Final Letter

 Here is the final revision from the letter on January 2, 2021.  This is it; I'm mailing it!

January 1, 2021

Your Holiness,

When you declared the year 2021, the year of St. Joseph, I became very excited.  You see nine years ago, Pere Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P., was beatified  in Besançon, France.   Father Lataste, had great love for prisoners because he founded the Dominican Sisters of Bethany with former prisoners, but he also had a great love for Saint Joseph. (cf J.M. Gueullette, My dear sisters, pp. 217-220).

It was Blessed Pope Pius IX, who, on December 8, 1870, declared St. Joseph the Patron Saint of the Church.  Pope Pius was urged to proclaim St. Joseph the patron by many people, but only one letter, from a priest, offered his life for this proclamation.

“This good religious (Jean Lataste) is offering the sacrifice of his life to obtain that St. Joseph be declared Patron of the Universal Church.  Father Lataste will shortly be granted his wish.  We have received more than five hundred letters requesting that we declare St. Joseph patron of the Church, but Fr. Lataste is the only one who offered his life.”  H.-M. Cormier, Vie du Révérendissime Père A.V. Jandel, Paris, Poussielgue, 1896 (2e édition), p. 458-460

All those who follow the spirituality of Blessed Jean-Joseph Lataste, have been praying for his canonization. http://dominicains.ca/blessed-jean-joseph-lataste/?lang=en  We hope that in this year of Saint Joseph, Blessed Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P., will be canonized through the intercession of Saint Joseph.

With your latest Apostolic Letter, Patris Corde, you remind us that Saint Joseph represents “those who appear hidden in the shadows and yet somehow play a role in salvation.”  With those words, you are explicitly speaking of Father Lataste.  Due to his retreats to the women prisoners in Cadillac Prison he converted and saved many souls.  Later, with these former inmates, Father Lataste founded the Dominican Sisters of Bethany in France.  Many years later, this Latastian message of forgiveness and mercy reached a prison of men in the USA (MCI Norfolk).  A fraternity of Lay Dominicans was founded under the patronage of Father Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P.  This prison fraternity mentored two more fraternities who follow Lataste’s spirituality: one in Texas and one in Belgium.  Father Lataste has certainly played an incomparable role in the history of salvation.

All of us (Dominican Sisters of Bethany, the contemplative nuns, the Lay Dominican Prisoners following  Father Jean-Joseph, O.P.) hope and pray that this year following the 150^th Anniversary of the Proclamation of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church, will be the year Father Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P., will be declared a saint.  We already know he is a saint and through the intercession of Saint Joseph we pray that Your Holiness will make it officially known throughout the world by canonizing, Father Jean-Joseph, O.P.  I thank you in advance for your consideration.

Ite Ad Joseph,

Respectfully your humble servant,
Mrs. Faith Flaherty, O.P.
Our Lady of Mercy Fraternity
Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic

Lord Hear Our Prayer

 As violence in Washington DC erupts on the day the election will be certified, we must resort to prayer.

Please pray for the USA 

Pope John Paul II's Prayer for Peace

Lord Jesus Christ, who are called the Prince of Peace,
who are yourself our peace and reconciliation,
who so often said, "Peace to you," grant us peace.

Make all men and women witnesses of truth, justice,
and brotherly love.
Banish from their hearts whatever might endanger peace.

Enlighten our rulers that they may
guarantee and defend the great gift of peace.
May all peoples on the earth
become as brothers and sisters.
May longed for peace blossom forth
and reign always over us all.

- Pope John Paul II

Chalking the Door

The following is from Wikipedia because I can't explain it any better:

Either on Twelfth Night (5 January), the twelfth day of Christmastide and eve of the feast of the Epiphany, or on Epiphany Day (6 January) itself, many Christians (including Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Roman Catholics, among others) chalk their doors with a pattern such as 20 ✝ C ✝ M ✝ B ✝ 21, with the numbers referring "to the calendar year (20 and 21, for instance, for this year, 2021); the crosses stand for Christ; and the letters have a two-fold significance: C, M and B are the initials for the traditional names of the Magi (Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar), but they are also an abbreviation of the Latin blessing Christus mansionem benedicat, which means, May Christ bless this house."^[1] Another form, for Three Kings day, is to mark the door with IIIK (the Roman numeral three followed by "K" for "Kings").

