O'Dea Graduation Mass {St. James Cathedral}

  

One of the sweetest text messages I've received in quite some time came late at night last week from our Godson/nephew Niko:

Aunt Bridget,  I have 1 extra ticket to my graduation its at St James cathedral on may 30th at 7 would you like to come? !   Arrive early cause it'll be hard to park probably

Tim wholeheartedly endorsed my attendance, and so I made plans for the 90 mile trip to Seattle for Niko's graduation.

By the time I had parked and entered, St. James Cathedral was packed for the admit-by-ticket-only O'Dea Baccalaureate Mass and Graduation.  I looked around and saw only a sea of people and not a single open seat in the main body of the cathedral.  There were a hundred or more open seats~reserved for the guests of honor, the 2012 graduating class from the all boys' high school.  But just beyond the graduates' rows, in the choir loft, were a few open seats.  I made haste for the first open chair I spotted, and had essentially a front row seat in the back, elevated for a prime viewpoint.

O'Dea Choir

During the opening procession, I kept my eyes peeled for Niko as the stream of maroon caps and gowns rounded the main altar and flowed into their assigned rows.  "Focus! focus!" I told myself, "Keep an eye out for Niko so you'll know which row he's in."  Once they were seated and facing the main altar, I would never be able to pick Niko out from the crowd.  "AGH! You missed a few... is that him?  Is THAT him?  Focus!"  I was determined to pinpoint his location in the class.  Suddenly he came into view, and then came closer and closer, skipping the seat assignment all together and heading into the choir loft! Unbeknownst to me, Niko was among the graduates who would be participating in the boys' choir.  You can imagine my profound excitement and inexpressible joy to be sitting only a few feet from Niko!  Praise God!

Congratulations, Niko!

The Mass, sung beautifully by Niko and his choir, celebrated reverently and solemnly be Rev. Ryan, reached its apex when Jesus Himself came to us in Holy Communion (as always).  What a Great Guest to have at your high school graduation and in your very being!  We prayed for all past graduates of O'Dea High School, which includes our current (outgoing) pastor, Fr. Qui Thac Nguyen and our incoming (July) priest Fr. Altenhofen, as well as my dear Dad, who always remembers his days at O'Dea with a smile.

My family of origin celebrating Niko's graduation from O'Dea:

Dad, Peter John, Grandma O'D, me, Molly, and Mom

A Big Announcement {Zachary's Choice University}

Click to play the video and witness Zachary 

sharing his long awaited university decision with Grandpa Pete...

Praise God!

A Boy Scout At Last {Peter}

 Today Peter became a Boy Scout~ for real!

Yesterday's pack meeting was his final show as a Webelos.

In preparation for the pack meeting, he touched up Grandpa Pete's old Boy Scout uniform and set up a photo shoot to capture the transition from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.

Earning every Webelos badge (20 total) made Nicholas, Enoch and Peter SUPER ACHIEVERS.

In Pure Peter Fashion, he didn't just cross the bridge to Boy Scouts, he charged it~ removing his Webelos Badge in the process to make his uniform Boy Scout ready.

This looks like a young man who's ready to leap into Boy Scouts!

Met by his brothers and a big group of older Scouts from the troop, Peter and his den were awarded with new neckerchiefs, epaulets, numerals and slides

The gang's all here - what a great troop!

At tonight's Boy Scout meeting, Peter's new patrol named themselves the...

~Erupting Eagles~

Look out world, here they come!

Flashback Friday {Seattle, 1958}

Grandpa Peter, at age 14

I love this photo of my dad!

As a teenager, my dad was named "US Catholic Youth of the Year," and traveled to 

Washington DC to receive his award.

Joseph, age 11, miter bearer for Bishop Tyson

(Father Qui Thac's Pastor Installation Mass 2009)

Peter, age 10 (Easter Sunday 2010)

Zachary, age 15 (Acolyte, Easter Sunday 2010)

I met a nice Christian lady at a training session recently who implied that I (my husband, our children, and all our relatives) had been baptized illicitly because we were baptized as infants.

Yes, our parents and Godparents brought us to be baptized and made baptismal promises on our behalf.

Yes, we came into the Body of Christ before we could articulate the desire to accept Jesus on our own.

Yes, we were washed clean of original sin, saved through Christ's suffering, death and resurrection, and received special grace and virtues.

For some reason lately, I'm being asked all kinds of questions and/or being challenged for my beliefs, and 

I want real answers!

I don't know about you, but I will follow Jesus wherever He leads me!

I've found a great resource for answering such questions {like the one about choosing baptism vs. being baptized before you're old enough to choose for yourself} at a great website called Bible Christian Society.

Question posted @ Bible Christian Society:

I’m a Born-Again Christian and I was wondering why the Catholic Church doesn’t do the altar call to have people accept the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Savior since it says that you must make this declaration to be Born Again?

Answer posted @ Bible Christian Society:

The Catholic Church does, in a sense, make an altar call at every Mass. When people approach the altar to receive Communion, they are indeed accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, as they accept His body and blood into their bodies. Jesus says in John 6, verse 51 and following, that unless you eat His flesh and drink His blood, you have no life in you. If you eat His flesh and drink His blood, you will have eternal life He says, and He will raise you up at the last day.

He repeats Himself on this matter in John 6 like He does nowhere else in Scripture. Catholics take Jesus' words literally - we believe what He says. That is why we believe we receive His actual body and blood during Communion (or the Lord's Supper as you might call it). So when a Catholic approaches the altar to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, they are saying with their bodies, “I believe.” And just minutes before they approach the altar, they have, with the recitation of the Nicene Creed, declared with their lips that they believe. They believe Jesus is the Lord and Savior of mankind and they believe He is present - Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity - in the Eucharist that they receive.

My question to you, however, is where does it say that someone must make a “declaration” in which they "accept the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Savior" in order to be born again? Nowhere does the Bible say such a thing. In fact, the Bible says that one is born again by being baptized. John 3:3-5 says that unless one is born of water and the Spirit (baptism) one cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

So it is through water and the Spirit that one is born again. All Catholics, by virtue of their baptism, are Born Again Christians. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that one should not make a declaration that Jesus is their Lord and Savior - we need to constantly proclaim our faith in Jesus Christ - but the Bible does not say that one is "born again" by making such a verbal declaration of acceptance of Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior....

Special Visit

Peter, Joseph, Grandpa Pete, Zachary (and Rocky)

We were blessed by a visit from Grandpa Pete this week, and we sure enjoyed his stay.

It had been too long since he'd been up to visit 

(but even so, he's our most frequent visitor from the Tacoma clan... hint hint hint).

Zachary gave up his bedroom, and even "cleaned" it for Grandpa.

Grandpa joined us for a fun party/potluck at Hope's house, and told funny stories about his first employment experiences on a farm on Vashon Island.

We also discussed which songs he would like played at his funeral 

(not in a morbid way, just in the casual conversational way).  

We found out that the organist who played at my parents' wedding sneaked a few Elvis Presley songs into their Nuptial Mass liturgy (which would have been and still would be forbidden).  

Apparently, she doctored them up to make them sound, er, liturgically appropriate.

Sounds like a fish tale to me!  But he insisted it's the truth!  Too bad there's no video to consult...

Thanks for coming to stay with us, Dad!

Today's update on Tristan:
"Tristan had his best night yet...some improvements to responsiveness
though still in a coma and still very critical."