Abbey-Roads2

Pictured, The Apotheosis of St. Thomas Aquinas.

At the end of his life St. Thomas stopped writing, he lived in silence. He had a mystical experience, a revelation, that led him to declare everything he had written was as straw. (Therefore, we may conclude that this painting does not represent Heaven, much less an appropriate entrance into Heaven. No one is going to be comparing notes on what Thomas wrote, nor what anyone else wrote.)

Who does God approve?

Someplace, in the psalms we are told,

“This is the man I approve, the lowly and afflicted…”

I cannot remember which psalm it is, yet we know from Our Lady’s Magnificat that it is the humble the Lord exalts…

“He has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

…the rich He has sent away empty.”

Sometimes, the liturgical controversies, the ecclesial conspiracies, the theological speculations…everything that gets religious people going, all of that wearies me.

I so wish I could be like a very simple, and obviously poor old man I would occasionally see at Mass, quietly kneeling in the most profound recollection after everyone else had left the Church. He appeared to be a retired worker, the years of hard labor lined in his face. I recognized that he was probably not a man with university degrees, nor a man of much sophistication, and I could tell he was alone in life. Yet he seemed to me to be very close to God and undistributed by the world or the tumult in the Church. He was united to Jesus, and it radiated from his face, as he knelt, eyes closed, his head slightly uplifted toward heaven.

This is the man God approves.

This is just going to get bigger - just like that fishy stuff going on in Los Angeles…

Rorate Caeli posted a link to First Things (after Robert Miller linked to him in his article) regarding an analysis of the Wieglus events in Poland. New Catholic wrote:”We believe that Prof. Robert Miller’s analysis of the events at First Things, with a kind link to us, presents an accurate portrayal of the deep Vatican problems related to the Wielgus Affair, particularly the disastrous process of episcopal nominations, centered in the Congregation for Bishops.” - Rorate Caeli

I think I was on to something in last night’s post, JPII - What Did He Know?

New Catholic prefaced his quote from First Things with this disclaimer:

“Let us remind our critics that we had not published a single word on Wielgus in December 2006 - because we had trusted the first note issued by the Holy See, according to which the “Holy See … took into consideration all the circumstances of his life, including those regarding his past” and the “Holy Father… nourishes full trust in Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus and, in full awareness, has entrusted him with the mission of pastor of the Archdiocese of Warsaw”. ” - Rorate Caeli

And then New Catholic finishes with this from First Things:

“The concluding paragraph of Miller’s text is particularly appropriate:

‘Now, either the Vatican knew about Wielgus’ past when it appointed him, as Wielgus says and as the Vatican’s statement in December strongly suggests, or else it did not, as Re now maintains. If the former, then the Vatican’s investigation of Wielgus prior to the appointment was grossly negligent, failing to discover information that was readily available in Poland. If the latter, as seems much more likely, then the Holy See exercised very poor judgment in making the appointment in the first place and even worse judgment in attempting to ram it through even after the truth about Wielgus became public. It stood by Wielgus while it knew he was lying to the faithful by denying the allegations. Many faithful Catholics looking at this situation will think that our bishops, rather than their critics, are the ones doing the real harm to the Church here.’” - Rorate Caeli

See! It happens!