Servant and Steward

Very true

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:45:00 +0000

One of my former high school students pointed me the other day to the St. Anthony High English Blog.

A recent post offers seven "funny one-liners," my favorite of which is:

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

I am a great lover of tomatoes, but I cannot imagine they would go well in a fruit salad.

Oremus

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:11:00 +0000

God our Father,
maker and lover of peace,
to know you is to live,
and to serve you is to reign.

All our faith is in your saving help;
protect us from men of violence
and keep us safe from weapons of hate.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

For your viewing pleasure

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:40:00 +0000

This should be...interesting

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:09:00 +0000

In just a few minutes my secretary and I will meet in the rectory with the Diocesan Parish Finance Coordinator, who happens to be a grade school classmate of mine.

Hopefully, he'll be able to tell us what to keep, how long to keep it, how to keep it and where to keep it.

Today, the organization of the parish office will either take a giant leap forward, or quite a few backwards.

When will have a new Bishop?

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:19:00 +0000

Father Kevin Laughery, Judicial Vicar and Pastor of Holy Cross parish in Auburn, provides us the answer in his typical fashion: "They're ready when they're ready."

In honor of the day

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:58:00 +0000

Before his gaze all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, transforms us and frees us, allowing us to become fully ourselves. All that we build during our lives can prove to be mere straw, pure bluster, and it collapses. Yet in the pain of this encounter, when the impurity and sickness of our lives becomes evident to us, there lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation “as through fire” (I Corinthians 3:15). But it is also a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally of ourselves and totally of God. In this way the interrelation between justice and grace also becomes clear: the way we live our lives is not immaterial, but our defilement does not stain us forever if we have at least continued to reach out towards Christ, towards truth and towards love… The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy.

- Benedict XVI, Spe salvi, 47.

At the blessing of graves

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:08:00 +0000

This afternoon we celebrated the Blessing of Graves at the Virden Cemetery. About 20 of the faithful attended the 4:00 p.m. prayers.

One of the parishioners mentioned beforehand that he wished he had brought his camera along. I reached into my cassock and produced my camera. He kindly took the following pictures:

A light-hearted moment before the prayer.

A small portion of the Virden cemetery.
It is a public cemetery and has a few intriguing stones.

Listen, brothers and sisters, to the Scriptures.

At 7:00 p.m. I will celebrate Mass for the Holy Souls.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. Let perpetual light shine upon them.

May they rest in peace. Amen.

In honor of the day

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Death is, then, no cause for mourning, for it is the cause of mankind's salvation....

Death was not part of nature; it became part of nature. God did not decree death from the beginning; he prescribed it as a remedy. Human life, because of sin ... began to experience the burden of wretchedness in unremitting labour and unbearable sorrow. There had to be a limit to its evils; death had to restore what life had forfeited. Without the assistance of grace, immortality is more of a burden than a blessing.

- Saint Ambrose of Milan

An historical tidbit

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:23:00 +0000

One thousand nine hundred and thirty years ago today, Mount Vesuvius buried Pompeii.

I just thought you'd like to know.

In honor of the day

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:13:00 +0000

The Kingdom of God is a gift, and precisely because of this, it is great and beautiful, and constitutes the response to our hope. And we cannot—to use the classical expression—”merit” Heaven through our works. Heaven is always more than we could merit, just as being loved is never something “merited”, but always a gift. However, even when we are fully aware that Heaven far exceeds what we can merit, it will always be true that our behaviour is not indifferent before God and therefore is not indifferent for the unfolding of history. We can open ourselves and the world and allow God to enter: we can open ourselves to truth, to love, to what is good. This is what the saints did, those who, as “God's fellow workers”, contributed to the world's salvation (cf. 1 Cor 3:9; 1 Th 3:2). We can free our life and the world from the poisons and contaminations that could destroy the present and the future. We can uncover the sources of creation and keep them unsullied, and in this way we can make a right use of creation, which comes to us as a gift, according to its intrinsic requirements and ultimate purpose. This makes sense even if outwardly we achieve nothing or seem powerless in the face of overwhelming hostile forces. So on the one hand, our actions engender hope for us and for others; but at the same time, it is the great hope based upon God's promises that gives us courage and directs our action in good times and bad.

- Benedict XVI, Spe salvi 35

He's going to get you...

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:26:00 +0000

Isn't my nephew cute?

Wouldn't you know it?

