The Gospel according to Laugh-In

In honor of Sunday's Gospel, here's a somewhat more light-hearted translation (HT to the NPM user-group e-mail broadcast):

Updated 9/19 with correct title and College for author Timothy Fulop - Thanks, Genie Addleton

Prodigal Son in Key of F

Feeling footloose and frisky, a featherbrained fellow forced his fond father to fork over his farthings. He flew far to foreign fields and frittered his fortune, feasting fabulously with faithless friends.
Finally facing famine and fleeced by his fellows-in-folly, he found himself a feed flinger in a filthy farmyard. Fairly famished, he fain would have filled his frame with foraged food from the fodder fragments. "Fooey, my father's flunkies fare far fancier," the frazzled fugitive fumed feverishly, frankly facing facts.
Frustrated by failure and filled with foreboding, he fled forthwith to his family. Falling at his father's feet, he floundered forlornly, "Father, I have flunked and fruitlessly forfeited family favor." But the faithful father, forestalling further flinching, frantically flagged the flunkies to fetch forth the finest fatling and fix a feast.
The fugitive's fraternal faultfinder frowned on the fickle forgiveness of former folderol. His fury flashed, but fussing was futile. The farsighted father figured, "Such filial fidelity is fine, but what forbids fervent festivity for the fugitive is found. Unfurl the flags with flaring, let fun and frolic freely flow. Former failure is forgotten, folly forsaken. Forgiveness forms the foundation for future fortune."

Author: Timothy E. Fulop is Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Dean, Lakeland College

Mother Teresa's 'Dark Night' in Context

Whether you read the new biography or not, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, who has made a study of psychology and the faith, and was a friend of Mother Teresa's, does everyone a favor by putting her writings in their proper context at First Things (HT Fr. Schnippel).

First Things is also front-paging Carol Zaleski's 2003 article 'The Dark Night of Mother Teresa' that the media ignored because it didn't bash this saint-to-be or scandalize the church.

Sacramentum Caritatis Bulletin Articles - #4

This is the fourth part of a series of bulletin articles on the March, 2007 apostolic exhortation from Pope Benedict the XVI entitled ‘Sacramentum Caritatis (The Sacrament of Love)’. For further study, refer to paragraphs 7 through 10 of SC.

Links to previous parts can be found here.
Thanks, Fr. Martin Fox.

Pope Benedict writes, ‘The first element of eucharistic faith is the mystery of God himself, Trinitarian love… In the Eucharist Jesus does not give us a "thing," but himself; he offers his own body and pours out his own blood. He thus gives us the totality of his life and reveals the ultimate origin of this love.’ (SC ¶ 7)
Jesus, the Son and Redeemer, was sent by God, the Father and Creator, and conceived by the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete and Sanctifier. God willed that we might be saved by one like ourselves. Jesus revealed the purpose of His mission in the Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. The Holy Spirit, whom the Father sends in Jesus’ name, reminds us of all that Jesus taught us, and will be with us always (cf. John 14).
The new and eternal covenant of Jesus’ Body and Blood delivers us from evil and death. In addition to the Last Supper, consider how the Cross (Jesus’ Passion and Death) is also about the Eucharist. The ‘First Mass’ didn’t end with the end of the Holy Thursday meal, but continued through the entire Paschal Mystery of Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection. As the Holy Father writes, ‘In instituting the sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus anticipates and makes present the sacrifice of the Cross and the victory of the resurrection. At the same time, He reveals that He Himself is the true sacrificial lamb… The institution of the Eucharist demonstrates how Jesus' death, for all its violence and absurdity, became in Him a supreme act of love and mankind's definitive deliverance from evil.’ (SC ¶ 10)

adapted from presentations written by Rev. Martin Fox, published at http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/; alt. GPW

Ministry Night at St. Jude

Tonight, the parish lectors, extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, and Mass coordinators attended Vespers and a brief training session together in church. In spite of being scheduled at the same time as the Bengals game, attendance was great. Evening Prayer was beautiful, and presentations for all the lay ministers were concise and meaningful.
What a blessing to see returning familiar faces along with fresh, new faces coming together to offer our service for the glory of God.