The Pope and the Indigenous People

Eight representatives from different Indigenous communities 

sat down for lunch with the Holy Father. 

They included an indigenous priest, 

who was dressed as a normal indigenous man, 

rather than in any particular clerical dress. - VR

I love how the Holy Father goes out to those who have been excluded and exploited, praising their culture and heritage, showing them off to the world, as it were - restoring their dignity.

I'm impressed with this story from Mass with the priests and religious:

Pope Francis referred to Bishop Vasco de Quiroga (1536) in his homily as ‘the Spaniard who became an Indian’. One who spoke of these indigenous people “as being sold, humiliated and homeless in marketplaces, picking up scraps of bread from the ground“. And one the Pope went on to say who far from being tempted to resignation succeeded in kindling the faith in the midst of so much ‘paralyzing injustice’.

[Pope Francis on Tuesday celebrated Holy Mass at a stadium in Morelia, capital of Michoacán, urging Mexican priests, religious and seminarians not to be resigned to the paralyzing injustice of violence, corruption and drug trafficking. - VR]

I hope we all take these things to heart, and strive to avoid complacency and resignation, as well as the 'measuring' out of mercy - or trying to put some sort of 'price' on it.  Those who show mercy, receive mercy - those who analyze it and measure and weigh it receive the measure by which they measure.  We need to open our hearts and not only quit accepting praise from men, but quit being afraid of them.

Bishop Vasco de Quiroga

Pope John Paul II was no mysogynist.

"One day Poodle - you will be wearing white just like me."

Pope John Paul II showed deep friendship with women ...

NYTimes has an article here.

LarryD has an excellent post on the subject here. (He knows what he's talking about too.)

I have to go now because I'm having lunch with all my girlfriends!

What?

Something to ponder.

-source-

Song for this post here.

I like this: “amigo Francisco, Papa de la libertad”!

-source-

Li smantal Kajvaltike toj lek – the law of the Lord is perfect and comforts the soul.

The Pope and Our Lady visit Chiapas.

The mystery of indigenous culture - reflected in the Tilma.  I think of that all of the time.  What a thrilling experience to have the Pope come to you - as he does in every Apostolic pilgrimage, to strengthen the faith of believers - to confirm them in faith.  He goes where Our Lady, as well as his predecessors, went before him.

The Pope had chosen to be with a people who have long been used and misused by the local ‘ladinos’, those of Spanish origin and the ‘mestizos’, those of mixed race. To put you in the picture not so long ago the indigenous people were only allowed into town for the market but had to return to their homes in the pine forests at night. - VR

The caste system still exists.  I remember from my youth a Mexican man who was definitely a mix of indigenous and mestizos, yet he insisted he was Puerto Rican instead of Mexican and therefore more Spanish.  I was too young to know the differences at the time, but it awakened in me a deeper interest in Latino culture, caste, and class systems.   I'm so glad the Holy Father goes beyond these divisions.

Your peoples, as the bishops of Latin America have recognized, know how to interact harmoniously with nature, which they respect as a “source of food, a common home and an altar of human sharing” (Aparecida, 472).

 And yet, on many occasions, in a systematic and organized way, your people have been misunderstood and excluded from society. Some have considered your values, culture and traditions to be inferior. Others, intoxicated by power, money and market trends, have stolen your lands or contaminated them. How sad this is! How worthwhile it would be for each of us to examine our conscience and learn to say, “Forgive me!” Today’s world, ravaged as it is by a throwaway culture, needs you! Exposed to a culture that seeks to suppress all cultural heritage and features in pursuit of a homogenized world, the youth of today need to cling to the wisdom of their elders! - Homily

He embraces  the people as a father, as the Mother of God first did in 1531.

The Vatican says Pope Francis has presented a decree to Mexican indigenous peoples approving the use of the Aztec language Nahuatl in Mass.

Francis celebrated a Mass in three other indigenous languages Monday during a visit to the southern state of Chiapas — Tzeltal, Tzotzil and Chol. Official approval for those languages is still pending.

Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, tells reporters that the fact that Francis celebrated a Mass in which readings, prayers and the Gospel were read out in those languages is a sign that they are allowed to be used. - Story

Jesus!

Niño Dios with basket of flowers, 

Templo Santo Domingo, San Cristóbal.

Interesting piece on St. John Paul II

Cardinal Wojtyla and Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka on a camping trip in 1978*

I saw it on Fr. Martin's Facebook page.

Fr. Martin introduces the story with the following caveat:

First, everyone falls in love, including men and women who have made a vow of chastity in a religious order, and priests who have made a promise of celibacy. It's part of the human experience. As my novice director said, "If you don't fall in love, there's probably something wrong with you."

Second, it doesn't seem that St. John Paul ever broke his promise of celibacy (he was not a member of a religious order, so did not take a vow of chastity) or led her on in any deceitful way. - James Martin S.J.

Pope John Paul II was definitely a man's man - he was a manly man - and this friendship, as other friendships with women, seem to me to be confirmation of this.  My first thoughts led me to consider the friendships I've known of between some priests and women friends - as well as with men.  Chaste friendships, but close.  This is so natural - although many lay people might consider it inapropriate, I don't at all.

As Fr. Martin noted; most people don't have a clue about what it means for a person who has promised celibacy or who has vowed chastity to fall in love. For most people, even falling in love in that "state of life" is seen as some sort of hypocrisy.  I agree with Fr. Martin, that these things are very often misunderstood.  The falling in love most likely differs from what is experienced in courtship and more pointedly, falling in lust.  For me, the story reinforces my convictions regarding close chaste friendships.  It can happen.

Song 'bout dat.

At any rate, the article is interesting and gives us a glimpse into the personal life of the saint.

Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka was a great hoarder, and she seems to have kept everything relating to her 32-year friendship with Saint John Paul. After her death, a huge cache of photographs was found among her possessions. We are used to seeing John Paul in formal papal clothing amid the grandeur of the Vatican, and yet here he is on the ski slopes, wearing shorts on a lake-side camping trip, and, in old age, entertaining privately in his rather sparse-looking living quarters.

When the two met in 1973, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla - as he then was - was the Archbishop of Krakow. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka was Polish by birth, and, like him, had endured the searing experience of the Nazi occupation during World War Two. After the war she left to study abroad and eventually pursued an academic career as a philosopher in the United States, where she married and had three children. - Finish reading - Secret Letters, BBC

Wojtyla was a good looking guy.

Anyway - the Vatican issued clarifications to the story:

"John Paul II was surrounded by a circle of friends – including clergymen, nuns and laypeople - with whom he stayed in close contact. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka was within this circle of friends – John Paul II’s friendship with her was neither secret nor extraordinary." - Source

Works for me.



*I'll post my camping trip photos from the '70's.

What?

Song for this post here.

Confidence in God

Something to think about.

“Across that threshold I had been afraid to cross, things suddenly seemed so very simple. There was but a single vision, God, who was all in all; there was but one will that directed all things, God's will. I had only to see it, to discern it in every circumstance in which I found myself, and let myself be ruled by it. God is in all things, sustains all things, directs all things. To discern this in every situation and circumstance, to see His will in all things, was to accept each circumstance and situation and let oneself be borne along in perfect confidence and trust. Nothing could separate me from Him, because He was in all things. No danger could threaten me, no fear could shake me, except the fear of losing sight of Him. The future, hidden as it was, was hidden in His will and therefore acceptable to me no matter what it might bring. The past, with all its failures, was not forgotten; it remained to remind me of the weakness of human nature and the folly of putting any faith in self. But it no longer depressed me. I looked no longer to self to guide me, relied on it no longer in any way, so it could not again fail me. By renouncing, finally and completely, all control of my life and future destiny, I was relieved as a consequence of all responsibility. I was freed thereby from anxiety and worry, from every tension, and could float serenely upon the tide of God's sustaining providence in perfect peace of soul.” ― Walter J. Ciszek, He Leadeth Me

 I highly recommend reading Fr. Walter Ciszek, S.J..  For a long time he thought he was in control and that God would act in such and such a way that he imagined he should or would...