 

The First Woman Executed in the USA

 President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. Mary Surratt owned a boarding house and tavern bordering the Washington DC/Maryland border.  The Surratt's were Confederate sympathizers and the tavern was a gathering place for Confederate sympathizers.  It was also known as a safe house for Confederate spies.  In fact, Mary's son, John was a Confederate courier.  

John Wilkes Booth, who shot Lincoln stayed at the Surratt boarding house along with other conspirators.  Booth's plan was to assassinate President Lincoln and George Atzerodt was to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson. Lewis Powell was to kill the Secretary of State William Seward.  Atzerodt never even attempted to kill the Vice President and Powell failed to kill the Secretary of State, even though he stabbed him many times.

As these perpetrators fled their crimes, they went to Surratt's tavern for supplies and a wagon. When Mary Surratt was questioned, she lied that she knew anything or deliberately gave false misleading information. She was arrested and charged with abetting, aiding, concealing, counseling, and harboring men plotting to kill the president.

She was convicted and hung.

There is controversy over whether or not she actively plotted to kill the president. Surratt was portrayed by actress Virginia Gregg in the 1956 episode "The Mary Surratt Case," telecast as part of the NBC anthology series The Joseph Cotten Show.^[223] She was portrayed by Robin Wright in the 2011 film The Conspirator, which was directed by Robert Redford.^[224]

The Sorcerer's Stone

 This book is the first of the Harry Potter series, Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling. I've read it before, years ago. My book club, the Argonauta, read it when it first came out to see what all the hoopla was about.  I remember everyone loved it.

Since then, I forgot about it.  My granddaughter is reading it and to connect with her, I thought I would reread it to discuss it with her.  We'll discuss the controversy about it.  Some say there's black magic in it.  But so is Snow White.  I look at it as an allegory between good and evil and good wins.

What magical subject would you like to study?

What Hogwart's house would you like to belong to?

What pet would you pick?

Who is the most courageous person in the book?

What do you think of Neville?

Why do you think the Dursleys were chosen to raise Harry?

I hope this book discussion will lead to reading more books.

Your Opinion?

 My letter to Pope Francis.  Is it stupid?  Do you think he'll answer?  Is it clear what I am asking?  What do you think?

My Home Address
Date

Your Holiness,

When you declared the year 2021, the year of St. Joseph, I became very excited.  You see nine years ago, Pere Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P., was beatified with the title “Apostle of Prisons,” in Besançon, France.   Father Lataste, not only had great love for prisoners, for he founded the Dominican Sisters of Bethany with former prisoners, but he also had a great love for Saint Joseph. 

It was Blessed Pope Pius IX, who, on December 8, 1870, declared St. Joseph the Patron Saint of the Church.  Pope Pius was urged to proclaim St. Joseph the patron by many people, but only one letter, from a priest, offered his life for this proclamation.

“This good religious (Jean Lataste) is offering the sacrifice of his life to obtain that St. Joseph be declared Patron of the Universal Church.  Father Lataste will shortly be granted his wish.  We have received more than five hundred letters requesting that we declare St. Joseph patron of the Church, but Fr. Lataste is the only one who offered his life.”

The intention for which Father Lataste offered his life was fulfilled by a motu proprio of Blessed John XXIII that became effective on December 8, 1962.  And now, your Holiness has written this most excellent and welcomed letter, Patris Corde.

All those who follow the spirituality of Blessed Jean-Joseph Lataste, have been praying for his canonization. http://dominicains.ca/blessed-jean-joseph-lataste/?lang=en  These include many prisoners, especially those prisoners who have become Lay Dominicans, due to the witnesses of the Dominican Sisters of Bethany. These sisters, contemplative and active, were founded by Father Lataste to minister to prisoners and others who live at the margins of society. We hope that in this year of Saint Joseph, Blessed Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P., will be canonized as the Apostle of Prisons, through the intercession of Saint Joseph.

