Pope Benedict in Jordan

What an amazing trip - Jordan & Holy Land. I have been mesmerized watching the Holy Father's, Pope Benedict XVI, travel to Jordan and then the Holy Land. He is still in Jordan, as far as I know. I found it interesting to read that the Pope's trip is being spun in various ways. The Israeli government is trying to divert the attention toward supporting their political agenda, rather than the fact that Israel has not finalized a juridical agreement between they and the Holy See. The Palestinian Authority wants to high light the suffering of the Palestinian people and support their political agenda. 

www.telegraph.co.uk/ news/worldnews/middleeast..

The Jewish Leaders are still looking for reconciliation with a bishop who questioned the Holocaust. Islamic leaders are still very suspicious of  Pope Benedict since the furor over his Regensburg address. Palestinian Christians are aware that they will suffer the most after the Pope leaves, as a result of any political controversy during the Pope's visit. Dissident Catholics will continue to try to stir things toward their agenda. Yet, in the midst of these selfish agendas are faithful religious leaders reaching out in kind to the Pope and dedicated Catholic's (Roman & Eastern) reaching out for a blessing or a simple chance to touch such a revered servant of God.

The Pope's way to seemingly wade through the mind-field of personal agendas is to emphasize that he is on a "Pilgrimage" to visit holy sites and "to pray at them for the gift of peace and unity." I can't wait to journey with him, although distant, to the Holy Land.

Confirmation

I have no pictures to offer....sorry. Had a great weekend: made a run to help a friend move into his new Moderator of the Curia Office; ate a great Ruben Sandwich; celebrated all of the Weekend Masses; my parents popped in to say hello and go out to eat; concelebrated at a Deanery Confirmation Service. I especially enjoyed the Confirmation Service. Parishes all over the Jackson Metropolitan Area brought their teens together for Confirmation, 125 in all. I got to see kids that I was there when they were born. Others, I had baptized. Saw many of them grow up over the past 18 years. Here they are teenagers receiving confirmation. I was so proud of them all. 

This week has brought much to be done on the Tribunal and Cathedral side of the ministry equation. Cases are still moving in the Tribunal which is great. I have some good support people that volunteer their time and expertise. I am appreciative. At the Cathedral, Felix (Cathedral Assistant Administrator) is doing an excellent job trying to figure out the complexity of the Cathedral and Office/Rectory structural problems. 

The good news. Everything is moving forward. Blessings of the Easter Season Be With You and Your intentions!

Great Weekend at E.E.

This weekend was a wonderful Engaged Encounter Weekend that was filled with all kinds of excitement. We had 11 couples from all over the Diocese that felt that the weekend was very supportive and raised issues that they had not considered. During the weekend, our senior presenting couple had to leave briefly on the birth of a new granddaughter. Congrats. We had two new junior couples who did a great job on their talks. We did have a couple of people that were not feeling well - I pray that they are feeling better.  It is so exciting to see our Engaged Encounter Program growing. 

Busy Weekend

Wow, the excitement in the Jackson Area is huGE. This weekend in the City of Jackson we are hosting the 105 State Knights of Columbus Convention and Weekend Engaged Encounter marriage preparation. There will be between 400 - 500 members and wives in attendance at the Convention. I will not be able to be able to attend, but we had some great jambalaya tonight with the officers that have already descended onto the city. While the conventions theme "Back to the Basics" begins, I will be at...

That is right Engaged Encounter Weekend. I believe that there are 8 couples signed up and it promises to be another great time of prayer, reflection and growing core sacramental marriage principles. If you are one of the couples coming....your one of the lucky one's!  

Pray for all those involved in either of these great Catholic events going on in our city.

This creation that I have discovered - Facebook is amazing. In less that 48 hours, I have 123 friends signed up all the way from Taiwan to California. I have reconnected with some people that I went the High School and College with that I have not spoken with in 20+ years. I do have to admit that it is an addictive means of communication that I can seen luring me about from my blog. However, I will attempt to resist as much as possible. EASTER BLESSINGS.

Oh Happy Day

This computer stuff can get a bit gruelling. I spent most of yesterday working through my new Apple's Iphoto's program. I had over 3000 photos from over the years. I was able to down load, organize and play around a bit with them. Way Cool. Now, I don't know who I need to sue for all of the pain and suffering that I endured. However, with the help of trusty YouTube, I was able to have people explain Iphoto to me. Thanks YT.

I also down loaded Iworks onto my computer in order to mainly work with the power point type program, which I can not remember the name of at this moment. Sorry Mr. Apple.

However, the main task at hand was to get a getter handle on Facebooking. What another interesting creation. Through snippets of conversation I have been able to catch up with all kinds of people. Now that has also been really fun. But, time consuming. I didn't have enough time to do what I needed to do before. Presently, if I keep playing around with these programs NOTHING WILL GET DONE....smile. Easter Blessings.

2009 Priest's Retreat

This past week most of the Diocesan Priests attended the annual Diocesan Retreat that occures here the week after Easter. It was a wonderful time to get away, be quiet, listen to an excellent Retreat Directory (Fr. Eugene Hensell, OSB), visit with brother priests and allow God time to heal the battle wounds of ministry. We were at...

What a great retreat house.

Each of Fr. Eugene's talks dealt with a different Message/Bit of Advice that St. Matthew had in his Gospel for the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians that were in so much bloody conflict. Matthew wanted both sides to realize that Jesus' Message called for a radical re-evaluation of one's life and how they were living their life.

This is a wonderful little reflection area where I reflected over Fr. Eugene's first two Messages/Bits of Advice from St. Matthew given to the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. 1st Message/Advice = KNOW YOUR TRADITION/BE IN TOUCH WITH YOUR ROOTS. 2nd Message/Advice = KNOW YOUR MISSION.  His point was that we need to know where we come from (reaching back into the treasures of old and new). But, we also have to be looking forward at what our mission is. 

This is another peaceful place that I stopped and reflected at the next three messages/bits of advice Matthew had for his people: EVERYTHING WILL NOT BE IMMEDIATE (Sermon on the Mount); CONTINUE TO GROW IN YOUR FAITH (Mt. 8:23ff); LEARN TO BE PATIENT (Mt. 13:24ff).

Here is Fr. Sam Messina, my hero priest walking along the path. Here I reflected on the 6th and 7th MESSAGE/PIECE OF ADVICE from St. Matthew: GRIEVE YOUR LOSES (MT 23:27ff); PRAY BOLDLY (M. 6:5ff). Both of these require deep confidence in oneself and Faith in the Lord.

I have always been fascinated by this natural water spring where people stop by daily to get fresh country-side water.

8th Mission/Advice, Matthew says, "REMEMBER JESUS WILL BE WITH US TO THE END OF THE AGES." These steps reminded me that on my journey with the Lord we are called to make one step at a time.

It was a great retreat where I got to reflect and pray a lot about balance in my own life. More importantly the Lord revealed to me a greater depth of understanding about the core of who He created me as and what my Mission entails. I pray that our prayers blessed also our brother priests that did not have the fortune to attend. It is in our constantly deepening relationship with the Lord that strengths our passion and enkindles our desire to surrender ever more to the Lord's Will.