50 Days After

2 Stories About Dead Catholic Army Chaplains

2009-06-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

First, there is the story about the death of Chaplain (Major) Tim Vakoc. Fr. Tim Vakoc was an Army chaplain wounded in 2005 who finally died in 2005 from his wounds. Before his injury he wrote, "The safest place for me to be is in the center of God's will, and if that is in the line of fire, that is where I will be." May he rest in peace. Full story here.
The other story is about a possible miracle from Bl. Fr. Emil Kapaun's intercession
"The Congregation for the Causes of Saints is preparing to investigate an alleged miracle in Wichita, Kansas, where doctors are baffled by the unexplained recovery of a young man who had suffered a severe head injury in an accident that had broken his skull."
Maybe someday in our lifetimes their will be a Saint who served in the US Army. Many of the Church's saints have been Soldiers (St Ignatius of Loyola, St Sebastian, etc.)

New blog

2009-05-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted here in quite a while. For those of you who still check this blog or follow it on some form of RSS, thank you. It is good to know that my rantings and ramblings have an audience.
I don't know when the next time will be when I post here, but I have begun another blog. Its going to be short stories that I write when I am so moved. I already have one short story posted.
The blog is Short Storey Mountain. The name is my homage to Father Thomas Merton. Please stop by and comment with your opinion of the story or criticisms.
Thanks again for reading.

LOL Saints Submission

2009-03-03T06:51:00.000-08:00

LOL Saints posted one of my submissions. Its a post about St Sebastian, one of the patron saints of Soldiers.

PT uniform at Mass

2009-02-24T06:59:00.000-08:00

The drought is over. I know that I haven't posted much lately. I need to start taking more time for myself to do these sort of things before I go crazy.
I have seen on other St Blogs where people have complained about attire at Mass. I have a similar rant, but with a somewhat different angle.
It drives me nuts to see Soldiers come to Mass wearing their PT uniforms. I understand that we are deployed and didn't bring our Sunday best, but there are 2 primary reasons a Soldier wears PTs: sleepwear and working out. So more than likely they either just rolled out of bed and walked to the chapel or Mass is worked around their workouts.
ACUs (the digital gray uniforms you see on the newscasts from Iraq/Afghanistan) aren't anything special but they are the only other clothes that Soldiers have over there. And they are certainly a more respectful outfit than your sleep/workout clothes.

Her First Piece of Chocolate Cake

2009-01-16T00:10:00.000-08:00

She had her first birthday a short while ago. My wife, I'll use the code name Hephzibah, gave her chocolate for the first time.
Like you, I must be content with pictures.
Before...
And after...

A New Year and a New Catholic Carnival

2009-01-06T01:20:00.000-08:00

I had thought about a Babylonian theme, but then I thought about it still being the Christmas season, with Epiphany and New Years not too far behind us. Babylon would have just been sad and kinda depressing. So I decided to categorize the week's posts with short prayers.

Blessed be Jesus in His angels and in His saints.
Daily Gratia has a post on Blessed Father Damien.
At Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering she is Aiming for Mary.
Father Tabb died in 1909. At View from the Core we see some of his poetry.
Chris gives us a post about his family at Sanctus Christopher (Great name btw!).
Astrid sent in a post about those who knew Jesus during his Earthly ministry.
Paul has a post on Samurai Saints.
Easter A. had a great post about the Holy Family.

There's a post at Ὁι Λόγοι regarding Christ's teaching to be in the world,
but not of it.

Blessed be Jesus true God and true Man.
Catholic Fire has a post this week responding to the claim that nothing is wrong with abortion. Remember Jesus Himself was once a fetus.
At A Catholic View there's post on Kennedy changing from pro-life to pro-abortion.
James Hahn reminds us to follow Christ's example and love our enemies.
Homeschool Goodies has a great post about the Gift of Friends.
Aggie Catholics has a post reminding us that Christ calls us to humble ourselves.
This, That and the Other has a review of Anne Rice's book The Road to Cana.
Christian Personal Finance submitted a post on 6 reasons to give more this year.

Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
At Christus Vincit there's a post with a New Year's resolution.
Catholic Land has another New Year's Resolution post.
Ebeth shares with us that BXVI reminds us not to be afraid of the new year.

Blessed be Jesus truly present in the Eucharist.
The Catholic Roundup posts this week on how attending Mass away from home deepens his sense of being part of the universal Church.
At Catholic Journeyman, Dave tells us how a Kennedy Assassination buff found the truth of Catholicism.
At Prepare for Mass there is a post about the Mass celebrated on the Epiphany of the Lord.

And lastly a plug for Adopt a Catholic Blog.

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

And one late entry from Broken Alabaster entitled Word was Made Flesh.

Just Another Day of Catholic Carnival

2008-12-30T23:37:00.000-08:00

Catholic Carnival 205 is up at Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering.
Next week it will be here at 50 Days After. I am envisioned a Babylonian theme.
Happy New Years!

Kudos for the best title in the Comment Box

2008-12-24T14:26:00.000-08:00

I was bored at work and wrote this:

I'm celebrating Christmas in Iraq this year
I'm fortunate, for our priest will be here
Off to the chapel at midnight for Mass
A day different from the others at last
We pray for faith, hope, love and for peace
We know He will return and wars will cease
Until His justice reigns, we're here in this land
Defending Iraq and home in these blowing sands
Sixteen months or so they say
But I'm still here this Christmas day
Peace on Earth and goodwill towards men
Until His Second Coming. Amen

Adopt A Catholic Blog

2008-12-20T09:22:00.000-08:00

I originally published this in September, but I decided to make it a sticky and leave it on the main page for a bit.

I came up with an idea this morning of adopting a blog. I thought about it for a while and came to the conclusion that this sort of thing should start within St Blog's Parish before it moved out into the greater blogosphere.
By adopting you would keep the author(s) in your prayers and link to their site on your sidebar (if you have a site). But you would also read their blog with some frequency, maybe blog on one of their posts, and comment on his or her blog as you see fit.
Here's the basic ground rules:
1) You pick a blog and leave a comment under this post marking which blog you adopted. I am not going to assign the blogs out. I am deploying soon and I don't think I'll have time for that.
2) If someone has already taken that blog please move on and find another one there are plenty out there. I know everyone wants to adopt the Curt Jester, but lesser known bloggers need your prayers too. That's not to say that that you can't still pray for Jeff at the Curt Jester on top of your adopted blogger.
3) Tell other bloggers in St Blog's Parish. I have a lesser known blog and I don't have the visibility of the Curt Jester or American Papist. Besides, I am leaving soon and I don't know how much time I will have for blogging.

So true

2008-12-19T00:24:00.000-08:00

Catholic Cartoon Blog hits back in the culture war with more witty satire.

Google Search: Che compared to Christ

2008-12-11T01:17:00.000-08:00

I saw a post over at Infused Knowledge about what search terms led people to her blog.
After I commented, the next day I looked again on sitemeter at the search terms that led people to my humble blog. I noticed one of the phrases is "Che compared to Christ" which took them to my post titled "Che compared to Christ??!!"
I googled that search to see what else would come up. I found a video on YouTube that really grabbed me. Other than that there wasn't much else interesting, I thought.
Here's the video:

Quick Nap

2008-12-10T15:14:00.001-08:00

This picture was taken a few months ago when I was still in the US.

Catholic Carnival Reaches Special 202

2008-12-09T15:18:00.000-08:00

Catholic Carnival 202 is up at Real Life Rosary Weblog. 202 is not really a noteworthy or special number except for being a palindrome.
I actually contributed this week. I haven't done that in a while. I have been slacking.

2008-12-08T23:42:00.000-08:00

I haven't added any pictures of Cathedrals lately. This is St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Nassau, Bahamas.

