David Ancell / Sunday, April 24, 2011 / Comments(0)
Alleluia! He is risen! I wish a most Blessed and Happy Easter to all of my family, friends, and anyone who is reading this.
As we were getting up this morning, my wife reminded me that this Easter marks twenty years since I became Catholic. I was baptized on the Easter Vigil in 1991 as a sophomore in high school. Somehow, this had slipped my mind. Good thing I have a wife! This is one blogging occasion that I don’t want to miss!
Truly, I am thankful that God has led me to the Catholic Church. It has become so much of who I am that I cannot imagine being anything else. Nothing compares to being able to be fed, sometimes daily, with none other than the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, whose resurrection we celebrate this day.
This doesn’t mean that it was always easy, nor have I always felt the way that I do now. When I was in college and pharmacy school in Mississippi, I was jealous of the Protestants. They seemed to be happy in their faith. At the time, I knew of few Catholics whose love for Jesus Christ was so visible. Campus ministry wasn’t too helpful either. I tried to accept what I was being taught, but something didn’t seem quite right. It probably didn’t help that I was also somewhat anti-intellectual at the time. Well, actually, that may have been the grace of God at the time as I might have fallen for who knows what.
However, something sustained me. To explain this, I need to go back to the time before I became Catholic. When I was about three or four, I have a vague memory of being in church and watching someone put something in my aunt’s mouth. I remember thinking “I want one of those.” This never left me, and I would later come to know just what it was that I wanted. It was nothing less than the Holy Eucharist, God himself, and I believed in it! While I was preparing to enter the Church, I longed to receive him. During the last few weeks before the Easter Vigil, I was really counting down the days, tired of watching people receive what I so badly wanted but could not yet receive. The thought that I would get to join the Church the night before Easter Sunday really appealed to me. It was one less day I had to wait to receive him.
It was that total self-gift that God has given us in the Eucharist that sustained me during years of kind of “wandering in the dessert.” I was always at Sunday Mass. No matter what others had to offer, I knew that only in the Catholic Church was I receiving Jesus himself in the Eucharist. Despite sensing that something wasn’t really right (though I couldn’t put my finger on it), I wasn’t leaving the Church.
Shortly after graduation from pharmacy school, I reached the stage where I learned that the things that didn’t seem right really weren’t right. In many cases, this wasn’t really the fault of those involved. However, now I was being fed with the authentic faith. I came back to my practice of praying before the Blessed Sacrament that I had kind of fallen away from. The result was a transformation that would still be a difficult road, but now I realized I had a purpose. The things I discovered about the faith shortly after graduating from pharmacy school started me a path of falling in love with the Church all over again. It became clear that there were many people who were near my age may never have had a chance to know what I had learned. I figured out what had been bugging me. I wanted to do something about it.
What would I do? This would take years to fully develop. The seeds were actually planted while I was in pharmacy school. There were web sites being put out by people defending the teachings of the Church. I had rarely seen people defend the teachings, and I must admit that I didn’t like them at first. Still, I had my own web page and did some of the same stuff. Later, when I was working and had money, I would buy some Catholic teachings on tape. God was telling me that I could do this on a local level. So, I began recording RCIA talks into my computer and making CDs (later MP3s). A couple of years later, I joined an RCIA where I was allowed to give some talks, which I also recorded. God was using my desire to teach, my media hobby, and my geekiness for his own purpose.
Things have continued to change. I am learning more about the faith, and especially about liturgy. Yana and I will have our first-born son this September. I am going to be working in my own domestic church. Don’t get me wrong; I never want to stop working however I can in evangelization and the use of new media. I don’t think God called me to it just to take it away completely, especially since I still have the desire. However, I do know that my ultimate responsibility will be for the souls of those whom God has entrusted directly to Yana and me. I thank God for all he has given me these past twenty years and pray for his continued help for me and my family.
