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Monday, April 29, 2019

Pope to hairdressers: Cut the gossip, highlight politeness

Image result for St. Martin de Porres imagePope to hairdressers: Cut the gossip, highlight politeness: VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christian hairdressers, beauticians and barbers can live their faith by being kind and courteous to their clients and cutting out the gossip and petty chitchat, Pope Francis said.  The Pilot highlighted Pope Francis saying hairdressers should be like St. Martin de Porres.  St. Martin, as a barber was also the physician.  The job was diverse.  He is also known to be the Dominican St. Francis because of his love of animals.



You have no idea how many times I've gone by statues of St. Francis and wished I had paint with me to change Francis' habit to Dominican white and his skin to brown.

Friday, April 26, 2019

Solitary Confinement = Torture

The Pilot has an article about solitary confinement.  https://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?h=Solitary_confinement_in_U.S._prisons_qualifies_today_as_torture&utm_source=ConstantContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Dailynewsletter&ID=184914

I know inmates who haven't broken any rules and are put in solitary confinement.  It's for their own protection.  The usual reason is that a gang has marked him for execution. 

Yeah.  It's a different world.

But one of my "cloistered brothers" was in and out of the "hole" because he kept mouthing off.  He was a thorn in the prison administration's side.  He considered solitary confinement as a retreat.  He was allowed to bring in his Divine Office.  So he spent his time, praying, contemplating, and exercising.  He always emerged stronger
--spiritually and physically.

Monday, April 22, 2019

Poetry in the Wilderness

Malcolm Guite's The Word in the Wilderness led me through Lent with a Poem a Day for Lent and Easter with reflection, every day.

I know my Lenten reading was three books, but I was only successful with this one.  I'm still pushing myself to read the other two.  This one I looked forward to reading, every day.

Malcolm Guite is a poet that makes you savor your thoughts.  Every day was Lectio Divina.  And if I didn't get the poem, Guite explains each poem.

Another thing about this book is that it is an anthology.  I wasn't stuck reading a poet I didn't like, every day.  The Word in the Wilderness had different poets.  Each one was apropos, though.  It was one of the best Lenten Journeys I've ever experienced.

Sunday, April 21, 2019

Oh So Very Human

Lectio:

Good Friday by Christina Rossetti

Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss,
And yet not weep?
Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter, weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;
Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon –
I, only I.
Yet give not o’er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.
Studium:
Christina Rossetti lived in the nineteenth century.  This poem was published in 1866.  Here, Rossetti is describing something very human.  "Doubt."  Sometimes we feel close to God and sometimes we don't.  And when we don't, we miss Him.  This is what Christina is experiencing.  As usual, the feeling, the mood, whatever, passes, as it does with Christina Rossetti.  But this poem is focusing on the "doubt."
Meditatio:
This poem is perfect for the discussion my "cloistered brothers" and I were having.  One of them was describing his thoughts about God.  He lost his "joy" in Jesus.  Thank you Lord for bring this poem to my attention.  I'll make copies for all of my "cloistered brothers" and we'll analyze it.  
Oratio:
Lord, I ask your help in reaching my "cloistered brothers." They, everyone for that matter, want to feel Your love.  But being human, that closeness with human beings comes and goes.  We don't want to feel like Christina's stone.  We want to be humbled like Peter, cry like the women beneath Your cross.  We want to feel the earth move.
Contemplatio:
Smite with Your Love, Lord.
Resolutio:
I will print out and give copies of this poem to my "cloistered brothers."

Friday, April 19, 2019

Good Friday for Jean

On this Good Friday, I learned that Jean Vanier, the founder of L'Arche communities has had a heart attack and has been moved to hospice care.  He is 90 years old.  Good Friday is a good day to die.

The resurrection is coming, Jean.  May God welcome this good man.

Jean Vanier gave up a promising career as a philosopher and theologian.  While he was studying, which as an academic, he always was, he ran into L'Eau Vive, a spiritual center in Soisy-sur-seine, founded by Father Thomas Philippe, O.P.  They became friends and eventually Vanier founded L'Arche, a small home which he shared with two mentally disabled men.

Later, Vanier, with Marie-Helene Mathieu started another community for people with developmental disabilities, "Faith and Light." 

