The 40 (+4) Days of Lent

Here's a calendar I created to help explain how to count the 40 (+4) days of Lent.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
		Ordinary Time--lasts until midnight	*Ash Wednesday [Fast & Abstinence]	Thursday After Ash Wednesday	Friday After Ash Wednesday [Abstinence]	Saturday After Ash Wednesday
**Sunday of the 1st Week of Lent	2	3	4	5	6 [Abstinence]	7
**Sunday of the 2nd Week of Lent	9	10	11	12	13 [Abstinence]	14
**Sunday of the 3rd Week of Lent	16	17	18	19	20 [Abstinence]	21
**Sunday of the 4th Week of Lent	23	24	25	26	27 [Abstinence]	28
**Sunday of the 5th Week of Lent	30	31	32	33	34 [Abstinence]	35
** Palm Sunday	37 Monday of Holy Week	38 Tuesday of Holy Week	39 Wednesday of Holy Week	***40	Good Friday [Fast and Abstinence]	Easter Vigil
				Holy Thursday
Easter Sunday

*The 40 is not an exact number. Some people call the first 4 days of Lent “Lent’s Doorstep.” Counting this way, they are a part of Lent, but are not counted when tallying 40 days. Lenten penance is still observed during these days. Counting this way, day #1 is Sunday of the 1^st Week of Lent. Other people get to the number 40 by skipping the Sundays, but including Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

** Sundays are still considered part of Lent (the priest still wears purple), but since each person’s penance is self-directed (and we don’t usually fast on Sundays), many peopel give themselves a break from their penances on Sundays.

*** Lent ends when the Mass of the Last Supper begins on Holy Thursday night.

Later, I'm going to post something about the details of penance.

Communion Blessing?

Extraordinary Ministers (people who aren't deacons, priests, or bishops)
  may distribute Communion when there is a lack of ordinary ministers
and there is an unduly large number of communicants.

Photo found at veneremurcernui.wordpress.com

Can extraordinary ministers give blessings to those who cannot receive Holy Communion?

In short: No.

Fr. Z posted a statement from the Diocese of Madison, explaining the issue.

[Note: the author happened to get a MTS from a highly reputable university.]

Spirit of the Liturgy - Chapter 1

This is a continuing report on the book The Spirit of the Liturgy by Cardinal Ratzinger.

Click here to read the report on the Preface.

PART ONE: THE ESSENCE OF LITURGY

Chapter 1: Liturgy & Life: The Place of the Liturgy in Reality

In the 20's it was common to describe liturgy with the analogy of a game (having its own rules, stepping outside the pressures of daily life, often being "a rehearsal for later life," [14] and thus allowing us to see daily life as a prelude to eternal life - offering us hope). This analogy, however, lacks a concrete orientation towards eternal life and towards God Himself, so Ratzinger wishes to offer us a new approach [which is really an old approach looked at anew]: liturgy as revealed in the Bible, particularly the Exodus.

The Exodus

The whole purpose of the Exodus is not just to give God's people the Promised Land, but to give them the freedom to worship Him (in whatever way He requests): "Let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness." (Ex 7:16) [Not: "Let my people go that I may give them land."] "The only goal of the Exodus is shown to be worship, which can only take place according to God's measure." [16] They don't know the means by which God wishes them to worship Him--only out in the wilderness will they be given that knowledge. [They had to take every person and everything they owned, so that they would be prepared to worship God in whatever way He wanted.] "The land is given to the people to be a place for the true worship of the true God." [17] God makes a covenant with His people and "concretiz[es it] in a minutely regulated form of worship . . . [this form of worship shows them] how to worship God in the way He Himself desires." [17] [God tells them how He wants to be worshipped. They don't make it up on their own.] This worship is an entire way of life. It includes both "cult, [which is] liturgy in the proper sense," [17] and morality, the proper way to live. "Ultimately is it the very life of man, man himself as living righteously, that is the true worship of God, but life only becomes real life when it receives its form from looking toward God. Cult exists in order to communicate this vision and to give life in such a way that glory is given to God."[18] [Don't get confused with the popular definition of "cult"--something like a strange or evil group of fanatics. Cult means ritual. We worship in a ritualistic liturgy because that is what we have received from God. Those rituals draw us out of our daily lives, point us toward God, and allow us to receive His life. Only by looking toward God can we get the proper perspective of how to live the rest of our lives (and live them to the fullest). Without that orientation towards God, life is like being in a maze, but not knowing where the end is--there is no goal to direct our actions to the proper end. We have received the rituals for worship from God and from His Church. It is not something that we invent out of our creativity. Our worship is affective because it was given to us by God as a foretaste of how we will worship Him in Heaven.]

