NCCL

To those of you who attending NCCL, see you in Detroit.

To those of you staying at your parish and actually having responsibilities for the next week, we'll miss you!

To those you who broke their leg, bummer, dude.

Certain of us more single Echo 5 men may or may not be on the lookout for CILFs or even the elusive DREILF while at NCCL. Pray for us.

A Quick, Enlightening, Entertaining Read

Friends,

I have just finished reading The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose and I recommend it quite highly. Roose, who grew up a not-so-religious Quaker family and went to Brown University, spends a semester abroad...at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. For those not familiar with Liberty, it was founded by Jerry Falwell the founder of the "Moral Majority" and prominent evangelical pastor who well...yeah...the book tells more about him.

Anyway, it is quite an interesting read as Roose enters into a culture that is completely unfamiliar to him, learns to get rid of the stereotypes that he had for the university and conservatives-at-large, and engages in every opportunity possible including joining the choir, going on a mission trip to Daytona Beach during Spring Break, and falls in love. To go from the liberal, hippie Brown to the fundamentalist, Sean Hannity loving Liberty was a huge stepping-out-of-comfort-zone and I admire that about him and his experience. Oddly enough, Roose had an interview with Jerry Falwell and that was the last printed interview of Falwell's life.

I think that's a lesson we can all take- The ability to step out of what is comfortable and easy for us and engage openly and genuinely with people. He sees the human behind the stereotype and realizes that they have the same struggles with faith, the other sex, life goals as he or any other secular college student has. Yes, he does meet the intolerant (in fact he rooms with one) but he meets people who wished for more academic freedom and watch R-rated movies (not allowed) in the dorms. Overall, it is a very compelling and honest read.

Borders Price: $24.99 hardcover

Look for my X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Star Trek reviews in May!

Feel Better Soon!

Feel free to post thoughts, memories, messages of hope, etc. for T-bear.

I TEACH Sunday school...

Once again, Stephen Colbert advertises for us catechists:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Philip Zimbardo
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

Joy and humor

This wisdom is a Christian humanism that radically affirms the dignity of every person as a child of God, establishes a basic fraternity, teaches people to encounter nature and understand work, provides reasons for joy and humor even in the midst of a very hard life. CCC#1676

Looks like the Church is calling me to be funny. 8-).

Possible Career Choices?

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

I've recently had a revelation when it comes to life after ECHO. I figured if this whole theology thing does not work out, I can go into either one of these fields.

Dancing with the Stars














or a Model...

'Cause I haven't made much progress...

Mark's Passion, which we all heard Last Sunday (or Saturday evening), might be my favorite of the passion accounts. It is absoultely beautiful in places, straightforward and human.

However, I noticed one section that I hadn't noticed before and have never heard anyone talk about. I've been having trouble figuring it out, so I'm asking for your opinions Mark 14:50:

"Now a young man followed him
wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body.
They seized him,
but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked."

Whos is that young man? Why wasn't he wearing clothes? How did he get away? What's the significance?

So, sisters and brothers in exegesis, what do you think?

Catechetical Success

I planned a Stations of the Cross prayer buffet for Palm Sunday evening, for our Religious Education students and for anyone else in the parish who wanted to come. Essentially, each station had a different prayer experience- so instead of marching around the church singing "Behold the Wood" a dozen times, the stations were scattered all over the school and included things like making crosses out of pipe cleaners, icons, lectio divina, praying while you colored, taping burdens to a cross, etc.

We were coming off of spring break, and it was pouring rain so I didn't have high hopes for attendance. I was praying that even 50 people would come. We had printed booklets and prepared food for 300, knowing that was a high estimate, and I just prayed for 50.

When I entered the cafeteria, I almost fainted. I was utterly astounded by what I saw. Every single table was full.. there were kids sitting on the floor eating. The line for food was out the door... we estimate that 300+ people had come.

It was the most well-attended formation event of the year (besides Mass, of course)... I reviewed the evaluations, and it even received high marks all around.

I have no idea how I pulled it off... but I will say this: that, my friends, is a catechetical success.

Quote for Holy Week

In the last chapter of the last book of his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote: "The death and passion of our Lord is the sweetest and the most compelling motive that can animate our hearts in this mortal life. It is the very truth that mystical bees make their most excellent honey in the wounds of this 'lion of the tribe of Judah,' slain, pierced and rent upon the Mount of Calvary. The children of the cross glory in this, their wondrous paradox that the world does not understand: Out of death - which devours all things - has come the food of our consolation; and out of death - strong above all thins - has issued the all-sweet honey of our love. O Jesus my Savior, how worthy of love is your death, for it is the supreme effect of your love...Mount Calvary is the mount of lovers. All love that does not take its origin in the Savior's passion is foolish and perilous. Unhappy is death without the Saviors' love; unhappy is love without the Savior's death. Love and death are so mingled in the Savior's passion that we cannot have the one in our hearts without the other. Upon Calvary we cannot have life without love, or love without the Redeemer's death. Except there, all is either eternal death or eternal love. All Christian wisdom consists in choosing rightly..." (XII, 13)

Prayers for a blessed Holy Week. At least if I didn't start strong...or be strong in the middle...I can finish strong!

What Goes Around Comes Back Around

As you may know, I greatly enjoy impersonating people especially Theology Professors. Some notables include: Fr. Paulinus Odozor C.S.S.P., Lawrence Cunningham, and of course John C. Cavadini Ph.D, M.Phil, M.A., B.A. Little did I know that it would come back to haunt me already.

During our final 8th grade CRE Pizza party, I found a couple of the girls doing this. They even copied my handmotions and voice inflections!

"To contemplate the truth and to share with others the fruits of that contemplation"

I took my personal retreat a couple of weeks ago on a gloriously warm and breezy day. Below is a reflection from that day, and I thought I just might be brave enough to share it with all of you. I hope you enjoy!

I was sitting in the woods on a breezy day contemplating the inevitable struggles of life. Just then, a strong wind burst, or rather, danced through the woods and the treetops wavered threateningly, banging their branches together as the trees themselves groaned mournfully from deep within. As my eyes moved from the treetops to the ground, they followed the trunk of a tree. I noticed how even though the light branches of the canopy swayed in the wind, the bottom of the tree remained motionless. It struck me that we are just like the trees. The winds of struggle inevitably visit us time and again, and it is the tallest of the tress that are most moved. Yet how can we grow so tall as to be pushed by the wind? How can we remain standing when the wind blows? We grow little by little, and slowly. In the time it takes to grow skyward, our trunks grow sturdier and we are also growing deeper, with our roots weaving their way through the soil. Christ is the ground. Christ allows us to grow and be strong. The deeper we grow in Christ, the taller we will be able to stand in the world. Yes, the winds will visit and shake us, but they will not bring us down. Trees do not fear the wind, for they know they can withstand it. Can we then, face our struggles courageously with deep faith, knowing that we will remain strong however relentlessly the wind blows? To be sure, the wind, rocking the upper limbs, vibrates down to our very core, but we remain standing. It is our faith that has saved us. We need Christ, who is our grounding, and we need our roots of faith in Him. We will stand.