Last night I was asked to be a sponsor for a candidate in our RCIA program at church.  I am overjoyed at the opportunity.  This is something I have prayed about for the past 4 months and was very thankful when I was asked.  After returning home I had some time to think about it and was suddenly overwhelmed with the idea.  While my journey to the Church has been a long one, I was just confirmed this past year.  I know that God is leading me to this though and will provide the tools I need through His Grace.  A friend asked me what I thought was the biggest challenge and reward to being a good sponsor.  I thought about it for a minute and responded, “A constant life of prayer is both the greatest challenge and reward.”  I am an analytical thinker, but this is a situation when my own thought process is not what I should trust.  I must go to God and let His grace work through me as He sees fit.  I’ll be praying for the candidates, the other sponsors, and the entire RCIA team daily.  What a great gift we receive when we are given the opportunity to share our faith in such a personal manner.  May God work through us and the candidates lives through this year.  May we all grow in faith, compassion and understanding as we make this walk together.

A Prayer for Sponsors of the RCIA

God of all ages, you send out your Spirit to touch the hearts of people
so that they may believe in You and in Jesus, whom You sent.

Look kindly on all catechumens and candidates, as they listen to your voice.

Open their hearts to your Spirit and bring to fulfillment
the good work you have begun in them.

As I reach out to welcome new members into the church,
make me an instrument of your love.

Teach me to revere what is holy in others,
and to be patient with what I do not understand.

Deepen my faith in the gospel, and help me to pass it on by good example.

With those who are hesitant or afraid, let me be a source of encouragement.

And with those who are weak, let me be a pillar of strength.

I humbly accept the ministry of sponsor
and pray that you will continue to guide me
and sustain me in welcoming new members into your household.

I praise you through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

I found this prayer found at St John LaLande Church’s website.

There are countless customizable start pages available on the internet.  Some are complex feeds and columns, while others are simplistic.  I tried many different options but found none of them truly satisfying.  I didn’t need constant news and feeds on my start page.  I simply wanted some quick-launch buttons for my favorite websites.  Chrome and Safari do this nicely with their built in start pages, but they use screenshots of the websites as thumbnails.  I find this looks cluttered and somewhat unattractive.

I finally decided the best thing to do was to create my own start page.  I made it very lightweight and simple.  It has a grid of buttons to my favorite sites and I can customize the buttons to look however I want.  A few people commented favorably when they saw it that I decided to post a template on here with some basic instructions, so you can have one too.

To start, you’ll need to download a zip file containing the necessary files.  Inside you’ll find an index.html file, a button template, an images folder, and a favicon.ico file.  You can then follow these steps to get your custom start page built:

1. I’ve included some button images in the zip file you can use.  If you would like to make some new ones, you can use the included template.  The buttons are just a rounded box with some images/text overlaid.  If you decide you want a different button style altogether, you can do that as well.

2. Open the index.html file with a text editor (do not use MS Word).  You’ll see some code listed.  The only section you need to change looks like this:

<a href=”URL”><img src=”images/IMAGENAME.jpg” width=”250″ height=”100″ hspace=”5″ vspace=”5″ border=”0″ /></a>

You’ll need to edit that string (each instance) by changing URL to the website you want the button to launch, and IMAGENAME to the name of the button image (located in the /images folder) you want to use.  For example, if you wanted a button to go to Yahoo, you would change it as follows:

<a href=”http://www.yahoo.com”><img src=”images/yahoo.jpg” width=”250″ height=”100″ hspace=”5″ vspace=”5″ border=”0″ /></a>

Repeat this process for each line, or as many buttons as you want to have.  On my screen (1280 x 800) I have enough room for 16 buttons.  You may be able to use more or less on your screen.

3. I’ve also included a favicon (small image that shows in bookmarks and address bar of browsers).  If you would like a different one, you can make one at favicon.cc and replace the favicon.ico file I’ve included.

4.  So now you have your files all set up and customized.  How do you use them?  That parts the easiest.  If you have a host you can drop those files easily into a website.  If you don’t you can simple move the those files (index, images folder, favicon) into a folder on your computer and tell your browser to use the index.html as the home page.  In Firefox it works as follows:

• Select “file” and “open file” from the menu.  Select the index.html file from where you put it.
• Open preferences and where it says “home page”, select “use current page”.
• If you want this page to open every time you launch your browser, change “when firefox starts” to “show my home page”.

