Friday, November 21, 2014

7QT: More impromptu pilgrimage days

In which I traipse around strange cities looking for Masses at all hours of the morning.


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Stained glass at Blessed Sacrament Church in Seattle

Last Saturday was the Feast of St. Albert the Great, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. He was declared a Doctor because he wrote a lot of stuff that affected the way a lot of people understand the faith. St. Albert was a teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas who was outshone somewhat by (and canonized after) his student. But one of the coolest things about St. Albert, in my humble opinion, is that he was a scientist. I mean a real scientist, who conducted scientific experiments.

I recently discovered the website of an old friend from college (www.danielmitsui.com) who now draws and sells amazing iconography. In fact, one of his works was commissioned by the Vatican! I encourage everyone to buy a zillion prints from him. But anyway, on the site he gives little anecdotes from the lives of the Saints depicted in his icons. And lo and behold, I found this gem:

"In the bas-de-page I illustrated an old story told of St. Albert: he spent decades inventing a mechanical head that answered questions posed to it. St. Thomas Aquinas, either annoyed or frightened by the automaton, smashed it to pieces."

So I guess I have a fellow scientist/engineer in St. Albert. To echo the words of Fabio, that's "scientist slash engineer, and not the other way around"!


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Blessed Sacrament Church in Seattle

During a business trip to Seattle this summer, I got up extra early and had an easy time finding Blessed Sacrament Church. This is a Dominican parish with Eucharistic Adoration, Morning Prayer, Mass, and the rosary each weekday morning. I wanted to take that parish with me! The Dominicans there have also resurrected the Mass in the Dominican Rite, somewhat like the Traditional Latin Mass. Chanting the Divine Office every morning definitely helped me feel like a contemplative in the modern world.

Blessed Sacrament Parish in Seattle


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St. Lucy's in Newark

My trip to Newark was a little bit more interesting. Let's just say that had it not been a Holy Day of Obligation I would not have attended a weekday Mass in Newark. My first night there I took a little walk to try to locate St. Lucy's Church. According to Google Maps it would be about a twenty minute walk. I dutifully followed my GMaps directions and soon found myself in an area that… well, let's just say that it seemed rougher than Baltimore. So I backtracked and tried another direction, thankful that I'd printed out a little map. After about ten minutes of walking the sidewalk ended. I walked a very short way along the poorly lit shoulder thinking I might be ok because it was a fairly big, four-lane road. Then some guy pulled over on the other side of the road and beckoned me over to his car. I was able to wave him off but I started thinking that maybe it was time to go back to the hotel. I have a guardian angel, but God doesn't want me to be stupid! For the record, I was dressed modestly. I like to think the guy was a Good Samaritan trying to warn me not to walk any farther.

St. Lucy's Newark

In the end I identified a less confusing route to St. Lucy's with sidewalks the whole way. Walking through the slums in the early morning light was less scary. The Church is absolutely gorgeous and worth the pilgrimage to get there. It also contains the National Shrine of St. Gerard. The statue of St. Gerard looked kind of like a vampire being stabbed to death with a wooden cross. But trusting the Magisterium and Gerard's official canonization, I stopped to pray for all of the pregnant ladies I know.

National Shrine of St. Gerard at St. Lucy's in Newark.


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St. Catherine of Siena Chapel
"Chapel on the Rock"

Recently I made a several day work trip to Colorado and somehow my hotel room was only booked for one night. Thankfully Allison lives out there and graciously hosted me for the rest of the week. We saw tons of elk, one of which was almost close enough to pet, and foxes and bunnies and deer. We also stopped at the Chapel on the Rock at the San Malo retreat center. Apparently Pope John Paul II stopped to pray there during his trip to World Youth Day in Denver in 1993. Recently the retreat center was closed due to a devastating fire and mud slides but the chapel, being literally built on a rock, survived. There is an imposing statue of Jesus on a hill and we found a lot of crosses made out of pebbles and sticks and flowers on the ground below. (For the record, these are Allison's photos.)

