Eleventh Day of Christmas: Liturgical Epiphany

The Mysteries of Light.

The Most Holy Name of Jesus

JESUS!

The Holy Name is a powerful prayer. The Holy Name Jesus is a prayer in and of itself and contains the entire Gospel. JESUS.

Different schools of prayer place much emphasis upon the formula known as the Jesus prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner." It is a way of prayer for lay people and monks, known especially in the East. It is an ancient practice. Those who practice it unceasingly and exclusively are sometimes known as hesychasts, and they employ a technique of breathing to coincide with the recitation of the prayer. Some remain suspicious of the 'controlled' practice, suggesting it is a form of quietism - a criticism some people also make regarding the practice known as Centering Prayer. Many people find themselves attracted to such mystical techniques, but the Holy Spirit is not limited by nor subject to technique. That said, there is nothing wrong with praying the Jesus prayer in the hope of praying unceasingly and as a means to union with God. (CCC 2616)

Nevertheless, the Holy Name alone, JESUS, is sufficient in itself. The Holy Name contains all, encapsulates all, embraces all, consumes all: To the extent that it is the very heart of the Hail Mary, and every prayer of the liturgy is offered in that same Holy Name when we say, 'through Jesus Christ'.   Amen.

When undergoing temptation or suffering of any sort, or when you can't pray at all, repeat the Holy Name of Jesus - over and over, it creates a sort of spiritual communion.

Oh yeah? Get this: 18 Things Twenty-somethings Want You to Know ...

He says he can ...

Why that filthy-twenty-something-little Catholic son of a %*!#@< ... JUST KIDDING!  

Actually he is though.  He's Catholic and gay.  People can be that.  I think it is easier just to be Catholic myself, but c'est la vie.

It's a cool list really - I came across it on a Jesuit site here - but you can read the other 18 Things here.

I have to get to my therapist now.  What?  JUST KIDDING! (Although the guy in the photo probably won't ever need a therapist because he has nothing to hide.)

[I was twenty-something once.]

Today is the Birthday of Little Therese of Lisieux

"I am resigned to being always imperfect, and I even find happiness in it.  

I keep an eye on myself to see if I can discover any new imperfections." 

- Therese to Mother Agnes of Jesus

Patroness of the no damn good.

What?

She kind of is, you know.  Little Therese really, honestly, truly thought she was the worst of sinners - despite the fact that Jesus preserved her from mortal sin.  Was she just pretending to be humble and account herself as nothing?  Not a few really, really devout Catholics believe that - not just about Therese but other saints as well.  We can think we know so much from studying mystical writers and theologians, but it seems to me rather pretentious to claim to know their conscience, their intimate being before the Divine Light.

Little Therese was fond of saying that she wished to be found at the 'table of sinners'... astonishingly expressing that sentiment in the depths of the dark night, her trial of temptations against the faith before she died. In that abject state, she experienced the faithlessness of the atheist, the bitter taste of rancor and envy of the unbeliever, even the hollow, vacuous, hopelessness of those who hate the faith. Like her Master, "who had not known sin, yet became sin," thus she, who was innocent (as she had been once assured she had never committed a mortal sin), became sin, as it were. Not in the exact same sense of Christ of course, but she shared, or imitated His redemptive suffering in and through that experience... seated with Christ crucified, at the table of sinners. True to her word, there was no attitude of condescension whatsoever - she found herself annihilated and in need of mercy.  That is the secret of St. Therese.

Many people - would-be clients and followers of St. Therese, complain that they lack her innocence, that they lack her love, that all they find in themselves is misery and the awful despair of knowing they are too sinful to attain the heights of sanctity. Yet it is precisely for those of us who find ourselves powerless and unfaithful, "miserated" by our selfish self indulgence and sin, who attract Therese and are most fitted to her little way. We do not have to worry about merit or accomplishments to attract her patronage, or more precisely, to attract the merciful love of God. This is what Little Therese teaches and demonstrates in her little way of confidence and love. It is our misery which attracts the divine mercy. It is our sins and our faults which so attracts God that he sent his only Son to be crucified for our sins. Therefore, who can not trust in merciful love when one is vulnerable enough, humble enough, to be embraced by it? The mystery is so deep, so wide, I can't express it.