That’s it!  You now have a custom start page.  If you have any questions or have trouble getting it to work, just leave a comment and I’ll try and answer as soon as possible.  Enjoy!

There are a few dishes we have enjoyed in my family as long as I can remember.  I’m not sure where many of these recipes originated, as they are mostly relegated to memory or very discolored, hand written recipe cards.  I thought it would be a good idea to post some of them on here so they are kept as a record as well as passed on to others outside our family.  The first recipe I’d like to share is one we had today.  It’s an incredibly simple recipe that is enjoyed by all ages.

Double Corn Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 can yellow corn
• 1 can cream corn
• 1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
• 1/2 cup melted butter (or margarine)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients (except cheese) together in a large bowl
2. Pour into greased 13×9 casserole dish
3. Sprinkle top with cheese
4. Bake at 350F for 35 minutes

That’s it!  Like I said, it’s incredibly easy to make.  I can’t remember where this recipe originated from, but my family has been enjoying it since long before I was born.

I’ve always been a big advocate for mobile platform technology.  I’m pretty disappointed when I visit a popular site and find they have no mobile-friendly version of their website.  There’s been a few different flavors of mobile themes for this site over the years, but none satisfied me.  I’ve finally found a great plugin that allows me to have a custom mobile theme with powerful features.  I used a plugin called WPtouch Pro to build the new mobile theme for Coffee Faith.  It has a pretty easy setup and allows you to modify and tweak to your hearts content.  I was able to make the mobile theme look fairly similar to the main site, while still being mobile-friendly.  If you access the site from a touch based browser (iPhone, BB Storm, Android, Pre) you’ll be greeted with the new theme.  Let break down some of the new theme features.

Main Site

The look of the new theme is very mobile friendly and uses an iPhone style.  The same article thumbnails are used that are featured on the main site.  You’ll see a small badge next to the thumbnail if there are comments on that article.  There is also a small excerpt of the article, much like the main site.  Towards the bottom you’ll see an option to load more articles and switch to the main site theme if desired.

Menu

At the top-right of every page you’ll see a small button that lets you enter a drop-down menu with navigation links for the site.  You’ll also see an archive section as well as a link to the RSS feed.

Articles

The article section looks much the same as the main site.  You’re presented with the option to drop down to the comments if you wish, or you can read through the article to find them at the bottom.  At the bottom of the comments you can leave a comment of your own.

Sharing

Directly above the comments in any article is a “share or save” button.  This pops up a menu to share the article on Twitter or Facebook.  You can also save the article via email, delicious, or Instapaper (one of my favorite services).

Since I’ve done three iPhone articles lately, I thought I would continue the trend and feature some of my favorite apps.  At this time I have 164 apps sitting in my iTunes library (many on my iPhone).  I love trying new apps, but find that only a few make it into daily usage.  There are some apps that stand out because of exceptional design, and others that are just so useful I would have a hard time without them.  I hope someday Apple will allow apps to be sorted by rating, but until that happens we’re reliant on reviews by peers and friends to discover the best apps out there.  Many apps cater to a select crowd, so many of my favorites may not appeal to others.  I’ve tried to explain what I like about each of these apps, so you can get an idea of what they’re about.  Here’s a few of my favorites (in alphabetical order):

Articles 

I read most things on Wikipedia with a grain of salt.  It’s rarely my go-to source for hard information, but it’s very useful for demographics.  The website looks pretty good on the iPhone via Safari.  Articles makes it look even better.  This app is very simple.  It is a self-contained Wikipedia browser.  The layout, design, and navigation are superb.  If you read Wikipedia on a regular basis, this is a must-have app.

Awesome Note 

You’ll find more note apps available then you’ll know what to do with.  Most are pretty similar as far as features are concerned.  Awesome Note stands far apart from the pack in one aspect.  Design.  When showing off my iPhone, this is always the first app I grab.  It’s incredibly beautiful and uses a nontraditional design.  Thankfully, this design is not at the cost of usefulness.  Awesome Note has all the major features of other schedule/note apps you should expect.  It’s also very customizable, which is greatly appealing to me.

