A Spiritual Will

 When someone dies, confusion, if not shock, overtakes the people you left behind.  That's why people leave Legal Wills.  Legal Wills tell people who gets your property.  Also important should be a Spiritual Will, to tell everyone what you want done with your body.  If you are Jewish or Catholic, there are rites the deceased may want observed. Don't let your family guess, or worse argue.  Leave instructions--a spiritual will.

Here's what my Spiritual Will will say, now.  It may be revised.

I already have a plot and stone.  Use my insurance money for my funeral. Since I am a Lay Dominican, I would like to wear black.  My white scapular and Dominican cross is over my blouse.  Obviously, this is open casket.  I want my faith visible, as my last catechesis, to show others that faith is serious.

I want a traditional Catholic funeral Mass.  My parish priest may celebrate.  I will list what music I want and Readings.  I also want certain people to be Lectors, not family.  I want my family to pay attention to the Mass, not freak out because they have to speak in public.  Family may bring up the Offerings.  No eulogy, just a reception following the burial.  Stories will be told there, at the reception.

I like a Mass celebrated for me, now and then, and a few prayers at my grave.

That's it.  See you on the other side.

My scapular and cross look like this, to be place over black clothing.  

Echoes of the Apostles

 Did you ever wonder why the Church Fathers didn't sign their names to what they wrote?  Who wrote the Didache?  Who was the Shepherd of Hermes?  

It seems that these writings are written with authority.  Their tone is unquestionable.  They wrote about the internal organization of the Christian communities of the times. They deal authoritatively with liturgical discipline, moral conduct, wavering faith, and correct teachings.  There seems to be no need to sign their names to their works.  The community accepted the teachings, as from the Apostles.

Lafayette College fresco Christ Among His Apostles · A&S 325: Museums Studies · Exhibits @ Lafayette College

Violence Begets Violence

 The Gate House by Nelson DeMille is a sequel to The Gold Coast.  I didn't read The Gold Coast, so the characters are new to me.  I don't usually read novels in order, except for Louise Penny's Three Pine mysteries.  Books call me by name at Library Book Sales, Yard Sales, free tables--here and there, gifts, and handed over, by friends.  My friends know I'm on a Nelson DeMille kick, now, so The Gate House was given to me.

I never quite got the geography of exactly where the gate house was located, on the estate.  But I didn't worry about it because I thought it was an unnecessary complication, in the plot.  I still think so.  The main character, John Sutter has returned home, after ten years.  A family servant, friend, and client has died.  John lived with her for a while, was her lawyer, and friend.

He had left, in the first place, because he was divorced from his unfaithful wife, who had murdered her lover, who was John's client, who was also a mafioso.  

Following?

Capice?

John is back.  It turns out that as soon as John and his ex see each other, they resume their relationship and plan to remarry.  However, if they do remarry, the in-laws will retract their financial support, which is considerable.  But that's minor, compared to the problem of the mafioso's son, who wants revenge.  

That's the plot.  It's a big book.  But I took my time reading the story and I did enjoy it.

The Shepherd of Hermas

 It was hard to keep the early Church, on the same page.  That's why Paul wrote so many letters.  Another person, known as the Shepherd of Hermas wrote an important treatise.  He, whomever he was, wrote of the problems in the Roman community.  Rome was the capital of the Roman empire and the Christians there were not always behaving.  What to do about that, is what the Shepherd of Hermas wrote about.  

He was stern and well, full of "hell fire and brimstone."  Hence, he was always haranguing about doing penance.  Hence, Church history shows the sacrament of reconciliation, or penance, commonly known as Confession, was offered as a chance for salvation for repentant sinners, not only once, or once a year, at Yom Kippur, but as many times as the penitent thought he needed. 

The Shepherd of Hermas was written in the second century, so it is not a canonical book, which are written by apostles and direct companions of the apostles,  However, it is an example of early Christian writing.

Didache

 The Didache is the oldest book/catechism/constitution, etc. of information, that we have.  It has been dated as around 50 A.D..  It contains the teachings of the twelve apostles.  It was found by the Metropolitan Philotheos Bryennios in a Greek manuscript in Constantinople.  Although, it has been moved to a safer place.  Think of it.  This is older than the Gospel of John and some of the synoptic letters. 

Inside is a manual of instruction for the community on how to prepare catechumen for baptism.  Catechumen is Greek for people taking instructions in the faith.  It also gives the form of the rite to be used and other practical advice.

IOW, it is a manual that outlines teachings, rites, and instructions.  Here are the instructions for the Rite of Reconciliation (Confession).

In the church you shall acknowledge your transgressions, and you shall not come near for your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . But every Lord’s day gather yourselves together and break bread and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. – Didache 4, 14 (50 A.D).

Clement

 Pope Clement is considered an early Church Father because his writings are some of the earliest we have. He reigned as pope from 88 A.D. to 99 A.D.  That's as an adult-meaning he could have known Jesus.  For sure, he knew the Apostles.  

He wrote the First Epistle of Clement around 96 AD to fix a big argument in the church at Corinth, which is one of the oldest surviving Christian writings outside the New Testament.  Like church goers today, the early Christians were criticizing their local clergy.  People don't like authority telling them things they don't want to hear--then and now.

1000 portrayal at Saint Sophia's Cathedral, Kyiv

Babel or Jerusalem

 Don't you just love that juxtaposition?  I found it in Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical letter, Magnifica Humanitas.  He is talking about Artificial Intelligence= AI.  Since AI is really a new concept, it will grow because it has tremendous potential.  Will it be used for the good of humanity or for selfish gain?  

Babel is used as the example of selfish motives.

Jerusalem is used as an attainable divine connection and inner peace for the good of humanity.