I had the privilege this weekend of temporarily leaving my home atop the hill of Steubenville, Ohio to traverse to the ever-barren lands of Carmel, Indiana, a city that suffers horribly from suburban sprawl, but more than makes up for this with it's Catholic presence.

Carmel is the largest Catholic city in Indiana, and the Catholic Church there recently acquired one of the greatest youth ministers in the business. It was my pleasure to head there with some friends from college to help put on the first Antioch retreat for this gigantic parish. As usual with these retreats, I learn something new about myself, and generally flip a wig.

It seems as if God, this time around, really laid it on my heart to yearn for a simple faith, a faith like a child. I had been feeling this mind set waiting to burst out of me for a while, but I had never nurtured it or catered to its needs. However, after Saturday night, I think the tides have finally turned. As I was prayed over at the front of the church, a friend of mine praying said he felt the Lord calling me to a simple faith, a faith that thanks God for the lightswitch and not the light, because the lightswitch gives us light. He encouraged me to look at life through the eyes of a child, but not to do so in such a way that I begin to put my effort entirely in trying, and not at all in faith.

Interesting, I think, seeing as my relationship with God has been mostly through literature and less so through daily attempts to advance myself in holiness.

So here's the shtick. I'm gonna try my hardest to post like a fiend on this blog, but the substance of the posts will more than likely be different. Many of my posts are forced, just to have something to write about. I think my topics for a while will be more simple, but hopefully worth reading. I'm not making any promises, but I think it's time for this blog to be resurrected in an entirely new light.

God Bless!
~the krakowski

It seems as if society lately has tried to make us all homosexual. That's a pretty frank statement to make, I know, but here's why I write it so.

Men and women are referred to as "they" instead of "he" or "she", "theirs" instead of "his" or "hers", and "that person" instead of "him" or "her". There is a degendering happening in which neither man nor woman is seen to have any right to his or her nature. We are no longer allowed to possess a gender.

Man and Woman, due to this mass degendering, feel as though they must have no differences any longer. The woman cannot be a mother; she must be a ruthless tycoon in the business world. Man suddenly has the desire to bear children and to be the perfect housewife. This thought never entered the human mind for many thousands of years, and then in just the short span of time pertaining to the sexual revolution, all that was once sacred has been forgotten.

And, of course, given the fact that men have taken women's roles and women taken men's roles societally, the race we belong to called "human" can no longer distinguish as to which "shadow of a gender" it wishes to submit its love to. Men seek out other men, and women do likewise with each other, explaining themselves away on grounds of "passion".

Picture it this way. Man is equivalent to the variable "M". Woman is equal to the variable "W". Their union is expressed as a new figure, "O", for oneness and completion. These two variables, M and W, both have different values, not in the mathematical sense that one has more than the other, but in the metaphysical sense that M possesses things in common with W, yet has its own distinguishing characteristics that W lacks, and vice versa for W. O can only be produced from the combination of M and W. M completes W, and W completes M, producing O. M + W = O.

What has happened with degendering and equality is that M is seen to be equal to W in such a way that they are no longer distinguishable. Our world is becoming dyslexic. Some feel that M + M = O, or that W + W = O. These are mistakes. This could never be the case, because W and M are both incomplete as it is. What is lacking in men and women is never accounted for with this formula, it is merely doubled!

It is in this way that our world is trying to convert our minds unto oblivion. We have become homosexual with gender (there is only one sex), with equality (there is one way for all sexes to act), and finally, with a false sense of union (there is no reason for two of one sex to be kept from "wedlock").

In my next post, I hope to address solutions to this disbalanced equation.

Good day to any of you who still check this blog for a pulse....

Yes, I'm still alive, though as of late I've had little or no time to post anything, and when I do have time, I find myself without a subject, which makes writing slightly more difficult.

Update on myself: I've successfully moved into college and have adjusted with haste to the lifestyle. Classes rock, and I finally have a Latin teacher who knows his stuff, which is a refreshing change of pace. I've met a ton of new people and can't remember half of their names. I feel particularly horrible when it's someone I've talked to quite a few times but I still can't remember their name. That's part of life, I suppose.

