The Hissing of Summer Lawns

I wanted to just get out a quick note to apologize for the background noise you may notice in this week's programs. It sounded relatively quiet to me while recording, but I noticed the song of the cicadas as I was editing some of the files. I hope that it's not too distracting.

Just close your eyes, take a deep breath, and imagine yourself on my front porch.

:^)

Best wishes, everyone!

August 24th: Feast of St. Bartholomew

One of the things I like about contributing to Verbum Domini, aside from working with great guys like Brian and Joel, is the fact that it gives me a chance to get a little deeper into the daily readings than perhaps I would otherwise. Here is a for instance. The Gospel reading for the Feast of St. Bartholomew happens to be from John. It's the occasion on which Jesus meets Philip and his brother, Nathanial. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Bartholomew is identified by many scholors as this Nathanial. In this particular Gospel reading, Nathanial reveals himself to be quite the character, as he says to his brother about Jesus, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" His comment reminds me that the pillars of our Church are comprised of ordinary people like . . . us.

Great Photos

Jim (who reads for us every month) is an avid photographer. I was knocked out by his photos of the Twin Cities, so I thought you might like to see them too. Very Cool!

http://minneapolis.photo.googlepages.com/

Also, congratulations to Greg, Jennifer and Father Roderick on their Podcast Awards. I couldn't find a graphic of a whisk broom, but it's wonderful to see the "clean sweep" for Catholic shows this year. WOO HOOO!

Eastern Readings

Another Catholic Communion is online with Mass Readings! Check out Byzantine Catholic Word for Daily Readings of the Liturgical Calendar of the Archeparchy of Pittsburg.