With all the hype on New Year's Eve parties and what-not, why not try an alternative to the loudness of it all?  Simplicity certainly can work wonders for making one recognize the good fortune that one has in life.  So with that in mind, I'm keeping it simple this New Year's Eve.  I went to mass at St. Ignatius tonight.  The mass was presided by Archbishop James and was celebrated in both English and Spanish, which certainly made for an interesting evening.  It felt like I was in another continent at times!  The beauty of celebrating mass with the archbishop is in getting to hear his homily (ie. sermon).  He has a wonderful gift of being able to convey very practical and yet profound messages to the people.  In a nutshell, these were the main points of his lesson:

• Christmas is not something that ends as soon as you open your presents on Christmas Day.  Catholics celebrate the Christmas spirit for eight consecutive days, meaning that the spirit of love and giving should extend past December 25th, all the way to January 1st, and in fact, it should extend throughout the entire year. 
• Each and every individual should never forget that he/she is tremendously loved by God.  Thus we are all special and important in our own ways and we must never lose sight of that, especially in times of hardships.
• The typical New Year's resolutions of losing weight, eating healthier, etc. are useful, but trite.  Rather than focus on such resolutions that focus on self, we should direct our resolutions outwards towards others.  Why not resolve to give more of your time, patience, love, etc. to others?
• The mix of Spanish and English in one harmonious mass celebration is an example of how we ought to live with others.  Especially when we encounter difficulty relating to others who may seem so different from us, those are the times when we must remember Christ's example of love for neighbour.
• Mary is the model of how we ought to live our lives.  She was not afraid to trust that accepting to be the Mother of God was the right decision.  We also need to trust in God, in good times and in bad.

Following mass was a small reception of coffee and snacks in the parish hall.  I certainly was surprised and thrilled when Archbishop James told me he selected me to lector (ie. read scripture passages to the congregation at mass) in Sydney, Australia this summer!  What this means is that I may possible get a chance to get REAL up close and personal with none other than Pope Benedict XVI!  If this actually happens in July 2008, it's certainly going to have a tremendous effect on my vocation!  Now all I need to do is somehow save up over three grand to get myself down under.  Archbishop James also told me to change my hairstyle.  (He was joking of course.)  He also got to meet my dad, which my dad was very happy about.  It's amazing how approachable and friendly our archbishop is.

One more thing.  I said hello to one of the local priests at St. Ignatius tonight, and he was a priest that before then, I would have only seen in the confession room.  I wonder if he recognizes me as the fellow who confessed to doing all those sinful things I mentioned!  And, what does the archbishop do on New Year's Eve?  Stay home alone and go to bed at ten.  I love simplicity!

I was watching the 1989 Batman film tonight and came to a realization that Batman's lifestyle is like that of a priest.  Think about it.  The priest sacrifices his life for the greater good of others.  He challenges society's norms by living counter-culturally, sacrificing having a family and the pursuit of wealth, among other things.  The priest takes the vow of celibacy in order to devote his energies and time into serving God by serving others, which means that should the priest find a woman falling for him, he is obliged not to get romantically involved as this would compromise his ability to devote all his energies toward God.  Same goes for Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman.  Bruce sacrifices his way of living in order to serve and protect the innocent.  He also is an unmarried man and remains that way as long as he has his crime-fighting career.  There was a scene in the 1989 Batman film that emphasized this.  Bruce's interest Vicki Vale, once she was let into the batcave, confronts Bruce and asks "why won't you let me in?"  By this she is questioning why Bruce seems to be careful in how attached he becomes to her.  She wants to know if the two of them will ever try to love each other.  Bruce loves Vicki but refuses to commit fully to her.  Bruce is committed to his alter-ego.  The priest is committed to his Church.  Both of them are men of sacrifice.  Both of them are heroes.

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. -John 15:13

LONDON, England (AP) -- Tony Blair, who often kept his religious views private while serving as Britain's prime minister, has converted to Catholicism, officials said Saturday.

Blair, who had long been a member of the Church of England, converted to the Catholic faith during a Mass held Friday night at a chapel in London, the Catholic Church said.

"It can be confirmed that Tony Blair has been received into full communion with the Catholic Church by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor," the head of the church in England and Wales, the church said in a statement.

"I'm very glad to welcome Tony Blair into the Catholic Church," the statement quoted Murphy-O'Connor as saying.

"For a long time he's been a regular worshipper at Mass with his family and in recent months he's been following a program of formation for his reception into full communion. Our prayers are with him, his family and his wife at this joyful moment in their journey of faith together," Murphy-O'Connor said.

There had long been speculation that Blair planned to convert to Catholicism. His wife, Cherie, is Roman Catholic, the couple's children have attended Catholic schools, and Blair had regularly attended Catholic, rather than Anglican, services.

Blair, who is now a Middle East peace envoy, met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in June.

The former prime minister told the BBC this year that he had avoided talking about his religious views while in office for about 10 years for fear of being labeled "a nutter."

In England's last census, 72 percent of people identified themselves as Christian. Many are Anglicans affiliated with the Church of England, which was created by royal proclamation during the 16th century after King Henry VIII -- who married six times -- broke ties with the Roman Catholic Church in a dispute over divorce.

The Church of England has said that less than 10 percent of its members are regular churchgoers.

Britons often are surprised by people who openly and fervently discuss their religious views, and the degree to which faiths such as evangelicalism can influence U.S. politics.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/12/22/catholic.blair.ap/index.html

By now you know about the 16 year old pregnant Spears.  There's enough commentary going around about this, but I'll just add in one more comment that I have posted before.  The following is from Francis Cardinal Arinze.

"In many parts of world, the family is under siege, opposed by an anti-life mentality as is seen in contraception, abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. It is scorned and banalised by pornography, desecrated by fornication and adultery, mocked by homosexuality, sabotaged by irregular unions, and cut in two by divorce."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,12272,1055080,00.html

At a coffee shop recently, I overheard some old chaps talking about how messed up society is in terms of the lack of modesty in today's Western culture.  One of them said that all he has to do is step out his front door to witness this lack of modesty.  I agree.

http://umanitoba.ca/colleges/st_pauls/376.htm

How do you discern what to do in moments of decision making?  Sometimes it can be difficult to discern what to do, especially in times when a decision can have significant impact on the course of future events.  So what are we to do?  I was chatting with my archbishop yesterday, and he reminded me that whatever you do, one of the worst things you can do is NOT doing anything.  If that's the way we'd prefer to live our lives, then why not just stay in bed all day and not do anything?

Decision making is also a personal process.  When I asked my archbishop on what he thought I should do in a particular dilemma of mine he said: "I can give you the principles, but you make the decision."  Well said!

It's been about a month since my last post.  I've been really busy with school and the exams were relentless... but now I have three weeks to pretty much blog every day.  So here we go...

In everything that happens in daily life, it seems God can be either present, or absent.  Usually when we feel that things are going our way, those are the times when we believe that God is present.  If the exam goes well, if someone gives us a compliment, if we find our missing keys, if we manage to say that a particular day was a "good" day... then God must have been there.  On the other hand, if the car doesn't start, if we get cut off in traffic, if we get into a car accident, if we are insulted... where was God?  Truth is, God is always present, and even in times of despair, there is a certain grace that only God can provide.  That grace helps us to remember that despite all the hardships in life, good still exists, and through God, the potential for good is infinite.

During one of my more challenging exams, right before it began, one of my classmates jumped up and said that we all do a prayer that God will help us pass the exam.  We need more brave souls like her!