67 years ago today...

2008-12-07T00:07:00.000-08:00

Our Lady of Akita pray for us.

Keep Mass in Christmas

2008-12-06T23:15:00.000-08:00

Every year we see pictures and car magnet with the catchphrase "Keep Christ in Christmas". What about the other part of Christmas...Mass. Even if someone reduces Christmas to Xmas. The Mass and Christ truly present in the Mass are still in the word. That's not to say I am defending the Xmas abbreviation. I find it repugnant and a blatant attempt to remove anything religious from our culture. What I am saying is that our majority Protestant culture in the United States conveniently overlooks the Catholic origins of Christmas and denies the Catholic foundation of all Western culture.

Keep Mass in Christmas...

Adopt a Catholic Blog

Mary Moments Carnival

2008-11-30T00:34:00.000-08:00

Catholic Carnival 200 is up at Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering.
I just discovered the Mary Moments Carnival today. Its a monthly Carnival dedicated to the Blessed Mother. Check out November
I filed it under Catholic Carnival because I didn't want to create another category (I already have too many) and its still Catholic and a Carnival.

Adopt A Catholic Blog

Not all return

2008-11-27T00:24:00.001-08:00

Please keep 1LT William Jernigan and his family in your prayers. He was a friend of mine.

100 places

2008-11-19T01:00:00.000-08:00

In no particular order, 100 Places I want to see in my life. Just thought I'd share.

The Holy Land
Arctic Ocean
Vailankanni
Indian Ocean
Antarctic Ocean
Falkland Islands
Lalibela, Ethiopia
Possible site of Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia
London
Lourdes
Athens
Thermopylae
Ruins of Ephesus
Moscow
St Petersburg
Chichen Itza
Pyramids of Egypt
Istanbul
New York
Boston
Philadelphia
Montreal
Australia
New Zealand
Tahiti
Hawaii
Ulan Baatar
Lome, Togo
Rio de Janeiro
Washington, DC
Lisieux
Rouen
Chunnel
Gibraltar
New Orleans
Gettysburg
Valley Forge
American Battlefield Cemetery in Mexico
Village at the bottom of the Grand Canyon
Las Vegas
Lichtenstein
Andorra
San Marino
Nazca Lines
Monaco
Avignon
Monte Cassino
Kathmandu
Zanzibar
Dar-es-Salaam
Charleston, SC
Ireland
Fulda, Germany
Oberomergau, to see the Passion Play
Havana
Akita
American Battlefield Cemeteries in Europe
Crazy Horse
Stone Mountain
Dubai
All 50 States
Pearl Harbor
Guadalupe
Easter Island
St Helena Island
Leaning Tower of Pisa
St Pierre et Miquelon
Prague
Budapest
Malta
Taj Mahal
Goa
Versailles
Alamo
Vicksburg
Transylvania
West Point
Stonehenge
Lexington/Concord
Yorktown
Arlington
Costa Rica
Belize
Victoria Falls
Amazon River
Lake Itasca
Amsterdam
Cape Canaveral
Dakar
Dodge City
Auschwitz
Marathon
Bataan/Corregidor
Naples
Florence
Venice
Great Salt Lake
Dead Sea
Maccu Piccu
Singapore

Premio Dardos

2008-11-14T00:29:00.000-08:00

Sunny from Faith and Country has honored me with the Premio Dardos award.
This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.
The rules to follow are :1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2) Pass the award to other 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment.
Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
My 15 blogs of choice:

Sunny, I still keep you and your blog in my prayers.
There are still lots and lots of Catholic blogs out there to adopt.

