Blog

...Actually, I'm not—I just like the word. In fact, I'll say it's my word of the day!

I just returned from the last day of the Carmelite Novena at the Clayton Carmelite Monestary in St. Louis, and I enjoyed it very much! The Archbishop of Guam (Abp. Anthony Apuron) was the celebrant tonight (and, indeed, for all the other nights as well), and he gave a great homily concerning the Eucharist's importance in our lives (which was the theme throughout the nine days).

Since I've been swamped with other things to do over the past week, I have left the blog on the back burner for now, but you can expect a post soon (within a week) concerning LifeTeen, liturgical matters, and the like, as I have reflected often over the past few weeks on these matters, which have become dear to my heart.

As a side note, my previous post (from Saturday) was awarded "The Ridiculous Post of the Week" by Kevin, author of The Heart of a Seminarian

In my opinion, nuthin' beats a good sandwich when you're hungry at lunchtime. That being said, I thought I'd share with you my secret recipe for the best sandwich ever made (and it won't cost you anything!).

Step One: Get out two slices of white bread (no wheat for me; but other white-ish breads are fine), a banana (nice and yellow, with a few spots) and a jar of creamy peanut butter (I don't like chunky, and whipped is too expensive).

Step Two: Spread the peanut butter on both halves (I usually spread more on the half the banana goes on), then cut the banana (after you peel it) into thin 'disc-shaped' slices (be sure to do this on a suitable cutting surface!).

A post on Jimmy Akin's blog today entitled Mary's Marriage caught my eye. I had never thought about the marriage of Mary and Joseph (which was never consummated); was it sacramental? No. Was it valid? Yes. These questions are answered in more detail on Jimmy Akin's blog; he deals with some of the tough questions I will probably find myself dealing with in the future if I am to become a priest.

Today (well, right now, anyway) is 'link day' (for me, at least). Here are some good ones:

• Children's prayers to God ('Dear God' prayers) on Jimmy Akin's blog
• MP3 Audio of Talks from Steubenville's Young Adults Conference*
• St. Louis Office of Vocations Website (they did a site redesign, and there's some cool stuff there!)
• Computer Running Slow? Jeff can help! (Shameless plug to my Computer Support Site ;-)

*From Franciscan University of Steubenville (I'll be at the St. Louis Steubenville conference this weekend with some of my Seminarian brothers—I hope to see you there if you can make it!)

From an email I received from the Priests for Life:

Dear Friends:

As you may have heard, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has just resigned her position. Justice O'Connor was frequently the deciding vote in 5-4 decisions. Please pray for Mrs. O'Connor and her family in this difficult time.

With her resignation, a Supreme Court vacancy has been created. We have every confidence that President Bush will appoint a nominee who will exercise the restraint necessary to judges to strictly apply the Constitution rather than write new policies into it. Even so, we know that as you are reading this, the White House is being flooded with calls regarding the vacancy. Even if President Bush is predisposed to nominate a judge who recognizes the many levels on which Roe was wrongly decided, it is extremely difficult for politicians to withstand pressure that is heavily against their inclinations.

In Friday's St. Louis Review (subscription required), I learned that Archbishop Burke received a reply from Fr. Biondi (president of St. Louis University) outlining St. Louis University's take on embryonic stem cell research (see my earlier posts for more background):

"Father Biondi’s letter gave me every assurance that St. Louis University has never been involved with embryonic research, and they have no intention of being involved," said the archbishop.

In addition, Archbishop Burke said, Father Biondi "agrees he’s completely coherent with the Church’s teaching with regard to the moral objectionability of embryonic stem-cell research."