Pope Benedict XVI's Last Homily

As Catholics began their 2013 Lenten period with one pope that ended on Holy Saturday with a new one, it bears to remember the words of Pope Benedict XVI's last homily as Pope.

 From the Catholic World Report [1]:

Venerable Brothers, Dear Brothers and Sisters!

Today, Ash Wednesday, we begin a new Lenten journey, a journey that extends over forty days and leads us towards the joy of Easter, to victory of Life over death. Following the ancient Roman tradition of Lenten stations, we are gathered for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The tradition says that the first statio took place in the Basilica of Saint Sabina on the Aventine Hill. Circumstances suggested we gather in St. Peter’s Basilica. Tonight there are many of us gathered around the tomb of the Apostle Peter, to also ask him to pray for the path of the Church going forward at this particular moment in time, to renew our faith in the Supreme Pastor, Christ the Lord. For me it is also a good opportunity to thank everyone, especially the faithful of the Diocese of Rome, as I prepare to conclude the Petrine ministry, and I ask you for a special remembrance in your prayer.

The readings that have just been proclaimed offer us ideas which, by the grace of God, we are called to transform into a concrete attitude and behaviour during Lent. First of all the Church proposes the powerful appeal which the prophet Joel addresses to the people of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning” (2.12). Please note the phrase “with all your heart,” which means from the very core of our thoughts and feelings, from the roots of our decisions, choices and actions, with a gesture of total and radical freedom. But is this return to God possible? Yes, because there is a force that does not reside in our hearts, but that emanates from the heart of God and the power of His mercy. The prophet says: “return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting in punishment” (v. 13). It is possible to return to the Lord, it is a ‘grace’, because it is the work of God and the fruit of faith that we entrust to His mercy. But this return to God becomes a reality in our lives only when the grace of God penetrates and moves our innermost core, gifting us the power that “rends the heart”. Once again the prophet proclaims these words from God: “Rend your hearts and not your garments” (v. 13). Today, in fact, many are ready to “rend their garments” over scandals and injustices – which are of course caused by others - but few seem willing to act according to their own “heart”, their own conscience and their own intentions, by allowing the Lord transform, renew and convert them.

This “return to me with all your heart,” then, is a reminder that not only involves the individual but the entire community. Again we heard in the first reading: “Blow the horn in Zion! Proclaim a fast, call an assembly! Gather the people, sanctify the congregation; Assemble the elderly; gather the children, even infants nursing at the breast; Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her bridal tent (vv.15-16). The community dimension is an essential element in faith and Christian life. Christ came “to gather the children of God who are scattered into one” (Jn 11:52). The “we” of the Church is the community in which Jesus brings us together (cf. Jn 12:32), faith is necessarily ecclesial. And it is important to remember and to live this during Lent: each person must be aware that the penitential journey cannot be faced alone, but together with many brothers and sisters in the Church.

Finally, the prophet focuses on the prayers of priests, who, with tears in their eyes, turn to God, saying: “Between the porch and the altar let the priests weep, let the ministers of the LORD weep and say: “Spare your people, Lord! Do not let your heritage become a disgrace, a byword among the nations! Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”(V.17). This prayer leads us to reflect on the importance of witnessing to faith and Christian life, for each of us and our community, so that we can reveal the face of the Church and how this face is, at times, disfigured. I am thinking in particular of the sins against the unity of the Church, of the divisions in the body of the Church. Living Lent in a more intense and evident ecclesial communion, overcoming individualism and rivalry is a humble and precious sign for those who have distanced themselves from the faith or who are indifferent.

