A few rambles before I totally neglect the blog for a little while...

Today is the last day of school! I thought this was pretty good.

Unfortunately I sprained my ankle yesterday. The grade 5s and I were playing a strategy dodgeball game called Risk. I swooped in at the end of the game and made a daring attack on the general. With my last step I made the perfect toss to win the game! But the price was steep. As I landed on my right foot my ankle buckled. Grrr. Just in time for summer. I figure it'll be a week or two.

And our summer begins in Ontario. Becca and the kids flew there on Sunday (yes, Becca and all the kids!.. apparently the flight went well). She's visiting with her folks in Brantford. On Canada's 150th birthday I will be celebrating by catching a 5:30am flight to Toronto and then driving 4+ hours
(or 6 or 7 depending on traffic) to the Barry's Bay region. But hey, I will get to see Becca and the kids at the end of the journey! What could be better than that?

In the meantime, I've been paining. I painted the hallway and front entrance. I'm almost done fixing the house! Just another bedroom in the basement. And maybe the laundry/furnace rooms. And closets. And a shed. And...

Saw this the other day:

Seriously, is anyone happier because they have their eyeballs glued to their phones all day (and night too for some)? I find people so uninteresting now. No life. Just a stupid screen in front of their faces. Meanwhile, Facebook apparently has a solution to life's woes. The headline from lifesitenews:

Facebook CEO: We can play the role that churches once filled

From the article:

"It's so striking that for decades, membership in all kinds of groups has declined as much as one-quarter," Zuckerberg said. "That's a lot of people who now need to find a sense of purpose and support somewhere else."

and further...

"In the next generation, our greatest opportunities and challenges we can only take on together,” Zuckerberg said, “ending poverty, curing disease, stopping climate change, spreading freedom and tolerance, stopping terrorism."

Secular humanism? With perhaps a hint of what the Antichrist will promote? Isn't it ironic that we need affirmation from "leaders" such as Zuckerberg to empower us to live selfishly and be the change we want to see and all those buzz words. It somewhat reminds me of that comedian Jim Gaffigan who, though apparently a Catholic, was on Sunday taking his kids to a pride parade and sharing his enthusiasm with others. And we are to be amazed from this and learn. As for Catholics, according ot Pewsitter apparently 2 out of 3 support gay marriage. This world.. I tell you. Yes, it reminds me of one last thing:

I'll see you kids on Saturday!

Ti Jean Paul. Ti Joseph.

Last weekend we were introduced to the world of Ti Jean. Apparently in the 1950s the National Film Board of Canada represented the Quebec folklore stories of Ti Jean (that's Petit Jean... Little John). Although Ti Jean is just a boy of 10 years, his strength and brainpower far exceeds even the strongest and wisest of men. We witnessed Ti Jean outrun a train, cut down an entire crop with a scythe, fly an airplane, cut down trees at the pace of one thousand men, and even out eat ten men in a matter of seconds! See for yourself a couple of the shows if you have time.

Sound ridiculous! Of course! Right?

Well, not if you're an impressionable young boy. Behold Ti Jean Paul and Ti Joseph! Immediately after watching the Ti Jean shows the boys sprung into action. They repeatedly demonstrated how fast they could run, how much food they could eat, and even how they could out muscle a grown man (me!). It was endless antics. Games for us. Real life to them.

The minds of young boys... there's nothing like it. Even Ti Jean would agree.

Now if you'll excuse him... he has another area of Canada to save. 

Amazing!

(Do) Tell me What the Poets are Doing

Part of our homeschool year included memorizing poetry. Joseph mastered 7 poems, mostly by renowned poet Robert Louis Stevenson. John Paul, not to be outdone, memorized nearly all of them as well. We recorded their favourite performances for your enjoyment! A little awkward, perhaps, but cute, nonetheless.

What you don't see in that last one, is that from the waist down, John Paul is wearing nothing at all. Aren't you glad I just told you that?!

