The End...

Well for some time now I have been thinking about my departure and when it would actually happen.  I have been here at Xanga for almost four years posting random thoughts about my life.  I started this blog when I came to Milligan my freshman year, and seeing as I will be leaving MC in just about 40 days I guess that it is now time to retire this bad lad.

I am still not sure where I am going to be in the fall.  On Friday I finally received a call from Sewanee and they said that they would like me to come for my official interview.  Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will know my fate.

Since I will soon be starting a new phase of my life I decided that it was only proper that I start a new blog.  So as of today I am officially leaving the wonderful Xanga-land and moving to Blogger. 

My new blog is entitled Fides Quaerens Intellectum, which roughly translated means "faith out on a quest to know".  It is going to be similar to this blog in that I will pretty much just be posting random thoughts about life.  I guess the only difference with this blog is that I now have a college education under my belt (well almost), and I will soon be a seminarian.

So it is with many tears I say goodbye to Xanga.  You have been good to me, and I hope that I have been just as good to you.  I am going to keep this blog up but I don't think that I will be doing much posting from here on out.  I want to keep it up because I have so many thoughts on here that I just can't bear to delete.

So I guess this is goodbye for now.  Do check me out on my new blog and let me know what you think.  I am really not good with computers or the internets, so my blog may be pretty crappy for a while until someone tells me what in the hell I am supposed to do.

(I was going to try and put my head over Nixon's but then I realized I can barely even check my email)

May the Peace of christ be always with you!

Bye,
D. Andy Olivo

Hallelujah...

In honor of the St. John's Choir and their beautiful singing of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah, I now share with you this video:

Funny stuff!

H/T AF and Kyle O.

Peace,
D. Andy Olivo

Peace...

I was just reading on Drudge and I found this news story that I wanted to comment on.  The Pope. His Holiness Benedict XVI, called for an end to the violence around the world, including in Tibet, Iraq and Darfur.  He did this as we have just recently entered our 6th year in Iraq and as they have announced that today we have reached the 4000 mark for American deaths.

The story reports that "In his twice yearly 'Urbi et Orbi' (to the city and the world) message delivered after the Mass, the Pope decried, 'the many wounds that continue to disfigure humanity in our own day.'"

He went on to say that "These are the scourges of humanity, open and festering in every corner of the planet, although they are ignored and sometimes deliberately concealed; wounds that torture the souls and bodies of countless of our brothers and sisters."

Now it is no secret that I am not the Pope's biggest supporter, partly because I am not a Catholic and partly because his predecessor was and still is one of my heroes in the faith, but I am grateful that he chose to address this topic and call for peace on this Easter day.  Millions of faithful around the world listen to him and respect what he has to say--hopefully we can take his message to heart.

Read the rest of the story here.

Peace,
D. Andy Olivo

The Rising Up Again...

ALLELIUA, CHRIST IS RISEN!

These were the words that many around the world shouted last night and again this morning as we celebrated the Resurrection (the rising up again) of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Last night at St. John's Episcopal Church we had the Great Vigil with several other churches from the Johnson City area.  I look forward to this celebration every year because at least for that brief time the Church is one as it should be.  The music was beautiful, my good friend AF sang the Exultet at the beginning and did a fantastic job, and the St. John's choir along with the Hopwood Christian Church choir truly sounded beautiful--I was moved to tears several times.  We truly are blessed to have the organist and choirmaster that we have at St. John's--props to Kyle O. for all of his amazing work.

This morning we again celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord at St. John's and it was another beautiful service.  Again, the choir was beautiful, especially when they ended with the Hallelujah Chorus.  Afterwards I had a wonderful lunch with several very special people, and it was much fun.

Well I hope that everyone had a blessed Easter Day and that you can see and feel the presence of the Resurrected Christ in your lives. 

Christ is Risen!
D. Andy Olivo

The Beginning...

Today is Palm Sunday and the shouts of "Hosanna" mark the beginning of Holy Week.  Today is a rather joyous day as we process and wave our palm leaves symbolizing Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, but the joy shall soon end as we move towards Good Friday.  Yes, as quickly as the shouts of joy begin they also quickly end and turn into shouts of rage--"Crucify Him" we will soon be saying.

I am always amazed when this time of the church year comes around and we read the story of Christ being welcomed with open arms and hearts as he came into Jerusalem.  I am amazed because these people, at least for a brief time, believed that Jesus really was who he said he was--the Messiah, the Son of God.  They actually believed that!  And then they started to ask themselves "Is this really the one--THE ONE?  Surely he can't be."  I mean they had ever right to think that, didn't they?  He was not attractive; he was a simple carpenter from Nazareth; he hung out with tax collectors and prostitutes and lepers and the homeless; he himself was homeless--could he really be a king?  It was when they, the soldiers, arrested him when he was in the garden praying that they really started to wonder if this Jesus was who he said he was.  They arrested him and then they started to beat him.  They were spitting upon him and mocking him.  They were treating him as if he were no better than a dog.  It was at this point that they realized that they were wrong.  How could the Son of God be treated in such a way?  Would God really let God's son be treated like this?  The answer seemed pretty clear to them: of course not!  So it was at this point that those shouts of acclamation turned into shouts of hate.  "Crucify Him" they yelled over and over as he stood before them wounded and looking quite small--"CRUCIFY HIM!" 

As we begin this Holy Week journey I pray that we can listen to these stories and see just how great the Son of God truly is.  He was persecuted for our sake; he was struck down for our sake; he was crushed for our sake; and then he was killed for our sake.  The wonderful part of all of this, though, is that we can read these stories and realize that his death on the cross was not the end because we share in his resurrection.  In just one long week we will be celebrating the Risen Christ.

So as we begin this somber week, and as the shouts of joy fall away in these next few days, and as we reflect on the death of our Christ, and as we think about and mourn during his time in the tomb, let us not forget the glorious end that we will soon be celebrating.

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility; Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
                                                                                                     
                                                  [Collect for the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday, BCP]

Grace and Peace,
D. Andy Olivo