“Some Of These I Will Take As Priests”

Here I share with APL readers my remarks upon the occasion of my installation by His Excellency, Archbishop Donald Wuerl, as pastor of St. Francis de Sales Church in Benedict, Md., on August 22, 2010.
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"Thus says the LORD: ... 'I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them; from them I will send fugitives to the nations: to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory; and they shall proclaim my glory among the nations. They shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots, in carts, upon mules and dromedaries, to Jerusalem, my holy mountain, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their offering to the house of the LORD in clean vessels. Some of these I will take as priests and Levites, says the LORD.' "

-- Is 66:18-21

Thank you, Your Excellency, for your presence among us today and for personally installing me as the pastor of this wonderful parish community of faith of St. Francis de Sales Church. I am grateful for the gift and privilege of collaborating with you in your role as shepherd of our Church of Washington. It is a grace in which I pray I will continue to grow with the help of your prayers
and the prayers of the holy People of God. I appreciate your kindness in delivering the homily for our Mass today. As there has already been one very good homily, please be assured that my remarks will not be similar in length.

My thanks must go above all to Almighty God, from whom all blessings come. In this beautiful gift of a share in the pastoral care of God’s people I see and experience the goodness of God and His infinite and merciful love. This comes through the holy Church, the Body of Christ, because of the gift of the Holy Spirit of divine Love.

My faith and trust in God have been renewed and strengthened in these days in which I receive as a gift what no one could hope to deserve. It is only in humility that God can use us in the service of the good and the salvation of His people. Acknowledging every good thing as a gift of God will help me, and all those who work together for the salvation of souls in this parish family, to remain humble and therefore useful for God’s holy will in imitation of Christ who served the rest by His death on the cross.

To the people of this parish community of St. Francis de Sales: You have all welcomed me among you with gentleness and kindness. Please know of my sincere gratitude for your goodness which speaks profoundly of the presence of the Lord. I look forward to growing with you in the spirit of reverence and love of God in our sacred worship together, especially on the Lord’s Day each week.

I thank my brother and sisters and nieces and nephews who have joined us today. I am one of six siblings and, for that reason if no other, family is very important. Thank you for showing your love and support by the gift of your presence. My parents, Richard and Mary, are not with us today because they are attending another family event in Michigan, but they are very much with us in spirit. They have already visited the parish when in July they made a voyage on their sailboat, The Irish Blessing, from Baltimore and made a port call here in Benedict on my second weekend here. They attended Mass and said hello to many of our parishioners after the weekend Masses. They have certainly bestowed their parental “benediction” and they look forward to visiting us again.

I wish to also acknowledge the presence of my brother priests, Fathers Roberto Cortes and Ted Hegnauer. Thank you for your fraternity, a gift to my own priesthood. My friend, Fr. Hegnauer, also represents the pastor and people of my home parish of St. Mary of the Mills in Laurel. Father, thanks for your kindness in coming today.

To all of you, friends old and new, God’s beloved faithful people, thank you for being present to celebrate this holy Mass of installation, for your prayers and your best wishes. God bless
you.

-- ((((..))))

"... the one who humbles himself will be exalted": true greatness is with God, who only can raise us to the highest place in heaven

I took the opportunity Friday to run near the Tidal Basin in Washington. As I ran, I had the opportunity to reflect on all the great Americans who are memorialized in the grand and beautiful monuments that surround the visitor to the capital city. I thought about what makes people great, important, and worth remembering. Would we forget these human beings if there were no piles of marble and stone dedicated to their memory? And I realized that, yes, given all of the things that each of us learn, there are probably many more things that we forget, including other people and their heroic and exemplary deeds.

The monuments we build hold up for us the models of human greatness that have gone before us. But they can also serve to make us feel small and insignificant. There will be very little left behind to mark the passage of most of us through this life on earth.

But the Lord, who we know is the greatest One of all, who is God, holds up for us who know our littleness the way to be great: He says we must seek to be the last. Now, that doesn’t sound great at all, to be the last and the least. How will doing so enable us to leave a mark on the lives of others, and to make the world a better place?