BeeJiveIM

One of the benefits of background process and push notifications is IM capabilities.  BeeJiveIM does this perfectly.  You can connect a wide range of IM services and stay connected all the time.  The design is clean and well thought out.  If you’ve ever used an app like Trillian, Adium or Pidgin on your computer, you’ll feel right at home with BeeJiveIM.

Facebook

There’s not much to say about the Facebook app.  It does most of the basics of the website, and does them well.  You can post updates, comments, photos, and messages.  It doesn’t let you manage friends yet, but hopefully will be added someday.  I’ve used Facebook clients on most of the mobile platforms and I have to say iPhone is my favorite.

Foursquare

Location apps are a dime a dozen on iPhone.  They each offer their own unique take on the experience, but I think the most fun is Foursquare.  They have made some very nice clients on most mobile platforms.  The iPhone client is sometimes a little buggy, but still makes it a fun game.

Groceries

This is one of those apps I have been using a lot since my first days on iOS.  You’re able to make simple grocery lists using their pretty extensive database search (including optional brand names).  You can organize groceries into isles or keep them in a single list.  A quick tap to the item checks it off, so your shopping is narrowed down.  Once you have your usual items in place all it takes is another quick tap to add them back into your list when you need more.  An incredibly simple, yet useful app for the grocery shopper of the home.

Hipstamatic

I’m a photography buff.  I learned how to truly love cameras back in the days of film and dark rooms.  Hipstamatic gives a very realistic 60′s-70′s style film experience on the iPhone.  You have a choice of various lenses, flash gels and film combinations to recreate a true retro-film look.  The design of the app is downright amazing.  The only downside is that some of the extra lenses and films cost extra.  It also takes quite a while for the picture to “develop” before you can view or re-shoot.  The often have contests you can join right from the app to show off your vintage photos.  I’ve found myself shooting more with this app than the original camera on my iPhone now.

Outside

Checking the weather where I live is somewhat redundant.  90% of the time it’s going to be sunny and warm.  I used a few more serious weather apps for a while, but found I didn’t really need heavy weather tracking, satellite images, and live news feeds.  What I wanted was basic weather info in a well-designed package.  Outside does exactly that and no more.  While the weather info it gives is somewhat limited, it’s fairly accurate and displayed in a fun manner.  You can still see forecasts and current conditions like most apps.  I use this app the most when posting screenshots online of my current weather.

Pandora Radio

I’ve written quite a bit about Pandora on here before.  It’s hands down my favorite online music service.  Their iPhone app has always been one of my favorites.  It does all the basics of the website with a true iPod style.  Since iOS4 has added multitasking, you can now run Pandora in the background while you surf the web, check email and more.  I highly recommend getting a premium PandoraOne account so you can listen for longer periods of time and get the high quality stream as well.

Reeder

I’m a bit of an RSS junkie.  I read a couple dozen feeds many times a day.  Reeder is by far my favorite feed reader for iPhone.  The layout and functionality of the app just works well.  It syncs with Google Reader feeds quickly and with ease.  There are quite a few options for sharing and saving feed articles as well.  The only feature I really wish it had was the ability to manage feeds, but I understand that has more to do with what Google allows than the app developers.

Twitter

There are currently 12 Twitter apps in my iTunes account.  I’ve tried different clients for different reasons, but I always seem to come back to Tweetie.  Tweetie (now called Twitter for iPhone) is the perfect example of what an iPhone app should be.  It has clean design, powerful features, and just works beautifully.  I’ll continue to try more and more Twitter clients as they come out, but somehow I know I’ll always end up back with the best.

Words With Friends

I was going to list all my favorite games, but I realized I rarely play most of them.  The one game that stands out for me is Words With Friends.  The idea behind the app is simple.  It’s essentially Scrabble that you can play with people around the world on your own time.  It’s laid out just like Scrabble and works the same way.  It uses push notifications to tell you when it’s your turn, so you don’t have to keep it running or pay attention to the game until you want to.  It supports multiple games at a time. You can search for friends to play against or try your hand against a random stranger.  There are a lot of games for iPhone that are awesome, but this is one of the few I keep playing week after week.

