's personal life or theological beliefs.  Commenters still object that Sullivan is unrepentant.  Apparently so, but Joe points out he is not forecasting whether Sullivan will ultimately be among the saved ( a Protestant blog, remember?)  Joe leaves that matter to Sullivan and God.

Joe is right. Fellow Christians are "our brotheres and sisters in Christ." That means that Jerry Falwell, Ronert Sugenis and Tim La Fave are my brothers in Christ.  A painful thought, but Joe’s right.  I often overlook that, and to all my brothers and sisters in Christ—I apologize for frequently forgetting.

Joe not only lives up to Christian virtues, but also demonstrates the broad application of  the motto of his organization for many years, “Semper Fidelis.”  It’s nice to see a Christian be “always faithful.”

Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministers

Bill Cork has an excellent discussion of Eucharistic ministers  and the nature of the Eucharist.

I served as an extraordinary Eucharistic minister for 6 years.  Too long, in my opinion.  I decided to resign last year because I could detect a sense of habit and routine setting in.  This duty cannot be performed by habit or routine.  I cannot take it for granted, so I needed to step back, even though there is a shortage of people to serve as EEM's.  It's better not to do this duty than to do it poorly.

I look upon this duty as me simply serving as the extensions of the hands of the priest.  He just didn't have enough hands to go around, and I am contributing my hands during a time of priestly shortage.  Someday, the EEM will no longer be needed.

Even so, I was often overwhelmed by emotion after serving as an EEM.  The faith of those who receive is radiant on their faces and my own poor faith is put to shame.   Oh yes, there is the many casual recipients and many who I suspect do not have a clue or care about what they are doing.  That is mostly not my call, but I do report any abuses, general lack of reverence or other problems to the priest. 

I attempt to be "invisible" to the recipient. This is a meeting between the person and God.  I just happen to be nearby.  I try to be both reverent and unnoticed but will not hesitate to climb over pews to deliver the Body of Our Lord to an elderly or handicapped person who cannot go up to the altar.

On Good Friday, God bless our priests.

I suspect with the priest shortage, that things have gotten extremely hectic.  Priests aren’t allowed to have an “off-day” and often are called to deal with some family emergency of one sort or another.  See some “typical" entries here and here.  When the priest appears he is the representative of the Church and surely an Alter Christus when dealing with grief and tragedy.

I had intellectually processed this fact but not consciously thought about it until the evening on the day my wife died.  Returning from the accident site, I made a few phone calls.  One was to the rectory.  “Father wasn’t available just then, could I leave a message?” the receptionist asked.  I replied, “Yes, my wife died and I need immediate help for my sons and I need to arrange for a funeral.”   She told me, she’d give that message to Father.  Just like ordering pizza “with anchovies” was routine at Domino’s, I had made what was probably a routine call to the parish office, no reason to think I was unique.

Vaya con Dios

Today is the anniversary of my wife’s death.  She died in a freak accident that still leaves me puzzled years later.  This time of year always lays heavy on my heart but a few blog posts from different directions hit me.  Flos Carmelli, in particular had a very interesting series of posts, (The comments and responses are also very enlightening.)

Because of my wife’s death this subject is of more than academic interest to me.  I hope she is among those who have been saved. I am not sure I am in the top half of worthy humans so I certainly home “multitudes” are saved. I also believe there are evil people who have rejected God.  That exhausts the limits of my knowledge on this subject.

The other subject that I had to face was the role of chance, contingency, and perhaps luck in our lives.  My wife died at age 39, in the presence of her 12, 10 and 3 year old sons. She suffocated when a piece of camping equipment landed on her.  The “zone of danger” was very small, approximately 3 feet square.  The hazard existed only for about 5 seconds and you had to face a particular way to get a fatal result.  My wife had to get up from her position and move into the danger zone within a few seconds for all of it to happen the way t did.  Although my sons were the first aid response, their efforts were unsuccessful.

I was away on a business strip and had arrived earlier that evening, the Wednesday before Easter.  She and the boys were on a short camping trip, to arrive Holy Thursday afternoon.  As a family we would observe Good Friday, and celebrate Easter with our combined extended families.  The accident happened at 2:30 a.m on Holy Thursday.  Easter did not happen that year.

The cascade of events leading up to her death was so precise, it could not have been planned any better.  I realized that “Why?” was not a question with any meaningful answer.  I did decide a few things.  God did not “intend” (in the same way we humans intend) for my wife to die.  A series of random contingent events happened, as they happen every day.  God does not intend for three young boys to watch their mothers suffocate.  That leaves us with a mystery.  God has the power to intervene, but does not, whether it’s mothers suffocating or passenrsers on American Flight 11.

I concluded from that, and from listening to other stories when I later joined the bereavement ministry, that God’s consistent failure to work miracles to save lives is somehow related to the concept of free will.  I can’t get any closer than that.

Interestingly, in our bereavement ministry classes we collect the top ten stupid things people say to those who are grieving for a lost loved one.  Number one on the list—by far:

“It’s God’s will.” 

Number 2: “I know exactly how you feel.”  Number 3, for people like me, “You’re lucky you’re still young, you’ll find somebody fast.” My own personal favorite was “My dog died lat week, I know just how you feel.”  Told to my 3 year old son: “God needed another mother in heaven to watch over all the babies that died.”  My son replied simply, “I need my mom, He can go find another one.” 

All of these people mean well, but the comments all display a belief that somehow God plays some form of cosmic chess game with humans as pieces.  I don’t think this is true.  I am not sure of God’s plan for us. I do not know why thing happen the way they do and how God works in our lives.  I am very suspicious of those people who claim that they do know.   I do not believe that God works miracles (defined as departures form the laws of nature) very often and perhaps only a handful have occurred in the last 1900 years.  I think He very seldom interferes in human events.  I know He cares for us, but He cares in ways that we cannot comprehend and it is unfair of us to think He will intervene miraculously in our lives.

I do believe in the power of the Eucharist, a miracle that occurs daily.  I believe that God speaks to me in the silence of the Blessed Sacrament chapel. 

My next post will discuss the role that our priests play when we are dealing with the loss of our loved ones.