My Mom’s Funeral Homily

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My mother, Evelyn Donnetta Geiger, passed at the age of ninety-one on July 18.  We just celebrated her funeral today.  Thanks to everyone who has been so kind during these past weeks.  God bless you all.

May Evelyn and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.  Amen.

I know I speak for the family when I say that it was a great blessing for us to be with our mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend during her last days.  She was deeply committed to her family, and the family was there for her, to accompany her on her final journey.  Mom knew she was dying and she was ready to meet Jesus.  I told her she was going to see Jesus.  She replied, “I want to see Him, but I am not sure that He wants to see me.”  I think she was being facetious.

I would like to thank all those who have prayed for the repose of the soul of our mother and who have supported the family during this time.  On behalf of my her sons, my brothers, Trace and Mike, and her grandchildren, Charlene, Tim, Chris, Michaela, and her great-grandson, Kolby, I say thank you.  Though clearly difficult, it has been a tremendous time of grace.

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Anonymity and Personal Responsibility​

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But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment (Mat 12:36).

Obviously, there are some legitimate reasons for bloggers and those on social media to utilize anonymity and pseudonymity, which for brevity’s sake I will not rehearse here.  No one seriously disputes their use under every circumstance.  So let us get to the heart of the issue, which is the demand of justice.

Justice is not optional under any set of circumstances, though weighing the competing interests at hand may not always be easy, and men of good will may disagree over their solutions.  There are legitimate reasons to protect the identities of whistleblowers, who otherwise might suffer from the unjust use of power.   On the other hand, every man has a right to his good name and to have his accuser take personal responsibility for his potentially life-harming assertions. Continue reading →

Family in Exile

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Evelyn Waugh, the great Catholic novelist, was rather disappointed with the modern celebration of Christmas. He wrote:

Christmas. All that remains of Bethlehem is the breakdown of communications; no room in the inn.

For Waugh and for many other people, in spite of their deeply religious sentiments, Christmas is very much not “the most wonderful time of the year.” Continue reading →

Christmas Mass at Dawn

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From the rising of the sun
To the world’s furthest edge,
We sing to Christ our Prince,
Born of the Virgin Mary.

Blessed maker of the ages
Now takes up the body of a slave,
So flesh may unfetter flesh,
That what He made is not lost.

This ancient Latin hymn for Christmas Lauds, A Solis Cardine, refers to the dawn and the course of the sun across the sky. It also connects this idea with the saving of our flesh by the coming of Christ in the flesh. We pass from darkness into light, from despair to hope, because Christ enters the darkling earth as the Light of the World. Continue reading →

Success

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Update (6/6/16): Here are the notes as promised.  I was tasked with a forty minute oral presentation followed by ten minutes of questions on the topic with another twenty minutes on anything in dogmatic theology.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. I am very, very grateful.

I just wanted to give a brief update and then do nothing at all.  I am bushed.

I presented yesterday on the Triple Way in Dionysius. Within the next few days, I will post the file of my notes for the presentation. It was challenging and I was grilled with questions but in the end my moderator, Fr. Bernard Blankenhorn, OP, told me that I passed with flying colors.

It was very reassuring to know that I had so many wonderful people praying for me. Again I am most grateful.

I am still waiting to find out my overall grade, as the second reader for my tesina has yet submitted it, but I know I have passed and have finished the degree of License in Sacred Theology.

God bless all of you.

Journey to the Cross-roads

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I have not been blogging for the a very long time now due to the demands of my studies, not least of which was the writing of my tesina (small thesis) on the development of doctrine in St. Bonaventure’s Collations on the Six Days.  I finish my decree of License in Sacred Theology at the Angelicum this Friday with the lectio coram, which is an oral comprehensive exam consisting of a forty minute lecture in front of a board of my professors and about a half hour of answering questions on my topic and on theology in general.

Thanks for all your prayers over the last couple of years of my studying.  I would be gratefully once again for a Hail Mary or two.

Here is the introduction from my tesina for whoever might be interested.

I will post on the results afterwards and then perhaps get back to blogging. God bless.

Father Angelo

The Firmness of Faith in the Cataclysm of Time

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Una traduzione abbreviata italiano segue la versione inglese.

Sources below*

“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory” (Mk 13:14-26).

In today’s gospel, Our Lord portends the signs that will accompany the end of the world. The heavens will be shaken to their foundation. The universe will literally come apart, constituting the dissolution of all things of time and the advent of eternity. The sun, moon and stars along with the firmament in which they are set will collapse and fall, and, thus, so shall we.

This is the exact opposite of the way it is all began. The Holy Spirit says in Isaiah:

My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together (48:13).

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