The Red Plume

Why don't they give you one of these hats when you're ordained? I mean, the biretta's okay, but that's a real hat.

What I Love About the Catholic Church - 7

...The fact that she is not fashion conscious. Take this new translation of the Mass for example. Non Catholic Christian denominations, when they revise their liturgy bend over backward to make it as politically correct and up to date as possible. The feministas in the Anglican Church are busy writing new 'canticles' by Julian of Norwich and St Bella of Azbug and Hildegarde of Bingen. Everything is done to make their church as groovy and up to date as possible.

Sure, we have hip hop priests and nuns who dress like cleaners in a mental ward, but their days are numbered, and did anybody who takes Catholicism seriously ever take them seriously? It's also true that in the last fifty years many Catholics have taken a wrong turn. They've wedded the Spirit of the Age, and now they're widows. In the last five decades too many Catholics have forgotten the timelessness of the Church in order to have a good time.

This plastic and elastic Catholicism is bogus. Deep down Catholicism has something ageless about it which survives all the depredations of the trendy crowd. Down through the ages the saints have never really taken notice what age they lived in. They sought to follow the truth, knowing that the truth, in every age would be both unpopular and yet totally relevant. They saw clearly and cut through the crap. I love this about the Catholic Church: although individual Catholics may fall for the Spirit of the Age, the Catholic Church herself does not.

The Catholic Church does not belong to any age because she belongs to every age. Just think of it. Here is an institution which has been around since the time of the Roman Emperors and she's still going strong. She's seen it all. Corruption from within and persecution from without. She's stood the test of time. Consequently, she stands above all the fashions and fads.

But at the same time, she takes on from the age she lives in, whatever good things exist there. She doesn't mind using modern technology, re-phrasing the ancient faith in modern terminology and engaging with the conflicts and debates of the age on equal terms with the children of that age. She's ever ancient and ever new.

She's like one of those august, aristocratic English women I used to know who wore their grandmother's tweeds and welly boots and went hunting grouse with a shotgun, and then came in and ordered dinner with their cell phone from a Chinese take away served in the formal dining room on antique china.

You can use the 'label' facility to read the other posts in this series from the archives

The Word Among Us

Isn't  Van der Weyden just the best? Learn about him here.

Harnden and Herman

As usual the American loving British ex pat Toby Harnden nails it on this column on how the allegations against Herman Cain have actually given him a boost.

Writing for the Daily Telegraph, Harnden understands the dynamics of middle America better than most American journalists. He sees that most common sense Americans think that the majority of sexual harassment cases are a case of whining 'victims' looking for a lawsuit, hand in hand with a fat, but hungry lawyer.

These ordinary folks that Harnden understands like Cain because he's an outsider, because he is politically incorrect, because he takes risks and doesn't take himself that seriously. Furthermore, because the right wing often have a bit of a persecution complex anyway, all it takes is for those they perceive as the 'liberal' press to launch an attack to make them circle the wagons and stick up for the one being attacked.

Consequently, the allegations against Cain will probably continue to boost his campaign rather than damage it. As Toby Harnden says, the left overplayed their hand. It seems the only people dumber than the politicians are the journalists--Toby Harnded excepted.

Stick 'em Up

Hands in the air!

Yes, dear readers. It's time once again for the annual Stick 'em Up Campaign. For just two weeks in November I ask you to make donations to this blog. That's it. None of guilt trip inducing 'tin cup rattles' you get from other bloggers like the Dark Lord.

Fact is, I do this blog for free. Not only do I blog for free, but for all three of you who are totally addicted to whatever I write; I am now Twittering and doing Facebook and starting in Advent I'm going to be recording my homilies again, and putting them up as podcasts, and I aim to do some video casts if there is time.

So here on the blog--which is the home base if you like...I try to keep the usual blend of standing on my head with solid Catholic catechesis, pretty pictures, comment on things Anglican and American, Catholic devotional thoughts, bits of music, some personal stuff, leaden satire (to quote one of the world's greatest journalists--Damian Thompson) and WHO ELSE DOES THIS NOT EVEN MARK SHEA OR KATRINA OR THE ANCHORESS OR FR. Z??--a gallery of lovable, infuriating, brilliant, entertaining and stupid alter egos.

