Thesis Update

I finally submitted another major section of my thesis to my adviser today. The topic this time: The Aztecs.

This section was especially interesting to me. It dealt first with the Aztec Pantheon. There were, apparently, quite a number of gods who were responsible for the whole gamut of daily life in the Aztec Empire - rain gods, corn gods, gods for pregnant women, gods of the dead, and the sun god. These gods were a blood-thirsty lot, demanding animal sacrifice, blood sacrifice through bodily mutilation, and human sacrifice. While the reasons for human sacrifice are not fully understood, a quote from Kay Read's The Fleeting Moment: Cosmogony, Eschatology, and Ethics in Aztec Religion and Society helps make sense of the gruesome rituals. She speculates as to how a hypothetical Aztec philosopher might describe the role of human sacrifice.

We sacrifice humans because it is human blood which feeds the universe. Human blood feeds the universe because or myths and traditions tell us that it was divine blood which the gods used to make humans, and it must be human blood which feeds the gods. In this way, we re-create each other by feeding each other. If we did not, we humans and the cosmos would die of starvation. We know this is true because all living matter must eat, or death – which is inevitable anyway – would come even sooner. Therefore, it is the transforming of life into life by destructive acts which keeps life in motion.*

There was a despairing quality to the Aztec life. The world would inevitably be destroyed. I think it was this sense of immanent destruction which allowed the people to believe that Cortez was the god Quetzalcoatl returned. Quetzalcoatl’s return would mark the beginning of the end for them. In many ways, the arrival of Europeans was the beginning of the end. It makes me think that many natives accepted Christianity out of a sense of hopelessness. What did it matter whom they worshipped now that all of creation was screeching to a halt? Perhaps better, why not worship the God of the Europeans, as they have destroyed our world, and all that we once believed has now passed away.

I am now down to just a few more large revisions and the inclusion of some detail that is lacking in some areas. Things are looking good to complete it all before Christmas.

* Read, Kay A.. Source: Journal of Religious Ethics, 14 no 1 Spr 1986, p 113-138.

One of Our Own Makes the Paper

If you follow this blog, you know that the entire deacon class had made the paper over the course of this semester by writing reflections on the Sunday scriptures for the archdiocesan newspaper, the Catholic Spirit. A first theologian made mention in an even more prestigious publication, though.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press was recently at the seminary to do a profile of one of the members of our community. Their short story and video can be found here.

More politics.

So, I started reading Denver-Archbishop Charles Chaput's, OFM Cap., Render Unto Cæsar near the beginning of the year. I'm still making my way through it - I've got plenty of other things to do before devoting significant amounts of time to reading this book.

But, during my usual Wednesday morning lull between my holy hour and Morning Prayer (which is an hour later on Wednesdays than the rest of the weekdays), I decided to pick up his book once again.

It was a bit, oh how shall we say, off-putting. After proving that there has been significant anti-Catholicism in our nation's history (he proved this with an extensive quote from a Supreme Court Case report in which a justice speaks about previous rulings of the Supreme Court which were anti-Catholic), the good Archbishop continues:

Catholics - and I mean all of us, bishops and laypeople alike - need to admit that we've been too naive, too often, in our past political assumptions. American Catholics have taken part in good faith in a system that sometimes operates in bad faith. The Protestant theologian Stanley Hauerwas once warned that the great weakness of Christian witness in our time is that we preach as though we don't have enemies. But we do. In our legitimate hopes for a role in American life, Catholics have ignored an unpleasant truth: that there are active, motivated groups in modern American society that bitterly resent the Catholic Church and the Christian Gospel, and would like to silence both.

Many Catholics since Vatican II have recoiled almost instinctively from traditional images of the "church militant." But like it or not, that is exactly what we are - or should be. We are in a struggle for the souls of our people and our country. We ignore this at our own peril. We also fail as disciples. (p. 187)

At first I thought, "Wouldn't some of the guys of the house like to read this!" To a certain extent, I've been trained (by what, I'm not exactly sure) to be repulsed by such statements, or at least to disregard them. But, then I stepped back and thought about it for a second. It was then that so very quickly one of my high school friends came to mind.

