Abbey-Roads2

July 23, Carmelite Feast of Our Mother of Divine Grace.

In Hispanic culture, there is a devotion to the Blessed Virgin as Divine Shepherdess, which is traced back to a vision of Our Lady by St. Isidore of Seville.  Lately I have taken to invoking Our Lady by this title, which was also a title used by Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified in reference to the Blessed Virgin.  I have found it helpful in meditating upon the passion of Jesus, thinking of Our Lord as the Lamb of God.  (I’m fond of calling him, “Little Lamb” - so you see how Our Lady as Shepherdess fits in so well.)

Like a lamb, led to the slaughter without resistance, Our Lord submitted to those who scourged him, peeling his garments and flesh away as a sheep is shorn…kicking and goading him, until he lie down to be nailed to the cross…like an innocent little lamb.

 Church people.

Martha had to be annoying, don’t you think?  Talk about a Church lady!  I don’t have much more to say about her than that however.

While continuing to suffer blogger-burn-out, and weariness with “Church-stuff” - which has little to do with authentic religion, faith and devotion - I sometimes have to wonder how Christ endured the company of men - indeed, endures all of us now.  Jesus even lamented this in the Gospel when he said,  ”How long must I endure this generation?” - or something to that effect.  (No need to try and answer this for me, please.  We all have answers, don’t we?)

At Open Book, Amy Welborn has probably one of the best posts I have ever read concerning this issue - written by her or anyone else for that matter.  The post is titled, Religion: A Test of Faith- I highly recommend it.  It isn’t the know-it-all, I-have-all-the-answers type of stuff one normally reads in books or on blogs.

Taming of the shrew.

Back to Martha and Mary - Jesus might just as well have said to Martha, “Bitch, bitch, bitch - so you are all about the hospitality ministry - shut up and mind your own business - leave Mary alone.  Oy!  What a kvetch!”  (But our Lord is charity itself, and he wouldn’t have said that - I would have.)

You see, it isn’t so much a question of the active and contemplative life here - it’s about keeping our focus upon Christ - no matter what we are doing - keeping our eyes fixed upon Jesus, who inspires and perfects our faith.

(I’m still on hiatus for awhile - a few hours, a few days?  I don’t know.)  

Today is the feast of the Prophet Elijah, represented here in his desert solitude, ministered to by an angel - after fleeing the wicked Jezebel.

I will be off-line for a couple of days retreat from the blog.  God bless.

Habeamus Papam!

Many devout Catholics are familiar with the prophecy of St. John Bosco, as well as the revealed portion of the Third Secret of Fatima, so I won’t go into these matters here.  Except to say, I think Pope Benedict XVI might well be The Pope envisioned in these prophecies.

Reading the various reactions to the release of Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum,  concerning the liturgy, as well as the latest clarification from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, regarding the primacy of the Catholic Church, leads me to this conclusion.

“I have come, not for peace, but for division.” Luke 12: 51

Early in his pontificate, the Holy Father caused an outcry because of his speech concerning issues regarding Islam.  Now, dissident/progressivist elements in the Catholic Church, along with not a few Protestant brethren, seem to be outraged by his most recent documents.  What better sign do we have that there really is a counter-reform underway in the Church - the so-called the ‘reform of the reform’ - dedicated to restoring authentic worship, faith and morals, than the objection of those not in communion with the Magisterium?  With the reign of Benedict XVI we are now beginning to see the enemies of the Church, coming out of their closets, to establish their division lines against authentic Catholic teaching.  It’s a good thing.

Bosco’s dream.

In the vision of Don Bosco, little ships come to the embattled Pope’s aid.  Recently a small, sedevacantist group of nuns came back into communion with the Roman Catholic Church because they recognized in Benedict XVI the true Pope.  Orthodox Catholics have been the only group to praise the recent Vatican document clarifying the status of “churches” in relationship to Rome.  Perhaps these overtures can be recognised as the little ships coming to support the Roman Pontiff in Don Bosco’s vision?

(Note on Don Bosco’s dream;  Some analysts assert that two Popes fell before the third successor Pope, who subsequently ”docks” the ship, that is the Church, between the two columns representing the Eucharist and Our Lady.) 

I’m not Michael Brown - and this isn’t Spirit Daily, but the idea intrigues me.

(Photo:  Benedict XVI arriving in Cologne upon the prow of a ship.  Painting: The vision of Don Bosco.)