And just as the blog title is a spin off the Tragically Hip song our boys love to sing, they wanted to record their own rendition of the Hip's Bobcaygeon that Dan teases them with whenever they ask him to recite poetry. Just for fun: Bobcaygeon:

Gridiron Gumption

There are some people in life who just get it. They have a wisdom and knowledge to handle whatever life throws at them. Better yet when these people dedicate their time to influencing others. Coach/GM Wally Buono of the BC Lions, a good Christian man and the winningest CFL coach of all time, is one such person like this. But I'll get to him in a moment.

Yesterday was cut down day in the CFL. Teams announced their final rosters, which consequently meant many players were having their football dreams shattered by being cut. One such player was running back Anthony Allen. Allen, 28, formerly played for the Roughriders, but last year spent time with the BC Lions. He was not re-signed, and so seemed finished as a player. Now the Roughriders phoned him up a week into training camp to inquire as to whether or not he was interested in coming back to Saskatchewan to try a comeback. Allen jumped at the chance. However, as is the case for many players, Allen did not crack the final roster. And so he took to Twitter to rant about what he's left with:

 Follow

Anthony Allen 

✔@Ant_Allen

Missed my daughter graduation, had to un enroll from school, quit my job, left in the middle of a family dinner to come up.

2:49 PM - 17 Jun 2017

 
•  5151 Retweets
 
•  6868 likes

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 Follow

Anthony Allen 

✔@Ant_Allen

All for them to tell me they werent comfortable cuz I wasn't here long enough

2:51 PM - 17 Jun 2017

 
•  2727 Retweets
 
•  4444 likes

That's pretty rough Mr. Allen. However, football is a business. Football doesn't ask about how you're feeling. It doesn't care about graduations, or family dinners. You play and then you retire. Often you don't choose how either of those play out.

Allen would've benefited from heeding the wisdom of Wally Buono more. Buono consistently tells his players to "Use football. Don't let football use you." Even though he speaks to grown men, the men who follow Buono benefit greatly. It is a tremendous message. Use football. Use whatever advantages you can gain with football to help you in your next stage in life... use it! But don't let football use you. Don't let football mess up future plans, or worse, leave you with no future plans and no job. Be smart. Use football.

After BC's final preseason game on Friday night Buono surprisingly announced to his team the retirement of nine year veteran Jason Arakgi. Arakgi apparently used football to land him a great off-field job. Arakgi was sad to retire, but heeded the advice of his coach Buono to know when to hold them and when to fold them. If you have facebook you can check it out. Simply go to 2:21 of the video.

As for Anthony Allen, perhaps it's all too little too late. Go back home. See your daughter. Find a job or re-enroll in school. Deep down I'm sure football's taught you many things. Especially how to overcome adversity. Use what you've learned. Use football. Don't let it use you.

Emilie Marie turns 1

Birth Story

After two really overdue baby boys, it was a very pleasant surprise when Miss Emilie Marie decided to enter the world just hours after her "due date" was over. The doctor's recommendation of Chinese food and red wine will be on the menu for any future Millette babies, in the hopes that that was the trick. 

Emilie arrived on Thursday, June 16th at 7:20am, after a quick 4 hours of labour. She weighed in at 8lbs. 9oz., just one ounce over both her big brothers. 

Dan jokes that he could have gone to work that day and just been a little bit tired. After dozing through some labour, I woke Dan at 4:30, wondering aloud if this was "it." We quickly realized it was and Grandma Millette showed up around 5:30 to me crazy breathing. By the time we got to the hospital a little before 6am, I was in full transition and frustrated with nurses wanting to take my weight, etc. 

I like to believe people now when they say it gets easier to birth babies, because really Emilie's was a little surreal. We laughed and chatted with the doctor and nurses in between contractions and waited it out while Emilie dropped and dropped and entered the world after a huge and hilarious water eruption. 

The First Year

Emilie eased into our family with a calm and quiet we were unused to. Frequently, in those early weeks, we would ask the grandmas if it was normal for a baby to sleep this much. Apparently, it is. We just weren't used to this kind of normal.

And while we were delighted with the addition of a little lady to our household, all the pink, frills, and cutie stuff took us by surprise. The boys like to say that Emilie's favourite colour is pink and all the other gender specific stuff that's totally politically incorrect these days. They are thrilled that she finally has a doll... so thrilled they frequently "borrow" it from her.

