Remembering the Irish Catholics...

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On St. Patrick's Day, we of the Ancient Order of Hibernians celebrate the glorious "Apostle of Ireland" and glory in our heritage as a people of culture and faith. We also remember what our ancestors have had to overcome to get where we are as a people today. Our Order's namesake originally materialized in Ireland during the vicious Penal Laws, in order to protect Catholic priests who were forbidden under penalty of imprisonment or death to celebrate the Mass. Irish Catholics constructed a narrow crucifix, today known as a "Penal Cross", designed to hide up their sleeves as they were not permitted any outward expression of the Catholic faith; sneeringly called "Popery" by the Protestants.

Here is some of what Irish Catholics were subjected to under Britain's Penal Laws which were in effect from 1691 until well into the nineteeth century:

The Irish Catholic was forbidden the exercise of his religion.
He was forbidden to receive education,
He was forbidden to enter a profession.
He was forbidden to hold public office.
He was forbidden to engage in trade or commerce.
He was forbidden to live in a corporate town or within five miles thereof.
He was forbidden to own a horse of greater value than five pounds.
He was forbidden to purchase land.
He was forbidden to lease land.
He was forbidden to accept a mortgage on land in security for a loan.
He was forbidden to vote.
He was forbidden to keep any arms for his protection.
He was forbidden to hold a life annuity.
He was forbidden to buy land from a Protestant.
He was forbidden to receive a gift of land from a Protestant.
He was forbidden to inherit land from a Protestant.
He was forbidden to inherit anything from a Protestant.
He was forbidden to rent any land that was worth more than thirty shillings a year.
He was forbidden to reap from his land any profit exceeding a third of the rent.
He could not be guardian to a child.
He could not, when dying, leave his infant children under Catholic guardianship.
He could not attend Catholic worship.
He was compelled by law to attend Protestant worship.
He could not himself educate his child.
He could not send his child to a Catholic teacher.
He could not employ a Catholic teacher to come to his child.
He could not send his child abroad to receive education.

Irish-Americans had to deal with similar, albeit less formal, discrimination in the New World, when the Know-Nothings and "nativists" wanted the newly immigrated Irish out of "their" country. The Hibernians were formed again, to physically protect Church property which was under constant threat of vandalism and destruction.

If you're of Irish-Catholic descent and faith, spare a vote of thanks for the Ancient Order of Hibernians this St. Patrick's Day. Your freedoms as a people of culture and faith have been hard won.

ERIN GO BRAGH!

Daily Mass Readings
Jonah 3:1-10
Psalm 51:3-4,12-13,18-19
Luke 11:29-32

Franciscan Prayer at the end of the Day

From the SECULAR FRANCISCAN COMPANION:

Thanksgiving for the Day
How shall I be able to thank you, O Lord, for all your favors?
You have thought of me for all eternity; you have brought me from nothing;
You have given your life to redeem me, and you continue still, daily,
To load me with your favors.
My God, what return can I make you for your benefits
And in particular for the favors of this day?
Join me, you blessed spirits and all the elect in praising the God of mercies who is so bountiful to so unworthy a creature.

Invocation of the Holy Spirit
O Holy Spirit, eternal source of light
Give me light to know the sins I have committed this day
And grant me the grace to be truly sorry for them.

A good night and peaceful rest to you all!

Daily Mass Readings
Leviticus 19:1-2,11-18
Psalm 19:8-10,15
Matthew 25:31-46

A Prayer for a New Day

From the SECULAR FRANCSICAN COMPANION:

Franciscan Morning Prayer
Jesus Lord, I offer you
this new day because
I believe in you, love you,
hope all things in you
and thank you for
your blessings.
I am sorry for having
offended you and
forgive everyone who
has offended me.
Lord, look on me and
leave in me
peace and courage
and your humble wisdom
that I may serve others
with joy, and be
pleasing to you all day.

Enjoy and take delight your day, my friends! This and every day is a gift.

Daily Mass Readings
Tobit 1:3; 2:1-8
Psalm 112:1-6
Mark 12:1-12

Spring cleaning: Embracing and Releasing

See, I was ALL ready to post complaints about any number of people, places and things today; I'd had a few run-ins, both online and offline yesterday. I was feeling pretty self-righteous, and got the venom-laden blog post all set to go!

After a short prayer and a long walk, I changed my addled mind and wrote the poem which follows instead. As Lent approaches, I am inclined to think about what belongs in my life and what simply needs to go; a spring cleaning of the soul if you'll allow. So here's what I came up with:

EMBRACING and RELEASING
I embrace You, my God, my Love, my All,
With Your myriad faces
To release that which I know is not You or of You.
I embrace love, peace, understanding, and empathy
To release false guilt, shame, fear and conflict.
I embrace the tonics of creation, health, and life
To release the toxins of destruction, sloth, and death.
I embrace my true Family and Friends
To release those who have done me harm, and those I've done harm to.
I embrace forgiveness
To release vengeance.
I embrace the possible
To release the doubt.
I embrace the passions that make me the Man I am
To release the indifference that hinders my path.

Daily Mass Readings
Sirach 35:1-12
Psalm 50:5-8,14,23
Mark 10:28-31

A political...oh, h*ll, let's call it a RANT.

Like my moral/religious compass, my political compass tends to fluctuate wildly.

