Installation

Although this happened several weeks ago, on June 22 to be exact, I haven’t been able to get around to doing anything about pictures for a very simple reason.

I updated my MacBook.

Installation

And now it’s taking forever to do anything, let alone do a simple edit on a photo. (And it’s a bad edit at that, sorry.)

It’s also given me some time to reflect on this photo, which was taken by a friend. The grey curtain and the a/c vents are sort of an unbecoming backdrop during Mass. And it looks like St Michael is about to hit Fr. Bourg with his lance.

Then, one has to wonder why there is a wall lamp to the right, and why it does not work. And the Infant of Prague is practically hidden back there.

Mass is always about the mysteries you know. But maybe we can clear up a few of these minor mysteries as time goes on.

As for being Pastor, it’s wonderful in many regards. The challenges are not where I would have considered them to be, and that does require a lot of prayer. But of course, that goes with the territory.

I’m looking forward to getting my laptop back up to snuff. We have photos to post! Stories to tell! Places to see!

And evidently, longer albs to buy… pounds to lose… Oh my.

Ciao.

On the Third Day

Glass on Porch Ledge

This.

This is the picture which brought me to cancel out my 365project.org account.

What a completely awesome shot this is going to be.”

Fizzy mineral water catching the sun, against the dramatically smooth bokeh provided by the 200mm zoom and the mossy backdrop.

What a headache.

So, when I have a moment I’ll have to revisit that project. Until then…

Splash, out.

Subjects Matter

So, I started a 365 Project, which consists of documenting your life with one photo a day. I thought this would be easy.

Things started out with this one.

Airing out the Church

See, the A/C was out, and with the cooler north wind starting to blow in, I opened the doors before Mass to help cool the Church and to air out the tepid, damp, stale air of the day. The air was only tepid, damp and stale since the A/C was out, and the air outside was tepid and damp, and so so humid, as well.

It’s not a great picture, but it more or less sums up the day; and I like our Church. It’s homy and it’s comfortable. Well, it’s more comfortable when the A/C is not out, but that’s a separate story. And while purists may argue that a Church should not be homy and comfortable, but should be grand and regal, well…God bless them.

But I’ve noticed over at 365 project, that people are into taking these really cool photos, like, an awesome photo of the day project. And, if airing out the Church sums up my New Year’s Day, then I should probably rethink the whole issue and get out with my camera a bit more often. But on the other hand, I’m a Priest, and saying Mass is a highlight of the day. I did after all celebrate New Year’s Eve by concelebrating a midnight Mass.

Today, this was my photo.

rustic Christmas decor

It didn’t turn any heads. The only other possibility for today would have been this one.

mossy tree

It’s a mossy tree which I snapped during the 10 to fifteen minutes I had my camera with me.

Well, it’s part of the tree.

It’s… it’s… well…

This could go absolutely nowhere, I realize. I think the issue at hand will be, obviously, to find better subject matter.

I’ll keep you posted.

The Holy Inncocents

King Herod, the Insane

Today, right on the heels of the Nativity of Our Lord, we remember the horrible massacre of children who have come to be known as the Holy Innocents.

“When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.”
Matthew 2: 16

I might add, that after doing an exhaustive google image search (well, truth be told it only took a minute,) for public domain images, I noticed that almost all of the ones currently in use are available over at the Holy Innocent’s Gallery, a project of the Star Quest Production Network, and Fr. Roderick.

Fr. Roderick and I go back a looong way on Facebook, and I know he won’t mind my linking to his site and his wonderful image library.

Hey Fr. Roderick! Merry Christmas!

Er… Fr. Allen, Fr. Ken, Kenny… Priest, USA, Facebook? OH. It’s not ringing any bells? Erm….

Well. Life goes on. Lord knows I’ve faced worse rejection.

But nothing as bad as the Holy Innocents had to deal with. Look at these artworks… and the cruel, vicious fate awaiting these poor souls.

Often in Sacred Scripture we’re faced with a great moment of salvation history, and somewhere around it we’re confronted with a great sadness, a cruelty, an injustice.

For instance, look at the Sorrows of Mary. The Flight into Egypt is seen as one of the sorrows, and yet it’s right on the heels of several of the Joyous Mysteries: The Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity …. then the portending of the Seven Swords which shall pierce her heart, followed by the Flight into Egypt.