Sacred Heart of Jesus statue at San Malo


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St. Patrick's in San Francisco

Our annual science conference is always held in the same place in San Francisco, just down the street from St. Patrick's Church. This is a church where you will see all kinds of people. One morning I was finishing my last decade of the rosary after Mass and a young man, covered in tattoos, stopped by and asked "Are you Catholic?" Kneeling after Mass with rosary in hand, I wasn't sure how to answer that. Then he said, "I mean, are you really Catholic?" I assured him that I am and he sat down to ask some questions about the RCIA program and entering the Church. He was an addict, but clean at the time, and living on the streets. I gave him a rosary and bought him coffee after Mass on a couple of other mornings. We talked about Catholicism and he told me some of his story. He never asked for money. On the last day he hugged me and then went his way. Please pray for Daniel!

St. Patrick's in San Francisco


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Portziuncola at National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi

One year in San Francisco I walked with a friend to the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi. The website for the Shrine has an extremely cool virtual tour. The shrine includes a replica of the Porziuncola, or "small portion of land", which consisted of the Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels. The original Porziuncola was given to St. Francis for his new order. This replica, tucked away in the middle of the city, provides a place of refuge for the modern day pilgrim.


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Altar window at Blessed Sacrament in Seattle

Happy Feast of Christ the King!! Advent is coming. Here is an explanation of the Holy Mass set to Revelator by Josh Garrels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=youSVxbAhwc Marana tha!







For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Friday, November 14, 2014

7 QT: A Santa Fe Pilgrimage

In which I reminisce about a business trip to New Mexico that turned into an impromptu pilgrimage.

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The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi

Of course on any business trip our work days start early so we need to be in town the night beforehand. I arrived in Sante Fe, NM on a Sunday afternoon and took a short walk down town. It was surreal to see widespread use of Christian imagery in a way that mixes gross consumerism with new age spirituality. (Later that week we would visit a small cafe decorated with sacred hearts which also hosted appointments with a local fortune teller.) So I was relieved to see the extremely prominent Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. I ducked in and lit some candles in front of the St. Anthony statue and rested on a bench nearby.


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Loretto Chapel Miraculous Staircase

A couple weeks before the trip I told the ladies in my rosary group that I would be in Santa Fe. They were so excited and insisted that I visit the Loretto Chapel with the miraculous staircase. I was told that this staircase was built free of charge by St. Joseph. This staircase is supposedly an engineering marvel. No doubt Joseph was a great carpenter, so why not? I committed to finding this staircase and offering a special prayer for the ladies through the intercession of St. Joseph. One of the ladies who has a particularly strong devotion to St. Joseph asked me to leave a prayer intention, which she sealed in an envelope. It's standard that special shrines and chapels have a box where special intentions can be left.


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At some point I got to the chapel and this is what I saw!! The Loretto Chapel is now a tourist attraction that charges for admission. Slipping back into surreality, I paid my $2.50 and looked, bleary-eyed, for a place to leave my friend's intentions. The chapel is beautiful and largely unchanged since the nuns left, aside from the monumental effect of having been deconsecrated. I have to say that it seems extremely well cared for despite the tacky sign out front. I thought about shoving the prayer envelope under the donations box… not appropriate. So I prayed for the ladies and told St. Joseph that I would find some other way to get the prayer to him.


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The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi

Aside from failing in my divine mission to deliver the envelope to St. Joseph, we started the week victorious. On Monday I woke up early enough to attend Mass with a couple of friends in the side chapel of the Cathedral Basilica. I had just finished RCIA and been Baptized two months ago but I managed to stifle some mild performance anxiety and got through Mass without embarrassing myself or anyone else.


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Thanks be to God, with the help of some ladies working in the gift shop at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I was able to find the perpetual adoration chapel at their adjacent parish. Being on the grounds of this more modest parish, much less interesting to tourists, I felt more at ease. In the off time throughout the week, I stopped at the chapel a couple of times to sit with Jesus in the Eucharist. In particular, I asked Him what to do with the letter.


