tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195294102011-11-20T16:20:34.688-05:00Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.comBlogger441100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-7326491873218594272011-11-20T15:23:00.001-05:002011-11-20T16:20:34.709-05:00

I came across some modernist fluff advice on CatholicMatch (of all places) on the question of whether a woman should offer to pay on a first date. Since this has always been one of my pet peeves, I couldn't resist spending some time on a Sunday afternoon replying to it. And maybe it's a little vain, but I'm proud of what I wrote, so here's a link to it :) The Date Debate: Should The Man Pay For

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17928351213181419401noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-36227077832157228772011-11-15T00:09:00.002-05:002011-11-15T00:20:16.172-05:00

Biographies have always been a favorite genre of mine. Learning about a person's childhood, their joys and sorrows, what motivated them and the crosses they bore through life always interested me. Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., and Iacocca are some of my favorites. I have G.K. Chesterton's St. Francis of Assisi and Saint Thomas Aquinas:

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-36073141915531548182011-07-04T22:46:00.001-04:002011-07-10T15:51:39.248-04:00

Two years, three months, and eight days since my last blog post. Yet every once in a while someone still happens across this place and leaves a comment. Every time I received one those e-mails, part of me missed this little outlet for semi-anonymous self-reflection and sharing, and figured eventually the time would be right to return. Like the Prodigal Son, I've done my share of wallowing in the

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-91896485021737676712009-03-26T18:51:00.005-04:002009-03-26T19:53:39.881-04:00

This title is absolute genius, in my humble opinion, which is why I'm recycling it from 2006. Following the last post on New Year's resolutions, it seems appropriate to check how those resolutions are going. Well, over halfway through Lent, I honestly forgot what those old resolutions, as my mind's been occupied with keeping my Lenten commitments. Checkin' the files... apparently I'm supposed to

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-57994538050748435492009-01-04T22:48:00.012-05:002009-01-05T01:22:47.599-05:00

Word is that New Year's resolutions are falling out of favor with most people these days. I know I didn't make any... though lately I'm experiencing a refreshing phase of making a number of resolutions like regular Confession, accountability with people outside of Confession, and finally reading some of these books I've had on the shelf for months and years. So maybe I wasn't in need of resolving

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-249216841534062942008-07-09T11:44:00.005-04:002008-07-09T12:30:58.528-04:00

I've always loved this passage from Ezekial 37. I'm sure a lot of people do, being such a powerful illustration of God's life-giving power over death. Wouldn't it be awesome to see the movie version?!While Ezekial's vision was a metaphor for Israel's state of exile away from the Promised Land, we also personally experience times of exile when our faith feels as dry as those bones. I've been in

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-84517840317656601302008-05-04T16:34:00.003-04:002008-05-04T16:56:17.717-04:00

Been messin' round with the old blog, thinking about getting back into the habit of blogging on some kind of regular basis. For now, I just wanted to get my feet wet foolin' around with some photo editing on this MacBook I purchased from Apple's refurb store back in March. I got some cool stickers on the back to help my plain white Mac stand out from the other Macs with the cool kids down at the

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-43617919273622264952007-11-11T19:44:00.000-05:002007-11-11T19:43:58.648-05:00

Saw the documentary Into Great Silence a few weeks ago about Grande Chartreuse, a Carthusian monastery in France. At three hours long, it may be the world's first "Silent Retreat on DVD." I take it this passage from Jeremiah, "You have seduced me, O Lord, and I let myself be seduced," has something to do with the Carthusian rule or spirituality since it was only quoted on the screen like ten

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-36890265213551085592007-10-26T19:51:00.000-04:002007-10-26T19:52:47.722-04:00

You can master Buddhism.

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-66670694271915886782007-10-14T16:28:00.000-04:002007-10-14T16:52:16.923-04:00

Started reading Thomas A'Kempis' Imitation of Christ while taking a trip along the West Coast to San Francisco, Portland area, and Seattle. Visited the Shrine to St. Francis while in San Fran, which I guess isn't all that big deal compared to, say, going to Assisi, but was glad to see they seem to have a good, faithful ministry there. Also talked to a hippie in Buena Vista Park near

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-60984434421065390302007-08-28T11:29:00.000-04:002007-08-28T13:21:37.983-04:00

I don't watch a whole lot of TV... a little bit of "The Office" and I catch "Family Guy" or "Letterman" once in a while, and while I'd love to watch my Chicago Cubs, I'm not too keen on paying for cable just for that. Fortunately, the one show I definitely gotta see is on network television: "Lost"! While waiting until Season 4 begins to air in February 2008, I'm getting my fix by re-watching

