Christmass Mourning: we need to pray for each other

 I am just rambling and putting ideas down.  Allow me to share my mind mix:


I neglect to pray for those outside my immediate bubble.  That's a straight out confession.  I am too absorbed in my own worries and loved ones, that others don't even cross my mind.  Today, Pope Francis called upon us to spend a few minutes at Noon (whenever noon happens in our part of the world,) to pray for those who hunger.



I can't imagine what living life would be like without knowing where my next meal is coming from.  But that's not all. Most of the world's hungry don't even have roofs over their heads, places to sleep comfortably, bathrooms, running water!  We need to remember these people, and pray for them.  Prayer is so powerful, we can do the impossible with God! 

Another group that often gets overlooked at Christmas are those who are mourning.  Christmas has always been a time of joy and excitement for most people.  Things changed for me when I lost my brother to a motorcycle accident 20 years ago.  Ever since his death, Christmas has become more spiritual for me, as it should.  7 years ago, I lost my mom, so the sadness around this time has multiplied.  Vee lost her mother just three weeks ago :(  For some of us, that joy we experienced in our youth is lost for good.  We can only keep our eyes looking forward to that Eternal Christmas, when we will reunite and be a family again in Paradise.  There are many people mourning their loved ones during the Holiday seasons.  We should remember to pray for them as well.

Let us remember the sick and those in the hospital, nursing homes and those who are living all alone.  There is a group of elderly at my parish.  They live together in a dilapidated house.  I'm thinking of going there to visit them, closer to Christmas day and see what I can do for them.  I wanted to decorate their homes for them, but I don't know...wouldn't want to create a fire hazard and burn their house down.  I will see what I can do...

Let's all start with prayer, I'm sure it will lead to action to make this world just a little bit better for the less fortunate people out there.

pocketful of morphine

I had some interesting things in my pockets this week.  Ok two things, morphine and Jesus.  My mom's pain got to the point on Friday that I had to stay home from work and she was prescribed morphine.  To make sure she doesnt mess up when taking the drugs I give them to her in consultation with my sister the nurse.  As she cant attend Mass when father was here yesterday, giving her the anointing of the sick, he said I could bring her Communion in  a pyx they would give me after mass.  After mass today I spoke with the deacon, he set me up and Jesus King of kings, Lord of lords, etc etc sat in my coat pocket as I biked back home in the chilly wind.  Donkey jokes are accepted.  We chatted, I suggested it might be a nicer ride if I lived in a place with palm trees :P I was honored to be able to do that but wish a priest or someone else more qualified was available.

Ignoring God

There may be things we want to hide in our lives from God, or just hide our whole life in general.  We are afraid, for whatever reason, that following God means He takes everything fun away from us.  Fun meaning the sin we think is fun but we are really slaves to.  That could be one reason but there are others as well why we ignore God.  The joke is on us though because we think we are so smart and knowledgeable about God that if we ignore Him He will think "oh ok so and so is ignoring me so I will leave them alone." HAHAHAHAHAHAHA  NO SUCH THING!!!  You can ignore God all you want but He will NEVER ignore you or leave you alone.  He is the Good Shepherd that will keep following your sorry stupid ass, throwing spiritual rocks at you until the very end in order to save your soul.

From Psalm 139

Where can I go from your spirit?

From your presence, where can I flee?

If I ascend to the heavens, you are there;

if I lie down in Sheol, there you are.

If I take the wings of dawn

and dwell beyond the sea,

Even there your hand guides me,

your right hand holds me fast.

If I say, “Surely darkness shall hide me,

and night shall be my light”^*—

Darkness is not dark for you,

and night shines as the day.

Darkness and light are but one.

HAPPY FEAST!!!

Happy Feast

of St Therese!!!!

Start

your St Therese Novena!!

Sorry I posted this so late in the day on the 23rd BUT THERE IS STILL TIME, and God is outside of time anyway so just pray.

Relevant Radio pledge drive

I listen to Relevant Radio at work, and it nourishes my Catholic Faith throughout the day.  The station is dependent on contributions.  They are going through a pledge drive right now.  Please consider giving.


