Borrowed News and Old News

From Mr. Terry --

Yesterday morning at Mass the Holy Father said, “when a priest, a bishop goes after money, the people do not love him – and that's a sign. But he ends badly.”   St. Paul reminds us that he worked with his hands. “He did not have a bank account, he worked, and when a bishop, a priest goes on the road to vanity, he enters into the spirit of careerism – and this hurts the Church very much – [and] ends up being ridiculous: he boasts, he is pleased to be seen, all powerful – and the people do not like that!” “Pray for us,” the Pope repeated, “that we might be poor, that we might be humble, meek, in the service of the people.” - Source

We have a good Pope.

On to other old news, if you have never seen Marjoe, which won an academy award for best documentary in the 70's, it is worth viewing.  My (much loved) Internet Archive has it - Marjoe.  It is not the reason I am so fond of people who take vows of poverty, but it could be.  If you believe that Jesus was the Christ, watching it will be painful, as he is mocked repeatedly.  And, it is very sad, not only the audiences (for what can surely be legitimately described as entertainment), but Marjoe  is a person who I have much pity for.  No one should have the childhood he had.

I keep in mind that God forgives all sorts of people.  Even those who say they don't know him - never seen him before -

Yeah, my favorite sinner, St. Peter.

My other favorite thing to say, "You are not God.  I'm not either." 

But keep your eyes open. 

(Note:  Post-midnight ramblings)  I have to find a pic to put in front of all my posts - sometimes nrelate will use any image on the page - it shouldn't - but it has.

Another Soldier Reporting for Duty

I'm a bit ahead of Memorial Day.  I have never written about my niece's boyfriend, a bomb disposal expert, who was killed on July 4th of 2011 by an IED.  Seeing Prince Harry visit the Wounded Warrior games made me wish ... he had survived.  Michael Garcia -

May God have mercy on our souls, and bring us to everlasting life.

A little dead tissue, and my knee works again

(Seattle Children's Hospital)

I've been very distracted with my knee problem(s).  Two weeks ago, I had a donor ACL replacement (it might have been an ACL, but other tissue/ligaments work also).  Don't know what sort I had put in.  Doesn't matter to me, as long as it works.  Donor - someone died and donated their body parts.

Now, for this operation, the tissue is freeze-dried.  One is familiar, by now, to hearing how carefully donor organs must be treated, and transplants effected as soon as possible.  But this tissue is not "hooked up" to my blood supply.  It is attached (after trimming and drilling and other things I don't want to dwell on) with a screw and  an "endo-button".  Whatever that is.

If I had had the insurance to do this ten years ago, I would have.  Let the past go.  I assume now that the only time I'll fall down is when I trip on something!  If you don't have an ACL, your knee is unstable, and does many unpleasant things - collapsing and sticking in one position are two of the major ones.  It also will likely give you arthritis.  Mine is fairly severe, and my orthepedist, having seen it up close and personal (and having taken pictures of it) thinks I probably will be happier with a new knee or half of a new knee.

I didn't know they gave half-knees.  Huh.

Not anytime soon!  I did work out with weights yesterday for the first time since the operation.  I would strongly recommend to anyone facing leg surgery that if you have a month or more lead-time, develop your upper body strength, and your inner and outer thighs if you can't work your knees directly.   The amount of time you spend without putting weight on that leg may be a few days, or a few weeks.  A little fitness will help tremendously. 

Cardio will have to wait another month.

So I'm happy to start getting back to normal life, driving, looking at the news, eating fast food.  Ha!  Although my neighbor fed me VERY well.  What a dear she is.  As were my friends who "hosted" me in their guest bedroom for four days.  This was Easter week, and I have zero memory of Easter.  Narcotics every four hours will do that to you.

Thank you to the person I will never know (in this life) for giving me part of your body.  It was one of the better days of my life when my doctor scheduled this operation.  I have had to put up with this for a long time, and now have this great opportunity to live more normally and actively.

I don't know if this is a strange coincidence or not, but my next door neighbor received a kidney and pancreas (he had diabetes since young childhood).  Unfortunately, the kidney was carrying a virus that would not have affected a healthy person, but due to his immune system deficits, it destroyed the kidney.  He did live the last years of his life as a non-diabetic!  I used to bring him ice cream, God bless his soul. 

My body is donated to LSU Medical School, but before that, I was an organ donor.  Hope you are too. 

Aside:  I arrived at my friend's house the night before the (very very) early surgery, and Jeannie pulled the Rosary I was wearing around my neck out from my t-shirt, and kissed the crucifix.  So odd that I thought nothing about it, except perhaps that's the way it should be.  I may have missed Easter Mass, but I did not forget my risen Lord.  Hope you had a blessed Easter.

Build on the Rock

When we walk without the Cross, when we build without the Cross, and when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord. We are worldly, we are bishops, priests, cardinals, Popes, but not disciples of the Lord.

I would like that all of us, after these days of grace, might have the courage - the courage - to walk in the presence of the Lord, with the Cross of the Lord: to build the Church on the Blood of the Lord, which is shed on the Cross, and to profess the one glory, Christ Crucified. In this way, the Church will go forward.

My hope for all of us is that the Holy Spirit, that the prayer of Our Lady, our Mother, might grant us this grace: to walk, to build, to profess Jesus Christ Crucified. So be it.

Pope Francis
The Holy Father's first homily, to the Cardinals - Vatican

Without Christ, there is no church; worldliness is sometimes dressed in solemn black and red; courage.  So far, I like this Pope.

Although that's not relevant to my faith - my faith  is not based on what I think of any Pope.   Still, I am hopeful that this man will be a great inspiration to many - especially to Cardinals, Bishops, priests and Brothers and Deacons (Sisters and nuns - haven't forgotten them).  Sometimes I think they need more shoring up than the laity.  It is a difficult time to be ordained or professed. 

Papa Francis

The Catholic world has a fine, fine day.  Praise God!

Papa

Unless you have some unusual inside sources in the Vatican, you've seen the headlines -- and that is the first news you've had that we will have a new Pope. 

When I'm confronted with something utterly unexpected, it takes me a while to "get my mind around it".  This is a tough one.

I don't doubt that this is something he truly needed to do - and that it is involves more than not being able to walk very well.   There must have been many dark nights while he considered this resignation.

I love you, Papa.

"Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." - Rev.

Almost Biblical

The elusive giant squid.  Maybe not the Leviathan from Job, but close.

Cool picture.

Review: Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture

Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture by Daniel Radosh

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This is a book by a Jewish fellow about strange Evangelical doings - and quite entertaining, really. I kinda thought I knew most of the low-down on Evangelicals - but I'm far behind the times.

He treats most of it very fairly, and even kindly. Criticism is not absent, but this is not scathing or hateful in any way. Fairly recent, pub. in 2008. Really worth reading, if you want to know what's going on with the myriad streams of Evangelical or Fundamentalist thought.

I just not going in to the origins of the word "Rapture" (but it's from the Latin Vulgate) - ha! And a concept of quite recent origin.

Still, very popular. By the way, Catholics and a great many other Christians think Jesus is coming back just one more time. We don't much worry about the whys and wherefores, we just want it to happen.

Not a frivilous book, and it is a little sad.





View all my reviews