Worship, Law & Ethics

"Worship, law, and ethics are inseparably interwoven." [18] Law must be founded in morality and both must be oriented toward God, otherwise they trap man in a world-centered vision, forcing him to bow to the whims of the ruling majority, rather than the all-good, unchanging truths of God. People need law so that they may be free to live and worship. "God has a right to a response from man." [19] Law must preserve this right, otherwise man cannot live the life for which he was made. "When human affairs are so ordered that there is no recognition of God, there is a belittling of man." [19] The Israelites were given regulations for both cult and morality at Sinai. "This and this alone is what makes the land a real gift." [19] If Israel sticks to these regulations, she is free; if not, she loses her freedom. "When the loss of law becomes total, it ends in the loss even of land . . . steadfast adherence to the law of God . . . must be the necessary condition [foundation of existence] for life in community and freedom." [20]  [Proper worship directs us to God, who allows us to see how to live properly. That orientation toward God forms our morality/ethics. Law exists to encourage people toward right conduct (virtue) and discourage people from vice. Without proper worship, we are trapped in a mindset that thinks only of this world and its concerns. It fails to see things from the God's perspective and what is eternally best for our souls. Without the true goal in mind, our efforts can easily become misguided. Many of our civil law makers have lost the proper perspective, or have been trained in an environment which rejects God, and therefore, rejects the proper goal of all of life. Law should protect and promote worship, but that is far too often not the case in our society.]

The importance of worship.
Cult, then, "goes beyond the action of the liturgy . . . embrac[ing] the ordering of the world of human life." [20] Worship is "man glorifying God" and man does this "when he lives by looking toward God." [20] Law and ethics must be "anchored in the liturgical center and inspired by it." [20] Man's relationship with God (liturgy) must first be right before his other relationships (with other men, with creation - law, ethics) can be rightly ordered. [God gives man his relational orientation. Man must first encounter the Truth, Goodness, Justice, Love that God is in order to know how to be truly true, good, just and loving.] "The right kind of cult, or relationship with God, is essential for the right kind of human existence in the world. It is so precisely because it reaches beyond everyday life." Worship takes us out of the world and gives us a taste of Heaven. Life without that foretaste is empty, so those without true cult end up creating 'their own forms of cult, though, of course, they can be only an allusion and strive in vain by bombastic trumpeting, to conceal their nothingness." [21]
[I'm reminded of this at the end of every Super Bowl (or other sports finales). The whole profession is "bombastically trumpeted" with fancy graphics, lively commentators, jarring music, and memorabilia galore, which all conceal their real nothingness. I used to be a devout follower of the worship of football. Ever since I was introduced to it, I have loved to play the game, so it only naturally followed that I would love to watch the professionals play the game. Growing up, my family had our Sunday tradition of watching the games together. I was enthralled by the games, looking up statistics, buying the video games, collecting the cards, and eventually playing fantasy football. None of these are bad in themselves, but they can become dominant foci in someone's life--as it did in mine. Every year, though, as the confetti paper fluttered in the air to mark the end of that year's Super Bowl, something about it seemed anti-climactic. All this build up throughout the year (and intensifying as the game day drew nearer) seemed to leave me with an empty feeling when the game was accomplished. As the years went by, that emptiness pointed to something: all the hype around this contest is really hiding that it's just a game. It's entertaining to watch them compete, but the flashy decorations are all ways that they try to make the game seem as though it has some great importance.]


