Undusted Texts

I was recently instructed that, as a catechist, I should blend myself into my students, to make myself one of them, in order to make them accept me.  If I was too "different" or too blatant in my Catholicism, I would not be accepted.  Instead, I should work from within them, almost in an undercover way.  The thing is, it is difficult to be undercover when your students know you are teaching them the faith.  I can understand my professor's point: the members of the Church should integrate themselves into society so they can change it from within.  It is not an outside force that will bring change, but a force hidden within, such as hidden yeast leavens dough.  We are to be Trojan horses: we must sneak under their radar and then slowly purify their drinking water with the nectar of the faith.  The problem is this: I do not see this as an effective method. I apologize if I am being proud: I am just giving my opinion on an issue that directly affects h...

My girlfriend's grandmother died last night, and I have been praying for her soul.  We are called to pray for the dead in general, for they cannot pray for themselves once they have passed, and we usually especially pray for those who are close to us. One way I pray for the souls of the faithful departed is by listening to a musical setting of a Requiem Mass, the beautiful prayers of the Church for all her departed children.  While listening, I pray for the recently deceased (I often do this whenever someone I know dies).  While I have a soft spot in my heart for the works of the famous Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, the setting I usually pray with is the setting by the famous Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi.  Though Verdi was an atheist, he felt inspired by the sacred prayers of the Church found in the Requiem Mass, and his recently-deceased friend Alessandro Manzoni (a poet and novelist famous for The Betrothed ) was Catholic, so he felt inspired to compos...

The following are two prayers one of my professors gave us to be used before and after class. Though he usually forgets to pray the latter, we always the pray the former. They are obscure prayers translated, I think, by my professor from a 17th-century Franciscan book. Through the use of them, I hope we can all dedicate all of our work and all of our time to Christ Jesus our Lord. Before Class Most high God of truth, Enlighten our minds. Love of the Holy Trinity, Hasten to help us. May charity set our minds on fire, may truth bring us to love: so that as much as we know you, so much may we love you. To the praise of your glory, Direct our studies: So that after the course of this life We may enjoy you in heaven. R./ Amen. After Class Through you, Jesus, be directed The work of our minds. In you Jesus, be ended The class of this day. O Mary, Good Mother, May our hearts not be cold. But through these sacred studies, Serve better in love. What we have accomplished in...