“Well, now is the favourable time, this is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2). The words of the Apostle Paul to the Christians of Corinth resonate for us with an urgency that does not permit absences or inertia. The term “now” is repeated and cannot be missed, it is offered to us as a unique opportunity. And the Apostle’s gaze focuses on sharing with which Christ chose to characterize his life, taking on everything human to the point of taking on all of man’s sins. The words of St. Paul are very strong: “God made him sin for our sake.” Jesus, the innocent, the Holy One, “He who knew no sin” (2 Cor 5:21), bears the burden of sin sharing the outcome of death, and death of the Cross with humanity. The reconciliation we are offered came at a very high price, that of the Cross raised on Golgotha, on which the Son of God made man was hung. In this, in God’s immersion in human suffering and the abyss of evil, is the root of our justification. The “return to God with all your heart” in our Lenten journey passes through the Cross, in following Christ on the road to Calvary, to the total gift of self. It is a journey on which each and every day we learn to leave behind our selfishness and our being closed in on ourselves, to make room for God who opens and transforms our hearts. And as St. Paul reminds us, the proclamation of the Cross resonates within us thanks to the preaching of the Word, of which the Apostle himself is an ambassador. It is a call to us so that this Lenten journey be characterized by a more careful and assiduous listening to the Word of God, the light that illuminates our steps.

In the Gospel passage according of Matthew, to whom belongs to the so-called Sermon on the Mount, Jesus refers to three fundamental practices required by the Mosaic Law: almsgiving, prayer and fasting. These are also traditional indications on the Lenten journey to respond to the invitation to «return to God with all your heart.” But he points out that both the quality and the truth of our relationship with God is what qualifies the authenticity of every religious act. For this reason he denounces religious hypocrisy, a behaviour that seeks applause and approval. The true disciple does not serve himself or the “public”, but his Lord, in simplicity and generosity: “And your Father who sees everything in secret will reward you” (Mt 6,4.6.18). Our fitness will always be more effective the less we seek our own glory and the more we are aware that the reward of the righteous is God Himself, to be united to Him, here, on a journey of faith, and at the end of life, in the peace light of coming face to face with Him forever (cf. 1 Cor 13:12).

Dear brothers and sisters, we begin our Lenten journey with trust and joy. May the invitation to conversion , to “return to God with all our heart”, resonate strongly in us, accepting His grace that makes us new men and women, with the surprising news that is participating in the very life of Jesus. May none of us, therefore, be deaf to this appeal, also addressed in the austere rite, so simple and yet so beautiful, of the imposition of ashes, which we will shortly carry out. May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church and model of every true disciple of the Lord accompany us in this time. Amen!

 [1] Pope Benedict XVI Last Homily As Pope

Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013 -- Reflections From A Different Perspective

On earth Easter is the resurrection of Christ and the death of Sin.  In heaven Easter is a reunion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  United, the Holy Trinity, unlike Christ on earth, will never be subject to the temptation of  Satan.  Even Satan knows Perfection cannot be tempted and will not waste any effort trying.

While the Holy Trinity was separated in matter, God remained alone in heaven, allowing the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, as distinguished from the hordes of spirits waiting to incarnate [1],  to unite with the flesh of Jesus to take the place of the first Adam and experience being human with all of humanity's failings including its biggest, the inability to resist completely all of Satan's continuous enticements.  Because Jesus was the Son of God, He was able to reject Satan's temptations [2] in the desert.  Sinless to the end of life in the flesh, Jesus was therefore able to "commend" or "commit" at His death His Spirit into the hands of God without being subject to the Final Judgment.

To Hell Christ descended nonetheless, not because He sinned but to forever remove the stain of Adam's original sin by his Holy blood and to lead all those who believe in Him out of eternal darkness onto the path lit by His eternal light.

Happy Easter!



[1] The Meaning Of Life -- Part 1

[2] Jesus the Son in the flesh and spirit was separate from God the Father and supposedly being the weaker parts of the Holy Trinity, Satan waned to take advantage of the vulnerability and tried to triumph over God.   However, Christ was resolute in His commitment to His Father and the Holy Trinity of Which He is a part and rejected Satan fully by His Free Will.

Good Friday, March 29, 2013 -- A Prayer

Dear Lord,

Your sinless death is the death of Sin.  Please permit my sins to die as well.

To Hell You descended.  Please bring my sins along and leave them with Satan.

