Pious Practices in the GIRM

While reading through many different Catholic works, certain ideas and words often make me say, "Wow! That's pretty cool!" I had a moment like this a few days ago when reading the following from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, Number 275. So I thought to myself, "Why not post it on my blog? I'm sure other people would be interested in hearing this as well." And now I will post this on my blog for you:

A bow signifies reverence and honor shown to the persons themselves or to the signs that represent them...

A bow of the head is made when the three Divine Persons are named together and at the names of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saint in whose honor Mass is being celebrated.

When I came to the seminary, I was told that it is a pious practice to bow your head when these names were spoken, but I had never known that this was outlined in the GIRM. I think this is pretty awesome. And I know that most Catholics have never heard this. We bow, genuflect, and perform other gestures to give an outward sign to an inner belief; when we genuflect to Jesus in the tabernacle, we show Jesus that we believe he is there and he deserves our recognition and reverence. When we bow our heads at the name of Jesus, the Trinity, Mary or a Saint, we show them a special devotion and honor.

It is important to not forget why we make the sign of the cross, why we genuflect, why we bow, why we fold our hands and why we perform the actions we do. I have heard many people say that they never received a proper catechisis on the Liturgy of the Mass. I offer you the GIRM as a good starting point; if you've ever wondered what happens at a certain time in the liturgy, or why we do it, check out the GIRM and start learning! Another good book for this purpose is the Catechism of the Catholic Church (both are free online, too!). These aren't necessarily works that you will read cover-to-cover, but you can if you want.

DeathRoe.com Online

DeathRoe.com, a Pro-Life website I've previously mentioned, has gone live this past week. Check it out!

They have a wealth of useful Pro-Life facts, many cool parts of the site, and a forum where you can discuss all things Pro-Life.

The Pink Flamingo Says...

...Happy Easter!

Mass of the Lord's Supper and Tenebrae

Last night, the Semiarians attended the Mass of the Lord's Supper at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis with Archbishop Burke as the main celebrant. At the Mass of the Lord's Supper ( pictures here), we celebrate the institution of the Holy Eucharist and of the Priesthood, and we commemorate the Washing of the Feet (see John chapter 13).

I was unable to take any pictures at Tenebrae because of the darkness (only one candle was lit for much of the service, and only emergency lighting was on in the Cathedral, but I will copy here the description of Tenebrae from the booklet we receieved for the service:

Concerning the Service of Tenebrae:

The name Tenebrae, meaning darkness or shadows, has for centuries been applied to early morning offices of Matins and Lauds of the las three days of Holy Week, which in the middle ages came to be celebrated on the preceding evenings. The most conspicuous feature of the services is the gradual extinguishing of candles and other lights in the church until a single candle, considered a symbol of the Lord, remains. Toward the end of the service, this candle is hidden typifying the apparent vidtory of the forces of evil. At the very end, a "loud noise" (strepitus), is made, symbolizing the earthquake at the time of the Resurrection, the hidden candle is restored to its place, and by its light all depart in silence.

[UPDATED] More News on 'God or the Girl'

UPDATE: I found this A&E Discussion Board today via Open Book. There is plentiful discussion there concerning the show. Tell me what you think about the show in the comments here. I have yet to watch the first episode, but I had a friend tape it for me (I don't get cable at my home).

I was emailed a link to a positive review of God or the Girl on the Catholic Online website by the USCCB. God or the Girl, a new reality series that will be airing on A&E this Sunday, shows four vocation stories, and many struggles that ensue. At first, I was skeptical as to whether or not this show would portray the Church and the priesthood in a positive light—and, to a certain extent, I still am—but this review makes me a bit more interested in watching and giving the show the benefit of the doubt.

From the article:

The series will air, appropriately enough, during Easter week, with the first two episodes premiering on Easter, April 16, 9-11 p.m. EDT. (The third and fourth hours debut Monday, April 17, 9-11 p.m. EDT, with the finale Sunday, April 23, 10-11 p.m. EDT). ( Read more...)

Imploding Steel Drums

I was given the link to this video by my 'Understanding the Weather' professor a week ago, and I thought it was pretty amazing to see a huge steel drum implode so quickly and loudly as it did, simply because of internal and external temperature and pressure differences.

Chrism Mass at the New Cathedral

Today all the St. Louis Seminarians, and most of the priests of the St. Louis Archdiocese, celebrated the beginning of Holy Thursday at the New Cathedral at the Chrism Mass celebrated by Archbishop Raymond Burke. I've posted pictures of the event.

From the Sacramentary:

The bishop consecrates the chrism and blesses the other oils.
The newly baptized are anointed and confirmed with the chrism consecrated by the bishop.
Catechumens are prepared and disposed for baptism with the second oil.
The sick are anointed in their illness with the third oil.

