Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Happy Incarnation! A Joy-filled Birth of The Redeemer!
However you want to say it what a great and beautiful day we have today, that our god would send us his son today.
Megan and I went to midnight mass today and it was such a beautiful experience. This was the first midnight mass on Christmas for Megan and she had such a good time! After communion I was reflecting on the paradox of such a Christmas mass where we celebrate both the birth of our Savior and the death of our Savior. What a perfect gift! That we can rejoice in the birth of Christ, receive his body, blood, soul and divinity and celebrate the re-presentation of his death.
Finally, I want to share with you a beautiful reflection on Christmas that was in the Magnificat today from Pope Bendedict XVI, "God's sign is the baby in need of help and in poverty. Exactly the same sign has been given to us...God's sign is simplicity...God's sign is that he makes himself small for us. This is how he reigns. He does not come with power and outward splendor. He comes as a baby - defenseless and in need of our help. He does not want to overwhelm us with his strength. He takes away our fear of his greatness. He asks for our love: so he makes himself a child. He wants nothing other from us than our love, through which we spontaneously learn to enter into his feelings, his thoughts, and his will - we learn to live with him and to practice with him that humility of renunciation that belongs to the very essence of love. God made himself small so that we could understand him, welcome him, and love him...Christmas has become the Feast of gifts in imitation of God who has given himself to us. Let us allow our hear, our soul, and our mind to be touched by this fact!"

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Adventus - Advent - Coming

It's been entirely too long. I have a bad habit of leaving this blog dormant. Well it's time to get back at it. I was going to work the other morning and didn't want to listen to music, sports radio didn't appeal nor any other type of talk radio and I already had some time of silence with Jesus in adoration so I decided to listen to a talk. I flipped on my smartphone (yup, I'm one of the 1 billion people in the world to have a smartphone. I got it back in Sept) and found a beautiful homily from Fr. Tom Halloway. He gave this to us students at UofI during advent of 2006. It's called Already And Not-Yet. Enjoy and continue to wait in joyful hope for the coming of our savior!

Another remarK (Kramer)!!!!!!

At 3am on May 3, 2012 Kaitlyn Elizabeth Kramer came into this world at 9lb 0oz and 20". Born to Jeff and Sara Kramer of Pingree Grove I am told that both mom and baby are doing very well! She is super cute, as you can see. But most importantly she has made me a proud and happy uncle! 

Death by Insurance

So Megan and I have been trying to conceive for over a year and a half. It's been really hard, both emotionally and spiritually. We have been given a lot of hope by working with a doctor down in Peoria who practices Napro Technology. It is a way of looking at infertility from a woman's whole health standpoint - like having surgery to fix a problem instead of just putting a band-aid on the problem, like IVF tries to do. So part of treating the couple is looking at the men as well (which is something no other reproductive endocrinologists will do), and that means doing some testing and analyzing. But the frustrating thing for us now is that after I have my tests I'm supposed to go to a urologist for a consultation. The problem with that is that the urologist can't look at my tests and give me any advice or support because that is considered "infertility treatment" and insurance doesn't cover "infertility treatment". To my insurance: Yes it is treating our infertility but more importantly, it's treat my health!!! But that's not the worst part. Yeah it stinks that I need answers but no one can help me because it's not covered. No, the worst part is that my insurance will, at least partially cover if not completely pay for contraceptives and abortions. That's the kind of pessimistic society we have become. Rather than promoting life and health, the insurance companies will pay for death and pills which can actually cause infertility and other health problems. (Sounds like a really bad business move if I give you a pill and it causes you to have more serious health problems in the future so then I have to give out more money to pay for those hospital bills of yours...but I'm not in the insurance business.) It's all just...frustrating!!! There really is no denying that the cultural of death is at the forefront of America. And oh how we need to pray for change.

