Category Archives: Books

THE MOST PRODUCTIVE LENT EVER

A look at Prayer and the Garden of Gethsemane

by Deacon Marty McIndoe

The Gospel that is read on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, gives us three disciplines to use during Lent. They are Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. I personally think that the first discipline, Prayer is the most important one, because it can help us to determine how to put fasting and almsgiving to work for Lent. It is the one that puts us in to a special communion with God. After all, how can you grow closer to someone without spending time with him and communicating with him? For me, personal prayer starts off with praising God for all that He has done for us. I then often take to Him my intentions, and then I wait in silence for what He might have to say to me. Yes, I believe that prayer truly is communication. I speak to Him and He speaks to me. Sometimes we are so busy and our surroundings are so noisy that we don’t experience that. Lent is a great time to quiet down and listen to God.

Lent is a time set aside by the Church for us to work a little harder at becoming the person that Jesus wants us to be. The Church gives us many tools to help us do that, but I would like to share with you some thoughts on how to really begin. Whenever you read the Gospels you can’t help but to notice that Jesus, even when He is working hard in His ministry preaching and healing, takes time to go away from His disciples and His ministry work to spend time alone with God in prayer. Sometimes He goes up a mountain, sometimes He goes in to a desert, and sometimes He just goes outside of town. No matter where He goes, He finds a place where He can be alone with God in prayer. Jesus, by His own example tells us that we too must find time to pray. It isn’t enough to just work for the Lord, but we must also pray to the Lord.

Saint Benedict chose as a model for himself and for his follower the phrase, “Ora et Labora” or in English, “Prayer and Work”. St. Ignatius tells us, “Pray as if everything depends on God; work as if everything depends on you.” Both Saints, when they mention WORK are talking about the work that God calls us to, not just going out to milk the cows or whatever labor we have to do. Psalm 127:1 tells us, “Unless the LORD builds a house, they who build it labor in vain; Unless the LORD guards a city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” For a Christian, we cannot do anything without prayer to God. That is so true in our desire to become who God calls us to be. Before we start any endeavor, we must bring it to the Lord in prayer. We must listen to anything He tells us about it and we must do as He directs. We need His direction and Blessings on all that we do.

Lent is also a time to prepare us to better understand what Holy Week is all about. It prepares us to better understand Psalm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter event. Let us now pause for a moment and look at the center of Holy week, what happens on Holy Thursday evening. After Jesus celebrates His last supper (and Passover) with His disciples on Holy Thursday, He goes out to the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples to pray (and to be betrayed by Judas). Jesus knows what an ordeal He has to experience, and He knows that He needs the strength of prayer to do the work of the Father. He leads the disciples in to the garden, but then goes away, in solitude, to pray. It is a very difficult prayer for Him. He comes out of the prayer strengthened to be able to face the betrayal, the trial, the rejection of the people, the lashing, the carrying of the cross and finally the Crucifixion itself.

Since Jesus has set for us such a great example of going to a place of prayer, and at the time of His greatest ordeal, we must recognize that He does this to show us how we too need a place to pray and be alone with God before we face any of the work that the Father has for us. Lent is a time of work that the Father has for us and it must be a time of prayer. There is so much strength in prayer and we often forget about it and leave it by the wayside. I propose to you that during this Lent, you start taking time each day away from all you activities to pray. I also suggest that you find, or perhaps make, a prayer place.

Late last Spring, my wife and I went to visit one of my favorite authors, Annabelle Moseley, to have her autograph a book that I was giving to a dear friend of mine. While there, she told me about her new book which would soon be coming from the publisher. The new book was called, AWAKE WITH CHRIST – Living the Catholic Holy Hour in Your Home. She told me that the book talks about how important it is to have your own place of prayer in your home, your own Garden of Gethsemane. She showed me the one that she had made right outside her home in her garden. She also gave me a pre-publication copy of the book to read and to do a book review on. I read it and, like her other books, I fell in love with it. I purchased some books to give away and posted a review on Amazon (you can see it there). I would HIGHLY encourage you to get your own copy of this book as a way to start off your Lent. I think that you will find that it has practical answers on how (and why) to build a prayer place in your home. She even tells you how to do it for children. This book is not only an explanation of the importance of prayer, but it is a book to help us learn how to pray. It is a book that talks about how we need a special place to pray. It is a book that is perfect for LENT.

As she does with her other books, Annabelle refers continually to scripture and to the wisdom of the Saints to help us on our Prayer journey. Again, she also uses her poetic gifts to charge the book with poems and to lift us high towards God. Along with that, her love of gardening motivates us as we prepare our own Garden of Gethsemane. The practical explanations of how to make a prayer space (inside or outside), as well as how to make a Holy Hour is great for adults and for them to teach their children. Jesus, on the night that He was betrayed, said to His disciples, “Could you not watch one hour with me?” – Matthew 26: 40 This book will help you be happy to stay with Jesus for His Holy Hour. It will help you to have the most productive Lent ever.

SACRED BRAILLE – The Rosary as Masterpiece through Art, Poetry, and Reflections by Annabelle Moseley Review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Leonardo da Vinci said, “Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”  It seems to me that the purpose of both art and poetry is to lift us up beyond what we normally can see and feel.  They both reach in to our very being, our soul, our essence, to lift us up higher than we can imagine.  This book by Annabelle Moseley does all of that.  It is filled, literally filled, with art and poetry about our Mother Mary.  The poetry by the author and the art work that was chosen by her help us to reach in to the depths of truth and intimacy with Mary, especially through the Rosary.  This book brought tears to my eyes several time as it helped me to internalize the love that Mary has for us.  I had just previously read Keith Berube’s book on Mary and the Rosary which did pretty much the same thing.

I feel very blessed to have had these two books brought together for me at the same time.  I also find it interesting that each of these two authors write in the introductions of each other’s books.   Also the Foreword in SACRED BRAILLE is written by Bishop Richard Henning who I first got to know when he worked in my parish many years ago as a young priest.  Bishop Henning is a good and holy man and one of the most intelligent men I know.   Also much of the art used in the book is taken from the Seminary that I attended for my diaconal training, The Seminary of the Immaculate Conception.  It brings back many good memories.  More important than that, the artwork stimulates the soul and lifts us up above the ordinariness of everyday life.  It helps us to see that we are much more than we appear to be and that our God has reached down to us to help us to better realize that.

I cannot overstate that the original poetry of the author and the amazing art work inside the book are ethereal.   The poetry especially fascinated me.  It is complex, but understandable.  Some of it follows traditional elements of poetry but some of it takes on a unique nature of its own.  I was especially moved and impressed by the “Mirror Sonnets” contained throughout the book.  I cannot even imagine how difficult it is to write these sonnets where the first section is read and then the second section is read line by line in reverse order of the first and they both make complete sense.  You have to read this to believe this and to even understand what I am saying so I will, with the author’s permission, share one Mirror Sonnet with you.

                                             Mirror Sonnet*: Mary Recalls The Prophecy of Simeon

A mother knows her son’s hands like her own.

She studies them from birth—each fingernail

is halo-shaped. Soft skin over strong bone,

each line and dimple forms a Sacred Braille.

While Simeon foretold, I held Christ’s hand.

And that was when the blade first pierced my soul.

I knew that to redeem a broken land,

my child’s palms could not remain smooth, whole.

The earth is punctured, seeded, before sprouts

grow forth. Then fruit is gathered, branches pruned.

There must be something for the soul who doubts

to press their fingers into, like a wound.

The piercing of my soul provides a sieve—

for sifting death from those who long to live.

For sifting death from those who long to live,

the piercing of my soul provides a sieve—

to press their fingers into, like a wound.

There must be something for the soul who doubts.

Grow forth! Then fruit is gathered, branches pruned.

The earth is punctured, seeded, before sprouts.

My child’s palms could not remain smooth, whole.

I knew that—to redeem a broken land…

And that was when the blade first pierced my soul.

While Simeon foretold, I held Christ’s hand.

Each line and dimple formed a Sacred Braille,

was halo-shaped. Soft skin over strong bone,

I’d studied them from birth—each fingernail.

A mother knows her son’s hands like her own.

                                                                                          * a new poetic form created by the author.

Throughout this book, the author’s writing shows me the deep love that she has for Mary and the Rosary.  I can’t help but to believe that the Holy Spirit inspired her to write this about the Spouse of the Holy Spirit.  The writing is way above the ordinary, and seems quite inspired.

The Preface by Annabelle Moseley sets the stage for what is to follow.  It also contains within it some interesting date-coincidences (more like God-incidents) in Annabelle Moseley’s life.  She then begins with the Seven Sorrows of Mary before leading then to all four of the Mysteries of the Rosary.  The poetry and art reflections on each mystery will bring new life to your own reflections on the mysteries as you say the Rosary.  After completing all four mysteries, she has a section with discussion questions for all of the poetry from the Seven Sorrows through the four mysteries.  This could be used either by you or in a group.

After the discussion section, Annabelle Moseley gives us a workbook for a three day retreat.  This workbook is filled with ideas on how to do the retreat including settings, readings, exercises, activities and even music to play.  I am still thinking of ways to put this in to action for myself and for my parish.  After this section the author teaches the reader how to pray the Rosary.  She then has a section listing the fifteen promises of Mary concerning the Rosary.

As if all of this is not enough, Annabelle Moseley teaches us three different ways to enhance our reflection on the Seven Sorrows and the four mysteries of the Rosary.  The first way is the “Visio Divino” where she lists several great works of art pieces to contemplate.  The second way is the “Lectio Divino” where she gives us several scripture passages to reflect on.  The third way is the “Audio Divino” where Annabelle Moseley gives us various pieces of music to use while contemplating.  The book ends with a call to make a Living Rosary and to see the Rosary as a true Masterpiece in itself.