Emilie didn't stay little and calm forever though. 

1-Year-Old

Emilie is our chubbiest baby still at about 24lbs. and wearing 18-24 month clothing. Maybe it is the chub or maybe she is just a little more content to be still, but she crawled later than we were used to and still doesn't have tons of speed. She is happier to sit laughing if we initiate a crawling race. 

Early on, Emilie sprouted 6 teeth and she has a mean, sharp bite. But her teeth also lend themselves to a big, munching appetite. Her favourite is homemade chicken and veggie soup, eggs, and banana, and she makes "numm, numm" noises all the while eating. We are teaching her sign language for "more" and she is so proud of herself when she shows off her skills.

While we've always had mostly smiley, generally happy kids, Emilie takes the cake for friendliest. Whenever we are out, she is always surprising and delighting anyone who will take notice of her with the biggest, toothiest grin. Emilie wakes with a smile of her face if she's slept well and when she isn't quite ready to smile for me, all it takes is a brother to come by for her to be happy again. 

And she is learning to make herself heard in the midst of a loud and boisterous band of brothers. Emilie yells from her highchair demanding food or attention and is learning to give John Paul a good whack when he lays himself all over her or takes her things. She also loves to cheer, kick, and clap whenever Daddy comes home from work.

Just in the last week, Emilie has been bestowing big, sloppy open-mouthed kisses on lucky fans. Usually, this is Mommy and Daddy, but when the boys are lucky, then get a little one too. She is also chatting a lot more and developing a little sense of humour with a crazy little giggle. But her biggest new thing is trying to stand by herself. Her favourite method is for Daddy to lay on his back while she pulls herself up using him and then balances beside him. Emilie giggles and pants with excitement!

The Birthday Party

When you're the third child, birthdays revolve around whatever is going on in the family. Emilie's first birthday morning found her hanging out at the pool, watching her brothers' lessons. Thankfully, she happily tags alone and contentedly enjoys whatever we do.

But after that, she had to cause some trouble...


When Emilie woke from her nap on her birthday to balloons and party hats everywhere, she started saying, "Woo, woo, wow!" And when Grandpa and Grandma arrived, she tried jumping through the window to greet Grandpa.

Emilie started out very clean and tentative with her cake, but ended up pretty happily stuffing her mouth with the sweetest stuff she's ever tasted!

A baby doll from her godparents and another from her grandparents, but this girl was happily pushing around cars and trains this morning and the dolls were thrown aside. Emilie's not a girl after two brothers for nothing. She knows exactly what kind of noise vehicles make!

Happy birthday, sweet Emilie! What joy you bring to our lives!

Fear the Fire

If you're looking for good news, you've come to the wrong place. Go do some gardening or something instead. This week the human division of our beloved Catholic Church took it on the chin. There has been a fair bit going on. Unfortunately much of it involves the Pope. For instance, he has removed dozens and dozens of solid members from the Pontifical Academy for Life, taken away the requirements to be pro-life, and then added members to the Academy who support abortion. Do these words I just wrote make any sense? I am so confused. I am also confused about reports all around of the Pope setting up a commission to reinterpret Humanae Vitae. But alas, quite possibly the most poignant and depressing news of all this week comes from all of the announced church closures. We'll get to that later.

Of course one other piece of news that has dominated the week has been the horrendous Grenfell Tower fire in London. As I first started reading I was indeed horrified. But soon I had to stop reading it when they started telling of people dropping their kids nine stories down in the slim hopes of somebody saving them. It's just too much. Lord have mercy.