Wikipedia tells me that he wrote 30 books and received many honors.






What's your definition of a saint?





When Jean turned 90 he made a video giving his 10 rules for Life.  My favorite is # 5 but then I read # 8 and # 10.  I guess I like them all.

1. Accept the reality of your body
Vanier says, “For a man to become a man he has to be at ease with his body. That body is fragile, like all bodies. We are born in weakness (as a little child); we will die in weakness. And when we get to a certain age – ninety – we begin to get weaker.” He adds, “I have to accept that I’m ninety. I’m not fifty, or forty, or thirty.”
2. Talk about your emotions and difficulties
He acknowledges that men in particular “have difficulty expressing their emotions.”
3. Don’t be afraid of not being successful
Vanier adds, “you have to discover you are beautiful as you are” regardless of whether or not you are successful.
4. In a relationship, take the time to ask “How are you?”
“Has he married his success in work, or has he married his wife? What is the most important? Is it to grow up the ladder in promotion?” asks Vanier.
5. Stop looking at your phone. Be present!
To young people he says, “You are people of communication.” But then he asks, “Are you people of presence? Are you able to listen?” "To be human is to know how to relate," he adds. 
6. Ask people “What is your story?”
Vanier emphasizes the importance of relating to people and listening to them. He says, “To meet is to listen: Tell me your story? Tell me where your pain is? Tell me where your heart is? What are the things you desire?” He adds, “I need to listen to you because your story is different to my story.”
7. Be aware of your own story
“You are precious. You have your ideas: political, religious, non-religious, you have your vision for the world. Your vision for yourself,” says Vanier. He acknowledges that when we fear our identities, worldviews, and cherished opinions are being taken away from us we are liable to become angry. He adds, “we have to discover where our fears are because that is the fundamental problem.” He asks, “Maybe in your story there is a story about fear?”
8. Stop prejudice: meet people
Vanier says, “The big thing about being human is to meet people.” We need to “meet people who are different” and “discover that the other person is beautiful.”
9. Listen to your deepest desire and listen to it
Vanier says, “We are very different from birds and dogs. Animals are very different.” He says that unlike with animals there is a “sort of cry of the infinite within us. We’re not satisfied with the finite.” He asks, “Where is your greatest desire?”
10. Remember that you'll die one day 
“I’m not the one who’s the king of the world and I’m certainly not God,” says Vanier. “I’m just somebody who was born ninety years ago and will die in a few years time and then everybody will have forgotten me. This is reality. We’re all here, but we are just local people, passengers in a journey. We get into the train, we get out of the train, the train goes on.”has to be at ease with his body. That body is fragile, like all bodies. We are born in weakness (as a little child); we will die in weakness. And when we get to a certain age – ninety – we begin to get weaker.” He adds, “I have to accept that I’m ninety. I’m not fifty, or forty, or thirty.”

Thursday, April 18, 2019

There's a Tie for # 1

The Mass of Easter Day


Lectio:

Reading 1ACTS 10:34A, 37-43

Peter proceeded to speak and said:
"You know what has happened all over Judea, 
beginning in Galilee after the baptism
that John preached, 
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and power.
He went about doing good
and healing all those oppressed by the devil, 
for God was with him.
We are witnesses of all that he did
both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.
This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible,
not to all the people, but to us,
the witnesses chosen by God in advance,
who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
He commissioned us to preach to the people
and testify that he is the one appointed by God
as judge of the living and the dead.
To him all the prophets bear witness,
that everyone who believes in him
will receive forgiveness of sins through his name."
Studium:
This is a speech.  "Holy Spirit and power," are to be noted.  Jesus called upon the Holy Spirit for help, for healing, strength, and in exorcisms.  Peter is telling us that he, personally was there as a witness.  This speech was given on the occasion of Cornelius' Baptism.  During this speech, the Holy Spirit falls on everyone present.  The Jews are surprised that the Holy Spirit is falling on non-Jews.  Peter explains that Jesus' message was first sent to Israel and then to everyone.  The message is universal.  Forgiveness reaches everyone.
Meditatio:
The followers of Jesus the Nazarene must have lost their hope upon seeing Jesus crucified.  Think about how death affects us, nevermind One whom you thought was the Messiah.  But they weren't listening.  Jesus told them this would happen.  It was also predicted. 
    Am I this dense, too?  I need to pay attention to signs and scripture.
Oratio:
Holy Spirit enlighten my understanding.  I want to grow closer to God.  Direct me all the way.
Contemplatio:
Jesus loves us all.
Resolutio:
To love everyone as Jesus loves us.