 I have always had a deep appreciation of art and poetry and music.  The individual pieces within this book are Masterpieces themselves, but taken together this book is a true, and very rare, masterpiece that helps to transform you in to who God calls you to be.  Mary gave the perfect YES.  We too are called by God to say our YES to Him.  What better way is there than to follow the Mother of Jesus as she leads us to her son Jesus.  This book helps us to do this with beauty and style.  Do yourself a favor, buy this book and keep it out to be used often.  You will be glad that you did.

NOTE:  I am writing this review at the time of a world-wide pandemic.  People are getting sick and dying and most stores and businesses have had to shut down.  There is no income coming in for many and everyday living seems to be quite traumatic.  People are hurting and in need of healing and consolation.  Our mother Mary is the great Consoler who can bring us to her Son, Jesus who is the great healer.  Just as Mary consoled Jesus at the foot of the cross, she can console us at the foot of our pandemic cross.  The beauty and the message of this book is a great means of receiving consolation from our Mother who loves and cares for us so much.  Hopefully this pandemic will be over soon, but all of us know that we are in need of consolation throughout so many stages of our life.  This book could be a real spiritual medicine for us.

You can visit Annabelle Moseley’s website by clicking here.  www.annabellemoseley.com

MARY – The Rosary, the Relationship, and Dragons by Keith Berube – review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Books are one of the true treasures of mankind.  They entertain us, they move us, they help us to grow and they are so readily available to us today.  Keith Berube’s new book (Mar 2020) on Mary is all of that and more.  This book is one of the best treasures I have found in a long time.  It did something to me that I thought was impossible.  It helped me to love the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Rosary more than I ever had; and I am a person who says the Rosary every day and have been doing that for well over 20 years.  It has caused me to grow in an intimacy with Mary that I never had before.

There is one thing that you need to understand.  I was brought up as a Protestant (Methodist) and converted to the Roman Catholic faith when I was 25 years old.  My conversion was based mostly upon my reading of the 6th Chapter of St. John’s Gospel about the Eucharist and my study of the Vatican II documents.  One thing that I had trouble accepting was the role of Mary in the Church.  Like most Protestants, I thought that the Church overdid devotion to Mary.  However, gradually I was drawn to read more about Mary and to start praying the Rosary.   This helped me to develop a strong (at least I thought) devotion to her.  This book has brought me much closer to her than I ever imagined.  I can see her now in so many different ways.  She is not only MY Mother, but also my Queen.  She is not only an example of faith but she is THE best example of faith.  She is the Mother of the Son, the daughter of the Father and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit.   She is the Immaculate one and the one who loves to spend time with me.  She is the one who protects me.   She is the one who keeps leading me closer to God.  Keith Berube’s book helped me to know all of that with a new enthusiasm.

Keith Berube divides his book in to three parts.  The first part is all about the Rosary.  After saying the rosary daily for over 20 years, I thought that I knew it well.  This book revealed to me so much more about the Rosary that I never knew.  It especially helped me to see the Rosary as a time when I was present to a Mother who loved me so much, and earnestly desired to be with me.   The book taught me that saying the Rosary was the living out of a love story.   It was where I could meet the Mother who always wanted to hear from me.  It was where I could tell her I love her, in response to her love of me.  It was a way that I could touch her, through the tactile feel of the beads.  It was also a time where I could join her in her own mission of praying for others and leading others to her loving Son.  The Rosary is life changing to those who pray it and to those who are lifted up in its prayers.  The Rosary is something quite mystical in the way it lifts us up in to Spiritual joy.   It is also one of the strongest weapons we have to use against the evil one.

The second part of the book is entitled, “The Veiled Dynamics of the Rosary”.  In this section we hear more about Mary as woman (or girl as the author often refers to her) and the way her femininity causes not only us, but the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to relate to her.  It shows how her being a woman affects our communication with her and her communication with us.  This femininity also shows how the Rosary is relational to us and how we in our own sexuality (male or female) relate back to Mary.   This part also talks about how we see Mary not only as Mother but also as friend and one who reveals to us the secrets of her heart and also consoles us.

The third part of the book provides a short synthesis of Parts I and II.  It helps us see that in praying the Rosary, we are giving flowers to the one who loves us so much.  Every Hail Mary that we say is also a way of saying, “I love you” to Mary.  The mysteries that we contemplate help us better understand the way God the Father has loved us through the Son and the Holy Spirit.  The Rosary itself is very scriptural and helps us to meditate on the stories of our Salvation.  It is also a time when we are joined by our guardian angel and the other Angels and Saints in prayer to God.

In the first Appendix Keith Berube includes some beautiful and moving poems.  In the second Appendix he lists some other forms of the Rosary.  In the third Appendix he talks about the CONSOLATIO MARIAE, a Private Association of the Catholic Faithful.

Throughout the book Keith Berube uses scriptures, stories and quotes from various Saints , and illustrations to enhance his writing.  You can most readily see the author’s own love for Mary.  As I said earlier, this book taught me to appreciate and form a new INTIMACY with Mary and a new appreciation of the Rosary as both a form of relational prayer and as a true weapon  to fight those “dragons” that attack us.  There is no way that this short review can tell you of the wonders of this book.  You need to experience this yourself.  Do yourself a favor and read this book.

Note:  A publisher friend of mine sent me a copy of SACRED BRAILLE by Annabelle Mosely and asked me to review that.  It is interesting that both books are about the Rosary and really complement each other.  I love God’s timing.  Annabelle Mosely did the forward to Keith Berube’s book.  I really loved her book and will post a review shortly.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen – My Trusted Guide for Lent – by Al Smith

As I prepare for Lent each year, I ask myself the same questions: what am I going to give up, what works of mercy will I perform, or what spiritual reading might I entertain this year?

The older I get, the more I realize that I cannot go wrong with the tried and proven writings of the saints. Classics such as St. Alphonsus Liguori’s The Way of the Cross, and Lenten reflections from the writings of St. Teresa of Avila and St. Francis de Sales, are staples in my home. But to be honest, it is the writings of the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen that continue to be my trusted Lenten companion.

I will never forget the first time I read Sheen’s book from 1939, entitled Victory over Vice. As I entered into the book, I began to feel deep, heartfelt sorrow for my sins for the first time in my life. Fulton Sheen’s words were removing the scales from my eyes. He showed me that the seven last words that Our Lord spoke from the Cross were the antidote for each of the seven deadly sins.

After reading this one Sheen book, I was convinced that I could put my trust in him, to guide me in my walk with Christ.  I desired to read every book of his that I could find, with a similar Lenten theme. Over the course of the next several months, I read books such as The Seven Last Words (1933), Calvary and the Mass (1936), The Cross and the Beatitudes (1937), The Rainbow of Sorrow (1938), The Seven Virtues (1940),  Seven Words to the Cross (1944), Seven Words of Jesus and Mary (1945), and Characters of the Passion (1946), to name a few.

I found out that during his last recorded Good Friday address in 1979, Archbishop Sheen spoke of having given this type of reflection on the subject of Christ’s seven last words from the Cross “for the fifty-eighth consecutive time.” Whether as the young priest in Peoria, Illinois, the university professor in Washington, D.C., or the bishop in New York, Sheen’s messages were sure to make an indelible mark on his audience.

Possessing a burning zeal to dispel the myths about Our Lord and His Church, each year Sheen gave a series of powerful presentations on Christ’s Passion and His seven last words from the Cross. As a Scripture scholar, Archbishop Sheen knew full well the power contained in preaching Christ crucified. With St. Paul, he could say, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).

This confirmed what I had realized after reading many of Sheen’s books: that he desired most of all to speak about the mystery of love and suffering, more specifically, about Jesus Christ becoming man, and dying for our sins.

Recently, I came upon this great description of what a priest should be: a priest is someone who brings Jesus to the people, and in turn brings the people to Jesus. From reading Sheen’s books, listening to his audio recordings, and watching him on television, I have found that he fits this description perfectly. Indeed, he is an accomplished retreat master.  His love for Our Lord and the Blessed Mother permeates his every thought, binding our hearts to theirs. And isn’t that what Lent is all about, a time to put God in first place in our hearts?

Over the last ten years, it has been my privilege to speak about the life and writings of the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.  I never tire of hearing the “Sheen stories,” how he is still fondly remembered by so many, and how he touched people’s lives.

As a way of thanking God for the many favors that my family has received through the intercession of Our Lady and the Venerable Sheen, I compiled a collection of Sheen’s writings about Our Lord’s passion and His seven last words.  The book is titled: The Cries of Jesus from the Cross – A Fulton Sheen Anthology, and is published by Sophia Institute Press. It is collection of seven unique Sheen titles that will take the reader on a spiritual journey during Lent like no other.

For the first time ever, Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s complete writings and reflections on Christ’s last words have been compiled into this one book. Sheen masterfully demonstrates how the seven last words of Our Lord are in fact, a full catechism on the spiritual life.  From these holy words, we learn the secrets of living the Beatitudes, ways to avoid the deadly vices of anger, envy, lust and pride, and how to cultivate the heavenly virtues of fortitude, prudence, justice, and charity. Bishop Sheen teaches us how to deal with difficult people, and how to understand pain and suffering.  And he binds all of this together with touching references to the most beautiful love between Our Lord and His Blessed Mother.

The Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen has been my trusted Lenten guide for a number of years now.  He is that faithful priest who continues to bring Jesus to me and helps to bring me closer to Jesus.  I pray that he will do the same for you this Lent.