Mary: What Catholics Believe (Theology Paper)

I have posted a paper I wrote recently for my Historical Theology class at St. Louis University titled Mary: What Catholics Believe, on my Seminary website. Check it out, and let me know what you think!

Picture Caption Contest

"Star Wars Sandpeople spotted at Catholic Seminary!"
"For those stains that are really hard to remove..."

Do you have a better caption? Post it in the comments section!

Discussion on Apple's Boot Camp - Running Windows on a Mac

Recently I recieved an email saying "It seems to me that Mac's are going through a process of self-discovery, something along the lines of, 'Gee... we want a larger market share, so let's go ahead and just do what Microsoft is doing, since we can't keep up...' " The person who emailed me also asked, "Jeff, if you're a Mac person, why don't you see this as selling out to 'The Man'?" To his email, I responded:

Because that's not Apple's strategy. Notice how Apple allows people to install Windows on their Macs, but they do not provide it... and there are a few disabled features if you run Windows (like the video camera and the cool media software.

Apple makes Mac OS X, and it is, indisputably, the best consumer OS in the world. The only two things holding Mac OS X back from gaining large amounts of market share are mainstream games (which Microsoft has a stranglehold on) and certain proprietary programs that developers have only made for Windows.

Apple's 'Boot Camp' allows people who want to use the Mac OS (which many people want to do) and also be able to boot into the Windows OS that they have to for some reason or another. Apple's plan is to get a greater amount of market share by letting Windows users 'test the water' on their new Macs.

If someone were to buy a Mac to only run Windows, that person would be insane—a Mac costs a pretty penny (for a reason—Apple's hardware is top-of-the-line), and it would be silly because you can usually get a PC configured with the same specifications (but not the same level of customer satisfaction as Apple has) for a lower cost... and most consumers will take price over quality any day. But the Mac offers something more; the Mac comes with OS X, with iLife (for making music in Garageband, movies in iMovie, DVDs in iDVD, photo books and slideshows, etc. in iPhoto), and with tons of other amazing features and applications Microsoft would wet its pants over if they had an opportunity to run them on Windows.

The other big factor here is Vista; Microsoft was supposed to ship in 2004. Then the date was pushed to 2005. Then early 2006. Then late 2006. Now we see it's being pushed back to 2007. And all the novel features in Vista are slowly disappearing—the system now will just have some 'pretty eye candy' and a few security improvements. I will call it 'Windows XP Service Pack 3,' but Microsoft will call it 'Vista' and charge you over $150 for something they should give away free.

On the other hand, Apple has had four major revisions to its OSX operating system, each one offering tons of expanded functionality, speed, and modern architecture (among features such as Spotlight, which Microsoft can't do to the extent Apple can, for various reasons), etc. And Apple will be releasing their next release of OS X, 10.5 (or 'Leopard'), almost at the same time Microsoft finally brings out Vista. However, Leopard will be leaps and bounds beyond where Vista will be, especially because Apple's OS X 10.4 (which I am currently using on my old iBook) is already leaps and bounds beyond where Vista will be.

The truth is, Apple has been working on running Mac OS X on Intel processors, and running Windows on Macs for many years now; Apple even has experimented with running Mac applications on Windows! Apple always keeps a full hand, and plays its cards when necessary. Apple saw an opportunity to gain mindshare and customers with the current Vista fiasco, so they are doing it. I personally know four people who would never have thought of buying a Mac six months ago, who have all purchased Macs—not simply because they run XP, but also because they can run OS X and not have to worry about paying $100 or more a year in security software, tech support, etc (check out this article on Total Cost of Ownership).

Apple Releases 'Boot Camp' for Running Windows XP on Macs

Today Apple released a public beta of ' Boot Camp,' a simple software solution allowing users of the new Apple 'Intel' Macs to run Windows XP on their Macs, without having to go through too much trouble. There is also a dual-booting solution from onmac.net; however, their solution takes a lot of work and still has some holes in it that relegate it to more 'geek' types.

In my opinion, this is great news for Mac users, and for Windows users looking for a way to get out of the prison of only using Windows. There is now an easy solution for using a beautiful, great-looking Mac while also allowing people to run some games and software that aren't made for the Mac.

The Times of Our Lives

I was emailed these interesting facts about special date/time combinations coming up soon:

Did you know that:

On Wednesday morning of this week, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03, 04/05/06.

That won't ever happen again in our lifetimes.

Also, on Tuesday, June 6, 2006, at 6:06:06 AM & PM, the time and date will read 6:06:06 AM/PM, 06/06/06!

At the Seminary...