When the Holy Father speaks about the “the mestizo threads of our people”

Luis de Mena, casta painting, c. 1750. Museo de América, Madrid.

For more information go here.

He's speaking - in part - about that which is depicted in the painting shown above.

The Blessed Virgin appeared as a mestiza to an indigenous man, now venerated as St. Juan Diego.

For more on casta paintings go here.



Ed. note: When I was little, my grandmother visited Guadalupe and Mexico quite often.  She lived in San Francisco and often visited the California Missions as well.  She sent books and artifacts and devotional items from each of these places - just for me, which probably accounts for my love of Spanish Colonial and Santero art, including a great love for Latino and indigenous people... and now our beloved Pope.  :)

Papal Coronation of the Queen, Empress of the Americas

 

Look with kindness, O Lord, on these your servants
who, in placing a royal diadem
upon the image of the Mother of your Son,
recognize in your Son the King of the universe,
and invoke, as Queen, the Virgin. - Pope Francis

Pope Leo XIII was the first pope to authorize the Coronation of Our Lady of Guadalupe on October 12, 1895.  Pope Francis is the first pope to officiate at the Coronation in person.  Several sacred images of Our Lady throughout the world have been canonically crowned, some have been crowned more than once by succeeding popes.  Significantly, Salus Populi Romano, the icon Pope Francis visit before and after each Apostolic journey, was crowned by Popes Gregory XVI and Pius XII successively.  Since 1987 there are new official rituals for the coronation of the BVM.

“As the wonderful Guadalupana tradition teaches us, la Morenita gathers together those who contemplate her, and reflects the faces of those who find her.”

Who is unable to hear within themselves that voice, ‘am I not here, I who am your Mother’?” - Pope Francis

So far I haven't seen any news footage or reports on television covering the Holy Father's visit.  I haven't been watching - but at news time I scan to see if there is anything and I see nothing.  I feel very united in prayer nonetheless. 

Justice Scalia RIP

I liked him so much.  He was a good man.

Prayers for the repose of his soul.

Papa e Presidente ...

"I am ready to travel around this beautiful and wide country as a missionary and as a pilgrim who wishes to renew with all of you the experience of mercy as a new horizon of opportunity which inevitably brings justice and peace. I also entrust myself to the gaze of Mary, the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe, so that by her intercession, the merciful Father may grant that these days and the future of this land be an opportunity for encounter, unity and peace. Thank you." - Pope Francis,  VR

He also spoke of the beautiful "indigenous, mestizo and criollo cultures" - so beloved by Our Lady, she came at the very first, just for them.

May Our Lady show herself his mother, may she look upon him and give success to his Apostolic mission.

Dios te salve, Maria.
Llena eres de gracia:
El Señor es contigo.
Bendita tú ere entre todas las mujeres.
Y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre:
Jesús.
Santa María, Madre de Dios,
ruega por nosotros pecadores,
ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte.
Amén.

The Pope and the Patriarch

[W]e give thanks to God for the current unprecedented renewal of the Christian faith in Russia, as well as in many other countries of Eastern Europe, formerly dominated for decades by atheist regimes.

With grace–filled gratitude for the gift of mutual understanding manifested during our meeting, let us with hope turn to the Most Holy Mother of God, invoking her with the words of this ancient prayer: “We seek refuge under the protection of your mercy, Holy Mother of God”. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, through her intercession, inspire fraternity in all those who venerate her, so that they may be reunited, in God’s own time, in the peace and harmony of the one people of God, for the glory of the Most Holy and indivisible Trinity! - Francis and Kirill

In thanksgiving to the Mother of God and for her promises made at Fatima. 

Pope Francis in the Americas ... Again!

Pouring out a thousand graces, 

he passed these groves in haste; 

and having looked at them, 

with his image alone, 

clothed them in beauty.

- S. John of the Cross

When I was little I had a dream that we had an American Pope - at the time I thought it was me, haha, but maybe it was prophetic, huh?  Maybe it pointed to Francis?  (I think it was just a kid's dream.)

Anyway - I am so happy we have an Italian-American Pope from Argentina.