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-47543193142304187522007-07-30T19:59:00.000-04:002007-07-30T19:59:28.260-04:00

It's been exactly three months since my last post. Life's been kinda busy lately, but at the same time I haven't had a lot of ideas for blogging lately. That might be partly due to going through a bit of a spiritual doldrum... just stuck in one of those ruts, which can be especially frustrating when accompanied by repetitive sins. That's why I look back and wonder how I ever made it without

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-57050023052071008232007-04-30T00:54:00.000-04:002007-04-30T01:09:47.036-04:00

...is that it's one place I never have to be pretend to be holy or righteous.Sometimes, especially when you feel that ickiness of sin all over your soul, you almost feel like you're lying to yourself and everyone around you by actually going to church or saying grace. It's so refreshing to have a sacred place where we can be washed clean once again, knowing with full confidence that although,

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-90881698706793627942007-02-16T22:06:00.000-05:002007-02-17T19:40:37.263-05:00

A few weeks ago I read through the Gospel of John, which I chose because of how John referred to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" and, since I think part of the reason he might have done that is because all Christians are disciples loved by Jesus, I was curious how those passages might relate if I put myself in John's shoes. Naturally, as to be expected with reading the Bible, God

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-47805301926318759562007-02-05T23:10:00.000-05:002007-02-05T23:17:44.616-05:00

Following up from my previous post, I'm changing my tune just a little...Catholics are to obey their bishop as Christ, for the bishop represents the Church and the Church is Christ's Bride. The bishops in America aren't going to excommunicate us for not registering for vote, and apparently not even if we vote for abortion, but that's their pastoral decision to make and it's not my place to judge

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-56301203392551440182007-01-19T02:28:00.000-05:002007-08-28T13:28:12.260-04:00

Today I had lunch with a couple of guys I knew during college who were involved in some of the other Christian ministries on campus. Naturally, the conversation came around to women and dating. One guy is engaged and the other is in a semi-serious relationship. Then they asked about me, "So are you dating anyone?"Off the cuff, I immediately replied, "Yeah, her name's Mary.""Cool." Then I started

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1165787791995236102006-12-10T15:52:00.000-05:002006-12-10T16:56:32.103-05:00

Several years ago, an evangelist named Mark Cahill wrote a book titled, One Think You Can't Do in Heaven. The premise, at least behind the title, is that in Heaven there will be no sinners to whom we can witness about the Gospel, so we better take full advantage of the opportunties we are given here in this life. Since I never read the book, I can't say what his thoughts are on the whole

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1162742440345289632006-11-05T08:39:00.000-05:002006-11-19T18:21:20.093-05:00

Lately I've been thinking about how easy it is to think of theology as something that is opposed to experiencing a personal relationship with God.I remember going to Mass where the priest gave an excellent homily about his conversion experience during seminary. He joked about how he could tell us about some ecumenical synod from the early Church, but the vast majority of us didn't need that

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1160538405104397682006-10-10T22:08:00.000-04:002006-10-10T23:48:15.086-04:00

One of the ways St. Francis challenges me is the way he literally and passionately followed Christ. Before his conversion, he once had a vision that he was the lord of a court filled with shields and trophies gained through military victories. A few years later, when he heard Jesus' command, "Go, rebuild my church, which you can see has fallen into ruins," Francis literally starting rebuilding

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1159132593830542612006-09-24T15:40:00.000-04:002007-08-28T13:28:47.277-04:00

I'm about halfway through St. Augustine's Confessions. The communion of saints adds a pretty cool dimension to reading books like this and even Scripture. After learning how St. Augustine experienced a lot of the same frustrations, temptations, and uncertainty about his calling that I do, I've been asking for his intercession to help in my own discernment and pursuit of God. I completely identify

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1156129614645651192006-08-20T22:36:00.001-04:002006-08-20T23:06:54.656-04:00

A few weeks ago one of my roommates said something about watching the drunks stumble home from the Catholic picnic that took place down the street from our apartment. Then last night I was hanging out with some people at a cookout when one girl there got to talking about how they couldn't stand the St. Joseph's picnic (the biggest Catholic picnic in Louisville) because of the old men following

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1154571821813771452006-08-02T21:04:00.000-04:002006-08-02T22:23:49.006-04:00

Just finished C.S. Lewis' Miracles. I got this book for Christmas a couple years ago and it sat on the shelf for a while before I finally got around to starting it about six months ago... and I"m finally finished. Takes me a long time to read a book since I tend to put it down for weeks at a time, pick it up and read a few chapters, then put it down again. This one is pretty "intellectual," but

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1154204747037847132006-07-29T14:34:00.000-04:002006-07-29T16:25:47.126-04:00

