Catholic Culinary Experience

I had (am having) a Catholic moment this weekend.  It involved the fact that the Church has obeyed the command of our Lord and Savior to preach the Gospel to all corners of the world (Matthew 28:19).  It also involves one of the necessities of life - food!

We Catholics are blessed with a world-wide communion which encompasses all nations and peoples.  All Saints parish is a microcosm of this phenomenon.  I can prove this simply by the food I was offered - and readily ate this weekend.

On Saturday morning the Vietnamese Community held its monthly fund raiser and they brought over some of their Vietnamese Pork Barbecue replete with rice and fish sauce!

Thịt Nướng – Vietnamese Grilled Pork

 For supper, I went over to some of our parishioner's restaurant:  Gosh Ethiopian.  I had the Kitfo - tasty! (plus you get to eat it with your hands!!!)

This morning, someone from our Hispanic Community had made tamales and dropped them off - so, hot tamales was my breakfast fare.

This afternoon we are hosting the monthly Philippino Mass and they may have some lechón (roast pig) among the other tasty dishes!

All I can do is say that the Lord is good!  We as Catholic know how to fast, but we also know how to feast.  We are a joy-filled people because we know the mercy of God!  We can't help but feast because the bridegroom is with us!  This experience reminds me of the famous quote by Hillaire Belloc:

“Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine,
There’s always laughter and good red wine.
At least I’ve always found it so.
Benedicamus Domino!”

Leo XIII And Socialism

It is important for us as serious and faithful believers to look at the ramifications of certain ideas from their inception to their execution.  What philosophy undergirds a particular action or agenda?  Does it respect the dignity of man? Does it protect his God given rights?  Does it correspond to the true nature of man or does it distort the Imago Dei?  These are serious points to ponder and the Church's true social doctrine does just that!

That being said, there is a great article linked below.  What does the Church really teach about social justice?  You might be surprised!



Leo XIII Knew Socialism Would Fail Because it was Evil | Crisis Magazine

New Websites

The Diocese of Knoxville and the East Tennessee Catholic now have brand new websites!

Take a look:

The Diocesan Website - http://dioknox.org/

The East Tennessee Website - http://etcatholic.org/


They are both very user friendly and packed with content.  There are lots of new features including an interactive parish map, instant page translation service, active calanders, easy navigation between the diocesan office pages and tons of great videos hosted by YouTube and Vimeo.

Check it out!

Exitus - Reditus

Official Website

Dear readers of Praedica Verbum,

It has been a very long time since I have posted anything.  However, the requirements of the New Evangelization and the wonderful gift of the Year of Faith have inspired me to return to this mission field.

There are many and wonderful things that need to be told and Pope Benedict has called upon preachers of the Gospel to utilize the means of social networking to further the announcement of the Good News. It has occurred to me that this is in keeping with the very title of this blog:  Praedica Verbum - Preach the Word!  This is the season of the manifestation of Christ and we must make Him known to all corners of the world.   I will do my best to post meaningful and inspiring entries and to make this one of the ways in which I fulfill my priestly call to announce the Good News!

God Bless and have a wonderful YEAR OF FAITH!

Lux Arumque and my thoughts on Sacred Music

I recently was forwarded a youtube post about Eric Whitacre and his "Virtual Choir":



Here is the full version released:



Watching this got me to thinking about Sacred Music. The text of the piece above is a reflection on the nativity of the Christ child.


Lux Aurumque:

Light,
warm and heavy as pure gold
and the angels sing softly 
to the newborn baby.

Lux, Lux
Lux, Lux
Lux Lux
Calida
Calida
Gravis que
Gravis que
Gravis que
Pura
Pura velut aurum
canunt et canunt et canunt


My thoughts came around to the melding of the sound and the meaning and there was something deep present!

Here is then the product of that thought:

In Sacred Music we often settle for “Festal” joy, which tends to amuse the intellect. Rather, Sacred Music should aim at “Sublime” joy, which humbles the intellect through wonder and awe at a mystery beyond itself.

Too often our Church Music is the saccharine expression of popularism that wants to amuse and, dare we say it, entertain. Sacred Music should express itself to a deeper part of the human heart than the appetites. It should penetrate to the core whence love springs from the melding of intellect and will touched by mystery.

(Blessed) John Paul II

Vatican announces Pope John Paul II beatification events

By Cindy Wooden



VATICAN CITY (CNS)—The Vatican released a three-day schedule of events for the beatification of Pope John Paul II and warned against people selling counterfeit tickets to the beatification liturgy, which is free and open to all.

Pope Benedict XVI will preside over the beatification Mass at 10 a.m. May 1 in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican said. Immediately after Mass the faithful can pray before Pope John Paul’s mortal remains, which will be set in front of the main altar in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The veneration “will continue until the flow of faithful ends,” it said.

Distributing the program Feb. 18, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the deceased pope’s remains will be in the casket in which he originally was buried in 2005 and will not be visible.

The casket will be reinterred in the Chapel of St. Sebastian on the main level of St. Peter’s Basilica in a “private” ceremony, which will occur only after the large crowds have stopped coming to pay their respects, Father Lombardi said.

The night before the beatification, a prayer vigil will be held in the grassy open space that was the ancient Circus Maximus in Rome, the Vatican said.

“It will be organized by the Diocese of Rome, which had the venerable servant of God as its bishop,” the note said. Cardinal Agostino Vallini, papal vicar for Rome, will lead the celebration and Pope Benedict is expected to watch through a video hookup.

The morning after the beatification, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, will celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican said.

U.S. Archbishop James M. Harvey, prefect of the papal household, which organizes the non-liturgical side of papal events, also issued a statement Feb. 18 emphasizing the fact that tickets will not be required to attend the beatification.

The archbishop’s statement, distributed in six languages, said he had been “informed of the existence of unauthorized offers by some tour operators, especially on the Internet,” claiming that for a fee they could help people get tickets to papal events, particularly the beatification Mass.

“For the beatification Mass of Pope John Paul II, as made clear from the outset, no tickets are required,” the statement said.

And for events that require tickets, such as the pope’s weekly general audience, the tickets “are always issued free of charge and no person or organization can request any kind of payment,” it said.

Copyright 2011 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Dominican Sisters in Oak Ridge

A great local news story about our Nashville Dominicans that live here in town.