Now the talk concerns how on earth, with today's fire codes, a building could go up in flames so quickly. Especially since this building was newly renovated. The answer appears to be in the cladding. This building had metal cladding on the exterior. However, the cladding was essentially two sheets of metal sandwiching some form of insulation. While it sounds nice, it evidently is a recipe for complete disaster. When a fire begins the metal obviously stays as is. However, the insulation in the cladding bursts into flames from the heat generated. The interior of the cladding, then, is on fire, and the fire shoots up the side of the building. To make matters worse, fire crews are unable to stop the fire because the metal on the outside of the cladding does not allow for water penetration to put out the fire. Not to mention the cladding then helps form a wind tunnel within the interior of the building which makes the rise of the fire fierce and unstoppable. Tragic does not even begin to describe the results.

photo from thesun.co.uk

I bring this sad story up in relation to the news of the Church. There are many arrogant dioceses in the world. They put on a nice shiny finish. Yet on the interior they hollow out the Church teachings. Take Trier, the oldest diocese in Germany. Trier was formerly run by the now Cardinal Reinhardt Marx, who is a huge advocate for positions contrary to Church teaching. And since 2009 Bishop Stephen Ackerman has run the show. Ackerman has spoken our strongly against Church moral teachings, to the point of calling them "repressive" and "remote from life." Trier has been a model for shiny new change in the Church. One where the exterior looks all shiny and wonderful, but inside there is the kindling for an epic disaster. And thus it was announced this week that Trier will be closing 96% of its parishes. That's 903 parishes being dissolved into 35. Other European dioceses are also seeing grave parish closure numbers, as well as sharp declines in seminarians and ordinations (see here). This is not just Europe either, in the Archdiocese of Hartford 144 parishes are slated to be merged into 59. The numbers speak for themselves. What's happening is a spiritual Grenfell Tower tragedy. Our shiny and clean dioceses are gutted of the true faith. The result is a shocking combustion. One can only hope we learn from this.

In London people are angry. They are asking difficult questions as to how this Grenfell Tower tragedy was allowed to happen. Will we as Catholics do the same? This week has taught us again that liberalism in the Church will not leave the faith unscathed. It will leave a mess of destruction.

Only the battle for souls in the Church involves another, far more fierce, fire.

Year of the Em

Please say a prayer for this sweet little girl who turns one year old today! Emilie Marie. I can't imagine her being this small now. Her birth was as smooth as it gets. A sign of future things to come with her. It was so great that, since she was born just after 7am after a quick labour, I was ready and able to go to work that morning. I didn't though. I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could.

Then

Now

I'm sure Becca will post party pics later. Will she be messy with the chocolate cake? Joseph wasn't. John Paul was...

Points to Ponder: I Don't Wanna Work

Here is an edition of Points to Ponder, because I don't want to work right now.

1) Heresy Sunday

Yesterday was Heresy, er, Trinity Sunday. Did you hear any heretical Trinitarian analogies? To be fair, it's quite easy to fall into heresy when trying to explain the Trinity. In our parish mailbox for kids Joseph received a colouring page with God having three hats, because God is not three distinct Persons you know, He just wears three different hats. *cough* Some other favourite heretical explanations of mine are God being the three forms of water, and the Trinity is like an egg. Thankfully we were at the Latin Mass yesterday and had some very solid preaching from Father Andrew. He noted the traditional prayers in the Mass and how they speak of the Trinity. He then explained that in the old rite a priest who says the Mass and breviary everyday does 50 signs of the crosses. He riled against how the crosses, which are important signs for us to remember and acknowledge the Blessed Trinity, have been removed. It was a very well done homily.

When in doubt, stick with this.

- - -

UPDATE

Or this?

- - -

2) Parading Around

I had to do a little prep work before we went to Saskatoon for Mass. Like a good dad I checked ahead of time to see if there were any, ahem, parades scheduled at that time, and if so what street. We wouldn't want to get caught up in such a parade. So I went online and searched. What soon came up was a story about controversy between the gay pride parade, and something called the Treaty 6 Real Pride march. Long story short, the real priders are upset that the new mayor of Saskatoon will marshal the other parade. One of the organizers is quoted as saying: "I love it that he's always been a supporter but as a white, straight male and a politician I don't think he should be the grand marshal of the parade."

So what's this? White straight males don't have rights anymore? What if they said a black female shouldn't marshal? So inconsistent! We must protest these parades! Don't attend!


3) Allow Jesus in Your Marriage

Becca was killing herself laughing over something. I went to go check what it was. Someone posted some engagement photos on facebook. Here they are:

I personally thought it was a nice touch inviting Jesus to their engagement photo shoot. We should photo shop Him into our wedding photos.


