I'll be on blogger vacation until January 7th. Thank you all, over 900,000 visitors from all over the world who have come to visit this blog. This has been my Advent meditation for many years John 3:16 (For God So loved the World) , John 6 (Bread of Life Discourse) and John 17 (Prayer of the High Priest) in sequence. If you are looking for more Iganciophile stuff, please check out my side bar, I have linked well over 400 hundred Jesuit blogs, websites, books and essays. See you January 9th!
Some blogs I like to visit
McNamara's Blog
Orthometer
Fr. Z's, What Does the Prayer Really Say?
Spirit Daily
McNamara's Blog
Orthometer
Fr. Z's, What Does the Prayer Really Say?
Spirit Daily
17 comments:
Hi Joseph I hope you have a wonderful vacation.I have enjoyed writing about Father Joseph Perri S.J. See you in January.
Hope you enjoy your well deserved break, Joseph.
Thanks for all the hard work. It is much appreciated.
Wishing you many Christmas blessings, and a great 2009!
Joseph,
I understand the need for a well deserved vacation. I've been enjoying one until recently and am back with a vengeance.
Enjoy your vacation and I will most certainly welcome your return.
God bless,
Brother Juniper
Thank you so very much for all of your posts. Your bloggery is prodigious!I cant tell you how much I enjoy your blog. I cannot belive you have three children under 5. I thought maybe you were retired. You have earned a respite. Here is a little blog gift from me--Karl Rahner's thoughts on the Christ Child:
"And now God says to us what he has already said to the world as a whole through his grace-filled birth: " I am here. I am with you. I am your life. I am the gloom of your daily routine. I weep your tears. I am your joy. Do not be afraid to be happy, for ever since I wept, joy is the standard of living that is really more suitable than the anxiety and grief of those who think they have no hope. When the totals of your plans and of your life's experiences do not balance out evenly , I am the unsolved remainder. And I know that this remainder, which makes you so frantic, is in reality my love that you do not understand. I am present in your needs.
This reality--incomprehensible wonder of my limitless love--I have sheltered safely in the cold stable of your world. I am there. I no longer go away from this world, even if you do not see me now...I am there. It is Christmas. Light the candles. They have more right to exist than all the darkness. It is Christmas. Christmas that lasts forever."
Dear Joseph,
Indeed, you deserve to spend time with your wife and children ! May this Christmas be filled with peace and joy in your heart. And many thanks for the wonderful work you are doing with this blog. with my faithful prayer.
Joesph,
Have a blessed Christmas season!!
I can't believe another year has passed. Your blog is such a great witness, Jospeh. I don't know how I will manage until you return--seriously. lol. I will miss you but wish you a very Merry Christmas!
A blessed Christmas to you and your family!
Many thanks for your great work with this site. May the Lord bless you and your loved ones during this Christmas Season and in 2011. With my faithful prayer
I don't come to this blog anymore because it's making some of the same grave mistakes my Jesuit professors made.
The results of their mistakes are quite evident in my high school graduation class. Once recognized as one of the top 50 high schools in the United States, we were all proud for the Jesuits and their accomplishment.
Some forty years later I am the only one who has identified himself as Catholic in my graduating class. Three have identified themselves as protestants. The rest are no longer believers or prefer not to say.
The Jesuits didn't effectively defend the faith.
Anonymous 8:33,
I don’t know that the Catholic Church has a satisfactory definition of “defending the faith”.
In my religious studies class, taught by a Jesuit, we spent several days studying the Nicene Creed. And Jesuits, when their faith is attacked, often base their defense on their belief in the Nicene Creed.
In that class I learned that when one gets past the superficial, “inspiring” history of the Church, one discovers that the very definition of faith has not been constant. There have been inconsistent and contradictory statements by Popes, councils, Bishops, Church Saints, and Church theologians for as long as the Church has existed. Along with these often self-serving perspectives, there has often been a willingness to enforce them with torture and even death.
When one tries to find something consistent in the Catholic Church, the most consistent Church statement has been the Nicene Creed – and even that is a product of a committee of “man”. So a deep understanding of Catholicism takes us full circle back to relying on God and scripture, in spite of any Church statements. I believe the strength of the Church lies in its teaching of the values of God and Christ. That is not to say that all its teaching reflects those values.
In the end, “defending the faith” is not equivalent to defending current Church positions and interpretations. And when I reflect on the values held by Christ and Prophets, I would argue that “defending the faith” is not the real goal of religion anyway.
And this blog plays an important role. It allows us to reflect on these important issues. So I’m grateful to Joe Fromm for running this blog.
Joseph - Thought I would leave you with some news about a great Jesuit Priest. Father Francis Budovic just turned 90 and is still celebrating mass at our parish. He is a wonderful Jesuit priest and I have been told that he was Fr Hardons spiritual director...Perhaps you could do a piece on him. Here is the website of our parish. Thanks http://www.saintcyrils.org/
Thanks for all the great comments, it is truly a privilege to have such great readership.
Joe
Two articles should be read together :
More Jesuit Dissent
Cardinal Burke: Catholic Universities Must Be Catholic to be 'Worthy of the Name'
http://www.catholic.org/college/story.php?id=39604
Pro-infanticide Russ Feingold to teach at Marquette University
http://badgercatholic.blogspot.com/2011/01/pro-infanticide-russ-feingold-to-teach.html
Happy Christmas and a merry New Year, Frommage.
Dear Joseph,
Have a great christmas season with your family! Thank you for this blog which I appreciate so much!
Merry christmas
p.s. "Frommage"?- hilarious!
I would like to share with you the single most important lesson I have learned in my fifty years in the priesthood. What is that lesson? In one sentence, I have learned with St. Paul that there is nothing in life worth living for except to know and proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified...
We believe there must be a deep meaning to the cross. Why? Because God the Creator became one of His own creatures in order to be able to be crucified.
Who is our hope?
In whom can we finally trust? In Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Jesus Christ crucified is our highest motive for love.
God who was scourged and crowned with thorns and nailed to the cross, He died on the cross because He loved us.
For the love of those whom God has put into our lives: difficult people, unkind people, thoughtless people.
Why? So that by loving them we might proclaim to them our love for Jesus crucified.
Lord Jesus Christ, you died on your cross out of love for me. Give me the grace to die on my cross because I have proclaimed you, the Incarnate Truth, to everyone who enters my life. Amen.
~Servant of God John Anthony Hardon SJ
Oh, but it is a mighty tall order.
We keep our shoulders to the wheel.
God bless you my friend. A light shines in the darkness ;)
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