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Traditions are Important

Quite a while ago, a friend made a remark that I have carried with me and wrestled with to find an acceptable response.  She grew up Catholic but left the Church and is now Universalist. She did not bring up her children in any religion because she felt they should choose their own.  The remark she threw out that left me befuddled was "Traditions are bad.  They keep you stuck in the past."

I was silent. Ever since, I have been searching for a good explanation to explain that traditions are important.  This morning I read something in The Bible Companion, that is a help towards my understanding of tradition.  Father Ronald D. Witherup, p.s.s., in quoting Elie Wiesel's The Gates of the Forest says:

When the great Rabbi Israel Baal Shem-Tov saw misfortune threatening the Jews, it was his custom to go into a certain part of the forest to meditate. There he would light a fire, say a special prayer, and the miracle would be accomplished and the misfortune averted.  Later, when his disciple, the celebrated Magid of Mezeritch, had occasion, for the same reason, to intercede with heaven, he would go to the same place in the forest and say, "Master of the Universe, listen! I do not know how to light the fire, but I am still able to recite the prayer."  And again the miracle would be accomplished.  Still later, Rabbi Moshe-Leib of Sassov, in order to save his people once more, would go into the forest and say, "I do not know how to light the fire, I do not know the prayer, but I know the place and this must be sufficient." It was sufficient, and the miracle was accomplished.  Then it fell to Rabbi Israel of Rizhin to overcome misfortune.  Sitting in his armchair, his head in his hand, he spoke to God: "I cannot even find the place in the forest.  All I can do is to tell the story, and this must be sufficient." And. it was sufficient.  God created man because he loves stories!

Traditions are carried down through the ages by oral stories, written stories, and edited stories.  But they tell the story recounted generation after generation of what is important, whether in relation to God, as the tale above, or in a family, as in my family's turkey stuffing recipe, or in a community, as the rituals Bostonians go through for their baseball team, the Red Sox.  Traditions are historical records to pass on to succeeding generations.

As Elie Wiesel's story illustrates, traditions are adapted, but the point is the point.  So my friend is correct in saying that traditions hold you back.  They can if they are not adapted. Traditions are important but times change: sometimes the Red Sox win and the traditional removal of the Bambino's curse is not needed.  And my family complaints that the turkey stuffing has too many calories and not edible for the vegans in the family make me look for adaptions to the recipe.  And biblical and church teachings grow in understanding and may have to be interpreted for different times.  But the values that our traditions teach us remain.

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

History, Faith, and Culture on Fire

 Isn't it incredible that a cathedral on fire can bring millions together in sorrow, in a country famous for its secular stance?

. Photograph: François Guillot/AFP/Getty Images
Aleteia has an article on the effect the burning of Notre Dame has on the French people, and Catholics, and the world.  I have never been to Notre Dame Cathedral and I felt a plethora of emotions watching the news clips of the fire.  I could feel my voice cry as we discussed what we saw:

People in the streets of Paris kneeling and singing Ave Maria. 
Firemen making a chain of hands to pass precious art, relics, vessels, sacred objects out to safety.
I could hear familiar Catholic hymns being sung in the background by the people.

The president of France, tweeted:  

Notre-Dame de Paris en proie aux flammes. Émotion de toute une nation. Pensée pour tous les catholiques et pour tous les Français. Comme tous nos compatriotes, je suis triste ce soir de voir brûler cette part de nous.

expressing heartfelt sorrow.  Even this worldly man understood the history and cultural significance of Notre Dame de Paris, if not what it meant to Catholic faithful worldwide.

But fear not!  The path to Easter has a cross.  And I've read the last chapter of the book of life.  God wins.