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:07:00 +0000

Lately (well, for about a year or more) I've been finding my laptop more of a burden to use than a help. It is faster than my desktop, but I have always been fond of a desktop, in no small part because of the actual mouse (I know, I know; I can get a mouse for my laptop). For whatever reason (which I don't quite understand myself), I simply prefer a desktop now that I am not travelling as much as I did in the seminary.

This evening I was actually going to post the homily I preached this weekend for All Saints Day (I haven't posted a homily since I've been in Virden because they have largely been reworks of homilies I've already preached) when, lo and behold, my desktop appears to be near death, suffering from a series of "thermal events" and various other problems besides, including the dread "blue screen of death."

I suppose it's time for a new desktop, which means I can start playing cool games again.

Thankfully, I have most of the files on my desktop also on an external drive. Naturally, I haven't yet placed this weekend's homily on it.

Instead, in a few minutes, I'll give you another thought from Pope Benedict XVI.

On the day

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:30:00 +0000

Father Selvester provides us with a short history of today's Solemnity.

Abbot Cuthbert reflects on the place of today's Solemnity within the context of the liturgical year.

In honor of the day

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:44:00 +0000

"The saints are the true bearers of light within history, for they are men and women of faith, hope and love."

- Benedict XVI, Deus caritas est 40

Relic soon to be enshrined

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:39:00 +0000

Ashley, the daughter of my Hawaiian friend Easter, who blogs at, among other places, A Tribute to Our Priests, posted the following picture to her Facebook page:

It shows the location in the Honolulu's Cathedral of Our Lady, Queen of Peace, where the relic of Saint Damien of Molokai will be enshrined during tomorrow's observance of All Saints Day.

Ashley comments that in addition to the expected 1,200 members of the faithful, some 13 Bishops and 1 Cardinal are also expected tomorrow.

The shrine itself appears to be made of koa wood, a highly prized wood on the islands. To either side of the shrine stand two feathered kahili, a symbol of royalty once carried in procession before the Kings and Queens of Hawaii.

I am very much looking forward to returning to the Land of Paradise to pray again before the relic of this holy priest.

Those of you in Hawaii: do take lots of pictures for those of us who cannot be with to celebrate.

Oh, think!

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:04:00 +0000

A few moments ago I returned to the rectory from a errand-running trip to Springfield where, it seems, a great many people are not thinking properly today as they run their own errands. I encountered nothing out of the ordinary, just people parking their carts in the middle of the aisle; having lenthy conversations with several shoppers clogging up the crossroads, as it were; and people who have simply forgotten the rules of the road. The difference this morning seemed to be the larger numbers of such people.

Each of these things always annoys me greatly - I'm sure one day I will rant here about it - so I collected what I needed as quickly as I could.

When I sat down at my computer to briefly check my crops on Facebook's Farmville, I noticed an advertisment for a line of Christian clothing: NOTW.

The acronym stands for Not of this World, taken from John 17:16, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."

This line of clothing appears rather stylish - at least to these eyes - and seems to imitate much of the kind of the clothing that can be found in shops today. Does anybody else see the irony of this?

It seems someone else wasn't thinking very clearly today either. How is it possible to claim not being part of this world when your very dress says you are quite caught up in it?

Parishioner registration forms

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:39:00 +0000

Looking through the parish office files, we do not seem to have a form for new parishioners to fill out.

If you have such a form for your parish (and wouldn't mind me using part or all of it), would be so kind as it to send it to me at daren[at]servantandsteward[dot]com? Thank you!

On a dreary day, consider this

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:43:00 +0000

[source]

Charitable giving

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:22:00 +0000

The weekend of November 21-22 will see the annual collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD).

In a memorandum dated October 2, 2009, The Most Reverend Roger P. Morin, Chairman of the CCHD, assures his brother bishops that although the CCHD has in the past funded groups - such as ACORN - that have contradicted Catholic teaching measures are in place to ensure the CCHD does not fund such groups at the present time or in the future.

Indeed, "you can assure your people," he writes, "that this will be the third CCHD collection in which no funds have gone or will go to any national or local ACORN structures." The CCHD was founded in 1969.

What is more, the CCHD "takes seriously any allegation that groups we fund are not in compliance with Catholic teaching, or are participating in partisan political activity."

Many of the faithful remain concerned about contributing funds to the CCHD.

A friend passed on this suggestion to me for those with such concerns: contribute instead to Aid to the Church in Need, a group endorsed by the Servant of God Pope John Paul II.

