Did I Rediscover Jesus?

Back cover of the book, "Rediscover Jesus"

At the beginning of Lent this year, I reported that I promised to read the book, "Rediscover Jesus" during Lent. I had received the book from my friend, Fr. Hattie. My intent was to follow the recommendation of the author and read a "chapter" each day. I also promised Fr. Hattie that I would write to him at the start and finish of the book to report on its effect.

This is to report that I stayed true to my word and diligently read one chapter each day during Lent. So this post is my report to you readers of my blog of my thoughts after completing this book.

As a result of reading a chapter a day, I was reminded that Lent is actually more than 40 days. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday (nominally). If you check the Wikipedia article you will see that there are different ways of counting the 40 days as well as the identifying the start and end of Lent. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops provide this explanation regarding the length of Lent:

"It might be more accurate to say that there is the "forty day fast within Lent."  Historically, Lent has varied from a week to three weeks to the present configuration of 46 days. The forty day fast, however, has been more stable. The Sundays of Lent are certainly part of the Time of Lent, but they are not prescribed days of fast and abstinence."

Since Lent is more than 40 days, I actually finished the book on Palm Sunday (March 20, 2016).

Did I rediscover Jesus as a result of reading this book? In short, NO.

This book is more about its author, Matthew Kelly, than it is about Jesus. The book is typical Catholic Christian guilt and fear. Guilt that you are not perfect and not doing a better job. Fear that you will burn in hell because you aren't as good a person as you could or should be. If you want to "rediscover Jesus," my opinion is that you'd be much better off by just reading the Gospels. Try reading each one in a day or two; then go back and get into the meat.

Did this book affect me? Of course. After reading this book, I am different than when I started. Overall, I was disappointed by the book because I really wanted to understand this Jesus thing better. So many people claim to have a personal relationship with this character, Jesus. However, I have to even hear from Jesus. So far, Jesus is merely a character in some ancient writings.

I think that as a result of reading this book, I reinvigorated my interest in Jesus. More about that in another post (I think).

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Links:

http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2016/02/book-rediscover-jesus.html

http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2016/02/a-gift-book.html

http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/p/letters-from-fr-hattie.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lent
http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year/lent/questions-and-answers-about-lent.cfm
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Written Saturday 23 April 2016

Easter Sunday Latin Mass

What did I do for Easter? (This is a typical question for this time of year). Being ALONE (but not by choice-I think), my grand social activity on this penultimate Christian holy day was to sing in the Choir for the "Traditional Latin Mass"" at St. Martha Church in Enfield. I wrote about my initial experience at St. Martha at the beginning of this year. That post includes some pictures of the "church."

I didn't take any pictures at Easter because it seemed disrespectful. Usually, a number of people stay after Mass to pray. So I moved into the corridor outside the church to spend a few minutes chatting with people. There was some leftover choco birthday cake in the "hall" from a reception for the pastor.

Our little choir consists of 6 members (including the organist). I am the only man in the group. So much for tradition. Below is a list of the numbers we sang.

Organ Prelude
The Strife is Over
Vidi Aquam
Kyrie VIII (De Angelis)
Gloria VIII (De Angelis)
Sequence (by partial choir, i.e., the good singers)
Credo III
Concordi Laetitia (all 5 verses-Twice!)
Sanctus VIII (De Angelis)
Agnus Dei VIII (De Angelis)
O Sacrum Concicium (R.Remondi)
Jesus Christ is Risen Today
Organ Postlude

How good is our choir? Well, they let me "sing." Catholics love suffering.

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Links:
http://saintmarthatlm.blogspot.com/
http://www.stmarthachurch-ct.org/home.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2016/01/another-latin-mass.html
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Written Monday 28 March 2016.

Good Friday

St Peter (San Pedro) Church
Hartford, CT

Last year I went to St Peter's Church for Good Friday afternoon. This morning, I finally got around to writing about that experience and posting an entry on my blog (link above and URL/link below).

Because it was such a bizarre experience for me last year, I wanted to make a point to attend this year to compare and see if it was more understandable this year. Last year, I assumed that the service was a mixture of traditional Roman Catholicism (Latin, pre-V2) and Spanish devotions and language. However, I have recently begun to become more acquainted with traditional RC rites. And I now wonder if what I experienced last year was merely a Spanish version of pre-V2 rubrics.