One of my friends from HS lives in the cities here and he and I hang out once every few months. To put it simply, he is a staunch liberal when it comes to politics, and morality and economics and religion. Every time that we get together, he's always joking about how "we've got to take down the Catholic Church," and by "we" he means America. He also says, "You know, with John Paul II I had some hope for change in the Church and things seemed as though they could have continued to go well. When he died there was a great moment, a great opportunity. But then! Benedict! BENEDICT?! Oh, this will not do. You know, I thought there might be a chance for the Catholic Church to come around, but not anymore. Now, I have no reason to hope for any good to come from the Church. We've just got to destroy it."

Now, sure, to a certain extent he's joking. But his laughter as he says this is primarily arising from the fact that these really are his thoughts, he knows how outlandish they are, how contrary they are to my beliefs, and that he's saying them to my face. He and I can get along, despite our differences, and to a certain extent, I keep in contact with him because I hold out the hope for his conversion.

But getting back to Archbishop Chaput's point: it is true and evident to me that we are the Church militant, that we are in a struggle for the soul of America, and that there are those out there planning the Church's demise. Thanks be to God it'll never happen.

Late Night Fire Alarm! Late Night Fire Drill?

Before you begin this story, I should tell you that (if you read this whole post) you can watch the two videos at the end! Cool, huh?

The Saint Paul Seminary recently finished some re-wiring in both the administrative building as well as the residence. In the adminstrative section, it was computer and other technical updates. In its residence, among other things, the fire alarm system was updated.

As part of the process, the seminarians were asked to sign a form indicating that we had read the new fire-evacuation guidelines. Additionally, there was a fire drill announced and scheduled for last Wednesday morning (the picture on the right is intended to show us planning for our fire drill . . . cute, right?).

As usual, all went according to plan. The three teams that worked on our wiring completed their tasks on schedule, and the fire drill went off as planned. The only warning we had of potential problems occured the previous week - while the wiring crews were hard at work, one of the master-alarms was briefly triggerd and the seminary buildings, briefly, evacuated.

Thinking that all our wiring worries were behind us, the seminary settled into "business as usual" mode following our scheduled fire drill.

And there we were . . . it was somewhat past 10pm. I was in my room with another seminarian just about to pray Compline (night prayer) when the master-alarm for our fire-detection system sounded. Alarmed (no PUN intended), we headed for the exit.

And there we were . . . a group of seminarians and priests outside in the cold, dark night - fire alarms loudly ringing. Some seminarians had previously changed into shorts and t-shirts but no shoes, some were already wearing their pajamas, and others were still in street clothes.

This author personally guessed that it was an "unscheduled" test of the alarms to see that the seminarians really knew how to properly evacuate the building in an emergency, but then the University of Saint Thomas Campus Security and the Saint Paul Fire Department quickly showed up - their own alarms sounding - and raced into the seminary to find the cause of the action.

The good folks from campus security alerted us upon their arrival that they did not know why the alarms were sounding. They concluded that there was a "mishap" with the new wiring that has since been corrected; whew! No damage to report.

Check out the videos - courtesy of Deacon Jorge. This author was a little too "alarmed" that he forgot to bring his own camera with him.

Take care, -Jeremy

Noise.

I have continued to make my almost daily walks in the neighborhoods of Saint Paul. During them, I do marvel at the briskness of the fall nights, the absence of cars and people on the streets, and the dark night sky, especially when it is clear. However, there is something that is yet lacking in the whole experience.

Well, perhaps lacking isn't the right word, given that what I dread is something that is present. Whether it's the sound of the very-seldom car driving by, or the sirens in the distance of the police car, or the rumble of cars on the freeway a little ways away, there's always background noise. The most persistent, however, is the constant "whoosh" of planes taking off and landing overhead.

Coming from a relatively small town - one of some 2200 people - I appreciate the evenings of going outside and there being the stillness, the absence of activity, the even clearer sky with stars shining brightly, and most of all the quiet of nature without admixture of man-made noise pollution.

There are many things which we seminarians fantasize about with the priesthood. Whether it be getting to know the families of our some-day parishes so well; whether it be saying a reverent mass with beautiful music; whether it be hunting with parishioners in the wild outdoors; there are many things we hope to enjoy as future priests. One small thing that I await is getting to pastor some cluster of small parishes and bask in the readily-available and boundless beauty of nature, without the admixture of urban steel, concrete and noise.

