On fire.

Our new priest is amazing. He's on fire. His orthodoxy. His veneration. His attitude. His Shepherding. He is truly what we have been praying for. August 23rd is the feast day of St. Rose of Lima, after whom our parish and precious little school are named. How beautiful. We had an 'all parish' Mass this morning, big potluck afterward and a true sense of communion. Communion, of course, was what the homily was about, so it could not have been more appropriate.

A few months back, I think I blogged about our little school. We put on that Mediterranean dinner because that is what we donated to the fundraiser auction for the school. A friend and I have gone to speak at the Masses a couple times now, encouraging fellow Catholics to send their children to our local catholic elementary school. What happened? God worked through us. Indeed, he worked through us. Enrollment is now up to 87 students! We were down to 55 at the end of last school year.

A little more from St. Rose of Lima:

Our Lord and Savior lifted up his voice and said with incomparable majesty: "Let all men know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let them know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let men take care not to stray and be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven."

When I heard these words, a strong force came upon me and seemed to place me in the middle of a street, so that I might say in a loud voice to people of every age, sex and status: "Hear, O people; hear, O nations. I am warning you about the commandment of Christ by using words that came from his own lips: We cannot obtain grace unless we suffer afflictions. We must heap trouble upon trouble to attain a deep participation in the divine nature, the glory of the sons of God and perfect happiness of soul."

"If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess divine grace, how beautiful, how noble, how precious. How many riches it hides within itself, how many joys and delights! No one would complain about his cross or about troubles that may happen to him, if he would come to know the scales on which they are weighed when they are distributed to men."

from the writings of Saint Rose of Lima

We cannot choose the ways in which we will be tested. -Robert J. Sawyer


We went to some friends' house for dinner last night. Our friend was telling us of a missionary friend that they had when they lived back in New Jersey, who had done some mission work in Africa. By the time that missionary had to come back to the states, he had trained himself to eat only a half a sandwich all day until dinner time--because that is all the food that so many people in his area got and to even ask for more would have been disrespectful and thoughtless. Wow. Food for thought. (Pardon the pun). Where is the community in that? Over half of our nation is obese, while there are children starving to death in other areas of the world. Those things are not of God. Gluttony cannot be of God, yet how many of us have been guilty of it at one time or another? I know I have.