St. Peter's is also known for its live street performance of the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday. Since I missed that last year, I was hoping to make up for it this year. However, my expectations on both major points were dashed this year too.

On Thursday after lunch at Ashley's Restaurant, my coworker Tony and I walked across the street to check the schedule for Good Friday. The paper posted on the front doors of the church showed: 1 pm VIACRUCIS / STATIONS OF THE CROSS. We noticed that the main entrance steps were in dangerously poor condition. Yellow construction tape was in place to block use of most of the steps except for the steps right in front of the main door. However, there was a long narrow hole where the grout had fallen and you could see the hollow space beneath the steps. God help the woman who might get her high heel caught in that hole.

On Friday, I arrived a bit early and had to use the side door to enter because the front doors were still locked. The front of the church was filled with people in costume and preparations were underway. I quietly went to the back of the front section and waited.

Since I don't speak and/or understand Spanish, I had no idea what was happening. In any case, the Stations of the Cross did NOT occur outside as usual but remained inside the church. I think it might have been because rain was forecast (indeed, between the Stations and the service, I went outside and noticed the ground was all wet).

Xeroxed copies of some sort of program or booklet of hymns were distributed. The Stations began with a short procession (including 3 Knights of Columbus in their usual regalia) from the back of the church to the Sanctuary where the Stations were performed. I could kind of follow along but everything was in Spanish. The booklet was a minor help but it clearly did not include the script. I was able to spot the words to several songs and follow along.

The basic process was announcement of the Station, a short reading by a narrator followed by a prayer/reflection said by the priest, and then a short song/hymn. This was repeated for each station. There was a banner-like sign for each station. Actors in costume played the major parts: Jesus, Mary, Veronica, Simon, Pilot, and Roman soldiers. They didn't really do the crucifixion.

 

The Stations concluded about 2:30 pm. There was a short break until 3 pm when the "Celebration of the Passion of the Lord" began. That lasted about 90 minutes. When it was over, I walked back to the office and arrived about 4:50 pm and was out the door shortly after 5 pm.

 



The "Celebration of the Passion of the Lord" followed almost exactly the text in the "Celebremos!  (Let Us Celebrate!)" Missal (Spanish-English) I found at the back of the church. I was disappointed that this year's service was not a traditional rite tinged with Spanish rituals but a regular Spanish version of typical, regular mainstream Roman Catholicism.

The Spanish music was much more lively. I didn't hear the pipe organ but the acoustic guitar was pretty (and not harsh or singer-song writer folky).

Kissing the Crucifix.

The one thing that I found repulsive was lining up to kiss the crucifix. They processed a rather small crucifix (about 3.5 ft tall) around the church and then stood at the front while everyone went up (like going to communion) to "pay respect" to the cross. Most people kissed the feet or the side of the Jesus figure. An altar boy stood at the side and wiped away kiss with a cloth (sort of like wiping a sloppy kiss from your Grandma or Grandpa). Since everyone was going up, I felt compelled to play along. So I went up and genuflected as a courtesy and then returned to my seat.

By examining the church bulletins I found on the Internet, I learned that the parish had changed priests since last year (from Fr. Dairo E Diaz to Fr. Carlos Echavarría). Reportedly, Fr Diaz is an Air Force Chaplain and was deployed to Afghanistan.

In the end, I felt sorry for the parishioners of St. Peter's Church. Their beautiful church is fading away and in a short while the diocese will likely close it due to the high cost of necessary repairs. In addition to the problem with the front steps, I saw peeling paint on the ceiling and walls and faded and darkened murals. This is a poor area and the cost of maintaining such a grand structure will eventually out distance the people. Already the original priest house and school building have been spun off. And since last year, the parish has been combined with another Spanish parish about 2 miles north.

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Links:
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2015/04/out-of-this-world-foreign-affair.html
http://www.yelp.com/biz/ashleys-restaurant-hartford
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Written Monday 28 March 2016.

Taken (Finished)

Movie Poster

I started to watch this movie, ("Taken") Friday evening but had to stop because the first third reminded me too much of my divorce and estrangement from my son. I tried to resume watching it last night (Saturday) but the action and violence was too much. So again, after about a half hour, I turned it off and tried to calm down so I could get to sleep later.

I finally finished watching the whole movie this afternoon. I watched bits of it in between doing loads of laundry. Again, the violence and action was really hyped up. I can't imagine of sitting in a theater trying to watch the whole thing in a single sitting. Not very relaxing. The violence was brutal and almost cartoonish in that the hero always shot straight and deadly but the bad guys couldn't hit the side of a barn (luckily for the hero).

The DVD I borrowed from the library contained the both the theatrical version and the extended cut. I deliberately watched the theatrical version first. Turns out the theatrical version was what was shown in the USA while the extended cut was what was shown in Europe.

I debated about watching the extended cut. I was reluctant to force myself to watch such intensity again. So I decided to find out first more about the Extended Cut. Turns out the Theatrical Version is 90 minutes long and the Extended Cut adds a whooping extra 3 minutes (93 minutes total length). 

The extra 3 minutes made me wonder if there was an extra scene, or longer scenes, or a series of minute edits. Looking on line, I found an article which detailed all the differences. [SPOILER ALERT] Turns out my hunch about the series of minute edits was correct. So declined to invest another 93 minutes of watching extreme violence. Of course, the movie had a happy ending, and the daughter was saved just in time by good ol' Dad ("Daddy" for the girls).

After watching this first of the series of three "Taken" movies, I don't plan on watching the remaining two. After all the killing in the first film, it is difficult to imagine that anyone is left alive to fight in the remaining two movies. Of course, there are a lot of people in the world, so our hero obviously pissed off enough bad guys to warrant two more movies.

I think this movie can be interpreted as an allegory for the USA's fight against terrorism. The sad sack father represents the US military loyally trying to defend the innocent population (represented by the daughter) from the evil terrorists (representing any evil body). I think the movie programs the audience to support the concept of "whatever it takes" in order to save the innocent virginal daughter from being raped by the evil arabs. Torture is presented in a positive light (pun intended) because it is used to extract vital information needed to get to the kidnapped daughter. A countdown is also used to further justify torture and violence because the clocking is ticking and "whatever it takes...,."

After watching the movie, I noticed that just walking in public brought on feelings of paranoia. I wondered if any of the people walking by were "bad guys" (especially those who looked like the foreigners in the movie). I think this is another trick to desensitize the public to how our military treats/abuses foreigners.

I have no interest in watching more of this violent propaganda.

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Links:

http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2016/03/taken-partial.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taken_(film)http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=2077031
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory
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Written Sunday 27 March 2016.

Taken (Partial)

DVD Front Cover

I started watching this DVD (movie) last night. "Taken" has been on my list for a while but I don't remember where I first heard about it. My impression was that it was a good conspiracy type thriller (ala Harrison Ford's 1988 movie, "Frantic").

The short plot description on the back of the DVD box is: "Liam Neeson is an unstoppable force in this action-packed international thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. When his estranged teenage daughter is kidnapped in Paris, he sets out to dfind her at any cost. Relying on his special skills, the former spy tracks down the ruthless gang that abducted her and launches a one-man war to bring them to justice and rescue his daughter."

I had to turn it off after the first half hour because it was too personal for me, as it reminded me of my own situation with my son. Liam Neeson plays a divorced father who moves close to his ex-wife so he can be more involved in his child's life. However, the former wife despises him and frequently sabotages his attempts to have a relationship with his daughter. The mother enlists the daughter to lie and trick the father into giving permission for the daughter to go to Paris. The father knows that it is dangerous for a teenager (especially a girl) to be traveling abroad without adult supervision. As he feared, the daughter almost immediately gets into trouble.

I'm going to try to continue the movie tonight. I'm hoping that the rest of movie will be more of the action thriller aspect. Don't know how it will end (I suspect the father will rescue the daughter but who knows? Plus I don't know what part the ex-wife will play in the remainder of the film.).

Interestingly, two more sequels were made after the original film. As usual, I borrowed this from the library. I will have to do a follow-up post to report on my thoughts after finishing the movie. The DVD has two versions: the original theatrical version plus an Extended (unrated) version. Right now, I am watching the regular theatrical version.

I'm kind of sad today because usually I go with my son to the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Milford but since I have not heard from him in over six months I could not bear to go alone.

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Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taken_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frantic_(film)
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2014/03/st-patricks-day-parade.html
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Written Saturday 12 March 2016.

Danger Man

I borrowed these from the library and have been watching them the past couple weeks.

