Feast Of Saint John, Apostle And Evangelist - 27 December

Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist "was the son of Zebedee and Salome. His brother was James, who was another of the Twelve Apostles. The Church Fathers identify him as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, John the Elder and the Beloved Disciple, and testify that he outlived the remaining apostles and that he was the only one to die of natural causes." [1]

Quoted below is from My Catholic Life! [2]:

Saint Jerome, while living in Palestine in the late 300s, relates a touching anecdote still being told at that time about John the Evangelist.  When John was old and feeble, Jerome recounts, and no longer able to walk or preach, he would be carried among the faithful in church and would repeat only one thing over and over again: “My little children, love one another.” Saint Polycarp, through Saint Irenaeus, tells us that Saint John’s long life ended peacefully in Ephesus about 100 A.D. John was the only Apostle not to die a martyr.

Quoted from Wikipedia  without references [3]:

The Basilica of St. John was a basilica in Ephesus. It was constructed by Justinian I in the 6th century. It stands over the believed burial site of John the Apostle. It was modeled after the now lost Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.

The basilica is on the slopes of Ayasuluk Hill just below the fortress near the center of Selçuk, İzmir Province, Turkey and about 3.5 km (2.2 mi) from Ephesus.

Ruins of the Basilica of St. John in Turkey

...

During his time and until his death in Ephesus, St John preached about Christianity. According to legend, before he died, Christ, along with all the other apostles, visited St John and said to him:

Come, my beloved one, and join me and all other brethren of thine at my table; the time has finally come to do so,...the Sunday next, thou wilt come to stay henceforth with me.

As the story unfolds, the following Sunday, St. John continued with his preaching of Christianity before finally informing his disciples of his time. Then he entered the cave of his church whereupon an intense light shone, preventing his disciples from entering farther. When the light dissipated, so did St. John. His legend was furthered when the opening of his tomb during Constantine’s reign yielded no body or relics. Another fact that continues to advance the legend of St. John's assumption into Heaven is the fact that while all the other Saints' body or relic has been claimed by at least one or more city/church, St. John (along with Mary, the Mother of Jesus) is the only Saint whose body is not claimed by anyone or anywhere.

It was also said that St. John was not dead in, but sleeping beneath his tomb. And each time he breathed, he would cause the dust around his altar to stir, which in turn, made them holy. Because of this, the dust, called manna, was said to be able to cure the sick.

First reading quoted from United States Conference of Bishops - 1 Jn 1:1-4, posted on December 26, 2019 [4]:

Beloved:

What was from the beginning,

what we have heard,

what we have seen with our eyes,

what we looked upon

and touched with our hands

concerns the Word of life —

for the life was made visible;

we have seen it and testify to it

and proclaim to you the eternal life

that was with the Father and was made visible to us—

what we have seen and heard

we proclaim now to you,

so that you too may have fellowship with us;

for our fellowship is with the Father

and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

We are writing this so that our joy may be complete. 

Faith in God the Father and in His Son Jesus Christ must remain strong despite a very difficult 2020 pandemic year with many lives lost around the world.  A new year with new challenges will begin in few days.  In the words of Christ from John 14:27 [5]:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

May God bless all in 2021! 

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Apostle, quoted without hyperlinks.

[2] https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/27-december-saint-john-the-apostle-and-evangelist-feast/

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_St._John, quoted without references.

[4] https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122719.cfm

[5] https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/14, 27, quoted without references.

Thoughts On Christmas During This 2020 Pandemic Year

Due to the on-going worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, Christmas 2020 will be less festive than Christmases of recent past.  This may seem regrettable because office parties and other gatherings might have already been canceled.  In spite of this, there is a silver lining.

Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Christ, followed by celebrating the life of Christ and one's life in Christ.  This holy occasion has over the years been secularized by decorating trees, putting up lights, having dinner parties under normal circumstances, drinking, shopping, sending holiday cards, giving and receiving gifts (notwithstanding how happy underprivileged children are when they unwrap their presents) with hardly any thought given to a Savior Who was born in a stable in Bethlehem and placed inside a feeding trough for animals.

It is enough of a gift to the one and only merciful and loving God if the activities and joys of a secular Christmas can remind one of its origin even for just a moment.  Displaying a simple ornament of Christ's nativity scene would be more of a reminder and a more thoughtful gift.  It need not be modern like the 2020 Vatican nativity scene pasted below at [1] or elaborate like the one put up by Saint Francis of Assisi.

Quoted in part below without hyperlinks from an article entitled The First Christmas Nativity Scene: Created by Saint Francis of Assisi  published by Learn Religions [2]:

St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and founder of the Catholic Church’s Franciscan Order, began the Christmas tradition of nativity scenes (also called creches or manger scenes) because he wanted to help people gain a fresh sense of wonder about the miracles that the Bible records from the first Christmas. 

...

Francis, who was living in the town of Greccio, Italy at the time, got the Pope’s permission to proceed with his plans. Then he asked his close friend John Velita to loan him some animals and straw to set up a scene there to represent Jesus Christ’s birth in Bethlehem.... 