I love what he said about seeing Our Lady:

“My deepest desire is to pause before Our Lady of Guadalupe, this mystery that is studied, and studied, and studied, and there is no human explanation,” Pope Francis said on the plane, adding even scientists say the image is "a thing of God." - VR

In Mexico I will look into the eyes of the Virgin Mary and implore her to look upon us always with mercy. I entrust my journey to her. - Pontifex

and having looked at them, 

with her image alone, 

clothed them in mercy and love.

Obviously the devil is upset - there was a deadly riot at a prison not far from the prison the Pope will visit when he is in Juarez.

Let's be united in prayer with the Holy Father.

The real point of Lent and all the advice you get online about eating Doritos if you are pregnant ... Or, Is Football a gay sport now?

I got nothin'.

Who cares?  No one cares.

So anyway...

Princeton football guy, Mason Darrow came out as openly homo before the big kick off.  Remember when they used to tell you that if you played sports or went to sports camp you wouldn't be gay?

Hindu Sadhus - holy men or ascetics - smear ashes upon themselves.

Cannabis is sort of a sacrament for them.

More information here.

Now, about your Lenten observance...

The ashes are off.  You got nothin'.

That's the way to go.  Pray as you can, stop judging, stop selfishly self- indulging, give to the poor and pray, pray, pray.  Avoid the Lenten novelties that make you feel good or make you feel you accomplished something.  Avoid flattery.  Avoid self-defensive, self righteous arguments and evangelical propaganda that shows how smart you are.

Fail.  It's good to fail.

Lose.  It's good to lose.

If they take your tunic, let them have your coat as well.

It's all good.

What if you read every piece of advice online - including from me - it's too much information.  It has to be overload.  People online just keep writing this pious crap.  It's all mushed up.  Why?

Give it up for Lent.

Throw your electronics in the mud.

Dash your stat counter, your followers app.

It's not real life...

Nope.

Turn off your locutions and sit alone and in silence.

(Pay no attention to me either.  I had nothing to blog about anyway.  Losing interest fast.)

Song for this post here.

Our Lady of Lourdes

Thou art all fair O Mary

and the original stain

is not in thee.

O Mary

by thy holy and Immaculate Conception

make my body pure and my 

spirit holy.

I wish I could bi-locate to be at Lourdes today.  I'll pretend.

Devotions for Pets on Ash Wednesday ...

Cat with ash marking.  The dog head is to remind him of death.

Like the holy cards of St. Francis shown with a skull.

This cat is very strict.

Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation, so the reception of ashes for pets is optional - very devout cats usually do something however.

Although they do not have to fast - they should abstain from meat and content themselves with fish.

No catnip today either, hon.

I prefer to be sprinkled ...

I like ashes sprinkled rather than having them marked on my forehead.  (Not that it matters what I like.)

The cross on the forehead is dramatic and is a great witness - but sprinkling reminds me of the ancient penitential custom.  I also like to sprinkle my bread with a bit - like St. Francis... privately of course.

If you sprinkle then you don't have to wipe.  What?

There is nothing wrong with this ...

"And if you cannot give absolution – let us make this assumption – please, do not punish."

"But you Capuchins have this special gift of the Lord: forgiveness. I ask you: never tire of forgiving. …There are many languages in life: the language of words, and there are also languages of gestures. If a person comes to me, to the confessional, it is because he or she has a burden they want to remove. … If they come it is because they wish to change, to be another person, and they say so through the gesture of coming. It is not necessary to ask questions: 'But you...?'. If a person comes it is because in their soul they do not want to continue. But very often they are unable to stop, because they are conditioned by their psychology, their life, their situation". - Pope Francis on the occasion of the translation of the relics of St. Pio of Pietrelcina and St. Leopold Mandic.

My Jesus, pardon and mercy through the merits of thy most holy wounds.

Jesus, I trust in you.

It's all good ...

If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. - Matt. 5:40

This guy reminds me of our new pastor ...

Seriously.

