Rosary Crusade: Safeguarding Embryonic Life

I recently attended the Rosary Crusade prayer service (with Eucharistic Adoration, a Rosary led by the Archbishop, and Benediction) at the Old Cathedral, and I am now posting the information concerning the crusade (from the Rosary Crusade website) so you, too, can join in the effort to safeguard embryonic life in Missouri!

"Archbishop Raymond L. Burke of the Archdiocese of St. Louis launched a Rosary Crusade on May 9, 2006, to safeguard embryonic human life and prevent human cloning. The need for the Crusade in Missouri is heightened because of a proposed state constitutional amendment that will permit the use of public funds and guarantee scientists the constitutional right to clone human beings and destroy tiny human embryos for research purposes. The research in view violates both the sanctity and the dignity of human life.

The power of praying the Rosary through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe is long-recognized in the history of the Church. “Like the Christians before the Battle of Lepanto, we must call upon God’s help by praying the Rosary, calling especially upon the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of America and Star of the New Evangelization,” said Archbishop Burke when he announced the Crusade.

To join the Crusade, members pledge to pray the Rosary faithfully from now until November 7, 2006, the day that Missourians will vote on the proposed amendment. To join the Crusade, click here."

Dashboard Widget (for Mac Users) - Vista Delay Counter

I've been playing around with a cool little app from Apple called 'Dashcode,' and I've made a small counter widget that will count down the days left until Microsoft will (supposedly) release their next-generation operating system, Vista [wikipedia.org]... however, I suspect I will need to update this widget with new times, as Microsoft has been known to delay their recent product releases time and again (Vista, which used to be code-named 'Longhorn,' was originally supposed to be released in 2004... then 2005... then 2006... now 2007...).

Download and install this widget (requires Mac OS 10.4 or later).

Back from Retreat; Pictures!

I haven't posted in a while, but that's mostly because I've been on a week-long silent retreat at the King's House retreat center in Illinois. Since returning (and finishing the academic year!), I've posted pictures from the Cardinal Glennon College 2006 Graduation Mass and Reception (celebrated by Archbishop Raymond Burke). I will try to post a few pictures of birds and other natural sights from King's House sometime in the next week, but I have a few projects I'll be working on...

Also, I found out today about a new Mac laptop, the MacBook, which comes in black and white, and is a really nice machine (for a great price!) that can run Mac OS X and Windows XP! I know a few people who might be interested...

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

I attended a baseball game with a few other Seminarians at the new Busch Stadium yesterday; it was the first time I've ever entered the stadium, and I thought I'd share a few pictures and observations. (The game was awesome; Pujols' first at bat began the scoring with a home run in the top of the first inning!).

I arrived early so I could relax and see the stadium without tons of people walking everywhere, and while doing so, some birds perched nearby, so I took a few pictures of them. This one must've been angry that I was taking his picture...

I also snapped a picture of Pujols' home run in the top of the first. I love the way Pujols swings the bat; he has such a wide batting stance that his back foot is out of the batters' box!:

Finally, it was a rainy game (luckly, my seat was in a row that was mostly covered by the section above, so I didn't get very wet), but the rain was mostly gentle and scattered until the 7th and 8th innings, when forboding storm clouds rolled in. Luckily, we didn't get the brunt of the storm (it went mostly south of the stadium), and the game was able to be finished.

Overall, it was a very good experience, and I'm happy with the way the new Busch Stadium turned out; it is very roomy inside, and everything is freshly painted and finished, making the experience feel comfortable. However, one thing that is lacking in the new stadium is the 'atmosphere' of the old, completely circular Busch Stadium. Based on my limited experience (one game), it looks like it will be much harder to get a continuous wave going in the new stadium. Time will tell, though...

Saturday Softball

I've posted pictures on my Seminary website of the softball game played by the college men earlier today. It was a great way for us to release a bit of the pressure that's been building up coming into finals week, and it was a fun way to end our series of intramural games (including Soccer, Volleyball, Tag Football, Ultimate Frisbee, etc.).

During the game, one of the few hawks that are living in and around the Seminary caught a bird, and Charlie, a fellow college seminarian, took a picture of the hawk in a tree:

"Wives, submit to your husbands..."

Many people who wish to reject the Catholic Church's teachings on sex and marriage (and women's equality and dignity) refer to chapter 5 of the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians, where Paul writes, "Wives, be subject to your husbands," and say the Church's beliefs are founded upon years and years of patriarchal tradition. It is useful, then, to look at St. Paul's letter a little more closely, and to discuss what exactly the Catholic Church teaches concerning women in marriage.

The context of the above quote is important for a deeper understanding of what St. Paul actually means:

"Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So (also) husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.

"For this reason a man shall leave (his) father and (his) mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church. In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband." (New American Bible, Ephesians 5:21-33, emphases mine).

So, what is St. Paul trying to say here? Is he telling us that wives should do what they're told and that husbands can lord it over their wives? On the contrary! He speaks here about a special kind of love (married love) in which there is mutual subjection, meaning that both the husband and the wife should treat each other as equals (note the line "husbands should love their wives as their own bodies"), giving respect to each other as if they were 'one flesh.' This does not mean that women and men are the same, though; surely, anyone can see that a man and a woman's physical characteristics are different. As such, the Church wisely points out that man and woman are made to complement each other.

Pope John Paul II puts it best, in one of the homilies that make up his Theology of the Body: "When St. Paul writes "be subject to your husbands" (v. 22), he "does not intend to say that... marriage is a pact of domination of the husband over the wife. ... Love makes the husband simultaneously subject to the wife" (Aug. 11, 1982)" (Theology of the Body for Beginners, page 81).

"When the contested (and detested) verses of Ephesians 5 are read in their full context, we realize that—far from demeaning women and absolving abusive men—St. Paul is restoring the only sure foundation for the proper balance of love between the sexes. In effect, we might conclude that St. Paul is saying something like this: "Sure, since this is the language you're used to, we can talk about 'submission' in marriage. But that means one thing to the Gentiles. Here's how it must look for followers of Christ" (80).

The marriage bond is also very important because it is a sign of the covenant between Christ and the Church. As Christ sacrificed himself on the cross for his 'bride,' the Church, Christian Marriage is a sign of Christ's covenant. Christopher West describes equality as "a 'great mystery' that proclaims the union of Christ and the Church. When we experience this as the 'content' of our sexual attractions, we don't want to lust—we want to genuflect" (81).

I have only begun to discuss a small portion what the Church teaches about human sexuality and the dignity of women (and men) in this blog posting. I could probably write a master's thesis on the topic and only be scratching the surface of the Church's deep well of instruction and reflections. I encourage anyone interested in Catholic beliefs about sexuality, equality, marriage, and human dignity to read the following (these have been inspiration for me):

• Theology of the Body for Beginners (by Christopher West)
• Theology of the Body (by Pope John Paul II)
• Mulieris Dignitatem (by Pope John Paul II)
• The Catechism of the Catholic Church (there are some very interesting sections in here for just about any topic you can think of, and it is free online!)