We can also look at the time when Jesus was lost and who knew where he was? One can only imagine the grief of a mother losing her only child, and there was no doubt some of the hyperbole in her mind that he was the son of God; no doubt there was a bit of the reminder that people had already tried to do away with him via the Massacre of the Holy Innocents as well. A great sorrow indeed for Mary.

Holy Innocents

And right on the heels of that, we have a joyous mystery: Jesus is in the Temple teaching the scholars a thing or two about the nature of God.

So, the sorrows are always found limning the joys in Scripture, and we know that to be true in our own lives. Sorrow and joy often live side by side in the heart.

Icon of the Holy Innocents

Scholars debate the authenticity of the Massacre of the Innocents, since the historian Josephus does not mention it. But being as Bethlehem was at the time a small town, it’s usually considered that the atrocity of Herod’s deeds was so terrible and awful, that the small town massacre of children did not make the books of heinous deeds which he had commanded.

I often wonder how long Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem. Herod killed the babes from 0 – 2 years old, based on the story and travel of the magi.

Perhaps people of the modern age should take a clue from Joseph and Mary. Herod listened to magi and was a model of self will run riot. Mary and Joseph sought to do God’s will, and listened to the visitations of angels, who sometimes spoke to them in dreams.

Today’s world, filled with horoscopes, omens and oracles, war, famine, abortion and the encouragement of self will above all other considerations, sees the evil of Herod amplified on a scale probably unimaginable in the days of Herod.

Lord, take our lives and our wills, and show us how to use them to do what you will. Lead us to peace, so that our loves may be examples of your power and might shining through us. Have mercy on the holy innocents of our day, and show us the power and joy awaiting behind the sorrows of our times.

Help us O Lord. We surely do need it.

Amen.

Kerald COdex, Holy INnocents

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Matteo_di_Giovanni_002.jpgCornelis van Haarlem - Bethlehemse kindermoord

Peter Paul Rubens Massacre of the Innocents.

William Holman Hunt - The Triumph of the Innocents

innocents

Holy Innocents

holoy innocents

Holy INnocents

Feast of St. John, Evangelist

St. John the EvangelistBeautiful readings from St. John’s letters in the readings today. Here, from the USCCB’s site, the Bible section, 1st Letter of John, we have a bit of explanation on the First Letter of St. John the Evangelist:

The author sets forth the striking contrasts between light and darkness, Christians and the world, and truth and error to illustrate the threats and responsibilities of Christian life. The result is not one of theological argument but one of intense religious conviction expressed in simple truths. The letter is of particular value for its declaration of the humanity and divinity of Christ as an apostolic teaching and for its development of the intrinsic connection between Christian moral conduct and Christian doctrine.

Today’s writing on Faith is almost always done in a tone of theological argument, as more and more people study theology.

Education in the Faith versus a Lived Witness

St. John the Evangelist
But the big tension that arises from arguments in theology always comes back to the lived witness of Christian life. As St. John writes:

What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what
we have seen with our eyes,
what we looked upon
and touched
with our hands

…for the life was made visible;
we have seen it and testify to it
and proclaim to you the eternal life
that was with the Father
and was made visible to us

what we have seen and heard
we proclaim now to you,
so that you too may have fellowship with us;
for our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”

The emphasis is constant ~ we’ve seen him , we touched him, he is real; really in the flesh, in and about the world. He’s also fully divine, from the beginning, with the FatherSt. John the Evangelist. Fully human, fully divine. The two natures in one person.

St. John does not have to argue from theology, his witness to Jesus Christ helps us to understand theology; it helps us to write out theology and try to understand Jesus Christ in a better way, a more clear image of this Savior of all mankind.

A personal witness from the Apostles, which is handed down through the unbroken succession of Apostles, counts for a lot.

Revelation informs us that in the great battle against evil, “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony;”.

I.e., not only are we saved by the powerful salvific action of Jesus Christ, and his shed blood; we are saved by the testimony of the Faithful. In other words, how are people to know Jesus Christ and to come to him unless we come to know him and share our stories of him? And unless others share their stories with us? St. John here is the prime example of witness.

Questions for Reflection

How does my life reflect my knowledge of Jesus Christ? Is my knowledge of Jesus Christ a learned theology, or is it borne of prayer, reflection and communion? Is my knowledge personal, regarding the person of Jesus Christ and not an academic understanding of him?

St. John the Evangelist, Pray for us.

The Rev. Kenneth Allen