“Do not be afraid of holiness, of letting yourself be loved and purified by God. … Let us allow God's holiness be transmitted to us. Every Christian is called to holiness; and holiness does not consist, first and foremost, in doing extraordinary things, but rather in letting God act. It is the encounter between our weakness and the strength of His grace”. - Pope Francis

Fernando Botero

H/T to Angela.  Happy birthday Little Therese! 

Just as I thought: CIA responsible for many UFO sightings.

Ten years later Cardinal Mahony 

was appointed auxiliary bishop of Fresno...

Oh!  Oh!  Carrot Top was born that year too.

I think it is the same today.

How many UFO sightings had to be experimental aircraft, drones, stealth bombers, and so on - in the past and up to and including our own time? It has to be our government, a foreign agency, or even private enterprise - don't you think?  I do.  It explains so much.

December, the agency began tweeting a ‘top ten” list of its most popular articles.
It culminated with, "reports of unusual activity in the skies in the '50s? It was us."
The CIA claims the U2 spy plane, and its tremendous test altitude was responsible for most of the sightings.
"Consequently, once U-2s started flying at altitudes above 60,000 feet; air-traffic controllers began receiving increasing numbers of UFO reports," a portion of the report says. - Source

CIA agent, Bella Dodd.

She never really died.

Of course the alien abductions must be attributed to the CIA as well, although they will never admit it.  It accounts for the obesity epidemic and even the clergy sex abuse scandals, including Bella Dodd.  Not only that, homosexual genes were implanted in grain (the evidence is in the crop circles), and when consumed by dairy cows, the beef we eat, the milk we drink makes people queer.

Bayside too!

It explains so much!  Oh! Oh!  And the New Mass!  The CIA!  Ann Barnhardt knows all this stuff and has been hounded by the IRS ever since she bought that pink ray gun.

I see drones over my house all the time so I'm lining the walls and windows with invisible lead sheets to protect my privacy.

On the Eighth Day of Christmas: Oh! Wait! It's the Octave.

The Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God.

Catholics have many obligations, don't they?  One just can't have Christmas and be done with it, can they.  Not a question ...

Perhaps one day they'll be able to transfer it to Sunday.

What?

Or, why I would never transition over to Patheos.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas: Pope St. Sylvester sewed the mouth of a dragon shut.

Sylvester, Pompous Maximus

Yes he dee-id.

Thus as S. Peter had said, S. Silvester did. And when he came to the pit, he descended down one hundred and fifty steps, bearing with him two lanterns, and found the dragon, and said the words that S. Peter had said to him, and bound his mouth with the thread, and sealed it, and after returned, and as he came upward again he met with two enchanters which followed him for to see if he descended, which were almost dead of the stench of the dragon, whom he brought with him whole and sound, which anon were baptized, with a great multitude of people with them.

Story here.

Anyway.

Merry Christmas, dear, brave defenders of the true faith, embattled warriors on the front lines, saving the Church from Pope Francis and the Novus Ordo!

And now, for your listening edification, the solemn Christmas chant for the 7th day of Christmas, originally composed by Sylvester I ... click here.

New Year's Eve trivia:

The dragon's name was Bonnie.

(I bet you thought I'd say Tweety Bird, or Corky.)

Bonus:  Did you know St. Hyginus was the 9th pope?  He promoted good hygiene and mandated hand sanitizers at all the holy water fonts in the catacombs of Rome.

Miracle of the Sun repeated, Cataract surgery, and anesthesia-dreams about Fr. Z

I finally had cataract surgery - at such a young age - I know!  Everyone remarked about me being so young and thin and handsome and how much they liked my full head of hair, but I digress.