4) Fr. Kenny

It was three years ago today that I woke up and was shocked by the news that Fr. Kenneth Walker was murdered. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace.

I've previously written about him here and here.

5) Stanley Cup

Yes, Sydney Crosby is still the best hockey player on the planet. Congratulations to him and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

But don't forget Phil Kessel! The chunky winger has now won back to back cups. Take that Leaf fans! I still remember fondly last year when he was first pictured with his beloved prize:

6) Joseph Quotes

The other day we were eating supper and talking about cheese. I'm guessing because we were eating cheese.

Mommy: "Did you know that Swiss cheese is holy Joseph?

Joseph: "Really?"

Daddy: "I read somewhere that Swiss cheese now is not holy anymore."

Mommy: "Really? I wonder why?"

Joseph, after pondering seriously for a moment: "Hmm... maybe because the Devil eats it..."


Think about that.


7) The End is Nigh

I am so close to being done school. This year more than any other I simply can't wait to be done. I need a break! I teach two students in particular who cause a great amount of trouble. What's worse is how their parents believe everything they say, even when there are five teachers and an army of evidence contradicting the child. It's sad but true when I tell people that there are student I teach whom I know will someday end up in jail. And yet, one such boy today told me that he wanted to be a teacher when he grows up! I think I mumbled the curse to him: "I hope you have a student who treats you the way you treat me..."

But the end is nigh. Twelve more teaching days!

Music Mondays: Up & Up

The time has come to sign off on Music Mondays. At least until after summer. I need some time to refresh the brain. Alas, I present one last offering.

There is a Toronto artist named Rob Gonsalves who has become popular with his surrealist artwork. Essentially what he does is combine two pictures into one. He calls it "Magic Realism."

For instance,

To view more click here. While magic realism is pretty nifty, it does have that gimic quality to it. Nevertheless, it's fun to view.

Last year Coldplay (yes, them again) released a music video to their song Up & Up. The video plays off of this magic realism to add a dreamlike quality to the song. The actual term "up and up" is originally an old sports term meaning to do something honestly. For instance, "the boxers fought up and up last night." Not exactly on par with St. Paul's "fight the good fight of faith, lay hold of eternal life" (1 Tim 6:12). That's the thing with worldly productions. They take good messages of pressing forward, being honest and never giving up, but they always lack the view of eternity. I would love to see an artist do some magic realism work. Only they would have half the scene in the world, the other half touching heaven. Perhaps more like this:

Nevertheless, before I ramble too much, here is Coldplay with Up & Up. Enjoy!

Sedes Sapientiae

Today is the feast of Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom. This honour to Our Lady has played an important role in my life. From the College of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom website:

The feast of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom, our patronal feast, is observed on June 8^th.  The title of Mary as ‘Seat of Wisdom’ is an ancient one, traced back liturgically to the twelfth century, when we find prayers to the Virgin as the ‘Mother of Wisdom’, the ‘fountain of Wisdom’ and, of course, the ‘Seat of Wisdom’.  She is seen not only as the Mother of Christ, Who is Wisdom Incarnate, but also as the prototypical ‘wise Virgin’ herself, who ‘kept all these words in her heart’, in order to ‘teach, recount, and proclaim them to the world’ (cf.,Sacramentary for Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary).

Even though it's been ten years since I graduated from OLSWA (the Academy) I still find it very important to read and study the faith. It is still exciting to pull out the Summa Theologica from time to time and soak in the words of St. Thomas Aquinas. I find that studying, when done with the right intent, not only benefits the mind but more importantly reminds us that we are to seek heavenly realities. That we are not to seek after what is worldly (maybe this is why OLSWA was always so poor?). Alas, though, it's nice not to have the pressure of studying for an upcoming test or essay.

I later returned to the Academy as registrar for two years. It was unique seeing how others experienced their studies. Some kids just didn't get it. They were overwhelmed by intense studies and simple drifted away from the benefits that all-in work can merit. Others, thankfully, were deeply moved by what they learned. I remember vividly overhearing one student, a couple months into his school year, on fire for what he was studying. He loudly spoke that he was going to stay at the Academy for the full three years, and that he was going to study this faith with all his heart and mind. It was as though he finally found a calling in life, for the very first time. So off he went, studying. I don't know what happened to him. There were rumblings that he was going to try and be a priest. Whatever he's doing right now I'm sure that he, like me, pauses on this day to remember the importance of Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom.