Here is the link to listen to them online:


Relevant Radio Live


Here is the link to donate online:

https://www.relevantradio1.com/donations


Thank you!

Jesus came to divide us...

Luke 12: 49 - 53

---

"I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!  I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!  Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."


Jesus is the Prince of Peace.  Jesus is Love.  How is it that He came to divide the earth?  

You either belong to the camp that believes, loves, follows Jesus and His Words, or the camp that does not believe, does not love nor want to follow His words.  Two camps will clash constantly until He comes again.  You don't have to look far to see this is true.  In our society today, we have those who believe murdering the unborn is a right to be done out of the convenience of the mother who carries the baby in her womb.  Opposing these pro-aborts are us pro-lifers who will stand to defend the unborn every chance they get.  Another example:   we have those who believe it is a normal way of life for men to have sexual relations with men, and women to have sexual relations with women. They demand we accept it as normal and want to force it upon our traditional institutions.  Then, there are those of us who heed the word of God in regards to same sex "marriages" and know it is an abomination to the Lord.  And we speak out against this agenda which is forcing us to accept that which is contrary to nature's laws and God's laws. 

Other examples are those found in families:  some believe living in sin, living a life without God is OK.  This brings much division when other family members do follow God and his Commandments.  It could make for awkward moments during the family get togethers...

What Jesus is really saying is His Truth reveals sin.  It is SIN that divides us.  Jesus uncovers the reality of sin, and the majority of the world doesn't want to accept it.  The earth doesn't want His peace...the earth doesn't want His love...the earth does not want Him...



Come Lord Jesus, in Your glory soon!

Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola

Suscipe

St. Ignatius of Loyola

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.


its so easy to pray this as I did several years ago but when you start to live it it can hurt.  A lot.  But I still love good holy Jesuits!! AMDG!!!

Blue Moon leaves me....blue...very very blue

I'm having a Blue Moon Belgian White beer tonite.  It's nice and cold/frosty in this 90 degree heat.  I was looking forward to taking my first sips of this Belgian Style Wheat Ale...but after my first few sips...I do not think I will be able to finish it.

How do I describe the taste?  Let me see...

Picture a nice summer rain shower in the hottest parts of Texas. A good downpour drenches everything, even some old rusted red wagon you have in your yard.  You don't ever move that rusted ol' wagon...you leave it in your yard for a little rustic appeal.  Well, the downpour lasts all day, and everything gets flooded, especially the little rusted wagon's body.

A week goes by, and there's still a little bit of water in the wagon.

Picture yourself walking over to the wagon and falling face first into it...with your mouth open.  You take a good gulp of the water that's been resting in it for a week.

THAT'S how Blue Moon Belgian White tastes like!!!!

I give it one out of five empanadas

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel

 

VEE:  For some reason my pastor is taking off Monday and Tuesday this summer which Im not happy about, so I couldnt attend Mass today.   Thank god for EWTN though as I was able to watch their Mass and teh homily was preached by one of my favorite priests Fr Mitch Pacwa SJ.  Now that my summer vacation is over, well it was last week but Im slow, hopefully we will psot more here and on our neglected facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/TeamOpCarm

Happy Feast of St Teresa of the Andes!

yay!!!

I wish I was so holy that I could enter Carmel and die shortly there after.
for more on her read this, http://carmelourladysdovecote.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/today-is-the-feast-day-of-st-teresa-of-the-andes/

or watch the mini series on her life.

yesterday we went to a game of some sort, apparently it is not baseball because it is the wrong league.  I also drank budweiser so I had a non beer too :P We had really good seats though and the rangers won.  It was awesome.

Memorial Day

This is how my dad feels.  He fought in WWII and survived.  He came home, met my mother, got married, had a family, had a great career, has several grandchildren and now lives out his retirement fairly  healthy at 87 years old.  He doesn't go to veteran's parades, doesn't want his name in veteran's tributes.  He doesn't talk about WWII.  Maybe once in a while, he'll share something he witnessed, he'll speak of friends he lost.  Then he gets wet eyes and falls back into silence, holding on to those memories like precious diamonds that he won't share.  They are too valuable to him, I suppose.    He doesn't call himself a hero.  He tells me the real heros "never came home."