Seriously, my doctor said it was an extraordinarily large cataract, which is why I heard all the Star Trek type noises from the ultra sound cataract vaporization equipment.  The surgery went well.  A few hours ago I already returned from my post-op and everything seems to be going well.  So we'll see - I have many drops to use.  As I write, the lap top screen is really, really bright now - so I may not be online very much.  (My expose of more-Catholic-than-the-Pope-fanatics will have to wait.)  Thanks to all the (two) people who wished me well before I went in for surgery yesterday.  What would one do without friends, huh?  Again, I digress.

Where do cataracts come from, Dad?

(Cats always want to know.)  Well, I spent too much time in the sun, without ever using sunglasses.  That was bad enough.  But I'm thinking looking directly at the sun may have contributed to the problem, disorder, what have you.

Frequently, at false apparition sites, people shout 'miraculo!  miraculo!' while pointing at the sun, and then everyone looks up to see it.  I fell for that several times at San Damiano in Italy as well as at a couple of other places, some approved, others not - Fr. Gino's ...

It doesn't matter where these things happened - because I'm quite sure someone in your parish probably sees the sun spinning in their backyard all the time, in between locutions about the anti-Pope.  Just don't go there, however.  I stupidly looked up, directly into a stationary sun - too many times.  Don't be so flipping gullible.

All I'm saying is, don't ever do that.

Anesthesia.  I used to love that stuff.  Not so much anymore.  The effects remained with me through the night.  I had nightmares about Fr. Z.  Candice Bergen was the prioress of a Poor Clare monastery and she was curator of an exhibition of my art, which Fr. Z was trying to destroy and then I exposed his connections to a money-laundering scheme he was conducting by increasing the number of donation apps on his website, setting monthly fundraising goals beyond imagining.  His cronies and followers were sent after me to kill me and destroy my artwork and writings - crazy Tenth Crusader people were after me and I took refuge in the Poor Clare enclosure - where it turns out Candice Bergen was just portraying St. Clare in a docu-drama on monastics who made Medieval GIF's instead of illuminations.  We were making it for Steven Spielberg.  Which was another reason why Fr. Z wanted me killed.

Isn't that sad though?  Not that anyone wanted me killed, but it's sad my hallucinations were about the blog and blogging personalities and stupid rumor mongering.  None of that is real.  None of it - even if you live off of donations - that is not real life.

Oh!  I don't like drugs no mo!

Happy New Year!

If you are having visions and seeing solar miracles,

wear sunglasses.

Sixth Day of Christmas

I thought of the soul as resembling a castle*, formed of a single diamond or a very transparent crystal, and containing many rooms, just as in heaven there are many mansions. If we reflect, sisters, we shall see that the soul of the just man is but a paradise, in which, God tells us, He takes His delight. What, do you imagine, must that dwelling be in which a King so mighty, so wise, and so pure, containing in Himself all good, can delight to rest? Nothing can be compared to the great beauty and capabilities of a soul; however keen our intellects may be, they are as unable to comprehend them as to comprehend God, for, as He has told us, He created us in His own image and likeness. - Interior Castle

*I thought of the soul as resembling a nebula.

Who are these people?

-source-

I have nothing to blog about for the 5th Day of Christmas.  Nothing.

Really.

I even checked all the legitimate news sites, as well as all the Catholic gossip portals, and those blogs I link to, including some I don't - and nothing interests me.  I don't care.

Who cares what I think?

Who cares what you think?

Who do we think we are?

What fools.

Saving the Church from the Pope - my ass foot.

St. Thomas Becket

image source

What happened when the powers that be turned on him... 

They always do, you know.

I didn't know this: A couple of weeks ago, Sister Hatune Dogan visited Minneapolis and spoke about ISIS ...

