Friday Five (Vol. 30)

— 1 —

I guess it’s time I wrote something…anything…of note. The last two to three weeks have been crazybusyhectic, but in a very fun way. Winding down the final days of the school year (which ends today), the end of one baseball season and the start of two others plus one softball season, work, play, yard, graduation parties, a new bible study and the end of the Catholicism series I was leading at our parish. Add to that trying to figure out a summer reading list (I began Don Quixote last week). It’s a wonderfully full life.

— 2 —

Another item I’m working on this spring/summer/fall: praying in Latin. My new edition of the Roman Breviary from Baronius Press has all the prayers and readings of the Divine Office side-by-side on each page in Latin and English. So far I’ve memorized a few and hope to be more fluent by the end of the year. I’m also working on my Gregorian Chant when praying the hymns. So far when I do this on our patio in the mornings and evenings I haven’t caused too many neighborhood critters to howl. Not yet anyway.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning, also now, and always, and to ages of ages. Amen.

I’ll likely write more about this later this year. See Item #5 below.

— 3 —

About that spring baseball season:

My son is at the bottom of this pile. His left leg is visible as he lies flat on his stomach underneath #13 and the rest of the team.

The boys won it all. The first baseball championship in the school’s history. I could write more and do so easily. These are genuinely good boys and fine coaches. Many players, coaches, fellow students, alumni, and fathers wept with broad smiles. Moms did too. I got misty-eyed when Nebraska finally broke through in the 1990s to win three NCAA football titles. When the Red Sox finally ended the 86-year drought I didn’t cry so much as just sit in stunned relief as I watched the celebration in St. Louis where they won Game 4 of the World Series. But when it directly involves your own children and the boys that you’ve spent day after day watching it’s indescribable. No Cornhusker nor no Red Sox win will ever be its equal.

— 4 —

Driving to work the other day while listening to our Catholic radio station I heard a Deacon from the Archdiocese of Omaha talk about a full-page ad that would be running in the sports section of the Omaha World-Herald on Father’s Day. The ad itself had been created last summer, almost a year before the abhorrent HHS mandate/diktat was foisted upon us. The deacon said they were asking 1,000 men to sign their names to it so they could appear at the bottom of the ad. And, to ensure the ad ran elsewhere they were asking for a small donation to assist. I printed and signed my copy later that day and mailed it off with a check the next day. There is truth in this little proclamation. Therefore I predict there will be a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth once it runs. The text is below.

*****

We as Catholic men stand united with the Truths taught by Jesus Christ through our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI and our Shepherd, Archbishop George Lucas.

We stand inspired by these Truths to a life of continual conversion and repentance. Today we humbly stand as public witnesses for Truth amid the confusion of our culture which mistakes license for freedom and media polls for truth.

Therefore, we ask all men to join us in committing themselves to these Truths:

• Men are to be Spiritual Leaders in our families. Living in the Power of the Spirit of our Lord Jesus, we desire to be self-giving men. With Christ’s help we can dedicate ourselves totally to the moral and spiritual good of our wives and children in order to make our families bearers of Christ to others in our communities.
• Life is sacred from the moment of conception to natural death. We hold the moral truth that abortion is the killing of an innocent human being and that we have an obligation to defend the poor here and abroad who struggle to stay alive.
• Marriage is ordained by God, and therefore reason, to be a public communion of love between a man and a woman ordered toward the reproduction of children and to their care.
• As Americans, we have the Constitutional and natural right to practice our religious beliefs and follow our conscience in pursuit of the truth while tolerating no unjust interference by the government.

— 5 —

Maggie mentioned something in a blog post the other day that I’d been considering for quite some time: the A to Z Blogging Challenge. Like Maggie, I missed out on participating in it as it was organized for April, but there was no way I had time in April. Besides, I tend to write at my own pace and when I can inbetween baseball games or other life events so April would have been tough. This way I can go at my own pace and fit it in over the summer instead of cramming it into 30 days or so. Plus I’ve already developed a subject list for the alphabet because this has been something I’ve been considering for over a year now. I should be able to begin soon after Memorial Day.

The Wedding Toast

This article contains a list of some reported “worst wedding toasts ever.”

Among them:

“A friend of mine from college got married, and his best man said in his speech: ‘Finally John has found someone with low enough self-esteem to marry him.’”

“The maid of honor (the bride’s sister) not only talked about herself during the whole speech, she also mentioned the possibility of an affair between herself and her sister’s new husband.”

“At my cousin’s wedding, the best man ended his toast by saying he wanted the groom to know that he’d be there for him at his next wedding when this one didn’t work out.”

“My cousin gave a horrible toast at her younger sister’s wedding a few years ago. She began by saying that she never liked her sister’s new husband throughout high school and that ‘today he’s still at the level of slightly below the scum on the bottom of a dirty waste pond.’”

“I attended a wedding where the best man commented on how the bride used to work at Hooters (which her family didn’t know about) and how he was jealous of the groom for ‘bagging her.’”

Nice huh? I can only guess that the majority of these were uttered by people in their late teens or early 20s, judging from the obvious lack of maturity involved. I’ve heard stories of people I went to college with getting married within months of graduation where most of the wedding party attended with extreme hangovers, virtually vomiting their way through the ceremony and the day. Boggles the mind.

A few months ago I had the honor of being the best man for one of my closest friend’s weddings. Prior to the wedding I began an outline for my speech and tweaked it up until the night before. It was a nice wedding in which both bride and groom ensured the involvement of their young children; Brian’s son and Angelia’s daughter.

And so finally, fifteen years later, I get to return the favor and serve as best man for Brian just as he did for me. And apparently not a moment too soon. During breakfast in Lincoln yesterday his son greeted me by saying “There’s Jeff! The best man!” At which I asked him if I could be best man at his wedding. “No way! You’ll be DEAD by then!” So I want to thank you Brian for this honor before it was too late for me. I hear I don’t have much time left.

I believe that it’s God’s plan that we suffer the cold of winter that we might know the warmth of spring. And so it is appropriate that this wedding is being held in the spring. Spring is a time of rebirth and of new beginnings. Brian has had his share of winter as most of us have at one time or another. He’s gone into a hibernation of sorts and emerged stronger on the other side. The truth is Brian is one of the strongest people I know and I admire him greatly.

They say it is in the darkest skies that the stars are best seen. And so Brian and Angelia, when your skies are darkest with adversity remember it is then you must strive to be bright stars for each other, for your children, for your family, and for the world.