Category: Catholic, News on My Life, Spirituality
David Ancell / Wednesday, April 20, 2011 / Comments(0)
My latest podcast, and the last in my Lenten series, is now posted.
This one is pretty brief. I didn’t have nearly as much to say on almsgiving. I did throw in some thoughts on how easy it would have been for Jesus to come down from the cross at the beginning.
Enjoy!
Category: Podcasts
David Ancell / Wednesday, April 06, 2011 / Comments(0)
My seventh podcast episode, and my second episode about Lent, is now posted.
In this episode, I cram a lot of various thoughts on prayer together. I’m hoping to get in at least one, hopefully two, more episodes before Lent is over.
Category: Podcasts
David Ancell / Saturday, April 02, 2011 / Comments(0)
Earlier this week, I decided to join the discussion in the comment box of Matthew Warner’s article on church bulletins. For me, I must admit that it’s something that people may not think much about. However, I think he has done a good job stirring up discussions.
For the most part, the bulletin for me has been the means by which I remember what day and time a certain event will be held. It isn’t much more than that. I may have learned about the meeting or event somewhere else. However, I’ve reached a point where I don’t even want to pick up a copy of a paper bulletin. It’s just something that will get tossed in a pile somewhere. If I want to read the bulletin, I’m going to download it, even if we have a paper copy at home. It’s easier for me to look online than to try to find where we put our copy of the bulletin.
I’d love to see some parish have their bulletin online only. I am willing to bet that there are very few, if any, people who wouldn’t be able to access it today. Maybe a few copies could be printed for them. It just seems that it would save a lot of expense and could even be updated if an error were found.
David Ancell / Saturday, March 19, 2011 / Comments(0)
It has long seemed to me that the days of print newspapers are numbered. Besides, many newspapers are putting out at least part of their content online for free. I’ve wondered how long that can last as the people who spend their time writing news stories have to make a living somehow. Last week, I got an e-mail that the New York Times is now going to be offering paid digital subscriptions.
There are some newspapers that I’d be willing to pay money to access. The New York Times is not one of them. Really, though, I think their main problem is with the way they are offering subscriptions. You get the web site access no matter what you buy, but if you want to use the iPad app, you have to pay an extra $5/month. At that price, you can’t use it on a smartphone unless you pay another $15/month on top of that. What were they smoking when they came up with this business model? Then again, I wonder if the problem is really caused by Apple’s in-app purchase rules.
On the iPad, one can easily just use the browser and pay $15/month for web and smartphone. Hey, NY Times, if you want to offer digital subscriptions, then just charge one price for access to the same content. Oh well, I think I’ll save my money for a subscription to a good Catholic publication.
Category: Technology
David Ancell / Tuesday, March 15, 2011 / Comments(0)
There is a lot of great Catholic media out there showing us the real picture on the Catholic Church. However, many Catholic still aren’t aware of it. That’s why I will glady participate in Catholic Media Promotion Day.
I now have the longest commute to work that I’ve ever had. So, I use the opportunity to listen to Catholic podcasts. What do I listen to?
I am also thankful that my wife found iCatholicRadio as I now no longer need to subscribe to Sirius or XM to get EWTN Radio. The EWTN site never would work on my Mac, even with Flip4Mac installed and updated. As for my favorite blogs, it’s probably best to just check out my blogroll on the right-hand side of the page. I might add that the National Catholic Register (NOT the National Catholic Reporter) is a great place to get Catholic news and commentary.
Needless to say, I’m a big fan of Catholic media, and I even like to produce some stuff myself. Surely you have seen my podcast. I used to record talks for RCIA for a couple of parishes in the Memphis area, and I have links to talks I have given and recorded here.