Each Danger Man episode is about an hour and stars Patrick McGoohan who later went on to star in the cult TV series, The Prisoner during the late 1960s.

Our library doesn't have the entire series; just 4 volumes. However, I believe other nearby libraries have more episodes. So I think I can get via inter-library loans.

These are fairly intense episodes, so I am taking a break for now. They are also very 1960s British. Because these discs do not have closed captions or subtitles, I have to really concentrate while watching so that I can catch all the dialogue (which is usually pretty important).

If you notice the pictures (above), the covers actually say "Secret Agent aka Danger Man." When Danger Man was broadcast in the USA, they changed the title to "Secret Agent" and switched the theme song to "Secret Agent Man" by Johnny Rivers (which became a huge hit in 1966).

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Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danger_Man

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_McGoohan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner

http://danger-man.co.uk/index.asp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Agent_Man_(song)

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Written Saturday 12 March 2016.

A Historic Jesus?

Letter from Fr. Hattie received via email Thursday 3 March 2016.

In Father's February 2nd letter he wrote that he was sending me a book. The book arrived a short time later and turned out to be Rediscover Jesus.  When it arrived, I emailed Father to let him know the book had been delivered. Knowing that Father doesn't really do email, I noted that I would send him a real letter and expound on my plans for reading the book. I started reading the book as promised on the first day of Lent but didn't get around to writing a letter until about day 10ish. The letter that Fr. Hattie sent (here-see above) is largely in reply to the comments I had sent (summarized in my post about the book.

As usual, I have added a bit of color to Father's letter (see above) in order to recapture the flavor of the Aerograms he used to send when he was in Africa (and before that, India). Since some people might have difficulty reading Father's manual typewriter text, I have transcribed it below. I have taken the liberty of deciphering some of the unique imprints that can result from using a typewriter. If you think my transcription is in error, please let me know.

My Fr. Hattie page contains a list of letters I have received and transcribed over the past few years. It also contains information on how you can contact Father Hattie as well as donate to help support his orphans in Nsumba, Uganda.

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My dear Rick:           Peace of Christ!

     To begin with, let me thank you most sincerely for your kind and generous Gift of $$.$$, an amount not to be sneezed at. You've been a loyal and generous friend.

     Please pardon me...but I had to have a hearty laugh when you wrote that you thought that you were an agnostic & didn't believe in the historical Jesus. If he didn't exist in fact, all the world's most famous atheists & agnostics would have had a field day writing books to prove it. Secondly, you wouldn't even be writing to me about the matter, you would NEVER go to Mass or make the sign of the Cross or pray, read about it or write to me about it. Who founded the Church? Certainly it is not mentioned in the OT and is clearly stated in the NT. You'd say to yourself, ' To hell with it all' and forget about it. But, you are not an agnostic. So, keep on writing & maybe you'll become convinced.

    Yes, I knew Fr. Walter Ciszek,* for he was a member of our Chicago {Province}(lived in NY on his return). I read 'With God in Russia' many yrs ago. It's superb. Just now, 1 of our retired Jesuits, his former Provincial is writing his full life. He is now deceased but, after his life, I wouldn't want to be the 1 to tell him that Jesus was ahistorical.**  Again, if Xt *** were not historical, what fools are thousands of Saints and Doctors of the Church (extremely brilliant men) must have been! ! !

    Keep up the good work you are doing and continue your search.

    You and the Clan continue to have a super-special remembrance in my Masses & prayers. Keep smiling & spreading God's love, joy and peace in every corner of West Hartford.

    P.S. If Jesus were not historical, of what use would it be to be good. If everyone were agnostic, the world would be a real hell.

Tons of love & gratitude,

Fr. Gene, S.J.

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* My nephew Nick wrote to me about a favorite book written by Fr. Ciszek, "He Leadeth Me"' "With God in Russia" was his first book, written shortly after he returned from spending decades in Russia.
** An alternate to "was ahistorical" might be "wasn't historical."
*** "X" comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός which comes into English as "Christ."
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Links:
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2016/02/a-gift-book.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2016/02/book-rediscover-jesus.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2016/02/book-rediscover-jesus.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/p/letters-from-fr-hattie.html
http://www.ciszek.org/index.html
http://www.ciszek.org/HeLeadethMe.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_(letter)
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Written Sunday 6 March 2016.