St. Joseph Cathedral restoration

For many years the St. Joseph Cathedral has been undergoing different projects. Within the past ten years there have been three large projects. The chapel that was used for daily mass was converted into a parish hall, the old sacristy was converted into the daily mass/perpetual adoration chapel. I can honestly say that I have no idea what was in the space, which is now occupied by the sacristy. Over the past year and a half, plans have come to fruition to restore the main body of the cathedral to the original intentions of the architect Emmanuel Louis Masqueray. Masqueray was the architect for the Basillica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, the Cathedral of St. Paul (in St. Paul) and the chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas on the University of St. Thomas campus.

There is a long list of things to do, which include: bringing color back to the whole church, improving the sound system, re-wiring the entire church, getting the place temperature controlled so that the paint will retain it's beauty. A portion of the restoration was revealed this past Friday. So far two columns have been painted in a way to make them look like marble. The stations of the cross, which were originally done in a relief, are being painted as well. I will post updates and pictures as this process continues.

Politics.

There are firsts for everything and seminary has been a place where I have done many new things for the first time. Take, for example, this year's presidential election; it was my first time voting. I had never cared or really felt strongly about politics until I became Catholic, but since then I have considered it more and more.

In college I developed a "moderate" political identity without any affiliation to any party. Since my knowledge and understanding of the truth has been fortified by my Catholic faith, I have become increasingly more aware of the Church's pro-life identity. We are pro-life at the core. While it may seem tough for some to understand, it is really common sense. Morality must stay at the forefront of our philosophy. We must never give in to societal trends and movements which, as G.K. Chesterton noted, are usually the repeated errors on the path, while the Church is the constant teacher against even future errors.

Maybe I am a one issue voter, but I don't see it that way. Consider war, for instance. Certainly I see war as an issue that demeans the dignity of human life. The Pope himself attempted to dissuade President Bush from entering into armed conflict. War, however, can be justified under certain circumstances. There are other issues, though, that can never be justified for any reason. Abortion is one of them. What really is in contention is the hierarchy of life issues, and it is in this regard that the Church demands lines be drawn. For this reason, we have to continue to strive for the Truth, shedding the light of Christ and his Church to the millions of people who are in desperate need of it. We need to teach the truth unhindered by our desire not to offend people. That is not an option; there has to be something done to shake people out of apathy and selfishness.

Feast of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran

Little children are often wary of wading in water which is only waist deep. They are frightened when they approach waters of which they cannot feel or even see the bottom. Adults, as well, are rightly tentative about swimming in unfamiliar waters whose depth and dangers are unknown.

Even more fearful is flowing water — water which refuses to be still, water which rushes downstream and drags along with it whatever dares to enter into it.

This is the image that the angel gives to Ezekiel. The waters of the temple of the Lord are wide, flowing and tremendous. Wherever they flow, they bring life. Whatever enters into them is bound to be swept away. Nothing these waters touch remains unchanged.

Such is the case with one’s embarking upon the path of Christ. If one loses his life for the sake of the Gospel, he cannot keep but from being swept away. Deep into the life of the church, deep into the life of the world is he immersed.

OMNIUM URBIS ET ORBIS ECCLESIARUM MATER ET CAPUT.

These words are inscribed upon the Lateran Basilica in Rome, which is the feast we celebrate this Sunday: “Head and mother of all the churches of the city and the world.” It is such because it is not only a basilica in Rome but also the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome.

The mother church

Indeed, the Lateran Basilica, handed over to the church by the emperor Constantine in the early 300s, has long been the cathedral of the mother church — the mother diocese — of the whole world.

This one building represents for us the temple of the Lord. From it flow the life-giving waters, the gift of baptism and all the sacraments. Each of the sacraments provides us with the source from which we can receive the regeneration, refreshment and renewal needed to live the Christian life.

Indeed, sometimes the Lord’s temple can become a place filled with waste. As temples of the Holy Spirit, even our own bodies, our own lives can become weighted down, filthy and poisonous. In its members the church can become stagnant and lifeless, like the Dead Sea.

Yet the Lord always returns. He enters the temple to purify it. Jesus’ zeal for the Lord’s house is also his zeal for our souls. He pours out the life-giving waters which cleanse us of all that is dead. He purifies us with his grace which is always available to us in his church.

