ABVM PARISH COMMUNITY

  SHOULD CHRISTIANS LOVE ANIMALS? Someone might say, “I love them on my plate.”  But not all animals.  We tend to be very discerning in the kind of meat we want to be served, conditioned more by the culture in which we were raised than anything else.  Not many, if any, restaurants in North America serve dog or cat meat, but you can find such offerings in some Asian countries.  So, when I wonder whether or not we should love animals, I don’t mean as food, but as living creatures.  Christians have a moral obligation to love one another.  But are we morally obligated to love animals?  In answering the question, we ought to consider how the Bible celebrates God’s creation.  “You fixed the earth on its foundation, never to be moved.  The ocean covered it like a garment; above the mountains stood the waters…You made springs flow…they give drink to every beast of the field; here wild asses quench their thirst.  Besides them the birds of heaven nest; among the branches they sing…You raise

  COME AWAY BY YOURSELVES The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught.  He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.’  People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat (Mark 6:30-31) . Since they were human, Jesus and the apostles needed to get away from the crowds and rest.  The human need for rest was why God made sabbath for man, not man for the sabbath.  A professor who was a prominent rabbi brought this home to me in a course I took on Judaism.  He explained that humans have a natural need for a weekly sabbath rest.  It would have been necessary to establish it even if God had not commanded it!  I learned this by experience as a seminary student when I spent a summer working two jobs, seven days a week.  I needed the money to support myself during the academic year but by the end of summer I was completely frazzled.  I gained a new appreciation for the hardship of

  AN EXEMPLAR OF PUBLIC SERVICE The world is mourning the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned over the United Kingdom for more than seventy years.  She was known for her graciousness, her love of country, and her dedication to the British people.  There was a period during her reign when the many scandals of the royal family caused some to question the practical value of the monarchy.  Queen Elizabeth remained above the scandals and her steady leadership preserved the constitutional monarchy.  She stayed outside of politics while continuing to meet weekly in private meetings with the serving Prime Minister.  I am not a royals watcher – my interest is more focused on the Phillies and the Eagles – but I saw enough to admire the Queen’s tireless dedication, even in the waning years of her long life (she met with the new Prime Minister two days before her death).  She had the reputation of always putting the interests of the Kingdom before her personal interests, in the manner of a

TAKE NOT THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN The other night I watched the 1966 movie “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” on Turner Classic Movies.  Elizabeth Taylor, who played Martha, won Best Actress and Sandy Dennis, who played Honey, won Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars that year.  The movie is a dark comedy drama – not my favorite genre – but I was attracted to watch it because of its popularity and its name, a spoof on Walt Disney’s theme song for the children’s cartoon The Three Little Pigs . Disney naming rights were expensive and so the playwright, Edgar Albee, inspired by graffiti he saw on a bathroom wall, replaced “big bad wolf” with “Virginia Woolf,” the name of a famous English novelist.  He explained in an interview that he was thinking, who’s afraid of living without false illusions?  In fact, the main actress is afraid, which the audience discovers only at the dramatic end of the movie.  I almost stopped watching the movie because from the very beginning one

  BEING ALL THERE We worship God with our mind, heart and body.  Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).  Our worship must engage our mind, our heart, and our body if it is to be true and pleasing to God. In the Mass the mind is engaged by the prayers, the proclamation of the Scriptures, and the homily.  The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council states that “ Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy.”  Conscious and active participation requires at least a fundamental knowledge of the Scriptures and understanding of the sacred rites. Worship, of course, is more than an intellectual activity.  It also engages the heart, the center of emotion and of loving.  Feelings must not control our worship, but