Domina Nostra Sedes Sapientiae, Ora Pro Nobis

Octave Follow Up (again)

In light of my recent ranting against the removal of the Octave of Pentecost, and how "Ordinary Time" has taken over, Catholic Memes has a temporary solution.

Hey I'm all in for that! Maybe even stretch the votive Mass thing longer? Until Advent? Speaking of Advent/Christmas, it was almost surreal at Mass last night. The red altar colours and such from Pentecost had yet to be replaced. And Father of course was decked out in a green chasuble. The 25 degrees Celsius, that's 77 Fahrenheit for you Americans, or 298.15 Kelvin for you Kelvenists, graciously reminded me that it was not Christmas time. To the senses, everything seems disjointed. Theologically, things are disjointed.

But alas, my ranting must stop. Things could always be worse. The Church surely will survive the disconnect in our current liturgical calendar. As for things going worse, there's always Malta as an example:

No, we're not there yet. But boy do we ever need the Holy Spirit now more than ever.

Snippets

School's Out

Joseph finished up Kingergarten and our first year of homeschooling at the end of May. We can't believe how far he has come over the last months. 

From a kid who was still struggling to remember 16 when counting to 20 the first week of school to adding, subtracting, skip counting, telling time (hour/half-hour), and so much more. Joseph is so excited to be reading stories and loves to try writing his own little notes by sounding out letters to form words. His favourite subject is science and we regularly hear around our house (equally from Joseph or John Paul), "Let's do this for a science experiment!" And everything could be termed a science experiment. 

We just sent in our year-end report to the school division and I'm so proud of all the fun and learning we were able to do this year!

Left: first day of school. Right: last day of school.

Swimming Lessons & Soccer

We finished school "early" because we were done, but also because we have a busy month of June with swimming and soccer. Both boys are taking lessons. They love it! But are a little cautious and nervous in the water. Hopefully a little practice with Mommy will get them over the hurdle.

The swimming pics didn't work so well, but this cutie was watching her big brothers.

Garden

We have a small garden in our backyard (Dan is weeding in the pic) where we are growing carrots, beans, peas, and tomatoes. We also have a little lettuce bed and some cucumbers yet to go in somewhere. Just a couple weeks ago, Grandpa Millette tilled up an area in the back of the Millette garden for us and we planted a ton of potatoes, carrots, and zucchini. We're pretty sure that in our excitement we might have bit off more than we can chew... I mean, weed. We can probably eat it all!

Gardening

Birds 

We have been watching our bird feeder closely and were delighted to see goldfinch again this spring. They seem to have moved on, either because our feed dwindled or they found other nesting spots. However, we have a pair of tree swallows nesting in our bird house that Dan received from a student. We were so excited to watch them building their nest and like to listen as they "talk" to each other on the wire or watch as they swap places on the nest. Unfortunately, they weren't peeking out when I took the pic.

Couldn't get it when the birds were peeking out

Reading

We have been avidly reading of late. Joseph is thoroughly enjoying an old Catholic reader. He asks, "Why do they call their Grandpa, Grandfather? Can I just say 'Grandpa'?" We just scored some great books at a library sale today. It always makes me a little sad when libraries get rid of good books I grew up on (although we are happy to have them in our own library). Even some Caldecott Medal Winners today. We will give them a good home. 

Reading baby books. We love Sandra Boynton.

She is so excited to get her hands on our treasures.

Outdoor Fun

With the beautiful weather, the boys have been spending hours and hours outside every day. They love their fort and have built a little table and log chairs inside. They cook food, spy on the neighbours, fight battles, and have secret pathways. 

On Sunday, Grandpa Millette surprised the boys with some kites. Joseph has been making his own kites for months and is slightly obsessed with them. He enlisted Grandpa's help a couple weeks back with another homemade one, but was ecstatic to have this one to build and test fly. Despite the mostly calm skies, Joseph managed to get some great height (of course, I missed the best of it). He says the kite almost made it to the sun.

