Photos - Fortnight for Freedom

St. Ambrose Parishioners gathered after 7am Mass on July 4th to pray for our Country and for the freedoms we have been guaranteed under our Constitution.  The event was organized by Nancy Sliwinski, and was held in front of the Church.

Please continue to pray for our Coutry and government leaders during this critical time.

"Dear Lord, give us the grace  to remember always that true freedom makes us the people you wish us to be; that true freedom brings us closer to you, and reshapes our world in the likeness of your kingdom.  Amen."

Join Us Under the Walnut Tree

Expose yourself to the light of Christ and get a "God tan" this summer!

Join us the third Wednesday of the month, as we enjoy a summer twilight while discussing Matthew Kelly’s book, Rediscovering Catholicism.  The next gathering will be Wednesday July 18th at 5:30p in Gosselin Hall (or out in the delightful yard...).  Pencil in August 15, although it is a Holy Day and we didn't reach a consensus about whether to meet or not.  (Personally, I am inclined to maintain the schedule.  Gathering on the Feast of the Assumption might even inspire us in new ways.  Weigh in if you have thoughts about this.)

Last month we enjoyed a fruitful discussion under the spreading branches of the walnut tree by the rectory.  Thanks once again to Kathleen Stewart for pizzas!

Routinely making time for God in our busy lives seems to be an important and recurring theme in our conversations.  The kick off question, "are you thriving, or just surviving?" generated many thoughtful comments.  Thriving requires simple action.  Taking advantage of the sacraments, making small changes in our daily habits, and praying from the heart are examples that were offered by group members.

Communicating to others the values of a Christian and Catholic life starts with letting ourselves become more like Christ.  Love one another, serve others, let cars in on the freeway instead of cutting them off... Following Christ takes humility and discipline, but the rewards of putting God first and doing the work--for ourselves, families, parishes and culture--are awesome. 

For our next gathering, we'll be reading to the end of Part Two (I think that's chapter 11), learning how to use the lives of the saints as examples for our own.

My goal: make more time for God today than I did yesterday.

Blessings,

--Valoree

PS:  Feel free to pass this note along to others and invite them to come join the conversation.   Not everyone talks, but everybody listens; and it's all good stuff.

Fortnight for Freedom

Fortnight for Freedom

As Catholics we are constantly called to live out our faith in our daily lives.  Across America, our right to live out our faith is being threatened from Washington forcing Catholic institutions to provide services that contradict our beliefs, to state governments prohibiting our charities from serving the most vulnerable.  Please join us in prayer on this day of Independence so together we can save our religious freedom.

• St. Ambrose Parish
• Wednesday, July 4, 2012
• After 7:00AM Mass (approximately 7:45AM)
• In front of the church (in the shade)
• Bring a lawn chair if you would like to sit or we can sit on the wall

"Dear Lord, give us the grace always to remember that true freedom makes us the people you wish us to be, that true freedom brings us closer to you, and reshapes our world in the likeness of your kingdom.  Amen."

Happy Independence Day!

In honor of the 4^th of July, I did a little research and came up with lots of interesting fact about this holiday.  Like, did you know there were actually several dates that could have been chosen to commemorate our independence from England? 

Here's how it went.  John Adams was the first to propose the idea of our independence; and Thomas Jefferson began drafting the resolution on June 12, 1776.  It was  read to the Continental Congress on June 28.  July 2 was the day Congress voted to declare our independence from England; but they continued to edit and revise the document until the morning of July 4, when the Declaration of Independence was officially adopted.

On that evening, it was sent to a printer who worked through the night producing the copies that were distributed on July 5 to be read throughout the thirteen colonies.  (No one knows how many copies were printed that night, but there are 26 copies known to exist today.)

The actual signing ceremony did not take place until August  2, 1776, with John Hancock signing first, in the center of the document, since he was the President of the Continental Congress.  The rest of the members signed after him, in the order of the geographic location of the states they represented.  New Hampshire, the state at the northernmost end of the Country, signed first, and Georgia, at the southernmost tip, ended it.

So, which date would you have chosen to be celebrated forever more?

John Adams, in a letter to his wife, stated that July 2^nd  “ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade… from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

On July 4, 1777, before they even knew if they would win the war, Colonists celebrated the first Independence Day by setting off rockets, which were the same type of explosive used in war.  On that same day, American patriots placed lit candles (the original display of fireworks) on their windowsills to show their love of Country.  If anyone left bare windowsills, it signaled that person was loyal to the English crown.

In 1941, July 4 became a legal holiday, and today it is estimated that 150 million hot dogs will be eaten by Americans on any given 4^th of July.  OK, that fact that really has nothing to do with the choice of the actual date we celebrate, but nonetheless, you have to admit that’s a pretty amazing number.

