I’ve got one of those dreaded summer colds. There is nothing wrong with me from the neck down but my nose is stuffed up, I’m coughing, and my eyes are watering as though Satan was cutting onions in front of me. I shouldn’t joke like that because I just got back from Mass – the Ordination Mass for a number of priests for our Diocese. I just couldn’t miss it so I ventured out to St. Thomas More to glorify God in my infirmity. No suffering should go to waste, right? It is truly awesome to witness the ordination of priests. If you’ve never been to an ordination Mass in your Diocese please go.

The choir sounded wonderful. They had a small brass quartet or quintet and timpani that was terrific. A Benedictine monk happened to sit next to me in the very crowded pew and when I turned to him and smiled he said, “You look familiar – are you a Dominican?” Wherever I go people ask me if I work there. Whether it’s Old Navy, the grocery store, Borders, Home Depot, or Staples people think I work there. The only place that never happens is 7-11. Maybe the monk wondering if I was a Dominican is the same phenomenon. I almost showed him my 15-decade rosary but decided against it. Anyhow, I made a new friend of this monk. He needs our prayers because he’s in the Richmond Diocese. He says they really do have a priest shortage unlike Arlington. He came up for the ordination because he was in the seminary with a couple of the ordinandi. I never knew of the word “ordinandi” until today, but now I am resolved to use it as often as possible.

At the reception I introduced myself to the Dappled One, Fr. Jim of Dappled Things. I recognized him from his picture on the website and figured I’d shake his hand since we’ve traded some email. Over email I asked him to pass along a prayer request to the Poor Clares for me. He said he told the Sacristan, Sister Jose Maria, that he met someone on the internet who used to date one of the sisters. She raised an eyebrow but he said she had nothing to worry about. It was great meeting him and I am comforted by the fact that the dear sisters are praying for me. It is a treasure to have them in this Diocese.

I’m blog on more about today later. Right now I’m going to look up the patron saint of watery eyes, stuffy noses, and persistant coughs.

Don’t mess with God’s plan, OK?

We discussed Chapter 8 of Acts this week in our ecumenical Bible study. After Philip has proclaimed the Messiah to and baptized the Samarians, Peter goes to lay hands on them to that they will receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. This is clearly the one of the origins of the sacrament of Confirmation. I spoke of the importance of recognizing that Grace is conferred on individuals through a minister. In this case it’s Peter, who was ordained by Jesus. Another participant read from a study Bible that Baptism, laying on of hands, and receipt of the Holy Spirit don’t always occur in the same order in Acts. The reference was from Chapter 10, where a the Holy Spirit is poured out on a group of Gentiles:

44 While Peter was still speaking these things, the holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word.
45 The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the holy Spirit should have been poured out on the Gentiles also,
46 For they could hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God. Then Peter responded,
47 “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the holy Spirit even as we have?”
48 He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

We can say that the Holy Spirit falling upon a group of people doesn’t mean that they have received sanctifying Grace in their souls, but what does it mean when Peter says, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the holy Spirit even as we have?” If you have any thoughts on this please email me.

It’s because he says things like this, from a post earlier today:

I stand by my comment around the use of the term “sexual terror” as demagoguery. Show me where that phase has been used in the English language prior to the widespread terrorist attacks of the latter part of the 20th century to present and I will concede the point. Otherwise – in the context of the interview with it’s inaccuracies, vitriol and sloppiness, that phrase is merely a rhetorical flourish that punches up the inaccuracies and vitriol.

Or at least he used to be.

I now disagree profoundly with the party on positions that its leadership and most vocal and influential constituencies have come to decree — since 1972, anyway — as litmus tests.

I always found the democrat’s position on abortion counter-intuitive. Defend to the last man the rights of every differently-abled physically-challenged transgendered albino little person of color with a speech impediment in their native language and no desire to learn English to be free of second-hand smoke from three states away, but ignore the most fundamental right of all – the right to life. Fight against all kinds of discrimination but never you mind about discriminating against Christians. Choose whatever you want to do with your body but forget about choice in schools, where your tax dollars go, and what happens to the money from your paycheck under the heading “FICA.” When you think of the “big tent” the democrats have been it makes you wonder how they got there. It is no surprise they might become an endangered species. Mark goes on to say:

This space hasn’t agreed with every position taken by Pat Moynihan, but has always respected and quite enjoyed the illustrious statesman from New York, whose loss to the Senate is rendered all the more grievous by the choice voters made on his successor.

Hillary Rodham Clinton. I thought only Republicans had three names.

Though I go only by two names I have been a Republican since way before I could vote or fit into Florsheims. I think Capitalism run amok is letting China into the WTO. A strong national defense and tough foreign policy is better than a thousand treaties, especially if the treaties involve things you can’t see like air. I used to smoke big topedo-shaped cigars to keep bugs and liberals away. Sure I care about the environment – I want to open my door every day to pick up my copy of the Washington Times and have the world still be there. A girl once broke up with me because she found out I voted for Bob Dole. That was after he became the poster boy for geriatric erectile dysfunction. Why am I a Republican? Because they don’t think the government can fix everything, they know how to win wars (they just can’t finish them), they believe individual responsibility, and generally speaking they are not pro-abortion. They understand and appreciate the Christian ethos that this country is founded on rather than discount it as archaic and backward. Oh, and they give me rides on their big boats.

Just think what a pickle we’d be in if Al Gore was President. The Chinese would be sending their laundry our way, he’d be snuggling up with Arafat, and he’d be funding research for vehicles that run on alternative fuels, like cars that run on Republicans.