I heard this song on a fitness ad and thought it was Kool and the Gang - I know!  I searched and searched, but no - it's a guy known as Thomas Rhett - the song: I Feel Good.  He reminds me of the new pastor at my parish ... maybe before his conversion ... kinda sorta.

 Of course it could be Badger too.   ;)


Disclaimer: This post is supposed to be funny.

Tierra Santa - Holy Dirt

Chimayo, New Mexico

I use 'holy dirt' in my art.

I mix it with gesso and modeling paste.  I have some from El Santuario Chimayo as well as from the original graves of the Trappist Martyrs of Atlas.  I have not used the martyr's sand for a long time now - but the Chimayo holy dirt I use in my retablo art.

Read more about the holy dirt here.  It is known as the Lourdes of the United States - a place of miracles.  If they put sand in your holy water fonts this Lent, offer it up, recalling Chimayo.  Christ said even the stones will cry out (Luke 19:40) - sand and dirt is comprised of micro sized stones.  I hope they don't do that any longer - sand in the fonts - holy water is very important.  That said, nothing can separate us from Christ, and he can work miracles even through dirt ... dust to dust, ashes to ashes ... God formed man from the dust of the ground, don't forget.

Everything is a grace.

The Posito, or well.

Chimayo is so poor, so simple and noncommercial - it would be a good pilgrimage for the Year of Mercy.

This is art.

(Image by Daniel Alonso)

“Previously, I wanted everything to go my way, but seeing that nothing was done as I wanted, I began to wish that everything be done as it is done; so it was that everything started to be done as I wanted.” - Elder Joseph of Optino

source

Now that makes sense...

Charles Martel
checked into a hotel
and suddenly grew hostile
and that is how
the word hostel
originated.

Kirill is the same as Cyril.

Charles is the same as Carl, Carlos, Karol, and Chuck.

Kyle and Kala had nothing to do with any of them.

What?

Books are awfully decorative, don't you think?

There was something I wanted to say - or do a post on ...

But it will have to wait.

Autoeroticism ... it too is intrinsically and gravely disordered

Dali - Temptation of St. Anthony

I may be wrong but I think early moral theologians

used the word voluptuousness when writing about

this particular vice.  It is also known as self-abuse.

Fr. Charles OFM Cap has a very good post:  On Masturbation

A lot of people have difficulty with this habit, also popularly known as, self-pleasuring, a sexual practice which in the 'world' or secular-pop-erotic culture, is considered healthy and normal and necessary.  (I never knew women did it, much less taught it, until I watched Oprah.)  That's not Catholic teaching however.

It's a habitual sin one can overcome with the help of grace:  By the practice of prayer, recourse to the sacrament of penance as often and as frequently as needed, amid calm, peaceful struggle - which for some means constant struggle - but it is important to have confidence in God - to keep yourself in peace.  Agitation and stress often complicates and confuses one in the heat of battle, as it were, and is therefore not helpful.  Never give up.

Fr. Charles concludes his post with these helpful counsels...

The key thing about any struggle with a sinful habit is just that, to struggle. Even given all these considerations and the probability that a small percentage of acts of masturbation are mortally sinful, it's still a sin and worth struggling against for the sake of blessedness and peace in this life and the next. So be about the struggle. Do the detective work on yourself to find the occasions of sin, the times of the day or the week when you are vulnerable to temptation, the negative emotions that set you up for falls. Look for opportunities to treat others with chastity, that is to say according to their dignity as God's creatures and not according to any use they might have for you. Avoid, as much as is practical, the world's unchaste entertainments and advertising. Receive Holy Communion devoutly and know that in that sacrificed Body your soul is made clean in the righteousness of Christ. Go to confession regularly. Pray your rosary and ask Our Lady to pray for you for the grace of chastity. Read books that encourage chastity and give practical advice on obtaining it, like Benedict Groeschel's The Courage to be Chaste.

When dealing with sinful habits the real moral and spiritual danger is perhaps not the occasional slip or fall into the behavior, but giving into discouragement, despair, or the doubt that God's love is abiding that can lead to scruples. The question of being a Christian is not whether to be a 'saint' or a 'sinner,' but of deciding what kind of sinner you want to be; the sinner who lets sins lead to discouragement and an increasing selfishness, or the sort of sinner who allows the experience of sin to lead to humility and an abiding awareness of the immense mercy of God, a mercy which one can then radiate to others. - Read the entire post here.