Here we speak of the virtue, or good habit, of humility. Why is humility necessary? Why do we need to be humble in order to find the happiness that results from the fulfillment of living a truly worthy and good life?

History seems to be made by people who were important in the eyes of the world: kings, generals, writers, artists, geniuses of various kinds. These are the people who seem important to us because it is their stories that fill the pages of our history books and about whom films are made and who are memorialized in the great expressions of fine art in painting, sculpture and architecture that beautify the landscape and fill the great halls of our nation’s capital and museums.

Or was history made by these? Is it not rather true that none of these people could have become great or famous or successful without the untold many who worked with them, or were influenced by them, or were led by them to change the course of history for better or worse? When we stop to think about it, we realize that history is made by the many, and those who are designated as famous or great never did so on their own, but simply were pushed forward upon the tides of history as a symbol for the nameless multitudes that truly wrote the annals of history.

When we realize that everyone makes history, that greatness truly belongs to the many and that throughout history one was chosen to symbolize the rest, such as George Washington or Abraham Lincoln for America’s founding and struggle for unity and nationhood, Martin Luther King for the non-violent civil rights movement, or Mother Teresa for the vast army of tireless pro-life workers and advocates all over the world, we are able to understand the Lord’s teaching on greatness.

God never asks us to do what He has not already done, perfectly, himself. Jesus Christ teaches us most perfectly by his life and His death on the Cross, what his words communicate: the greatest is the one who serves all the rest. He humbled Himself to become a Man, and then, in an unthinkable act of turning against Himself, obeyed His Father’s will and submitted to the violence and destruction of the Cross in order to serve the salvation of the whole world. And, after that, He was raised above all the angels, principalities and powers, exalted to the right hand of His Father in heaven.

In the life of the Church we celebrate the saints as the greatest heroes of all; this is because they share the prize of everlasting glory with Christ, which the essence of true greatness: sharing the life and love and joy of God without end. But they won the crown of glory through the life of the Cross shared with Christ, through living the virtue of humility. They took the lower place, so that God could “lift them up high” – in salvation.

You and I will never be called to save the human race as was Jesus Christ our Lord. He has done the work of gaining for us the grace of Faith by which we are to be saved. But we are called to work, to pray, to cooperate with His grace in order to save our own souls by imitating Him. By serving others for His sake, out of love for Him, we work out our salvation by means of His grace.

When we listen to someone in pain who needs an ear, when we labor with a child over his or her homework, when we forgive someone who hates us, when we pray for someone who ignores us, when we love someone who shows us ingratitude, in these and in so many ways we serve others and thus, by grace, are exalted together with Christ to the holiness which is a foretaste of the Kingdom.

If through pride we exalt ourselves we will end in disaster. Only God can raise us up to that place where He raised Christ and from which we can never fall again, that place higher than which cannot be imagined: the kingdom of heaven.

True exaltation is inheriting everything from our rich and loving Father. Let us now, with Christ, seek to humble ourselves in love and service that we may be truly so exalted. World without end. Amen.

Praised be Jesus Christ. Now and forever.

((((..))))

Called to Love Conference, Washington, DC, September 16-18, 2010

A Conference for Diocesan and Parish Leaders and Educators on John Paul II's Theology of the Body

The Center for Cultural and Pastoral Research is pleased to announce this upcoming seminar on John Paul II's "theology of the body." The conference will bring together an exciting group of speakers from around the country, all deeply engaged in scholarship or pastoral service, to lead an extended reflection and conversation on themes of direct relevance to marriage preparation and youth ministry, with broader application in all forms of Christian service. Topics include Christian identity and vocation, gender and sexuality, the meaning of self-gift and "saying forever," motherhood and fatherhood, the education of children, and the relationship between the Christian family and a post-Christian culture.

As the title indicates, this event is given shape by the insights of the recently published book Called to Love: Approaching John Paul II's Theology of the Body (Doubleday, 2009) by Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, and Fr. José Granados, professor at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Rome and Washington, D.C. This book offers an unparalleled introduction to the "theology of the body" on account of its depth and fidelity to its source, as well as its pastoral character, which sheds light on the deepest human questions in an engaging manner.

