Now that is my type of humor....

Pandora-Internet Radio

Now I may be a little late to the party, but if you have not yet learned of the Human Genome Project---a project developed by musicians that group certain styles of music that you enjoy into an Internet radio---it's time to pay the website a visit!  You simply enter one of your favorite artists, and the Internet radio selects an array of songs/artists that you will enjoy. It's kind of scary in a way. It seems to know exactly what you want to hear and plays the songs in a pleasant order.

To access the radio, called Pandora, here and enjoy the music!! while you surf the net!! (BTW, for those of you with the I-pod touch or the I-phone, there is a app for Pandora that you can download.)

Haircut Season!

Line 'em up!  It's time for summer cuts!

Henry Before:

Henry after!!

The Annunciation

This feast symbolizes and celebrates the announcement of the incarnation by the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, and the conception of Christ in her womb.  

The story of the Annunciation, meaning the announcing, from the Latin annuntiare, is told in Luke's gospel. At the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will conceive a Son, and his name will be Jesus. His greeting, "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you" has echoed down through the ages in many prayers, and is known as the "Hail Mary." Mary is initially confused as to how she will bear God's Son, seeing as she is a virgin. The angel then explains that the Holy Spirit will come upon on her. This is why when we recite the Nicene creed we say "by the power of the Holy Spirit, [Jesus] was born of the Virgin Mary and became man." The Apostles Creed likewise affirms that Jesus was "conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit." Thus, the Feast of the Annunciation is the beginning of Jesus' miraculous life, and it begins with the theotokos conceiving Jesus by the Holy Spirit's power.

Mary's response to the angel, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word," (Latin: ecce ancilla Domini; fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum) is a statement of humble faith, and a model for how we are to respond when God calls us to do what seems impossible. This response is called Mary's fiat, from the Latin word meaning "let it be done." The Catechism addresses the significance of Mary's faith in relation to her role as Christ's mother:

By pronouncing her "fiat" at the Annunciation and giving her consent to the Incarnation, Mary was already collaborating with the whole work her Son was to accomplish. She is mother wherever he is Savior and head of the Mystical Body (973).

HT: Churchyear.net

The Formation of Conscience

I was walking through Gus's school last night and saw a display of crosses created by the 2nd graders. Beside each cross was a petition to God. I was moved when I read the simplicity and honesty of my son's petition:

Dear God: Help me to be nicer to my brothers Nick and Jack because I yell at them too much.

If only my petitions were as simple and straightforward.