Start the Weekend Right Link Series – Volume #4, Edition #3

Joe — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 12:00:38 +0000

In recognition of Holy Week and the arrival of the Easter season, this week I am posting some links that connect to this week’s religious nature. I hope that you enjoy reading them!

As always, though, before we get to this week’s links I again want to strongly recommend signing up for a free Feedly account. I get absolutely no kickback for promoting Feedly, but I am so appreciative of their product being the best RSS reader on the internet and I encourage everyone to use it. If you are using another RSS aggregator, please consider following JerseySmarts.com at http://www.jerseysmarts.com/feed/. If you are already on Feedly, then you can follow us by clicking here. Thanks!

Your Essential Guide to the Triduum, Busted Halo
You know Holy Thursday, which is when the priest washes the feet of parishioners. And I am sure you know about Good Friday, which is the day that Jesus Christ was crucified and killed on the cross. Then there is Holy Saturday, which is the day of the Easter Vigil leading into Easter Sunday. But did you know that Holy Thursday through Holy Saturday is known as the Easter Triduum? This link from the Busted Halo blog can help you better understand what the Easter Triduum means for the faith.

How to renew your spirit during Holy Week: Q&A with James Martin, Religious News Service
While I understand that this link series is being posted late in Holy Week, there is never a bad time to begin finding ways to reengage with your faith. Father James Martin, SJ is a well-known Catholic priest who specializes in evangelizing a contemporary population (that means everyday people like you and me). This link takes you to a very short interview transcript, but I think that you will be able to take pieces of it and consider how to apply the power of faith in your own life.

Lent/Easter Playlist, The Rabbit Room
Personally, I do not find myself listening to a lot of Christian inspirational music. To that extent, I enjoy listening to Owl City and other more mainstream artists who integrate positive religious themes into their songs. That does not mean that there are not some great Christian music artists out there and the list at this link can introduce you to some great music in this genre.

Bishop Barron on The Sacrament of Baptism, Word on Fire Blog
One of the great parts of the Easter season is the introduction of millions of new Catholic worldwide into the Church through the Rite of Christian Initiation (known as the “RCIA program” at most parishes). Many RCIA students go through the entire process on Holy Saturday at the Easter Vigil. By this I mean they are baptized, have their first Holy Communion, and are Confirmed during the ceremony. There is a short video at this link where Bishop Robert Barron talks about Baptism.

What’s the Difference Between a Bunny, a Rabbit and a Hare?, Dictionary.com Blog
Why not have a little bit of fun this Easter? While most of us celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ this weekend, there are many non-religious who celebrate the season by parading around with the Easter Bunny. Speaking of bunnies, do you know the differences between a rabbit, a bunny, and a hare? If not, then you can find out the differences in this Dictionary.com blog post.

Have you come across any great articles lately? If so, please share those links in the comments below! And one more time before you go – for those of you who love reading online articles, I strongly recommend considering a free Feedly account. You can follow JerseySmarts.com on Feedly or you can add us to your existing RSS aggregator. Enjoy!

An Amazing, Happy, Joyous Week and a Half Period for the Global Community

Joe — Mon, 02 May 2011 10:50:41 +0000

You know, when I think about it – the last week and a half has been absolutely amazing for this world. Welcome back to JerseySmarts.com. Though I have been – and continue to be – swamped with an ever-growing pile of work, I wanted to take a few minutes to write about why the last week and a half has been such a happy time for this planet.

This has been a pretty happy place for the last week and a half.

About a week and a half ago, nearly a one-third of the planet’s population began celebrating the Easter Triduum. The Easter Triduum is the three day period leading up to Easter Sunday and the celebration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly something for believers like me (and some 2.1 billion other believers in Christ) to celebrate.

On the first of two personal notes in this entry, one of the young men that I advised when he was an undergraduate in Sigma Pi Fraternity became a member of the Roman Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil mass. For him – and those of us who know him – this was also a reason for celebration.

After a solemn, joyous Holy Week the world then began preparing for the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Normally, I wouldn’t cite this as a reason for the world to celebrate. However, following the tragic, paparazzi-fueled death of his beloved mother Princess Diana, there were many people who saw this past Friday’s wedding as a sort of victory for civility. The Sun Newspaper (based out of the United Kingdom) estimated that up to 3 billion people might watch the wedding. I’ve read post-wedding viewership figures as high as 2 billion, so I don’t know the exact number of people who saw the wedding, but I’m sure that most folks out there either saw the wedding live or saw footage.

In any event, the adoring crowds in the United Kingdom reflected the joy and happiness that most people shared for the young bride and groom.

And on a personal note – this past Friday a good friend of mine got married. I was honored to be one of his groomsmen and the excitement of the wedding helped make this past weekend a really great one for me and the hundreds of people who are celebrating this wedding, too.

And then Sunday, May 1st came. For the more than 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in the world, we celebrated the beatification of Pope John Paul II – now known as Blessed John Paul II. The beatification mass was viewed around the world as a man who many knew as a world leader took the final step before being declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. Certainly a reason for celebration among the faithful Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church communities!

Of course the only way for such an amazing week and a half period to come to completion was with the announcement that the United States had located, stormed, and killed the most wanted terrorist in the world. And not only was I excited about the confirmation of Osama bin Laden being killed, but I was proud about the way the United States citizens celebrated the victory. I posted this message on Facebook late last night about our national celebration:

When certain countries on the other side of the world celebrate a big event, radical extremists come out in the streets and burn effigies of world leaders and flags of other nations.

When America celebrates the death of a global mass murderer, we have men, women, young, old, Republicans, Democrats, black, white, Hispanic, etc. all celebrating together chanting “USA! USA! USA!”

We win. Again.

Followers of freedom and believers in liberty have a big reason to celebrate this news. Congratulations go out to the men and women of our military and intelligence services on a job well done.

As I posted on Twitter last night – I feel like this week and a half period of happiness and celebration is the beginning of something great for this world. Let’s hope that the good times keep on coming and that we continue to receive good news (or the Good News, as it were) in the coming days, weeks, and months! Enjoy!