All this free of charge. Yep. Free. OK, I sell some books through it from time to time. However, have you noticed there are no ads? No annoying pop ups for dietary aids or any other embarrassing medical type products? Not even Google ads or Amazon ads or anything like that. I mean not even ads for Monks Coffee or statues of Santa Claus kneeling down before the baby Jesus!

So here's what I'm suggesting: a $25.00 donation from every reader. Now what does that work out to? Over a year?--Less than seven cents a day. That's right. Not even a dime a day. Not even one thin dime.

Just hit the 'Donate' button and grit your teeth and do it.

Thanks a million.

Herman and Sarah

I have to admit I like Herman Cain the way I liked Sarah Palin--not because either would necessarily have made a good prez (although the might've) but because they're both outsiders who are cheerful, hard working and don't mind turning over the tables in the temple.

I like the way Sarah Palin stood feminism on it's head. Here was gun totin' gal from Alaska who winked and smiled and said, 'You betcha!'--who had a redneck husband and a teenaged daughter who got pregnant and still she marched on with her Christian values and showed all the feminists that a strong woman could also be good looking, a loyal wife and mother and hold down a career. That's what I liked about Sarah Palin--should she ever be president? Probbly not, but that hasn't stopped Obama...

Same with Herman Cain. He stands on it's head all the prejudiced ideas about what a black man in this country should be, and those prejudices are just as prevalent on the left as the left like to think they are on the right. Prejudiced people on the right sometimes think that all black men are shiftless, lazy, dishonest welfare leeches who ought to get a job. Prejudiced people on the left think all black men are shiftless, lazy, dishonest welfare leeches who are entitled to be that way.

Herman Cain corrects the stereotypes and steps us and tells all of us to forget about the race issue. Black men are not all shiftless, lazy, dishonest welfare leeches, plenty of them, like Cain himself, are good, hard working, Christian husbands and fathers, and anyhow it's not about the color of a person's skin at all. It's about intelligence, faith, patriotism, experience, skill and a dash of charisma and humility and good humor. Sarah Palin seemed to say, "Feminism? I'll show you feminism!" Herman Cain says, "Black man? I'll show you black man."

That these people who break the mould and shake the mold are from the right are even more refreshing because they break even more prejudices and sterotypes--that all conservatives are plaid shirt backward ball cap wearing doofuses with a full rifle rack in the back of the cab of their pick up.

Should Herman Cain be president? Dunno. I'm not really interested in politics. But I'm interested in people.

Share This

If you like a post, use the 'Share This' link at the bottom of the post to share it on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.

Have you ever thought that you can have a significant impact in the New Evangelization simply by using the 'Share This' facility? Every media communication action needs not just content but an effective distribution system. You can write a column for a newspaper. It can get printed, but somebody still has to buy the subscription and somebody has to deliver it to the door.

The new media doesn't work that way. It is free of charge, but it is also free of cumbersome and expensive printing and distribution networks. The stuff I write on this blog goes out instantly and globally. However, I can only boost readership myself to a certain extent. It also needs promotion activity. This is where you can help.

I am moving into a new phase of blogging and media work. I will soon be posting my homilies here again, and in the new year I will start doing some video and radio work. I would like to boost readership.

Your sharing through social networks actually helps to spread the Word of God. I can pump out the content. You can help to get it distributed more widely by sharing. Share and encourage others to share.

In My Father's House

To understand today's gospel fully you have to understand Jewish wedding customs in the first century. When a girl and boy decided to get married (or their parents decided they would get married) the boy's father paid a visit to the girl's father to decide a dowry price. Then the boy would pay a formal visit to the girls' home to propose. At that point he would give the girl a gift representing the dowry price. Maybe a bag of gold coins or a ring.

Then the boy would go home to his father's house and the girl remained in her parent's home for about a year. There would be a formal betrothal time, but once the betrothal price was paid the deal was done. The two were as good as married, and a breakup of the betrothal was the equivalent to a divorce.

During the betrothal year the boy would build a place for him and his bride to live--this was usually a room which was an addition to his father's house. Then after about a year he would come with his groomsmen at night in a torchlight process to the bride's house. She would be waiting there with her bridesmaids, not knowing when exactly he was to come. Then the cry would go up, "The bridegroom is coming!" and the bride and her maids would go out to meet him and process back to his house with her family and the whole village in order for the wedding to take place. After the wedding the marriage was consummated in the new home he had built for his bride and the wedding supper lasted for a whole week.

