Total Consecration & the Assumption

Today is the most beautiful of Church Feast Days for Mary the Mother of God. I know there were a lot of capital letters in that sentence but I don't care! It's the Assumption! It's also the date I've chosen to be my consecration day using the St. Louis-Maria deMontfort Total Consecration Method (I had a post about this saint a while back).

I couldn't be more excited about this consecration. I'm not too good at expressing things beautifully so instead I'll use a youtube video on what this is and just how awesome it is:

I also wanted to alert all you readers out there to a beautiful post by my good friend and fellow blogger Gabriel on this feast day (it's one of his favorites too).

Ongoing Conversion

Hello faithful blog followers! Thank you so much for following. Some thoughts have come to me recently that I thought I could share. It's been about 3 or so years since my deep conversion to the Catholic Faith, and about 5 years since my confirmation, and it's left me thinking am I continuing to grow in my faith as I was back then? Has my faith journey been accelerating, decelerating, or staying constant? It's a difficult question to answer and I don't think it's necessarily one or the other. I feel that in some ways I'm growing more than I ever have, and in others I've been slipping. It reminds me of the call to constant conversion and repentance. John Paul II once said that if it's been more than a day since your last conversion, it's been too long. Please pray for me, my family, this blog, and my catechism podcast. God bless you all!!

New Papal Encyclical!!

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to get word out (if you haven't already heard) that there's a new papal encyclical out. It's available on the Vatican's website here:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20130629_enciclica-lumen-fidei_en.html

It'll take me a while to read through it so I don't have too much to say for now, except that it's exciting that it's an encyclical released by Pope Francis, but the first draft was written by Pope Benedict before he abdicated the throne. I'm not sure if that's ever happened before but it's pretty cool. The main subject of the encyclical is Faith, which is fitting given that it's the year of Faith. I was very inspired when Benedict called the year of faith and even went so far as to start up a podcast because of it, so I'm pretty excited to read this.  God Bless!

Music Piracy

Hello blogging world. So there's a sin of my past that I'm still working on to make amends for, and that is music piracy. I started downloading music illegally a long time ago. I think as early as high school. I remember the days of Napster well. I then got into other illegal methods for acquiring music once Napster folded. For many many years I increased my music library to an absurd amount. I even filled up a 60GB iPod.

I mark the date I finally downloaded my last stolen music as around July 2010. This was also around the same time as my marriage. If I could point to one turning point in my life - it would be my marriage to my wife. Nothing made me more serious about life and my faith than that one pivotal event. Instead of living for just myself, I was now in a 'one-flesh' union with another human soul. Anyway, after these past three or so years of legitimate music years I've finally been able to root out all of the music from my personal library that was pirated. The last stolen song was excised in February. It was quite a project and took me months just to catalogue the albums I did actually own.

I next went to work making a list of all the albums that I had stolen that I know I should purchase legally because of the number of times I've listened to them. It's this point that some don't understand. My argument is, if someone steals something from you, and then just throws it away, that doesn't really fix the root of the problem. It's better than just keeping the stolen object, but to truly make up for the sin of theft, you should either give the object back or purchase it legally. I have confessed this sin and I know that God has granted me forgiveness because of the sacrament, but just because you've been forgiven of spilling the milk doesn't mean the milk will clean itself up - there's still work to do.

Thus I've catalogued all of the music I'd like to purchase to make amends and the total has come to (based on amazon and iTunes mp3 costs): $1,351.92. This is not something I am going to buy back all at once of course, but over the course of many years. I have vowed that I won't buy any other music for myself before I first make amends. I think a goal of maybe one album a month is a good pace.

Since beginning this process I've noticed one thing: legitimate music sounds better. I know that's a strange thing, but I've found it very true. These albums I used to have would sound great but there would always be something in the back of my mind, in my subconscious that would say something's not right here. Now that I've started purchasing the albums, that voice is silent and I can enjoy the music to a higher degree. I love dancing to this music with my wife and son in the kitchen. I love listening to it on an iPod while driving. If you too have this kind of sin in your past I encourage you to take the dive like I did - you won't regret it!

We have a Pope!!

I am very excited with the election of the new pope, Pope Francis! I've been reading whatever I can about him and the more I read the more I'm falling in love with him. His first words on the balcony were a joy to hear (even though I don't speak Italian). He speaks so gently and is so obviously a man of deep prayer. I love how he led the whole crowd in the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be. He gave up the archbishop's large residence to live in a humble apartment, takes public transportation, and cooks his own meals. This photo of him also speaks volumes:

God Bless you Pope Francis and your papacy.

The Eucharist

Just found a really great video about the Eucharist from EWTN:


The eucharist truly is awesome. It's the main reason why we go to Mass each week (and some of us even more often). The word of God and the sermon prepare us to receive this amazing gift of God's only son: Body Blood Soul and Divinity. He gives us everything. Instead of this bread becoming a part of us as normal food does, we become more like Jesus when we receive it with a thankful and pure heart.

Also while sharing awesome videos, here's a hilarious one that has been entertaining me and my wife:

Farewell my Pope

News today of Pope Benedict's stepping down just reached me and I am deeply saddened to be losing such an awesome Pope. He's the second pope to reign during my lifetime, but I've identified strongly with him since he has been the pope since my reversion to the faith (read more here). I also got to see him once while in Rome this past summer during one of his Wednesday sessions:


That's me with the pope in the background sitting on my left shoulder.

I totally understand his reasons for stepping down. He is much older than John Paul II when he passed away and the papal office is very demanding physically and spiritually. Although a pope stepping down is rare, it isn't without precedent. I also echo the thoughts of Fr. Dwight Longenecker.

I am very hopeful about the future of the Church and to whomever succeeds this pope. The list I was reading this morning looks pretty promising, especially if our very own Cardinal Tim Dolan of New York is somehow elected. I was also excited to see a Cardinal from Ghana, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, so high on the list. No matter what, I know for sure that the Holy Spirit is guiding the Church into all truth. God Bless you Pope Benedict for your service to the church and may God grant you peace in your final years.

p.s. - Also a big shout out to my friend Gabriel Blanchard who has just started his own blog (mudbloodcatholic.blogspot.com). I have really enjoyed his first few posts. He posts a lot more often than I do and is a much much deeper thinker than I so I highly recommend it.