Ready Or Not ... Here It Comes

Lent has arrived.

1,485 people got the word on the yard that it was Ash Wednesday yesterday. Yup, that's right...1,485 attended Ash Wednesday Mass here at the Academy. This photo was taken yesterday from the choir loft. It moves me every time I look at it. People in the world today are searching and yearning for Love. True LOVE. The love of Christ.


I just read a excerpt from the Pope's homily yesterday at the Ash Wed. Mass at St. Sabina on the Aventine hill in Rome. Enjoy the rich deep history and theology of the ashes.

Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and penance on which we begin a new journey towards the Easter of Resurrection, the journey of Lent. I would like to reflect on the liturgical sign of the ashes, a material sign, a natural element that, in the Liturgy, becomes a sacred symbol, so important on this day that marks the start of our Lenten journey. In ancient times, in the Jewish culture, it was common to sprinkle one’s head with ashes as a sign of penance, and to dress in sack-cloth and rags. For us Christians, there is this one moment which has important symbolic and spiritual relevance.

Ashes are the material sign that brings the cosmos into the Liturgy. The most important signs are those of the Sacraments: water, oil, bread and wine, which become true sacramental elements through which we communicate the Grace of Christ who comes among us. The ashes are not a sacramental sign, but they are linked with prayer and the sanctification of the Christian people. Before the ashes are placed on our heads, they are blessed according to two possible formulae: in the first they are called “austere symbols”, in the second, we invoke a blessing directly upon them, referring to the text in the Book of Genesis which can also accompany the imposition of the ashes: “Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return”.

Let draw close to the heart of Jesus this Lent and offer up every little thing and ask for us to draw closer to Him. For what will truly make us happy, is Him and His Love.


P.S. The Sisters of Life joined us Tuesday and Wed. on the Yard! Sr. Maris Stella (she graduated from the USNA in 2001) spoke at our FOCUS Outbreak (our large group event).  She was a huge hit! We had just about 100 Mids come out for it. Here is a picture from their visit.

Saints Have Saints As Friends

Last week I started reading Humanae Vitae with one of my girls. It blew my mind. Pope Paul VI wrote this encyclical in 1968 and addressed the problem with contraception and spoke specifically to groups of people, like "men of science," "to Christian Husbands and Wives," and "to Doctors and Medical Personnel."  

Kay and I decided to read Humanae Vitae at the perfect time with the HHS mandate. In 1968 Pope Paul VI had the answers for the future. He addressed the public authorities saying:

And now We wish to speak to rulers of nations. To you most of all is committed the responsibility of safeguarding the common good. You can contribute so much to the preservation of morals. We beg of you, never allow the morals of your peoples to be undermined. The family is the primary unit in the state; do not tolerate any legislation which would introduce into the family those practices which are opposed to the natural law of God. For there are other ways by which a government can and should solve the population problem—that is to say by enacting laws which will assist families and by educating the people wisely so that the moral law and the freedom of the citizens are both safeguarded.

We must protect the family. The family is what makes our society. If we fail to protect and keep the families of the world today, what kind of a society will we be?

We ended discipleship with reading this:

 We take this opportunity to address those who are engaged in education and all those whose right and duty it is to provide for the common good of human society. We would call their attention to the need to create an atmosphere favorable to the growth of chastity so that true liberty may prevail over license and the norms of the moral law may be fully safeguarded. 

This is why I named this post "Saints Have Saints As Friends" because then Kay said, "okay, we need to be proactive about this." This is us. What are we going to do this week to make sure that this is known. And how are we going to share this with those who need to hear this? So what are we going to? Kay and I are meeting up tomorrow at 7:50 AM to pray a rosary in a very populated area on campus, we are going to fast all day and she challenged herself and I to share the message of Humanae Vitae with someone else.

This is why my job is awesome. I get to work so closely with men and women who are on fire and just want to share the truth. Saints have saints as friends, I am working with future saints who are getting me closer to heaven.