Sometimes the Holy Father reminds me of Meister Eckhart ...

“The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake.” - Meister Eckhart

“God, who is faithful, allows his friends to fall frequently into weakness only in order to remove from them any prop on which they might lean. For a loving person it would be a great joy to be able to achieve many great feats, whether keeping vigils, fasting, performing other ascetical practices or doing major, difficult and unusual works. For them this is a great joy, support and source of hope so that their works become a product and a support upon which they can lean. But it is precisely this which our Lord wishes to take from them so that he alone will be their help and support . . . in no way do our works serve to make God give us anything or do anything for us. Our Lord wishes his friends to be freed from such an attitude, and thus he removes their support from them so that they must henceforth find their support only in him.” - Meister Eckhart

“Theologians may quarrel, but the mystics of the world speak the same language.” - Meister Eckhart


This just in ... Overnight Rome has been papered with anti-papist posters.

"Oi Frankie, you have emasculated Congregations, 

suspended priests, decapitated the Order of Malta 

and the Franciscans of the Immaculate, ignored Cardinals...

But where is your mercy?" - Source

Somehow, this isn't such a bad thing - for me.  It's kind of exciting - very medieval and intriguing on some level - and so much like a Dan Brown novel I could spit!  It's not the end of the world, and it will never be the end of the Church - but it is an extremely exciting development and period in Church history.  Sorry, I just love drama.  I grew up with alcoholics and dysfunctional family was my normal.

Carnival appears to be in full swing in Roma!

Something for Fanatic Friday fans ...

I almost forgot it's Black History Month.

I'll have to post about black saints or something.

The world is getting scarier ...

Are these people even Catholic?

I was skimming some of the Catholic news aggregator sites and was pretty much stunned - once again - by the editorialized headline copy for some of the articles.  The articles themselves shouldn't be printed or linked to.  They are essentially anarchist and scandalous - aptly regarded as crackpot, they still do damage to the Church.  To call themselves Catholic is one thing, but their fidelity strikes me as dubious, at best.

Here's a sampling of editorialized headlines:

• Oily, Slimy Bishop Barron Ready For A FrancisChurch Red Hat

• Herald’s Fr. Lucie Smith lumps popular Trump in with ruthless, anti-Catholic Pope Francis because immigration enforcement.

• Vatican Fr. Czerny to new ThugCardinal Tobin: Pope says to tell you the US bishops are doing a great job giving Trump my FrancisGospel!

• Cardinal Wuerl particularly touchy, hopelessly snake-like about the ‘very small group of people and their media’ liars who care about Christ’s Church.

"FrancisChurch"?

"Oily, Slimy Bishop"?

"anti-Catholic Pope Francis"?

"ThugCardinal"?

"FrancisGospel"?

"Cardinal ... hopelessly snake-like"?

These expressions are not even Christian.

[Years ago when I used to be more critical of fellow Catholics and sometimes fallen priests ... I got a lot of people, former friends, condemning me, dropping their links, and so on, all for a lot less than what these people post today.  Amazingly, a few of these same people continue to link to those pundits online who post gossip, detraction, and 'scathing criticism' of Pope Francis and the bishops he appoints, as well as pass rash judgement and condemn ordinary Catholics faithful to the the Church as Novus Ordo Catholics, liberals, and fools.]

The source of detraction, calumny and slander.

Fr. Z's formal, public correction ...

Err ... clarification or an apology and explanation.

I did not say "that it is okay to pray that the Pope should die (without any further qualification) or that they ought to pray that the Pope should die." - Details here.

He apologizes that he gave the impression he said that - or meant that.

A clarification - it's a good thing.

Remember - don't just say the black and do the red - PRAY the black ...

V. Let us pray for our Pontiff Francis.
R. May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.

Let us pray. O God, Shepherd and Ruler of all Thy faithful, look mercifully upon Thy servant Francis, whom Thou hast chosen as shepherd to preside over Thy Church: grant him, we beseech Thee, that, by word and example, he may edify those over whom he hath charge, so that together with the flock committed to him, he may attain everlasting life. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen. - Z's

Whatever happened to

'Thy will be done ...'?

The Class of 1967

Reunion planning in process.

Thoughts after reading Facebook profiles ...

Somehow, I think they - we - were among the most clueless of all the Baby-boomers.  Although, maybe it was just me.