From Selling Abortions to Sidewalk Counseling – by Doug Johnson

From Selling Abortions To Sidewalk Counseling – by Doug Johnson

For the entire 8 years my wife was involved with Planned Parenthood, her primary job was to sell an abortion to every pregnant woman who walked into the clinic. Even as a volunteer, Abby’s job was to make women feel safe and comfortable as they walked through the doors of Planned Parenthood for their abortion. No matter what her title was, the push was always for abortion, because that is where the money is. When she was an escort, get them in the door. When she was working the front counter, smile, tell them the protesters are nuts, and get the money. When she was in charge of community outreach, Abby was passing out condoms to coeds, giving “sex ed” talks that resulted in new customers, and doing everything she could to normalize abortion. Finally, when she became the clinic director, here’s your abortion quota, Abby!!!

Abby’s first priority and passion project when she left the abortion industry was praying outside of clinics and sidewalk counseling. It wasn’t speaking or writing a book. It wasn’t her movie or starting a ministry to help other clinic workers leave the abortion industry. All that came later. What really motivated her was the opportunity to come face to face with women and sharing the truth about abortion. To tell them what really happens behind the doors of an abortion clinic. She racked up a lot of hours in that first year. I’m not sure why, but it was well over a year before I ever even got to see her live and in action outside of a clinic. The first time I saw Abby get a save… I was in awe. I was inspired. I couldn’t have prepared for how powerful that moment would be and the impact it would have on me supporting my wife moving forward.

It was going to be a normal Saturday with my wife. We were headed to the Austin area in Texas for some reason or another. Who knows? Probably to see friends and maybe do some house hunting. Before we could get to the fun stuff, we needed to stop and drop some materials off with volunteers outside of the Whole Women’s Health in Austin. There were a couple of familiar faces outside the clinic praying, and they told Abby that they were performing abortions that day. Whelp, our leisurely day was going to have to take a pause. It was go time for Abby.

“Ok. Then we are staying until the last customer leaves.”

Now, I had zero experience in this department. I could pray, but I wasn’t about to try my hand at sidewalk counseling. I stood back by the road and watched Abby go to work. The CONFIDENCE she had to call out to everyone that walked in? I was blown away. She knew what to say, how to say it, and how to respond to anything that came her way. I mean, I have always known Abby is a bad-ass, but this was just a cool moment.

We had only been there for about 30 minutes when a couple pulled into the lot and parked right behind the fence facing the sidewalk. A woman stepped out of the passenger side and made a b-line for the building. Her head down and she was clinching her purse. My wife didn’t have an opportunity to say anything to her because just as she was scurrying off, her husband was pointing a finger at us and the first words out of his mouth where…

“You know what? You guys are assholes! You are wasting you’re time and you can’t change my mind!!” 

At first, I took this as a personal affront to my wife. How dare this dude address my wife and the other women like that?! Fortunately, I had seen my bride handle confrontation before.  Still,  I positioned myself just close enough to hear the conversation, but not close enough to escalate things. Besides, I could tell that he was only being protective of his wife. I’m sure he told his wife to hurry in while he distracted us. He didn’t actually want to get into a fight with anyone. Either way, if he was just running interference, he chose the wrong gal to wag his finger at, because it was Abby’s turn to talk.

I don’t remember any exact words. I don’t even remember if Abby started with her experiences in the abortion industry, or if she asked if that was his wife, or if she asked him why he automatically assumed that she’s an “asshole.” She may have started out asking what year his Camero was.  My memory picks up somewhere in the middle. Abby managed to keep him engaged in idle conversation and it didn’t take long for his aggressive tone to fade. I remember him saying that the woman was his wife, this wasn’t their first abortion, and that he was a professional MMA fighter. Then I remember Abby asking him about the medallions he wore around his neck. They were saints and they were given to him by his aunt. Abby asked him what his aunt would think about him being here for an abortion, and he said she would be pretty disappointed. I’ll never forget the next thing that came out of his mouth…

“I actually DON’T want her to have an abortion, but it’s up to her, right?” 

In my brain, there were thousands of voices yelling, NO!!! It is not just up to her!!! That is your wife and child in there. That is your family. If you’re a fighter, then why don’t you go in there and fight for your family. I bet she is in there waiting for you to man up and lead. Tell her you want a family. Tell her you’re committed . Just say something. Anything!! Don’t just leave her alone to figure this out.

Abby handled it much better than I would have. She asked him if he had told her about his objection to her getting an abortion. He said, no. Abby told him, “You need to share your feelings with her. She is your WIFE and this is a conversation you need to have before it’s too late. Go be her husband. She needs you.

They didn’t say much more before he went in to talk to his wife. About an hour later, they walked out holding hands and looking very at ease. She still didn’t say anything to us, but she smiled at Abby as she got into the car. He looked like he was going to get into the car without saying anything, but he paused. He told us that they were going to lunch and they weren’t coming back. They had decided AGAINST getting an abortion. Abby just smiled and congratulated them. He nodded at us and got in the car. They drove away, and we never saw them again.

I was in such awe of what I had just seen. My wife, a woman that had spent so many years selling abortions had just saved a life. So this is what conversion and change of heart looks like. So this is what it looks like when God recruits you and you accept. You get to save lives.

On a side note: I HATE that even in an equal partnership, men feel silenced about abortion. I guess that’s why I remember this story so well. Men should have a say on the issue of abortion. Not just pro-abortion men. Not just anti-abortion men. ALL MEN!!! Maybe if we stepped up our game, women would feel more supported and never even consider abortion if they knew we were committed. I believe women should lead the conversation, but that doesn’t exclude men in their responsibilities regarding families and abortion.

Check out Doug’s blog at: https://www.dougontap.com/

One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fulwiler – review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fulwiler – review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

When I heard that Jennifer Fulwiler had published a new book, I knew I had to have it and read it as soon as I could.  A few years ago, I read her book,” Something Other Than God”, and absolutely loved it.  She is a gifted writer and her second book continues to show how gifted she is.  I found it hard to put down, funny and thought provoking.  Her subtitle to this new book is The Rollicking Tale of Personal Passions, Family Chaos, and Saying Yes to Them Both.  The subtitle is a great description of her book.  It tells the story of her raising six children while trying to write a book.

For those of you who do not know Jennifer’s story, she is a former atheist whom God touched and led in to the Catholic Church.  You should read her first book “Something Other Than God” to find out this great story.  Jennifer is also a daily radio host on Sirius XM channel 129 as well as a noted speaker and columnist.  She also describes herself as “Mother of six with zero of the skills needed to manage a home”.  I would add that she is a gifted writer with an ability to describe life situations in ways that can only make you laugh, and sometimes cause you to shed a tear.

The beauty of her new book is that not only is it funny and interesting and hard to put down; it shows us all how it is possible to accomplish a sense of personal accomplishment in the midst of being a good, albeit struggling, parent.  I love what the book does for both men and women who find it hard to balance family life and work life.  It shows how you can incorporate both into personal satisfaction.  This book will definitely challenge any man or woman who puts work ahead of family.  However, it does show that a true balance can be made that will be very satisfying.

To be perfectly truthful, when I first started reading this book I thought it was mainly a book for women.  I even said that to my wife and told her that I knew she would enjoy it.  However, after reading the book for a while, I saw that it is for men and women.  Jennifer describes how her lifelong desire to write a book seemed to interfere with her sense that God was calling her to have a large family.  On many occasions her husband Joe was the needed instrument to help her learn to be able to do both.  At the same time Joe had to learn how to balance his work (and advancements) to fit in to their family life.  Personally I see Joe as a real hero in this story.  There is no doubt that Jennifer is the one who had to struggle and work so hard, but it was with Joe at her side and often encouraging her.  This book does so much to show what marriage and family life is supposed to be, even the messy parts of it.

The book also shows how Jennifer discovers that family is not just her and Joe and their six children, but extends to grandparents, great grandparents  and friends and neighbors and even to young girls ringing the door bell and running away (usually at the most inopportune times).  Jennifer learns that she can’t do everything by herself and it is then that family life begins to grow.  She learns how to involve her children in her writing career.  She also learns how to involve other family and friends in what she does.  In doing this she discovers that having a large family is a lot more than giving birth to many children.

I love how Jennifer is able to make us all laugh at some of the disheveled things that life throws at us.  I also like the way her faith comes forth without being preachy.  She shows herself in her weaknesses and in her strengths and we can’t help but to love her in both.  In an age where many couples have no children, or only one or two, this books delights us with the interactions of six children and the fulfillment they bring to their parents.  Jennifer is often confronted by friends and strangers for having such a large family.  I find this so sad.  Large families are a real gift that society doesn’t seem to appreciate any more.  Jennifer and Joe wanted a large family and God gave them one.  Jennifer and Joe use Natural Family Planning and Jennifer does a great job sharing how NFP has been a positive influence on their marriage.  This book certainly shows us how two people, working together in the gift of marriage, can find both personal fulfillment and family fulfillment.   There is no doubt that this is a book that I would highly recommend reading.  It is printed by Zondervan.  I bought my copy on Amazon Prime.

POWER – by A.J. Avila

Recently my husband came home from a Friends of the Library sale. My city library sells donated books every few months, and you pay only a measly two dollars for whatever you can stuff inside a paper grocery bag. The money goes toward buying new books for the library, essential when our city has slashed the new book budget to zero.

In my husband’s bag was a book he thought I might like because it’s about Catholicism. On the back cover are quotations from many prominent Catholics—that is, Catholics who are prominent in a worldly sort of way, such as politicians and actors. One quotation struck me immediately. I’m not going to mention who said it, but it read “When my mom asked if I wanted to be a nun, I said I’d rather be a priest . . . The nuns were always wonderful, but the power was with the priest.”

When I see something like that, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I did, however, read it aloud to my husband, and he burst into laughter. So maybe mirth is the more appropriate response to something so ridiculous.

If you think priests have a lot of power, read that quote to your local parish priest and see what his reaction is.