I think he's a hero...

Today, I remember all of his "brothers" who gave the ultimate sacrifice.  I remember and pray for their souls.  May they all rest in the peace of God.

Apostates amongst us

According to wikipedia, Apostasy is a complete renunciation of a belief system: 

"The American sociologist Lewis A. Coser defines an apostate to be not just a person who experienced a dramatic change in conviction but "a man who, even in his new state of belief, is spiritually living not primarily in the content of that faith, in the pursuit of goals appropriate to it, but only in the struggle against the old faith and for the sake of its negation."

Usually, apostates renounce their religion, and leave it.  Today, the Catholic Church is inundated with apostates within her own ranks.  They refuse to leave, but instead, stay inside to spread their ills and fight the Church from within.  At the same time, they don't admit or even think they are apostates, but have deceived themselves into believing they can bring a better understanding of God than the Magisterium. 

The Church has had her share of apostates and has survived.  This is reassuring when you take a look at the three big sins destroying souls today.  All three are connected to sins of the flesh:   fornicating, contracepting and aborting the unborn.  Many Catholics, laypeople, politicians and even religious react to today's controversies by conforming to the madness.  Some even dare to relate their conformity to Christ's "radical" persona, as if Christ, were he giving talking points today, would side with the pro-aborts and the radical sexual idolators.  These apostates distort the true meaning of love and charity with supporting sinners in their sinfulness.  They do this all the while attacking those who refuse to share in their conformity.  Today, if one preaches loving the sinner but hating the sin, they are labeled intolerant bigots.  Loving the sinner yet despising their sinful actions will NOT SUFFICE.  They demand you ACCEPT THEIR SINFUL DEEDS! You are an intolerant piece of poop if you don't accept their lifestyle as well.

If only "catholic" apostates would understand that when the Church speaks out against these sins, she is showing her most loving motherly affection for the poor sinner.  It's more difficult for unbelievers to accept her love, but it shouldn't be for Catholics.  This is what sickens my heart.  We Catholics are called to follow Christ, to love Him with all our hearts, souls and minds.  This love for God demands the sacrifice of our own wills and our own selves.  If we truly love God, we would be doing everything in our power not to offend Him.  When going through life, Christians get tempted witih everything from the normal temptations to the most bizarre things satan can throw at us.  We aren't immune to sinfulness.  We know it's not easy!  But as Christians, we have a commitment to Christ and everything He taught us.  If I had intense feelings broiling up inside my flesh, pining for sexual intimacy with a handsome male friend...I'm called to fight through that temptation and not go through with the action.  If suddenly I had intense feelings for a female friend, I would fight through that.  If I were married and I felt like contracepting cos I don't want to deal with children...I would pray through that, and do what is right and what God is expecting from me.  If I found myself pregnant and didn't want the baby, I wouldn't drive to planned parenthood to kill the child.  I'm a Christian, I can't give in to this world's solutions and excuses.  Temptations of the flesh are the toughest temptations.  We can go through a whole gamut of emotions and sexual feelings.  In no way would those feelings define me.  I wouldn't embrace those temptations as "who I am."  I know who I am.  I'm a human being, a target of the devil, so I expect temptations of all sorts.  I'm a Christian.  We also aren't called to whine about our poor conditions.  We wouldn't demand victimhood and a justification to live in mortal sin.  We wouldn't demand that others  accept our sinful lives. 

Apostates take note:  your time on this earth is numbered, but the Church will live for all eternity.      The sins you fight for are not worth an eternity burning in hell.   There are millions of wounded people, but sin cannot heal them. Going along and supporting them in their sins will do nothing but break them even more and eventually destroy them.  Supporting sin will effect you the same way.  Explain how this is love? Please tell me how this is charity?  If it is uncharitable to call sinners to repentance, then Christ himself is guilty.  Too often people don't want to offend the sinner, but they have no thoughts on how greatly the sins offend God.