In celebrating the feast of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, we turn to our head and mother of the church universal. Living in his church, how can we help but be swept up and washed clean by the flood of his very own life, poured out into us? Listening to his word, receiving the sacraments and remaining faithful to his teaching we are refreshed, washed clean and made his dwelling, the temple of the Lord.

Let it Snow

Well, the white stuff is coming down. I will update this post throughout the day to track the first snow-fall of the year.

8:00 am

















9:30 am-The flakes are a little bit bigger and wetter













It quit snowing after the 9:30 am picture and now it's just wet.

Recycled OT Assignment

In his book, The Everlasting Man, G. K. Chesterton argues that a review of history, especially ancient history, reveals four basic religious tendencies: God, the gods, the demons, and the philosophers. He describes “the gods” or mythology as “an attempt to reach the divine reality through the imagination alone.” This paganism is “a great deal of good nonsense” and has a “certain superficiality and even insincerity” to it. The demons are a desperate impulse that emerges during rationalistic ages that drives men “to the darker powers when dealing with practical problems.” The slaughter of children is a prominent mark of these advanced cultures, and Carthage is Chesterton’s prime example. The philosophers are the number mystics, skeptics, and court magicians. They concern themselves with the acquisition of knowledge and wisdom. Ancient history has something to say to us because these tendencies of the ancients remain with us today, but more importantly because it shows that two thousand years ago we saw something entirely new in history. The tumultuous record of Israel’s life among other ancient peoples ought to give us an appreciation of that Church which successfully fused the ancient tendencies of popular piety and rational inquiry with faith in the one God.

Broken Crosiers

This is a story about having a positive attitude towards an awkward day.

Archbishop Nienstedt comes to the Saint Paul Seminary and Saint John Vianney minor seminary often to celebrate Mass and meet with the seminarians. On Monday, he was with the Saint John Vianney minor seminary in the morning for Mass and with us here at the Saint Paul Seminary for noon Mass.

Before I go on with the story, here is the essential background: there are several symbols of the office which a bishop uses in a liturgy. A bishop will wear a mitre (see left) during processions and while listening to the the readings from the Bible during liturgy. Another symbol of his office is the crosier; this is reminiscent of a shepherd's staff in that he, as bishop, is in charge of guiding and protecting the flock within his diocese.

On this past Monday morning, as stated above, Archbishop Nienstedt was going to celebrate Mass at Saint John Vianney (SJV). While they were preparing for Mass, one of the SJV seminarians snapped and broke the top of the archbishop's crosier - breaking off the "hook" piece. This was, even according to Archbishop Nienstedt, an accident.

Now, if that was the whole story then we would simply have an embarrassed undergraduate seminarian and an archbishop about to put in an order for a new crosier. However, the archbishop had a "spare" crosier which he used to celebrate Mass with us here at the Saint Paul Seminary later on Monday.

Here's the twist: as we were preparing for the liturgy, one of our priests broke the bottom piece of the archbishop's "spare" crosier! Now that's what this author can only guess would be an awkward day for the archbishop: visit two seminaries and break two crosiers in the process.

This author must also include how masterfully His Excellency handled the situation. He told us - the Saint Paul Seminarians - the story, and with both a chuckle and smile merely indicated that this may be a "rough" day. Now that's grace under pressure.

To our reverend archbishop: we love you, we are thankful and grateful for your service and example, and we're so very sorry about breaking your other crosier. I hope it's not too bold of me to promise when you next visit the Saint Paul Seminary we will take extra care to ensure that both you and your crosier are perfectly safe.

Take care, -Jeremy

So we'll live, and pray . . . RESEARCH STAGE

The library next to SPS has a perpetual used book sale which I peruse whenever I happen to go there. Wandering through it last month I came across a copy of Robert Hugh Benson's By What Authority which chronicles Catholics and Protestants from a small community on the outskirts of London trying to live through the Elizabethan Era. Like a lot of Benson, it is pretty good, with the occasionally great passage. He was always giving talks, writing something . . . oh, and he was a priest . . . so if his work lacks that polish of a dedicated full-time author it is understandable.