Monday, April 15, 2019

Dumbo Revisited

When my children were young and I was a stay-at-home, mom, we watched the old Disney cartoon, Dumbo.  It broke my heart to see the mother elephant in jail and her baby, Dumbo, trying to reach up to her with his trunk.  The mother reached out of the prison bars as far as her chains would allow.  I cried.  The kids cried.

At that moment, hubby came home from work.  He looked at us on the couch crying.  He looked at the TV, and said, "You're crying over a cartoon?"

Today, I took my two granddaughters to see the new Disney Pixar Dumbo.  I had forgotten everything except that one scene where the crying poured out.  My granddaughters cried too.

We loved it.

Sunday, April 14, 2019

Wrestling with my iPad.

Region One President   Provincial Promoter   Brother Tonto
Mrs. Kathy Kendrek, O.P.    Father Carlos Quijano, O.P.    Mr. Jordi Perez, O.P.
You have no idea how many times I've tried to write an article about my Lay Dominican meeting.  It's the pictures that drive me CRAZY!

The pictures are on my iPad and for some reason, they won't allow me to send them to my email accounts.  Sometimes they do.  I got one, out of the 50 or so I sent out.  And the editor that I'm sending them to isn't replying whether she got any or not.

So I thought I'd beat the system by using my iPad to write the article itself, then I'd have no trouble attaching whatever pictures I wanted.  Ha!  Think again!

I wrote the article and it took quite a while because I had to write in Lay Dominicanese, i.e., Faith Flaherty = Mrs. Faith Flaherty, O.P. and we had promises and advancements for more than a few people (in Lay Dominicanese) plus we had a forum with six people (in Lay Dominicanese).  I kept having to look up their names, who spoke on what topic, and then write their name in Lay Dominicanese.

But I did it.  Then when I went to attach some photos, the entire email, Lay Dominicanese et al, disappeared off the face of the earth.  I could not retrieve it. 

But it's Lent.  I did it over again!  I wrote it on my laptop, not the iPad.  The laptop had no pictures, but at least the article was written and sent to the editor.

Thursday, April 11, 2019

Snow Gypsy

The Snow Gypsy by Lindsay Ashford is an ebook.  I forget why I bought it, but I'm glad I did.  The story hooked me.  It deals with the past.  The major character, Rose, is a veterinarian, who is interested in herbal cures. This interest leads her to gypsies.  She learns a lot from them in England, her own country.  But for a vacation, she thought she would go to Spain to learn more.  Coincidentally, Spain is where her brother Nathan died.  He got entangled in the Spanish troubles and was killed.  His body was never found.

Rose meets gypsies first and travels with them for a while,
especially when she meets a family that comes from the same village where her brother was last living.  Rose becomes friends with a little sweetheart of a girl named "Snow" in Spanish--Nieve.  Nieve's mother is Lola.  Lola is not her biological mother but she saved Nieve when her mother was killed in the same conflict Rose's brother, Nathan, was caught up in.

Lola wants to leave the gypsy life to be in the movies.  She wants more for herself and Nieve than the life of gypsies could offer them.  I learned how discriminated the gypsies were.  The government was taking the gypsies' children away from them because gypsies weren't considered good people.  Gypsies didn't go to school so they couldn't read.  Rose taught Nieve and Lola how to read.

So when Lola is raped and kills her assailant, she is immediately guilty. Rose is left to take care of Nieve.  Rose travels to the village where her brother last lived.  She meets people who knew Nathan.  Rose also falls in love.  Lola is eventually freed due to Rose's letter writing campaign and the three live in the village.  But Lola attracts attention and her father, a crazy fanatic wants to kill her.  Rose's boyfriend kills him.  Now they all have to get out of town.

Even though Rose loves Zoltan, she leaves with Lola and Nieve.  He was really a Nazi criminal and lied to Rose.  He goes to Argentina.  Rose, Lola, and Nieve settle in Madrid.  Rose is pregnant with Zoltan's baby and gives birth to a baby she names after her brother, Nathan.  Lola and Nieve are happy.  Everyone gets what they want.

Monday, April 8, 2019

The Defeat of Failure

Thank God I am not an atheist.  When they meet failure, they must be crestfallen for a long time.  A Christian has hope.  He sees that God's plan ends well.  God will make the bad good. 