My political "home" that I keep coming back to is libertarianism: This country was founded on the notion of freedom from an oppressive and over-taxing government. The idea of being free to live as one pleases, as long as one doesn't infringe on those same rights of others while doing so, appeals to me and makes sense to me. I don't want the federal government telling me what I or my children can or cannot watch on TV, in the movies, or on the internet. I don't want the federal government dictating what I can consume, be it alcohol, drugs or fatty foods. I certainly don't want the federal government telling me who I can or can't sleep with, what acts are accpetable in my own home between consenting adults, or who I am allowed to set up housekeeping and legal documents with. I don't want the federal government monetarily penalizing me and my family should we choose not to buy into the healthcare system. And while I myself oppose abortion, I recognize that a government with the power to ban the practice outright paradoxically has the power to mandate it (Don't believe me? Check out China's '1-child policy')

Now...all that being said:

I also recognize that we are no longer living in the 18th century. We live in a complicated, interconnected world. When Thomas Jefferson made his wise quote "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none", he couldn't imagine the complexities of dealing with oppressive regimes that we alternately bomb/impose sanctions upon and rebuild/do buiness with. Tom certainly could not foresee the stand-off that occured in the Cold War, stemming from the fear of 2 countries literally blowing each other off the planet.

And most importantly (to me anyway) I'd be willing to bet that Tom never for one moment envisioned the genocide going on in countries like Congo and the Sudan. The American libertarian ideal says that this is simply not our problem; we ought to simply donate to our charities and leave their own governments to sort the mess out. I won't go into the detailed atrocities the aforementioned regimes have committed - they are inhuman and well-documented. But in the name of God, don't such atrocities cry out for justice??? If similar events were taking place in say, Canada or Europe, American boots...scores of them...would have been on the ground long since. For better or for worse, we have the most massive and imposing military in history, many times over. If we wish to proclaim democracy and fairness, don't we owe it to not only to our light-skinned business partners or the folks with oil, but also to the dark-skinned people who perhaps don't have a lot in the way of "American interest"?

As a country of HUMAN BEINGS for Christ's sake, don't we owe something to these, our brothers and sisters in humanity, who by simple accident of geography are being starved out, poisoned, raped at gunpoint, shot, tortured, mutilated, and generally being killed off by agents of their OWN government??? It's hard for me to accept that because they're not Americans, it's simply none of America's business. To paraphrase Jacob Marley, "Mankind IS our business"

Well. I guess I just had a bit of a nutty. Again, my poltical views are currently in a state of sometimes incompatible flux; a lot of this I simply can't seem to get out of my teeth lately.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Daily Mass Readings
Isaiah 49:14-15
Psalm 62:2-3,6-9
1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Matthew 6:24-34

Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah

"Your are the Christ, the Son of the Living God" - Matthew 16

I love Simon Peter; so many all-too human qualities in the first Pope. Peter was the head of the Apostles, and the first to recognize who and what Christ was. As we read in today's Gospel, he became Cephas , the Rock upon which Christ would build His Church.

Simon Peter also made a blithering fool of himself trying to pitch tents when Jesus was transfigured in His glory with Moses and Elijah. He also lost faith is Jesus's power to sustain him, as he walked towards Him on the water. Finally, he ran from his Master and denied their friendship at the first whiff of trouble. Worse, Peter did so after blustering about his loyalty during dinner.

This gives me comfort, that Peter and those who followed - some saints, some scoundrels - up to and including the Holy Father Benedict XVI, are sinning, fallible men. I read somewhere that John Paul II had his own confessor he went to on a weekly basis, knowing his own sinning nature well enough to sacramentally confess to God regularly, setting an example for us all.

St. Peter, like all the Popes who followed, was a man. Not impeccable, not perfect. Just a man, with a very important task - to help ensure Christ's promise that the gates of Hell would not prevail against His Church. Those gates have been tested and tried over the centuries, by Schism, Reformations, Counter Reformations, and Scandal. The gates stand strong. The promise remains fulfilled.

Thank you Simon bar Jonah...for being the Man you are.

Feast of the Chair of St. Peter
Daily Mass Readings
1 Peter 5:1-4
Psalm 123:1-6
Matthew 16:13-19

A hard teaching

For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? - Matthew 5

I've written about this before; when today's Gospel passage comes up, I find myself challenged. It seems reasonable, does it not, to love one's friends and hate one's enemies? Sounds pretty much like the natural order of things to me. Why then, does Jesus ask this of me? It feels so much easier to be reasonable in this instance.

What's He saying to us in the above passage; that indeed it is easy to love those who also love us. Love is already there; there are no obstacles to it. Everyone, good and evil, can love those who love them in return.

"BIIIIIIIG deal!", I imagine Jesus saying.

What of the people we find irritating? Annoying? Downright reprehensible? The reasonable human response is to back away, gossip about, condemn such people, and perhaps worse. Jesus asks us to demonstrate His love by loving them as well.

This is a hard teaching for me. However, it reminds me that Jesus dwells in each and every person whether they know it or not, whether they like it or not, whether we always see it or not. We are to recognize that indwelling and inherent Love.

God, help me to help others see Your face, through my actions and reactions.

Daily Mass Readings
Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18
Psalm 103:1-4,8,10,12-13
1 Corinthians 3:16-23
Matthew 5:38-48