Fort Snelling Memorial Chapel Foundation "Where the Veteran is Remembered" added 2 new photos.December 17 at 6:19pm · 

On Sunday, 14 December at the historic Ft Snelling Memorial Chapel (MN), our Christian Education Class heard a first-hand report about the persecution of Christians as victims of jihad and Islamic Sharia law. The presentation was by Sister Hatune Dogan – a Syrian Orthodox nun who has been ministering to these victims. She was accompanied by Father Dayroyo Gabriel. From the almost 40-persons in attendance, a $400 freewill offering was collected and presented to their ministry. Photo: Sister Hatune Dogan and Father Dayroyo Gabriel with Chaplain Ken Beale at the Chapel altar.

What did she talk about?  What is the warning she issues?

An Orthodox Christian nun, Sister Hatune Dogan, is struggling finding a location that will allow her to speak on the atrocities she has witness in the Middle East and around the globe. Though Sister Hatune has spent her life helping Christians who have been persecuted, and helped countless people in need, the nun has found that her message is not welcome in many communities.

What is so controversial about the nun’s speeches? Sister Hatune uses her speaking platform as a way to warn against the atrocities of the Muslim faith.

Though her message is not always welcome, Sister Hatune seems to remain consistent in her message that America is inviting a slaughter into their country. 

“America is inviting its own slaughterers to its door. You have already a parallel society in America. In 50 years they will kill your grandchildren before your eyes. The Middle East is already here. It is here. It is not far from here. It is at your door.” - Link

Something to think about.

Much to pray about.

Song for this post here.

Why Jesus is depicted naked, lying on the bare ground - the Virgin, fully clothed, adoring the Lord?

source

The Virgin Birth.

Many Christians, even Catholics I've encountered, no longer really believe in the Virgin Birth, despite the dogma and the definition that Our Lady, Holy Mary, Mother of God is Ever-Virgin, before, during and after the Birth of Christ.

"The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary's real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man. In fact, Christ's birth "did not diminish his mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it." And so the liturgy of the Church celebrates Mary as Aeiparthenos, the "Ever-virgin." - CCC

In art, painters have attempted to represent this truth in various ways.  Iconography does so magnificently in icons of the Mother of God of the Burning Bush and those like it.  Western painters have done likewise, as in the image at top.  It has been the way mystics have described the moment of birth, as well.  Western artists have shown the Child Jesus lying naked upon the bare ground, our Lady serenely adoring the Divine Child - St. Joseph often in the 'wings' fast to sleep - or more correctly, in ecstasy, the sacred moment hidden from his view.  Its mystery only matched by the unseen moment of the Resurrection.

The Gospel is masterfully depicted

in this narrative by Lippi.

Although the naked Christ in the Nativity is meant to convey several layers of meaning and inspire the hearts of the viewer, it is also meant to convey much deeper, doctrinal truths.  God became man - but his birth was miraculous - it wasn't like ours - it couldn't be if the virginal integrity of the mother was to remain intact.  But how does this happen?  How did the Incarnation happen?

In art, His nakedness and the impression of abandonment on the bare ground in the cold of winter definitely reflects the hearts of men and their rejection of God, as well as the human condition of poverty and want.  Yet the painter also attempts to depict the precise moment, as well as the 'nature' of His miraculous birth ... and as in the Lippi interpretation above, one may immediately recognize a connection to the creation story of Adam ... taken from the earth, naked, and so on.  Christ is the new Adam.

Who is this gate (Ezekiel 44:1-4), if not Mary? Is it not closed because she is a virgin? Mary is the gate through which Christ entered this world, when He was brought forth in the virginal birth and the manner of His birth did not break the seals of virginity. (St. Ambrose of Milan, The Consecration of a Virgin and the Perpetual Virginity of Mary, 8:52; c. 391 AD)

Perhaps no greater sign of creeping apostasy just may be the denial of these mysteries, these dogmas:  The cornerstone of Christian faith ...

I wrote about this before here.