On the third day You rose again [1] from the dead.  Please let me wake up with my last year's sins behind me.

If I should sin again, please permit me to receive Your Grace so that I could return to You, and return with a much lighter load of sins to send back to Satan.

Amen.



[1] The Apostle's Creed states that Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.  He descended into Hell.  On the third day He rose again from the dead.  He ascended into Heaven and sits and the right hand of God.  The word "again" does not mean that Jesus died once, rose from His death, died again and rose from His death a second time.  This is my explanation:  Jesus died on the cross and was buried, then He descended into Hell.  In order to descend into Hell, Jesus' body had to rise from His death.  That marks the first time Jesus arose.  Count that as Day 1, Good Friday.  No one is sure when Jesus arrived in Hell or how long He was there for but He was there.  Perhaps he stayed in his grave Friday night (it was a long day and He was tired as hell) and left for Hell the next morning.  How long it took Christ to get there is not known.  I assume He arrived some time on Holy Saturday (Day 2) and spent His Saturday night in Hell (the real Hell, not some dive club somewhere on this planet that may be called "Hell"), a place for souls that are dead which means souls whose light from God had died, i.e., extinguished eternally.  I assume that Jesus, whose light is eternal, rose really early the next morning to get away as quickly as He could from being among the dead souls with which He spent all night long and ascended into Heaven (returned home).  After which He might have said, "Thank God, I'm home!"  This would be Easter Sunday, Day 3.  This rising from Hell is Jesus' second time to rise.  This second time is not a "rising" from His own death, but a "rising" from the "dead," a place for dead souls (obviously a pun on the word "dead").  Therefore, it would be correct to say that Jesus, on Day 3, Easter Sunday, rose again, (please note the use of a comma here after "again") from a place for the "dead" that can be called "dead."  Therefore, the Apostle's Creed could read like this:  He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.  [He rose from His grave.]  He descended into Hell.  On the third day[,] He rose again[,] [from where did He rise?] from the dead [a place for souls that no longer have the light of God].

Good Friday, March 29, 2013 - A Thought

The crucifixion of not only The One who was sinless but also many, many others forces us to accept our immense capacity and willingness to be mercilessly cruel in contrast to our immense capacity and unwillingness to be unconditionally loving.

Comparing Pope John Paul II to Pope Francis I

This is not going to be flattering or pretty but I am exercising my free choice, whether fairly or not, correctly or not:

While Pope John Paul II, a former actor, used the papacy as a stage to act out his real life drama (he saw himself as the composer and conductor of his life-long symphony that crescendoed in his celebrated dying years), this Pope Francis I, a former nobody, has already manipulated the papacy on day one into a series of blank canvases so that in every canvas he had filled and yet to fill, he was and would be the central figure performing a deed worthy of praise only because it had appeared or would appear holy and had appealed and would appeal to the public but in reality, there is no nexus between the image he had projected and would continue to project and the holiness of such an image.  There is no redemptive value behind any of his public displays which only serve Satan, displays that mock Christ in seemingly holy deeds and taunt Christ with seemingly holy utterances that put people on the descent to Hell rather than on their way to salvation and the accent to Heaven.

The Prophetic Words Of Saint Francis Of Assisi

"Let all of us, brothers, consider the Good Shepherd Who bore the suffering of the cross to save His sheep.

"The Lord's sheep followed Him in tribulation and persecution, in shame and hunger, in weakness and temptation, and in other ways; and for these things they received eternal life from the Lord.

"Therefore, it is a great shame for us, the servants of God, that the saints have accomplished great things and we want only to receive glory and honor by recounting them." [1]

These words were by Francis of Assisi before he was declared a saint.  How prophetic those words have become for the current pope who named himself after the holy saint.