Happy Birthday to the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church

Acts 2: 1 - 11

---

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.  And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.  And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.  Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.  And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.  And they were amazed and wondered, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?  And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?  Par'thians and Medes and E'lamites and residents of Mesopota'mia, Judea and Cappado'cia, Pontus and Asia, Phryg'ia and Pamphyl'ia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyre'ne, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God."

Happy Solemnity!

happy feast of st simon stock!!!

Lead, Kindly Light

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,--
Lead thou me on!
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene,--one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
Shouldst lead me on:
I loved to choose and see my path, but now
Lead thou me on!
I loved the garish days, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long thy power hath blessed me, sure it still
Will lead me on;
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

--Blessed J.H. Newman

 

Divine Mercy Sunday

CHRIST IS RISEN, HALLELUJAH!

Holy Saturday

"What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled.

Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son.

The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: 'My Lord be with you all.' And Christ in reply says to Adam: ‘And with your spirit.’ And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.

‘I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise.

‘I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person.

‘For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden.

‘Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image.

'See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one.

`I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you.

‘But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the cherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the cherubim worship you as they would God.

"The cherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages."

(From an ancient homily for Holy Saturday)

lol

Solemnity of St. Joseph! Happy Feast!

Today is the glorious Solemnity of St. Joseph, the man God chose to raise His Only Son. He is patron of Canada, of the Carmelites, and guardian of the whole Church.

Papa Paco

I can totally see him doing this!

happy fifth sunday of lent

The Prayer of St Patrick whose feast day we would be celebrating if it didnt fall on a Sunday (but thats not stopping me anyway :P )

and a song to drink your Guinness or Jameson with :D

Im Shillelagh McMuffin

HABEMUS PAPEM

smoke scedule

footprints

And watch

The most watched chimney in the world.

Now we wait

  

The doors are sealed, the conclave has begun, and after one  round of black smoke the waiting picks up again tomorrow.

Pray with the Cardinals

EWTN posted this news:


http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=124421#.UTZDiB6gLgI.facebook


The Cardinals will be praying for the Conclave at 5 p.m. Rome time---that's 10 a.m. Central.  Join them if  you can!


Also,

http://adoptacardinal.org/

go adopt a Cardinal and pray for him during this important time in our Church's history!

Countdown

This is Rome time...at 8:00 p.m. the Chair of St. Peter will be empty...

Auf Wiedersehn Pope Benedict!

We love you and will miss you!!!






...video created by the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist...

Cardinal Bertone spoke for us all

Most Holy Father,

with feelings of great emotion and profound respect, not only the Church, but the whole world, has heard the news of your decision to give up the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, Successor of the Apostle Peter.

We would not be honest, Your Holiness, if we said that this evening there is not a hint of sadness in our hearts. In recent years, your teaching has been a window open onto the Church and the world, which let in the rays of truth and love of God, to enlighten and warm our journey, even and especially at times when clouds gathered in the sky.

All of us have realized that it is precisely the deep love that Your Holiness has for God and the Church that prompted you to make this act, revealing that purity of mind, that strong and demanding faith, that strength of humility and meekness, along with great courage, that have marked every step of your life and your ministry, and that can only come from being withGod, from standing in the light of the word of God, from continuously going up the mountain of encounter with Him to descend again into the City of men.

Holy Father, a few days ago with the seminarians of your Diocese of Rome, you said that as Christians we know that the future is ours, the future belongs to God, and that the tree of the Church grows ever anew. The Church is always renewed, always reborn. Serving the Church in the firm knowledge that it is not ours, but God’s, that it is not we who build it but He; being able to say in truth: “We are useless servants. We have done no more than our duty “(Lk 17:10), trusting completely in the Lord, is a great lesson that you, also with this difficult decision, have given not only to us, the Pastors of the Church, but to the entire People of God.

