Pictures

Feast of the Annunciation

All the rich among the people shall entreat Thy countenance: after her shall virgins be brought to the King: her neighbors shall be brought to thee in gladness and rejoicing. 

Grace is poured abroad in thy lips; therefore hath God blessed thee for ever. Because of truth and meekness, and justice; and thy right hand shall conduct thee wonderfully.

Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel.

Lætare Sunday

And happy Mothers' Day to our dear mothers! On account of the fact that the propers for today's Mass refer constantly to the heavenly Jerusalem as our mother (e.g. the Epistle reading from Gal. 4:22-31), this day was known as "Mothering Sunday". At least in English Catholicism it was traditionally a day to visit the Cathedral (Mother Church) of one's diocese, as well as a day to honor one's own natural mother (source: the ever informative Fish Eaters). St. Joseph's feast day (March 19) was, by the way, the traditional day to honor fathers. So, in our ongoing attempts to recover bits and pieces of Catholic culture wherever we can find them (to add to the many such traditions handed down to us by our own parents), we're trying to be extra nice to Lisa today. Here she is with her two beautiful children, whom she mothers admirably, in my humble opinion ;)

Ireland Forever

We had a great time watching our first ever rugby game as Ireland hung on to beat Wales 17-15 and win the Six Nations Rugby tournament. Apparently, it's the first time in 60+ years that Ireland has won this tournament in a clean sweep, and they did it beating last year's champs. Although it's not quite baseball, I have to say that it's an extremely entertaining sport. I could see myself becoming a bit of a fan... More on the game here.

Feast of St. Joseph

Here's a picture of little Thomas on his name day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The holy Bishop Patrick is the Apostle and Patron of Ireland. He used with profit the talents received from God to convert the whole Irish people which, thanks to him, has always been strongly loyal to the Holy See. He died in 464.

O God, Who didst vouchsafe to send blessed Patrick, Thy Confessor and Bishop, to preach Thy glory to the nations: grant, by his merits and intercession, that whatever Thou commandest us to do, we may by Thy mercy be able to fulfill. Through our Lord...

We've suspended all Lenten fasting, and the menu for the day looks something like this:

Breakfast: fried soda bread, fried eggs, bacon, and coffee with Irish cream.

Lunch: meat loaf, mashed potatoes, cabbage, and Kilkenny or Guinness beer.

Dinner: potato wedges and Irish car bombs.

Dessert: Irish cream over ice.

To Vincent and Brigid

Salvator Doppel Bock

Katie is safely back from her quick trip to Salzburg and Munich, and I am ridiculously excited that she managed to find and bring me a Salvator Doppel Bock! For those of you priveleged to own a copy of the famed Bad Catholic's Guide to Wine, Whiskey, & Song, please turn to page 277 and read "Salvator Beer - Save Us from Lent!"

This one was first brewed in 1629 specifically for Lent. It is strong, hardy, and up to 8% alcohol - meant to compensate a bit for the fasting. It was so good that they had to send a barrel down to Rome to get special permission from the Pope to drink it during Lent. Ah, I am looking forward to this.

Third Sunday in Lent

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you, 

Happy birthday, dear Uncle Vince Cow! 

Happy birthday to you.

Trinity Paper

I'm almost finished with a small (five page) essay summarizing some of the main points of St. Thomas's trinitarian theology and putting them in relation to John 5:17-20. I had never realized before how much St. Thomas likes appropriate numerations. For example, the first part of the Summa begins with a treatise on the unity of God. The treatise on the Trinity then begins at question no. 27 (3x3x3). The next treatise, on creation, begins at question no. 44 (4 winds, 4 corners of the earth, etc.). Within the treatise on the Trinity there is one question on the Father (q. 33), two on the Son (qq. 34-35), and three on the Holy Spirit (qq. 36-38). Furthermore, his entire theology of God can be summarized thus:

1 Essence
2 Processions
3 Persons
4 Relations
5 Notions

The essence, of course, is the divine nature; the processions are of the intellect and of the will; the persons are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the relations are fatherhood, sonship, spiration (breathing forth), and procession; and the notions are the four relations plus innascibility (being ungenerated) as regards the Father.

Quite remarkable, I think.

[UPDATE] The paper is available via the link on the sidebar.

Pretty in Pink

And extremely proud of it, too. This afternoon I emerged momentarily from my paper writing to find Maria excitedly showing off what she had accomplished with a pink marker. She was so proud of herself that we, bad parents that we are, burst out laughing instead of scolding her. She was pink all over her face as well as all over both legs up to the knees. Then we discovered that our white bed cover was also rather pink in parts... as was my bedside table... as were the pages of some of her books...

Happy Birthday!

To Mom (Nana), from all of us with lots of love!