Some people just aren’t close to their family…

It was St. Alexis whom St. Benedict Joseph Labre was called to emulate in his life as a homeless pilgrim.  St. Alexis lived around the year 442, a son of a wealthy Roman.  On his wedding night, he left his father and mother, his virgin bride and all of his inheritance to live the ascetic life of a pilgrim.  Some of the legends differ, but most agree Alexis traveled to Edessa, where he supported himself begging.  Gaining recognition for his holiness, he once again fled the friendship of men, and returned to Rome.  He continued his solitary life of prayer, residing unrecognized by his family, in an alcove beneath the exterior stairs of his father’s house.  It is said he lived on alms and occasional menial labor.  After seventeen years, through the intervention of Divine Providence, his lifeless body was found, with a note revealing his true identity.  Only then did his parents and wife come to understand the meaning of his abandonment of home and family.

The life of St. Benedict Joseph Labre mirrors that of St. Alexis remarkably - which for me, authenticates the veracity of the legend of St. Alexis, since Benedict’s life had been so close to our times and was well documented.  Many today like to discount the stories of the earliest saints as mere fairy tales, or morality tales, yet they endure as much more than that.

“I have forsaken my home, I have cast off my inheritance: I am poor and needy, but the Lord has taken me up” (Jer 12:7).

(Art: Georges LaTour, “The Discovery of St. Alexis”.)

Some call it Catholic divorce. 

The former wife of Joseph Kennedy II has an interesting article regarding annulments in the Catholic Church featured in the LA Times op-ed page.  She claims that last year there were some 57,000 annulments granted in the U.S. alone.   If true, that is a high number.

According to the former Mrs. Kennedy, it appears grounds for most annulments have been based upon Canon 1095, which covers those who are incapable of contracting marriage due to a lack of sufficient reason; grave lack of discretion of judgement; or those, because of psychological problems are unable to assume the obligations of marriage.  Sheila Rausch Kennedy refers to this as the “loose canon” since canon lawyers seem to be able to twist a host of marital problems to fit into this category.

The right to appeal.

I only know a few Catholics who won an annulment, thus permitting them to remarry in the Church.  From what they told me, there was a bit of wrangling to win their decree.  In a couple of situations, the former spouse was not at all compliant in the process, which made things ugly.  In one case, the woman was not in agreement with the decision, but obviously had no idea she could appeal, as Sheila Rausch Kennedy had done.  (Although Mrs. Kennedy had to hire outside attorneys.)

Lacking discretionary judgement.

I have never been involved in an annulment process myself, so I can’t really speak to the issue.  However, the one question I have about the Kennedy thing is this:  If the Kennedy annulment was processed on the diocesan level, with Kennedy using Canon 1095 - which means he was either psychologically unfit, lacked a sufficient use of reason, or worse, discretionary judgement, what does this say about him?   Assuming these were his grounds, how can he be qualified to serve as a politcian?  Did he suddenly mature or find psychological stability after x-number of years?  (He has served in Congress, and has had his eye on his uncle Ted’s Senate seat as well.)   

Today of course, is the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, my patroness since earliest childhood - 4 or 5 years old.  Therefore I want to thank Our Lady for the extraordinary graces she has given to me and my family.  I did not post on her because others have done so much better than I could.

This is one of the few years I wasn’t able to attend Mass or visit the Carmelite monastery for Our Lady’s feast.  There is a poignancy about the feast this year, unlike any other year.  Seeing as I am the same age as my mother when she died, I recall on this day - now 25 years ago - how my mom found out she had cancer, only to die on the feast of St. Teresa of Avila a couple of months later.  She had a remarkable reconciliation with the Church on the octave of this feast, Our Mother of Divine Grace, and died a very holy death.  (My mother’s death removed my own fear of the transition.)

A blessed feast of Our Lady to all who wear her holy habit - that “mouse-bib” thingie Catholic’s wear.  (That is what a non-Catholic friend of mine teasingly calls the Scapular of Mt. Carmel.)

Art: Image from an antiques gallery; it is actually Our Lady of Mercy and not Mt. Carmel - nevertheless it is beautiful.

Nothing to blog about. 

Anyone who surfs the net knows this stuff already, but these are some news items that caught my eye today.  (And there is nothing else to blog about.)

Internet addiction:

A couple severely neglected their kids - infants - because mom and dad were constantly on the computer.  Dungeons and Dragons was their big obsession.  Check out the story here.  The kids were dehydrated and malnourished - the Gen-Y parents had food in the house - they were just too busy.  (I wonder if there should be an investigation into those blogging Catholic moms?)

Jackpot!