Holy Family, Holy Innocents, A Christmas of Tears

He shall seize and shall dash
your children on the rock! - Psalm 137

Families are killed, their homes burned - one couple buried alive.  

Babies and children are beheaded and dashed against rocks.

Another airbus has gone missing with 162 people on board.

Another priest was murdered in Mexico.

These are just the latest on the list of atrocities ...

A Christmas of tears.

Carry on.

The Nuns of Misrule ...

Just for fun ...

Didn't someone just write something on 

why nuns should dress as nuns?

Written by a man no less.

source/credit

I found these looking for Renaissance Christmas.  It's by artist James Kerr (Scorpion Dagger) 'Remixing the Renaissance as GIFs' - what could be more perfect for Christmas?  I love it too much.

Happy Christmas!

Merry Christmas ... Dear Friend

photo source

First.  If you sent me an e-card, or an email with attachments and I've never heard from you before - I don't open that stuff.  (Sorry, but my computer has crashed too many times.)  So - I know you and you, and that friend sent me this or that - and I thank you for thinking of me.  It wasn't necessary.

Second.  If we used to be friends, if we used to send cards, emails, call, all that stuff - and we really, really actually knew one another ... Merry Christmas.  It's all good.  It's good.

Third.  There are maybe five dear friends in my life - well, maybe six or sixty.  A couple are dead now.  The rest I haven't heard from - except for one or two or three.  That's cool too.  You know what they say, If they say 'We should get together' say why?


Merry Christmas, dear friend.


Thanks for letting me go ...


[The secret is letting go.]


Many thanks.


Song for this post here.  It used to mean something to me - now, not so much.  Amazing.  That's the odd thing about conversion ... the vain rejoicing is completely drained out of such things.


[Oh.  One more thing.  If you don't like the blog, what I write, or what I paint and talk about, or even how I live my life - we could never really be friends anyway.  How freeing is that?]


It's all good!

My favorite season ... it's Christmas.

Sometimes they call her Nan. What?

Photo source.

For Twelve Days ...

Merry-making and fun and the Lord of Misrule ... and the witch who brings gifts to kids.


(Medieval Christmastide lasted until February 2.)

Happy Feast of St. John*,

patron of tipplers and winebibbers.

What?

*Photo credit.

Fans of Christmas past ...

 Excruciating. 

Rating Midnight Mass at the Vatican.

Evidently it didn't meet with approval by some Catholics - the music was off.*

I turned on the Mass from St. Peter’s Basilica for a little bit.  It was an object lesson in how not to sing Gregorian chant.  Excruciating.  The pace of this would put a funeral face one just about anyone.  It’s great that they have some Gregorian chant, it being the sacred music that Second Vatican Council elevated above all others, but… at least sing it right.  How hard is this?

The complaint used to be there was no chant used, or the choir was notoriously poor - even when the acceptable popes were celebrating Mass at Christmas.  This Christmas chant was used, but it wasn't right - it missed.  People stopped their ears, turned the tv channel, while a near riot was caused in the basilica, people shouting for it to stop.

Do people just go to Mass to hear it read properly, to be entertained by delightful music and elaborate vestments and elegant decor ... while every little detail must be slavishly accurate for them to be properly edified?  Perhaps that is what brings in the donations?


*I don't have cable and to my knowledge the Mass wasn't broadcast on local channels.  I went to a very early Christmas Mass on Christmas Day - gloriously ordinary.

Corked you say?  I'll ask people to send

you more Christmas cards then, if that will make you happy.

Merry Christmas!

On the feast of Stephen ... Parish Offices Closed - No Mass - Church Closed

St. Stephen - Ulisse Sartini

Archdiocesan Offices are closed too.

Now some parishes will probably have Mass on the Second Day of Christmas - but some will not.  Some may have the church or chapel open, although some are all locked up.  Sort of seems like taking the Mass out of Christmas.