For Lent, I'm reading Fulton's Sheen's Lift Up Your Heart. It reminds me of The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis. It's full of maxims and sermons.  This chapter, "The emergence of Character" begins explaining why the Christian trust God.  The Lord is in control and wins in the end.

The Christian religion was born in failure.  Adam and Eve failed the disobedience test. People continually disappoint God.  Jesus' crucifixion looked like a failure to the Romans and His enemies.  But Christianity defeated failure on Good Friday. 

To those whom God loves, good will triumph.

Sunday, April 7, 2019

Win a Pilgrimage



Win a pilgrimage to France, or the Avila Summit, or a free course, etc.  

Smile while you are Being bullied?

St. Therese of Lisieux
This morning in the sacristy, I was talking to the altar server who was relating a story about bullying.  As usual, I couldn't think of anything useful to say.  However, upon reflection, I recall a story St. Therese tells in her Story of A Soul.  There was one grouchy, angry nun, who used to really annoy Therese.  So as a penance, Therese decided to be nice to the curmudgeon.  She made a point of greeting her with a smile.  Therese did this for the rest of her short life.

After Therese's death, that same annoying nun talked about being Therese's best friend.  Every time Therese saw her she broke out in a big smile.

Go figure.

Do you think that story would have helped the altar server?

Saturday, April 6, 2019

Doors Will Be Opened

Lectio:

IS 43:16-21

Thus says the LORD,
who opens a way in the sea
and a path in the mighty waters,
who leads out chariots and horsemen,
a powerful army,
till they lie prostrate together, never to rise,
snuffed out and quenched like a wick.
Remember not the events of the past,
the things of long ago consider not;
see, I am doing something new!
Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
In the desert, I make a way,
in the wasteland, rivers.
Wild beasts honor me,
jackals and ostriches,
for I put water in the desert
and rivers in the wasteland
for my chosen people to drink,
the people whom I formed for myself,
that they might announce my praise.
Studium:
Better times are coming for the Hebrew captives in Babylon.  The description also applies to the exodus from Egypt. But this is the story of salvation.  Our God is all compassionate and He will save us again and again.
Meditatio:
How many times have I seen the Lord save people from situations?  I should just trust Him.  Wondrous things have been promised for those who believe.
Oratio:
Lord, You always save your people. Please count me in among Your followers.  I do perceive Your care and believe Your promises.
Contemplatio:
Jesus, I trust in You.
Resolutio:
I will telephone my sick friend and tell her I am praying for her.


Friday, April 5, 2019

Community Singing

The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce is a book club book.  It's a cute story and the characters are darlings.  The main character is Frank, who loves music, vinyl records, his mother and his independence.  He had a bohemian mother and always longed to be "normal."  Whatever that is.  But he idealized the perfect family and never achieved his ideal.  But he comes as close as anyone.  Then there's Ilse Brauchmann, who drives the readers and the story characters crazy with her mysterious identity.  When we do learn her story everything makes sense.  But that's when we lose her.  She goes home.

That was a terrible day.  The world ended for Frank.  His store, his life, his home, his business were all destroyed in a fire on the very day Ilse left.  Later we learn that Frank sank into the nether world.

In the background was a developer who constantly harassed the few businesses on Unity Street.  Father Anthony's religious goods store had little business.  Maud the tattoo artist barely made a living.  The Williams brothers owned a funeral home where no one was dying to get into. Kit worked for Frank and didn't seem fit for any other job. It was a sad street except for one important, redeeming feature.  These business owners loved what they were doing and loved and took care of each other.  They vowed never to move.

Then Ilse left.  The fire happened.  The stores on Unity Street sold to the developer.  And nothing was the same.

Ilse went home to her parents in Germany.  She makes a comfortable life and when her parents die, she reminisces.  She remembers Frank.  She wonders how everyone was doing.  Ilse takes a vacation to go back and look up her old friends. 

Evidently, Ilse never read Thomas Wolfe.  You can't go home again.  But Unity Street wasn't exactly home.  She wanted it to be, but that dream was burnt up.  When Ilse went to look up her old friends, they had all moved and she couldn't find them.  Then she coincidentally recognized a disc jockey's voice and found Kit.  Kit located Maud and Father Anthony.  They pieced together what they knew of Frank's whereabouts. 

It was sad.  Frank was working in a cheese and cracker factory.  This was entirely out of character for a man like Frank.  He had no home and once in a while could be found hanging around his old neighborhood and sleeping on the floor of his former store.  His old friends decided to help him.
Frank always ate lunch at the same place.  He loved music. So Frank's old neighbors plotted a Flash Mob.  People spontaneously would start singing Bach's "Alleluia".  That would get his attention!

Not only did it get his attention.  It got Ilse and Frank back together.  The neighborhood friends were happily reunited, very happily reunited.

The story ends with Frank and Ilse owning a music store together as man and wife.  And everyone lives happily ever after.

What's not to like with a story like that?

Thursday, April 4, 2019

Grace Touching our Innermost Mind

This morning's readings for the Book of Maxims by Saint Isidore ties in with Lectio Divina.  Here  are some:

Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us.  Both are good when possible...

If a man wants to be always in God's company, he must pray regularly and read regularly.  When we pray we talk to God; when we read, God talks to us.

All spiritual growth comes from reading and reflection.  By reading we learn what we did not know; by reflection, we retain what we have learned.

Reading the holy scriptures confers two benefits.  It trains the mind to understand them; it turns man's attention from the follies of the world and leads him to love of God.

Learning unsupported by grace may get into our ears; it never reaches the heart.  It makes a great noise outside but serves no inner purpose.  But, when God's grace touches our innermost minds to bring understanding, his word which has been received by the ear sinks deep into the heart.

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Christus Vivit



Ha!  A journalist asked if the Vatican really expected to reach young people with a 183-page papal document, as reported in The Pilot.

Easy!  Just put it on social media.  Make a comic book out of it.  Make Videos.  Rap it to a song. And oh yeah, read it.

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Suffrages


What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say the word, "suffrages?"  I bet you are thinking along the lines of voting.  I think of the women suffragettes who fought for the right to vote. but the first, or earlier meaning of the word is "prayers."

There is a relationship.  Suffering is involved in asking for voting rights and prayers for the suffering is asking God for help.  That is the original meaning. 

From the Catholic Dictionary:

The prayers prescribed or promised for specific intentions. More particularly, suffrages are the Masses, prayers, or acts of piety offered for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed.


and this site quotes the Summa Theologica:

71. Suffrages for the Dead

1. The word suffrage really means a vote.A suffrage is a vote, or a request to God, that some good actof ours have its merit bestowed on another. A suffrage is a gooddeed cast, like a ballot, in favor of someone. All the faithful aremembers of one body which is the Church. And, as in a living body,one member may be assisted by another. Such assistance is asuffrage. So much we know from the doctrine called the"Communion of Saints." But one member cannot actuallyreplace another; one member of the Church cannot save the soul ofanother. One member may, and should, help another, not only bygiving him good example and praying for him, but by performing goodand meritorious deeds, and ascribing the benefit of these toanother.
2. The prayers and suffrages of the living, offered forthe souls in purgatory, are of benefit to these souls. This we knowfrom the infallible teaching of the Church, and also from scripture(II Machabees 12:46): "It is a holy and wholesome thought topray for the dead that they may be loosed from theirsins."
3. Even those who are in the state of mortal sin may dosomething for the souls in purgatory. For the deed donemay have a value apart from the status of the doer of thedeed.
4. Suffrages offered by the living on behalf of the soulsin purgatory are deeds of charity, and, as such, they confer abenefit upon those who perform them. Says Psalm 34: "My prayershall be turned into my bosom."
5. Suffrages, however, can be of no benefit whatever tothose who are in hell. The lost souls are changelessly beyond allaid. They are under debt of eternal punishment, and no suffragewith its gift of temporal satisfaction, can be of any avail.
6. It is a point of the faith itself that the suffrages ofthe living help the souls in purgatory to pay their temporal debt.For purgatory does the work of satisfaction that a person couldhave done in this life, but died without doing, or withoutcompleting. Temporal punishment can be paid off; we on earth canhelp pay it for our brethren in purgatory who can merit no longerfor themselves.
7. Infants in Umbo cannot be aided by suffrages. For theseinfants are not under any debt of punishment for actual sins. Wecannot relieve temporal suffering where there is no suffering torelieve.
8. Suffrages are called so because they help,just as a vote helps toelect a man. Now, we cannot help thosewho have achieved the glory of heaven. One cannot help another toget home if he is already at home. So we do not offer suffrages onbehalf of the saints.
9. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the share we have inthe general prayer of the Church, and almsgiving, are notable worksof charity; therefore, these are powerful suffrages.
10. Indulgences granted by the Church and made applicableto the souls in purgatory can be gained by the faithful on earthfor the benefit of the holy souls. And indulgences thus gained aresuffrages.
11. St. Augustine says that the burial service for thedead, with its solemn ceremonies, is rather a consolation for thesurvivors than a help for the departed. And yet the burial serviceas prescribed by the Church contains many prayers for the dead, andeven Holy Mass which is offered for the departed soul. Further, theceremonies themselves may stir observers to pious thoughts, andlead them to pray and offer suffrages for the dead. And thus,"to bury the dead," is indeed a work of mercy. And assuch a work, it is a suffrage.
12. It seems most reasonable to suppose that suffragesoffered for one definite person are a help to him rather than toanother who is perhaps more worthy of help. For the suffrageoffered derives its value not only from the deed done, but from theintention of the doer of the deed.
13. Suffrages offered for several souls are divided amongthe souls. It is quite unreasonable to think or say, as some havedone, that such suffrages are of as much value for each of theseveral souls as if they were offered for that one soul alone.
14. General suffrages (those offered in general for thesouls in purgatory) are certainly of profit to the holy souls. Buthere again it is unreasonable to say that neglected souls find ingeneral suffrages such help as makes up to them all they have beendeprived of through neglect on the part of those who should helpthem.