Physical (and Spiritual) Surgery

Just this past week I underwent surgery to remove the Pilonidal (pronounced pie-lon-i-dal) Disease from my rear. It's a terrible disease that is genetic and sits under the skin on the behind. It remains dormant until it becomes infected and while not life threatening, can be a real pain in the butt (pun intended). Mine had been infected for the past four months and looks somewhat like a boil. Kinda gross, I know. It was really uncomfortable and would often put me in a crummy mood and make me less charitable toward others. Anyway, I was put under and the doctor cut out the cysts and all roots and anything pertaining to the disease. He stitched up my gluteous with 10 stitches so now all I can do is stand, kneel or lay on my side or stomach. I would greatly appreciate some prayers for a quick healing because I also have to take some time off work, albeit against my will, because I can't sit.

Still, it has given me some time to think about how badly I needed this surgery and how we need spiritual surgery sometimes too. We need to purge ourselves of the bad habits, of the spiritual diseases that can slow us down or cause us to be less charitable. For me, Holy Week 2012 was that spiritual surgery. Truth be told, I didn't have the most spiritually advancing Lenten season. I got lazy with my sacrifices and even worse with my disciple to prayer. Still, I made new resolutions during Holy Week to really enter into the mystery of Christ's passion and death. And I felt like it worked, that sometimes we need to purge ourselves of...ourselves! Of those desires that bring us comfort, of the little things that cause us to hide in our daily routines, even of those things which may seem to bring us the most comfort but only hinder our spiritual growth. I was able to do that during Holy Week and now the Easter season is my joyful recovery of learning to live my life with the changes, all while I try to be joyful recovering from this surgery.

For obvious reasons, this post is one which lacks pictures. I would show you pictures butt...er...but that would be gross. So come on over and visit me and maybe I'll show you my stitches!

What now?...

What now? I would imagine that's what the disciples asked each other as they sat in the upper room, too afraid to go out for fear of persecution. Their leader, teacher, master, the one they have been following for 3 years, the one they have given up their livelihood for, has just died. They don't know he will be back tomorrow. It's done. It's over. THAT'S IT! And they have nothing to show for it. Judas is gone, Peter is feeling like the biggest failure and worst friend and all of them most likely figure they will go back home in a week or so once things have calmed down. But for now...what?
Matt Maher (a catholic musician) has a beautiful reflection and meditation for each day of holy week, and especially for Holy Saturday. Take a listen, then read on. (Yeah this is the same video Megan posted on her blog.)

Honestly, Megan and I watched this video this morning (Holy Saturday) and we both were crying by the end of it. I couldn't help but listen to this and feel like we are stuck in Holy Saturday. Stuck not in a bad way, but here waiting in joyful hope for the coming of a child to our family.  Still, I feel that we don't know when (if) we will be able to have children and when the day does come that we are pregnant, I will be so scared/excited/fearful/joyful that I won't want to get my hopes up too high because I can't bear to be let down again.

But I know in my heart of hearts that, just as Jesus rose from the grave and conqured death, He will show us His grand plan and it will be more glorious than Megan or I could have planned. And the joy in our hearts will overflow more than we ever imagined.

But for now, we wait patiently. And taking time to wait, pray and contemplate is just as important as receiving the gift He will give...in His time.

Good Friday Musical Reflection

So I'm stuck at work today, which really stinks. I mean its Good Friday and the day when Passover starts so...I'm not going to get calls from Christians and the Jews are beginning their holy day as well so who really needs me here today? But I digress, I have to be here because someone from our department needs to represent and its just a small cross that I must carry. This small cross is preventing me from venerating the cross, His cross, and while I want with all my being to go and worship today with my parish I know the Lord sees my sacrifice and appreciates it.  (After all, since work is slow he has allowed me to publish this post) He also allows me to listen to music and while I haven't been listening to music this week in preparation for the Triduum I did allow myself a few songs which help me to meditate on Christ's suffer and death, and ultimately the joy of his resurrection. Here are my favorites for Good Friday. I especially like the one for the crucifixion. Again, both of these songs are by Danielle Rose.
Enjoy!

Crowning with Thorns

Crucifixion

I hope you have a most solemn Good Friday.

