Collecting my thoughts.

 I hope to post some concluding thoughts about everything I've written about on the blog over the years.

Happy Easter

 

Christ is risen!  Alleluia!

Holy Saturday

Though my body sleeps, my heart keeps vigil. - Songs 5:2

Good Friday

 

Passion Sunday aka Palm Sunday

John XXIII: Out For A Ride - T. Nelson

Unknown private collection

 

A blessed Holy Week to all.

Pray for the Holy Father

 

News coming in from the Vatican this evening has revealed that Pope Francis has been kept in hospital after being rushed back to hospital following routine tests earlier in the day.

Corriere have written:

From the hospital it is known that the pontiff, who arrived by ambulance following an illness, had heart problems and respiratory fatigue in the late morning, after the general audience held in St. Peter's Square, while he was already in his residence at Casa Santa Marta; For safety he was taken to the cardiology department for checks.

They also said that it is likely that

A hospitalization at this point is almost certain: the staff - starting with Bergoglio's personal nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti - and the security men were alerted to spend the night at the Policlinico. Certainly a hospitalization was not planned, on the eve of Palm Sunday and the celebrations of Holy Week of Easter, the most important time of the year.

Francis had been brought in for routine tests, but was later rushed by ambulance to the hospital once more.

Please pray for the Holy Father at this time. - CatholicArena

An update.

 

I've deliberately stopped commenting or posting on developments in the Church and the world.  It's my wait and see attitude.  I've avoided a lot of commentary by not clicking on clickbait headlines and avoiding the usual voices of dissension.  

It's interesting to note how many old Trump supporters are learning that FOX News had been feeding them misinformation all along.  I wonder if they will 'wake up' now.  Probably not because they are so afraid of 'woke'.  

It seems to me Vigano may still have his followers, but I think many now consider him a crack pot - I could be wrong.

Like reading private revelations and locutions discussing all the problems in the Church and the world, news aggregates dispense the same dire warnings.  I avoid those as well.  It's sometimes difficult to discern what is a private revelation from a private opinion and ideological bias, proving the axiom,  "whatever is received is received according to the mode of the receiver."

I think of those 'holy' souls who pour over scriptures and private revelations, looking for signs to explain world events and politics, often esteeming their findings over the Holy Father and the Teaching Magisterium.  Same old, same old.

I'll probably continue to post though.

Long time gone.

Just an update.  

I've been trying to limit my time on social media and so I haven't kept up with the blog or comments.  I'm sorry.  Trying to break my FB habit as well.  

So much has happened, I couldn't even begin to comment.  

I'm disappointed in all the blowback after Pope Benedict's death - especially the books and articles concerning the relationship between the 2 popes and the opposition to Pope Francis.  Needless to say I'm not reading very much of it.

It appears today the war is escalating and may soon include Europe.  

I will continue to post here though.

"As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me."

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts...

I came across this on Twitter. It is Collier Gwin, the owner of San Francisco art gallery Foster Gwin. Hosing down a homeless women in the cold. The video is disturbing on several levels - the poor woman struggles under the spray - I imagine she is calling for him to stop, as well as calling for help. Mr. Gwin's nonchalant pose is chilling in itself. From Saint Matthew’s Gospel—"as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me."

"Take care, brothers and sisters,
that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart,
so as to forsake the living God.
Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,”
so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin." - Hebrews 3

Hardened by the deceit of sin.

A thought

 

Christopher Robin

I must think suddenly of matters too difficult for a bear of little brain. I have never asked myself what lies beyond the place where we live, I and Rabbit, Piglet and Eeyore, with our friend Christopher Robin. That is, we continued to live here, and nothing changed, and I just ate my little something. Only Christopher Robin left for a moment.

Owl says that immediately beyond our garden Time begins, and that it is an awfully deep well. If you fall in it, you go down and down, very quickly, and no one knows what happens to you next. I was a bit worried about Christopher Robin falling in, but he came back and then I asked him about the well. 'Old bear,' he answered. 'I was in it and I was falling and I was changing as I fell. My legs became long, I was a big person, I grew old, hunched, and I walked with a cane, and then I died. It was probably just a dream, it was quite unreal. The only real thing was you, old bear, and our shared fun. Now I won't go anywhere, even if I'm called in for an afternoon snack.' - Czeslaw Milosz 

Benedict XVI

 

Benedict XVI lies in state.

I have very few words to say.  I love Benedict XVI and I am sad.  A friend noted that even Jesus wept when Lazarus died - which gives me permission to be sad.

So many are writing about him and all the good he has done for the Church and the People of God, so I would like to say something as well.  Before being elected, he taught me so much, continuing into his papacy and evermore through his writings.  His work in the CDF, his instructions from the Catechism to his many letters lightened my burden, while enlightening my way to follow Christ.  For me his greatness is in his defining Catholic teaching on sexuality and marriage.  The instruction in the CDF letters to the faithful and bishops were for me, ratified by his ascent to the Chair of Peter.

So many rejected the clear teaching he proposed, calumniating, detracting and condemning Ratzinger as a cruel homophobe and someone who hated gays.  It was just the opposite.  He proposed Catholic teaching, knowing full well the difficulties involved in today's world.  It has always been so - the Cross stands in contradiction to all the novelties the world offers.  All of us - including Ratzinger - are sinners.  The Church, the Sacraments is our help and support to receive grace and mercy and to follow Christ in fidelity.  As Pope Francis has noted, the Church is a field hospital for the wounded, the lame, sinners who keep trying.  Falling and rising, we follow Christ more closely after every fall.  The commandments - the rules - are meant to guide us, to stabilize us, lest we fall away completely.  To state the truth in charity is never cruel.

The truth sets us free, and if the Son of God frees you, you are truly free.  Every soul, baptized and confirmed in Christ, can live a devout life - by the grace of God.  The CCC clearly states we are called to chastity!  What a great grace!  "By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection."  What a grace!  You do not have to do it alone - you can have friends who help and at the same time, disinterested friendship is a condition wherein friends can help to sanctify one another.  We have priests to guide and instruct us, administering the sacrament of penance when we fall.  How much love the Father has shown us, to be reconciled in Christ!  This is the good that Benedict did for me, and I dare say - the Church.

Benedict was a good father, a merciful and kind hearted priest.  He was a brilliant scholar and theologian - with the heart of a father.  I thank him for teaching with such clarity and love, giving such hope and strengthening the faith of many - especially ordinary people like me.  

Benedict XVI