Abbey-Roads2

Happy feast of St. Francis!

I’m not in the mood to blog seriously, I don’t want to have to research anything or link to articles and all of that.  So I will just do a little stream of consciousness thing here.

The miracle.

I read that another possible miracle for Mother Teresa may be confirmed soon.  A priest was healed of a kidney stone the day before he was scheduled for surgery.  Medications he had been taking did not help, but during Mass it disappeared.  How do we know the meds didn’t kick in?  I guess that is for the doctors working for the Causes of the Saints to determine.

Remember when Mother Angelica was cured suddenly?  She took the leg braces off and was pain free - after years and years of suffering.  I always wondered about that however.  She has had several strokes over the years - what if she had a very small stroke that somehow caused her to be able to walk without braces again?

Susceptible to miracles.

Recently there was a story about ‘mirculaous images’ on an altar cloth in a Eucharistic chapel - I think in Florida.  I saw the photos, which appeared to be shadows, and the images were not exactly photo perfect - in fact, they were pretty bad representations.  The diocese has since declared they were of natural origin.

Very few miracle get approved at Lourdes, even though thousands have been acclaimed.  The criteria is extremely strict, those that are approved are usually much more significant than a kidney stone disappearing.

Moral miracles don’t count?

The Postulator for the cause of Matt Talbot told me that what is holding his cause up is that the miracles are mainly moral miracles.  Conversion and overcoming addictions, hence they are difficult to prove.  I have heard that at Medjugorje most of the healings are moral as well; conversions, or the realization of a vocation, and so on.  Conversions and sudden cessation from an addictive substance can only be ascertained after the person’s death - or so the Postulator indicated to me.

Monks.

That idea reminds me of something Dom Phillip told me, he was the retired abbot of the monastery I lived at.  He once tried to explain to me his theory that the only real monk is a dead monk.  By that he meant that perseverance in monastic life is so tenuous that only at death is a monk assured of his vocation.  I doubt many monks would agree with him on that however.  Some men are very proud of their status as a monk.

The early monks used to refer to the monastery as a hospital, or a penitentiary, being a place wherein a man could incarcerate himself for his crimes (sins) or find healing for the sin-sickness of his soul.  Monastic life was once looked upon as being very penitential.  Although I think monastic life has become quite a bit more  relaxed in our day.

Francis the penitent.

Francis of Assisi is known for his love of animals and his joyful spirit.  Many think of him as a radical pacifist and rebellious of Church structure as far as discipline and orthodoxy.  Just an easy going lover type of guy.  But I think we too easily  view him through contemporary lenses and reshape him according to our own decadent designs.

I think Mother Teresa would be the best possible modern interpretation of what Francis was really like.  His life was very tough, he did great penances and fasted and prayed like the early desert fathers.  His poverty was real, much like the Missionaries of Charity.  His service to the poor was exactly like theirs is.  I also think his prayer was much like Mother Teresa’s.

The penance of a dark night.

Of course he had ecstasies and visions, which Mother didn’t have in her later years.  Despite these favors  his asceticism was perfectly conformed to Jesus crucified, thus it would follow that his prayer had been so as well.  It was only a couple of years before his death that his interior life became manifested through the stigmata.  Despite his suffering, like Mother Teresa, St. Francis usually only demonstrated intense love and unabated joy, unless he was weeping for the passion of Christ - yet both saints were interiorly crucified with Christ.

I don’t like it when popular culture cheapens the saints and the grace of God through naive sentimentality, or superficial romantic notions of sanctity.

Gratitude.

Have you noticed lately there seems to be a lack of gratitude amongst people?  I’ve often been at a store and the sales help rarely  say thank you when they are completing the sale.  I’ve given gifts to people and have never received a thank you note - a couple of times, not even an acknowledgement.  One of my nieces told me that people don’t have to do that any more.  That’s just odd.

Okay then.

That’s all.  

Who would they be?

I was was supposed to do a meme a month or so ago, but forgot what it was - something about who my favorite bloggers were and why.  I decided I’d do this instead.  So, if my Internet pals were saints - who would they be?  That’s the gist of it.  (No particular order of favorites.)

Bloggers and saints:

My very first blog-buddy was Rhapsody.  So which saint would she be?  I’d have to say St. Martha.  She is a wife and mother, and also works outside the home… a busy lady.  Because she is such a caring person, she worries a lot.  (She’s always worried about my health.)  She is also very practical, and has a keen sense of justice.  Like her mentor Chesterton, she is full of common sense and can be a little outspoken.  Her faith is very real.

Then there is Ray from Stella Borealis.  I keep thinking St. Bonaventure - partly because he kind of looks like a painting I remember of the saint.  I imagine Bonaventure as a big saint - but not as big as Aquinas - both in size as well as theology.  Being a Franciscan, Bonaventure was joyful, compassionate, humble, and so on - just like Ray.