I didn’t list any of my favorite Catholic apps because I already did a post about them.  Please feel free to check that out.  I’ll do some more articles like this in the future as more apps catch my eye and become daily users.  If you have a favorite app I didn’t list, please feel free to tell me about it in the comments. I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting apps!

I used to post quite a few wallpapers on here.  I think it’s time to post a few iPhone ones that I have been enjoying.  These are designed for the iPhone 4 (640 x 960).  You’ll find an alternate download button below for smaller iPhone 3G versions as well. I’ll post more as I make them.

click to view full size

I just posted a picture on Flickr of my current iPhone apps.  I’m really liking iOS4 and the new folders option.

click image to view full size

I have been a tech nut for quite a while. One of my favorite forms of technology is mobile applications. I’ve used just about every smart-phone platform there has been. I am currently using an iPhone 3GS and have loved it more than any other device I have used. I believe that technology can greatly enhance out faithful walk in many ways. It can be used as an outreach tool, a personal devotional tool, a collaboration tool and much more. The iPhone has quickly become a powerful ally for Christians. There are countless apps available for furthering your walk in faith. I wanted to take a moment and share a few of my favorite Catholic iPhone apps. I’m in no way trying to promote these applications over others, just that these are the ones I use the most and find the most helpful to me.  You can click on the image beside each application to view a short video of it in action.

iMissal

I tried quite a few different Lectionary apps before settling on this one.  It’s by far one of the most complete apps for daily readings, Liturgy dates, prayers and more.  The addition of Mass videos is a great bonus as well.  This is usually my first stop when checking the daily Mass readings.

if viewing video on mobile device, click here.

Divine Office

One of the greatest assets of the Church is the Liturgy of The Hours.  There are quite a few ways to join in on this wonderful moment of prayer, including printed books, websites and Magnificat magazine.  Being able to hear the prayers and music while praying can make the experience even deeper.  The Divine Office app is produced by DivineOffice.org and gives you full audio as well as text of the daily prayers.  It also lets you see where others are praying with you through a world map.  The solidarity and immersion of Divine Office makes it one of the best tools on any device.

if viewing video on mobile device, click here.

Holy Rosary Deluxe

There are countless Rosary apps available for the iPhone.  I can’t say which is best as I haven’t tried them all.  I did try a few though and found this one to be my favorite.  If you’re still learning the Holy Rosary or just like to have some visual aid and music, this is a wonderful app.  It’s well laid out and makes following along at your own pace very easy.  It also includes Novena and Divine Mercy Chaplet.  I have been using this app to introduce the Rosary to my children.

if viewing video on mobile device, click here.

Answers 4 Catholics

I am an amateur apologetic and enjoy having some quick reference tools on me at all times.  This app is one of the best I have ever seen when it comes to basic faith answers.  Each topic has both Catholic and non-Catholic versus available.  There are videos and audio explanations for most topics as well.  They range from everything to Apostolic tradition to Islam.  I highly recommend having this app on hand if you would like to know more about the teachings of the Church or love to share the faith with others.

if viewing video on mobile device, click here.

Prayers

We as Catholics have the awesome resource of 2000 years of Tradition.  This app provides quick access to over 1000 prayers in your pocket.  Novena, Saints & Angels, Rosary, Doctrine and much, much more.  While there are quite a few apps out there with many of these prayers, I have yet to find one so complete or accurate.  This is another application put together by the people at DivineOffice.org and is done so wonderfully.

if viewing video on mobile device, click here.

Catholic Mass Times

Do you travel a lot?  Go on vacation?  New to a town?  This app is the perfect resource on finding local churches.  Using your location it will list out local churches and give information such as Mass times, website links and contact information.  It’s a pretty basic app, but does what it should very well.

if viewing video on mobile device, click here.

Revised Standard Version Bible

There are a lot of Bible translations available for the iPhone.  I tend to prefer the RSVce version personally.  VerseWise has put together a great application for this translation.  It has simple searching, footnotes and a highlighting feature.  It’s very easy to read and has become my go-to app when my Bible isn’t close by.  They also have a great Douay-Rheims version for those who like the older text.  Sadly, there is no NAB translation available from them.  If you prefer the NAB, there is one available from Olive Tree, but at a hefty price.  The VerseWise RSVce is much cheaper and I feel it’s a richer text.

if viewing video on mobile device, click here.

