Comments for The Jewish Past and the Young Priests at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 26 out of 20 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Tue, 21 May 2013 01:02:08 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11070 dear grump, i hope you are still checking in, as i am woefully behind in my TCT reading and only just read this. you have been on my heart a little extra lately-i just mentioned you to someone while telling him about TCT site. i am THRILLED to tears reading your intention for Holy Confession and Holy Communion. i will be remembering you with all the rest of our family here (at TCT) both on Saturday and Sunday!!!! i am screaming and jumping up and down- i'm so gloriously excited for you and all those you love! xoxoxoxoxo! ALL GLORY AND HONOR TO OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST AND HIS ADORABLE MOM! - debby Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:33:34 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11050 I should have said .. a nudge from Austin and others... - Grump Thu, 26 Apr 2012 05:42:26 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11048 Professor Arkes, you are partly right in assuming that a gentleAnudge from Hadley and others was instrumental. And as a "dedicated" reader of TCT articles, I've felt a constant tug as alluded to in the following quote from Evelyn Waugh: "The Roman Catholic Church has the unique power of keeping remote control over human souls which have once been part of her. G.K. Chesterton has compared this to the fisherman's line, which allows the fish the illusion of free play in the water and yet has him by the hook; in his own time the fisherman by a 'twitch upon the thread' draws the fish to land." So far I have avoided the hook, but I feel the twitch and perhaps in time I'll be the next Catch of the Day. - Grump Thu, 26 Apr 2012 03:57:23 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11039 Hurrah, Mr Grump! All the Saints and Angels are rejoicing over you! Glory to God in the highest!! - Randall Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:59:56 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11037 Way to go Hap! Way to go. - Austin Ruse Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:09:21 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11036 Amen to that. - William Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:55:14 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11034 The credit must go to Austin for that effrontery of pressing our friend Grump to come back in. With his usual directness, Austin started something. But I think we should all be clear that Grump surely had prepared himself for this move--otherwise it's hard to account for why he should have become such a dedicated reader of these columns. I don't think we should flatter ourselves that we were the ones who brought him back. As he said, he felt himself pursued by the Hound of Heaven. But there is no doubt that he has made himself the object of such tender affections from our circle of writers and readers, and the star of the day. I think it's clear that if we knew where he was living, and what church he was attending for communion, so many of us would try to be there to be with him. I wish he could feel more directly the warmth of the people he has touched. - Hadley Arkes Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:46:40 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11032 Dear Grump, There will be very many praying for you between now and this coming Saturday. And may this Fourth Sunday of Easter -- whose Entrance Antiphon is "The merciful love of the Lord fills the earth...," whose First Reading is about a healing by the firsts priests (Apostles), whose Second Reading reminds us "See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God...," and whose Gospel is about the Good Shepherd -- be the happiest, most glorious Sunday yet of your life! - Fr. Arne Panula Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:50:28 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11030 Grump. God bless you, brother. - Brad Miner Wed, 25 Apr 2012 05:13:03 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11029 Postscript: You have succeeded in persuading me to go to confession this Saturday, which will be my 70th birthday. If nothing else, I thank God for getting my biblical allotment of years and for people such as you. I am going to unload on that poor priest and then take communion on Sunday for the first time in decades. On Monday, I will still be Grump to all who truly know me, but perhaps a little less grumpy. - Grump Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:19:01 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11027 Thank you all for your kind encouragement. Your prayers are appreciated although I feel mine get no higher than the ceiling. - Grump Wed, 25 Apr 2012 03:22:41 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11026 Dear Grump, Lord knows there is much about which to be grumpy. Thank you for your honesty in sharing your situation with us. But there's much about which to be joyful as well. I think all of us here know what it feels like to go to Confession, or to pray, or to go to Holy Mass and even Holy Communion and not feel a blessed thing, a glimmer of consolation. The good news is that the mercy of the Lord is unleashed when we repent and return, whether feel anything or not: it's