Poetic scripture reading

If by the power of darkness I drive darkness out
How then is darkness dark?
By what authority of yours is darkness driven about?
The answer is rather stark.

What is divided within cannot stand without
That kingdom will be laid waste
If Satan and his darkness are in a chaotic bout
They’d be going nowhere with haste

With strength a man may guard treasure
And that treasure may be safe
Until one stronger in every measure
Takes and gives the spoils to a waif

Third Station

Jesus falls the first time.

My Lord, even when your body was beaten and worn down you refused to give into temptation. Instead you give us your very body as our daily bread.

Springing thought

Do not judge! Yet at the same time we are encouraged to correct wrongdoing. How are these rectifiable? How can we forgive seven times seventy and turn around and say stealing is wrong?

Stop

Think


Pause


Unpause


Okay, hands up, how many thought 'love the sinner, hate the sin'? Can we truly love someone who has wronged us and simultaneously want them punished?

Alright, enough questions. If we truly love someone we do not wish them to come to harm. Sin harms the sinner, and so we do our best to charitably chide one another when we show signs of entering a near occasion of sin. We are our brother's keeper, but not our brother's warden. We cannot force someone to make the right decision, we can only do our best to help them make the right one, in failing that, to minimize harm. We should remember that we are brothers and sisters ( hah, gender inclusive this time ). Above all we must learn to love as He loved (and loves and will loves).

Sorry about the shallowness of this thought, any further and I'd be drowning at the moment.

God bless,
>P<
Joshua Fahey

Purgatorial pathway

"If you're going through hell, keep going."        -Winston Churchill

"Last is the breath of God: Only a leap from the lion's head, shall he prove his worth."    -Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Fish swimming in the sea above oyster with pearl

I like these (and I perceive oddly)

Open to the light
Aware of where the source is
Gaining sustenance

A sight to behold
Deriving strength from the earth
Pushing to heaven

Helping water fly
Where such miracles are found
Helping travelers

Generous giver
Gently offering up fruits
For the poor and old

Merciful comfort
Allowing the weary rest
Shielding from danger

True beauty and grace
Throughout all seasons and moods
This is truly strength

Model for humans
Who seek the divine Light Source
Trees may be seen thus

Happy Annunciation!

I love finger painting!

God gave Mary a choice, she chose suffering so that her Son, our Lord, may come into this world. I am not so confident in making pictures of people to try making one of her. Therefore, noble ones, the Holy Spirit as a dove will have to do!

God bless,
>P<
Joshua Fahey

A Rhetorical Rant of Rumbling Prayer

Prayer! Fasting! Prayer! Fasting! Prayer! (Almsgiving!) Fasting! Almsgiving! Prayer!

That was fun, though perhaps I should have used all caps... eh, whatever.

Having fun praying? Good, that was the wrong question anyway. Prayer isn’t about fun, it’s about God, duh! (oooh the fun of tormenting my readers with such sharp wit!) Anyway prayer is about God, and maintaining or starting, or (in some cases) restarting said relationship. So prayer is painful when healing, because healing is painful. It is joyful when sharing, because well sharing is joyful. It is loving because, okay you got me, God is love (put that in your pipe and smoke it! Then send some to me, in a pipe please).

Some people find it hard to pray at times because of distractions, I say distractions mistractions(?) all you’re doing is trying to talk to an omniscient, omnipotent, and above all invisible God, it’s not like it’s brain surgery (although I’ve heard some mumbling about how that can help with hallucinations). Some helpful tips, religious art (this is especially useful for conversations that might cause others to call the happy hotel for you (why the happy hotel? They give you shirts so that you can hug yourself!!!!!!!)), quietness (yes still in the helpful tips list), honesty (He knows your pain and is there to listen), work at it!


!!!!!! ;-)



Where was I? Oh yes prayer, such a lovely state, no representatives in congress though (like Puerto Rico only a state not a territory). Prayer is a way to transform spiritually, it doesn’t do much good going through the motions. The final note is acting on your relationship with God.

God bless, (! <3)

>P<

Joshua Fahey

Springing thought

In the gospel for today we are reminded by Jesus that it is not the rule or the authority that makes a leader but servanthood and suffering. The two sons of Zebedee (with their mother) request the right sit at the right and left of Christ when He comes into His kingdom. It is not said why they or their mother ask this, but from the context I presume the usual reasons, power, fame, etc. These factors always make us do foolish things. Do our leaders lord it over us? Are we Gentiles or Christians.

Jesus does not ask us to forego seeking leadership, rather he calls them to servanthood. He wants us to be holy examples of humility and service, to accept the pain and suffering that comes with following Him, and to give our lives for Him and His Church.

Can you drink the chalice that He drank?

God bless,

>P<

Joshua Fahey

Second Station

Jesus embraces his cross.

The biggest failure we can make is not to own up to our failures, not to accept the consequences.