We are delighted that Mr. Anderson and Fr. Granados will be with us to open the conference, and that the theater troupe Theophany will present John Paul II's thought in a particularly vivid way: through a rendition of The Jeweler's Shop, the pope's play about marital love. It is our hope that this seminar will afford those in attendance a fruitful period of meditation and conversation about the mysteries at the root of our common work to build a "culture of life" and a "civilization of love" (Evangelium vitae, 21, 27).


Conference Schedule

Thursday, Sept. 16

Session 1
7:00 p.m. - Opening Addresses: Carl Anderson,
Fr. José Granados

8:30 p.m. - Reception

Friday, Sept. 17

Session 2
9:00-10:30 a.m. - Being First a Child
- Fr. José Granados

Session 3
10:45 - 12:00 - Love is forever: Indissolubility
and Freedom
- Sr. Maximilia Um

12:00 - 1:30 - Lunch

Session 4
1:30-2:45 - Love is for another: Sexual Difference
- David S. Crawford

Session 5
3:00-4:15 - The Child as Gift
- Jennifer Widhalm

6:00 - Dinner

7:00 - Speaker: Anthony Esolen

7:30 - Performance of The Jeweler's Shop

Jeweler's Shop Playbill


Saturday, Sept. 18

Session 6
8:45 -10:00 - Raising a Child: Motherhood and Fatherhood
- Agata Rottkamp and Bill Beckman

Session 7
10:15-11:30 - Education - Mo Woltering, Michael Hanby,
Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J.

Session 8
11:45-12:45 - Body Ecology: A Human Environment
- Lisa Lickona

12:45-2:00 - Lunch

Session 9
2:00-3:15 - Does "the future of humanity pass by way of
the family"? - Jeanne Schindler

Session 10
3:15-4:15 - The Benedictine Heart: Benedict XVI on
Monasticism, the Family, and "Authentic
Human Culture" - David L. Schindler

4:30-5:15 - Closing Session - Panel with Q&A

5:30 - Vigil Mass


2010 Speakers' Biographies

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

To register, please select the appropriate form below and send to

Pontifical John Paul II Institute
ATTN: Meredith Rice
The Catholic University of America
620 Michigan Ave, NE
Washington, DC 20064
PLEASE REGISTER BY SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

For questions, please contact ccpr@johnpaulii.edu or 202-526-3799.

REGISTRATION

Registration for clergy and Institute alumni: Called to Love Registration Form

Registration for general public: Called to Love public

"Looking sharp, Father."

... the greeting of a young man as I walked in soutane to the post office today.

Have a God-day, and thanks for visiting APL.

God love you,

((((..))))

Selling Catholic Witness for "a Mess of Pottage"?

Catholic Christians are not church pew furnishings or wedding decorations that are bought for a dinner and a few drinks.

There are some followers of a new paganism that refuses to recognize any force or authority higher than human claims or relationships. It's a kind of "I was nice to you so you have to be nice to me" mentality in which the speaker reserves the right to himself to define what "being nice" means. For these being nice means "you ate my food, you hung out with my friends, you have to come to my invalid wedding or marital-simulation ceremony. And if you don't you're wrong, it's personal, you've hurt me and you're responsible."

Except maybe there is someone more important than you and me. A higher authority who reserves to Himself the right to make claims upon the human race. A Being who reserves to Himself to decide what is right and what is wrong and demands that those who claim to love Him make choices that reflect such.

Catholics do not simulate sacraments and not participate in such simulations. God has spoken: a valid marriage is between one man-husband and one woman-wife. This means they cannot be of the same sex and cannot have been previously validly married to anyone else. Period.

God does not change. He is Truth and thus also His teaching on marriage is Truth. Truth cannot both be true and arbitrarily changeable at some possible future date.

Sometimes witnessing to one's Catholic Christian Faith entails getting kicked out of someone's house when all you intended was simply to wish the person a "happy birthday" over lunch.

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen.

Multiculturalism is "juvenile"?