I guess the woman who said it had no idea what she was talking about. Does she not know why Catholic priests wear Roman collars? It’s because the collar is a symbol of slavery.

That’s right: Roman Catholic priests are slaves.

That is, they are slaves of Christ.

Ironically, that is where power—in a supernatural sense—resides, but since this woman is a politician, she seemed to be talking about worldly power.

If I had the opportunity, I would ask her who she thought had more worldly power: her parish priest or Mother Teresa. After all, Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize. She addressed the United Nations.

When’s the last time your parish priest did that?

Besides, worldly power means nothing to God, except in how it is wielded.

True power comes from conforming to God’s will, and you don’t have to be a priest to do that.

I got into this a bit in my novel Nearer the Dawn. A man who has turned away from his atheism to make an act of faith lies prone in adoration on a mountainside when he encounters God:

Here, with his nose in the dirt, he had never felt so elevated. Before, he had considered the walls of a church those of a prison or insane asylum. Now he realized the barriers he had seen were of his own construction, designed to keep him banished outside rather than let him in. At last here was Everything he had been searching for, Everything he was created for, the fulfillment of his hunger. This was not only the destination but the road that led everywhere, the key that opened all treasures. Here was the ecstasy that eternally satisfied that longing desire not only to be loved but to love fully and completely. And here was true freedom, for only by binding himself with the One he was free to be transformed, crowned with glory. No wonder he had never been able to do it alone. Relying on his own capabilities was like trying to operate on a single ohm, but now he was plugged into a Power Source mightier than all the suns of the universe, for here life overflowed with more abundance than he had thought possible.

Being a priest is wonderful, but it is God who crowns us with power and glory. The power, in other words, comes by being a saint.

The ‘Poison’ of Spiritual Indifference – by Matt Nelson

The philosopher Immanuel Kant said that all of philosophy aims to answer three basic questions: What can I know? What can I do? What may I hope? He then linked these three questions to three more: Does God exist? Is man free? Is there life after death?
The failure to take seriously life’s biggest questions—all of which are inherently religious—is one of the most unflattering characteristics of our day. Of all the great civilizations that have ever existed, ours “is the first that does not have to teach its citizens any answer to the question why they exist,” laments Peter Kreeft. “As society grows, it knows more and more about less and less. It knows more about the little things and less about the big things.”
How can we evangelize in such a spiritually indifferent culture?
The first step is to understand the problem.
When I was in my early twenties, I suffered from a wicked bout of spiritual restlessness. After a couple years of university, my Catholic upbringing had lost much of its hold on me. But although I was no longer attending Mass or receiving the sacraments—or living my life as though God existed—I was still open to the idea of something like God existing “out there.”
On some days I leaned towards a deistic view of God—the idea that a divine power had created the world but was no longer present to it. On other days I was swayed towards pantheism, the “everything is God” view that is characteristic of New Age thought. And still on other days I felt a pull, however slight and brief, towards the Catholic faith of my youth. Spiritually, I was all over the spectrum.
Not one of these fleeting attractions, however, ever amounted to a conviction. The problem was not that no case could be made for those worldviews. The problem was that I failed to take any of them seriously enough to consider the case for or against. Instead I was like a child, “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14).
I think we can look at religious indifference in just that way: the failure to 1) think seriously about religion and 2) to give God his due. One failure is intellectual and the other is practical. But, since will follows reason, most people won’t give God his due if they’re not even thinking seriously about him. What we choose follows what we know. Thus, the intellectual component is primary.
Since our minds are naturally ordered toward truth, to be indifferent to the most persistent human questions about reality is an unnatural way to live. Whether we like it or not, it matters whether God exists—and it matters what kind of God exists. It matters whether we are free or not. It matters whether heaven and hell really await our choosing. Many of our ordinary assumptions—like the existence of free will or of objective morality—hinge on how these questions are answered. “All our actions and thoughts,” reflects Pascal in his Pensées, “must follow such different paths, according to whether there is hope of eternal blessings or not.”
Catholic philosopher Robert Sokolowski contends that it is at the core of man’s nature to desire the truth of things. This desire, he says, “is very deep in us, more basic than any particular desire or emotion. We are made human by it, and it is there in us to be developed well or badly.” Our appetite for truth, then, is not optional—it makes us what we are.
That is why religious indifference is so crippling. It is like ignoring your hunger for food and not eating because you “don’t feel like it.” Ignore it long enough and it may become numbed, but such desensitization will not prevent the ensuing weakness, sickness, and death—it will only mask their approach.
How did we become so indifferent towards humanity’s most persistent questions? Surely there are many reasons, but a big one may be the rise of “smart” technology and its impact on how we see ourselves and others. Psychology professor Jean Twenge notes that the generation born in the mid-1990s and after—what she calls the iGen—has never known a time before the internet and smartphone. According to her research, not only is this generation the most digitally connected; it is also the least religious generation in U.S. history.
Given all that modern technology does for us, it should be no surprise that people are becoming more and more convinced of their own self-sufficiency. Such radicalized autonomy makes it easy to accept the illusion that we are masters of our own world. We rely on others—and the authority of others—less than ever before. The temptation to “be as gods” has been around since Eden, but no culture has ever made a sense of omnipotence easier to attain. Who needs God and his rules when we can be gods and make up our own?
“The most deadly poison of our times is indifference,” wrote St. Maximilian Kolbe. But although the problem is urgent, it is not insurmountable. For one thing, the Catholic Church is a seasoned veteran when it comes to facing cultural resistance to its mission: it always finds a way to persevere against the odds and get the job done. And of course, the Church’s mission of making disciples has the almighty power of Christ behind it, and it will until the end of the age.
We must remember, too, that even the most hopeless indifferentist is never a total write-off. His nature can never totally shed its thirst for truth and, more importantly God never ceases to draw him into all truth (John 16:13). As the Second Vatican Council declared in Gaudium et Spes:
Man is continually being aroused by the Spirit of God and he will never be utterly indifferent to religion—a fact proved by the experiences of ages past and plentiful evidence at the present day. For man will ever be anxious to know, if only in a vague way, what is the meaning of his life, his activity, and his death. The very presence of the Church recalls these problems to his mind. The most perfect answer to these questionings is to be found in God alone, who created man in his own image and redeemed him from sin (41).
This is all good news, but it’s not the only reason for hope. There are practical things that we can do in our witness to others that will help them respond to God’s prompting and bravely seek the answers they long to know. By leading with open questions, open ears, and a patient tongue, and by challenging them to face with seriousness the true costs of their apathy over life’s Biggest Questions, you can engage the indifferent effectively. After all, they’re not dead—they’re just asleep. With the right tools, you can awaken them from their spiritual slumber.

NOTE: Matt’s new book, JUST WHATEVER is available by clicking here: JUST WHATEVER

 

 

Social Media Magisterium by Shaun McAfee – A book review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Shaun McAfee has done it again. This is his fourth book and like the others it is easy to read and very informative. It also offers very practical advice based upon the years of experience Shaun has had using Social Media. This is a book that all Christians should read. It clearly presents Social Media as the tool to use to spread the Good News of God’s love. The title should grab most Catholics (Magisterium), but I hope that all Christians read it. Never before has the Church had such a great means to spread the Gospel message as we have today because of the Internet and Social Media. It would be a sin (probably literally) for Christians not to use this.
I have always viewed media as a powerful tool for society. I was co-editor of my High School news and in college I was a radio newsman and radio disc jockey. I was a member of the National Honor Society for Communications and studied communications in college. All of what Shaun says in this book fits in with what I have learned. I was pleasantly surprised that in the beginning of the book he mentions Marshall McLuhan (the intellectual of communications studies), who I studied extensively, but only found out from Shaun that he was a Catholic of extraordinary faith and had a real devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. We never learned that in our studies. Marshall McLuhan really predicted the birth of the Internet 30 years before it began. He called it the “global village” that communications would forge. Today we have that global village and as the scriptures say in Luke 10:2, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest”. You and I need to meet that call.
This book will help you meet that call. Shaun starts out with a history of the many documents issued by the Church on media. He then gives a little background, or as he calls it, “re-introduction in Social Media”. Both of these chapters are great but his third chapter “The Media and the Family” impressed me greatly. All parents and grandparents will find this chapter interesting and judicious for their time spent in the family. There is no doubt that as good as the Internet is; it also has its dark side. Like any tool, it can be used for good or for bad. It can be under-used and over-used. This chapter looks at the use of the Internet and the affect it has upon family life. Don’t miss this chapter. You probably should read it twice. There is a lot of “meat” there.
The fifth chapter is on Ecumenism: Sharing the Idea of Unity. I absolutely loved this chapter. I am a convert to Catholicism and so is Shaun. He presented many ideas that I have thought about over the last 40 years. As a convert I know the great presence of faith within the Protestant tradition, but I also know of the great lack of Unity there. As a Catholic I recognize the truth of our faith and how in our faith we are called to always share the truth but also seek to deal with Protestants as our own brothers and sisters in the faith. Shaun does a great job showing how all of us, with the proper use of Social Media can do both. Social Media is not just for Evangelizing unbelievers, but is also great for helping all of us grow towards obtaining what Jesus prayed for; that all might be one.
The last chapters of the book give great practical advice to bloggers and really to all that use Social Media in any of its forms. This too should be a must read. Shaun has had a great deal of experience in the use of all forms of Social Media and his suggestions are great. He tells us of things to do and things not to do. Both of these are important to know. His suggestions, as practical as they are, also fit in to what the many Church documents call us to do. The sub-title of this book is “A No-Nonsense Guide to the Proper Use of Media”. This book certainly does this. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has used social media in any form or who plans on using it shortly. I think that covers just about everyone.
Note: I can’t help but to mention the cover of this book which is done by the very creative TJ Burdick. It is the very famous “Creation of Adam” by Michelangelo found on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. However, on the cover Adam is holding a cell phone showing its apps and God the Father is pointing towards it apparently ready to touch one of the apps. It is said that Michelangelo has God the Father pointing to Adam’s outstretched finger ready to impart the gift of life to him. Perhaps we can fast forward and say that God the Father has given us the Internet to continue to give life to mankind. I do think it can do that. In the original fresco God the Father is clothed and Adam is in full frontal nudity. However, on this book cover (back) the book bar code covers this up much better than a leaf would. Nice placement, TJ.