We must receive worship, not create it.
True Worship is the worship that God reveals. Man cannot "creatively" plan worship how he wishes. It must be received, otherwise "man is clutching empty space." [21] "Real liturgy implies that God reveals how we can worship him . . . [in bad liturgy] worship is no longer going up to God, but drawing God down into one's own world." [22] He gives, as an example, the Golden Calf narrative--the people created their own version of God and worshipped him how they felt like worshipping him. They weren't patient enough to receive the proper form of worship from God. Ratzinger says that this narrative "is a warning about any kind of self-initiated and self-seeking worship." [23] When man tries to create his own worship, "man is using God . . . a festival of self-affirmation. Instead of being worship of God, it becomes a circle closed in on itself . . . no longer concerned with God but with giving oneself a nice little alternate world, manufactured from one's own resources . . . an apostasy in sacral disguise. All that is left in the end is frustration, a feeling of emptiness. There is no experience of that liberation which always takes place when man encounters the living God." [23] [Here, Ratzinger turns the spotlight from the banal pursuits of secular society's worship of empty things to those who try to impose such empty things into the received worship of God (particularly the Mass). This is one of the greatest travesties of our time. As we saw above, man needs proper worship, so that he can be directed outside of himself and rightly oriented to God (and thereby rightly oriented to all of creation), yet so often today, people who style themselves as "liturgists" try to turn this received worship into a display of their own "creativity." In doing so, they turn the focus of the liturgy away from God and onto the people (either the ones performing the "creative" innovation or the community gathered in the pews). Later, Ratzinger will describe this as "replacing the true essence of the liturgy with a  kind of religious entertainment." How true his words are! All too often, I have attended Masses where it seems like the priest is trying to entertain the people instead of point them toward almighty God. The few I have questioned about this have made comments about "not wanting to be too 'high Church' for the people" or "wanting to make people feel welcome," etc. This makes me sick. I can't believe that someone would forego thousands of years of cultivated Church practice (based on revelation and handed on to us faithfully by the Magisterium and which has drawn countless people toward sainthood) for the sake of what amounts to creature comforts. It becomes a form of settling for the lowest common denominator instead of a pursuit of what is highest.]

Good liturgy: solemn, dignified, beautiful, inspiring, directing us beyond ourselves/daily life and toward God
It orients us to a proper relationship with God.

Bad liturgy: campy, showy, people-centered, uninspiring, banal, base, empty . . .
"It becomes a feast that the community gives itself, a festival of self-affirmation. Instead of being worship of God, it becomes a circle closed in on itself: eating drinking and making merry . . . no longer concerned with God but with giving oneself a nice little alternative world, manufactured from one's own resources . . . an apostasy in sacral disguise. All that is left in the end is frustration, a feeling of emptiness." [23]

Book Report: Spirit of the Liturgy - Preface

About six years ago, I was introduced to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's (now Pope Benedict XVI's) Book Spirit of the Liturgy. This was at a conference by one of his students: Fr. Joseph Fessio. At this conference, Fr. Fessio was able to make use of his many years both as a student and friend of our current Holy Father to help explain the Pope's book. I had previously started to take an interest in liturgy (the official public prayers of the Catholic Church - how they are celebrated and why). Quite impressed with the ideas presented to explain the Pope's views on liturgy, I was instantly intrigued. I bought the book and couldn't put it down. Ratzinger's view on the beauty of the liturgy and its power to inspire us toward God are evident in his liturgical example as pope. At this point I was determined to write an explanation of the book to help spread the Pope's message, but God knew better--I still needed more understanding and a better venue. At the conference, Fr. Fessio had introduced the crowd to Ave Maria University, and he mentioned how AMU was trying to put the Pope's thoughts on liturgy into practice. Through a series of miraculous situations (about which I should write one day), God allowed for me to enter AMU's graduate program, study, and receive an MA in Theology. While studying there, we covered Ratzinger's book in Dr. Roger Nutt's Liturgy &; Sacraments class, which helped me to gain an even greater understanding of the book, the Mass (and our other liturgies), and led me to an even greater understanding of how desperately our Church needs to hear this message.

Recently, I have started re-reading the book, and I have decided to prepare a chapter-by-chapter explanation, so that everyone may hear and understand this great call to deeper and more beautiful liturgy "as the animating center of the Church, the very center of Christian life," [7] to inspire souls toward even greater relationships with God and to glorify Him with their lives. This has rekindled my desire to share the book with you. Today's first post will only cover the Preface. I will write a summary in black and I will make my extra comments in red. Without further ado, I present to you The Spirit of the Liturgy:

Preface

Ratzinger states his purpose for writing the book: to assist the renewal of the understanding of the liturgy by building on what Guardini wrote in his 1918 book The Spirit of the Liturgy, updating it for a contemporary setting, hoping to encourage a liturgical movement "toward the right way of celebrating the liturgy, inwardly and outwardly." [9] [Later, we will get into what the right way is.]