Heart to sea?

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:17:00 +0000

Thomas, The American Papist, keeps his eyes and ears open to just about everything, including.

This morning he points us to a t-shirt being sold by Old Navy:

This shirt is part of Old Navy's "heraldic graphic tees." Curiously, three other colors of shirts are offered, but their graphic, though identical for the three colors (gray, black and white) differs greatly from this one.

A day and a half

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:21:00 +0000

After spending yesterday morning taking out the trash, I went to the fitness club I recently joined for my initial visit with a trainer to see how healthy I am and to discuss my fitness goals (which basically consist of keeping my arthritis at bay as long as possible).

I wasn't particularly looking forward to the appointment because I knew I was to be subjected to several tests, which I presumed would be unpleasant at the least. My expectations were, I'm happy to say, quite unfounded.

The trainer, Max, was very friendly and did not torture me at all. The tests were simple and I made an appointment to go through the results with him today and to show me around the equipment and offer a plan to strengthen my joints without putting too much stress on them.

Last evening, I went trick-or-treating for canned goods with the high school PSR students (all two of them last night) at St. Patrick's in Girard. It's seems most of the high school students were sick but we did well enough with our collecting, nonetheless.

This morning my secretary and I worked for a good length of time on the bulletin for the two parishes, trying to find a better way to organize the information. She had been doing part of the bulletin and I did another part of the bulletin, without using the same template or format or communicating with each other, really. When we were both finished, we combined our sections together. We both realized how inefficient this process was and that it wasn't working very well.

After getting everything in order I thought I saved the file to my flashdrive, but when I went downstairs to show her, I discovered I must not have saved it and so I started all over. The whole process took a good three hours. Oops.

There is still some work to be done, but it looks much improved over the last couple of weeks. One small step at a time.

I'm not sure if it's stopped raining for more than fifteen minutes today. My knees have been lightly throbbing all day because of it, so I rescheduled my appointment with the trainer for tomorrow afternoon. My knees smply did not want to go outside, much less sit in a car, and past experience has told me exercising on such a day is just unwise. Hopefully tomorrow will be less rainy.

Instead, I spent the afternoon in the rectory sorting through papers and working on the initial set up of a filing system for papers relating to the two parishes. It's getting there. Again, one small step at a time.

This evening I began work for a Kairos retreat I will be on in a little over a week. I've given this talk before, but it's always good to give it a fresh look and revise. This time I decided to start from scratch and am happy with the progress I've made.

I know I've neglected a good deal of correspondence over the last couple of days. I'm sorry, and I promise I will attend to it in the morning.

For the time being I'm going to read a book and go to bed early.

A call to arms

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:45:00 +0000

...figuratively, that is.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is calling upon pastors across the country to publish an insert in every parish bulletin this weekend urging the faithful to tell their elected officials to remove abortion funding from the healthcare bills.

They've even set up a handy page to e-mail your senators and representatives. All you have to do is provide your contact information.

Let's get to work.

Anti-Catholicism? Really?

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:40:00 +0000

The Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York, highlights the thread of anti-Catholicism running through the media, citing a few recent examples in the pages of The New York Times.

His blog post is a Letter to the Editor he submitted to the Times; it was rejected. I've had a similar experience in the past with the print media.

On Halloween

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:27:00 +0000

Over at The Catholic Thing, Sally Thomas comments well on the drama of Halloween:

What their costumes are is less important than the fact that, for a night, my children will be people other than themselves: each of them will be someone who, regardless of real-life fears about the dark, is not afraid to step out into the night. Armored inside their personae, they can laugh at the shadows, as well they should. On the one hand, the powers of darkness are no joke; on the other hand, although Christians have no traffic with these powers, we do not fear them [more].

Be sure to have a read.

Update: The above link has now been corrected. Apparently Sally Thomas wrote this piece not at The Catholic Thing, as I initially said, but at First Things. My apologies.

Memories

daren@servantandsteward.org (The Rev. Daren J. Zehnle) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:32:00 +0000

While driving around Springfield yesterday afternoon in the course of running several errands I may have found a new favorite restuarant: Hawaiian BBQ at 2355 West Monroe Street.

The restaurant offers traditional Hawaiian plate lunches and even serves mahi mahi. I was very pleased with my meal last night and I fully expect to return there often.

Even the menu looks as though it should be in a Hawaiian mom and pop diner. Be sure to check it out!