THE SHADOW OF HIS WINGS – FR. GEREON GOLDMANN, OFM – Review by Deacon Marty McIndoe


After reading this book, I now have a new hero: Fr. Gereon Goldmann. Fr. Goldman was an ordinary yet exceptional man who was filled with love for his God and for all of God’s people. He continually put this love in to action in the midst of one of the darkest times in human history. Father Goldmann was a proud German man who quite early in his life felt the call to the priesthood. In 1939, while he was a seminarian, he was drafted in to the German Army under the Nazi Regime. He despised the Nazis but served his country the best way that he could while still keeping his faith. His draft brought him in to the dreaded Nazi SS headed by Heinrich Himmler, but even in the midst of this darkness he was able to bring forth the light of God. The darkness continued even after his capture when he was taken to a French prisoner of war camp in North Africa. The French hated the Germans and treated them very poorly. In spite of all of this, Goldmann kept his faith and stood up to the darkness and prevailed.
I really do not want to give a further synopsis of this book. My hope is that you will read it yourself. This is a book that should be read by every Christian, especially Catholics. It is filled with suspense and harrowing war stories. It certainly shows the evil of war and most certainly shows the evil of the Nazis. What really shines out through this book is the faith of this one man and the faith of many associated with him. Faith can give us the strength to not only handle the difficulties thrown at us, but to rise above these difficulties and to shine. Fr. Goldmann certainly does this. I quite literally had a hard time putting this book down. This book surprises you over and over again and you can’t help but to want more.
The book deals not only with the experiences that Fr. Goldmann had during the war and during his imprisonment, it also shows those civilians left behind and how they dealt with the horrors of war. Over and over again a common thread of Faith and Prayer weaves together to form a blanket of protection over Fr. Goldmann. He should have been killed so many times, but wasn’t. He was also able to maintain his desire of not hurting or killing anyone during the war. As a matter of fact, the only time he seemed to use his gun was while threatening a Bishop and a Priest on two separate occasions. You need to read the book to learn about that. The Lord, often against apparently resolute Nazi orders, seems to take Fr. Goldmann all over Europe (even to meet the Pope) and Northern Africa. The Epilogue and Appendix show his post war work in Japan and in India. It is absolutely amazing how God has used this man in so many different places.
Fr. Goldmann had so many miracles happen around him that you will be totally astonished. To say that God worked through Fr. Goldmann would be an understatement. God empowered Fr. Goldmann to be able to do what would normally be impossible. There is no doubt that the angels were with him. This is true not only during the war and prisoner sections of this book but also in what happened after the war. Fr. Goldmann dreamt of being a missionary to Japan and his dream came true. He was so much more than a missionary. He was a beacon of light within the darkness of evil.
Central to Fr. Goldmann’s ministry was to bring physical healing (he was eventually a medic) and spiritual healing. His love of the Eucharist and Confession brought so much spiritual healing to those around him. Through this work he became quite an evangelist causing large numbers of people to come back to the Church or to be welcomed anew in to the Church. He stood up to the Nazi propaganda against the Church and people saw through its falsehood because of him.
This book has challenged me to be more of the man that Fr. Goldmann was. It challenged me to deeper prayer and deeper appreciation of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Confession. It opened my eyes to see how God works through any situation, even those that seem so dark. The book challenged me to deeper trust in God and His call to me no matter where I am. It challenged me to believe more in the power of intercessory prayer. My challenge to you is to read this book. I am certain that you will be glad that you did. The book was originally published in 1964 and later in 2000 and then 2008 by IGNATIUS PRESS. I purchased it on Amazon. Go for it, you will be happy you did. What are you waiting for?

Parish Management and Operations: The Buck Stops Here by Michael A. Brinda – Review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

In the book of Revelation (3:15-16) Jesus tells the church at Laodicea “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” In my travels I have seen many Catholic churches and there are very few that really seem “hot”, even fewer that seem “cold”, but many that seem “lukewarm”. If you are currently ministering in a church that is lukewarm, or perhaps we should say, mediocre, and you are content with that mediocrity, then this book is not for you. However, if you want a church that is hot, or exemplary or superior, then this is the book for you. I would go so far to say that this book could lead to a totally changed Church worldwide. Unfortunately too many people are leaving the faith and many of our parishes are suffering. This book could stop that exodus and actually help to bring people back.
The author, Michael A. Brinda combines his obvious business management skills with a deep faith that the Church is called to serve God’s people. He tells us that we must serve God’s people in an exemplary way. There is no room for mediocrity in the Church. This involves all people in all ministries in the Church. We, lay or ordained, are all called to superior service. Thus this book is not just for pastors. It is for anyone in a leadership/ministry role in the parish. There is no doubt that the ways of the pastor most influence the culture of the parish and it is extremely important for all pastors to read this book. I have worked in parish leadership ministry for over 40 years, 37 plus of them as an ordained deacon. This book changed my thoughts on how a parish should be managed.
At the very heart of the author’s message is the idea that each parish needs a good Parish Management person who is trained in how to bring about exemplary, not mediocre, ministry from parish personnel. He believes, rightly so, that we need to look at the culture of the parish (which probably has been formed and perpetuated for many years) and that you cannot try to change this culture, but that you must kill it and then install a new culture. If this seems difficult to you; it is. However, the author gives us many tools to help bring this about. I was very impressed by the tools that he gives us. There is no doubt that this hard work will bring about what God calls us to be and do. Using the words of the author, “And why do we bother with this process? As always, so that we can serve greatly those we are called to serve. If something were worth doing at all, why wouldn’t it be worth doing in a superior way? Are the barriers to superior performance too tough and too high for you overcome? No. Never.”
I received my degree in Business Administration – Management and worked my entire career in management and I can tell you that the tools and wisdom given by the author in this book are exemplary. I am also an ordained deacon for 38 years now and have worked even more than that in parish ministry. This book is not just a book written by a businessman to apply to the Church. It is written by a businessman who has a deep faith and knows that the Church is called to use all of its resources in an exemplary way to spread the Good News and to serve the People of God. The Church is in dire need of this book.
The good news is that this book is well written and easily read. Putting what it says in to practice will be difficult, but all of us know that you can’t accomplish anything great without hard work. Throughout the book, the author gives us numerous quotes from a wide variety of individuals from spiritual writers to business writers to pop culture individuals. He makes the book an interesting read. I was really disappointed when it ended. I wanted more. If you are in any type of parish ministry, especially leadership roles, this book is for you. Do yourself a favor and read the book. It will benefit you, the Church and the building of the Kingdom of God.

REFORM YOURSELF – a review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

REFORM YOURSELF! How to Pray, Find Peace, and Grow in Faith with the Saints of the Counter-Reformation: written by Shaun McAfee – review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

If the main title, REFORM YOURSELF! doesn’t catch you; take a good look at the subtitle: How to Pray, Find Peace, and Grow in Faith with the Saints of the Counter-Reformation. The subtitle is exactly what this book is all about. For me, it lived up to what it promises. I love to read and some books are really great…..this is one of them. It is easy to read, informative, interesting and causes a change to the very Spirit within us.
I have read two other books by Shaun McAfee; Filling our Fathers House (2015) and St. Robert Bellarmine (2016). I enjoyed both of those and in reading them, saw Shaun as an upcoming author. This last book proved me correct. His writing style has grown to the point that I would say that he definitely is a great author. I am anxious to see what he comes up with next.
Shaun belongs to the same “club” as Brandon Vogt, Jennifer Fulwiler, Peter Kreeft, Scott Hahn, and so many more people do that I don’t have room to mention including myself. That “club” is that we are all converts to the Catholic faith and live much of our life trying to spread the good news of new life in Jesus, especially through Catholic spirituality. It makes me proud, as a convert, to see Shaun do such a great job of this. Shaun is a lay Dominican (Order of Preachers) and this book shows that he continues the Dominican tradition of preaching and teaching.
The book is timely as we recognize the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017; it looks at the Catholic response to the Reformation by choosing ten Saints who ministered during the Catholic Counter-reformation. The importance of this book is that it not just a historical book, but rather a book where we can look at these Saints and bring about REFORM within us. The ten Saints that Shaun chose are all great examples of what we need to do to walk with Jesus and respond to His call to share the Good News. They are all powerhouses of faith. Shaun also shows their true humanity which helps us see that we too can strive to achieve what they did.
There are ten chapters, one for each Saint. The ten Saints are; Francis de Sales, Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, Robert Bellarmine, Aloysius Gonzaga, Pope Pius V, Philip Neri, John of the Cross, Frances de Chantal, and Charles Borromeo. In each chapter Shaun tells us about the Saint and shares some stories from their lives. He includes some of their quotes and makes suggestions on how we can be more like them. He includes a number of scripture passages to augment his suggestions. When reading many of Shaun’s suggestions I felt like I was listening to a Spiritual Director. Shaun ends each chapter with a conclusion, information for further study and a prayer to the Saint. I definitely grew spiritually through the experience of reading, and praying, this book. I believe that you will too. I highly recommend this book. It is available from its publisher, Catholic Answers (www.catholic.com), Amazon (www.amazon.com) and other bookstores.