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Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Santa Fe

The actual Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a beautiful stucco church with a huge statue of the Blessed Virgin. As I traipsed around the grounds I saw that Our Lady was accepting many written petitions. Back at the hotel I wrote a cover letter for the envelope my friend had given me and put them both into a larger envelope I found in the hotel desk. My letter asked Mary to share the intentions in the envelope with her husband St. Joseph. I left it in the box next to the Mary statue and decided to take a look inside the building.


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Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Santa Fe

Inside there is an altar, with a gorgeous altarpiece, that unfortunately doesn't seem to be used for Mass (at least not regularly). It shows scenes from the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, when St. Juan Diego saw Our Lady and somehow her image was left permanently on his tilma. I recommend the book Maria of Guadalupe to anyone who is interested in learning more.

The following is a Youtube video explaining the appearance and miraculous nature of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The tone of the reading is a little dry but the facts are interesting (Protestants take note: there is a statement toward the end against Martin Luther and Protestant sects).





For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Recalculating… a technological fast from Facebook.


"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;" a time to use Facebook, and a time to fast from Facebook.

The other day I found myself scrolling up and down my Facebook feed past a bunch of messages I had already read, mindlessly waiting for the next update to pop up. Finally self-aware, I thought "What am I doing? And for how long have I been doing it?" My wagon wheels have sunken deep into a Facebook rut and every day it's more difficult to steer out of it.

I remembered a talk I attended called "Finding Your Joy" at the Maryland Catholic Women's Conference. The invited speaker suggested that all Christians should regularly fast from technology. Especially internet related technologies expose us to a number of images and ideologies that are extremely un-Christian. St. Paul wrote: "be transformed by the renewing of your mind". I think my mind is in need of renewing. A technological fast is just what I need to fill in those Facebook ruts so that I'm no longer stuck whenever I draw near to it.

It has been a while since Facebook recommended that I might like some sex related song but, just like everyone else, I'm still inundated with advertisements for clothing, engagement rings, Rosetta Stone, diet pills, and a myriad of other material items and products. I don't need constant enticements to lust and materialism, even if none of this has been appealing to me.


Today I see that Keira Knightly has posed topless to make a statement about body image. Although I didn't click the link, I'd imagine that the statement she's making is that a smokin' hot naked body still looks pretty darn hot before being Photoshopped. I don't see how this helps someone who feels uncomfortable about their own body. Each person needs to have their basic human dignity affirmed and to understand who they are in the eyes of God the Father. Pictures of Keira's naked body won't bring about either of those things.

Why would I want to read about rotten fruit born by a rotten ideological tree? That sounds harsh, but it's true. Our foolish culture tells us that we should be open minded about everything. Common sense tells us that "Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid." (G.K. Chesterton)

A couple of weeks ago there was a link to an article about how an actress from some hit show and her boyfriend had just adopted a kitten together. Ok Facebook, thanks for keeping me informed… "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." [Philippians 4:8] I'm sorry, my mom's kitten adoption is one thing… but some stranger's kitten adoption just doesn't cut it.


While Facebook is in some ways a great tool for keeping in touch with people I never would have otherwise, it has not magically transformed me into a good keeper-in-toucher. I've never been good at that and Facebook hasn't helped me to send the sort of personalized messages that are required to sustain what can be considered a true relationship. I do know other people who maintain relationships over Facebook, and more power to them. My mom has a great Facebook page called Learning To Walk With Jesus, and I encourage everyone to check it out.

I'm not saying that Facebook has no value for me, but it's not something that is a basic necessity. So in order to break free from the Facebook trap that has ensnared me, I will fast from Facebook for a while. If you need to contact me but don't have my email you can always comment on this blog. Anyone interested (probably just mom) can receive email updates for my blog by going to http://greatjesusexperiment.blogspot.com and entering an email address under "Follow This Blog by Email". I'll at least try to do 7 Quick Takes more regularly.

I plan to deactivate Sunday night and expect to return to Facebook some time in the next calendar year. See y'all later!