Holy Thursday Reflection

I realize I am a bit late in posting this but just as I was about to hit publish the power went out at our house yesterday which effectively told me, "Kevin, I don't want you to post this now. Spend some quiet time with me instead". So here is a simple Holy Thursday reflection:

First, let me highly recommend the reflection which Fr. Faulkner has given us. You can find them on his blog linked on the left side of this post. All of them are excellent (I believe).


Second, let me recommend for this holy week reflecting on the mysteries of the rosary and, in particular, the songs wrote by Danielle Rose, a catholic artist commissioned by JPII to write these mystery reflections. Here are my two favorite for Holy Thursday. I would say, if you have the means, that you should support her and buy this cd as it is oh so beautiful!

The Institution of the Eucharist
A Love Song From Jesus
The Agony in the Garden

I hope you have a most blessed Holy Thursday.

Italian Food & Beautiful Women

On Sunday Megan and I cashed in on our Christmas gift from Aunt Jane, we went to lunch at Maggiano's. Oh what a lunch it was. Not only did I have good food - you can get 2 full pasta meals (1 to eat now and 1 to take home with you) for just $13 but I got to enjoy the company of two beautiful women! I am such a lucky guy.

A Lot of...Fun!

Okay so here is what you've missed. This will be a two part post. This first part is all the fun we've had the past few months. I've told you about a few of them and here are a few more.

1. This is quite possibly one of the funniest videos of my sweet goddaughter Madelyn. Maybe she will be a track star?

2. Megan and I went downtown for New Years Eve. We had a great time walking around downtown Chicago and, as you can see, even enjoy "the bean" at Millennium Park. Carefree timelessness really is the best thing sometimes!

3. My godson, Matthew, turned 3 just after Christmas. We celebrated his birthday on New Year. He got some pretty sweet gifts including a Mass Bag from his Aunt Megan and Uncle Kevin. The Bag included a new bible, some books on the saints, saint cards on a ring, a missal with the new translation and other quiet activities during mass. He is a pretty cute young man...er I mean handsome! 

4. At the end of January we had some forced family fun (FFF) with the Johnsons. We went down to the Bulls game. Unfortunately Kyle was out of town, but we still had a good time. The Bulls dominated, as usual and Erin even made a "new friend".

5. Megan and I got to babysit our niece and nephew one night. I played Wii with Jacob all night, who is surprisingly good at the Wii Sports Resort games, and Megan got to play around with Madelyn. While the two siblings love each other Maddy can be a real punk sometimes. Example: Jacob was his usual self jumping from one couch to the other and bouncing off the walls when Madelyn kept wanting to "play", although it looked more like getting in his way. Each time we asked Jacob to play somewhere else she would follow him and get in his way again...gotta love a little sister!

 6. Our good friends Tom and Kristin Spoden brought a beautiful miracle into the world, Alexis Marie Spoden. We had the pleasure of visiting her in the hospital a day after she was born. Here are a couple of pictures of the cutie!

7. Just a couple of weeks ago Matthew, Jeff, my dad and myself went downtown Chicago to two job sites Leopardo Construction is working on. Matthew had such a GREAT time seeing all the machines doing their work. He even got to sit in one of the bobcats and did a little clean up work himself. But the best part of the trip downtown happened on our walk back to the car when I had Matthew on my shoulders. He tightened his legs around my neck and fell on the top of my head, wrapping his arms around my face and he said, "Uncle Kevin. I love you". It was the sweetest moment we've had.

8. Finally, just this past weekend Megan and I went to a wine tasting in Wheaton. Our friend, Brian, bought a wine tasting for 10 people at a charity auction and we were able to enjoy some tasty wine and the company of good friends. And good friends are such a beautiful thing!

Refresh

I felt after 2.5 years of the same old layout, the same old background that I needed to refresh. I needed a new look. Just as Holy Week can break about a new outlook on certain aspects in life, how it can refresh your lent, that's what I have here. A lot of it is the same, just moved around. I am still tweaking it but I'll have it finished (with a brand new post of our happenings) very soon! I promise. Have a most blessed Holy Week and behold you are about to experience the single greatest event in the history of the world! I pray that you may be changed by it.