The Birthplace of Religious Freedom in America

Maryland is the birthplace of religious freedom in America.  Lord Baltimore, who was Catholic, established the Maryland colony as a haven for religious toleration, and historians now regard Maryland as the birthplace of religious freedom in the United States.

This article in the Pilot explains how it happened.  The settlers landed on St. Clement's Island and celebrated Mass as thanksgiving to God.  There's a cross made by one of the early settlers, called St. Clement's cross that was just found, after 400 years.  It is displayed on St. Clement Island.

Monday, April 1, 2019

Add to My Eulogy

For some reason, Alfred Lord Tennyson's poetry is resonating with me, today.  Crossing the Bar reminds me of the Viking custom of sending the dead person on his boat, out to sea.  I picture Waquoit Bay's current carrying me out to Cross Rip in Vineyard Sound.
Tennyson added Crossing the Bar to the end of his books.  I'm thinking of adding it to my eulogy.


Sunset and evening star
    And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
        When I put out to sea,

   But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
      Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
      Turns again home.

   Twilight and evening bell,
      And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
      When I embark;

   For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
      The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
      When I have crost the bar.

Image result for Rip in Vineyard Sound

Faith in Doubt

I've had this quote on my wall for years.  Sometimes I doubt the existence of God.  Mostly I don't.  Sometimes I doubt that God loves me.  Mostly I don't.  Sometimes I doubt that God turns bad into good.  But then I'm proven wrong.  
This morning I read Faith in Honest Doubt by Alfred Tennyson and he says it so much better than I.  
You tell me, doubt is Devil-born.
I know not: one indeed I knew
In many a subtle question versed,
Who touch'd a jarring lyre at first,
But ever strove to make it true:
Perplext in faith, but pure in deeds,
At last he beat his music out.
There lives more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds.
He fought his doubts and gather'd strength,
He would not make his judgment blind,
He faced the spectres of the mind
And laid them: thus he came at length
To find a stronger faith his own;
And Power was with him in the night,
Which makes the darkness and the light,
And dwells not in the light alone,
But in the darkness and the cloud,
As over Sinai's peaks of old,
While Israel made their gods of gold,
Altho' the trumpet blew so loud.
Some people think one should never doubt God. They are correct of course.  But I think it is human, so very human, to doubt the existence of God.  Yes, doubt displeases God, but He loves when we come back, as I always do.



Joyous Worship

 Father John linked the Old Testament to the New, in this morning's homily.  Today's homily was about Mary's visit to Elizabeth....