Happy Feast Day to my youngest, Matthew James! Today is the Feast Day of St. Matthew, Apostle and evangelist. [Today's readings]
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We're 9 days away from the feast day of my patron saint! September 29th is the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel. My oldest son loves the prayer cards of St. Michael and I've even caught him posing standing on a toy dragon, sword in hand.
Tonight begins the novena (nine days) of prayer to
our most powerful defender against the snares of the devil.
Glorious Saint Michael,
guardian and defender
of the Church of Jesus Christ,
come to the assistance of His followers,
against whom the powers of hell are unchained.
Guard with special care our Holy Father,
the Pope, and our bishops, priests,
all our religious and lay people,
and especially the children.
Saint Michael,
watch over us during life,
defend us against the assaults of the demon,
and assist us especially at the hour of death.
Help us achieve the happiness
of beholding God face to face
for all eternity. Amen.
Saint Michael,
intercede for me with God
in all my necessities,
especially [intention].
Obtain for me a favorable outcome
in the matter I recommend to you.
Mighty prince of the heavenly host,
and victor over rebellious spirits,
remember me for I am weak and sinful
and so prone to pride and ambition.
Be for me, I pray,
my powerful aid in temptation and difficulty,
and above all do not forsake me
in my last struggle with the powers of evil.
Amen.
[Traditionally followed by the Lord's Prayer, a Hail Mary, and a Gloria]
"Fear not, Daniel," he continued; "from the first day you made up your mind to acquire understanding and humble yourself before God, your prayer was heard. Because of it I started out, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia stood in my way for twenty-one days, until finally Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me. I left him there with the prince of the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what shall happen to your people in the days to come; for there is yet a vision concerning those days." (Daniel 10:12-14)
"but I shall tell you what is written in the truthful book. No one supports me against all these except Michael, your prince," (Daniel 10:21)
"At that time there shall arise Michael, the great prince, guardian of your people; It shall be a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began until that time. At that time your people shall escape, everyone who is found written in the book." (Daniel 12:1)
Yet the archangel Michael, when he argued with the devil in a dispute over the body of Moses, did not venture to pronounce a reviling judgment 8 upon him but said, "May the Lord rebuke you!" (Jude 1:9)
Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. (Revelation 12:7-8)
Even in the depths of my time away from the church, one man's music sticks out in my memory as having always been there. I was exposed to Rich Mullins' music by a friend on camp staff at Camp Sunnen. I left camp that summer with a cassette tape he had given me, and his music and piano playing still influence my music.
Twelve years ago, Mr. Mullins was taken from our world sooner than many would have wished. I used to like to tell myself that heaven needed his music more than we did.
Almost everything he made from the sale of his music, beyond a small salary, was directed by him back into the work of Christian ministries.
Here's a clip from a song that just happened to come into my mind just this last Tuesday night during Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. I had forgotten about this being the anniversary of his death, but this song entered my head and I sang it Tuesday night:
Here are a couple more:
Yes!! Despite the economic downtown, the state has sent some federal funds our way, for "median landscaping" here in Granite City.
In other development news, the boys and I drove by the construction site of the new Granite Cinema tonight, and the big construction trucks have been hard at work this week.
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Congrats to cross-town Granite City Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, celebrating its 50th anniversary this Sunday (September 20). The church is at 3025 National Ave.
The church claims 65 members, and averages 35 attending each week. They're known for helping local needy people through Meals of Love and the Granite City Area Breakfast Ministry.
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Today's first reading, from the First Letter to Timothy, makes me think that the early Church and how many early Christians lived in their day-to-day, earthly lives were very similar to today - check it out:
Beloved:
Teach and urge these things.
Whoever teaches something different
and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the religious teaching
is conceited, understanding nothing,
and has a morbid disposition for arguments and verbal disputes.
From these come envy, rivalry, insults, evil suspicions,
and mutual friction among people with corrupted minds,
who are deprived of the truth,
supposing religion to be a means of gain.
Indeed, religion with contentment is a great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world,
just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it.
If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that.
Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap
and into many foolish and harmful desires,
which plunge them into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is the root of all evils,
and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith
and have pierced themselves with many pains.
But you, man of God, avoid all this.
Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion,
faith, love, patience, and gentleness.
Compete well for the faith.
Lay hold of eternal life,
to which you were called when you made the noble confession
in the presence of many witnesses.
-1 Tm 6:2c-12
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Suzanne ran across the "Twilight Turtle" a couple of months ago in a toy catalog (parents, you know just how many toy catalogs come in the mail every single day.)
We bookmarked it as a potential birthday gift for Thomas, and suggested it to my side of the family. My sister ended up getting him one.