In the first paragraph, Francis of Assisi wrote to his followers that they should be mindful of Christ's suffering, not Christ's incessant forgiveness like Pope Francis had told his audience.  In the next paragraph, Francis of Assisi told those who followed Christ in His trials and sufferings in life would be with God in heaven after death.  In the last paragraph, Francis of Assisi castigated men of cloth who paid only lip-service to (i..e., recounted) the lessons taught by the saints but desired all of the glory and honor given to them.  Little did Francis of Assisi know, or perhaps he knew from seeing it in a vision, that one day there would be a pope who would choose to be named after him, Francis of Assisi, the saint, and who would want "only to receive glory and honor by recounting" the great accomplishments of Saint Francis of Assisi without following Christ in His "tribulation and persecution, in shame and hunger, in weakness and in temptation, and in other ways" in the same manner that Saint Francis of Assisi had.




[1]  Armstrong, Regis J. O.F.M. Cap. et.al. Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Volume I, The Saint. Page 131. New York: New York City Press, 2000.

Free Will vs Predestination

Dictionary.com defines predestination to be: "the action of God in foreordaining from eternity whatever comes to pass." [1]  I disagree.  Predestination is not God's foreordaining events; it is simply a word for human beings to describe events in the future that they believe are unchangeable because of divine intervention.  This belief is wrong because the future has always belonged to Free Will.

To understand Free Will, one needs to know that it came from God.  God could not have created the Garden of Eden without Free Will.  Free Will without sin is synonymous with Perfection.  In other words, if we are without sin, our choices will always be perfect and we will be just like our Creator, God, and God is Perfection.

To the serpent in the Garden of Eden I gave the name "Free Choice".  [2]  Again, we all know what happened there: Free Choice tempted our distant relatives, Adam and Eve who exercised their free will and ate the forbidden apple from the Tree of Knowledge.  That was the original sin and the consequent of that sin is death.  That original sin is like an invisible DNA that is part of every single human being who cannot escape death. [3]  Death therefore cannot be argued as God's preordained result of human life because death was a direct consequent of the exercise of Free Will.  The dire consequence of this sin was and is still being passed from generation to generation.

With the seeming predestined death of humans out of the way, the discussion can return to one's free will in life.  Let me assert that Free Will is without a doubt unpredestined, unbridled and absolutely free [4].  Understandably, this assertion raises a lot of questions.  One of them might be: how can Jesus foretell his own death on a cross if it is not predestined?  Another one might be: how was St. Malachy able to see in his vision future popes if they are not predestined?  Stating the questions differently, how could Jesus and St. Malachy predict events when Free Will had not yet been exercised?

The answer is simple.  Free Will is always exercised either in the past or in the present.  Free Will does not exist in the future.  The future can only exist after the exercise of Free Will.  A prophesy or vision comes from Perfection.  Perfection can tolerate no omission or error.  To have perfection, one must be able to see clearly from infinity in the past to everything in the present and to infinity in the future.  Since God is perfect, God can see all the free wills that have yet to be exercised, hence God was able to allow Jesus to foretell his death [5] and St. Malachy to call out the names of future popes.  This is a good analogy:

"An illustration would be that I could arrange for my child to choose ice cream over something else and not violate his free will. For instance, I could put a bowl of chocolate ice cream and a bowl of dirt and rocks in front of my child and I know exactly which one the child will choose to eat.   But my knowing does not violate my child's free will." [6]

To drive the point home, the child could have opted for a slice of pizza and a soft drink or anything else that he could think of at the time (keys to the car and some gas money perhaps) but since the father on earth is not perfect, he really would not know what his child's free choice would be (assuming he is at an age when he is able to talk back).  The Father in Heaven, however, being perfect and perfectly omniscient, can see what each person's free choices [7], [8] would be at any point in his/her future (including the free choices of those yet to be born) and can share that perfect knowledge with whomever.  That divine knowledge is sometimes referred to by earthlings as a prophesy or a vision.

Accordingly, the belief that God has foreordained one's future is wrong.  God's ability to see precisely what one's future will be like is rooted in God's perfection, being able to see the endlessness of time from its beginning to its end and all the choices that are yet to be freely willed.


[1] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/predestination?s=t

[2] http://lemomentdepaix.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-perfection-of-eden.html

[3] Whether death of other living creatures is God's will or a consequent of an original is beyond the scope of this entry.

