USCCB President Cardinal Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York delivered another stellar address at the USCCB General Assembly Fall meeting yesterday (November 12, 2012), where he introduced (among several other things) the idea of meatless Fridays throughout the year (not just during lent).

The work of our Conference during the coming year includes reflections on re-embracing Friday as a particular day of penance, including the possible re-institution of abstinence on all Fridays of the year, not just during Lent. Our pastoral plan offers numerous resources for catechesis on the Sacrament of Penance, and the manifold graces that come to us from the frequent use of confession. Next June we will gather in a special assembly as brother bishops to pray and reflect on the mission entrusted to us by the Church, including our witness to personal conversion in Jesus Christ, and so to the New Evangelization.

When asked for my thoughts on the matter I said:

Bring it!

Friday Morning Breakfast! Who Wouldn’t?

Which brings us to the real reason I called this meeting today….

The Food For Thought Award!

Biltrix has the honor of thanking two very thoughtful and thought provoking bloggers for this nomination. We were first nominated by Catholibertarian, followed shortly after by The Rainey View. Please join me in thanking these wonderful blogs:

Also, please, visit their blogs — Catholibertarian and The Rainey View — to chew on and enjoy more juicy food for thought.

Another note of recognition goes to Citizen Tom, who masterminded the Food For Thought Award.  Here is his explanation:

“What’s The Food for Thought Award? How can we combine The Super Sweet Blogger Award with The Thought Provoking Blog Award? Well, when a Christian blog offers visitors wisdom from the Word of God, isn’t that blog providing its visitors food for thought? Ah ha! Thus was born a new award.”

Thank you Citizen Tom!

And now, without further ado, let us proceed with the rules for this award:

1. Post the award on your blog.
2. Thank the one(s) who nominated you and link back to their blog.
3. Share seven of your favourite Bible passages. For extra points (Perhaps our Father in heaven will award them.), explain why each of these seven passages is a favourite.
4. Nominate seven other bloggers you admire and enjoy! Why seven? In the Bible, seven symbolizes completeness.
5. Inform each person that you have nominated them.

Here are 7 of Bitrix’s top 7 favorite Bible passages:

1. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. (John 3:16) — There are no cliches in the Bible. This passage has become popularized, because it expresses the Gospel message of love, mercy, forgiveness, and redemption in its very depth — what a beautiful message that is!
2. How can I repay the LORD for all the great good done for me? I will raise the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. (Psalm 116:12-13) — This verse speaks to me of the virtues of religion: thanksgiving, acceptance, and reverence to the God who gives all things to the ones he loves; and the creature’s devotion in return.
3. Into a soul that plots evil wisdom does not enter, nor does she dwell in a body under debt of sin. (Wisdom 1:4) I believe that to understand this passage, we need to read it in conjunction with the following one presented below…
4. But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (Romans 8:9) — Simply put, we are in the world, not of the world; being in the world, we need to be reminded to think with and in Christ, so as not to lapse into thinking according to the ways of the world.
5. As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.” (Luke 19:41-42) — On my pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2006, I had my strongest epiphany moment at the Church of Dominus Flevit on the Mount of Olives. I will need to write a separate post on this when proper the occasion arises.
6. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1) — For me, the depths of our theological understanding are rooted in this unfathomable passage.
7. Not all can accept this teaching, but only those to whom that is granted. (Matthew 19:11) — Whenever I read the Gospels as a child, these words and similar passages always caught my attention and stuck with me. They still do, and I don’t really know why.

Blogs we hereby nominate…

1. Shalom Mystic Wind
2. Resting in His Grace
3. Gracie’s Quest
4. The Armchair Apologist
5. Justice for Raymond
6. Comments from Cathy
7. The Interface

And I would like to nominate more (And since FJS@RadiantForm also received this award and is new to the nominating business, I will suggest a few good names to him, very soon).

His rebus dictis,… I leave you with some more food for thought. God bless you all!

(Lest we become like Lotus Eaters…)

Pardon the banal riposte to such sublime thoughts and words of the Great Lord Alfred Tennyson, but today I find it fitting to respond: