St. Anthony Found My Skink

So, yesterday, a series of events took place which led to my pet skink being lost in my apartment. I was pretty upset, and I didn't know if I'd ever see him again. But being the hopeful guy that I am, I started to look for him in my room, in the corners, and under things.

St. Anthony's feast day was not too long ago, and our Fr. Brian, in his homily, talked about St. Anthony and how you can pray to him when you lose things. So, I figured it was worth a shot. I'd never prayed to St. Anthony to find anything, but I decided to then.

No more than 30 seconds after I finished my prayer, my skink was found by one of my roommates in another room. Thanks St. Anthony. That's amazing. Stuff like this makes me want to love God more. He loves all of us all so much, and so do all the saints in heaven.

Mass vs. Private Adoration

I've been thinking about a question that has intrigued me in the past. If Mass is the most wonderful event to ever take part in, if it is indeed truly a re-presentation of Calvary, if going to one Mass is so incredibly valuable, then why spend time in private adoration before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, unless it's impossible to go to Mass?

Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament has become a very important part of my life, whether before Jesus exposed or in the tabernacle. There is something very wonderful about it, something very personal. Going to Mass is great as well, and indeed is much greater than simple private adoration; however, I do believe private adoration is vital and this is why.

Mass and private adoration have two distinct characters. Mass is a communal worship, whereas private adoration is, well, private. If you see the Christian life as a relationship, which indeed it is, then you will understand why these two aspects to the Christian life are important.

Jesus is the bridegroom, and the Church is the bride. The Church as a whole, not everyone individually. So, it makes wonderful sense that Jesus will truly change us in an act which is universal and communal. We come to Jesus in the Mass, the worship of the Church, which is the same everywhere, which is in reality the same event everywhere, that which took place 2000 years ago. However, we also know that Jesus wants to relate to us each individually.

This is where private adoration comes in. In adoration before Jesus, we meditate on Him; we allow ourselves to be changed by Him, in a way that is different than in the Mass, in a deeply personal way.

The Mass is the central aspect of our relationship with Jesus, and private adoration will bring us to a deeper appreciation of the Mass. The Mass is a beautiful painting, and the private adoration of each individual is the frame of that painting. The frame is nothing without the masterpiece in the center. However, the painting is missing something if the frame is not up to par.

So in conclusion, I must say that if Mass were celebrated 24/7 right across the street. I would not go to Mass every time I wanted to worship my Lord. I think it is much wiser, and much more beneficial to our spiritual lives to take that time in adoration before Him, even if we can get to Mass whenever we choose. Anyway, this is my understanding of the relationship between the Mass and the private adoration of individuals.

The Importance of Prayer

I've been thinking of the importance of prayer lately. Obviously prayer is very important, but why is it?

Let's say there's a guy stuck alone on a boat, and he is not trained in how to operate this boat. After a while, he can begin to understand how to make it function, mainly by trial and error. This method of learning will take years, and will cause much hardship, as the man will not always guess right on the first try. Eventually, though, he's bound to get a basic understandin of how to operate the boat. However, there are always surprises, such as storms, mechanical malfunctions, and the like. When these sort of things happen, things that the man has not run into before, he basically just has to guess what would be the best thing to do. Things could potentially go very wrong.

Now, let's say the engineer of the boat is in communication with the man on the boat. Obviously there are huge advantages here. First off, the man on the boat has someone to talk him through everything. He doesn't have to spend years making mistakes with the day to day operations of the boat. Also, when something goes wrong, the engineer will know best what to do. And, hopefully, if they talk on a regular basis, the man on the boat will know what to do in advance if some mechanical failure occurs. He will begin to have some of the overall knowledge that the engineer has.

Under this sort of situation, the man in the boat, and the engineer who created it will become good friends. The man will be much happier being in good contact with the engineer, and doing what he says to do.

Now, sometimes, the engineer will tell the man to do something that is difficult. It may require a lot of work. And the man will tell the engineer that he doesn't want to do it. The man will quit talking to the engineer, because every time they talk, the engineer urges him to complete this difficult task that the man in the boat is avoiding. The engineer of course knows what's best for the man in the boat, and the man will suffer as a result of his own stubborness.