[4]   Prior to one's birth one is a spirit among hordes of others wanting to be born to have have a chance at experiencing flesh.  See also The Meaning of Life -- Part 1 and  The Meaning Of Life -- Part 2.  Therefore, one cannot say that one does not have absolute free choice in life because one was born, say with deformities due to genetics, since prior to birth, one's spirit exercised its free will to incarnate.

[5] Even though Jesus prayed to God in Gethsemane asking God to take away the cup (of pain and suffering) as if Jesus' crucifixion were preordained by His Father, it was ultimately Jesus' (the Son's) free will to obey God the Father to take up death on a cross and reject Sin and Evil by refusing to prostrate before Satan.

[6] http://carm.org/if-predestination-true-then-how-can-there-be-free-will

[7] An argument that one does not truly have Free Will can still be made because free choices are unlimited, including those that defy the laws of physics, like walking on water.  The fact that one cannot will freely to walk on water, one does not have Free Will.  The response to this argument is in Note [4] above.  By choosing freely to incarnate, the spirit has agreed to live within the limits of the flesh and the challenges of original sin.

[8] Another argument that Free Will does not exist is based on the assertion that one never wills freely to be a victim of an accidental death.  I do not think that is true.  I believe that one does not consciously want to volunteer to be a victim of an accidental death or an assassination but I believe that one's subconscious or unconscious mind does freely choose an "unexpected" death.  Why such a morbid state of subconsciousness or unconsciousness exists is beyond the scope of this blog.  I wish someone would have the interest and the time to delve deep into the lives and minds (conscious, subconscious and unconscious from a Freudian perspective) as well as the spiritual natures of the victims of such "accidental" deaths. For the young ones who were not old enough to make their own choices, the researcher would look to their parents or guardians.  Because I am a firm believer in Free Will, my fall back position in any situation where destiny, not free choice seems to be the logical conclusion is Note [4] which maintains that the choice that was made by the spirit prior to being incarnated comes with all of life's attendant risks.  Remember, it is the experience of flesh, no matter the duration, that compels a spirit to choose incarnation.

The Words Of Satan Or Of God?

In my last entry, I had the audacity to insinuate that Pope Francis could be a false prophet.  I pray that I had not been destined for Hell by writing my last entry and pray again that I would not go to Hell for this one, hinting some more that Pope Francis could very well be Satan's minion.  With God on my side (hopefully), let me take the plunge.

I had heard it on television but did not give it much thought but today I am reading it in print:

"The Lord never tires of forgiving...it is we who tire of asking for forgiveness." [1]

If Pope Francis is correct, I would be forgiven [2] even though I disagree with him and think that he might be Satan's agent.  If I am correct thinking that those very words are Satan's words and not God's, then Pope Francis would have something to think about and should pray for forgiveness.

Why do those words sound to me like Satan's all of a sudden?  I do not know.  It just happened.

If those words are true, then there would not be a Hell because the Lord will forgive you (if even if you reject Him totally and eternally) and let you into heaven because you find the environment in Hell rather harsh and uncomfortable.

If those words are true, then we can do whatever evil deed or all the evil deeds we wish to do, freely and without restraint since "[t]he Lord never tires of forgiving."

If those words are true, then we do not even have to believe in God, let alone ask '[t]he Lord" for forgiveness.

If it is true that we are the ones who tire of asking for forgiveness, then it is perhaps true that we do not care if God forgives us or not (that is why we do not bother to ask or we tire of asking again and again) since God, according to Pope Francis, forgives tirelessly and (unmasking the hidden meaning) automatically.

This is what I know:  Satan is extremely smart and beguiling.  Satan will fool anyone again and again unless you pray to God for help to always see the truth.  By putting these seemingly true and innocuous words into Pope Francis' mouth, Satan is asking us to take God for granted to the point of ignoring God, and do whatever we wish without compunction and commit the most egregious sins again and again since God, the forever loving God, Who tirelessly forgives whether you believe in God or not, whether you repent or not, whether you ask for forgiveness or not.