"Accepting the proposition that a culture that has brought freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, equal rights for women, and free enterprise to the world is of equal (or lesser) value than cultures that have done nothing of the kind (or worse) is accepting a fairy tale. Living by such theory is living in a world of pretend. And to abide by such a suspension of disbelief -- and we do, from left to right, across the political spectrum -- requires us to suppress our faculties of logic and reason. This strikes me as the very definition of infantilization. What's more, as the "bringing down Western civilization" part of the subtitle indicates, it strikes me as a perilous threat to our existence -- greater, even, than the spread of Islam, because it is our infantilism that is making us accept it."

-- Diana West, Preface, "The Death of the Grown-Up. How America's Arrested Development is Bringing Down Western Civilization"

God created your weakness

... offer that to His Grace.

-- ((((..))))

Suffering

... is the "ladder" of the Cross to glory.

- Saint Rose of Lima

"I come to gather nations of every language"

Installation Mass of Father Kevin M. Cusick

as pastor of

Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Church

Benedict, Maryland

will take place during holy Mass on

Sunday, 22 August

9 am

JEB Chapel at Little Creek, Virginia: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself"

The Church is the Body of Christ. When we do what the Church does, we act in the love of the Lord Jesus, whose Holy Spirit of divine Love fills the Church and all her members.

In the holy Sacrifice of the Mass we do what the Church does, as commanded by the Lord, and enjoy His perfect and saving love in His Word of Sacred Scripture and True Presence in the Eucharist. Our love for others is the grace of His abiding Presence in action.

In photo: your blogger with some of the nearly forty members of the faithful people of God at JEB Little Creek gathered for daily Mass on the feast of St Bernard.

Thank you for visiting APL today. God love you.

-- ((((..))))

Mangiamo

Frittata with basil and zucchini.  Recipe by Marcella Hazan in "Marcella Says" pp. 106-107.

Buon appetito!

Frittata batter

In a bowl combine contents of skillet, three extra-large eggs, generous grindings of pepper and about 15 fresh basil leaves cut into fine shreds.

Pour contents into skillet prepared with one tbspn olive oil on high heat until hot.  Level frittata batter and cook until the edges of the batter become firm.
Slip skillet into oven pre-heated to 400.  When top of frittata has firmed up, remove skillet from oven using oven mitt or thick pot holder, and slide onto serving plate.

Zucchini

Add 3 zucchini sliced into very thin disks, sprinkle with salt, turn over to coat well with oil, and cook over low heat until fully tender and lightly browned.

Prezzemolo

Add 3 tbspns chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley and stir once or twice.

Frittata with Zucchini and Basil

In a skillet, on low heat, 2 tbspns virgin olive oil, 1 cup thinly sliced onions and salt. After onion is partly done mix in 1 garlic clove thinly sliced. Cook until onion is very soft and colored a pale blond.

Birth control pills are deadly

... they are a factor, with smoking, in causing sudden death by a pulmonary embolism.

Did your doctor who prescribes them happen to mention this fact?  If not, you may want to change doctors ... just a thought.

((((..))))

(Nota bene: this in addition to the fact that pills are deadly for the soul because their use, as with all forms of artificial contraception, are a moral evil contrary to the truth and meaning of marital love. (Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae)

Jesus Christ

... the possession Who makes rich those who give Him away in love.

-- ((((..))))