Hopefully, before it's too late, the man will see how silly he's being. Perhaps things on the boat will begin to look bad, and he'll realize that the engineer was right. He'll go to the radio, and call up the engineer. The engineer will be overjoyed that he's back in communication with him, and tell him what he needs to do. The man will do it, and they will be friends once again.

If God is the engineer, and we are people drifting across the sea of life, the smart thing to do is to stay in constant communication with Him. Cutting off communication with Him borders on insanity; only He knows what storms or trials are just around he corner. Only He knows what's best for us. We could not ask for a better friend, our Lord and our Savior.

God is amazing!

God deserves every bit of perfection we can muster. Half-heartedness is not enough. Anything less then perfect is not enough. Give Him all.

Animal Mixing

Mixing stuff is fun. When i was younger, I used to mix all sorts of stuff together in the bathroom sink. It was always a good time. A friend of mine who i ran into today suggested I write about mixing animals together, so that is what I shall do.

Let's think of some wonderful animals to use for this experiment. How about an elephant? This is a large animal, with very distinct, and unique, characteristics. It's long, strong trunk and it's gloriously powerful tusks make it an easy choice. I'm thinking of the african elephant in particular. I know there are probably other less magnificent ones.

Another wonderful animal could be the turtle. This animal can swim with the best of them, yet can run around on land as well. I'm thinking of the turtle, not the tortoise which is much slower in it's movement.

So, how does the process of mixing work? This is not like mixing something like paint where the characteristics blend in perfectly to make a uniform substance. Instead, certain characteristics of each animal will remain prominent features in the final product. So, let's decide which characteristics of each animal will keep.

The trunk and the tusks will of course remain. The wonderful shell of the turtle, along with the ability to swim underwater for long periods of time will also. The size of the elephant will remain. The turtle's ability to retreat into its shell will also remain. I like green, so the turtle's green color, along with any red or yell highlights it has, will remain, however the elephant's skin's toughness will be kept.

So, now we have this huge animal that can do all these amazing things. It sure would be fun to see one of these. I'm sure with the way genetic research is going right now, it won't be long till we see one of these turtle-elephants, or rather eleturtlephants. Ooooo, that sounds nice. I'm not sure what the purpose of doing this would be, or even if it would be safe to genetically alter such a grand animal, but it's a fun idea.

Good Night/Morning

It is that time of night where it's hard to distinguish whether to call it late or early. I'm not sure what it is about this part of the 24-hour cycle that causes time to fly by at an incredibly fast rate. When I'm at work, time seems to go by slower than usual. That's really not a bad thing though.

I read an article online a while back, and part of it was on boredom. The article promoted the idea that if you're bored, it's your own fault. I've come to agree with it. Being bored is an act of laziness. It's a laziness of the mind. If one uses his intellectual energy to entertain himself, then he will never be bored, only tired, which is completely different. Being tired is a good thing, as long as it's not all the time. Being tired reminds me that I am at least doing something, as opposed to nothing. Being bored then is a sign that you are doing nothing.

So be tired rather than bored. This is my advice to myself, as well as to anyone who reads this. It really does work. It's also evidence of the passing of time, something to be marveled at, especially at this time of night/morning.

The Dignity of Human Beings

I've been thinking a lot about the dignity of human beings. Each and every one of us is made in the image and likeness of God. We are all creatures of God. So, as a result, it makes sense to never sin against any of our fellow human beings.

That's pretty basic I think. But there's more.

Because we're all made in the image and likeness of God. We see God in every human person. In fact, this should cause us to want to serve everyone. If you can serve God's creatures, isn't that an amazing honor.

So, one of our biggest goals in life should be to serve God's beloved creatures, our fellow human beings. It's easy to be selfish and want to be served all the time, but that is not the correct point of view. If we want to serve God, who rightly should be served, then we have to serve His creatures.

I think that having this outlook really helps put things in perspective.