After analyzing carefully the above-quoted words (some of the first ever uttered by a rather unremarkable commoner Jorge Mario Bergolio turned Pope Francis) giving us carte blanche  to commit whatever sin there is to commit and giving us the assurance that there is no retribution for any of our evil acts since "[t]he Lord never tires of forgiving," I regret to conclude that they do not comport with the truth as I see it.


[1] "At first Angelus, pope says God never tires of forgiving," Catholic San Francisco, Vol. 15, No. 9, 22 March 2013, page 14.

[2] I hereby ask for forgiveness by God if I am wrong in accusing Pope Francis as Satan's minion.

Ancient Ideal, Different Words, Patent Hypocricy

The following is from http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=124797 :

Pope Francis acknowledged that "fighting poverty, both material and spiritual, building peace and constructing bridges" will be "difficult if we do not learn to grow in love for this world of ours," which involves both people and the environment.

"Here too, it helps me to think of the name of Francis, who teaches us profound respect for the whole of creation and the protection of our environment, which all too often, instead of using for the good, we exploit greedily, to one another's detriment," he said.

Well said, but let my analysis begin from the ground up.  This Pope is asking everyone to love the earth and perhaps returning it to its pristine beginnings.  It can be done when we all become once again an agrarian society which is precisely the kind of poverty the Pope wants to end and if he is truly so humble, he would refuse to be Pope and become a farmer in the sub-Saharan region and find a way to grow crops to feed the hungry.

Pope Francis, an Argentinian born Jorge Mario Bergoglio to Italian parents, could very well be a false prophet [1] for he has repeatedly been identifying himself with a saint who was most Christ-like, Francis of Assisi, but living in a hypocritical fashion which the saint would certainly not have approved for himself or his followers.  He could also be the last Pope, according to Saint Malachy [2], even though he did not choose the name Petrus, but he chose the name Francis after Francis of Assisi who was born "Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone" which can be translated roughly into "Peter the Roman."



[1]  Dictionary.com defines prophet as one who speaks for God and Francis of Assisi had done it with  evidence that God had given him permission to do so.  A false prophet on the other hand impersonates a prophet and claims to speak for God but there is no evidence that Pope Francis had been given the authority to do so. 

[2] St. Malachy predicted that the last pope would be Petrus Romanus.

The Perfection Of Eden

Everyone can imagine an Eden and the one in my imagination is from art masterpieces.  Adam could look like Raphael's with an athletic body and an androgynous appearance and Eve could be like Botticelli's Venus with a voluptuous figure and feminine features so tantalizing that would awaken the most repressed primal urges.  Together the couple were at the prime of life, never aged, never hungered, never fell ill or gained weight.  They were timeless like the paintings that evoke their images.

As we all know, one day, Free-Choice appeared.  That is the name I gave the serpent.  We all carry around our own serpent.  Name it whatever you want.  It speaks to the heart and its words will always be:  "You have a choice."  Eden would never be perfect without Free Choice and Free Choice can only exist in Eden.  So is there a place where you cannot find Free Choice anywhere?  I imagine it to be way south of Eden where there are no more choices to be had since the final choice had been made: the choice to reject God in favor of Satan.

Existential Truths vs Contemplative Truths

Existential truths begin at birth but contemplative truths are innate and seldom apparent (other than free choice) and they require one's time, willingness and dedication to discover.  Childish tantrums are thrown, arguments with parents begin when existential truths start to clash with free choice.  As the mind matures, it learns to coat existential truths in denials, rationalizations and lies and the cunning ones in this world are experts at that and at controlling free choice. [1]  They place themselves as far from the contemplative truths as possible by obsessing with their painted existential truths because contemplative truths are not subject to manipulation so they are not welcomed and are left untouched.  Unfortunately for these cunning ones, the contemplative truths are eternal and ignoring them will not stamp out their presence.  The moment will come when the chance to discover these contemplative truths will no longer be available.  That moment is death and at death one's existential truths are no longer changeable and they become one's eternal truths and these will begin clashing with the divine and eternal contemplative truths.  Reconciliation between these often divergent truths can only be obtained in life through one's willingness to realize what the contemplative truths are and one's commitment to live by them, together with the grace of God.  [2]