The lawyers are doin’ good with the LA sex abuse settlement - a whopping $666 million - or there abouts.  I feel kind of sorry for Roger though - he apologized to the victims - but I wonder how that next Bishop’s Appeal thing is going to work for him?  He had this to say in response to the settlement:

“Sometimes I honestly had reached the bottom. I didn’t know what to do next. It seemed like everything I tried to do was wrong, somebody thought it was wrong. I think spiritually … when you are totally empty, the only way up—without your resources—is God. Spiritually, it’s been an enormous time, times of frustration but also times of great spiritual strength, knowing that I don’t have all the answers and relying on God to show us the way forward.”  - Mercury News

Serial priest? 

One of the accused in the settlement was a Fr. Sutphin - which made me think - is he related to Beverly Sutphin?- you know, Kathleen Turner’s character in “Serial Mom”.  (I wonder if John Waters would ever consider doing a film on the sex abuse crises?  Something light-hearted of course.)

“Why, you little slut!”

The stories coming out of the LA court proceeding are revealing to say the least - but nothing we haven’t heard before:

“Lawyers representing victims of sexual abuse released new information Sunday detailing alleged misconduct by a handful of clergy members, including a nun who slapped a girl after she accused a priest of molesting her.” - LA Daily News 

That sort of reaction wasn’t all that unusual in the past.  A childhood friend once revealed to me that when she told her mother how her brother-in-law was having sex with her, her mom slapped her into the next room and warned her never to talk like that again.  When my little brother revealed he had been molested, my dad beat him and told him he had asked for it - the sexual abuse - not the beating.  It has always been more convenient to blame the victim anyway - they are already so demoralized, it can’t hurt to pound them harder into the ground.  

Paper ass.

When I was little, and I said something stupid, my dad always yelled at me saying, “You’re talkin’ like you have a paper ass.”  I never got that, but today I could use the same words to Keith Ellison, the black, Democratic congressman from Minnesota.  (Liberal Minneapolitans pretty much elected him to that office.)  He’s an interesting character, born and raised Catholic, turned Muslim - now embracing crackpot conspiracy theories.  Speaking to a group of athiests, he recently had this to say:

America’s first Muslim congressman has provoked outrage by apparently comparing President George W Bush to Adolf Hitler and hinting that he might have been responsible for the September 11 attacks.

Addressing a gathering of atheists in his home state of
Minnesota, Keith Ellison, a Democrat, compared the 9/11 atrocities to the destruction of the Reichstag, the German parliament, in 1933. This was probably burned down by the Nazis in order to justify Hitler’s later seizure of emergency powers.

“It’s almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that,” Mr Ellison said. “After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it, and it put the leader [Hitler] of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted.”

 To applause from his audience of 300 members of Atheists for Human Rights, Mr Ellison said he would not accuse the Bush administration of planning 9/11 because “you know, that’s how they put you in the nut-ball box - dismiss you”.

Vice-President Dick Cheney’s stance of refusing to answer some questions from Congress was “the very definition of totalitarianism, authoritarianism and dictatorship”, he added.

 Mr Ellison also raised eyebrows by telling his audience: “You’ll always find this Muslim standing up for your right to be atheists all you want.” - Telegraph

More great political leaders of the 21st century. 

There is just no accounting for politicians is there - no, that wasn’t a question.  It will be interesting if Hilary becomes president and Obama her vice-president.  That is probably what is going to happen if the Republicans can’t come up with anyone trustworthy.  Not that Hilary is trustworthy, but America’s love for novelty and firsts will most likely be a prime motivating factor for that winning ticket. 

Christian kitsch.

Lastly, News of the very, very tacky: Christian businessmen want to erect the world’s tallest cross in the city of Nazareth, to attract pilgrims and tourists.  Oy!  I hope the Israelis put a stop to that nonsense - talk about desecrating the landscape!  (But there is $$$ to be had in the God-business.)

That’s all - on a day when there is really nothing to blog about.

Presented are a few photos of my garden - I’m not a great photographer - so don’t expect much.

The Hostas are in full bloom, so it is rather dramatic - otherwise is is more or less a green garden.

Looking through to the shade garden with the birdbath - the yard is divided into “rooms” and the shade garden is named, “St. Joseph’s Wood” - because the lilacs have been trimmed into ”trees”.

The master of the house, St. Joseph.

This is the “sitting room” - graveled as they do in Provence.  I live across the street from a former Lutheran Church turned Seventh Day Adventist.  This particular sect thinks the Pope is the anti-Christ - they often attempt to engage me in a religious discussion, but I never take the bait.  (They gather on Saturday, when I hang the Papal flag out for them to see.)

Just another view of the Hostas.  There are two stone “putti” at the rear of the “green room” representing the two seasons of Minnesota - Summer and Winter.   If I get a chance, another day I’ll photograph the front, with views of the house.  Have a nice Sunday.