Oddly, both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on July 4, 1826, within hours of each other

But here’s the important part.  Our Founding Fathers both began and ended the Declaration of Independence with references to God.

The first sentence states that when it becomes necessary to dissolve existing political ties in order to assume the separate and equal position to which we are entitled by the laws of nature and of “Nature’s God,” respect requires us to declare the reasons for the separation. 

The second sentence states that we stand firmly on the belief that we are entitled to certain naturally occurring rights given to us by our “Creator.”

This is followed by a list of reasons for breaking  ties with England;  then the final sentence,states: “…for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we … pledge … our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Did you get that part?  Our Country was founded on a belief in and reliance upon God.

When they signed the Declaration of Independence, our forefathers were literally risking their lives; but they relied on God to support and protect them.  They knew that all their belongings would be confiscated, and they would be killed, most probably along with their families, if we lost this struggle for independence.

What are you willing to risk to stand up for your beliefs?  And how much do you depend on God to support and protect you, not just in times of crisis, but during every moment of your life?

Sacred Music Colloquium June 25th - July 1st

On June 25th - July 1st,  several hundred singers from all around the United States will be coming to Salt Lake City for the 22nd Sacred Music Colloquium.  While the training sessions and lectures on Gregorian Chant and Renaissance Polyphony are for Colloquium participants, there are many related events at the Cathedral of the Madeleine which the public is encouraged to attend:

Friday June 29th Mass in Extraordinary Form, 5:15pm - music of Louis Vierne
Saturday June 30 Vespers, 3pm - music of Orlando di Lasso
Sunday July 1 Mass, 11am - music of Monteverdi

Other Masses at which the Colloquium participants will be singing include:

Tuesday, June 26, 5:15PM – OF English – Votive Mass of St John the Baptist
Wednesday, June 27, 5:15PM – EF – Missa Cantata - Requiem
Thursday, June 28, 5:15PM – OF – St Iranaeus – Bishop and Martyr
Saturday, June 30, 11:00AM – OF Latin – Votive of the BVM
         
There is also sung Morning Prayer at 8:30am.

There will be pre-Mass lectures open to the public , 3:45-4:45pm Tuesday - Friday, by: Gregory Glenn,  Msgr Andrew Wadsworth, Rev. Guy Nicholls, and Dr William Mahrt.

Advice for Converts

As a recent (2007) convert myself, I think the article Submerged in the Ocean is very useful. Here's an extract:

The Church’s very oceanic vastness means that even inside one can be tempted to look at only one small corner of it and label it “Catholicism.” Some converts become obsessed with Church architecture or a particular spin on Catholic social teaching or a Marian devotion or a particular aspect of the liturgy. One of the convert clergymen at Newman’s Birmingham Oratory was so enamored of the Church’s music of choice that he wrote a book on it. Upon reading the manuscript Newman protested that Father Formby seemed to say Christ died on the Cross for Gregorian chant. Newman observed that this was not theologically accurate.

My obsession was apologetics itself. When I first came into the Church I consumed Catholic apologetic literature in great chunks—most of it geared toward answering Protestant objections to the faith. I don’t regret that. As I said, I still read it and now I even write some of it. But not nearly as much anymore. At a certain point I realized that my own view of Catholicism had a tendency to be restricted by the types of questions that I used to ask. If I were not to be stuck in a kind of intellectual and spiritual bubble I would have to continue looking at Christ from different perspectives. I would have to learn my Creed not just from the negative point of view.

Looking more deeply from other perspectives allowed me also to see and appreciate other believers—and even non-believers—in a different light. When you come into the Church from somewhere else, particularly if friends and family from somewhere else have given you trouble about it, it is easy to become harsh and impatient about others’ not seeing what you see. It is altogether too easy to become wrapped up in what non-Catholics haven’t got and not be thankful for what they do have. This doesn’t mean squishy ecumenism, but a generosity of the sort Newman demonstrated in a letter to an Evangelical Anglican:

I believe what you do—but I believe more. I rejoice to think that you with all your heart and soul believe our Lord Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the world, and of every soul who comes to him for salvation; and the sole Saviour. I wish you believed the whole counsel of God. But in this bad time, when there are so many unbelievers, I rejoice to think that you are not one of them. 

I have learned too often that, as Renaissance writer Thomas Browne put it, “The cause of truth may suffer in the weakness of my patronage.”

How are you spending the next 4 minutes?

I’m not going to tell you about this video. All I’m going to say is that it’s only four minutes long. Four minutes that you should take to hear a message that might change your day, your week, or maybe your life. Can you take four minutes and put it toward that possibility?  

 

Linked to "Pay It Forward"