Becket

Martyrdom of S. Thomas Becket

The Fifth Day of Christmas.

Another martyr for the Octave of  Christmas.  How fitting to consider such a holy bishop while our bishops are accused and maligned, perhaps in some cases rightly so.  Nevertheless the murder of Becket ought to be a cautionary tale to those who trust laymen to exact justice upon the hierarchy, based upon interpretations of what someone reportedly said or did.  Becket was killed because the king's knights believed that was what the king wanted.  They assumed as much.

Today Church Militant is accusing Cardinal Dolan of cover up in the case of Fr. Timone of NY, formerly credibly accused of abuse.  CM is pushing "Breaking News" claiming: Cardinal O'Malley reports Cardinal Dolan for allowing credibly accused priest to stay in active ministry, even as late as last week.  Comments on the post are ridiculous smears.  Church Militant must imagine themselves as knights of Henry II - taking their revenge on Cardinal Dolan for an earlier snub of Michael Voris. 

Better to do penance instead.

Fourth Day of Christmas ...

William Holman Hunt's painting 'The Triumph of the Innocents' softens the blow of the massacre executed by Herod (a figure of the Anti-Christ), depicting the souls of the boy martyrs accompanying the Holy Family who fled the terror and took refuge in Egypt.

Dia de los Santos Inocentes 

Today kids rule.

It was one of a series of days known as the Feast of Fools, and the last day of authority for boy bishops. Parents temporarily abdicated authority. In convents and monasteries the youngest nuns and monks were allowed to act as abbess and abbot for the day. - Source

The 3rd Day of Christmas ... Catholics love to drink edition.

Happy St. John's Day!

"Saint John the Evangelist is blessing the poisoned chalice given him by a pagan priest of Ephesus to test him, but the poison escapes from the chalice in the form of a small two-headed dragon, as Jacobus de Voragine recounts in his Golden Legend (1228-1298)... Saint John the Evangelist is depicted holding a chalice, an allusion to his being put to the test by the high priest of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus. The high priest said to him: "If you want me to believe in your god, I will give you some poison to drink and, if it does not harm you, it means that your god is the true God." Thus the picure shows Saint John making the gesture of blessing which was to neutralize the poison escaping from the chalice in the form of a small two-headed dragon. He was then able to drink the potion, according to the legend."

Works for me.

Christmas break.

Seems as if I've been on a break for quite sometime.

It's because I've lost interest in much of what I used to write about, and more so, what others write about.  It seems to me that we only have problems if we allow ourselves to have problems.  The things we worry about and endlessly discuss - especially those things out of our control - will all be solved one way or another.

Sister Wendy died today.  She was a hermit, art historian-critic, and a spiritual writer I admired very much.  She lived in a small, unheated caravan-trailer on the property of a Carmelite monastery.  She slept on the floor.  Not a worry in the world.

Everything gets resolved you know.

I didn't follow Christmas at the Vatican nor on media.  I went to a quiet Mass in a church old people frequent.  Very quiet, very hidden. 

Lovely peace, and simple joy.

I had a fire outside and lighted candles, decorated Our Lady's shrine in lights and fresh Babies Breath, fed the critters apples, nuts, and seeds, and prayed my rosary.  My cat remaining indoors but watch through the window.  It seemed to me very Tuscan, very Franciscan.

Merry Christmas ... make it last - we have 12 days of it!

Do you hear what I hear?

The first called ...

Buon Natale amici!

Today is my favorite day!

“I ALWAYS GET TO WHERE I’M GOING BY WALKING AWAY FROM WHERE I HAVE BEEN.” – POOH