I pray I'll be inspired with things to write here, and I pray that people are inspired to read this blog, which has been lying dormant for quite some time.

Of course, this is probably the fourth time I've ressurrected it, and it always manages to die rather quickly again. But I can dream, I can dream.

Lookin' forward to your comments!

God Bless!!!
~nate

Once upon a time there were two gentlemen. Let's call one "Chap" and the other "Fellow". Chap and Fellow were superb gentlemen. They would lay down their jackets over puddles for women. If someone sneezed they would say, "God bless you," and if either of them happened to burp, they would say, "Excuse me." Chap and Fellow knew not of each other's existence.

One day Chap finds himself walking into a grocery store, and notices an individual approaching from his right at precisely the same rate of movement and trajectory. Chap quickly calculates that the other individual will arrive at the doorway at precisely the same moment as himself. Chap promptly stops ten paces away from the door to give a clear path to the oncoming fellow. Surprisingly enough, the oncoming fellow was Fellow himself, who also stopped thinking he'd let Chap go on through the door. Chap waived his hand in the direction of the door and politely said, "After you, sir!" Fellow said, "Oh no, I insist you go first!" And Chap again, "No no no no, please go ahead!" And back to Fellow, "Only after you lead!"

Back and forth these two gentlemen went (ever so politely) for hours on end until the supermarket had closed. As they saw the doors close for the final time and lock before them, they turned and walked away.

Allow me to make an allegory of this random-seeming parable. Many of us seek to do things the right way, either morally, physically or mentally (those seem to encompass most actions!), and it could be seen that we who seek what is right in those areas seek to be gentlemen; we seek correctness, politeness, a wise and outgoing attitude, and above all else, we seek charity. If we act, however, too much like the classic gentleman, like say Chap or Fellow, we will find ourselves in interesting straights when we confront other gentlemen. Two charitable, outgoing personalities will clash and wage war, which is not what any gentleman wishes to his neighbor.

An ancient proverb says, "Pride goes before destruction", and never more right has it been! If one chap is too proud to allow charity to himself, then he will make no progress and will hinder his fellow gentlemen in their pursuit of doing what is right. A good gentleman should never be too proud to allow aid to himself, for he should know it benefits himself and his neighbor.

To put it most simply, it is charitable to let others be charitable unto yourself. By being charitable, we earn God's Grace, for charity, or love, is the greatest of His virtues. Ergo, when I let someone loan me five dollars out of the goodness of their heart when I am a few bucks short, not only is their action charitable (for they are helping their fellow man), but mine as well because I present them with an opportunity and allow them to receive God's Grace instead of refusing their money and their good intention.

Hearken now, all you gentlemen! By allowing others to perform good deeds to us, we open up the doors to the kingdom of heaven, that great supermarket in the sky, and we find ourselves standing in the presence of Christ!

I was pondering the other day (as all good ponderers do), and I began to think of how the devil has enticed this age we live in to follow his malice. It seems ever more prevalent for individuals to look at him as a mystery and not to God as the Mystery that our very being is dependent on. Shows plague our television about the history of hell, the evolution of Satan in history (in terms of his appearance; evil is evil regardless of what face you may apply to it), and sin in general captivating the human person and subconsciously worming itself into the human person's conscious, causing us to be less moral in some cases and downright malevolent in others.

I began to think about how T.V. has used the seven deadly sins to its advantage, invoking almost each and every one of them in any secular program anymore. Against such a battering of sinful attacks, it can be quite difficult to stand as a heavy tree against a strong wind. I asked God what it is that can make me firm, unwavering and unfailing to His calling, and the answer came in three-fold, and with much delight.

The biggest problem we face as humans is sin. Almost all sin (if not all of it) can be categorized as any one of the seven deadly sins: sloth, greed, anger, envy, gluttony, lust and pride. Note the number "seven". Satan believes that he has found the perfect way to trick us all, but he is sorely mistaken.