Sacrifice

2008-11-12T00:34:00.000-08:00

I have decided to use this deployment to finally read the Bible cover to cover. Genesis and Exodus were fairly quite despite all the "begats". Leviticus is a bit dry to say the least and is proving a challenge.
With that said, what I have read has given me something to think about in regards to sacrifice. There is a lot said about sacrifice in these first three books.
Exodus says at least three times that I can recall that the Israelites are to dedicate, that is sacrifice, their firstborn from their animals and among their children. Donkeys however can be redeemed by sacrificing a lamb instead and their firstborn children MUST be redeemed. As St Paul wrote, Jesus is the "firstborn of all creation". While God has been merciful to His people and not allowed them to sacrifice their children, He sacrificed His Son, His Firstborn for us.
Of course, Jesus' sacrifice of Himself on the cross was the lasting Sacrifice for all eternity and His Body and Blood offered on our altars is a continuing participation in that one Sacrifice. I couldn't help as I read through these books, but to notice parallels between the Old Testament sacrifices and the Eucharist.
As Isaac carried the wood that was for sacrificing himself up the hill, he asked his father Abraham where was the animal for the sacrifice. His father answered him that, "God will provide the lamb." Over course we know that later, the Lamb of God, carried the wood of the cross up Calvary hill and sacrificed Himself and we share in this Sacrifice every time we partake in the Eucharist.
Also, Leviticus prescribes sacrifices for sins of the people, priests, and individuals. These sacrifices are no longer called for since Christ's Sacrifice is for all sin. Fat from the animals and certain organs were placed on the altar to burn, but the meat was eaten by the priests. Christ as both Priest and Sacrifice now offers us his flesh eternally as His Sacrifice of Self for our sins.
I forget where exactly, but somewhere in Exodus around the Ten Commandments chapters, Moses sprinkled the Israelites with blood from a sacrificed animal as part entering the people into the Old Covenant. I thought about that compared with receiving Christ's Blood internally as part of renewing the New Covenant. I am not sure if there's anything to that, but I thought it was an interesting comparison.
At one point the Law called for the sinner to publicly declare his sins before the sacrifice. I like confession better today.

priceles

2008-10-23T15:53:00.000-07:00

Cost for a soda at the PX... $0.65
Cost of a haircut at the FOB barbershop... $3.50
300 minute calling card from AT&T... $27.00
Having a Catholic Chaplain on the FOB... priceless

Some people must have nothing better to do

2008-10-14T18:29:00.000-07:00

Lawsuit claims California college threatened to expel students who prayed

Alameda County, CA, Oct 12, 2008 / 08:27 pm (CNA).- Two students filed a federal lawsuit this past Monday against the publicly-funded College of Alameda alleging that school officials at the California school threatened to expel them for praying...
That month, student Kandy Kyriacou visited an instructor to give her a Christmas gift. Kyriacou found the instructor alone in her shared office. When the instructor indicated she was ill, Kyriacou offered to pray for her.

The instructor bowed her head and Kyriacou began to pray. They were then interrupted by another faculty member, Derek Piazza, who entered the room and said “You can’t be doing that here!”

Kyriacou left to join her friend and fellow student Ojoma Omaga. Piazza followed Kyriacou and repeated his rebuke. The students related that they were surprised by his intimidating behavior.

Three days before Christmas, both students received letters notifying them of the college’s retroactive “intent to suspend” them. While school policy requires such letters to state factual bases for the charges, the letter only vaguely accused the students of “disruptive or insulting behavior, willful disobedience . . . persistent abuse of college employees.”

Not only did this instructor barge into the office as some sort of "Anti-Prayer Police", but then followed her around looking for something other reason. In most places that would be considered stalking. Of course, in most places it would also be considered common courtesy to wait until later and politely explain that you disagree with these other people.
It sounds like someone needs a hobby.

You are what you eat.

2008-09-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

Another autopost for my readers:

St George pray for Soldiers

2008-09-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

I set this post to publish after I have left:

Off to that ancient land
From whence came Abraham

Like Saint Joan of Arc before
I am going off to war

Jonah preached in that land
And I shall walk that same sand

Like Father Emil Kapaun before
I am in an Army at war