[1]  Lawyers and politicians would argue that one's free choice must be limited by legislation for the good of society.  That is a lie.  If that were true, then society must be perfect for there are enough laws written on this planet to have a perfect society.  Of course, one can point to a bad law but if a piece of legislation itself is faulty, it should not have the force of law in the first place.  Society can only be good if people are cognizant of the contemplative truths and live by them (e.g., free choice and self-restraint) and not by their make-belief existential truths to which they so desperately cling. 

[2]  The grace of God can be obtained by continual prayers that are supported by unwavering faith in and love for God.

A Memory On St. Patrick's Day

Born on Saint Patrick's Day
At an age too young to pass away
In the summer when we were both nineteen
Our friendship went deep like a submarine
He in St. Moritz, Switzerland and I in Kowloon, Hong Kong
We wrote to each other letters as if our souls together belong
Summer ended, I returned to UCLA and he to Illinois
For some time I had not heard from this boy
When I reached out to find him his life here had been done
He was my dear friend, Patrick "Mully" Mulligan.

Lenten Thoughts - The Many Pains Of Christ

The Dread Of Anticipating Pain And Death - You are in your early 30's, enjoying your work, your companions and your life and you know you are going to be crucified in a few days, imagine the fear, the hopelessness, the sadness and the heaviness of heart.

The Gut-wrenching Pain Of Betrayal - You have your group of closest buddies, you have known each other and lived with each other for years, you have trust in and love for each other, and you would go to great lengths to help and support each other and one of them throws away all that time that was spent cultivating a deep and abiding friendship, attacks the unspoken and supposedly unbreakable promise to be completely vulnerable to each other and betrays the bonds of trust and love for money.  Imagine the hurt caused by an invisible sword that has opened up an invisible wound that will hurt for as long as memory lives even as the pain is dulled with time and forgiveness.

The Piercing Pain Of Physical Torment - Most everyone has at one time or another experienced physical pain and perhaps even a bit of skin was torn and blood flowed from the wound.  Imagine it to be intolerably more painful and this part of Christ's pain is probably the most tolerable in relative terms.

The Anticipation of Physical Pain - The first whip with hooks that tear apart the flesh is painful enough.  Imagine hearing the sound of the whip while anticipating the next whip that will land on your body.  The thought of it is enough to make one weak in the knees.

The Pain of Humiliation - You have your dignity, your integrity, your truth but you are stripped of all of that and are taunted for the dignity, integrity and truth that were staged by and pinned on you by others to insult you and to make the world think that you are a pretender, a total fraud.  Imagine the pain of seeing your truth being buried in front of your eyes and seeing a mirror image of that truth turned on its head and have you wear that for all to see and jeer.

The Pain of Carrying A Cross Too Heavy - You are weak, you have no energy, your stomach is empty, you are thirsty, your gaping wounds hurt, you are whipped and yelled at as you are carrying a heavy wooden cross walking on rocky terrain with your bare feet all cut up,  you fall with the heavy wooden cross landing on you.  Imagine the suffering, to have to fall once, get up, carry on, fall again, get up, carry on, and fall a third time and get up and carry on.  Even with Simon carrying the cross for a while and with Veronica wiping the blood and sweat from the face of Christ, the burden of this cross of death, the death of Sin by the Sinless, has to be difficult to shoulder. 

The Pain Of Being Killed Alive Slowly - What must be unbearable pain -- the pain of crucifixion and of a big metal sword going into the side of the living body (Christ's fifth wound) is too intense to be imagined.