On Being Bullied – by A.J. Avila (PLUS a new novel)


Not too long ago, I published a blog post about how I was spurned in church during the Sign of Peace (see https://reflections911.wordpress.com/2017/07/07/spurned-at-church and also shared on this blog).  Then I made a huge mistake. I mentioned the post on a forum.
You would not believe the negativity I got. I was told what a horrible person I am, how being spurned was my own fault, and how I should have been more sympathetic to the woman who had treated me so poorly.
Silly me. I thought it was a teachable moment. I thought I made it clear this was something I needed to work on, that since St. Paul had rejoiced in his sufferings, I should learn to do that too.
I guess I should have known better than to mention what happened since you would not believe the reactions I’ve gotten when I disclose that I used to be bullied as a kid. I’ve grouped those responses into seven categories:
1. “I Don’t Believe You”
You’re told you’re either delusional or making a mountain out of a molehill. Like Holocaust deniers, some folk find it impossible to believe others, especially children, could be so cruel. Therefore, you must be making the whole thing up, probably to gain unwarranted sympathy for yourself.
2. “You Must Have Done Something to Deserve It”
Folks who tell you this also believe others wouldn’t be so cruel—unless, of course, you’ve given them a reason. You must have been a bully first and the treatment you received was simple retaliation. When you protest that you didn’t do anything, you’re not believed.
3. “Why Can’t You Just Shrug It Off?”
People who tell you this have probably experienced some bullying themselves. I agree that most likely few kids get through childhood without such a confrontation or two happening to them. What this fails to consider is that you’re not talking about a couple of isolated incidents. You’re talking about daily bullying, and not just by other children but by those—like teachers—in authority over you. A person who tells you to just shrug it off has no idea how much shrugging this would take.
4. “Grow a Backbone!” You should have a stiff upper lip and let the insults slide off you like water off a duck. After all, sticks and stones may break your bones, but names can never harm you. What the person telling you this fails to understand is that you were only a child and that names can harm your self-image, especially if it’s chronic name-calling.
5. “You Should Have Fought Back!”
This one seems to envision two little boys slugging it out on the school playground, and the bully, once thoroughly whooped, stops antagonizing his victim. Well, golly gee willikers, why didn’t I think of that? Oh wait. I did—with disastrous results. The problem here is that you’re not bullied by just other kids but by those in authority. So if you call your bully a name, she goes whining to the teacher, and then—behold!—now you’re the bully! It doesn’t matter if you do only a tenth of what the bully did to you. In everyone’s eyes, you are automatically wrong. In fact, you’ve just demonstrated that you deserve everything you’re getting.
6. “You Were the Victim of Bullying? Oh, Goody! I’ve Been Looking for One of Those!”
Amazingly, when you mention that you were bullied as a child, adult bullies, like a shark smelling a drop of blood in the ocean, come out in droves. I’ve been told by people who don’t know me at all that I’m a terrible, horrible person who has all kinds of physical and psychological problems.
7. “It Happened to Me Too”
Every once in a while, I come across a soul I can commiserate with. Unless you’ve been a victim of this yourself, you can only imagine what it’s like. Dealing with daily badgering isn’t easy, and I entirely disagree with the extremes of either jumping off a building or shooting up a classroom. So . . . just what do you do to survive this? My own tactic was to retreat into a world of books. When my nose was in a book, I was less likely to be accosted, and each novel I read allowed me to share an adventure in another world where I wasn’t bullied. I ended up reading a book a day—and if anything good came out of this, it helped prepare me for when I myself would be the novelist creating other worlds.

A.J. Avila has a brand new novel.  Take a look below.

My third Christian novel, Amaranth, is now available in paperback.
Here’s the story:
Would you take an elixir that made you perpetually young and physically immortal?
What if the price for it was your eternal soul?
Billionaire Desmond Sceller acquires such a wonder drug. But when eighty-year-old Marie Long is rejuvenated by it against her will, she quickly discovers unending beauty and youth is not the paradise it seems. Sceller, however, intends on using the elixir to entice all mankind into submitting to his tyrannical control. When Marie and her grandson Peter unearth this evil scheme, they soon discover that only an extraordinary sacrifice on their part can free humanity from Sceller’s nefarious plan.

Click here to purchase Amaranth on Amazon
Also, right now the Kindle version is on sale for just 99¢.

 

BORED AGAIN CATHOLIC – How the Mass Could Save Your Life by Timothy P. O’Malley – reflections by Deacon Marty McIndoe

               You probably noticed that in the topic I called this a reflection, not a book review.  My purpose is to share with you how this book touched me.  I will leave a real book review to those more skilled in the process, like Pete Socks from Catholic Stand.  To begin with, you must know that I absolutely love the mass.  I am a daily communicant and I believe that the mass is the “source and summit” of my faith.  When I saw this book I immediately pre-ordered it.  I highly respect Timothy P. O’Malley as an author and he was writing about a topic that was dear to my heart.  I did worry about the first part of the title, BORED AGAIN CATHOLIC.   I saw it as a cute spin on “born again” but I never considered the mass boring.  The second part of the title was more to my liking, HOW THE MASS COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE.  I know this statement to be true.

               From the very beginning I saw what Timothy P. O’Malley was getting at in looking at the “boredom” of the mass.  He shows how there is good boredom and bad boredom.  The good boredom is the space where you can allow God to work.  In it we can ponder on the wonders of God at work in the mass.  The bad boredom is really a time where we allow ourselves unhealthy distractions from what God is doing.  The author gives great examples of good boredom and bad boredom.  He really makes you think about how the mind and its thought processes can lift you up spiritually.  There is no doubt that the author has a great love for the mass and for liturgy in general.  I see a lot of myself in him.

               The book takes just about every part of the mass and applies personal stories, as well as scripture and quotes from theologians, Saints, Popes etc. and creates a space for your own personal reflections.  It even includes questions at the end of each chapter to help you reflect on what was just given to you.  Some of the questions even challenge you to actions that will help you in better understanding the gift of the mass and liturgy.  I cannot think of any adult or teen that wouldn’t learn and grow by reading this book.  Whether you are a seasoned Catholic, or a new Catholic, this book is for you.  I can also see that it could be used to help non-Catholics better understand the mass (and hopefully decide that they too need the mass).

               As I said earlier, I am a daily communicant who really loves the mass.  This book gave me some new insights in to the mass and liturgy, even though I have been doing this since I became Catholic in 1973.  It gave me a better appreciation for the signs used in the mass.  His discussion of how when his mind might wander and then get caught up in the smoke rising from the incense in to the light of the sun made me better appreciate the use of incense (which we really do not use enough).  I loved the author’s suggestion of how we really should enshrine THE BOOK in our homes.  For many years we always kept a large bible open in a prominent area of our living room.  Somehow we got away from this.  I now plan on starting doing this again.

               I really loved the chapter dealing with the homily.  As a person who often does both weekday and Sunday homilies, I was moved by what Dr. O’Malley said.  He recalled how one day he took his toddler to the back of the Church because the toddler was fussy.  He admitted that he himself was fussy because the homily was not on target and was too long.  He recalled that the homily was not on target because it did not connect to the Gospel.  It was filled with too many personal stories.  Now, I have no problem with some personal stories, but I realize that everything that I say during a homily must connect to God’s word.  I recalled what was said to me by the Bishop who was ordaining me.   He handed me a book of the Gospels and said, “Believe what you read, Teach what you believe, and Practice what you teach”.  I actually keep a small plaque on my desk saying this so that I always remember what being a deacon is all about.  We too often hear that the Catholic Church suffers from poor homilies.  Actually, I have been lucky that the bishops and priests and deacons that I have been exposed to usually give great homilies.  This book inspired me to be better in my preaching.  It also reinforced my love of liturgy and the mass.  I know that I could tell you more, but I really believe that the best thing that I can tell you is to go out and get the book and read it.  Actually, don’t just read it, ponder it.  God is so good.  Thank you Dr. Timothy P. O’Malley for this gem.

FREE NOVEL THROUGH DECEMBER 30TH

From now through December 30, my good friend, author A.J. Avila, is giving away her novel Nearer the Dawn.  It  is absolutely free on Amazon Kindle.  Don’t miss out on this chance to read a Catholic novel for free.
 
If you got a Kindle for Christmas or know someone who did, here’s a chance to put a book on it free. For ages thirteen and up.
 
Top Rated on catholicfiction.net
 

Time for Some Catholic Fiction: Author A.J. Avila interviews Author Amy M. Bennett

amy-bennett-cover-for-blog-4amy-bennett-cover-for-blog-3amy-bennett-cover-for-blog-2amy-bennett-cover-for-blog-1

Many of us study great theology and spirituality books, but sometimes you just need to take a break and read some good fiction.   How about Catholic fiction?  My good friend, author A.J. Avila interviewed author Amy M. Bennett.   Check out this interview.

I managed to score an interview with Catholic author Amy M. Bennett, who specializes in mystery novels. In a day and age where our media is often full of profanity, sex, and condemnation of the Catholic Church, Ms. Bennett’s books are a refreshing ray of sunshine.

What are your books about?

I write what are known as “cozy mysteries”–mystery novels set in familiar, home-style settings, like small towns. Because I’ve always been a fan of mysteries, I chose to write mysteries (yes, murder mysteries) set in a small, New Mexico town where most of the characters have lived all their lives and have a strong Catholic culture. Any resemblance to my own life is strictly coincidental!

Where do you get the ideas for your books? 

I joke that, working in retail, it’s easy to find villains and victims for murder stories, but the truth is that I’m a shameless eavesdropper (thanks to the advent of cell phones, no conversation is private anymore… remember that the next time you’re carrying on a “private” conversation in a public place!) and I pick up ideas from news stories. Radio news gives great teasers–”A long-buried secret surfaces just before the mayoral election.” “Feuding families come together for a child’s last wish.” I don’t even want to hear what the real story is… I’m busy coming up with my own!