He mentioned that one of the difficulties that had crept into the Mass prior to the Second Vatican Council was the "instructions for and the forms of private prayer," [8] that distracted the faithful from seeing the beauty of the liturgy (which he likens to a fresco). The fresco, he states "had been preserved from damage [in Guardini's time], but it had been almost completely overlaid with whitewash by later generations." [7] [Those private devotions distracted the people and covered over the beauty of what was happening before them.]

Guardini's book "helped us to rediscover the liturgy in all its beauty, hidden wealth, and time-transcending grandeur" [7] and inspired a Liturgical Movement in Germany, which helped to preserve its beauty despite the white-washing. The Second Vatican Council again showed us the beauty of the liturgy, but

since then the fresco has been endangered by climatic conditions as well as by various restorations and reconstructions. In fact it is threatened with destruction, if the necessary steps are not taken to stop these damaging influences. [8]

I'm sure that many of us have been witnesses to destruction of elements of the beauty in the Mass: art, architecture, music, and (even more sadly) reverence. I will not dwell on them here because he treats them later, but I cannot stress enough the importance that we Catholics need to return to a sense of beauty, reverence, and majesty in our liturgies, for the sake of the souls in the pews. We need an inspiring liturgy--one that doesn't just speak to us where we're at (or worse: tries to entertain us), but one that draws us up out of our daily life and inspires us to look toward God and order our whole lives accordingly. Pope Benedict XVI has not changed his views since becoming pope. He has not made many top-down liturgical commands, rather he has led by example--restoring, in the Masses he offers, the beauty that had been damaged. He gave us Anglophones an excellent example of this when he celebrated Mass in Westminster Cathedral. Below is a video excerpt from that Mass. Note how beautiful and inspiring everything is and how different it is from our everyday lives--Mass provides us that time to step away from everyday life and focus on what is really important: God. Ask yourself: "how can my parish (with what resources it has) offer Masses more like that?"

I pray that God will bless me with a better understanding of this book, and the liturgy, and that what little work I am able to do will be done with love, and will help preserve the beauty of the fresco. I pray, too, that you, dear readers, will be inspired to give greater glory to God--particularly in the liturgy.


Trying to glorify God in my work,
- Casey

M.A. Thesis Presentation

Below is a video of the presentation of my M.A. thesis: Sacrificial Aspects Of The Eucharist And Marriage.

Part 1 (10:00)

Part 2 (10:00)

Part 3 (4:36)

Ad Orientem

It’s not just for the Extraordinary Form

(commonly called the “Latin Mass”) 

Quotes from the book The Spirit of the Liturgy by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger 

(then Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, now Pope Benedict XVI) 

The History

Before Christ

The Jews saw the synagogue in relation to the Temple. The synagogue was never just a place for instruction, a kind of religious classroom. No, its orientation was always toward the presence of God. Now, for the Jews, this presence of God was (and is) indissolubly connected with the Temple. Consequently, the synagogue was characterized by two focal points. The first is the “seat of Moses” . . . The seat of Moses does not stand for itself and by itself, nor is it simply turned toward the people. No, the rabbi looks--as does everyone else in the synagogue--toward the Ark of the Covenant, or rather the shrine of the Torah, which represents the lost Ark. [64]

The Ark points beyond itself, to the one place of its presence that God chose for himself--the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem... The rabbi and the people gaze at the “Ark of the Covenant”, and in so doing, they orient themselves toward Jerusalem, turn themselves toward the Holy of Holies in the Temple as the place of God’s presence for his people. [66]

After Christ

The worshipper no longer looks toward Jerusalem . . . Christians look toward the east, the rising sun. [68]

In the early Church, prayer toward the east . . . was always regarded as an essential characteristic of Christian liturgy (and indeed of private prayer). This “orientation” of Christian prayer has several different meanings. Orientation is, first and foremost, a simple expression of looking to Christ as the meeting place between God and man. The word “orientation” comes from oriens, “the East”. “Orientation” means “east-ing”, turning toward the east. [68-69]

The sign of the Son of Man, of the Pierced One, is the Cross, which has now become the sign of victory of the Risen One. Thus the symbolism of the Cross merges with that of the east. [69]

On the altar, what the Temple had in the past foreshadowed is now present in a new way . . . it takes that community beyond itself into the communion of saints of all times and places . . . the altar is the place where heaven is opened up. It does not close off the church, but opens it up--and leads it into the eternal liturgy. [71]

The cosmic symbol of the rising sun expresses the universality of God above all particular places and yet maintains the concreteness of divine revelation. [76]

Pope Benedict XVI often celebrates Mass ad orientem.

