15 05, 2015

Old People with Cell Phones in Adoration

By |2015-05-15T16:21:29+00:00May 15th, 2015|Life|

I got debilitated by some Indian food poisoning, so I let Ryan start the Camino without me.  I got some good time in adoration in Pamplona.  Let me be clear:  I love seeing people of all backgrounds and ages in adoration.  No one who claims to be pro-life should even begin to bothered by crying babies in adoration chapels.  At the other end of the spectrum, let me say that I love seeing the more "mature" generation in adoration, too.  However, someone needs to tell them how not to use a cell phone before the Blessed Sacrament.  Who will do it?  Ok.  I will do it in a top ten countdown: 10) You don't have [...]

12 05, 2015

Mary and Pentecost part II

By |2015-05-14T17:05:13+00:00May 12th, 2015|Theology|

The unity between the Holy Spirt and Mary is so intimate that each one can be called the Immaculate Conception—one in eternity, and one in time. However, to understand the importance of Mary in our lives, we have to understand the basics of the Holy Spirit, as given to us by the earliest Christians. This post will be like a tornado hitting a junk pile and then organizing it into nice categories, so bear with the heavy theology at the beginning. Every earthly analogy to explain the Blessed Trinity eventually breaks down, but the least-failing analogy is the following: The Trinity is like a fire. There is a flame.  There is a light.  [...]

9 05, 2015

RIP Dr. Alfred Woodward M.D.

By |2015-05-11T08:46:18+00:00May 9th, 2015|Life|

The personal physician of Mother Teresa died two days ago (7 May 2015.)  May God grant eternal light and peace to Dr. Alfred C. Woodward M.D. Actually, I brought him all the sacraments two days before that, including Mass in his room.  He had had a heart attack a month or two ago, but I was surprised at his rapid demise, considering that when I saw him, he was awake, alert, ambulatory...and extremely polite.  Since his death, the sisters have told me about his wholehearted and free service to the poorest of the poor of Kolkata, and it is top news for the Times of India. Here's a picture taken by his [...]

6 05, 2015

Mary and Pentecost part I

By |2015-05-07T06:45:30+00:00May 6th, 2015|Theology|

I suppose I wasn’t clear with my friends or family exactly what I’m doing in India this time either. The Missionaries of Charity at the Mother House in Kolkata wanted me to come back to do general confessions and deliverance prayers for two groups: 1) A youth group of Indian high school students run by four lay American missionaries. 2) University aged students of volunteers from around the world. It sounds like a glorious work, but I only have the energy for two of these sessions a day. This depresses me when I think of how St. Francis Xavier, at the height of his ministry, was baptizing between 300 and [...]

5 05, 2015

He’s got nothing on me

By |2015-05-05T02:38:09+00:00May 5th, 2015|Theology|

In today's Gospel, Jesus speaks to the Apostles before His death: "I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father." (John 14:30) I noticed that the Greek doesn't actually have the word power (dunamis) as the English translations do. So, I'm going to give you my literal translation of that line from today's Gospel: "The ruler of the world comes and he has nothing on me, but so that the world might know that I love the Father...(this I do.)" (John 14:30-31) Yes, Jesus literally says of [...]

2 05, 2015

Fire of India

By |2015-07-10T13:27:26+00:00May 2nd, 2015|Theology|

Y'all know I'm in India, but I haven't told y'all about why I came to India for the first time last autumn. It was to help with a new video on the lives of three saints who came to India (St. Thomas the Apostle, St. Francis Xavier and Mother Teresa.) The short movie was produced by my friend Anand and created by my friend Keenan. My job was apparently to sit on the set and drink chai tea. I was very good at that, and good at little else.  But I'm happy to say it's going to be released on Ask a Bishop, so here's the short preview of what [...]

2 05, 2015

Deodorant

By |2015-05-03T13:37:24+00:00May 2nd, 2015|Life|

The Americans I live with got me Old Spice, for showers here are rendered useless within five minutes of walking through the streets of Kolkata.  Old Spice is a time-tested product that has been eclipsed by newer sprays that promise impassioned encounters with strangers.  So, I'm happy to go with the Old Spice.  However, with the above advertising, I suspect that Old Spice decided that instead of simply replacing the geriatric connotations with sex, they could just combine the two. This advertising stunt of being self-deprecating is a bit like how Radio Shack had a Super Bowl commercial with the Muppets so as to display a good self-deprecating admission of [...]

1 05, 2015

Sr. Nirmala, Missionary of Charity

By |2015-07-10T13:28:52+00:00May 1st, 2015|Life|

Sr. Nirmala Joshi MC is found to the left in the picture above.  It's taken on 14 March 1997, the day that Mother Teresa and a closed-door vote of about 100 sisters made Sr. Nirmala the Superior General of the 5,000 Missionaries of Charity world-wide.   CNN took notice in this article because a Hindu-convert to Catholicism took over the most rapidly-expanding religious order of the 20th century. (Up to that point, her CV was already impressive, as Mother Teresa’s co-founder of the MCs and the foundress of the Contemplative Branch of the Missionaries of Charity in 1976.) Now Sr. Nirmala is 81 years old. She had a heart attack about [...]

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