Everything went splendidly yesterday. Unfortunately, I won't be able to post pictures for a few days until I can get my computer set up in the new place.
I will say that Matthew slept through the entire rite, and even through all but the last 10 minutes or so of the reception. He's such a good little boy!
And now he's a Christian!
I awoke early this morning to discover myself on the edge of the bed, about 3 degrees of bodily rotation away from falling to the floor.
The culprit? Little Matthew! Yes folks, my son has learned how to roll over and somehow he shoved me to the edge of the bed.
Well, OK, maybe that's not quite exactly how it happened. What probably happened is that as he rolled over towards me, my paternal instincts overrode my near-comatose slumber, and so I inched and rolled over ever so slightly so as to give him room, but the result is still the same - a near-brush with a bruised bottom.
Hey all!
Tomorrow is the HUGE DAY!
If you need directions, here they are again.
Mass at 11:30, Baptism to follow!
If you know me, you know I love St. Augustine.
This guy really loves St. Augustine.
Check it out. He's got some great links, especially to Augustinian iconography which I am really tempted to "borrow."
The Cubs absolutely cannot be losing games on Friday afternoons. Especially to the Brewers. It's too early in the weekend for me to be so completely out Argh!
Tomorrow I have to work so I can have next Friday off. While, I'm at work, my wife will be choreographing the final stage of our move. We've enlisted the help of some friends and some vehicles larger than ours, and I'll be helping out once I get off. Once the move is done, we'll head in to set up for the Baptismal after-set.
Sunday is the big day!
Please pray for our little pagan baby as he becomes an adopted Son of God and brother of all Christians!
St. Matthew, pray for us!
St. Boniface, pray for us!
Sudanese Bishop Macram Max Gassis will be on EWTN this Friday, presumably speaking about the situation in his country.
He came to visit the U of I Newman Center when I was there, and spoke at all of the Masses. This was a few years ago, but I remember him very well. He is a target of the Sudanese government (at least he was at the time, I don't know his current status) and he would have to sneak in and out of the country to visit and celebrate Mass for his people and bring them aid.
I think what I remember most about his talk, though, was his exhortation to us to be joyful in our faith despite all of the injustices in the world. "Have a beer!" he said (I believe I did that night - for him of course). But he reminded us that as we celebrate our freedom to remember the people who suffer even unto death.
At any rate, it should be an interesting show. It's Friday evening at 8 PM Eastern time.
Matthew had a doctor's appointment today. He's up to 10 lbs 10 oz and is 22 inches long.
For those of you without a long memory that means he's gained over 2 lbs since birth and has only grown one inch.
It seems maybe he's taking a little too much after his Papa, huh? :)
I set up an album on ofoto.com to store baby photos. You can even order prints of any pictures you like.
Enjoy!
I've always wanted to post a list of what I'm reading on my blog, but every time I start to make a list, I feel like it's a somewhat prideful thing to do, in the sense of: "Check out the really deep/orthodox/classic/heady/cool stuff I'm reading!"
But, I've been doing little enough reading lately that there's no risk of being falsely inflated because I know precisely what a slacker I am!
Twisted logic aside, here's a new periodic feature called:
CHECK OUT THE REALLY DEEP/ORTHODOX/CLASSIC/HEADY/COOL STUFF I'M READING!!:
UPDATE: This post was ridiculously long, so I moved the list over to the sidebar, where I can keep it and update it periodically. Feel free to give me crap if the list doesn't change for a long period of time. :) It means I should be doing less blogging (and fantasy baseball-ing) and more reading.
...and for all lovers of Cheers
The very last one is my fav:
So get your scores from a guy like me
Who knows what it's like to have a groin injury.
G-g-groin injury
..who probably won't read this since she is a Carmelite...
The Pope's Angelus from Sunday.
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
1. I greet all of you with affection who have come to Les Combes to share with me our usual Sunday Angelus appointment. My profound thanks to the mayor of Introd and his aides for their courteous welcome, as well as to the regional and provincial authorities and all those who make it possible these days for me and my colleagues to have a peaceful stay among these delightful mountains of Valle d'Aosta.
My special greeting and cordial gratitude to the bishop of Aosta, Monsignor Giuseppe Anfossi, and to the whole ecclesial community of the valley. With special affection I think of the sick and those who are experiencing great difficulties and hardships.