Find a good confessor.

St. Leopold Mandic, pray for us.

The importance of being earnest ...

Cappa Magna Cat

Source: http://imgur.com/r/cats/T58VlZg

This bears repeating: Something from Bishop Athanasius Schneider ...

Expressions like "development of doctrine" and "pastoral compassion" are in fact usually a pretext to change the teaching of Christ, and against its perennial sense and integrity, as the Apostles had transmitted it to the whole Church, and it was faithfully preserved through the Fathers of the Church, the dogmatic teachings of the Ecumenical Councils and of the Popes.

Ultimately, those clerics want another Church, and even another religion: A naturalistic religion, which is adapted to the spirit of the time. Such clerics are really wolves in sheep’s clothing, often flirting with the world. Not courageous shepherds – but rather cowardly rabbits. - Bishop Athanasius Schneider

I agree.  This especially applies to what is going on at Holy Redeemer in the Castro district of San Francisco with Pizzuto and the promotion of 'queer spirituality'.

Humility ... Honesty ...

In this world, only those people who have fallen to the lowest degree of humiliation, far below beggary, who are not just without any social consideration but are regarded by all as being deprived of that foremost human dignity, reason itself -- only those people, in fact, are capable of telling the truth. All the others lie. - Simone Weil

Why this is difficult ...

Very often - or so it seems - every time I find an understanding spiritual director - something happens.

He goes away.

He's taken away.

He leaves ... he dies.



Please pray for a friend of mine ... he's very little - therefore he is very good.

We need to pray very much for priests.  They have this strange notion they are like ordinary people - but that's a sort of luxury they can't hold onto.  That's not a bad thing to say.





Refuse all honors.  Never ask for a position.  Account yourself nothing, and a servant of all.  If you want more ... you are in the wrong business.  Flee.  *

*But who am I to judge?

My retablo-shrine of St. Martin De Porres ...

Check it out on the Etsy shop:

Dogwood Details.

DD

I like my bunny rabbit peeking around the corner.

Carnevale ...

Venise ... très nostalgique ...

Who is Lord of your life?

-source-

Sacred Heart of Jesus I place all my trust in you.

I give you everything, even my sins.

Snow in Minneapolis

It's the end of the Christmas season too ...

Changes

I might be closing my shop on Etsy.

Too distracting.

If I thought blogging was a distraction - the Etsy shop is worse.

I don't want to fool around with $.

I pretty much wanted to get rid of stuff without a middle man after putting some things in a shop on consignment around Christmas.  It's a hassle to do consignment, and it might be worse with an online shop.  Packaging and shipping costs and pricing items low to move them ... let's just say I know nothing about business.

I don't know - I'll think about it.  Just finished another panel to make into a shrine and I'll probably post/publish it - but that may be it.  Not sure yet.

I was going to do some other antiques - but I'm wondering if sending them to auction might not be a better idea?

Possessions are such a burden.  Money is too.  Success is worse.

I lose interest fast.

I remember when I was in management - as soon as the creative part took second place, I lost interest.  I'm sort of dyslexic like that.

Just thinking out loud.

Did you know LarryD left Patheos?

Straight out of Patheos ... back to ... AA!

Yes!

"The only way to humility is through humiliation. David’s destiny, which is holiness, comes through humiliation. The destiny of that holiness which God gives to his children, gives to the Church, comes through the humiliation of his Son, who allows himself to be insulted, who allows himself to be placed on the cross - unjustly ... And this Son of God who humbles himself, this is the way of holiness. And David, through his behavior, prophesizes this humiliation of Jesus. Let us ask the Lord for the grace of humility for each of us, for the whole Church - but also for the grace to understand that humility cannot be achieved without humiliation. " - Pope Francis

Yes!

Humiliations are stepping stones to humility. - Bl. Teresa of Calcutta

Mewly appointed Missionaries of Mercy ...

-source-