Interview…

I promise, a post is coming soon with all the details.  It’s been a busy day.  And I’m exhausted.  4.5 hours of sleep can do that to one.

 

Today’s reading

In the sacristy, prior to Mass.

Lector*:  “What does refulgence mean?”

Me:  “To fulgence again.”

 

Not being married I may have no competence to feel this way but…

After seeing the latest Christmas [random generic holiday] car commercials where one spouse buys the other a brand new Lexus, Audi, etc., and surprises said spouse on Christmas [generic holiday] morning by opening a curtain to reveal this new vehicle with a giant bow on it, all I can say is that if I were ever married and my wife bought me a car as a Christmas gift, I’d probably look into whether that can qualify as grounds for an annulment. 

That is, unless we were so wealthy that spending $50-60,000 on gifts for each other were reasonable.

 

Unclear on the concept

I went out to dinner the other night with my mom and dad.  Nothing fancy, just a diner/family restaurant with good food at decent prices.  I noticed their menu had changed since the last time we were there and so started to actually browse through it, instead of ordering one of the daily specials like I usually do.

Then I saw a new section.  Low-carb meals.  I thought that was a good idea; a lot people are watching their carbs these days.  Then I read the fine print about what is served with the entrees.  It said “all served with rice.”

Hmmmm….low carb meals served with rice.  I wonder if they have a gluten-free section that comes served with white bread, or a lactose-free section that comes with all the milk you can drink.

On a different note, it happens that the proprietors of this establishment are Greek (as evidenced by their appearance, and by the icons and crosses that hang over the doorway to the kitchen area).  So, I suppose it’s possible that this situation is similar to the scene in My Big Fat Grssk Wedding* where the woman, on finding out the guy is a vegetarian, says “that’s okay, I’ll make lamb.”

 

*No, that was not a typo.  The title for the movie is written with two Sigmas, i.e. G-R-[sigma]-[sigma]-K.  Ergo, the word is Grssk.  They should have used lower-case epsilons instead.  Hey, I’m a math geek, okay, and epsilons and sigmas mean two VERY different things.

 

Prayer Request

One of the ladies (Frances) to whom I make Communion calls died last week. The funeral was today.

While I’m pretty sure she’ll be on the fast track to heavenly glory given all the suffering she endured in life, and the extreme piety she had, prayers for her are appreciated.

More importantly, however, please pray for her niece, June, who is her only living relative and now has pretty much no living family whatsoever.  So, prayers for her comfort in this difficult time, and for her to adapt to this new challenge in life would be welcomed.

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her always. May she rest in peace, amen.

Lord Jesus, you promised that you would never abandon us, that you would never leave us orphans.  Look kindly upon the needs of our sister, and send the Holy Spirit upon her to be her strength.  In times of lonliness, help her realize your eternal presence; in times of despair, fill her with hope; and in times of trouble, grant her comfort.  O Good Shepard, bring her from this dark valley of sadness and lonliness, to the peaceful, verdant pastures in which you promise to give us repose .  And may the Holy Angels and Saints of Heaven, with Mary our Mother, intercede for all of us, and be our companions for the remainder of our days on this Earth, and in the world to come.  Amen.

 

Multilingual Masses

I’ve been meaning to comment on the recent Papal Masses in the USA, and the bilingual element they seemed to incorporate. Before proceeding, I’ll make it clear that I did not catch the D.C. fiasco, and I have no real intention of trying to find it I’ll stick to the beautifully done liturgies of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Yankee Stadium. Despite their beauty, on tuning in to both, I was struck by the ubiquitous insertion of Spanish throughout the Mass. This disturbed me.

I’ll leave my thoughts on the whole immigration and cultural/linguistic assimilation matter for another post. For now, let’s just say that 1) it seems to be an insult to all the other ethnic groups that comprise big chunks of American Catholicism to not throw in their language and 2) changing between languages in a single liturgical unit is just silly.

To point 1, the USA has a history of immigrant populations that brought their Catholic culture and identity with them, many of whom still retain that identity and their native tongue. There were and still are many Italian, German, Polish, Slavic, German, Vietnamese, and Korean populations out there, to name a few. And let’s not forget the influence of Eastern Catholicism as well in this country. In addition to Spanish, why didn’t they include Ukrainian and Slavonic, and maybe some Polish and Vietnamese?

To point 2, I’m thinking specifically of the “Spanglish” psalms. I think it makes sense for a distinct liturgical element to be done in a single language. For instance, at a young adult conference, the celebrant tried to include Spanish throughout the Eucharistic Prayer, but it came off silly. The Lord be with you…. Levántanse las corazones….Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.” At least he kept the consecration in one language. I see the same awkwardness with “Lord Send out Your Spirit, y renuéva la faz de la tierra.”

It just seems silly hablar en lenguas varios mikor probálsz egy dólgot mondani because the average ember nem fog tudni todas. Por ejemplo en este paragraph I’m going between három nyelvek és nekkem is difícil entender que I’m trying to say. Sure, es divertido olvasni esztet, és it was fun tratar de escribir változni egytûl a másikra, but nem hisszem hogy te, estimado lector, appreciate it.

Just my 2 cents/2 centavos/2 fillér.  

 

Wise Words

The theme of this visit is ‘Christ Our Hope,’ not ‘Benedict our Pope.’  — Fr. Richard John Neuhaus discussing, on EWTN, the visit of the Pope.