Someone who works for Budweiser was here (reading …

Someone who works for Budweiser was here (reading the blog) a few minutes ago. Hey, this Bud’s for you!

One thing you can say about President Bush is that…

One thing you can say about President Bush is that he pretty much says whatever is on his mind. Apparently he was shocked by the Pope’s condition:

As Bush was leaving the Vatican after 20 minutes of private talks, the Pope, whose physical frailty has led to speculation he may retire early rather than rule for life, said “God Bless America” and told Bush:

“I hope to be able to meet you again.”

Of course it would be ironic if the Pope outlives him.

After the two sat down, the Pope smiled and brought his hands to his head, shielding his head from photographers’ flashguns in a joking gesture.

“They’ll make you look good, your holy father,” Bush responded, combining the two phrases that are normally used to address the Pope — “your holiness” and “holy father.”

Sometimes you wonder what is on his mind.

For more on the visit, go here.

Following Amy’s lead, I too have added a "Comment"…

Following Amy’s lead, I too have added a “Comment” link, so that you can post for all to see!

Pope says, "I feel GREAT!" He plans on visiting al…

Pope says, “I feel GREAT!” He plans on visiting all the places he originally planned to this summer.

Papal Program OK’d for Trip to Canada, Guatemala and Mexico

From the Office of Readings today, available onlin…

From the Office of Readings today, available online at Universalis.com, from the great Saint Augustine and his Confessions:

Let me know you, O you who know me; then shall I know even as I am known. You are the strength of my soul; make your way in and shape it to yourself, that it may be yours to have and to hold, free from stain or wrinkle. I speak because this is my hope, and whenever my joy springs from that hope it is joy well founded. As for the rest of this life’s experiences, the more tears are shed over them the less they are worth weeping over, and the more truly worth lamenting the less do we bewail them while mired in them. You love the truth because anyone who “does truth” comes to the light. Truth it is that I want to do, in my heart by confession in your presence, and with my pen before many witnesses.

But the abyss of the human conscience lies naked to your eyes, O Lord, so would anything be secret even if I were unwilling to confess to you? I would be hiding you from myself, but not myself from you. But now that my groans bear witness that I find no pleasure in myself, you shed light upon me and give me joy, you offer yourself, lovable and longed for, that I may thrust myself away in disgust and choose you, and be pleasing no more either to you or to myself except in what I have from you.

To you, then, Lord, I lie exposed, exactly as I am. I have spoken of what I hope to gain by confessing to you. My confession to you is made not with words of tongue and voice, but with the words of my soul and the clamour of my thought, to which your ear is attuned; for when I am bad, confession to you is simply disgust with myself, but when I am good, confession to you consists in not attributing my goodness to myself, because though you, Lord, bless the person who is just, it is only because you have first made him just when he was sinful. This is why, O Lord, my confession in your presence is silent, yet not altogether silent: there is no noise to it, but it shouts by love.

For it is you, Lord, who judge me. No-one knows what he himself is made of, except his own spirit within him, yet there is still some part of him which remains hidden even from his own spirit; but you, Lord, know everything about a human being because you have made him. And though in your sight I may despise myself and reckon myself dust and ashes, I know something about you which I do not know about myself.

It is true that we now see only a tantalising reflection in a mirror, and so it is that while I am on pilgrimage far from you I am more present to myself than to you; yet I do know that you cannot be defiled in any way whatever, whereas I do not know which temptations I may have the strength to resist, and to which ones I shall succumb. Our hope is that, because you are trustworthy, you do not allow us to be tempted more fiercely than we can bear, but along with the temptation you ordain the outcome of it, so that we can endure.

Let me, then, confess what I know about myself, and confess too what I do not know, because what I know of myself I know only because you shed light on me, and what I do not know I shall remain ignorant about until my darkness becomes like bright noon before your face.

We’ll also pay a visit to the Field Museum tomorr…

We’ll also pay a visit to the Field Museum tomorrow on our way there.

Amy and I will signing copies of our latest books …

Amy and I will signing copies of our latest books tomorrow at the Religious Book Trade Expo near Chicago.

This is a continuation of the 73 Steps to Spiritua…

This is a continuation of the 73 Steps to Spiritual Communion with God. The previous posts are below and in the archives to the right. This is the 40th step:

(40) Not to be a detractor.

The Christian is to be someone who builds people up, not someone who tears others down. Often detraction is a sign of our own insecurity or feelings of inadequacy.

Someone who puts God first in their lives will recognize their own self in an entirely new light as well as all others.

If we see someone who seems less in our eyes, it is we who have the problem not them.

This of course does not mean that we turn our eyes from those who commit grievous sins against others. They should be confronted, and if personal confrontation does not work as Jesus said, the matter should be brought before the whole Church, and if that doesn’t work they should be treated like a tax collector. Of course Jesus–welcomed tax collectors, so there is irony in the last part of his counsel.

Christianity is not a religion of castes. In Christ there is neither Greek or Jew, male or female–all are one. In order for that to be a lived reality we must see the importance of each individual and seek to build them up. In doing so we are aiding the Holy Spirit’s work of building the Kingdom of God.