The Confusion

Despite all the variations in practice that have taken place far into the second millennium, one thing has remained clear for the whole of Christendom: praying toward the east is a tradition that goes back to the beginning. [75]

The controversy in our own century was triggered by another innovation. Because of topographical circumstances, it turned out that St. Peter’s faced west. Thus, if the celebrating priest wanted--as the Christian tradition of prayer demands--to face east, he had to stand behind the people and look--this is the logical conclusion--toward the people. For whatever reason it was done, one can also see this arrangement in a whole series of church buildings within St. Peter’s direct sphere of influence. The liturgical renewal in our century took up this alleged model and developed from it a new idea for the form of liturgy. The Eucharist--so it was said--had to be celebrated versus populum(toward the people). The altar--as can be seen in the normative model of St. Peter’s--had to be positioned in such a way that priest and people looked at each other and formed together the circle of the celebrating community . . . . [But] the Council [Vatican II] said nothing about “turning toward the people.” [77]

Quoting Vogel: “Even when the orientation of the church enabled the celebrant to pray turned toward the people, when at the altar, we must not forget that it was not the priest alone who, then, turned East: it was the whole congregation, together with him.” [79]

The common turning toward the east was not a “celebration toward the wall”; it did not mean that the priest “had his back to the people”: the priest himself was not regarded as so important. For just as the congregation in the synagogue looked together toward Jerusalem, so in the Christian liturgy the congregation looked together “toward the Lord.” As one of the fathers of Vatican II’s Constitution on the Liturgy, J.A. Jungmann, put it, it was much more a question of priest and people facing in the same direction, knowing that together they were in a procession toward the Lord. They did not close themselves into a circle; they did not gaze at one another; but as the pilgrim People of God they set off for the Oriens, for the Christ who comes to meet us. [80]

The Solution 

Everyone joins with the celebrant in facing east, toward the Lord who is to come. [72]

Looking at the priest has no importance. What matters is looking together at the Lord. It is not now a question of dialogue but of common worship, of setting off toward the One who is to come. What corresponds with the reality of what is happening is not the closed circle but the common movement forward, expressed in a common direction for prayer. [81]

Wherever possible, we should definitely take up again the apostolic tradition of facing the east, both in the building of churches and in the celebration of the liturgy. [70]

It must be plainly evident that the oratio [the Eucharistic Prayer] is the heart of the matter, but that it is important precisely because it provides a space for the actio of God. Anyone who grasps this will easily see that it is not now a matter of looking at or toward the priest, but of looking together toward the Lord and going out to meet him. [174]

Another Courageous Priest Attempts Ad Orientem

I just read over at Reverend Know-it-all's blog that he was sampling the traditional posture of offering the Mass Ad Orientem. [Sigh] How I miss the solemnity of the Ad Orientem liturgies of Holy Rosary Parish in Cedar, MI and Ave Maria Oratory, Ave Maria, FL!

It is so refreshing (uplifting, honest, directed, etc.) to have the priest facing the same direction as the congregation when he is addressing God. It only makes sense: face the people when you talk to the people; face God when you talk to God.

The good Reverend Know-it-all called it "one of the most beautiful experiences of [his] priestly life." He also hinted at some big issues with Versus Populum (facing the people):

• How difficult it is to face a congregation of people and not address them when trying to address God the Father
• The temptation to be a performer instead of a priest
• The lack of any Vatican directive to face the people

If you haven't experienced this before, or if someone lied to you and called it "the priest turning his back on the people," I urge you to be open to it. See why Cardinal Ratzinger wrote:

Wherever possible, we should definitely take up again the apostolic tradition of facing east, both in the building of churches and in the celebration of the liturgy.

Spirit of the Liturgy, p.70

Praying toward the East,

- Casey

Good Liturgy Matters

It has come more and more to my attention lately just how much good liturgy matters. The other day a man brought to me a question. He was worried about his 13 year-old son who was being invited by his friends to their non-denominational community service. He was worried that his son would be allured by the excitement of their services. He wondered what we can do to keep people like his son in the Church.