The Audacity of Power

Charles Kadlec writes for Forbes Magazine and wrote this excellent op/ed piece regarding Obama's health plan. I highly recommend checking it out.

Political Agenda V. Truth

"A truth is a truth, even if no one believes it. An err is an err, even if everyone believes it." ~Fulton J. Sheen~

At the National Prayer Breakfast on February 2nd, President Obama was asked to attend and speak. The full text of his speech can be found online but a few key points stuck out to me, as his words clearly are not matching his actions.  Our president said that morning, "At a time when it’s easy to lose ourselves in the rush and clamor of our own lives, or get caught up in the noise and rancor that too often passes as politics today, these moments of prayer slow us down.  They humble us...We can all benefit from turning to our Creator, listening to Him.  Avoiding phony religiosity, listening to Him." and " in my moments of prayer, I’m reminded that faith and values play an enormous role in motivating us to solve some of our most urgent problems, in keeping us going when we suffer setbacks, and opening our minds and our hearts to the needs of others. We can’t leave our values at the door.  If we leave our values at the door, we abandon much of the moral glue that has held our nation together for centuries, and allowed us to become somewhat more perfect a union" and "But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that “for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.”  It mirrors the Islamic belief that those who’ve been blessed have an obligation to use those blessings to help others, or the Jewish doctrine of moderation and consideration for others...But part of that belief comes from my faith in the idea that I am my brother’s keeper and I am my sister’s keeper; that as a country, we rise and fall together." but most interestingly he references "To answer the responsibility we’re given in Proverbs to “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.”  And for others, it may reflect the Jewish belief that the highest form of charity is to do our part to help others stand on their own." Now I don't know much about being president of the United States but I do know something about being a Christian and the struggle it can bring with walking the talk, truly standing up for what I believe, having my actions mirror my words. What he says sounds great! I love how he points out that we need to take time with the Lord each day, to have his Word guide our actions, to listen to Him. And I would never criticize him for stating that it is our duty as Christians, as Americans, as humans, to open our minds and hearts to the needs of others, to be our Brother's keeper! And my favorite part is that he quotes Proverbs, that we must "answer the responsibility" to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. President Obama is saying all the right things a Christian should preach, but he is not acting a Christian president of a country founded on Christian principles. He is acting as the president of the culture of death! And there is no other place that shows through more than the HHS mandate he is proposing to our nation.

The new Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate which the current administration proposes encompasses many facets of the national health section, but the most outrageous proposal has to do with a blatent violation of every American's First Amendment rights. Here is some background in case you haven't heard. On January 20, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reaffirmed a rule that virtually all private health care plans must cover sterilization, abortifacients, and contraception.  The exemption provided for "religious employers" was so narrow that it failed to cover the vast majority of faith-based organizations—including Catholic hospitals, universities, and  charities—that help millions every year.  Ironically, not even Jesus  and his disciples would have qualified for the exemption, because it excludes those who mainly serve people of another faith.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan in NY has lead the charge against the mandate and has a great quote saying, "Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their consciencous. This shouldn't happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights." Yes, this is a bold faced attack against the one Christian denomination which still teaches contraceptives are wrong (all christian faiths believed this until the 1930s when the Anglican church was the first to say, "hmmm I guess they aren't so bad" and all other denominations followed suit. Why? Maybe because it attracts more people when you don't call followers to a higher moral standard or maybe because its easier to take a seat than take a stand.) by an administration who feels Catholics will roll over and do whatever they are told, that Catholics don't vote Catholic so why worry about what they will think. Well this mandate doesn't just effect Catholics, it effects anyone who practices their beliefs - Jews, Muslims, Christians - everyone!

Our Cardinals and Bishops have spoke up, many of them have issued statements against the mandate be read at all masses in the diocese. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a new statement to be printed in bulletin's this week. They have also given 12 things that all Catholics, ney all Americans, should know about this mandate on their blog - here and then again here.  Our spiritual leaders have stepped up to speak out against this but now it is our time. We are the voice of this country and its about time we have to courage to stand and speak our thoughts, speak our faith, yell the truth if we have to! The culture of life is in an uphill battle, yes. It is not a battle fought, it is a battle being fought. We can still join the fight to, unlike our political leader who has taken the path of hypocracy, answer the responsibility to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. The founders of the country came here and fought for their religious liberty, to practice what they believe without persecution. Why after 200 years are we going to let that right crumble?

