Category: Uncategorized

Posted on

Jubilee


Today I attended the jubilee of five friars of Holy Name Province. I know one of the friars well. My friend, Brother Vianney Justin, OFM (pictured) celebrated 40 years as a Franciscan friar today at a special ceremony in Buffalo, New York. He was joined in the jubilee by Br. Michael Oberst, OFM with 25 years and Brothers Moe Swartout, Julian and Adrian Riester with 60 years. This remarkable group of men have nearly 250 years of service to God and creation. Following Mass and the renewal of vows we were received at a large gathering near St. Rita’s Parish where we talked, ate and enjoyed ourselves.

On the cover of the program is a verse that I like and it’s attributed to St. Francis.

“We are the minstrels
of the Lord,
whose work it is
to lift up people’s hearts
and move them
to spiritual gladness.”


The joy filled jubilee celebration and the over three hundred present gave ample testimony that these friars are indeed “minstrels of the Lord.” Peace.

Technorati Tags:
franciscan, friars, jubilee, minstrels, st. francis, buffalo

Posted on

Hippocratic oath or hypocritic oath

In the past week I’ve been reading Andrew Sullivan’s blog with regularity. I heard him on a Larry King segment about ten days ago. Today one of the stories on his blog deals with a very troubling moral dilemma. Andrew in his regular work for Time Magazine has reviewed a recently published book, “Oath Betrayed.” The book details how doctors became actively involved in the torture of inmates at both Guantanamo and in Iraq. In the book, its author Dr. Stephen Miles, outlines how the medical profession became corrupted by the Bush-Cheney interrogation rules. I submit that the doctors were not corrupted by those rules, but that they allowed themselves to be corrupted by the rules. There is a real difference and I believe it was articulated at the Nurenburg trials following World War II. What really happened is that the doctors became agents of the status quo.

Within all of us exist the seeds of violence and cruelty. They must be watered in order to flourish, but they are there. We can easily become products of the environment in which we live. I submit that these doctors became products of an environment that dehumanized prisoners. The Geneva Conventions were enacted for a reason. I shuddered when the Bush-Cheney Administration stated that these “illegal combatants” were not really soldiers and that they were not subject to the rules of war, as if there really were any rules in war. At some point these doctors and this policy will be judged. It may be years from now but there will come a time of judgement. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is Newton’s third law and it applies not just to matter but to human dynamics as well. It’s a universal principle. It is the yin and yang of life. Peace.

Technorati Tags:
torture, medical ethics, war, bush, guantanamo, iraq

Posted on

Hardwood Warriors

Yesterday my wife and I traveled to Buffalo, New York to watch our son Devin and his teamates compete in the “Gus Macker 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament”. It’s was a family reunion in some sense, because we were being reunited with Devin’s college teamates and their families. We’ve grown very close to all these young men and their families in the last four years. The team competed in the Top Men’s Division which is the most competitive division in the Macker Tournaments. There were many very talented basketball players in attendance. It was great to see them showcasing their skills.

I love basketball. I’ve been playing it and following it since elementary school days. It’s my favorite sport and their is a lot of mystique surrounding it. I’ve read a lot of basketball books but I think my favorite is “Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior.” I’d recommend that book to anyone, even people who aren’t basketball fans.

Our young men were 1 win and 2 losses and were eliminated from the competition. The finals are today. Here’s a clip of some of the sights yesterday. I put this clip together with Microsoft Photostory 3 which is a free tool from Microsoft. You must have Windows Media Player 10 installed to view it. Macker Basketball photos.

Technorati Tags:
basketball, gus macker, spiritual, hardwood warrior

Posted on

When you feel anxious..

“When you feel anxious or irritated, instead of fretting or going round worrying others, just calm down. Start by controlling your breathing, then say a word with love, do something with love, send a loving thought, and you will see that what was brewing inside you and turning sour has been washed away. In asking love for help, you have opened a spring within you, and now you can leave love to do its purifying work. You see, it is quite easy, you only have to open up your heart to let love come flooding in. Try it, and you will wonder why you never tried it before. We hear love spoken of, and we make fun of it, and play around with it, instead of using it as the most effective means of salvation.”–Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

Technorati Tags:
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov, spiritual, love, anxiety

Posted on

St. Irenaeus Prayer

This prayers hangs near my desk at work. It is one of my favorites. It is attributed to St. Irenaeus, one of the early fathers of the church.

It is not you that shapes God
it is God that shapes you.
If you are the work of God
await the hand of the artist
who does all things in due season.
Offer Him your heart,
soft and tractable,
and keep the form
in which the artist has fashioned you.
Let your clay be moist,
lest you grow hard
and lose the imprint of his fingers.

– St. Irenaeus

Posted on

OpenOffice Enterprise

If you’re a person or organization that would like leverage the savings and power of OpenOffice enterprise, this is an affordable solution. OpenOffice-Enterprise manages OpenOffice using standard Windows Group Policy tools, including Active Directory, Microsoft Management Console and the Group Policy Editor.

Technorati Tags:
openoffice, technology, active directory, group policy