Your Holiness, on July 11, 2017, you recognized a new path towards canonization in a (Lettera Apostolicae Motu Proprio Datae De Oblatione Vitae).

MAIOREM HAC DILECTIONEM

http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/motu_proprio/documents/papa-francesco-motu-proprio_20170711_maiorem-hac-dilectionem.html

As I understand Maiorem Hac Dilectionem, the steps towards canonization include:

1.       The individual must freely and voluntarily offer their life in the face of "a certain and soon-to-come death"

2.       There must be a "close relation" between "the offering of one's life and the premature death of the one who offers it."

3.       The person must show Christian virtues, at least to an ordinary extent, before and after offering their life.

4.       They must have a "reputation for holiness" at least after their death.

5.       They must have performed a miracle.

Father Lataste’s reputation for holiness certainly fulfills steps 3 and 4.  Step 5 had been approved for Father Lataste’s beatification.  Steps 1 and 2 have been demonstrated to you by the words of Pope IX, himself, This good religious (Jean Lataste) is offering the sacrifice of his life to obtain that St. Joseph be declared Patron of the Universal Church… And Father Lataste’s death at age 37 was certainly premature.

Now with your latest Apostolic Letter, Patris Corde, you remind us that Saint Joseph represents “those who appear hidden in the shadows and somehow play a role in salvation.”  With those words, you are explicitly speaking of Father Lataste.  Due to his retreats to the women prisoners in Cadillac Prison he converted and saved many souls.  Later, with these former inmates, Father Lataste founded the Dominican Sisters of Bethany in France.  Many years later, this Latastian message of forgiveness and mercy reached a prison of men in the USA (MCI Norfolk).  A fraternity of Lay Dominicans was founded under the patronage of Father Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P.  This prison fraternity mentored two more fraternities who follow Lataste’s spirituality: one in Texas and one in Belgium.  Father Lataste has certainly played an incomparable role in the history of salvation.

All of us (Dominican Sisters of Bethany, the contemplative nuns, the Lay Dominican Prisoners following  Father Jean-Joseph, O.P.) hope and pray that this year following the 150^th Anniversary of the Proclamation of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church, will be the year Father Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P., will be declared a saint.  We already know he is a saint and through the intercession of Saint Joseph we pray that Your Holiness will make it officially known throughout the world by canonizing, Father Jean-Joseph, O.P.  I thank you in advance for your consideration.

Ite Ad Joseph,

Respectfully your humble servant,
Mrs. Faith Flaherty, O.P.
Our Lady of Mercy Fraternity
Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic

A "Lowly" Carpenter

 Just the introduction to Pope Francis' Apostolic Letter, Patris Corde, had me meditating on Saint Joseph.  From the beginning, the pope refers to Joseph as a "lowly" carpenter.  I have often wondered why.  Carpenters aren't lowly, far from it.  They have needed skills. I bet Joseph always found work, no matter where he lived.  Everyone has needs that only a carpenter can fill.  I have never read anywhere that Jesus went hungry, His needs were met.  

Carpenters today need to follow blueprints, building plans, licensing or permit codes.  Would a person with low cognitive skills be able to do that?  Why "lowly" carpenter?  Joseph may not have had to follow blueprints or follow municipal building codes, but he certainly had to be able to visualize the project, design, and layout. I call these attributes critical thinking.  Why "lowly" carpenter?

Carpenters install structures and fixtures.  I can't do that.  Can you?  A carpenter would be able to solve those problems.  Why "lowly" carpenter?

Carpenters measure, cut, and shape wood and other materials.  Again would a person of low cognitive intelligence be able to measure and cut accurately?  So why consider a carpenter "lowly?"

Carpenters build frameworks, including walls, floors, rooves, etc.  I imagine in Joseph's day they made tables and whatever else was needed.  Do you think the people thought that those with carpenter skills were "lowly"?

And finally, carpenters repair structures.  There's always a need for that, especially in Jesus' time before they had duct tape.  Carpenters need to be strong, have manual dexterity, and don't forget communication skills.

Why in the world, would anyone consider a carpenter, "lowly"?

Pope Francis, you should know better than that.

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