Smoldering Wick

Last Wednesday I wore a green bow tie with white polka dots to work. In a moment of objectivity, as I was tying my favorite new tie that morning, I realized that it was perhaps a strange fashion statement for a northwoodsman to make, but we Hurtubises have always done our best to cut a fine figure and one must bear the old ancestral mantle as best one can. My late grandfather Jim, after whom our second son James is proudly named, was always a very snappy dresser -- nothing too fancy, just nicely put together and dapper. As I picked out a shirt and tie that morning I thought of him. When the green bowtie caught my eye I thought of an iconic picture of him as a young man -- maybe at his wedding -- looking like a Golden Age of Hollywood movie star in a white tuxedo jacket with a bowtie. In the end, as I weighed the green and white polka dots against my other bowtie options, it was a theological reason that swayed me. Last week was the first week of 'Ordinary Time', which i...

So, I have two liberal arts degrees. One is in a dead language and the other is in things divine and supernatural. Needless to say, for me the old adage ringeth true: there is no trouble like car trouble. On Saturday we were due to take a 75 minute drive south to visit family for a late Christmas celebration. The night before we were out much later than we've ever been since the advent of James Henry -- 9pm! We had an awesome evening with the Anchored in Christ Catholic young adults group in the Rice Lake area. And as we rolled into the driveway we praised God for the gifts of new friends and a stellar community of wonderful young Catholic disciples. As our tongues confessed that Jesus was Lord -- and a good Lord at that -- my eyes saw the low engine oil light flicker on and my prayer plummeted from praise to petition as my heart fell from grateful to ungrateful at light speed -- "low engine oil light" speed. For those of you that don't know me, one of my many...

A very Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you, my dear reader! Sorry about that five year gap in posts. Like old friends, let's forgot how bad we both were at keeping in touch and pick up where we left off, shall we? Good. I had my monthly appointment with my spiritual director (Fr. SD) today. We talked over the phone instead of in person since a scheduling conflict came up; it was a slightly different dynamic -- it felt easier to hide -- but we still had a typically fruitful conversation. Fr. SD and I have been meeting monthly since October and I can genuinely say that it's been nothing short of life-changing. I've lost something like 35 pounds, my prayer life is more consistent and fruitful than it's been in years, I'm a better dad and husband and I've grown in other areas as well. I can't recommend consistent spiritual direction with a good director highly enough! Thanks again, Fr. SD! We talked about goals for 2018 and categorized them under our...

Happy those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked, Nor go the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers. Rather, the law of the LORD is their joy; God's law they study day and night. They are like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season; Its leaves never wither; whatever they do prospers.” (Psalm 1:1-3) I'm sure you're wondering about the title of this meditation. Well, give me a moment to explain. Rest assured, I'm not advocating a return to the practice of the Law of Moses, sacrifices and ritual ablutions — though that certainly sounds interesting! Rather, I'd like to discuss the importance of the moral life and the appropriate lens for understanding the Church's Moral Teachings in an age of lawlessness and pseudo-freedom. One of the most important insights that my professors imparted to me during my time at the University of Dallas was Dr. Mark Lowery's summary of the secular vision of the moral life as an e...

In our previous meditation we concluded with some thoughts on conversion and freedom. It is to this subject that I would like to turn again here. In discussing conversion I used the image of turning over our souls to Christ. In conversion we seek to do more than simply run up a new flag; we seek to transform our ships into a different sort of thing altogether. Pope Benedict, in his recently released second volume of  Jesus of Nazareth , says that until his Resurrection, Christ's disciples—and indeed his whole Judean audience—were welcome to take or leave his teaching much as we would the teachings of any itinerant philosopher. Without the Resurrection, the Pope writes, “[Jesus] would no longer be a criterion; the only criterion left would be our own judgment in selecting from his heritage what strikes us as helpful. In other words, we would be along. Our own judgment would be the highest instance. Only if Jesus is risen has anything really new occurred that changes the world a...

Today we celebrate Ash Wednesday. As G.K. Chesterton would say, Ash Wednesday is the one feast day in the entire liturgical year that every sane man willingly celebrates, for it marks the one reality of Christian doctrine that is irrefutable in everyday existence: the sinfulness of mankind. Nevertheless, sin isn't a subject we postmoderns like to dwell on very much. We like to explain our culpability away with psychological and sociological excuses, leaving, if any, only the faintest trace of blood on our own hands. We like to dwell on the 'positives', not the 'negatives' of our faith. After all, we wouldn't want to be judgmental--especially of ourselves. I have recently be rereading some of the works of Chesterton in a class led by professor Thomas Loome, the founder of Loome Theological Booksellers in Stillwater, MN. In going through Chesterton's great work Orthodoxy  and discussing it with parishioners from St. Michael and St. Mary and the good profes...

Greetings, I started this blog as a means to a particular end, though it certainly may expand or divert from its original purpose and like most blogs it is likely to slip into the oblivion of unvisited and forgotten websites. As I began writing material for meditations and talks at our parish in the past few weeks, I figured that someone outside the community of our country parish may care to read my words, perhaps not, but thus the blog. As to the name: I grew up in a United Methodist congregation but really had my first adult 'conversion' in college while attending Cement City Baptist and listening to the powerful preaching of Pastor Drew Woods. He was preaching through the book of Isaiah at that time and this passage greatly impressed me. "Thus says the LORD:  Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard...