The Catholic Edge

 Did you ever hear of the Apostolic Pardon?  It's a gift Jesus gave to Peter and all the Apostles.

It's a prayer used as an act of mercy, drawing on the authority given to the Apostles to "bind and loose" (Matthew 16:19)  It is used as a person is dying and not only gives peace to the soul of the dying but to the family and friends, present, assuring them that they have done all they could do to bring a soul closer to the gates of Paradise.  

This used to be called the "Last Rites."  Catholics would carry ID cards, saying "I am Catholic, in case of accident, please call a priest."  It is a beautiful prayer:

May our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave to His blessed apostle Peter the power of binding and loosing, mercifully accept your confession and restore your baptismal innocence.  And I, by the power given to me by the Holy See, grant you a plenary indulgence and remission of all sins; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  By the sacred mysteries of mankind's restoration may almighty God remit for you the punishment of the present life and of the life to come, and may He open to you the gates of Paradise and admit you to everlasting happiness.

This will be one of those moments of holy, sacramental, radiance, where prayer is felt in the heart.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Be With The Spirit

 LECTIO:

Eph 5:15-20

Brothers and sisters:
Watch carefully how you live,
not as foolish persons but as wise,
making the most of the opportunity,
because the days are evil.
Therefore, do not continue in ignorance,
but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.
And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery,
but be filled with the Spirit,
addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,
giving thanks always and for everything
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.

MEDITATIO:

OMGosh! Is this reading apropos for today.  It seems bad images, temptation, if not plain evil surrounds us.  Movies, books, signs, TV, music, etc., temptations abound. What is to be done?  What can I do?

STUDIUM:

Paul is telling us to discipline ourselves.  Note that Paul advocates temperance, not abstinence.  See 1 Tim 5:23, Prov 23:31.  Act cautiously.  Christian life is doing God's Will, not ours, and that means thoughtfully discerning what God's plan for us.

ORATIO:

Lord, I give you permission to dope slap me.  Have my guardian angel guide me away from excess.  I must learn to discern God's Will.

CONTEMPLATIO:

Speak Lord; I will listen.

The Other way Around

 This morning, I read something that gave me pause.  It said that the Pharisees et el, didn't recognize the Messiah because they thought Jesus was a mere man with pretensions to say He was God.

Yes, they did.  Even today, many see a man.

Actually, it is the other way around.  Jesus is God.  What you see is the Man.  

Remember, God is two natures: human and divine.  

Philippians 2: 5-8, Numbers 23: 19, 1 Samuel 15: 29, Hosea 11:9

Strange enough to learn a new term, hypostatic union. You won't understand it and neither does anyone else.

Vindication

 I guess I'm not naive.  I didn't see the reference to the Last Supper in the opening ceremony of the Olympics and now I found out because it wasn't there.  This is the explanation from the art director.  It was not the Last Supper. It was a depiction of an ancient Greek Bacchanal… because, you know, the Olympics are ancient and Greek. Surprise!

My View on the Olympics

 Right up front, I'll tell you that I love the Olympics.  I like sports and I like to see the highest achievements.  Yesterday, as I watched the opening ceremony, I was flipping channels to watch the Red Sox and Yankees baseball games.  Red Sox and Yankees are always good games.  At first the Yankees were ahead, then the Red Sox, then the Yankees, then they were tied, and finally the Red Sox won.  Great show.

As for the Olympics show, it was too much, too all encompassing, too "over the top", and too confusing.  For the majority of it, I didn't know what I was watching. Venues were shown, e.i., Tahiti, Bordeau, Lyon, Marsailles, Trocadero, etc., and then back to the parade of athletes on the Seine.  The light shows were amazing.  The entertainers were good.  I was amazed at the work that was put into the production of the event.

As I watched, I saw many weird things.  My eyes popped and my eyebrows went up at the manage a trois enactment. I couldn't believe my eyes. Hubby thought the fashion show was weirder.  But he's never seen models walk down the runway at a fashion show.  

In case you haven't ever seen a designer's fashion show, they are exotic. They are bizarre and only for fashionistas.  They're mostly for advertising, getting noticed. No lay person would wear those clothes.  This is what the fashion show at the Olympic opening was showing.  The models were modeling out of this world clothes and accessories.  Only Lady Gaga would wear these clothes, and only when performing, certainly not when mucking out the barn. The runway walk is exaggerated.  It's a type of sashay, stomach out first, tottering on unfamiliar shoes trying not to fall on your face, walk. And as each model finished her walk, she sat on the side of the runway.  

That's what I observed.

This morning, I read reviews condemning the mocking of the Last Supper.  ?????What?  When I saw the picture comparing the fashionistas to Jesus and the Apostles, I could see it, but to tell you the truth, if it weren't pointed out to me, I would never have noticed.

The picture is certainly taken out of context.  The people were models who had performed and sat on the side of the runway.  There were many, many, not just thirteen.

I also learned that the theme of the opening ceremony was France's historical culture: the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Am I too American provincial not to appreciate the "manage a trois", and the Last Supper references?

If so, good.  Let's get to the gymnastics and swimming.

Lectio Revision

 My Lectio Divina needs a face-lift.  I have six steps!  I don't always use the last one, but still.  That's a lot. Lectio, Studium, Meditatio, Oratio, Contemplatio, and Resolutio.

Lately, I've been meditating what I need to know about the Reading, before I do some googling, and reading.  How do I know what's going on, so I have to think before I search.  What I'm trying to say, I'm switching Meditatio before Studium.  

Sometimes, depending on the Reading, there is no Resolutio.  There's no behavior change involved.  Here's the revised steps:

Lectio:

Meditatio:

Studium:

Oratio:

Contemplatio:

Resolutio:

St. Dominic Has His EyesOn You

 There is a depiction of St. Dominic, where his face is scrunched up in consternation. Admittedly, it’s odd. My grandchildren do not like to look at it and even say its creepy. So they’ve turned this little bust of St. Dominic around, so it’s not looking at them. 

Today, as we we’re outside, I heard an exclamation, “oh no, Dominic is 👀 at us with disapproval.”

I looked in that direction, and she was correct. There in the window was St. Dominic with that worried visage. 

We had to laugh.