God bless,
>P<
Joshua Fahey

Tree with tire swing next to stream

 

Dark thoughts

What a pain and what a laugh
Finding strain among the dead
Let us give our final breath
Our words live beyond our death

Marching for the glory of
Whatever reason that we march
Killing season will unfold
Our souls to God and country sold

Fighting against the wickedness
Of the dark great terror beheld
Plotting light amid the earth
Against our grief is framed our mirth

And the songs we hear
Though bittersweet
We will not fear
Though we may weep

The darkness gains against the throne
We will wait in silence til the sun has shone

Old Mountain Man

There was an old wise man on the top of a mountain, he often got visitors (this is odd because didn’t leave a forwarding address). One day a visitor came, as visitors to places often do (by traveling through space). This visitor started asking the old man questions, this surprised the old man tremendously. The tremendous surprise originated in parts of two, first most people didn’t see him even though many visited him, second he was seen which most people manage not to do.

The questions did not surprise him though for they went thus: “How are you doing?” and “Isn’t sitting there painful?”. The old man answered “Of course it is painful, for that is what I decided to do. Many people have told this rock things like ‘how wise’ and tossed coins making wishes. Fools the lot of them, for they have made not any attempt to do what I have done. I thank you for generous consideration, I will indeed consider it in my thoughts.”

The young man left, looking slightly confused (only the face was confused, the rest knew what it was doing). The old man pondered on the nature of wisdom coming to the conclusion that it is impossible for a human without outside help. He also saw that it was rather pointless to gain wisdom for wisdom’s sake and considered getting off his rock, then another visitor came by, yelled at the rock, and threw some money. The old man thought this isn’t all that bad, he can eat and can sleep after all.

God bless,

>P<

Joshua Fahey

First Station

Jesus is condemned to death.

Truly the most frightening laws begin with "Thou art not" rather than "Thou shalt not"

God bless,
>P<
Joshua Fahey

St. Patrick's day! woot!

From wikipedia
 (bishop's red, came at you from the diagonal huh?)

Happy St. Patrick’s day! I always think of St. Patrick as one of the best examples of how God wants missionary work done. First he is captured and sold as a slave, this presents him with an unparalleled opportunity to learn humility. As a slave St. Patrick learns the language, religion, and customs of the Irish. These attributes were necessary for him to convert the peoples hearts. The Irish culture wasn’t destroyed or made less than it was, rather from this conversion the Irish culture became more Irish (now at this point a rational person would ask what the heck does that mean, but that’s okay because no rational person would be reading this blog) by this I mean (psych) that the vast majority of St. Patrick led Ireland from were shackles that limited the Irish from being Irish (psych again). At this point I give up on trying to explain what I mean, if you really want to know ask God (as a side would put in a good word for me? I apparently need help in forming coherent blog posts. Thanks!).

God bless, (and drink responsibly (ah really, so don't do something stupid (i.e. cause your own death)))

>P<

Joshua Fahey

Springing thought

I’d love to talk about something I noticed in today's first reading, that I’d not noticed before. It says that Jonah went preaching to Nineveh which required three days to walk across and in only one day of preaching Nineveh repented. It struck me that a task that might require at least three days to accomplish (normally) required only one. God gives us tasks that seem impossible or unreasonable, but after we start them they are accomplished miraculously (at times). It got me thinking that this blog may be more important then something to do during Lent that forces me to think about God.

God bless,

>P<

Joshua Fahey

A modest proposal: Our Father

Today’s Gospel is one of the passages in which Jesus teaches His disciples the Lord’s prayer (aka the Our Father, aka the Pater Noster, aka ...). The passage is an indication that it is not the number of words that He listens to, but what is in our hearts. The Lord’s prayer is as much for our benefit as for His, in it we learn that He considers us family, that He will provide our needs (if asked), that He will protect us from the Fallen One, and it also provides a Golden Rule type of clause. This prayer is as much a conversation as an offering, it is a living set of words that will help bring to mind what we lack in our part as well as what we should be asking for. This is such an important prayer that we say it at mass, that we say it as part of the Divine Office, and that it is an integral part of many devotions (including, but not limited too, the rosary). As the psalm says ‘From all their distress, God rescues the just.’, it is appropriate that after we pray the Lord’s prayer at mass the priest prays for an end to anxiety. God truly does care, shouldn't we trust Him?

Here’s a thought:

our Father we love

forgive us as we forgive
gives us daily bread

God bless,

>P<

Joshua Fahey

A modest proposal: respect

The true marks of holiness include humility, charity, and faith. There is also a mark called respect, respect for enemies, respect for sinners, respect for victim and oppressor. Unlike the attribute tolerance, which is perverted by this society far beyond it's use and ability, respect requires associating with the other not separating from the other.

Let's look at this from another aspect, humans are necessarily community beings. Even so called loners and hermits have interaction with the other. From the evolutionary perspective we have been designed for communication, from our brains which seem designed for languages to our tendency to create complex infrastructures for social development. Toleration isolates us, respect unites us. From this we can see that for any civilization to truly work requires respect to be permeated throughout the culture.

A respectful person is polite, caring, and honest. A respectful person would seek to understand differences. A respectful person does not push someone to make a decision, but encourages someone to “smell the roses” and offers to help. A respectful person may be offended, but if such a person is offended there would be a charitable response. How many respectful people do you know? Does your culture actively encourage such people to exist?