This puts into context the whole nuptial imagery in the Sacred Scriptures. From Adam and Eve on through the divinely appointed marriages of the patriarchs to God saying that he would come and be the faithful husband of his people Israel--there is a motif running through the sacred stories in which God is the bridegroom and we are the bride.

This continues in the New Testament where Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom time and again. He does so explicitly--"Why should they fast when the bridegroom is with them?" and he does so through his actions and other oblique references: For example at the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee he provides wine. That was the job of the bridegroom, so when he does this he steps into that eschatological role. Also, when he says, "In my father's house are many rooms, I am going to prepare a place for you so that when I come again I will take you to be with me." This is a reference back to his role as the bridegroom.

His first coming to earth is therefore like the betrothal visit. He comes and pays the bride price for his bride--the church--who will be presented to him as a glorious bride without spot or wrinkle. The bride price is his own life. He then goes away--back to his father's house to prepare a place for us. We are therefore in the waiting year--the time when the deal has been done. We have been bought with a price. We are redeemed. The eternal covenant has been fixed. We only await the coming of the bridegroom and the consummation.

This consummation in heaven awaits us, but in the meantime, the Holy Mass is a glimpse of that final wedding meal. This is why it is good that the priest, in the new translation, says, "Behold the Lamb of God...Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb." More specifically--the 'marriage supper of the Lamb'--which is pictured in the Book of Revelation as the consummation of love and the final union between Christ the Bridegroom and the Church his bride.

Altar Boys Make a Difference

Visitor from New Jersey at Our Lady of the Rosary says today, "Father, I just want to day that this is the first time in many, many years that I have actually enjoyed going to Mass. The parishes I go to up North, they put as many people as possible into the procession. The music is all kind of happy stuff all the time like the priest wants to entertain us. It's like they never ever mention God. I mean, they do, but it seems like they don't. Your mass was beautiful. And you had altar boys! I haven't seen altar boys for years! And they are so well trained and beautiful to watch. The homily was really interesting and it was, well, just reverent and for the first time in I don't know how long it was, but well, like for the first time in years I felt like I was at church!"

Boomer Cars

I am sure I am not the only boomer male pleased and nostalgic to see the new Chargers, Camaros and Mustangs.

Which gets your vote?

Corpus Christi Watershed

Keyboard Accompaniment New Translation Roman Missal ICEL from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.
If you haven't found it yet, Corpus Christi Watershed has lots of simple videos to learn the music settings for the new Mass. Go here.

The SSPX

Guest blogger, Duane Mandible is a contributing editor to The Truth Hurts, a bi-monthly journal of politics, economics and opinion. He also contributes regularly to Freedom Monthly; Illuminations and The Sojourner. Duane is the author of Guns and Knives will Save Your Children's Lives. He is Vice President of the Sacred Society of St Philibustre, and enjoys hunting rattlesnakes, square dancing and watching re runs of comedy classics. He is unmarried.

I have read recently in a news article on the 'internet' that the leaders of the Society of St Pius X have determined that they will not be able to establish reunion with Pope Ratzinger any time soon.

Whenever I read news like this I am saddened, but not surprised. The Society of St Pius X, which in many ways, is an admirable group of people, criticize the Roman Catholic Church for being wedded to 'modernism'. What my friends at SSPX don't see is how much their own position is poisoned by modernism. They criticize the 'smoke of Satan' which is modernism in the Roman Catholic religion, never seeing the modernistic beam in their own eye!

Our pamphlets reveal how the SSPX continues its stubborn adherence not only to the Tridentine Rite of celebrating the Divine Mysteries, (which was only devised in 1570) but also their shameless refusal to adopt the more ancient practice of wearing the be-ribboned maniple rather than that modernist innovation--the buttoned maniple.

Cynics and those who only view things in a shallow way will say that these issues are not important. However, allow me once again to gently explain our position at the Sacred Society of St Philibustre. We reverently celebrate our masses according to the ancient Ambrosianic Rite (non collegian). This exquisite liturgy dates to the early centuries of the Syro-Chaldean Church founded by St Euthanasia the Anchorite. The canon of the Mass is said in secret soto voce in the now archaic, but beautiful Syro-Chaldean language. The altar is behind the sacred ikonostasis and locked within the underground chamber so as not to be violated by the profane laity.