2. In this oasis of quiet, before the wonderful spectacle of nature, one easily experiences how profitable silence is, a good that today is ever more rare. The many opportunities of relation and information that modern society offers sometimes run the risk of robbing time for recollection, to the point of rendering persons incapable of reflecting and praying. In reality, only in silence does man succeed in hearing in the depth of his conscience the voice of God, which really makes him free. And vacations can help to rediscover and cultivate this indispensable interior dimension of human life.
3. Mary Most Holy is the perfect model of listening to God, who speaks to the human heart. We turn to her, thinking of the Marian shrines of Valle d'Aosta and of the images of the Virgin that are found along the mountain roads and paths. In particular, I bless the statue of the "Little Virgin of the Great Paradise," restored 50 years after it was placed on the summit of that majestic mountain. May Mary, who in a few days we will celebrate as Queen of Mount Carmel, help us to perceive in the beauty of creation a reflection of the divine glory, and encourage us to seek with all our energy the spiritual summit of holiness.
For anybody interested (ahem, Julie), Matthew's Baptism will be this Sunday after the 11:30 Mass at St. Matt's. We're pretty busy with moving and everything else, so if you've been checking your mail for an invite, here it is. :)
Seriously though, anybody is welcome. Just drop me an email and let me know that you're coming so we can plan accordingly. We're going to have a little reception afterwards and we need to know what all to get.
If you need direx, here they are. They start in Peoria, but if you're coming from anywhere else all you have to do is get to I-74 and follow these directions from number 5 on.
Hope to see you there!
Bucking for martydom?
Maybe you should go to China, where a women was arrested for distributing Bibles on the street and then died in prison from her beatings.
Or you could try Vietnam, which just tightened controls on registering religious organizations. Did you know that they Pope doesn't really even appoint bishops there? he gives the Communist party a list of candidates and they choose. Yikes.
... we have a rascal.
We went to 5:30 Mass PM at our parish today. When we left the house, Matthew was sound asleep. He'd just eaten and did not make a noise all the way to Church.
During Mass, he started getting a bit antsy. He started wiggling around and making his little noises that sound like he is in a perpetual stretch. I was trying to calm him down, switching positions to make him more comfortable and swaying back and forth because he loves motion so much. He would have periods of quiet, but would then start up again. All of a sudden, he punctuated it with a couple of shrieks. I knew then that I had to get out of there, so I promptly escaped to the cry room. Once there, he let loose completely. There was nothing I could do; there was no hold, no stroke, no soft words that would calm him down.
Jenny came back shortly afterwards and nursed him until it was time for Communion - which was seriously only about 5 minutes (she came back during the consecration, in fact). After we received, he was pretty quiet, so we sat back in the pew, and Jenny was holding Matthew.
I looked at him and he was resting there against her chest, with this look on his face. There's no way I can accurately describe it, but Jenny and I both had the same thought - he was laughing at us. I know it's impossible, but that is the exact look he had on his face. His mouth was open in a sort of smile, and his eyes were truly dancing. If it were a cartoon, there would have been a conversation bubble coming from his mouth saying, "Suckers!" It was unbelievable.
And I'm sure that our mothers are reading this and relishing every little bit of sweet revenge. I'm sure the best is yet to come.
July is going to be a very grace-filled, but also very tough month. Jenny and I will be moving to our new apartment, Matthew is getting baptized on the 18th, Jenny's maid of honor is getting married on the 24th (Jeny is standing up), and my best man is getting married on the 31st (I'm standing up). I'm also going to try to pick up extra days at work to cover what I'll be missing.
Fortunately, our leases overlap by the entire month, but with all the traveling, our goal is to have verything done by the day of the baptism.
Schedule for the month of July:
July 2-31: MOVE!
July 4: Dominic's baptism OOPS! Our clock at home slowed down, so we missed it.
July 5: I've got the day off of work. We're going to take a load over and do some cleaning in the new place.
July 17: I'm probably working that Saturday
July 18: MATTHEW'S BAPTISM!!
July 22 (after work) or early July 23: Drive to Chicago.
July 23: Monika and Kevin's rehearsal
July 24: Monika and Kevin's wedding!!
July 25: Grandma-Lu's Birthday. Happy birthday mom!
July 25: Drive back to Champaign.
July 29 (early A.M.): Drive to Chicago
July 30 (early A.M.): Drive to Minneapolis, MN
July 30 (P.M.): Brian and Kim's rehearsal
July 31: Brian and Kim's wedding!!
August 1: Drive back to Champaign
I gotta admit, I've never gotten into the whole Duke thing (sorry dvr and Rosie), but I will say this: if Coach K tells the Lakers to take their $8,000,00 and shove it, I will have a much deeper appreciation. I may even become a fan.
