Through Baptism we became members of the Body of Christ (CCC 1267), like branches grafted onto the True Vine (c.f. John 15). Apart from him we can bear no fruit. Apart from him we have no life (c.f. Jn 15: 5-6, 6:51). And in order to sustain this life, Jesus, "the living bread come down from heaven" (Jn 6:47) commands us to eat his flesh and drink his blood (Jn 6:53, 1 Cor 11:24-25). Through our reception of this august Sacrament and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are able to fulfill our Baptismal calling (CCC 1396), and so the many are made one (1 Cor 10:16-17), the bonds of charity are strengthened. Then, having received the Living Bread, we are sent forth (Ite missa est, Mt. 28:19) to be the light of the world (Mt 5:14), the yeast (Mt 13:33) which will enable the Kingdom of God to reach its fulfillment. Indeed, we are sent forth to be Christ for others, to be for them the Living Bread for which they hunger. With God's grace we can be Bread Alive.

As married Christians, we have a special responsibility to be Bread Alive because our married love gives witness to the love between Christ and his bride, the Church (LG 11, Ef 5:21-32). This love reached its fulfillment on the cross when the Son of God layed down his life for his friends (Jn 15:13, Rom 5:8). And so our lives must imitate this love (1 John 4:11, 21). Our lives must be as bread, broken and given, so that others, through the grace of God, may join with us in the heavenly feast already being celebrated here on Earth.

I'd just like to say a quick "congrats" to my parents, who yesterday now (September 3) celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary.

Suzanne and I celebrate our 4th today (September 4.)  I'll admit that the last 4 years have flown by and have been the absolute best of my life.  It seems it just gets better every year - every day.

Yes, if you're doing the math, it's true that my parents were married 31 years ago and I was born about 5 short months later.

So you'll forgive me if I've been especially moved by the shining example of honor, of guts, of a choice of life that Bristol Palin and her now-fiance Levi Johnston have made. These photos today made me smile.  This is family... is love... is shouldering the results of our choices and the Will of our God.

"Our family has the same ups and downs as any other... the same challenges and the same joys. Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge."
- Sarah Palin, Repub. VP nom acceptance speech, 9/3/08

In fact, a day doesn't go by that I don't say at least a quick prayer for all of my peers who find themselves with an unplanned pregnancy.  As the bumper sticker says, God is quite pro-choice before you've conceived a baby.  It takes a family and community of love and support from that moment on.

I know it wasn't easy for my parents.  I remember grocery shopping with my mom with food stamps when I was a very young boy.  I remember my parents' discussions of financial difficulties when I was "in bed" at night.  I remember times we went to my grandparents' and I played in the backroom while listening to them get marriage and financial advice from grandma and grandpa.

It wasn't easy for them at all - it was love and sacrifice in action.  It was a type of Christ on the cross, and it played out today as it has and will for all eternity.

And it isn't easy for any of us, really.  All situations take sacrifices and tough choices and hard work and sweat to do the right thing.

Simultaneously, each day, I'm thankful that my mom & dad chose life (and my grandparents told great stories as I grew older about the pressure that was on them in the community to choose otherwise.)  I'm thankful that my mom & dad chose to take what their choices had brought them and to welcome me into this awesome world.  I'm thankful that they prayed long and hard enough to have the grace and strength and fortitude to make these 31 years work and to build a loving home and family for my sister, my brother, and me.

I was blessed with the best family and home and parents I could imagine, and I'm working hard to make that reality the same with Suzanne for our boys.

I thank God for that... and I thank you too, mom and dad.

God bless you both... and happy anniversary!

I share the "Prayer for Husband and Wife" that our friends Judy & Bob gave us, framed, on our wedding day.  It sits on our bedroom dresser and Suzanne and I both look at it often...

Awesome. From Doloitte's "Born2Consult" campaign, this one has it all:
- "Why do you want to consult?"... "I'm in it for the hotel points."
- Rorschach Test
- Case Interview (from a 12-year-old)
- Do you get the team pizza or Thai for lunch?
- A monkey mug

Enjoy...

Movie previews will never be as exciting again.

Don LaFontaine, the gravel-voiced coming-attractions voice over man for more than 40 years for Coca-Cola, McDonald's, GM, Geico, and countless other advertisers, not to mention THOUSANDS of movie trailers, passed into the next life yesterday at 68 years of age.

Rest in peace, make-the-movies-sound-exciting guy.  You really did make it so that we knew when we were in the movie theatre and so that every movie on the horizon sounded more exciting than all others we had seen before.  Maybe movies in general just won't be quite as exciting any more. 

"The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die."
---
George Washington, Address to the Continental Army before the Battle of Long Island, August 27, 1776, (credit: RedState)