Whistleblower Documents Uncover Botched Abortion Epidemic August 17, 2010 Columbus, OH - Documents and information provided by an abortion whistleblower indicate that botched abortions occur much more often than the public is led to believe. Transcripts provided to Operation Rescue show disturbing information about two botched abortions that took place at different abortion clinics in Columbus, Ohio, within the past month. "It is our understanding from conversations with our confidential sources in Ohio that abortion patients in Columbus end up in the local emergency rooms with alarming frequency. Our whistleblower says that these two incidents are just the tip of the iceberg. The true number of abortion complications is hidden from the public and it now appears that complications requiring emergency hospitalization have reached epidemic proportions," said Newman. Operation Rescue is demanding that the Medical Board of Ohio conduct inspections and close the dangerous abortion clinics in Columbus and around the state. This is the latest of many tips that has come to Operation Rescue since it announced its Abortion Whistleblower Program. Whistleblowers have been rocking the abortion cartel by coming forward with evidence of abortion abuses, including the following: · Former employees of late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart submitted affidavits detailing illegal abortions, unlicensed staff dispensing drugs and performing medical tasks for which they were not qualified, and other offenses. This launched investigations by the Nebraska Attorney General and Health Department. · A whistleblower confirmed abortion abuses that have been occurring at Planned Parenthood of the Heartland in Iowa where dangerous abortion pills are being administered through a remote-controlled push-button scheme known as "telemed abortion." A medical board investigation is ongoing. · Whistleblowers in California helped expose the fact that abortionist Andrew Rutland was violating the terms of his probation by doing abortions without the required supervision of another physician. He faces almost certain license revocation at a hearing scheduled for early next year. · Operation Rescue blew the whistle on illegal late-term abortion referrals provided by abortionist Ann Kristin Neuhaus in Kansas. Neuhaus now faces disciplinary action after Kansas authorities filed an 11-count petition against her based on OR's complaint. · Two victims of forced abortions done by Michigan abortionist Alberto Hodari came forward to tell of their horrific ordeals. Both women filed medical board complaints and one has sued. Currently, all seven of Hodari's Detroit area abortion mills are up for sale. Read full article with documentation Read about Operation Rescue's Abortion Whistleblower's program. ________________________________ About Operation Rescue® Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation and has become a strong voice for the pro-life movement in America. Operation Rescue is now headquartered in a former abortion clinic that it bought and closed in 2006. From there, Operation Rescue launches its innovative new strategies across the nation, exposing and closing abortion clinics through peaceful, legal means. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to stop abortion and ultimately restore legal personhood to the pre-born in obedience to biblical mandates. Click here to support Operation Rescue. ________________________________ Web site: www.operationrescue.org E-mail: info@operationrescue.org Operation Rescue Troy Newman President 316-841-1700 Operation Rescue Cheryl Sullenger Senior Policy Advisor 316-516-3034

Forward email This email was sent to mcitl.blogspot.com@gmail.com by info@operationrescue.org. Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Email Marketing by Operation Rescue | P.O. Box 782888 | Wichita | KS | 67278

"Mary the Rose Tree ...

Christ the Rose blood red."

"I shall go up to the altar of God"

... to God who restores the joy of my youth.

Altarboys, from left, Corey, Sean and Sam, served holy Mass for the vigil of the Assumption at JEB Little Creek chapel in Virginia Beach, Va.

“Lord, go up to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your holiness”: No “escape hatch” from life or “Eat, Pray, Love” evasion. Rather, Glory

... faithfully upward with Mary in Christ for our place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Is life like a plane full of obnoxious and ungrateful passengers from whom we must escape by pulling the emergency door and sliding down the inflatable chute in an irresponsible crash landing with two beers in hand? No, this response does not end our problems but simply creates more as we face the consequences of a rash and ill-considered impulse. Are our life and family problems dealt with best by “eating, praying and loving” our way through exotic locations around the world, in order to sample other people’s lives as though we can “shop” for answers? When the vacation is over we still have to go home and work to pay our debts and take care of our families.

Through Mary, the Mother of God whom our Lord has given to us with His dying words on the Cross, we see an answer to this and other questions about our lives, our problems and sorrows, and the way through the world and all it holds to the place of promise where all our dreams are more than fulfilled. Mary’s glorious assumption, body and soul into heaven, is God’s reward for her faithful love through the sorrows, disappointments, tragedies and sins of this world.

For the full text of the homily for the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, please visit Meeting Christ in the Liturgy by clicking here.

City Officials: Planned Parenthood Lied

If "Banned Parenthood" can't tell the truth about a sidewalk, how can they be trusted to tell pregnant women that the life in the womb is a human being? PP doesn't want to plan anything but abortions because they can't make any money from births...
((((..))))

City Officials Agree That Planned Parenthood Lied About Ownership of Disputed Sidewalk 

 

August 13, 2010