That said, here's something silly just because:

Friday, November 7, 2014

7QT: Sarah and Allison's German Adventure

In which I reminisce about my trip to Germany with Allison (two years ago?) during which much productive work happened but we also did some exploring.

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We traveled for about eight hours and ended up in Germany on the morning of a brand new day! We decided to power through and not sleep until early bedtime to avoid jet lag. The conference wouldn't start until the next day and we wanted to explore Hamburg. But it was a Sunday and I needed to go to Mass. Allison, wonderful friend that she is, agreed to come with me and we somehow managed to stay awake through Mass in an extremely spartan church called St. Ansgar. (Turns out somebody made a funny about St. Ansgar.) I tried to follow the German in the Missal but ultimately neither of us understood a word. The kneelers were unpadded 2x4s, or whatever dimensions they have in Germany, and during communion our Mass participation turned into a kneeling contest. Allison made a valiant attempt at kneeling and several Germans failed before we did. I'm not sure anyone held out until the ciborium was back in the tabernacle. German Mass #1 was kind of a bust.


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Later we went to Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg and saw the largest miniature exhibit in the world, if I remember correctly. It was way too crowded but has a nice display with an animated NASA shuttle launch. They had the yellow and black stick figure signs with phrases in German so we each bought one without knowing the meaning. It turns out that Allison's was untranslatable but said something about being fiery drunk.


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Later in the week we went to Kloster Luene in Lueneburg where the meeting was held. It's a formerly Catholic and currently Lutheran convent with lots of nice paintings and a tapestry museum. Now that it's a museum a lot of the Catholicky things have been restored. It was kind of surreal to visit the chapel with an ornate Catholic altar piece but no kneelers or a tabernacle.


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Allison and I took some personal time to visit my friend Felicitas in Duesseldorf. We took the train but it was late so we spent much time trying to figure out how to work a pay phone. Eventually we gave up and through some miracle Allison was able to get Felicitas' email from her Gmail cache and send her the update. We started to get a little concerned when Abfahrt station was announced at multiple stops. Were we going in circles? Or were there several different stops in Abfahrt? Or maybe Abfarht was the end of the line? After a fairly lengthy discussion we finally realized that Abfarht means departure. So we succeeded in our role of stupid Americans. Note: the word abfarht apparently also has something to do with alpine skiing. Don't ask me what.


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Felicitas is an awesome host and tour guide and she marched us all over Cologne until my feet felt like bloody stumps and I thought I might collapse in the street. She even seemed a little bit tired, and that's saying a lot! The central feature is the Cathedral of Cologne where we got to see the abstract kaleidoscope stained glass windows that have apparently caused quite a stir.


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At one point, Felicitas must have noticed me faltering because we ducked into St. Kunibert-Kirche (St. Cunibert Church). I haven't been able to learn much about Cunibert but his feast day happens to be on November 12. St. Cunibert, pray for us!


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St. Maximilian in Duesseldorf

After failing miserably at being engaged in the German language Mass in Hamburg I decided to try out a Latin Mass at St. Maximilian in Duesseldorf. This was not the traditional Latin Mass but rather a novus ordo Mass celebrated in Latin. Allison came along and I hoped that seven years of high school and college Spanish would help me follow a little better. I would say it helped un poquitito. Let's just say I have a new appreciation for Mass in the vernacular. The church was packed when we got there and we managed to cram into the only pew with a little space left, next to an equally foreign looking girl. We scanned the room looking for someone else in jeans (we found one!) and relaxed while taking in some amazing choir music. But the singing kept going. And going. And going. It turns out it was a Mass for some sort of parish celebration. We have no way of knowing what was being celebrated because the only word we understood of the homily (given in German) was Hitler, at which point we loudly whispered back and forth: "Did he just say something about Hitler??" "I think so! I definitely heard Hitler." "Wow! I wonder why he's talking about Hitler!" The Mass was about two hours long--what a tour de force!

After Mass I insistently ordered an Earl Grey Latte at Starbucks without realizing until later that it's not on the menu in Germany. But the baristas made one overbearing American's day by figuring it out on the fly. Overall it was a fantastic German Adventure.


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