I haven't really thought about high school or the people I knew, but the reunion thing has really kind of fascinated me.  I knew some of the women organizing the event - not all of them well - but I seem to recall being friendly with them.  I'm not surprised they would be into this stuff, because that is what they did and they did it well.

I had some philosophical musings about the reunion and the people involved and who is coming so far and all of that, but it doesn't seem important right now.  I was never involved in earlier reunions or get-togethers, so I would have little reason to get involved now.  But with me, you never know.

Over the years, I occasionally ran into 'outsiders' from my class - we recognized one another but did little more than acknowledge one another.  I recall one woman who lived in the apartment building next door to mine in Minneapolis.  She was an attorney and doing quite well.  In school she kept to herself and was very studious.  She wasn't snubbed, but if I remember correctly, she kept to herself - some thought she was a snob, but I think she was just shy.  I wondered if people like her would even give consideration to such a thing as a high school reunion?  Then I thought of the poor students people used to make fun of or simply shun.   Would they come to a reunion?

Personally, I have good memories of high school, but I was just passing through at the time and moved on.  Although I genuinely admired the high achievers, those who made the honor-role, the athletes, and many who were allegedly part of 'the clique'.  (I didn't really see it that way.  They were all nice to me, so I had nothing against them.)  Today these people are very successful, and they deserve it - they worked for it.

One last thought, my closest friends, the people I hung out with went to Catholic high school, so I wasn't all that close to the students in my class - which may account for my outsider status.  Senior year my life changed completely and I moved on almost immediately after graduation.

Song for this post here.

  

High School Reunion

I wonder if Amber will be there?

This has me a bit freaked out.

High School was a really, really long time ago.  A friend was supposed to let me know about the plans, but I had to find out from a stranger.  Typical.  What?

So anyway - now that I'm on Facebook, I was looking up schoolmates - some even post photos of themselves how they look today.  (Of course, I've always posted current photos of myself as well.)  What?

I'm torn.  Should I go?  Will I go?  That is the question, isn't it, Omelet?  What?

Song for this post here.

The Argentine Way

After the Grand Master, Another Head Is About To Fall: That of Cardinal Burke - Sandro Magister

Really?  I just think it's strange.  First when he was appointed Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta it was said this move was a demotion in retaliation and as some sort of punishment from Pope Francis.  Oddly enough, his removal from the Archdiocese of St. Louis was seen by some as a 'demotion by promotion' - to use Francis' terminology - by Pope Benedict because he may have been too conservative-strict about implementing Canon 915?  (I may have the details wrong but Burke people know what I'm talking about.)  So now, Magister seems to be suggesting Burke may be kicked out of college?

The stories are sounding more like a Dan Brown novel.

Someone needs to write a book, "Debunking the Burke Code"... or, "The Maltese Cardinal Code".

Monday Vatican has a more focused analysis on what's going on - and it is much more credible than Magister's take - without skimping on the intrigue which makes the affair so melodramatic.

I thought this was good ...

Pride of mind “is a very dangerous thing and not easily cured; it is much worse than pride of will. For pride of will, being visible to the mind, can sometimes be easily cured by forcing it to submit to the yoke of what is good. But when the mind is firmly grounded in the self-relying thought that its own judgments are better than all others, who can cure it in the end? Can it ever obey anyone, if it feels certain that the judgments of others are not as good as its own? When this eye of the soul — mind — with whose help man could see and correct pride of will, is itself blinded by pride and remains uncured, who will cure the will? Then everything within is so disorganized that there is neither place nor person for applying a healing poultice. This is why you must hasten to oppose this pernicious pride of mind, before it penetrates into the marrow of your bones. Resist it, curb the quickness of your mind and humbly subject your opinion to the opinions of others. Be a fool for the love of God…

- John of Kronstadt

[John of Kronstadt is a Russian Orthodox saint.  He was a married priest and knew Rasputin and may have 'sponsored' his introduction to the Royal Family.  He is also accused of anti-Semitism.  Nevertheless, his spiritual counsels are very good.]  

Trump is banning Muslins - I'm against it.

I just ordered some.

In addition, he's going after migrants from specific countries.  For example:

Persian cats and Abyssinian cats are no longer allowed entry to the United States either.

Abyssinian stow-away.

Abyssinian origins.

Cats from Iran.

Cats are not the only ones singled out.  There is now talk that Chihuahuas will be deported as well - sent back to Mexico - even if they were born here.

I'm against it.