If you're looking for a toy that gives you the peace-of-mind of knowing that it'll never make any noise, then this is a great one. If you're looking for something to help at bed time, thin this is a great one.
It's one of the simplest toys you can imagine. The stuffed turtle with hardshell back is a little over 1 foot long. It simply rotates between three different color "on" positions (blue, green, and amber) and the "off" position.
The cool thing is... the light shines out through little holes in the turtle's shell that are in the shape of stars - complete with one moon as well. The result is a virtual planetarium on your kid's ceiling at bed time. It even comes with a "star guide" to help you and your child identify constellations on the ceiling.
Thomas has gone to sleep with his Twilight Turtle every night since his birthday (except for one night, when he had hidden it under his dresser and forgotten where we put it, and we couldn't find it for almost a day.)
The Twilight Turtle takes 3 "AAA" batteries and automatically turns off (unless reactivated) after 45 minutes.
It's a great gift for your own kid or for a friend's or family member's kid.
(Full disclosure:
Growing Tree Toys is currently a client of mine. That's why I'm linking to the product at their site. But we've also recently ordered from them and been very happy with the service and the products.)
In an article Wednesday titled "Downtown St. Louis Schnucks crucifix draws criticism", the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on Tom Collora, Jr., the manager of Schnucks' newest grocery concept in downtown St. Louis, Culinaria.
(For those reading this outside of the St. Louis area, Schnucks is one of our oldest and largest regional grocery companies. Culinaria is a new urban concept that they opened in the revitalizing area of downtown STL.)
Apparently, he's causing a stir by putting his Roman Catholic faith on display - in the form of a crucifix on a wall behind the customer service counter, opposite the new store's checkout registers.
According to the Post-Dispatch, "Collora has worked for the grocery chain for 40 years and said he has displayed a crucifix at two other Schnucks stores he has managed - one on the Hill in south St. Louis and another in St. Charles - and has never had a complaint."
But apparently, the downtown crowd is having a harder time with the crucifix.
Complaints range in scope from those simply saying that the crucifix seems out of place in the grocery store to those claiming infringement of "separation of church and state" due to the store's development and location being at least partially public-funded.
The Post-Dispatch continues:
Collora says exclusion is not what he had in mind. The crucifix, he said, "is not meant to promote one faith over another. It's just an opportunity to share a part of myself and my life with people I work hard to serve every day."
Lori Willis, Schnucks communications director, said Collora was the only manager in the chain's 106 stores to have requested to display an article of personal faith.
"Company leaders made a decision to honor that request out of respect for Tom and his faith," Willis said. "In fact, that's part of the reason they put him in charge of Culinaria. He's a man of such strong faith - who better to put in a store where so many faiths come together?"
Karen Aroesty of the Anti-Defamation League of St. Louis was quoted as saying "If Schnucks wants to stand behind a valued staff member... I guess that's admirable, but they risk sacrificing the loyalty of customers who will go elsewhere because they are so bothered" by the crucifix."
Seriously? Someone might be "so bothered" by the crucifix to shop for groceries elsewhere? I want to really grasp this, but I honestly can't. It seems that some people always have to find something to complain about.
My vote: Keep that crucifix on the wall, Mr. Collora. And others of various faiths, go ahead and feel free to display the symbols that bring you strength in your private places of business as well. And I promise to continue to patronize you regardless of that. Welcome to America!
As of right now, the article has over 450 comments, which is enough to put it at the top of STL Today's "Most Commented Stories" list, but it's oddly not on the list.
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Many friends and family noticed my Facebook status on Tuesday mentioning that the company I work for, Omniture, is being acquired by Adobe. The proposed deal was announced on Tuesday.
It's been interesting to watch the analysts and commentators talk about the deal for the last couple of days.
I'm honestly very excited about this move. Having leaped to the analytics space from an advertising agency, I've always been hopeful of more ongoing synergy between the left brains and right brains that seek to most effectively market on the Internet.
The diagram on the Adobe announcement page (below) is eerily similar to a chart that we used to include in decks when I was at
Rodgers Townsend that illustrated the full-circle from creative through execution through analysis and feeding back into creative.
Here's some more cool analysis that's come out over the last couple of days related to the combination of the companies:
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CBS Sports announced today that they'll again this year be streaming all of their over-the-air SEC college football games on CBSSports.com.
Looks like Thomas and I will be spending as much of Saturday afternoons as possible in front of the computer screen.
From the press release: "A total of 15 SEC contests will be streamed live on CBSSports.com concluding with the SEC Championship Game... Additionally, the 110th Army-Navy College Football Classic, the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl and the Brut Sun Bowl will be streamed live on CBSSports.com. The games are available exclusively on CBSSports.com."
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