Our priests wear the turban, ruby slippers and ephod, and they bear the Urim and Thummin. In addition they wear the most venerable be-ribboned maniple. Despite many ecumenical meetings to dialogue with our brothers at the Society of St Pius X we have not made significant progress. Despite sound documentary evidence that the be-ribboned maniple is indeed the more ancient tradition, they cling to their buttons.

We can never agree with them. They are modernist heretics all. They will never be reconciled to our church, and our Most Holy Father Pope Sylvester will, no doubt, soon excommunicate them. At that point, free of all encumbrances, I expect they will very soon 'reconcile' with the apostate 'pope' Joseph Ratzinger--and all his fetid crew.

I speak these words in sadness and with dismay, but I would be remiss in my duties as editor of this journal if I did not speak the truth.

The Pope in Africa

John Allen writes here on the complicated, but fascinating situation of the Church in Africa.

Gadget for Sale

I have a Jabra Cruiser bluetooth gadget for sale. This is a cool doodad which clips on your car visor and connects with your iPhone--allowing you to take calls hands free. It also links in with your car radio, allowing you to play tunes from your iPhone through your radio wirelessly. When you are hooked up to the car radio you can also pipe your phone calls through the car speakers. If you have GPS on your iPhone it pipes the GPS voice through the built in speaker or the car speakers too.

It works real well, but I won't need it after next week because I'm getting some new hearing aids that have bluetooth capability and connect straight into my iPhone. The gadget cost $100.00 new, and comes with lead for charging the battery, and the instruction booklet. If you want this gadget, you can pay for it by making a PayPal donation on the blog, and I'll send it to you.

Cost: $75.00 plus $5.00 post and packing.

St Charles Borromeo

Shea on Heresy

The Dark Lord Shea-u-man gets ranting here about the sterility of heresy and quotes GKC. I like Mark Shea. I wish he lived close by. I think we'd get on.

Twittering

I'm enjoying Twitter so far. I try to tweet three of four times a day. 135 people follow my tweets so far. Why not join in, join up, follow...whatever. Click the link in the right side bar.

Beginning in Advent I am going to start uploading my homilies from Our Lady of the Rosary again. These will be available as download-podcasts.

Three Foundations for Sacred Architecture

Go here for my latest article for National Catholic Register--Three foundations for sacred architecture. The three foundations are proportions, integrity and honesty. These are the philosophical foundations used in the design of our new church at Our Lady of the Rosary parish. Go here for more information about this exciting new church building project.

Shocking Shepherd

The gospel today is the parable of the Good Shepherd who, having lost one sheep, leaves the ninety nine and goes to find the lost sheep, and brings him home on his shoulders.

The traditional image is of the gentle good shepherd, with perhaps a tear in his eye, giving the poor lost lamb a lovely cozy cuddle as they wander home together.

However, another more shocking image is given by those who have studied the working methods of first century Palestinian shepherds. They say that the shepherd would correct a wandering lamb by breaking it's leg. That way it wouldn't wander off again--indeed, couldn't wander off again. The shepherd did this not only to discipline the lamb, but to protect him, since to wander off would make him vulnerable to the wolves.

This may be shocking to those who cherish the image of the gentle good shepherd have a sweet little canoodle with the cuddly little lamb, but whether it is factual or not (and I am no expert on first century livestock handling) it somehow rings true to the rest of the image of Jesus in the gospel. That is to say, Aslan is not a tame lion. Jesus is our friend, but he is also the dread judge of all. His loving mercy is tender, but it is also sometimes severe.

Maybe he has allowed that dark spot in our lives, that sore point of suffering, that seemingly inexplicable non-answer to prayer, that difficult relationship, that perennial weakness, that seemingly absurd suffering as the 'broken leg' that keep us close to home and close to Him.

Night of the Hunter

Keep your whining victim feminists and for a strong woman give me Lillian Gish in The Night of the Hunter--which I finally watched for the first time last night. The film really is a masterpiece, not only for the stylish and dramatic black and white expressionistic cinematography, but most of all for the moral heart of the film. Lillian Gish plays a tough, warm hearted West Virginia woman who takes in waifs and strays. She spots Robert Mitchum's serial killer phoney preacher a mile off and keeps him at bay with a beady eye and a shotgun.