The Eucharist is a thanksgiving to God. Tonight, we want to thank the Lord for the path that the whole Church has walked under the guidance of Your Holiness and we want to tell you from the depths of our heart, with great affection, emotion and admiration: thank you for giving us the shining example of a simple and humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord, a worker, however, who knew at all times how to do that which is most important: to bring God to men and to bring men to God.

[Translation by Peter Waymel]

source:   http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/cardinal-bertone-s-farewell-address-to-the-holy-father

Let us begin this journey...

 

Upon reading that Pope Benedict's final Mass as Pope would be today, Ash Wednesday, I once again felt a surge of sorrow.  He will always be Papa Benny but soon he will start a more cloistered part of his life.  I think what I'm feeling is how I would feel if someone I loved left for the cloister.  They would still be that person to me but in a different way.  I would't be able to see them as much and that would and does hurt.  We love someone and always want them with us.  

Reflecting on the above photo reminds me that while Pope Benedict is pope, he is only a steward, someone who cares for the king's household in lieu of the king.  Christ is still king.  After many years of doing his duty of God and to man I think Christ has allowed our dear papa to rest with Him alone, to gaze on Him alone---to sit at the feet of the Master and learn from Him alone.  The great professor will be alone with the greatest Teacher, and in doing so will do his greatest work.

There is one greater and that is Jesus who always remains.  Let us sit as His feet too and in doing so we may sit beside our beloved brother and papa.

EWTN will show the Mass at 10 a.m. central time and again at 5 p.m. central standard time.  Check the listings.

A day we will never forget

DS:   Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.  On this day in 1858, our beautiful Mother appeared to a peasant girl in Lourdes, France.  She appeared eight years after the Church proclaimed her "the Immaculate Conception..." a title she herself used at the apparitions.  Just another beautiful sign that heaven and the Church are united...

Our Lady directed St. Bernadette to scratch the ground; when she did so, a tiny stream appeared.  When many of the sick touched the water from this stream, drank it, or washed themselves in it, they were cured instantly.  Ever since that time, Lourdes has been the destination of the sick.  Today, millions travel to the place where the little grotto with its stream still flows...and many miracles still occur at this holy place.

I remember watching "The Song of Bernadette" in my youth and falling in love with the story and the little heroine, St. Bernadette.  I aspired to be like her in every way, pious and obedient, witty and not afraid of her detractors and those who persecuted her.  (I have fallen way short.)  St. Bernadette was extremely influential to me in my formative teen age years.  To this day, if I hear any of the music I used to listen to while reading books on the apparitions or on her life, it takes me totally back to those moments of discovering and getting to know this little saint of Our Lady's.

Today also marks an anniversary of a moment in my life I will never forget...

7 years ago on this day...my mother woke up from her coma.  She had been deathly ill and in a coma for a month and a  half.  Can you imagine your loved one asleep for such a long time?  I stayed by her side the whole time, never leaving, only to Mass or the bathroom.  Well, it was getting to the point where I felt like I was on the precipice of despair.  And one night, Feb. 10th, I whispered a prayer in the rare stillness of my mother's ICU room.  I asked Our Lady of Lourdes to whisper in her Son's ear, to intercede for me to "Please take her if you want her, or please give her back to us, don't leave her in this state of absolute nothingness..."  I begged God and begged Our Lady to intercede.  I fell asleep beside mom's bed while sitting on the chair.  I was used to sleeping this way, as I had been here for as long as she had been in this coma.  

The next morning, I awoke in the grey darkness of the room, the sun still slumbered.  A light from the nursing station just outside my mom's room shone through the glass doors.  I had to remind myself where I was..."oh...I'm in the hospital..." and I felt that disgusting bile in my stomach, that worry and that terrible feeling in the pit of my very being...

I looked over at my mother as I always did every morning after I woke up...I noticed some movement...I got out of my chair and peered closer to her face...her silhouette gave her away...HER EYES WERE OPEN!!! She was looking about the room...!!!