God bless,

>P<

Joshua Fahey

Jesus loves you.

Political Rant: Education

After watching this, I wanted to talk about education. I agree with what this guy says (after all he’s a knight how cool is that?!). And with the arrogance that comes with being young, Catholic, home-schooled k-12, and a Software Engineer graduate from Michigan Tech I have compiled a few points that I believe will help enliven our zombie education system. 

St. Albert the Great (from wikipedia)

    First, I believe that we have lost a great deal of our American identity and that the loss of identity can be repaired (though not entirely) by an emergence of art in our culture. So art should be encouraged more by using a structure that will least inhibit creativity in any subject.

    Second, I believe that the subject of philosophy is neglected or put off until college (and even then neglected). It is not only a loss of the study of philosophy that is lamentable in this, but an education in how to think guided by the greatest thinkers of history that will certainly prove to be of service in personal contentment as well as innovation.
     Third, I believe that religion is a great part of the identity of people and we cannot truly understand one another without a respect for the various religions of the world. We cannot respect what we do not understand, if we ignore it via tolerance, the problem won’t disappear (it may, in fact, become worse). We should be taught what religion is and how it affects people, again this should be done respectfully and not done in a bigoted fashion.
    Fourth, Mathematics is important. It is so important that we need to revise how it is generally taught (lifelessly though that depends on the teacher. I have thoroughly enjoyed mine). Memorization is a great tool, but not the only one. Math is an integral part of our society, reducing it to mere numbers is a crime.
    Fifth, language and languages. English is an important subject, it helps us to write and read better (if taught well). Foreign languages should be available at a much younger age, elementary and middle school, because when we reach puberty there is a sharp decline in our ease of acquiring language. The difficulty only gets worse as we get older.
    Sixth, the last point I want to make is the most fundamental. Education should be about our gifts, and giving us the tools to be who we should be. As a Catholic, I see that God created each every one of us to be someone in His plan. Not all of us are called to be publicly great, but all are called to be great.

Oh and one more thing, our system should help learning throughout our life. It mostly does through community colleges and libraries, but I thought that that should be a reminder to keep moving forward.

God bless,

>P<

Joshua Fahey

Lenten calling

Fasting, fasting, they call us all to fasting
Bending, unending, they call us to the floor
Self-righteous and lawful, their hearts aren’t everlasting
Prideful unloving, they are cold to the poor
They show them the door

Your fasting, not lasting, does not please our God
Adoring law, thine heart not raw, seeing others no more
We all are sinners and with all through darkness must trod
In the pain of our travels we need Love all the more

Lest we be shown the door

Lest we be shown the door
Repent, repent, the Lord calls us to repent
See them, free them, those whose backs are sore
Rend thine hearts and go forth where thou art sent
Open thine hearts to let God in to thy core
To walk through His door

Fasting, fasting, it is good to be fasting
While giving, and praying, to our God whom we adore
Giving thee, Lord, a spirit contrite, and lasting
Humbly seeking the celestial shore
Through every Church’s door

Truly in the Spring our life is to be changed
We blossom in the good and leave behind the deranged
This desert will call us to an oasis, and through a door
To the Father, Son, and Spirit who bless us, His poor

A modest proposal: taking up the cross

Today’s Gospel say that we must take up our cross daily (that’s not all it says. What else does it say? Read it, to find out). In a brief expounding with a little hyperbole I will hyperboliously expound briefly, taking from the stations.

Every day we are condemned to the cross. We choose whether to accept our cross. We interact with Simon, mourning women, Mary, Veronica, two thieves, and (or) Roman soldiers. How do we interact with the people we encounter; how do we deal with our failings? We must remember that Christ fell three times and every time He got up again. He accepted the help of Simon. He comforted the mourning. He gave back to the gift-giver Veronica. He talked to His Mother Mary (Our Mother too, don't forget). He wasn’t condemning. He wasn’t haughty. He was loving. He was sacrificing. He forgave. In the Gospel He asks us to take up our cross every day (repeat reading the last sentence until it sinks in). This is (in part) our baptismal promise.

Chesterton wrote about how the cross symbolizes Christianity, that Christian Saints are ever expanding, not trying to hold the infinite inside a box, but instead expanding themselves to see as much of the infinite as possible, for a cross may extend its arms infinitely and still remain a cross (I don't remember where he wrote about this, it has been a while since I read it, and my interpretation may have sneaked in, in other words: not a direct quote, heck, it might be absolutely meaningless). Christ says deny yourself, which may mean (for myself at least) leaving the boxes of comfort and expanding in His mercy, His Love, His Passion, His Cross, and following Him.




God bless
>P<
Joshua Fahey

Rend your hearts

Sorry about the quality, I didn't expect the effects of compression to be this noticeable (I also am not such a brilliant artist).

Anyway, this is my profile picture on Facebook for Lent. The first part anyway.

God bless,

Remember man that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.

>P<
Joshua Fahey