What?  I'm not complaining - it just strikes me as ironic.  I'm not saying priests shouldn't have a day off, or go on holiday.  I also realize there are fewer priests these days.  I know many priests live off 'campus' and no longer live in rectories, and some have more than one parish as well.  I live in the city, if I had to, I could drive to another church.

It just seems contradictory however.  Catholics complain that Christmas is anticipated, decorated, celebrated far too early - during Advent, oh my gosh! no! - and yet in Christmas season - the Second Day of Christmas in fact, the parish church gets locked up.  The same thing will happen over New Year's weekend.

Christmas too secular?  Too commercial?

Really?  I think it's funny when religious people say that.

Happy Christmas!

Have yourself a merry 'little' Christmas ...

It's A Wonderful Life

The perfect joy of the imperfect Christmas.

Didn't 'feel' like Christmas?  Disappointed about something?  Someone?  Hopes dashed?  Feeling lonely and abandoned?  Christmas has lost it's charm?  It's glow?  It wasn't like it used to be?  It didn't turn out the way you expected?  Your prayers weren't answered?

Therein lies the 'grace of Christmas' spiritual people like to talk about so much but often miss when it comes their way.  St. Francis of Assisi thought of such adverse experiences as 'perfect joy'.

The example of St. Therese comes to mind as well.  Her famous 'Christmas conversion' experience reveals the hidden joy in one's hopes being disappointed.  It seems a trivial thing; a fourteen year old girl feeling reprimanded by a comment overheard from her father, about not having to fill her shoes with gifts any longer since she was beyond the age children would expect such things.  Nevertheless, Therese was the 'baby' and was treated as such - and the shoes were filled.  Her sister Celine expected tears - Therese expected disappointment, but instead, she returned downstairs and acted as if she had not heard her father's complaint.  She went to the hearth to find the little gifts in her shoes, and rejoiced so as not to disappoint her father.  Therese later remarked on the effects of her experience, saying: "My heart was filled with charity. I forgot myself to please others and, in doing so, became happy myself."


Still disappointed?

Then have yourself a merry 'little' Christmas, and thank God for his gift of 'perfect joy'!


It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Still sad? Go to a movie maybe - go see

 The Interview - that's Christmassy.

Song for this post here.

Christmas Eve Morning: Prayer at Mass ...

The Adoration of the Infant Jesus - Filippo Lippi

"Come quickly we pray Lord Jesus, and do not delay!" - Mass In the Morning

That's the excitement of a little kid.  It's also the desperate call of the families whose sons and dads have been shot and killed - on our streets, in their squad cars, in war zones.  That is the cry of those who have lost everything in storms and financial crashes, through terrorism and persecution.  That's the cry of the poor ...

Come quickly ... that those who trust in your compassion,

may find solace and relief in your coming.

I did a quick check online of the news.  I also checked some blog links and 'news portals'.  Legitimate news sites report the news, what's happening - 'and the news is rather sad' to quote the Beatles.  As for the bloggers and gossip portals - they seem to be still fighting, still pointing out one anothers faults/sins, complaining and crticizing ... It seems to me these folks must be missing something in their lives - I think there must be a hole in their soul or something.

Jesus says: Come to me, all you who labor and find life burdensome ... give it up.  Give up what you can't fix.  Give up what you can't control.  Give up the endless theologizing and moralizing and blogging for dollars...  Call a Christmas truce.

Listen!  Do you hear what I hear?

Whoever is a little one, come to me ... - Proverbs 9:4

Happy Christmas!

One more day ... Then ... The Birth of Our Lord.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Cripples.

Even before the gifts and the friends and family get together, one may be able to sense the pre-Christmas traditions wearing thin.  Therefore it makes sense to me that the Holy Father encouraged Vatican lay workers to avoid making Christmas "a feast of commercial consumerism, of appearances or useless gifts... that it might be the feast of the joy of welcoming the Lord in the crib and our hearts."