Adoro Te Devote.  She has to be St. Joan of Arc.  Prayerful, mystical, devout, loyal, etc..  In fact she is a warrior, a fighter, and completely unafraid of defending the truth. 

Then there is Jeron.  He doesn’t have a blog, but he is a constant commenter on many.  He is definitely St. Camillus de Lellis.  Just read about Camillus and you’ll see.  Sordid past, former military man, beautiful conversion, deeply prayerful, etc..  And he makes me laugh!

Angela Mesenger.  She is St. Gianna Molla.  Self-sacrificing, hard working mom, devoted to Our Lady - she would sacrifice her life for her family, and maybe anyone else - just because she loves Our Lord so much.

Mitchell and Judith from Our Word.  Czar and Czarina, Nicholas and Alexandra - yes the Russian Church canonized them.  I don’t know why other than the fact that I imagine them dressed up all the time.  (Seriously, Mitchell would be Francis De Sales and Judith would have to be his soul-mate, Jane Frances de Chantel.  Without going into detail, suffice it to say, these two saints suit them.)

Fr. Zuhlsdorf.  Who else but the great Cardinal of the Counter-Reformation, St. Robert Bellarmine.  Just read Fr. Z’s blog - as if you don’t already - I’m sure even the Pope reads it!

Cathy of Alexandria.  I’d say St. Catherine of Sienna.  Like the lay-Dominican saint, Cathy is very concerned with doctrine and discipline.  And when you read St. Catherine closely, you see her tremendous charity and love of sinners, as well as a compassionate understanding of men’s weakness - Cathy is like that.  (And she is very funny too - and we all know what a mad-cap St. Catherine was - well, maybe not so much.)

Don Marco.  He could be a lot of different saints, but I think his soul is more deeply akin to… St. Alphonsus Liguori.  He is brilliant, deeply devoted to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and Our Lady, as well as all of the saints and spiritual writers, and he is in love with sinners.  

Elena of Tea At Trianon.  Who else but Barbe Acari - Blessed Marie of the Incarnation.  Beautiful, sophisticated, a woman of the world, an intellectual of deep piety… with the heart of a Carmelite.

Eric of The Daily Eudemon.  (Funny, I use that word so frequently in daily conversation, but never remember how to spell it.)  St. Thomas Moore jumps into my mind.  Maybe it is Eric’s dry wit, or his keen intellect, or his devotion to his family.  He just makes me think of Thomas Moore.

The Crescat.  Definitely St. Catherine of Genoa.  Although Catherine wasn’t known for her sense of humor, she was known to speak her mind - something The Crescat has no trouble doing.  Fortunately, she has a great sense of humor, and overflowing charity, piety and devotion, like St. Catherine.

The Western Confucian.  He is brilliant.  He could have been St. Thomas Moore too, but that seat was taken.  So I am going to say… Bl. Contardo Ferrini, the brilliant Italian law professor.  He knows politics, he seems rather cultured, and I suspect he has a very deep devotion.  So he would be Contardo.

Anita from V-For Victory.  St. Edith Stein.  Intellectual, philosophical, and deeply devoted to Jesus Crucified and the liturgy - whether she knows it or not.

Paramedic Girl at Salve Regina.  St. Rose of Lima.  Whenever I think of Paramedic Girl, I think of someone beautiful like St. Rose.  Rose also cared for the sick and the poor, and I think she is a good pick for Paramedic Girl, whose beautiful devotion seems similar to that of St. Rose.

Athanasius Contra Mundum!  Omigosh! - he has to be St. Jerome!  Just read his blog.  Fiesty, orthodox, and I’m guessing he mea culpas his chest out with a huge stone sometimes, just like St. Jerome.

Swiss Miss at St. Monica’s.  Bl. Anna Maria Taigi.  Married, devout, insightful, and practical.

Jeffrey.  St. Bede the Venerable.  Anglophile, brooding over lovely art and manuscripts - to inspire and instruct.

Sanctus Belle of Our Lady’s Tears.  Who else but St. Imelda Lambertini?  She’s so devout.

Penitent Blogger.  The wonderful penitent, Charles de Foucauld.  This blogger has the heart of a hermit-monk, and deep devotion, which shines through in his daily reflections.

Hallowed Ground.  The photos he posts often remind me of Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati - so Ken is Pier Giorgio.

UKOK.  She’s the English mystic, Margery Kempt… sort of like Julian of Norwich.  Very quaint and mystical, and practical as well.

Jeff at Stony Creek.  St. Isidore the Farmer.  Just because… I imagine he’s kind of a cool, Northern California-country-style sort of guy.  He’s got a good blog too. 

That’s it - I’m dry now; this is enough feast-day recreation.  Sorry if I missed anyone.  Not all of these are ‘buddies’ in the strict, ‘kissie-kissie’, ’pat-on-the-back’ sense, but they are all blogs I frequently read and esteem.  It may have been more fun to do “If my blog-buddies were celebrities…”  Although, that’s probably better suited for my other blog, Abbey-Roads 1.