"MOM" I screamed so loud that I'm sure the whole ICU heard me.  I went over to the front of her and looked at her square in her face...her beautiful face looked back at me.  She couldn't speak because she had a tube breathing for her,  but her face said it all.  She had nothing but questions.  I told her where she was and that she was very sick, but she woke up and so things will be better!! I gave her hugs that will last me a lifetime!  Then I rushed to break the  news to the medical staff...

I am still so very grateful to the Almighty God for the miracle He wrought through the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes...

That brings me to today...

This early a.m., the phone interrupted my slumber.  My sister was calling me with the news that our beloved Pope Benedict was resigning... this news terrified me but I've had the whole day to think about it and mourn our loss.  Prayers for the Church and for the election of our next Pope. People will speculate and wonder but I believe the next few days will bring more light to the matter.  If it doesn't, it is just as well.  Canon Law allows this, and that's all I need to know.  Godspeed to our dear Pope.  He cites illness and weakening.  He wants to spend the rest of his days in prayer.  I joked around and said, "He's gone all Carmelite on us!" 

It  hurts, and I cried.  But I feel this is what the Holy Spirit wants for Papa Benny and for the Church... 

February 11th will always be a day to remember...

VEE:  I love Papa Benny.  I was incredibly blessed several years ago to travel to Rome and attend one of his Masses and his Wednesday Angelus.  I will never forget being in the presence of this holy man.  St Peter's square is large  but when the pope comes out you can feel the Holy Spirit and distance doesn't matter.

One does not discern a vocation to the papacy.  One doesn't enter the priesthood saying they intend to make it to bishop then cardinal then pope.  One is elected, and Pope Benedict carried out what was asked of him by God for love of God for many years, even prior to being pope.  I've heard that in 1991, 1996, and 2001 he had asked to retire.  Perhaps now God has granted him his heart's desire after being a good and faithful servant for many years.  He did his duty to his fullest.  Enjoy your more cloistered time papa as you begin your most important work!

Feast of St Paul Miki and Companions

I think we often fail to recognize the help the saints give us in this life and only in the next will we know what they have done for us and how they were with us.  From wikipedia On February 5, 1597, twenty-six Christians – four Spaniards, one Mexican, one Indian, all Franciscan missionaries, three Japanese Jesuits and seventeen Japanese laymen including three young boys, who were all members of the Third Order of St. Francis – were executed by crucifixion in Nagasaki on the orders of Hideyoshi Toyotomi. These individuals were raised on crosses and then pierced through with spears.

of note in particular in that group
 Saint Paul Miki or Saint Paulo Miki – Born in Japan in 1562, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1580 and was the first Japanese member of any Catholic religious order. He died one year before his ordination to the Catholic priesthood. Miki's remaining ashes and bones are now located in Macau, China.
 Saint Philip of Jesus - Born in Mexico in 1572 (at the time "New Spain"). Upon his martyrdom he became the first Mexican saint and patron saint of Mexico City.

It may be to my surprise and great honor that I one day find that these great martyrs were with me when I didnt even know it.

We're back, Happy New Year!

Well, we took a loooong break, but we're back in business.

Tomasz, thanks for your concern :)  It was nice hearing from you.

The New Year started with a bang.  I spent some time visiting Vee in her home country, "The Frozen Tundra."  Our birthdays were celebrated with class, and jovial times were had by all.

Now, we're back at work, and watching the real world with all its problems and worries.

I want to shout out to all those pro-lifers in IRELAND.  Today they had a march to stand up against legalizing abortion.  From what I've heard there were probably 30,000 people there, but millions joined them in prayer and in their hearts!  God bless them, and may he preserve Ireland from the wrath of the culture of death.

Also want to shout out to my baby Godson, "Peanut" on his very first birthday.  I'm getting a Mass celebrated for you and for all your family's intentions...(do babies have intentions?  Well, I'm sure God knows what those are... lol)

VEE:

Do babies have intentions!?!?!??! rotfl yes, to eat sleep and poop!!!

God is good, lets keep praying for the built-up of His Kingdom!

The Irish March against the legalization of Abortion