A couple weeks ago, we looked out the window to see our neighbour across the street out in her yard walking ...a pig. Obviously, the boys had to run outside to check it out. This her pet. Her name is Lily... the pig, I mean.

Our boys are at their happiest out at Grandpa and Grandma's acreage, but they try to make our backyard suffice when we can't make it there. Even little trees become giants to scale.

Quotes

And although I don't have any great pictures of just John Paul at the moment, he sure is a funny guy...

Running full speed around the circle from the kitchen through the living room, he stopped for an apple chunk to eat: "Got my gas!"

Examining the bananas as he tried to choose one: "They have chocolate on them... brown spots all over. They are no good."

Octave Follow Up

You've probably seen this story before, but as a follow up to the previous post, here is Fr. Z. telling his well known story:

"Some years ago … gosh, it was decades now… I was told this story by a retired Papal Ceremoniere (Master of Ceremonies) who, according to him, was present at the event about to be recounted.

You probably know that in the traditional Roman liturgical calendar the mighty feast of Pentecost had its own Octave.  Pentecost was/is a grand affair indeed, liturgically speaking.  It has a proper Communicantes and Hanc igitur, an Octave, a Sequence, etc. In some places in the world such as Germany and Austria Pentecost Monday, Whit Monday as the English call it, was a reason to have a civil holiday, as well as a religious observance.

The Novus Ordo went into force with Advent in 1969.

The Monday after Pentecost in 1970, His Holiness Pope Paul VI went to the chapel for Holy Mass. Instead of the red vestments, for the Octave everyone knows follows Pentecost, there were laid out for him vestments of green.

Paul queried the MC assigned for that day, “What on earth are these for?  This is the Octave of Pentecost!  Where are the red vestments?”

“Santità,” quoth the MC, “this is now Tempus ‘per annum’.  It is green, now. The Octave of Pentecost was abolished.”

“Green? That cannot be!”, said the Pope, “Who did that?”

“Holiness, you did.”

And Paul VI wept."

- - -

I want an octave of Pentecost, Darn it! I say:

Music Mondays: an Ordinary Rant

Pentecost is over. So too, then, is the Easter season. We now head back into ordinary time. Just what is ordinary time? We see green vestments. We are reminded that "green means growth." We are told of how farmers grow crops at this time of year. And just like that for the next nearly half of a year our liturgical lives will be ordinary.

I get that green means growth. And sometimes growth is hard work. Take my backyard for instance. Our hockey rink killed our grass. I think rinks do better on sandy soil. So I've spent the past month nurturing our grass. I've planted new seed. scattered better soil. Watered it daily. It's slowly bouncing back. But that's what grass is supposed to do. It's in its nature to grow, to grow green, and to bounce back every year. The physical growth of a human is somewhat similar. We are born, and then we somehow just get along with our life. Toddlers. School age. Teenagers. Adult life. Old age. Barring unfortunate circumstances, it's all pretty natural I would say.

The spiritual life, however, is perhaps not so simple. Growth in the spiritual life, due to original sin, just doesn't simply happen. Left to ourselves we actually very quickly fall apart and get torn in every direction besides God. Ordinary spiritual times can leave us stagnant.

Once upon a time following Pentecost there was an Octave of Pentecost. Additionally, each Sunday following Pentecost was titled the ___th Sunday after Pentecost. For example, the 11th Sunday after Pentecost. Additionally, the Christmas season used to be longer, and following it the weeks were in reference to how many weeks before Lent. In other words, up until 1970, the Catholic liturgical calendar was always looking towards something. Spiritually speaking, we need this. It is much more exciting to know we are in a time of Pentecost then an ordinary time. It is far more uplifting, purposeful, and inspiring. It makes us all part of this grand Church Militant battle. We all join in, not the just the apostles. It's like... it's like...

That's right, Gonna Fly Now is the Music Monday selection. It's been said that composer Bill Conti, after making the song, received enough money to buy a vehicle. And then a boat. And then a house... and then... the money just kept coming in! It was a hit!

We all need to be pumped up. Everyday. Especially in the spiritual realm.