What inspired you to write your first book?  
I have always enjoyed creative writing (yeah, I was THAT kid in your English class!) since I was old enough to write complete sentences. I would read a lot and read at a level far above my age and grade. I was reading Agatha Christie mysteries in sixth grade and coming up with my own characters and storylines. I didn’t really start writing a novel until I was in my twenties, married, with a baby. I started reading Writer’s Digest and The Writer magazines and wrote a couple of novels which I squirreled away from anyone’s eyes. Only my husband read them—I doubt that even the editors and agents I submitted them to ever really read them before sending me a form rejection letter. When I heard about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in 2008, which is a nation-wide writing challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, I decided to take the challenge. In 2009, I got down about 30,000 words of what would become “End of the Road”, my first mystery novel. I broke my own rule about not letting anyone see my unfinished work. Both my husband and his sister read it and said, “You have to finish this.” I have to give them the credit for launching my series!

How do you incorporate your Catholic faith into your writing?

It’s about the same as I incorporate my work habits, eating habits, and the like. It’s a part of me, so it’s a part of my characters. I don’t write novels that try to teach or preach; I just write about every day people who happen to be Catholic and live the Faith. They go to Mass, they pray, they attend the parish fiesta, they try to avoid sin and the near occasion of. One of my main characters, Sheriff Rick Sutton, is divorced and, while he is very much in love with another main character, Corrie Black, he knows (and so does she) that a relationship is out of the question. It makes the “love triangle” so much more realistic.

How did you come up with the main characters for your series?

I got tired of certain stock characters I kept finding in so many other books. I got tired of emotional issues being resolved in graphic detail with “no-strings” sex. I got tired of characters who were not like anyone I knew or could relate to. I wanted strong, but sensitive and vulnerable characters who had real reasons for their actions. I wanted to write characters that I would want for friends. I think I succeeded!

Do your characters seem to “take over” when you write?

Oh, all the time! Except Rick. If you look in the dictionary under “taciturn”, his picture would be there! I write my story from Corrie’s point of view and also from J.D. Wilder’s point of view (since Rick refuses to let me in on his thoughts) and several times, they have strayed from the “script”, so to speak, and come up with situations and plot twists that evolved naturally from their characters. I like to give them free rein as much as possible, even if it means having to do a lot of heavy editing later on!

If you could spend time with a character from your book whom would it be? Why would you choose that person?

I think many women would expect me to say Rick or J.D.–and why not?–but I would love to spend time with Corrie, who is the type of best friend anyone would like to have. But I also have a special place in my heart for RaeLynn, Corrie’s friend whose life has been anything but easy, who is timid and shy, but has a fierce desire to better herself and rise above her situation. She would be my hero.

Which of your books is your favorite? Why?

I can say my son is my favorite child because he’s the only one I have, but my books? Each one is so different from the others and I’d like to think that each one is a step in my writing journey. But if I had to pick one, I think my favorite would be “No Lifeguard on Duty”, the second book in the series. I think it’s where I got comfortable with my characters, knew them well enough to really invest a lot of feeling and emotion with them. The subsequent books open up a lot of information about them, but “No Lifeguard” is the book where my characters went from being acquaintances to being friends.

Amy M. Bennett is the author of the award-winning Black Horse Campground mystery series, published by Oak Tree Press. She works full time as a cake decorator at Walmart in Alamogordo, New Mexico and part time as a “vino slinger” for Noisy Water Winery in Ruidoso, New Mexico. She lives in Bent, New Mexico with her husband and son. The fifth book in the series is currently awaiting publication while she works on her sixth book.

Links to purchase books online:

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=bennett%2C+amy+m

Oak Tree Press: http://oaktreebooks.com/AuthorRoster/bennetamy.html

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/bennett%2C+amy+m?_requestid=787349

Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=bennett,%20amy%20m.&cat_id=3920_582105_586706

 

A Lesson at the Library by A.J. Avila

childrens-room-library-for-blog

One of the more exciting things about having children is introducing them to the wonders of the world. Watching them make discoveries for the very first time often shows us what we’ve lost growing up.

For example, I wanted some more reading material, so my husband and I stopped by our local public library with our firstborn, who was all of two years old. Sure that watching Mommy browse the shelves in the adult section was far too tedious for a toddler, I suggested my husband take our daughter into the children’s room. Our library boasts three large aquariums there, vibrant with colorful tropical fish. Certainly she would find that more entertaining.

I figured I had hit it on the nose when about fifteen minutes later, she came back into the main section of the library, bobbing with excitement. “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!” she squealed, grabbing my hand. “Come see!”

Her tiny hand cradled in mine, I allowed her to usher me into the children’s room, but to my surprise, she dragged me past the fish tanks and to the shelves of Easy Readers. “Look!” she cried, pointing. “They have books here!”

Books? At the library? Who would have thought?

Smiling at her enthusiasm, I suggested we examine them. What a wonderful idea! As we pulled title after title off the shelf, I sat back on my heels, enjoying her delight at opening them and exploring the wonders inside.

Then I came up with an even better idea. “Let’s take some of these home with us!”

Immediately her grin transformed into horror. Definitely not the reaction I was expecting. Puzzled, I racked my brain for the reason. Slowly it dawned on me that she thought taking the books would be stealing. Even worse, she thought her own mother would be complicit in such a terrible crime.

I explained that we wouldn’t be keeping the books. We would take them for a while, then bring them back.

That, apparently, was even worse somehow. Her lower lip trembled, and I could see she was on the verge of tears.

My pleas that this is what a public library is all about fell on deaf ears. I even offered to ask the librarians at the desk if it was okay to borrow some of the books.

“No, Mommy,” she choked. “Don’t!”

Well, I certainly didn’t want her very first trip to a library to be such a negative experience. “Okay,” I said softly. “Let’s put the books back.”

Only doing that placated her suffering.

In Romans 2:15 St. Paul declares that the law is written on our hearts. Apparently, it’s written so well even a two-year-old can see it.

Yet . . . how many of us are so horrified at sin as my toddler was that day? Do we become so inured to evil, so callous, that we don’t see the heinousness of it as we once did? It’s there every day, in our newspapers and on our television screens, yet don’t we just go on sipping our coffee as if nothing has happened?

Maybe Jesus hit it on the nose more than we realize when He told us we need to be born again and become like little children.

Maybe one of the reasons is so we can recapture seeing the world, and the evil in it, the way we once did.

 

Find A.J. Avila at Reflections on My Catholic Journey – https://reflections911.wordpress.com/author/ajavilanovels/

A.J. Avila lives in San Bernardino with her husband. She is the author of three Christian novels: Rain from Heaven, Nearer the Dawn, and Amaranth, which are available on Amazon Kindle with all net profits going to charity. (You can learn a bit about those by reading the synopses on Amazon.)

Write the Holy Mass on the Tablet of Your Heart by Kevin Vost

My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments…
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Prov 3:1 & 3

A thing is said metaphorically to be written in the mind of anyone when it is firmly held in memory.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologica

I’d like to start with words of thanks and congratulations to Deacon Marty McIndoe on the launch of his new website! What worthier goal for a site could there be than “to help Catholics grow in holiness and in their relationship to Jesus and His Church”? I also found it most fortuitous (well, providential, to be precise) that the grand opening of Deacon Marty’s site is almost to the day the release of my latest book that shares the same goal through that most intimate relationship Jesus provides us through the gift of His very self in the Eucharist at Holy Mass. As an ordained deacon, Marty has been graced with the capacity to participate in Mass assisting the priest and glorifying God in a very special way. Of course, each and every one of us in the laity as well is called to fully participate in Mass in our own role – in heart, mind, body, and soul!
Here, in this little article, I’ll provide a few excerpts from Memorize the Mass! How to Know and Love the Mass as if Your Life Depended On It (En Route Books and Media, 2016) tailored specifically to you, Deacon Marty’s readers, and I’ll begin by telling you how that book began.
When One’s Life Depends on the Mass

As in all other times of crisis, we relied on our religious backgrounds to give us strength and to help us accept the sacrifice of our monastic existence. I went through the Mass each day in English and Latin, took spiritual communion, and meditated deeply.
Admiral Jeremiah Denton