"This is the real Christmas," Francis said, "the feast of the poverty of God who made himself into nothing, taking the nature of a slave; of God who places himself to serve at table; of God who hides himself from the intelligent and the wise and reveals himself to the small, the simple and the poor; of the 'Son of man who didn't come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as ransom for many.'" - Source

This is the real focus of pre-Christmas, what we prepare for throughout Advent.  This is the cause of our joy.  When Christmas arrives, all of the decorating and traditions can finally be put in perspective, the sentimentality and artificial emotional expectations diminished, they too can fade into the background - because nothing compares to Jesus.

I can rejoice in the measure I feel my poverty, my insignificance, my lack of accomplishment, my loneliness, my lack of merit, even my outcast state ... because Jesus is born in abject poverty, a helpless infant, with no place to lay his head, but in a manger.  And heaven and earth rejoice.

Merry Christmas!  If you are depressed and disappointed - Merry Christmas!  You share the lot of the saints in light.  You are very close to the Infant Jesus.

The Census at Bethlehem, Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Joe Cocker, RIP

 “simply unique”

Story/photo source.

Song for this post Unchain My Heart.

Viva il Papa! The Holy Father speaks frankly on the reform of the Curia.

If a good man reproves me, it is kindness. - Ps. 141:5

Avoiding sentimentality at Christmas ...

This morning in the Clementine Hall the Holy Father held his annual meeting with the Roman Curia to exchange Christmas greetings with the members of its component dicasteries, councils, offices, tribunals and commissions. “It is good to think of the Roman Curia as a small model of the Church, that is, a body that seeks, seriously and on a daily basis, to be more alive, healthier, more harmonious and more united in itself and with Christ”.

“The Curia is always required to better itself and to grow in communion, sanctity and wisdom to fully accomplish its mission. However, like any body, it is exposed to sickness, malfunction and infirmity. … I would like to mention some of these illnesses that we encounter most frequently in our life in the Curia. They are illnesses and temptations that weaken our service to the Lord”, continued the Pontiff, who after inviting all those present to an examination of conscience to prepare themselves for Christmas, listed the most common Curial ailments. - Vatican Information Service

The Holy Father warns against the 'terrorism of gossip' ...

La Stampa’s Vatican Insider has the full list of 15 diseases Francis named. They’re also available, in Italian, on the Vatican’s press office site. Some of the highlights – or lowlights – depending on whether you are a member of the Curia or not: 

On feeling “immortal:” “A curia that does not practice self-criticism, does not keep up to date, does not try to better itself, is an infirm Body’.” 

On what he means by “spiritual Alzheimers:” “A progressive decline of spiritual faculties’ which ’causes severe disadvantages to people’, making them live in a ‘state of absolute dependence on their, often imagined, views’. We can see this in those who have ‘lost their memory’ of their encounter with the Lord, in those who depend on their ‘passions, whims and obsessions’.” 

On the disease of “existential schizophrenia:” this refers to “a double life, a result of the hypocrisy typical of mediocre people and of advancing spiritual emptiness, which degrees or academic titles cannot fill’.” Ouch. 

Some of his harshest words were reserved to sins related to gossiping, which, as shown above, the pope likened to the actions of Satan. Gossip, he said, will grip a person and transform him into one of the “sowers of discord.” which is a pretty direct reference to what Satan does. Francis called gossips “cold-blooded murderers” of reputations. “It is the disease of cowards, who do not have the courage to speak upfront and so talk behind one’s back… Watch out against the terrorism of gossip!” he said.  - Washington Post

An examen.

There are so many helpful points for our own personal examination of conscience in what the Holy Father notes.  He is like a good spiritual father, and kindly spiritual director pointing out the pitfalls of the spiritual life.  I especially like these:

“The sickness of deifying leaders is typical of those who court their superiors, with the hope of receiving their benevolence. They are victims of careerism and opportunism, honouring people rather than God. They are people who experience service thinking only of what they might obtain and not of what they should give. They are mean, unhappy and inspired only by their fatal selfishness”.


