Something more upbeat...

A friend has taken to describing the Association of Catholic Priests as the Association of Grumpy Priests, so it behoves me to post something uplifting and positive.

Firstly, Don Marco reminds us that we have some wonderful saints to celebrate this week:

I have always experienced the last days of September and the first week of October (September 29 -- October 7) as a moment of spiritual enchantment within the Church Year. Is it the intoxicating effect of Saint Michael's Summer with the peculiar quality of its light? Is it the procession of saints that passes before our eyes, or should I say, through our hearts? These are days almost excessively rich in grace.
Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael descend first on September 29th, in a cloud of incense and a blaze of light. Christ Himself is all their beauty: decus angelorum. Ask them to teach you to gaze with faith and with holy desire upon the Face of Christ, the Human Face of God.
Saint Jerome follows on the 30th, absorbed in the Scriptures, with his lion plodding sleepily along beside him, stopping only for those who need a word of encouragement in the labour of lectio divina. Ask him to obtain for you the grace to practice lectio divina as a Holy Communion with Christ.
On October 1st a young Carmelite smiles: Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, Doctor of the Church. As she passes she lets roses fall; she says nothing, but in her eyes shines a message of confidence for the sinners whose company she has always preferred. Ask her for an increase of hope.
And there are more...

I've also added a new Irish Priest 'blog to my links: Fr John Hogan's Ex Umbris et Imaginibus.  (I almost wish I'd chosen that as the title for my 'blog...)

Over at The Preaching Life, Fr SC recounts a favourite anecdote of a mutual Dominican friend:

During one particular homily one of the preachers recounted a conversation he had with an old friend. This friend had been very successful in business, he was a real high flyer. And as things go, as he succeeded in his business life, he abandoned, or at least 'down graded' his spiritual life, and gave up on the Sacraments. One day the two friends were talking and religion came up. The priest's friend explained who he thought religion was a good idea, but that 'institutional' church was not something for him. He began to explain that he saw God as an energy, somewhere out there, a life force to be tapped into when you needed it. (A common enough idea, these days, by the way.) The learned Dominican retorted "How do you expect me to have a relationship with a battery?!"

I'm probably stealing that one for this Sunday's homily!

Finally, I can't wait to start using the corrected English translation of the Roman Missal which is due to come into effect in just over a year's time.  The current translation regretably obscures some of the more theologically powerful parts of our Mass.  I've often wanted to preach on a particular liturgical point but don't really fancy beginning a homily with the words If you look up the Latin text of this prayer... Anyway, the Church Music Association of America have produced Youtube videos of the new Mass texts chanted. Have a listen to get used to the new texts, and hopefully these videos will encourage those priests who can sing to use these melodies when the corrected translation comes into effect.