In early 2015 I was working on a book about the Stoic philosophers. While examining their ongoing modern-day influence, I told the story of James Stockdale, a U.S. Navy fighter pilot who was shot from the skies over North Vietnam on September 9, 1965, and would remain a prisoner of the North Vietnamese Communist army for more than seven years. He attributed his success in holding up mentally to repeated bouts of torture and isolation and in giving solace to his fellow American POWs to his previous immersion in the ancient Stoic wisdom of the philosopher Epictetus. Epictetus taught that to maintain emotional tranquility, grow in virtue, and conform our will to God’s, it is essential to distinguish between what we can and cannot control. Sometimes what we can control is little beyond our own mental judgments, attitudes, and moral purpose. We must focus our efforts on those things we can control and endure with dignity events that are not up to us. Stockdale strove to control his own moral purpose and state of mind, since so little else was left up to him. He survived the ordeal and later became an admiral and the vice presidential running mate with Ross Perot in the 1992 presidential elections.
In the midst of writing that book, I received an email from Major Valpiani, a U.S. Air Force officer and experimental test pilot. He had read one of my books on the memory techniques of Sts. Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas, and he asked me if I could give him suggestions on how to memorize the parts of the Mass. You see, he had found through the Internet that I’d written an article called “Memorize the Mass!” on a now defunct Catholic social media site, and he wondered if I could share it with him. I remembered the article but found that my Word program didn’t!
I was unable to track down the article for him, but I told him that I remembered the basics and could share those with him. What intrigued me about his email, however, was the story behind his question.
Major Valpiani had heard a recording of a talk from a man who had mentally repeated the Mass every day to preserve his sanity and sanctity during nearly eight years of confinement, also as a POW in North Vietnam, like Stockdale. That man, Jeremiah Denton, had been Commanding Officer of Attack Squadron Seventy-Five aboard the USS Independence and was shot down on July 18, 1965, two months before James Stockdale. His ordeal as a POW lasted nearly eight years. He, like Stockdale, later became an admiral, and then he became a U.S. senator from Alabama. I responded to the major that I had not heard of Admiral Denton but had, coincidentally, just written about Admiral Stockdale. In his response he told me that in fact the two were friends! That was news to me. Stockdale had not mentioned Denton in the books I’d read. Admiral Denton’s story was clearly one that I had to investigate.
Sure enough, in his book Hell is in Session, Denton described how he and Stockdale cooperated in keeping the American POWs alive and in preserving their dignity. He described as well, in the quotation that started this preface, that throughout those years, many of which included solitary confinement and a variety of ongoing tortures, he did indeed go through the Mass each day in his head, both in English and in Latin!
Well, not long after this interchange, a Maryknoll missionary priest came to my parish and told the story of Bishop James Walsh, who was imprisoned in Communist China for nearly twelve years (1958-1970). Though he could not actually celebrate the Mass, the Mass and the Rosary gave him strength throughout his years of imprisonment. Indeed, so great was his love for the Mass that in the bishop’s book Zeal for Your House, one photo shows him just after his release, still in a hospital bed, joyfully celebrating the Holy Mass for the first time after so many years, whilst still in his pajamas!
To keep a short article from becoming long, these stories made it quite clear to me that providing a simple means of “memorizing the Mass,” coming to know all of its parts, both backward and forward, would well be worth not just another article, but an entire book. Thankfully, Dr. Sebastian Mahfood and Shaun McAfee at En Route Books and Media agreed.
As much as the lives of Admiral Denton and Bishop Walsh depended on the Mass under such extreme crises, in a way, all our lives depend upon it. After all, the Eucharist is the heart of the Mass, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church makes clear that the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (1324).
The goal then of the book Memorize the Mass! is to help the reader through a guided tutorial in the implementation of specialized memory methods recommended and employed by Sts. Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas, to more fully and deeply experience that source and summit by writing the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on the tablet of your heart (both in the Novus Ordo or Ordinary Form and in the Extraordinary Form of the Traditional Latin Mass).
The Catholic Art of Memory Meets the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

The Sacrifice (of the Mass) is celebrated with many solemn rites and ceremonies, none of which should be deemed useless or superfluous. On the contrary, all of them tend to display the majesty of this august Sacrifice, and to excite the faithful when beholding these saving mysteries, to contemplate the divine things which lie concealed in the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
Catechism of the Council of Trent

Nothing that you have seen or heard is useful, however, unless you deposit what you should see and hear in the treasury of your memory.
St. Jerome

The Mass is the heart of Catholic life, and the Eucharist is that heart’s flesh and blood, the flesh and blood, soul and divinity of our Savior Jesus Christ. Christ initiated the Eucharist for us nearly two thousand years ago, and the Church has been greatly blessed by it and by the rites of the Holy Sacrifice that so quickly grew around it to perfect it as the Church’s ultimate act of worship.
Of course, the Church has given us so many great blessings throughout the millennia that it boggles the mind to even begin to catalog them.
One gift of the Church, perhaps little known, is the development and enhancement of ancient Greek and Latin memory improvement techniques by two great Catholic Doctors of the Church, St. Albert the Great (c. 1200-1280), the Universal Doctor and Patron Saint of Scientists, and his most illustrious student, St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), the Angelic Doctor and Patron Saint of Scholars. You see, they both considered the powers of memory essential to the exercise of the cardinal virtue of prudence or practical wisdom, for to achieve virtuous goals in the future, we must act in the present, guided by what we have learned in the past and stored in the treasure chests of our memory. They actually described and endorsed an ancient method of memory improvement based on visual images and an imagined system for ordering ideas one wants to remember.
Well, one thing we can apply these memory methods to is the parts and the rites of the Holy Mass itself. Indeed, what is more worth remembering? So here I’ll give just a taste of what the method entails. St. Thomas said that we can better remember even abstract concepts if we represent them in a simple, concrete way, because as human beings, our knowledge and memories start with the information brought in from our senses, particularly what we see and hear, and indeed, things that we see (or even just imagine seeing) are for most people the most readily remembered. Here then is a simple visual example that appears at the book’s location 23 for the Ordinary Form of the Mass.
Vost093
Images like this one are mentally placed at specific different locations within an imagined house. This one appears at location 23 (which happens to be the head of a dining room table), because the Preface Acclamation that moves into the Eucharistic Prayer is the 23rd of the 32 parts of the Mass as they are numbered in the St. Joseph Sunday Missal that I use.
So now please imagine this: Your eyes zoom in on your own priest’s face as a visual pun reminding you of the “Preface” acclamation (the prayer that starts with “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts…”)
The dove ascending from above reminds us of the part of the Eucharistic Prayer called the “Epiclesis” in which the Holy Spirit is invoked.
The priest raises the host aloft to remind us of the Institution Narrative and Consecration, in which, invoking the words of Christ, the bread and wine become Christ in his real sacramental presence, Body and Blood, soul and divinity, retaining the “accidents” or appearances of bread and wine that remain to our senses, while becoming in substance Christ Himself as perceived through the eyes of faith.
Mother Mary is next to Christ to remind us the after the consecration of and remembrance of all the Church, we pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, to Joseph, to the apostles and all the saints for their intercessions in leading us to eternal life.
Oh, and why the dachshund? He is simply a verbal and visual pun to remind us of the “Concluding Doxology” that ends each Eucharistic prayer, starting with “Though him, and with him, and in him…”
Perhaps few Catholics, even those who’ve attended hundreds or thousands of Masses realize the amazingly rich and deep wealth of Scripture and Tradition that underlie and gave rise to every single rite, every word, indeed to every gesture of the Holy Mass. So, besides memorizing the names and the order of the parts of the Mass, we are called to dig deeply into their spiritual meanings. Behold just a sample, for a ceremony as seemingly simple as the Greeting, the second part of the New Order Mass, right after the Entrance Chant. (At this point in the book the guided memory tour has already been provided and sections like the one below begin to flesh out the meanings of each rite one by one.)
2. Greeting
A doormat (location 2) is a pretty straightforward reminder for a greeting, and this particular greeting from the presiding priest in the sanctuary at the front of the church begins with a sign of the cross. “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” he says, and we, of course, answer, “Amen.” The priest’s sign of the cross proclaims the Trinity and reminds us of the cross of Christ’s Passion and the great commission he gave his disciples to go and “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:19).
Our “Amen” harks back to the worship of the ancient Hebrews, for it is the Hebrew word for “truth” or “certainty” and has been used by Christians for millennia in Mass as a powerful affirmation, meaning “truly,” “verily,” or “so be it!” We should say it not as two mindless syllables we’ve utter countless times, but mindfully, joyfully, and with gusto and conviction. This is the first of many “Amens” we will utter in Mass, and for centuries it has been among the most notable hallmarks of Christian worship. Indeed, in one of the ancient lives of St. Patrick, apostle to the Irish, a fifth century Druid priest forewarns the pagan King Laeghaire Mac Neill of a prophetic vision he’s had of a new faith that would arrive and live forever in Erin (i.e., Ireland), describing it like this:
A Tailecend (i.e., Patrick) shall come across the stormy sea.
His garment head-pierced, his staff head-bent,
His mias (i.e., altar) in the east of his house;
His people all shall answer, Amen, amen.
When we utter our own “Amens,” perhaps we can reflect from time to time that we are joining the chorus of the countless “Amens” across time and across nations, recited in every accent imaginable to affirm that great new faith in the Holy Trinity that St. Patrick and multitudes of great saints like him have gone to such great costs to spread unto the ends of the earth—indeed, all the way to our very own parish!
The priest then welcomes us to Mass using one of these three forms of greeting: (a) “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all,” (b) “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” or simply (c) “The Lord be with you” (or “Peace be with you,” if the celebrant is a bishop). And we answer, “And with your spirit.”
So then, we have all gathered together; sung a hymn of praise to God; honored the Trinity; remembered Christ’s cross and our call to evangelize; been welcomed by the priest; and prayed that God’s grace, love, and peace be with the spirits of the priest and all those gathered for Mass. That’s quite a bit in just the first couple of minutes, but we need to move along to see what may (or may not) happen next…
Out From the Mass and Into the World
“Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.”

Well, that does it for a brief introduction to my attempt to apply the Catholic Art of Memory to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I pray that whether you come to try to memorize its parts or not, you will continue to grow in your own love and knowledge of the Holy Mass and of all things Christ-centered and Catholic. I hope as well that as you go out from the Mass and into the world, you will remember that Christ is truly then within you, indeed, “cleaving” to your “innermost parts,” in the translated words of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, inspiring you to share Him most lovingly with others.
Further, when you move from the Mass to the virtual world of the Internet, I’ll hope and pray that as you seek trusted guides to the truth, beauty, and goodness of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, you will not forget the wonderful new resource of this very website. Thank you again, Deacon Marty!
Finally I’ll conclude, echoing St. Patrick and billions of Catholics across all lands and ages by loudly proclaiming – “Amen!”

Kevin Vost, Psy.D., his wife and two sons live in Springfield, Illinois an attend St. Agnes Parish. He is author of more than a dozen books from The One-Minute Aquinas to Memorize the Mass!

http://enroutebooksandmedia.com/books/memorize-the-mass/