Have a happy feast day!          

You know that word verification thing you have to go through on some blogs when you want to make comments?  I sometimes find it annoying, but sometimes it can be fun.  It can be like that scramble game in the newspapers where you have to unscramble letters to make a word.

I just ran into one that spelled, “tymafyi” - which when sounded out reminded me of Tina Faye.  See how fun that is.  (I know!  I didn’t even have to unscranble it.) 

Then - this is really weird, I was commenting on a post about gay pride - you will not believe the letters I had to copy out, “lesfggy” - “lesbian faggy” is what I got from that.  Some blogs have numbers too, I encountered one that had “2 g d 2 g 4″ - which I immediately identified as “too good to go for”.  Isn’t that so cool?  And what about this one on a blogspot where the blogger may be mentally ill (not you!); “mpdjir” - which I read as “multiple personality disorder jerk”.  (I’m not making this up either.)

Commenting - it’s fun!  Try it on my blogs sometime. 

This is an example of the so-called New Age crucifix that was reported on Spirit Daily, which I commented on in my previous post.  Quick! Emily Rose!  Call the exorcist! 

The crucifix, obviously an older style, as it appears here could be of French design, maybe even bastardized Celtic, or simply Italian Renaissance decorations - whatever its origins, it is NOT New Age.  The standard behind the corpus, with the snake, clearly symbolizes the pole Moses erected in the desert, mounting a bronze serpent atop - as God commanded, which prefigured the crucifixion of Christ on the cross.  Read your Bibles! (Numbers 21: 4-9 and John 3:14) 

To use St. Teresa’s words, “I don’t understand these fears, ‘The devil!  The devil!’, when we can say, ‘God!  God!’, and make the devil tremble.” - Life, Ch 25,22. 

(Thanks to Jeffrey for the link to the sketch.)

 Editing note:  I meant to post this at the ‘other’ Abbey, and mistakenly posted it here.

I just watched the film again.  I like the movie because Miranda Priestly reminds me so much of my former Senior Vice-President, Andrew Markopoulos, whom I worked for at Dayton-Hudson, which turned into Marshall Fields, and now finally turned into Macy’s - Oh! thank God Andy died before that happened!  (I posted about this film before, after I first viewed it, that post was a more thoughtful look at fashion from a Catholic perspective.)

However, I just want to post a bit of dialog from the film that perfectly sums up the influence and reason for haute couture…

After she laughs at a discussion over a belt, Miranda asks Andy what she is laughing about…you could imagine that Andy’s laugh might cause those present in the room to consider how superficial and frivolous the fashion world is: 

Andrea Sachs: “No, no, nothing. Y’know, it’s just that both those belts look exactly the same to me. Y’know, I’m still learning about all this stuff.” 

Miranda Priestly:  “This… ’stuff’? Oh… ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don’t know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don’t know is that that sweater is not just blue, it’s not turquoise, it’s not lapis, it’s actually cerulean. You’re also blindly unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn’t it, who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you’re wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff.” 

That is what the business is really all about.  What did they tell Bush Sr. years ago?  “It’s the economy, stupid.”

(I just liked the dialog and thought posting it would be a nice tribute to Andrew Markopoulos, whose birthday was around this time - he was just as tough and demanding as Miranda Priestly, and he taught me a lot.  May he rest in peace.) 

I once posted about Don Giorgio on one of my extinct blogs.  The post was in regard to the fact that Donatella Versace’s inspiration for her Spring 2007 menswear collection was none other than the Holy Father’s secretary, Monsignor Georg Ganswein.  The post was titled, “I’m Too Sexy For My Cassock.”  Since it was a post for my company blog, which happened to be a Catholic Company, it wasn’t well received.  Unfortunately, though it was a good post, it is lost to posterity.

My friends in Rome and elsewhere continue to tell me stories concerning Don Giorgio’s popularity throughout Rome, Italy, and the rest of Europe.  Good looks just might revive an interest in the Church in the European Union.  Here is a brief history on the Pontiff’s secretary: 

“Ganswein was born on July 30, 1956, the eldest son of a blacksmith in Riedern am Wald, a tiny Bavarian village in a traditionally Catholic area of the Black Forest.

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He supported his studies at Munich University by working as a ski instructor. He was ordained a priest in 1984 and received his doctorate in canon law in 1993.

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After teaching at Munich he became professor of canon law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross - Santa Croce - in Rome. It is run by Opus Dei (although Ganswein himself is not a member) and, therefore, unlike other ancient Italian institutions, run with strict adherence to timekeeping, dress codes and discipline. That would be entirely to the liking of this dedicated and scholarly northern European.

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He met Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger over meals in the German college. In 1996 Ratzinger invited Ganswein to join the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, once upon a time the Holy Inquisition, where he was prefect, and Ganswein eventually became his private secretary. In 2000, Pope John Paul II made him a personal chaplain. .