Blessed is the Kingdom

Posted By Fr. Christian Mathis on March 19, 2010

Recently I have discovered a delightful person on the internet named Gary Vaynerchuk,  who is passionate about wine and all things social media. Anyone who watches him at Wine Library TV has to admit that his positive energy is infectious. Sometimes it is all too easy to be pessimistic, thinking that perhaps someone with that much optimism couldn’t be real. The early morning conversation caught on the following video makes me less willing to take the pessimistic view.

Last week, the Vayner Nation heard lots from Gary about his time at the SXSW gathering in Austin, and it seemed to me that he was not getting all that much sleep. If it had been me, a prank call in the early hours of the morning without much sleep might just have pushed me over the edge. Gary’s response is pretty amazing.

So in the tradition of Garyvee, the question of the day is:

When is the last time you made a seemingly bad situation better with the power of positive energy?

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: Crush It, Gary Vaynerchuk, positive energy, prank calls, Wine Library TV

Posted By Fr. Christian Mathis on March 17, 2010

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness,
Through the confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth with his baptism,
Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,
Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,
Through the strength of his descent for the Judgment Day.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In predictions of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.

I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me
From snares of demons,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.

Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.

Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of Christ.
May your salvation, O Lord be ever with us.

Category: Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
Tags: Holy Trinity, prayer, protection, St. Patrick, strength

Posted By Fr. Christian Mathis on March 16, 2010

He who has been united with humility as his bride is above all gentle, kind, easily moved to compunction, sympathetic, calm, bright, compliant, inoffensive, vigilant, not indolent, and (why say more?) free from passion; for the Lord remembered us in our humility, and redeemed us from our enemies, and our passions and impurities.

St. John Climacus

Category: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Tags: humility, St. John Climacus, wisdom

Posted By Fr. Christian Mathis on March 14, 2010

Humility is something every Christian should strive towards. Today’s Sabbath Sunday post is a reminder of that fact. You can read it here.

Once again you are invited to join me in promoting the Sabbath by taking a break from your normal blogging. Please share an older post from your blog that is near and dear to your heart. Make sure to leave your name and the URL of your post below and share a comment if you so desire. I look forward to reading your recycled posts!

Category: Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Tags: brothers, coolness, Fr. Hugh Tasch, high school, humility, rest, Sabbath, Sears pose

Posted By Fr. Christian Mathis on March 12, 2010

During my time in the seminary I quickly became acquainted with a local newspaper named Streetwise. Streetwise is a publication written by and sold by the Chicago homeless that is meant to provide jobs for those hoping to get off the street as well as to raise awareness for homelessness in the city. This poem by Ellen Palmer was published in a late 90’s edition and continues to challenge me.

Eyes

Category: Uncategorized | 9 Comments »
Tags: almsgiving, Chicago, dignity, Ellen Palmer, eyes, homelessness, poverty, Streetwise

Posted By Fr. Christian Mathis on March 10, 2010

The seventh chapter of Thomas Howard’s book, Evangelical Is Not Enough, turns its attention to the subject of the Eucharist as a sacrament. Just recently in our diocese our bishop made national headlines for his response to an attack on the Catholic Church by a local Baptist minister that centered around an improper understanding the Catholic belief with regard to the Eucharist. A link describing the incident can be found here. Growing up in the Bible Belt can make it difficult even for Catholics to gain a proper understanding of the sacraments. The culture is saturated with ideas that are either in direct conflict with sacramental theology or ones that betray a deep lack of understanding at best.

Howard points out that the Eucharist is meant to be a physical presence that serves both as a memory of what Christ has done for us in his Incarnation as well as anticipating His return in glory. One of the first things I learned in my seminary training is the deep connection to the Jewish faith at the time of the apostles that the Eucharist contains. To remember in this sacramental sense is much more than simply what we today would describe through the word remembrance. Anamnesis is the proper term to describe this type of remembering. Howard defines it by stating, “the word suggests a remembering that is also a making present.” Here is where I have many times been accused as a Catholic of believing that we believe that each time we celebrate the mass we believe we are repeating the crucifixion. We do as Catholics believe Christ is made present in the Eucharist each time we celebrate it, but not in the sense that his death and resurrection are happening again and again, but in the sense that we are connected here and now to that one life saving event that took place 2,000 years ago.

Next Howard takes a look at the reality of scandal present in many modern day Christians by the claims made of Christ’s Body and Blood being made present on the altar. This has no doubt been a scandal since Christ Himself was here walking the earth. One need look no further than the sixth chapter of John’s gospel to see this. But Howard also points out that this belief has been consistently held by Christians since the time of the Apostles. It is only recently that Christians themselves have become scandalized by their own tradition. He points out that even the great reformers such as Luther and Calvin believed in the real presence of Christ in the Eucahrist.

The Reformers also used language that acknowledges great mystery here. Luther wrote in his “Small Catechism”, ‘What is the Sacrament of the Altar? It is the true Body and Blood of Christ, under bread and wine.’

Howard ends this chapter by once again directing our attention back to the Incarnation of Christ by reminding his readers that the world’s natural state is in fact sacramental. He writes,

Sacrament, recalling and presenting the Incarnation itself, is not so much supernatural as quintessentially natural, because it restores to nature its true function of being full of God…..Christians, like Saint Paul, see nature groaning and struggling under its unnatural burden of mortality, waiting to be set free once more into its native liberty.

How easily we are fooled into believing that God created us with intention of being pure spirits, detached from our bodies. So often we fall into the trap of thinking sin is natural to humanity and the divine is only attainable in the next life, where we will leave the natural behind. Christianity is ultimately about God restoring creation to its natural state of being in perfect harmony with its creator. I appreciate the reminder Howard has given us in this chapter.

Category: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Tags: altar, Anamnesis, Bible Belt, Bishop Richard Stika, Eucharist, ignorance, Incarnation, prejudice, Remembrance, Sacrament, Thomas Howard

Posted By Fr. Christian Mathis on March 7, 2010

Yes, I know, I am breaking my own blogging rule about posting on the Sabbath. There are days, however, when it is for the greater good. Today is one of those days. This morning my office was overrun by the kids in our religious ed classes who have spent the past several weeks collecting canned goods for the poor in our community in an effort to “can” the pastor.

The idea is simple. The parishioners of St. Thomas are attempting to bring in enough canned goods to fill my office to the point that I will end up in the hallway of our office, thus “canning” the pastor. It is a big office to fill, but our young folks turned out in force today, challenging their older counterparts to do the same. As they came in they chanted, “Can the pastor! Yes we can!”

It was great to see them getting into the spirit of Lent. They certainly raised a ruckus in my office this morning and I hope that they will keep it up as there are still several weeks of Lent to go!

Category: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Tags: almsgiving, Can the Pastor, Lent, Sabbath, St. Thomas