Whenever I read an author, I like to get a little biography and find some of their work in different genres if it's available. Benson, aside from his novels and sermons, wrote plays and a few poems. These last works, the poetry, were collected after his death and assembled in a little volume which happens to be part of Ireland Library's collection. Thumbing through that volume, I ran across a poem entitled O Deus Ego Amo Te. "Oh," says I, "that's the same title as a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins. I start reading it and realize, "Hey, this is practically the same as the Hopkins poem." Here's the Benson poem:

O God, I love Thee mightily,
Not only for Thy saving me,
Nor yet because who love not thee
Must burn throughout eternity.
Thou, thou, my Jesu, once didst me
Embrace upon the bitter Tree.
For me the nails, the soldier's spear,
With injury and insult, bear --
In pain all pain exceeding,
In sweating and in bleeding,
Yea, very death, and that for me
A sinner all unheeding!
O Jesu, should I not love Thee
Who thus hast dealt so lovingly --
Not hoping some reward to see,
Nor least I my damnation be;
But, as Thyself hast loved me,
So love I now and always Thee,
Because my King alone Thou art,
Because O God, mine own Thou art!

And Hopkins's runs like this:

O God, I love thee, I love thee,
Not out of hope of heaven for me
Nor fearing not to love and be
In the everlasting burning.
Thou, thou, my Jesus, after me
Didst reach thine arms out dying,
For my sake sufferedst nails, and lance,
Mocked and marred countenance,
Sorrows passing number,
Sweat and care and cumber,
Yea and death, and this for me,
And thou couldst see me sinning:
Then I, why should not I love thee,
Jesu, so much in love with me?
Not for heaven's sake; not to be out of hell by loving thee;
Not for any gains I see;
But just the way that thou didst me
I do love and I will love thee:
What must I love thee, Lord, for then?
For being my king and God. Amen.

Considering both Benson and Hopkins seemed to have a relatively high moral code, I presume that they are both translating from some original -- likely in Latin. However, anybody interested in doing the research for which I simply do not have the time is free to post a comment.

And for all those like me, without much time to spare, since this is the great day of elections, I suggest a little impromptu voting. Which is the better translation if, indeed, that's what they are?

Human Formation

The Church asks men preparing for the priesthood to ready themselves in four separate areas: humanly, spiritually, intellectually, and pastorally. These subheadings are largely self-explanatory. We study, we learn to pray, and then to pray better. We learn how to minister to God's people in a variety of ways. Human formation, however, becomes something of a catch-all category. Under it fall such topics as manners, grooming, personality, dress, weight, the ability to converse and a variety of other things. For me, of late, the pressing issue of human formation has been my habit of nail biting.

I have done it for years. I often do not even notice I am doing it until someone else makes mention of it. Recently, though, I decided it was time to quit. Knowing myself and my weak will, I determined that I would need assistance. For this reason, I acquired a foul little bottle of the most terrible tasting concoction I have ever encountered. I apply it to my fingernails on a daily basis. It has helped significantly, but not without its costs.

Besides having particularly shiny fingernails, the taste of this liquid gets on everything. From my fingers it transfers to my french fries, to my drinking glass, even to my lips. While I have avoided biting my nails, the dreadful stuff seems to be everywhere. Such, I guess, is the price I pay for a bad habit. I know that this small inconvenience now will preserve me from the embarrassment of gnawing on my hands in public throughout the future. Nevertheless, I am not sure I see the advantage of well manicured hands just now.

Gloating

Cribbage is the newest craze to hit the seminary. Many of the men play the game, several of the uninitiated have begun to learn, and I am convinced that more will eventually succumb to peer pressure before the semester ends. Therefore, it is not unusual to find my peers and I engaged in a heated game of cribbage. Such was the case this evening with Deacons Gregory, Jonathan, Michael and me. Dcn. Jonathan and I were partners, and we mopped the floor with our competitors, beating them three out of three games, "skunking" them twice. Tomorrow is another day, but I will bask in my victory for tonight.

Homiletics Bloopers

Those of us in Theology II are currently enrolled in our first homiletics class. There is a class portion once a week and nine "labs" in which we preach our own homilies. The first couple of homilies were not our own. Our first homily was taken from the Liturgy of the Hours, our second from a contemporary preacher. It is safe to say that any blunders in our message were not our own but the original author. As of late we have told a story of a memorable homily that we have heard and this is where the fun begins. A couple of us (myself included) failed to remember that when you tell a story it is good to have an ending. This led to us standing awkwardly at the ambo until we ended it by stepping away from the ambo.