There are so many strongly Christian themes in this classic. Lillian Gish who is tough on the outside and tender on the inside contrasts with the aptly named Icey Spoon--the woman who oozes religious sentiment and falls head over heels for the con man Powell. Her sentimentalism--letting him into their lives--leads to murder and abuse. Her weak husband stands by and allows her to dominate and manipulate the scene, and while she appears to be sweet and religious she speaks her real mind at the church picnic where she is totally selfish and cynical about love. Symbolically she is always making fudge, but she controls who gets the sweet fudge in order to manipulate them.

The contrast between her and Lillian Gish's character continues when Powell is finally apprehended and is in jail awaiting execution. Icey Spoon leads the lynch mob out for revenge. Her self righteousness and religiosity has turned to violence and we realize that the reason she fell for the phony preacher is because she's a hypocrite herself, and when she turns to violence she reveals herself to be on the same level as Powell. Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish's character) on the other hand, simply gathers up the children and flees from the darkness of the criminal court, the murderer and the lynch mob.

Rachel Cooper is tough and uncompromising. But she is also tender, loving and generous. She is the true Christian, not taking any crap, but recognizing the goodness and strength of the children themselves. Her final words are not about the criminal Powell, but about the children. "They abide. They endure."

'Bout right, and unless you become like them you cannot enter the kingdom.

All Souls Day

from the SOMH archives


I was a young Anglican priest and, from my Evangelical background, still learning about the communion of the saints, All Saints' Day and All Souls. I found myself in a high church Anglican parish and for All Souls Day the choir always sang the Faure Requiem.

I was at the altar with the parish priest, concelebrating. I was aware that he was deep in prayer. As the choir sang the offertory I was praying and I suddenly 'saw' a kind of family tree. Drawn in black and white it was all straight lines with names with more straight lines going up and up until I couldn't count the names of my ancestors anymore. Then suddenly I 'saw' red fluid flowing down through the family tree.

It was as if the blood of Christ was flowing back down through all the generations in my family of 'black and white' puritanical Protestants. Good people and people with faith, but largely legalistic and often harsh and judgmental. I was quite moved and overwhelmed with the emotion of what I saw, for I had been praying for the healing of my family tree.

The offertory ended. The Mass went on. When we were finished, and were in the vestry disrobing the parish priest (who was also a former Baptist) said to me, "You know, I had an amazing experience at the altar during the offertory."

"What's that?" I asked.

"I felt like God was cleansing my entire family tree through the blood of Jesus. Amazing!"

I smiled..."Funny you should say that."

All Saints Day

Poking Fun

OK, on the Reformation Day post I was mocking the lesbian, Lutheran Swedish bishop who looks like a sofa out of Star Trek.

I try to keep the tone of the blog light--poking fun at those with whom I disagree, and not minding if they poke back. Nevertheless a regular (and awfully sober) reader was offended that I had mocked the lesbian Lutheran Swedish Star Trek sofa person.

I'm still not clear what he was offended by. Was it that I made fun of her dress sense, her sexual preference, her Protestantism or that she looked so, umm-- Swedish lesbian?

I'm not sure, but I wonder if any other readers get tired of the self righteous, playing the victim, "Ooooh. I'm sooo offended" stuff. After all, who really ought to be offended in this whole thing? Is it the Anglican and Lutheran feminist and homosexualists or the far greater number of ordinary, faithful Anglicans and Lutherans who have had their beautiful, ancient religion ripped from them by a minority of howling, passive aggressive activists?

Maybe some other people are allowed to be offended--like the millions of traditional, faithful Anglicans in the developing world who are shocked and disgusted by homosexualism and feminism and are amazed and dismayed by the infiltration of their church hierarchy by these smirking bullies in miters. There are others who might just be offended--those good, conservative, demure and modest Christians who would actually turn a blind eye to what they regard as sexual abominations as long as they kept their behaviors to themselves, but resent having it thrown in their face and their churches turned into parade grounds for flaming activism.

Who should be offended here? What about the ordinary Moms and Dads who have to explain why "Uncle Vickie wants to marry Aunty Fred"? What about the ordinary families who discover that their children are being  subjected to mandatory 'sexual education' that tells ten year olds how to put on a condom to protect themselves during anal sex?

I could go on, but maybe once in a while the rest of us might be allowed the luxury of 'being offended.'

If Bankers Prayed More...