We, as children of the Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, have seven times three ways to combat these temptations; we have fourteen good works and seven virtues to aid us in our battle. We have the seven corporal works of mercy: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, ransom the captive and bury the dead.
We also have the seven spiritual works of mercy: instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, admonish the sinful, bear wrongs patiently, forgive offences willingly, comfort the afflicted and pray for the living and the dead. We have been given as well three theological virtues (faith, hope and love) and four cardinal virtues (prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude).

Here comes the irony. Satan thinks his attack is perfect, but God trumps his seven sins with twenty one spiritual weapons. Remember how seven is a perfect number; three is likewise. The number twenty one can be broken down as seven times three, as stated earlier; God has given us a perfect number of gifts (seven of each) and he has done so a perfect number of ways (three).

The way may be difficult but it is nowhere near impossible with twenty one gifts backing us up. Of course, the battle against sin is not merely contained to twenty one special items for indeed God's love for us is infinite, and thus the ways we can detach and cleanse ourselves from sin is also just as infinite. Having stated that, it is very comforting to note how God arms us for spiritual warfare. The Lord is pleased with His creation, and chooses to resonate His Light within us, keeping us free from the snares of darkness.

I figured this would be a good way to get back into the swing of posting...

I was tagged for a book meme by Stephen from Being! or Nothingness, so here goes nothing!

1) Total number of books I own: 121 (not bad for an eighteen-year-old!)

2) Last book I bought: Introduction to Christianity by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and The World's First Love; Mary the Mother of God by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (sorry, I buy and read in pairs).

3) The last book I read was Story of a Soul by Saint Therese of Lisieux

4)Five books that mean a lot to me:

New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton
Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis
The Life of Christ by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Story of a Soul by Saint Therese of Lisieux
Selected Writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas

5) Tag five people: Erin at Sorry I'm not your Cup o' Tea, Michael at To Oblivion and Beyond!, Michael (no, not the same one) at Shards of a Crystal and Andy at True Nirvana (sorry, can't think of another!).

The disciples approached Jesus and said, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:1-3)

This past week at my workplace has been really interesting. For those of you who know me, you have undoubtedly seen the rather large St. Benedict's Cross that I wear around my neck. At work, I wear it outside of my apron, and recieve a constant flow of extremely diverse comments (some good, some not so good).

Out of all the things said to me about my cross (either that I'm brave to wear it out for the world to see, or that I'm a fool for doing so), I think my favorite reaction is that of the child.

No words are ever spoken; the child's eyes say it all. As I pack plastic bags full of groceries, I often catch tiny, wandering eyes stop and stare at the crucifix around my neck. Eyes that previously bounced everywhere around the busy checkout area of the grocery store now find a place to rest: on the Sacrifice that won for us Eternal Life. Nothing makes my heart flutter more when that child who beholds the crucifix then proceeds to belt out the biggest grin any human would ever see, and continue to just gaze at the cross.

How amazing it would be if we could all share this reflection on life with the children. So much amazement, awe, and peace lye in the eyes of the child. How awesome it is that one so small comes to see an image of Christ and his eyes lock upon it, with nothing but an expression of joy visible upon his face. How amazing!

There is a pounding on the magnificent doors of St. Peters Basilica at the onset of the year 2000 Jubilee midnight Mass.

KNOCK

KNOCK

KNOCK

Slowly, the heavy, sealed doors of the church begin to open. As they separate further, they begin to reveal the frame of an elderly man robed in many colors, most primarily a brilliant white. The frail man begins his entry into the Basilica.

Who would have believed that this Polish lad would have wound up pope one day? With a love for the games of hockey and soccer, Karol played the sports feverishly. Soon, however, the Nazi regime seized control of Poland and Communism was set as the law of the land. Life changed forever for Karol Wojtyla. Karol was forced into labor at a local stone quarry and then later in a chemical plant to avoid being sent to Germany. While the war lasted, Karol studied underground for the priesthood. Shortly after the end of the war, on November 1st, 1946, Karol was ordained a priest. A few days later he left for Rome to begin his advanced studies.