Category: Catholic
David Ancell / Thursday, March 10, 2011 / Comments(0)
Although I mentioned giving up the iPad 2 for Lent, I didn’t give up iOS4. In fact, I installed it on Ash Wednesday. So far, it is working great. Safari really is a lot faster. The home sharing feature also appears to work well. At first, I couldn’t find it, and here is a Macworld article on how to set it up. One thing that the article mentions but may be missed is that you’l need to go into the settings of iPad, go to iPod, and enter your Apple ID and password. Once you do that, you’ll see the option to use a library from a computer on your network in the upper left-hand corner of the program.
Enjoy!
Category: Technology
David Ancell / Tuesday, March 08, 2011 / Comments(0)
The newest episode of the podcast is available:
Sure, the iPad is a great device, but it’s Lent. Besides, we haven’t had our iPads a year yet. I’ve only had mine since Christmas. It has some great features, and I’d recommend it to anyone who doesn’t already have an iPad. However, I start this podcast talking about why I don’t want one. Of course, in a couple of years, I’m sure I’ll want to upgrade.
Along those same lines, I begin talking about misunderstandings around giving up something for Lent. There is an article on my web page that I reference in case you’d like to read it.
Category: Podcasts
David Ancell / Saturday, March 05, 2011 / Comments(0)
It has been so hard to hold our news inside me. Thankfully, the time to announce has come. Are you ready? Well, you probably already figured out from the title that our news is . . . (drum roll please) . . .
Yana and I are expecting our first baby in September!
This baby has already been to Disney, though in utero. We didn’t know we were expecting at the time. During our first weekend in January, we went grocery shopping. Yana noticed that she couldn’t stand the smell of the fish in the seafood department or the sight of the chicken in the meat department. Then, she noticed she was getting unusually tired. Well, these symptoms were a little suspicious based on what we know. The next morning, it was time for a little test. You can probably guess the results. Yana wanted to get to the doctor’s office the next morning, but it was closed due to a snowstorm. Two days later, she got in and confirmed what we already knew. Four days later, we saw a little one and a little heart beat on ultrasound.
Things have been going well, and we are excited! Of course, prayers are very much appreciated.
Category: News on My Life
David Ancell / Wednesday, February 23, 2011 / Comments(0)
Last weekend, Yana and I took a trip to Lexington, Kentucky to be at a party for a friend. It’s kind of ironic that I’d go there just after taking the test to become licensed there (which I passed, by the way), but I digress. After the party, we went to the mall. There I found what has to be the best Apple store that I’ve ever seen. I got to play with quite a lot of stuff there.
Since I’ve been on Verizon, I hadn’t really been interested in the iPhone 4. Now, with its availability, it may be an option some time in the future. The retina display really is a sight to see. The ones in the store have service on them, so I got to send my wife an e-mail from one of them just for fun. After that, I played with a MacBook Air. It is a lightning fast device since it has a solid-state drive. It will be a while before I’m in the market for a laptop, so we’ll see how it evolves.
The best thing, of course, is the 27-inch iMac. I will be getting one of those before too long (after Lion is released). The display is beautiful, and it’s lightning fast. I’ve been doing some high-definition video since getting married, and I want something that will allow me to preserve it in high-definition.
I was not impressed with the Magic Trackpad. Maybe it is because I’m just not a big fan of trackpads. It is too hard for me to have precise control. I tried it with Indesign on the demo unit, and it was a little difficult to place an object just where I wanted it.
The new Magic Mouse is something that I have played with off and on, and I have mixed feelings about it. I currently have the old version of the Magic Mouse. The new one does not have a scroll wheel that can get clogged up and quit working, but it also lacks the squeeze buttons that I use to call up Expose. The gesture concept isn’t the best for me because I tend not to memorize stuff, and I hope that Apple won’t get to a point that learning the gestures is necessary to use Mac OS.
It’s hard to believe that, just ten years ago, I would have called the Mac a “Macintrash” computer. Now, I find that it is faster, handles multitasking better, and is so much less of a headache to maintain. Let’s just hope that the absence of Steve Jobs doesn’t hurt their creativity. They need to keep it up.
Category: News on My Life, Technology