What would the world be like if bankers had prayed more? Some time ago I wrote an article for Crisis magazine called The Practical Power of Public Prayer, and I quoted correspondence I had received from an Englishman who had worked for many years in the City of London--the financial center. He said, “When I began in banking almost 40 years ago, the head of our Investment Banking division each morning gathered his staff together and began the day with a prayer! This division was responsible for investing the bank's money. The prayer was not that they would make a 'killing' or rack up great profits for the bank. Rather it was that they would properly care for the bank's assets and discharge their duties to their savers and shareholders responsibly and for the common good.”

The banker was, no doubt, a good solid Church of England layman. He was not a national leader leading the invocation at a civic event, but an ordinary layman with a simple faith who took his responsibilities seriously. He was courageous enough to lead his people in prayer and had enough faith to believe that his ordinary job was not only worthwhile, but had the capacity for great good if he, as in individual was an honest, hard working and Christian person.

Indeed his job (and his philosophy) was worthwhile. Putting aside the question of whether or not his prayer influenced the Almighty, the prayers influenced the people in the investment department. At the beginning of each day they re-assessed their reasons and questioned what they were about and realized that there was a moral dimension to their seemingly inconsequential jobs as bank clerks. Their superior leading them in prayer helped them to keep the filthy lucre they were dealing with in a proportionate place. If every Wall Street firm and every investment bank did the same every morning would we now be in financial meltdown? I doubt it.

Another benefit of such prayer is that it grants to all those who participate a new kind of dignity. The bankers who prayed with their division chief were thought worthy to pray with. The chief took them seriously. Furthermore, their jobs also suddenly had a new dimension of seriousness and dignity. They mattered and their jobs mattered, not only to their business boss, but also to the Big Boss. Think how society would change if every business started the day with prayer. What if the workers at Starbucks or Burger King or the local factory started their shift by praying with the boss? What if they prayed for each of their customers? what if they prayed for each other? Think of the benefits to the whole of society, for we cannot stay angry long with a colleague for whom we have prayed. We cannot cheat for long a boss with whom we have prayed. We cannot provide poor customer service for a person for whom we have prayed.

What would happen if bankers prayed more? What would happen if we all prayed more?

St Benedict and St Therese

Why not treat yourself to a book about two wonderful saints for All Saints Day? I wrote St Benedict and St Therese--The Little Rule and the Little Way some years ago now. It considers the lives and teachings of these two great saints.

St Therese is the little child. St Benedict the wise old man. The first shows us the way of simplicity and innocence unspoiled. The second shows us the way of simplicity and innocence re-attained. Both saints advocate finding God within the everyday tasks of life, and both show us how to attain holiness by being true to who we are and where God has placed us at this time.

The Day I Met a Saint

I went to India with a friend named James when we were both Anglican priests. We stayed in Calcutta for a few days before going into the Himalayas trekking, and James suggested we take a tour of Mother Teresa's homes.

So we made our way through the streets of Calcutta to the little side alleyway leading to the entrance to the Mother House. There was a little sign on the door saying, "Mother is in" or "Mother is out", and the sign said, "Mother is in".

When we went through the door a young Indian sister said, "Would you like to meet Mother?"

"Yes please!"

So we waited for a few minutes on simple wooden benches and then Mother Teresa came out and shook our hands and asked where we had come from. "Have you come to give you life in service to God's holy poor?" she asked.

I felt not too big. I had only come as a curious Protestant tourist. I was tongue tied, but James was quicker off the mark. "We've only brought you a check." he said.

She thanked us and asked another sister to show us around, so we had the tour of the Mother House, the home for the dying and then we were taken around various other homes around Calcutta.

What was it like to meet a saint? My main memory was of an intense kind of reality. Mother Teresa was a connector to another world. She was a kind of human wardrobe that leads into Narnia. Meeting her and spending time in the Mother House opened up a new dimension for me--something I had never experienced before, and this sense of reality--this new level of awareness made me feel both small and great at the same time.

Small because of my own inadequacy and frailty and sinful selfishness and stupidity in the presence of that reality, but also a great-ness, knowing that I was not only a fellow human being, and therefore had the same capacity for greatness as Mother Teresa, but also because I was her brother. I was also one of the baptized, faithful.

I also had the gifts she had, and all I had to do was say "Yes."

And that also made me feel both small and great.

For All the Saints