...we have some masked men blasting away the paint on our pool... it almost looks like they are some kind of aliens, with their large astronaut-like suits and masks.

Also, the power is back on (and, therefore, we have phones, lights, etc. again—basically, modern civilization has returned ;-).

Brownout at the Seminary

Today a very strong line of thunderstormes barrelled its way through St. Louis, causing a lot of damage and spawning at least three tornadoes. I was driving into St. Peters (at Highways 370 and 70), an area where one of the recorded tornadoes was sighted, and was barraged by very strong winds. As I was driving, a flock of birds was flying in one direction, but actually moving in the other direction. I think I might've hit one of the birds while my car was being rocking side to side because of the wind while I was driving. There were many signs and small objects knocked over by the wind, and I noticed a few trees that were down.

Upon returning to the Seminary, I noticed an old tree that fell next to our St. Joseph's Grotto, and was informed that the power was out. We had a holy hour in candle light (plus a little bit of light from the trickle of power that remains (it's not a total blackout), but otherwise the Seminary is a very dark building right now. I took the opportunity to take a few pictures of the nighttime Seminary, without the usual artificial lighting on the tower; some of the shots were quire eerie (you can see a star in each of the shots below).

Both pictures were taken with my Canon PowerShot S2 IS camera at ISO 400, 15 second exposure, f 2.7 aperture, in superfine JPEG quality. The photos above are unedited (they are exactly how they looked after taking the pictures on my camera).

It seems that the power will be out until the afternoon, and we'll be relying on battery-powered electronics and candles until then. Luckily, candles are ever-abundant at a Seminary, so light should not be a problem!

Prayer for Asking Graces Throug the Intercession of John Paul II

I was given this prayer today at Mass:

O Blessed Trinity, we thank you for having graced the
Church with Pope John Paul II and for allowing
the tenderness of your fatherly care, the glory of the cross
of Christ, and the splendor of the Holy Spirit,
to shine through him.

Trusting fully iin your infinite mercy and in the maternal
intercession of Mary, he has given us a living image of
Jesus the Good Shepherd, and has shown us that holiness
is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life and is
the way of achieving eternal communion with you.

Grant us, by his intercession, and according to your will,
the graces we implore, hoping that he will soon be
numbered among your saints. Amen.

with ecclesiastical approval
Cardinal Camillo Ruini
Vicar General, Diocese of Rome

First Anniversary of Death of Pope John Paul II

As one of the millions of 'JP2-Generation Catholics,' I owe a lot to the great Pope John Paul II. I remember vividly the excitement and anticipation I felt when I was able to go to the Papal Mass in the Trans World Dome in St. Louis in 1999. I fondly remember reading many of his encyclicals, especially those having to do with Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary (I, in fact, am re-reading one right now in preparation for a paper I'm writing), and those having to do with the priesthood (i.e. Pastores Dabo Vobis).

(Pope enters the Trans World Dome in St. Louis in 1999)

I remember the sadness I felt when his health began to decline. I also remember the joy with which he left this earth—he knew, just as well as any of us, that he was destined (as one of God's 'chosen people') for something greater: Eternal Paradise. This was his life; he always directed people towards the Truth that is found only in Christ and his Church. He was remembered by Catholics and non-Catholics as a gentle shephard, one who knew his flock well and intelligently dealt with many problems that arose.

We have Pope John Paul II to thank for our new Catechism, and for helping to smooth the rough waves of unrest and discord that sometimes resulted from Vatican II and the changing times in society. But we can now do something greater than merely thanking the man—we can pray that he will help us on our journey to join him and the rest of the Communion of Saints in Eternal Glory, praising the Lord in His presence forever.

Pope John Paul II, pray for us!

St. Louis Archdiocese's First Consecration of a Virgin

Today the seminarians from Kenrick-Glennon Seminary participated in the Archdiocese's first ever Consecration of a Virgin. You can read more about the consecrated life in this column by Archbishop Burke, and there will be an article and pictures from the day's events in a later issue of the St. Louis Review. (I was unable to take any pictures at this Mass because I was serving...).

Please pray for Cathleen Maley as she begins her new life in Christ, 'married to Jesus,' as a Consecrated Virgin, Living in the World (the technical term for her vocation).

Wireless Power Extension Cords!

Wireless Power!!!

Just what everyone's always wanted! These babies give new meaning to the phrase, "More power to ya!"

You can now be anywhere inside or outside your house, and not worry about running a dangerous power cord there - you don't need any outlets outside any more—just plug in the base station and set the wireless power receiver anywhere you need an outlet!

I hope they patent this technology and call it 'WiPow' or something to that effect.

(Note: The company selling this product recommends you don't place practically anything between the two power stations, or it will mutate and vaporize itself.)