The Sin of ME

Excellent and totally correct piece written by Jennifer Hartline, which identifies (correctly in my opinion) that our society faces a worship problem. Instead of worshiping God we worship ourselves. This leads to many of the personal and societal ills that we experience.

Self Worship: The 'Sin of Me'

"If I feel something is right for ME, then it is right, period. No one else has any authority to tell ME otherwise, not even God. Because, after all, if God does exist, then He should want ME to be happy. It’s not God making all these moral demands, it’s man-made religion. And religion is definitely not for ME."

...

"The curious thing about this Age is how its people have elevated themselves to the highest authority, declared their own personal sovereignty and power, and yet they have not brilliantly solved their own problems. In fact, they don’t seem to notice that their kingdom is crumbling around them. If troubles persist, it is because the last vestiges of moral authority have not yet been purged, they shout. Once all restrictions are lifted and everyone is free, then all will be right and trouble will cease.

"Mortal man, who cannot create life of his own power, who cannot do so much as call a blade of grass into existence, has raised himself up to the highest throne, and having removed the Creator of All, has sat down to stare at his navel and blame the resulting, descending chaos on God."

Easter Triduum

I attended all three Easter Triduum masses at my parish church. On Holy Thursday the church was about 3/4 full.

On Good Friday, the 3:00 p.m. service was also about 3/4 full.

The Easter Vigil was about 2/3 full and clocked in at exactly 2 hours (started at 8:00 p.m. and ended exactly at 10:00 p.m.). Four out of the seven Old Testament readings were included. I was hoping for all seven but I understand why Father did not all included.

I love those three days. I like the fact that the people who attend do so because they want to and not because they are obligated to.

Favorite Catholic iPhone Apps - Part One

Apple likes to advertise that it has more than 100,000 Apps available in its app store for iPhone users. When I finally got my iPhone in November I began to look for Catholic Apps to help my spiritual life.

I will begin to review some of them that I have downloaded and use on a daily basis.

One of my favorites is iBreviary. This App, which was $0.99 when I first downloaded it, is now free.

It has literally taken away the need to carry around the Liturgy of the Hours books or make the investment in buying them. The App provides: Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, Daytime Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer with the exact same text as the books. No more flipping through the pages for those who are less experienced at praying the Hours.

As a bonus, it also has each day's Mass readings so you can follow along in church. You can choose to pray the Office or get Mass readings in one of the following languages: Italian, English, Spanish, French, or Latin.

I unfortunately do not get to pray all of the Hours every day, but when I want to, this App makes it extremely simple to do so since I carry the phone with me everywhere I go.

The App does not utilize a significant amount of data on the device since it does not store each day. Instead, you must hit a refresh button each day (you need an internet connection, either WiFi or a cell phone data connection when you refresh) to get that day's readings. That makes this App good for iPod Touch users as well as iPhone users.

I highly recommend this for those who pray using a Breviary with any sort of regularity or for those who are interested in investigating this timeless method of praying with the Universal Church but are not yet ready to invest in the books.