The Unspeakable Heartfelt Pain Of Parting In Death From And Seeing Your Earthly Mother In Tears and In Pain and In Helplessness Loving You - as you are suffering and dying on a cross.  Mother Mary could do nothing and she would be left alone all by herself on earth without her only child, Jesus. Imagine having to part with your beloved mother who raised you and placed her complete and unyielding faith in you and having to give your mother away to your friend to look after her while knowing that his love for your mother would never be equal to yours.

The Pain Of The Thought Of Abandonment - To His Father, Jesus asked in excruciating physical and mental agony that exceeds the capacity for a living human's tolerance, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"  Imagine how lonely and desperate you would feel when you are helpless and in pain and your loved one is nowhere to be seen or heard, a loved one whom you have come to rely on all of your human life who in your time of urgent need is late in showing up and you are left with a hurtful doubt if he/she would show up at all with each passing moment feeling longer and longer stretching toward an eternity as you breathe your every breath in utter pain from one seemingly endless second to another as you continue to long for his/her arrival.  These forever moments at tip of pain and the pit of loneliness are unbearable and only to God we are able to turn for help.

Reflections On Cain & Abel

In the book of Genesis [1] God accepted Abel's offering but not Cain's.  For what reason(s) it did not say but did memorialize the conversations God and Cain had before and after Cain killed his younger brother.  The question is whether God loved Cain less and Abel more?  Stating it another way, did God play favorites?

My answer is a resounding no:  God loved them both.  In fact, God might have loved Cain slightly more because the Bible indicated that God spoke with Cain but there was no evidence that God ever spoke with Abel.  God did not so much as to warn Abel that Cain was thinking of killing him so he could take precautions.  Not too many people have the privilege to speak with God; only the most special ones.  Even after Cain killed Abel, God made sure that Cain was not avenged by putting a mark on him but God never protected Abel from harm.

God however punished Cain by not letting him grow anything from the earth's soil that was forever stained by Abel's blood.  Cain apparently ate well and had the necessary fiber intake as part of his diet.  He later married and had children.  It was a good life.  How Cain got his daily servings of fruits and vegetables remains a mystery. 

Back to the original incident where God preferred Abel's offering more than Cain's, it was not because Abel offered meat and Cain offered fruit and God preferred meat to fruit; it was because Abel took special care with his offering whereas Cain did not with his.

[1]  http://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis/4/

Satan's BFF

Satan's Best Friends Forever (BFF) on earth are the selfish, self-righteous ones who are greedy and powerful and who abuse their intellect to betray the Truth in order to confine God's Free Will held by those with innate sensibilities and a conscience.

To Hell Satan's BFFs will go for denying the Truth and in Hell they will remain where their sins lasts beyond the end of time. [1]

[1] The definition of Hell is from The Divine Comedy - see 12/25/12 post for the citation.

March Forth

March 4th is the most encouraging day of the year and is one of my favorites because it rhymes with march forth.  No matter how burdened we feel, like Christ on his day of crucifixion as He carried his cross to Golgotha, we must march forth carrying our own.

The Pope Emeritus

Yesterday, February 28, 2013, at 8p.m. Pope Benedict XVI's papal ring was smashed when the still living Pope Benedict was spending a prayerful (I assume) evening at Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of popes. [1]

So I have lived through a yet another moment of modern history even though it has not sufficiently registered in my mind to comprehend the extent its import. I think that the best of the Emeritus Pope has yet to be seen and experienced, not so much as a public figure but as a theologian with exceptional intellect. He has already written a number of books most of which I have not read but I imagine that his best works are yet to be composed. I hope that they would read less like legal arguments but more like prayerful appeals and be written less like a scholarly treatise but more like a friendly letter to the spiritually lost and wandering masses.

I pray for this Pope Emeritus the first (the first in our lifetime) and may his every day be blessed.


[1]  9:06 PST  - EWTN reported in the late morning that Pope Emeritus watched some television as well and I assume that he was watching the world watching him on his final day as the official Vicar of Christ.  In my imagination, he turned to his brother, Georg, and said:  "Siehst du mich im Fernsehen?"  Georg:  "Ja, ja.  Ich bin stolz auf dich."