That brings us to the Susan G. Komen (Komen) foundation. A couple of weeks ago they announced they would no longer fund Planned Parenthood  (PP) based on the federal investigation into PP financial records and spending. At the sound of that my mind immediately thought, perhaps now I will support Komen. (Sidenote: I had seen a list a couple of years ago of all the companies and organizations that supported and funded PP. Sadly, the list was too long (that is, one is even too long) but most interestingly on that list was Komen, who claims to "help" women and Johnson & Johnson, who's main consumer and client is children. The very person they are supporting to kill! Doesn't that seem like a poor business model on their part?) Unfortunately the leaders of Komen lacked the moral courage to stand by their decisions, to stand by the truth. The culture of death got word that funding would be cut and jumped on the back of Komen. The whispers of lies began to pass the ears of Komen until the whispers turned to crys, shouts and roars of dissatisfaction with an organization attempting to stand up and donate with a conscience. These crys came from all ends of the country, from those who know the manipulative games of PP and those who are blissfully ignorant of them. So I don't think it is the Susan G Komen foundation with whom we should take our aim, not yet at least. For how many of us would have the moral courage to stand up when such a heavy demon is weighing on our back screaming lies? The demons were so heavy that the leaders of the organization resigned. No, we need not to chastise and ridicule them but rather pray for them. Pray for their moral courage. Pray that the new leaders of the foundation will see that Planned Parenthood does the exact opposite of help women and in fact lie, deceive and hurt women, both emotionally and physically.

Our country and our culture is in danger of declining further and further into a recession. Not an economic recession but rather a moral recession: where life is no longer valued, freedoms are ignored, rationalism is the only compass we follow and truth is suppressed in the name of political agendas. We must pray for the courage to speak the truth, the courage to stand for absolute truth, the courage to fight for the self-evident truths on which this country was founded. So I ask you. Will you have the courage?

Check Out These Tunes!

My best friend since berth (seriously, our mom's were friends growing up so we were high five-ing out of the womb and potty training on the same toliet...those pictures are pretty funny) took another step closer to full on stardom. The Lord has blessed him with a phenomenal gift to be able to play music so beautifully. I've always said that I would love to have half the musical talent Mike has. So back to his steps forward in the music world.  Mike had the opportunity to appear on a popular radio station down in Austin, TX. He got to sit and play for several minutes (check out the video).

Every time I hear new music from him I am so proud of him and the quality of music he produces. He has his new music on his site that you can listen and even download some of them. He can play almost any song and plays all types of music: dance, electronic, rock, funk, jazz and, his favorite, country. Listen to it, like I do...over and over and over again. Let him know how much you like it and support him in his music. Also, pray for him as he and his fiance will be getting married this summer, June 16th.

I found this video and thoroughly enjoyed it. It encompasses so much of what the Catholic Church is all about. Those Catholics, they're so...universal!

 Take a look and let me know what you think of it.

Whodunnit?

Last week Megan and I "boarded" the ship Olympic as it took its final voyage across the Atlantic. She the administrative assistant to a wealthy daughter to the inventor of mouthwash, Mr. Hal E Tossis, and I the long lost son of Mr. Tossis, Toby O'Notaby. We were having a delightful time until Mr. Tossis and his son, Jr. both turned up dead. The murder mystery dinner was intense as the night unraveled to reveal many hidden skeletons and undesired blackmail! I'd love to tell you what happened, but I can't because then I'd have to kill you...like I did Hal...errr ugh...nevermind that comment. It wasn't me! I swear I'm innocent. 

Anyway, we had such a fun time at our first murder mystery, especially getting dressed up. Here are a few pictures of us all. Enjoy!

The Heiress and her Assistant

Ze German

The Long Lost Irish Son - aka "The Stallion"

Ed the Enforcer

The Butler

Dawn "The Maid" Trodden