Let me begin by stating that this is a good concern. Not all communities are the same. Only at Mass in the Catholic Church (and Orthodox Churches) do we offer the form of worship that God Himself gave us. In them, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is made present and re-offered to the Father. Only in these liturgies do the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus. Only in these liturgies are we following Jesus' command to "do this" (that is, consecrate bread and wine into His Body and Blood) "in memory of Him." Every community that calls itself "Christian" has elements of the Church, but the fullness of the Church only subsists in the Catholic Church. This man is seriously concerned about his son. He fears that his son might be falling away from this fullness because of the exciting services of the other denominations.

I assured him that what is needed is a firm grounding in the truth. His son may be attracted by flashing lights, fast-beated music, people-centered gatherings, etc., but these things are fleeting. People are drawn to them because these things can be entertaining. They are what our society holds up as important and interesting, but they are empty. People may be attracted to them at first, but they do not last because they don't draw us into something that is an infinitely deep well: eternal Truth. We don't go to Church in order to be entertained, we go to worship God in the way He, Himself, gave us. We do this because God is worthy of worship and this is the only form of worship that is really adequate. By participating in the sacrifice of the Mass and receiving Holy Communion, we are literally united to God and each other through the bond of the sacrament of the Eucharist. This is what makes us the Church, the Body of Christ. We become His Body by re-offering and consuming His Body. The Church has, over the centuries, cultivated that which is best in the human element of Her liturgy to highlight and draw us deeper into this divine part of Her liturgy. The Church passes down this patrimony of liturgy and it is not to be disregarded in favor of a more "entertaining" liturgy.

Today, there are many people who think that the Church must change Her liturgy to be more like the non-denominational communities. I can't count the number of times I've heard ideas that we should be more "up-beat," "contemporary," or something of the like. This makes me sad because I know that this mentality has pervaded much of the Church and many people who call themselves "liturgists" have been taken by this type of thought. Just recently, I have been waking up to realize why it is that I knew so little about my faith while I was growing up. There were many factors, that is true, but the more I have been experiencing lost elements of the Church's liturgical patrimony (Gregorian chant, incense, the Ad Orientem posture, good Church architecture, etc.), the more I see that I wasn't being drawn into eternal truth as well as I could have been. These elements of good liturgy are all much more effective (than many contemporary rejections of our patrimony) in teaching the faithful about God and conforming us to Him (and all of reality) through our worship.

If you want people to take the Church seriously, I think that is has to start with good liturgy. We must celebrate it in the most reverent fashion we can. The most reverent way to worship is by obedience to the Church and Her official liturgical documents, all of which encourage the use of those things which make us distinctively Catholic. Architecturally, this means (among many things) having the tabernacle, altar and crucifix as the focal point of the Church--we should be concentrating on them, not on ourselves, nor on the priest. Musically, this means chanting the Mass parts and chanting the antiphons instead of replacing them with hymns.

"All other things being equal, Gregorian chant holds pride of place because it is proper to the Roman Liturgy."
- GIRM 41

There are many other elements of the Catholic Mass that are particularly Catholic (incense, bells, kneeling, etc.). We need to not compromise on these things. The Mass is something other than secular life. The elements that people often try to bring into the Mass from other communities are secular things. We should be trying to keep the Mass from being watered-down by such elements.

Too often, in many of our parishes, the Mass has been considerably watered down. People are not being drawn in to contemplate eternal truths. Often they're not even being fed deep truths from the pulpit. The whole liturgy should be drawing us in with these time-tested elements contained within Catholic patrimony.

When the man approached me with his concern, it was in the context of catechesis, so my first thought was to talk to him about the necessity of teaching the uncompromising truth in our catechetics classes and throughout the whole of our lives with everything we do--particularly in going to Eucharistic adoration and reverencing Jesus in the Eucharist by genuflecting when we come into His presence and crossing ourselves when we pass His houses. I didn't think much about it at the time, but it has been more and more on my mind since we talked that I should have really said more about stressing good liturgy. I also should have mentioned that he should be careful in his home life of that on which he places importance. If he places importance on flashy entertainment in the home, his son will be even more susceptible to be drawn into a "worship" that includes such entertainment pieces, but that is a post for another time.

Striving for ever greater fidelity to God through His Church and Her worship,
- Casey