This week our assignment was to give an impromptu speech/homily. We pulled a piece of paper out of a hat with a situation and we had three minutes to prepare. Some had more difficult situations than others. A couple of our classmates were given situations involving the death of a person. One of our classmates was asked to talk about an 85 year-old man who died of lung cancer and most of his family is not Catholic or does not go to church at all and the priest who did the funeral is not available. It was not the theological content, but the fact that the homilist stated in similar words: "Some of you may think he died too young". As soon as he said it, he caught himself, but nonetheless it was a funny moment.

Both of these moments are very helpful in learning what not to do as we continue our formation as priests.

40 Hours of Eucharistic Adoration at the St. Paul Seminary

This post is on the St. Paul Seminary's 40 Hours of Eucharistic Devotion, the St. Charles Borremeo Weekend.

Monsignor Aloysius Callaghan, J.C.D. - Rector of the St. Paul Seminary

by James Lannan, Theology II - Saint Paul Seminary

-------------------------

Friday October 31, 2008:

Vigil Mass for the Feast of All Saints was held at the St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel on the University of Saint Thomas' North Campus. After Mass both the Saint Paul Seminary & the Saint John Vianney Seminary of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul-Minneapolis processed the Blessed Sacrament in a Monstrance across campus.

St. Charles Borremeo is the Patron Saint of Seminarians This is one of the most exciting and spiritually fulfilling times of the St. Paul Seminary school year. Not only do all the seminarians pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament, but members of our Catholic community from all over the Archdiocese come to pray and be with Christ at the seminary. It is absolutely wonderful!

The procession was approximately an hour long, ending in Saint Mary's Chapel of the Saint Paul Seminary. We capped off the opening of our weekend celebration with Compline.

The Eucharist will be exposed in Saint Mary's Chapel until Mass on Sunday at 10:00 a.m.

Keeping Vigil

You might note the time stamp on this post.

Last night's Mass and procession were glorious. Indeed, not everything was perfect--but that's nearly impossible on this side of heaven. Mass was beautiful. Fr. Baer - rector of SJV Seminary - gave a rousing homily of walking in Saint Paul (the city), to Saint Paul (the seminary), by Saint Paul (the new statue), with Saint Paul (the person and saint) because we are walking with our Lord, his Lord, the same Lord that he adored in the Eucharist which we adore in our procession.

Indeed, we walked, and we walked triumphantly.

Perhaps the most beautiful moment of the whole procession (which led through the north campus of UST in Saint Paul, down Summit Ave, and across south campus to our courtyard and chapel) was along Summit Ave. Perhaps you aren't aware, but there are numerous houses along Summit which are owned/rented by different groups. One such group is closely associated with the Catholic Studies department here at UST - one of the greatest attributes of the university (behind only SPS and SJV, of course!).

Well, it being All Hallow's Eve and all, they were having a Halloween party. Apparently, the costume theme was your favorite saint. Yet, they knew that we would be having our procession. So, as we walked past, all of the people from that house were outside waiting. They were waiting for their Lord who would pass by their house that night. Indeed, perhaps they wanted to invite Him in; He indeed wanted to dine with them, and likely did in the fraternity they shared. Nonetheless, there they were. A group of some 30 college kids all on their knees, waiting, adoring, praying as their Lord passed them by. It was truly beautiful. Acknowleding their devotion and love for our Lord, Msgr. Callaghan (who was bearing our Lord in the monstrance) stopped the procession, stepped out from under the canopy and gave them benediction with the blessed sacrament.

It has often been said that we need to regain a sense of beauty in our culture. Some argue that this beauty is first and foremost the beauty of a holy life, and insofar as these students witnessing to their faith like that, joining with our witnessing to our faith, how could one not be moved by such manifestation of God's glory?

Well, the beauty continues. All throughout the night and the next 33 hours we are here, adoring. I took an hour-long shift of keeping watch with our Lord in the chapel, and now I am taking yet another hour-long shift of keeping watch, only just outside the chapel. So as to keep our front door unlocked, we keep the desk in the lobby manned at all hours.

Indeed, we did walk gloriously in Saint Paul, to Saint Paul, past Saint Paul, with Saint Paul in this Year of saint Paul. Join with us and Saint Paul, even if only by prayer.