“The disease of indifference towards others arises when each person thinks only of himself, and loses the sincerity and warmth of personal relationships. When the most expert does not put his knowledge to the service of less expert colleagues; when out of jealousy … one experiences joy in seeing another person (fall) instead of lifting him up or encouraging him”. - VIS

At the very end, the Holy Father asks everyone to pray for priests.  

The Christmas season is very difficult for priests - many penance services and confession, some priests have no assistants and offer all the Masses scheduled alone, and there is always a demand for their time.  Imagine a busy priest falling asleep in prayer.  Or a priest too busy to follow what the Pope really says and gets his information from crack pots  bloggers like us - imagine how discouraging that can be?

“I once read that priests are like aeroplanes: they only make the news when they crash, but there are many that fly. Many criticise them and few pray for them”, he concluded. “It is a very nice phrase, but also very true, as it expresses the importance and the delicacy of our priestly service, and how much harm just one priest who falls may cause to the whole body of the Church”. - Pope Francis

Pray for priests.

At the end of the address some news reports said

the applause was 'tepid'.  My source told me

Monsignor Ganswein was heard to say:

"I was told this was supposed to be a party!"

What?

2 Days Away!

Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem- Hugo van der Goes

Christmas Eve is only two days away!

All the kitschy, kitschy, ya, ya, build up will culminate in the Sacred Nativity of Our Lord ...  The pre-Christmas season, Advent, is filled with prayerful wonder and joy ... and sometimes, great saddness.

And then, and then, and then Christmas comes, Christmas begins!

Don't forget those who have had their homes and livelihoods destroyed by weather, sickness, depression, poverty, homelessness, terror, and war.  How does the Birth of Jesus impact those who sorrow?   We can't forget or distance ourselves from that.  I wonder if that's one meaning one might take away from the Gospel passage, "keep salt in your hearts" [Mk. 9:50]?

The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold,

I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

- Luke 2:10

Christmas Travelers ...

Not wanted home for Christmas?  Go West young man.  Make your own traditions.

Christmas on the move.

I have friends heading for the slopes, Hawaii, Santa Fe, and Florida.  Holiday getaways.  Many Families duck out on Christmas Day, others leave early to spend the holidays elsewhere.  Personally, I'd love to spend Christmas in a forest wilderness, staying in a well appointed hermitage with electricity and all the provisions I needed.  On Christmas Eve, I'd be there waiting until all the little wild animals came along and gathered round, to peer into my windows, admiring the Christmas tree lights and the gas-powered fireplace all ablaze ... and then, and then, then I'd go outside and we'd all wrestle in the snow and play and decorate the forest with lights and berries and nuts ...

Just before nightfall, all the elves and animals

are getting ready for Mass at midnight

at Terry's hermitage in the forest.

Anyway.

Denver airport will be having Christmas Day Mass for all the travelers passing through, on their way to the ski lodges because their loved ones wouldn't invite them to Christmas dinner.  (It could happen.)   The Mass will be held on Thursday, Dec. 25, at 2p.m. in the interfaith chapel on level six of Jeppesen Terminal.  I like that.  I like chapels in airports.  Boston's Logan has one.  I think there is still a chapel in the Prudential as well.  I think chapels should be everywhere - in the heart of the city, in malls, airports, across the street from my house, and so on.

If one happens to be stuck in the wilderness and can't get to Mass, then I think St. Nicholas should fly in and celebrate it for me and the critters - I suppose I could settle for a bi-locating priest who liked to hand-feed peanuts to blue jays instead.  What?

St. Nicholas descending for Mass.

Aren't the holidays fun?

God comes to us - right where we are...

Avoiding rash judgment ...

Putative father.

St. Joseph was the putative father of Jesus.

St. Joseph was also the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The Ever Virgin Mary - Who, was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, was found with child through the Holy Spirit ...

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly... - Matthew 1:19

That worked out well.