Karol Wojtyla was ordained auxiliary bishop on July 4th, 1958. Two years later, his book Love and Responsibility was published. On January 13th, 1964, auxiliary Bishop Wojtyla became the Archbishop of Krakow, Poland. Attending all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council, Archbishop Wojtyla became an advisor of Pope Paul VI and aided the pope in his writing of Gaudiem et Spes, a papal encyclical on the Church in the Modern World. Pope Paul VI appointed Karol Wojtyla to the position of Cardinal on June 28, 1967.

After the death of Pope Paul VI, Karol Wojtyla participated in the election of the next pope, John Paul I. Only a month later, however, John Paul I unexpectedly passed on, and it was once again time to elect a new pope; the college of Cardinals would convene again.

Cell 91 was opened; The 58 year old Polish Cardinal was to be the new pope. On October 16, 1978, Karol Wojtyla emerged from the Papal Palace taking the name John Paul II.

"Be not afraid." The first three words of Pope John Paul II's papacy; have no fear. Truly, he lived such a lifestyle. In 1981, an assassination attempt was executed against the Holy Father. The bullet from the assassin lodged inches away from the Pontiff's heart. The Pope was physically weakened by this attack, but not shaken. Pope John Paul II had the love to forgive the one who attempted to take his life. Mehmet Ali Agca's life was forever changed by the love of a pope, a love that John Paul shared with his Creator.

John Paul II championed social issues such as communism, abortion, euthanasia, corporeal punishment, and the sanctity of marriage to name a few, caring for each and every human being in each and every walk of life. The pope stared in the face of Communist Russia and did not break. Nay, he did not even bend. Writing letter after letter, the Bishop of Rome had planted himself firmly on the issues of popular society, promoting life in every circumstance, and working to preserve the holiness of wedlock.

Many have said that Pope John Paul II has broken the mold; that he had out done himself. Truly, he had lived a life full of praise for God, the Trinity, and a life of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Through his example, many have been able to bring their pains and burdens to the foot of the cross. Struggling with Parkinson's disease, every day would surely be full of its own anguish. Yet personal affliction only meant fulfillment to a man who could take his pain and unite it to the passion and death of Jesus Christ.

Every day was a journey for the lovable Pope. John Paul II had traveled more than 120 times and was known as the "Pilgrim Pope". The Holy Father had been the first pope to travel to several countries, including Cuba, and the first pope to enter a Jewish synagogue and a Muslim mosque. John Paul II stressed ecumenical acceptance of all people, regardless of their faith. The pope had such a love of the youth, setting up many occasions in which he could celebrate with them, and constantly offering his wisdom to empower the young to truly know and love their faith and their God at every available moment.

On Saturday, April 2nd, the Servant of the Servants of God, the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II was called home to his Creator. Amongst the hosts of angels and saints, the Pontiff will assuredly open doors much larger than those belonging to the Basilica of St. Peters.

Before passing, the pope had written on a piece of paper, "Do not cry for me. I am happy, you should be happy, too!" As the pope breathed for the final few times, he said one last word, the only word any life that truly was a living prayer should be ended with: "Amen."

Pope John Paul II, Pray for us. (May 18th, 1920 - April 2nd, 2005)

Give thanks, all you children of God!
The Lord, Jesus Christ, has risen from the grave!
Death has no power over the Lamb!
Sing praises, you faithful, sing praises!
When all virtue, all goodness, seemed lost,
Indeed, it found new Life, Eternal Life!
Weep not this day, but rejoice!
For us, the Way has been paved and all doubt cast out!
The Truth has prevailed over falsehood!
Wipe the tears from your eyes and dance,
For today, the Lord is RISEN!

Alleluia, Alleluia!
AMEN!!!

This is probably by far the most thorough and thought-out prayer I'ver ever laid eyes on! I hope many blessings may come your way through the use of this novel blessing!

Now I lay me down to study;
I pray the Lord, I don't go nutty.
And if I fail to learn this junk,
I pray the Lord, I do not flunk!
Amen!