In 117 A.D. St. Cecilia was martyred after refusing to sacrifice to false gods. She had been arrested for giving her husband and his brother a proper burial, both of whom were also arrested and killed for giving proper burial to other martyrs. Although Cecilia had vowed her virginity to God, her Roman parents went ahead and married her off to a guy named Valerian anyway. Of course, he wasn't too

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1153105169863566262006-07-16T22:45:00.000-04:002006-07-16T22:59:29.876-04:00

(This one is not a serious post, by the way.)Dating the Church: Among Protestants, this refers to the practice of someone who never makes a commitment to join a particular congregation, either because they attend two or three churches at the same time or they go to one church for a year or so before moving on.However, among Catholics this refers to a man discerning for the priesthood. Should he

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1152369880837420262006-07-08T10:09:00.000-04:002006-07-08T10:44:40.983-04:00

This week's Scripture readings in the Divine Office are going through 2nd Samuel and Friday's reading (7:1-25) includes the prophet Nathan's messianic prophecy. To summarize the passage, King David doesn't feel right about living in a house of cedar while the Lord dwells in a tent, so he approaches Nathan about it. That night, God speaks to Nathan, giving him a prophecy that reveals part of the

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1151968696048606482006-07-03T18:24:00.000-04:002006-07-03T19:18:16.270-04:00

I've been on a blogging hiatus for the last month or two, although apparently my blog is only halfway down the Christian Bloggers blogroll, so there must be a bunch of other folks who are even lazier than I am :) So, us Catholics and the Orthodox and a few other scattered Christian folk have this prayer to Mary thing goin' on, which makes most Baptists almost as uncomfortable as going to a bar

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1150123353097616272006-06-12T10:21:00.000-04:002006-06-12T10:42:34.496-04:00

Here's another funny like thing Christians like to toss around. I was just reminded of this while reading part of Sean's post about Ann Coulter where it mentioned some Democrat politicians favorite book of the Bible was Job, but he didn't even know if it was Old Testament or New Testament. Of course, some people (like myself) answer silly questions like that wrong half the time if only because we

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1149568684264431602006-06-06T00:15:00.000-04:002006-06-06T00:38:04.283-04:00

I believe I've talked about this before, but at 25 years old, I'm starting to become senile and talk about the same things over and over again. Actually, I was hanging out with some folks earlier and got to thinking about this again after hearing someone talk about some girl who claims to be a good Christian while basically denying a lot of her sins. What strikes me is how someone could really be

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1148402141352033592006-05-23T12:15:00.000-04:002006-05-23T12:35:41.410-04:00

I liked the quote from St. Francis in today's Saint of the Day e-mail. It seems especially relevant considerly all the hoopla over DaVinci Code:"And let us refer all good to the most high and supreme lord God, and acknowledge that every good is His, and thank Him for everything, [He] from Whom all good things come. And may He, the Highest and Supreme, Who alone is true God, have and be given and

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1147970341577314092006-05-18T12:25:00.000-04:002006-05-18T12:44:19.283-04:00

So, does this make me a bad Catholic?You scored as Anselm. Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man's primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read 'Cur Deus Homo?'Anselm67%John Calvin60%J?Moltmann53%Jonathan Edwards53%Karl Barth53%Martin Luther33%Charles Finney33%

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1147664097885229182006-05-14T23:18:00.000-04:002006-05-14T23:34:57.910-04:00

One of my favorite devotional-type things to do is just getting away from life to be in nature while actively listening to God for two or three hours, if not a whole day. We used to do this at InterVarsity chapter camp every year by spending three hours in total silence and I always found it to be some of the most productive time as far as my walk with God. We just never sit and listen... I often

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1146928834298651702006-05-06T10:20:00.000-04:002006-05-06T11:20:35.360-04:00

I've been diggin' the Verbum Domini podcast lately... it's just a 3-5 minute recording of each day's Scripture readings, which I think is pretty genius. Today's Psalm reading is from 116 and I liked it, so I'm gonna post part of it here since this is my blog and I can do whatever I want with it. Booya.I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications.Because he inclined his ear

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1145890079936018902006-04-24T10:07:00.000-04:002006-04-24T13:14:23.033-04:00

The other day I got to thinking, and since that doesn't happen too often, I knew something of true genius was afoot. No, seriously, I noticed that that at least two of the sacraments are clearly represented in the words of the Our Father. "Give us this day our daily bread" is commonly interpreted as a reference to the Eucharist and "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us" is

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1145205963702803662006-04-16T12:36:00.000-04:002006-04-17T18:56:43.836-04:00