Those are some of my favorite iPhone apps.  I know there are hundreds more available so take some time and search the iTunes App Store to find the wealth of resources available.  If you have a favorite I haven’t mentioned, please feel free to share in the comments or in the forum.  Let’s use this age of technology to live for Christ daily.

One of the beautiful and terrifying aspects of being a Catholic is the ever present level of accountability. As Catholics we are called on to live our faith every moment. We are to look out for and provide for those who God puts into our lives. We are called to share our faith through example every day. We are called to reflect on God’s grace and to work towards forgiveness and holiness each and every day.

The most dangerous and often underestimated prayer is The Lord’s Prayer. As Catholics, we pray this seemingly basic prayer at every Mass, many gatherings, and more. It is a beautiful prayer given to us by Christ himself. It is a statement of our faith and beliefs. It also contains a very dangerous line. We pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”. Think about this line for a minute. It doesn’t say “forgive us and we’ll forgive others”, nor “forgive us even if we don’t forgive others”. It says clearly “forgive us AS we forgive others”. This is a serious statement because we are asking God to treat us exactly as we treat others around us. How many times have you been hurt by someone, supposedly forgiven them, yet held resentment or a subtle anger towards them for years. How would it feel for God to forgive us our sins and hold a grudge anyway? We make a powerful and conditional statement when we ask God to forgive us as we forgive others. We place a standard on ourselves to live exactly as Christ required. We are called to love our neighbors. It’s also stated that we can not truly love God if we don’t love our neighbors.

I cringe a little every time I pray The Lord’s Prayer for good reason. I am reminded daily that I must forgive others completely. This is a monumental task for us. We don’t have the strength of compassion and grace that God has. He doesn’t call us to be perfect though. We are human, and as humans, have the stains of resentment, jealousy, and hatred. Does this mean that if we slip and have resentment towards those we have forgiven, God won’t forgive us? Absolutely not! What it does mean is that we must strive to constantly re-forgive those who have wronged us daily. Resentment and anger will continue to arise from time to time, but we have the ever-present cup of grace from our God to help us work through that anger. I alone don’t have the ability to forgive others completely. I don’t have a mind capable of forgetting transgressions as far as the east is from the west. What I do have is a loving God who has given himself to me as a fountain of grace. I can use and focus on that grace to recognize my failings in forgiveness and work towards forgiving again!

Next time you pray The Lord’s Prayer, take a moment and truly absorb what you are saying. Do you hold a grudge in your heart towards someone who has hurt you? Lift up that pain and anger to the cross and let the hand of Christ show you his perfect forgiveness. No one could ever hurt you as badly as we have hurt our Lord through the ages. He came among us, loved us, and died for payment for those hurts! Imagine having the ultimate bill and the collector came and paid it for you out of love. When people hurt us, we need to try and act as Christ did. Forgiveness is a work in progress. It’s a work that was begun by the Almighty, and continues through Him, by Him, and for all of us!

We made Chicken Divan last night that turned out great (except the broccoli needed to be cooked a little longer before baking). I tried a recipe I had used before, but modified it a little. Here’s the recipe for a wonderful Chicken Divan:

Ingredients:

• 6 cups cooked chicken (chopped into slightly larger than bite sized pieces)
• 20 oz. (around 5-6 cups) cooked broccoli (chopped and drained well)
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (chardonnay works best)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning (can use seasoned salt or curry powder instead)
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup soft bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (1/4 cup powdered works as well)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease 13×9″ casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. (you’ll need it to be at least 1 1/2″ – 2″ deep)
3. Add broccoli to casserole dish and cover with chicken. (pat down until even)
4. Mix soup, sour cream, mayo, wine, lemon juice, 1 cup cheddar cheese, and seasonings in medium bowl.
5. Pour cream sauce over chicken and broccoli in casserole dish. (spread evenly)
6. Sprinkle 1 cup cheddar cheese over sauce in casserole dish.
7. Mix bread crumbs, Parmesan, and butter in small bowl and sprinkle over top.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes until bread crumbs are browned. (If it browns too quickly you can cover with foil for 20 minutes and uncover for remaining)

It’s a little bit of prep work on this dish, but the finished casserole is awesome. Enjoy :)