the act of the will, which comes from the heart, that He rewards. I join everyone here in urging you to wait no longer. With best wishes and regards. - Dave Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:45:32 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11024 One of the reasons why I dislike some of post-Vatican II liturgical trends is preciesly that the public celebration of the Sacred Sacrifice now seems totally divorced from its theological roots and is, therefore, incoherent. I am not being just a stick in the mud who enjoys pointing out that this is not what council Fathers had in mind. The continuity with the History of Salvation expressed by the word and deed of the Mass, espeically during Easter Week, not only enrich the faith and understanding of Catholics but form an attractive bridge for both Jews and Protestants. I wish that in this Easter Season leading up to Pentecost priests all over the world would use this wonderful, utterly priceless article as a basis for homilies on what IT is all about. And Dear Grump, please do go to Confession and Communion; The joy that you bring to your confessor alone will be enough to light up the city of Rome for at least a day and make choirs of angles rejoice. - Thomas C. Coleman, Jr. Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:42:41 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11023 Dear Grump, There is a place waiting for the blessed Grump at the table! You make me smile with delight. Have you read Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia? There's a wonderful character in The Silver Chair, called Puddleglum. He's a Marshwiggle, temperamentally disposed to thinking that the worst will probably happen. But the same hardheadedness is also a saving grace. I guess you might call it a frolicsome and childlike hardheadedness. So various are the saints! Maybe a Puddleglum isn't granted so many of the sweeter consolations of the faith; this I don't know. But if it is true, then that's just a particular way for someone to be faithful and saintly, and will be rewarded with its own glory. Come back and be Grumpy with us. - Tony Esolen Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:40:56 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11022 Mr. Grump: Just do it. The stumbling blocks, whatever they are, will take care of themselves. - Louise Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:00:35 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11021 "Another priest" wrote to ask about that sentence from Henry James. It's from a story called "The Abasement of the Northmores." I'll point out to the audience that even if someone is sitting right next to me, that person will often miss the last word precisely because it isn't the word he is expecting. And this was one of those instances in which one really doesn't know what the writer is saying until very last word falls into place. (It's a useful device for gently inducing people in the audience to listen closely. But one time, in a talk at Johns Hopkins, I saw no sign of life in the eyes in the audience after I rolled off this line, and so I dropped two paragraphs from the talk I'd prepared. The long sentence should be spoken rather than read I'll type it here, but in order to set off the last word, I'll use ellipses. The narrator is speaking of Lord Northmore and says: He had made politics, he had made literature, he had made land, he had made a bad manner and a great many mistakes, he had made a gaunt, foolish wife, two extravagant sons and four awkward daughters--he had made everything, as he could have made almost anything, thoroughly ... pay. Apart from that, I'm quite touched by Grump's note, by Ray Hunkins's generous note of welcome and encouragement, and by Austin's direct appeal--his concern not to waste any more days, but to draw the long lost son to a warm welcome back home. - Hadley Arkes Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:43:20 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11020 Dr. Arkes: You and I, in fact all Catholics, should feel very blessed as it was Christ Himself Who said:"No one can come to me unless he is enabled to do so by my Father." (John 6, 66) - Manfred Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:16:13 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11019 Austin, I am a grandpa and am known in the family as Grump because of my general sourpuss disposition. I'm trying to making my way back to the Church but there are many, many stumbling blocks, although a daily dose of TCT hopefully is helping remove them. ishop Sheen said in one of his telecasts that whatever punishment God had for him was not as much as he deserved. I can't imagine that a saint like the good bishop should be punished at all. I've confessed many times but never feel truly forgiven. - Grump Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:41:59 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11017 As Bangwell Putt's comment suggests, we are now living in an age where women are applauded for NOT having an abortion or contracepting (completely). Egads! - Scott W Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:00:25 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-jewish-past-and-the-young-priests.html#comment-11015 Grump, I bet if you do become unlapsed, you will begin signing your comments here as Hap instead of Grump. - Austin Ruse Tue, 24 Apr 2012 05:17:48 +0100