You sure can't beat the Saturday Sacrament Trifecta Special... Reconciliation (most people call it Confession, but that's only one part of the sacrament), Confirmation, and Communion all in one day. Badda-boom, badda-bang. I was actually looking forward to Confession, but that didn't mean I wasn't nervous about it. Three of us went Saturday morning and it had to be hilarious watching us being so

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1145054688460554182006-04-14T18:08:00.000-04:002007-08-28T13:29:08.426-04:00

I've been seeing this show promoted on a couple of Catholic web sites and it looks pretty interesting. It's a documentary/reality show that walks with four guys as they discern their vocation to either marriage or the priesthood. I believe in the end two of them choose priesthood and two choose marriage (gotta keep things neatly symmetrical like that). At least one of the guys has a girlfriend,

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1144718503132929202006-04-10T19:02:00.000-04:002006-04-10T21:27:35.113-04:00

You'd probably guess that the guy who first started using religious tracts would be some Calvinist preacher, like Charles Spurgeon or somebody. Well, the other day I ran across a short biography of St. Francis de Sales. I've always been a little curious about this guy since my aunt's church is dedicated to him (not a bad looking sanctuary for a small western Kentucky town either), but I never

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1144382662022949372006-04-06T22:16:00.000-04:002006-04-07T00:11:33.496-04:00

Francis died at only 45 years of age. Later in life his vision slowly deteriorated, sometimes to the point of complete blindness. Due to the pain in his eyes, Brother Elias insisted he seek treatment. So they traveled to Rieti and Francis underwent the excruciating cauterization procedure, but his sight never improved. While nobody can look back and diagnose whether Francis simply died from years

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1143209499353713532006-03-24T09:02:00.000-05:002006-03-24T09:11:39.366-05:00

I hardly ever read The Onion, but I felt like checking it out this morning (mostly just want to make sure I haven't become one of those easily offended Christian lame-o's) when I found this piece of filth!Man Just Using Virgin Mary to Get To JesusDisgusting!* I'll never read The Onion again, and I encourage everybody who reads this blog to join my in an Onion boycott!** I'd rather chew into a

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1142536357826848202006-03-16T12:22:00.000-05:002006-03-16T14:12:37.886-05:00

This is surely Francis' best-known quote... and I'm afraid it's almost always quoted out of context. Usually when I hear somebody quote these words, you would like Francis rarely preached with words, or that we regular laypeople should discourage preaching with words in favor of living Christian lives and letting people "figure out" we're Christians by our example. (yeah... right) On the Catholic

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1142136155758157332006-03-11T21:37:00.000-05:002006-03-11T23:02:37.933-05:00

I found this thing called ClockLink.com where you can set up different kinds of clocks or countdown thingies for your blog or web site, so I threw this little countdown to Easter Vigil on here. At the time of this writing, in 34 days, 21 hours, 6 minutes, and 2 seconds I'll become a bone-a-fide Catlick... and not surprisingly, that means throwing a party and drinkin' some beer! Of course, this is

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1141454668305305702006-03-04T00:40:00.000-05:002006-03-04T01:49:44.973-05:00

The saints have really been challenging me lately. Reading about St. Francis has me thinking a lot about how much he and his brothers sacrificed to live the Gospel as best as they knew how. These guys embraced the poor. When St. Francis heard the Gospel reading at Mass, it was as though God were speaking personally to him. Christ says to each of us, Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1141174929008689582006-02-28T19:25:00.000-05:002006-02-28T20:02:09.050-05:00

You know how every once in a while you notice that there's a little lint building up in your belly-button? You gotta pick that stuff outta there to ward off building a little Lint Monster growing inside you. So if you don't get where I'm going with this yet... so it is with the season of Lent when we can pick out the lint of our souls.Seems like as Lent approaches, I start thinking about what I

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1140377422625032952006-02-19T13:49:00.000-05:002006-04-10T21:32:13.506-04:00

A parishinor at St. Anthony's lent me this movie about the early years of St. Francis' life. According to the Yahoo Movies review, director Franco Zeffirelli attempted to draw parellels between the simple poverty embraced by Francis and his followers and the hippie movement of the 1960's and 70's. I've been assured Zeffirelli didn't turn Francis into a pot-smokin' flag-burnin' rebel... in other

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19529410.post-1138434813563364532006-01-28T02:00:00.001-05:002011-10-08T00:45:10.329-04:00

[Editors note: There was originally a post before this, but in the wisdom of time did not find that one to be all that important or engaging. This was the second post, so I promoted it become the first post since it just makes sense that way. I left a note where the original content of this post begins, which I wanted to save since it I wrote it shortly after first learning about St. Francis'

Jason Ramagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11330557979308235782noreply@blogger.com1