...

The scene, which was set up in a cave just outside Greccio, featured a wax figure of the infant Jesus, costumed people playing the roles of Mary and Joseph, and the live donkey and ox that John had loaned to Francis. Local shepherds watched over their sheep in nearby fields, just as shepherds in Bethlehem had watched over sheep on the first Christmas when the sky suddenly filled with angels who announced Christ’s birth to them.

For the few regular and occasional readers of this blog, wherever they may be (in 17 languages, using Google Translate) - 

Merry Christmas!

Feliz Natal!

Fröhliche Weihnachten!

Joyeux Noël!

¡Feliz Navidad!

Buon Natale!

Vrolijk kerstfeest!

Счастливого Рождества!

Весела Коледа!

Щасливого Різдва!

Täze ýyl gutly bolsun!

!عيد ميلاد مجيد

!חג מולד שמח

메리 크리스마스!

メリークリスマス！

聖誕快樂! 

Felicem natalem Christi!

(image obtained online)

[1] Copied from an image search: 

[2] https://www.learnreligions.com/christmas-nativity-scene-saint-francis-assisi-124443

Feast Of Saint Thomas The Apostle - 21 December (Tridentine - Traditional Rite - Calendar)

Quoted in part below is from The Free Dictionary By Farlex [1]:

 

The Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, established in the twelfth century, originally fell on December 21, the day of the winter solstice. Folk customs attached to the saint's day, therefore, reflected both the occurrence of the solstice and the closeness of Christmas.... [T]he Roman Catholic Church has since moved St. Thomas's [Feast] Day to July 3,...

Catholic Culture  quotes Pope Gregory I on Saint Thomas the Apostle [2]:

In the Breviary lessons Pope St. Gregory the Great makes the following reflections: "Thomas' unbelief has benefited our faith more than the belief of the other disciples; it is because he attained faith through physical touch that we are confirmed in the faith beyond all doubt. Indeed, the Lord permitted the apostle to doubt after the resurrection; but He did not abandon him in doubt. By his doubt and by his touching the sacred wounds the apostle became a witness to the truth of the resurrection. Thomas touched and cried out: My Lord and my God! And Jesus said to him: Because you have seen Me, Thomas, you have believed. Now if Thomas saw and touched the Savior, why did Jesus say: Because you have seen Me, Thomas, you have believed? Because he saw something other than what he believed. For no mortal man can see divinity. Thomas saw the Man Christ and acknowledged His divinity with the words: My Lord and my God. Faith therefore followed upon seeing."

Quoted from Wikipedia  without hyperlinks and references, on the death of Saint Thomas the Apostle [3]:

According to Syrian Christian tradition, Saint Thomas was allegedly martyred at St.Thomas Mount in Chennai on 3 July in AD 72, and his body was interred in Mylapore. Ephrem the Syrian states that the Apostle was killed in India, and that his relics were taken then to Edessa. This is the earliest known record of his death.

The records of Barbosa from early 16th century witness that the tomb was then maintained by a Muslim who kept a lamp burning there.[37] The San Thome Basilica Mylapore, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India presently located at the tomb was first built in the 16th century by the Portuguese and rebuilt in the 19th century. St. Thomas Mount has been a revered site by Muslims, and Christians since at least the 16th century.

Wikipedia  also mentioned that "[i]n 1258, some of the relics were brought to Ortona, in Abruzzo, Italy, where they have been held in the Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle."

[1] https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/St.+Thomas%27s+Day#:~:text=The%20Feast%20of%20St.%20Thomas%20the%20Apostle%2C%20established,of%20the%20solstice%20and%20the%20closeness%20of%20Christmas.

[2] https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2020-07-03

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_the_Apostle

[4] Ibid, quoted without hyperlinks and reference.

Our Lady Of Guadalupe Feast Day - 12 December

 Quoted below in its entirety is from franciscan media [1]:

The feast in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back to the 16th century. Chronicles of that period tell us the story.

A poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and given the name Juan Diego. He was a 57-year-old widower, and lived in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning December 9, 1531, he was on his way to a nearby barrio to attend Mass in honor of Our Lady.

Juan was walking by a hill called Tepeyac when he heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared, and within it stood an Indian maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan named Juan de Zumarraga. The bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared.

Eventually the bishop told Juan to have the lady give him a sign. About this same time Juan’s uncle became seriously ill. This led poor Juan to try to avoid the lady. Nevertheless the lady found Juan, assured him that his uncle would recover, and provided roses [during "pre-climate change" winter] for Juan to carry to the bishop in his cape or tilma.

On December 12, when Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop’s presence, the roses fell to the ground, and the bishop sank to his knees. On the tilma where the roses had been appeared an image of Mary exactly as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac.

"Supernatural Music Written by God on Mary's Shroud of Guadalupe in the Year 1531" can be heard on YouTube [2].  "This short excerpt of music is what was written by God on Mary's shroud in the image that she gave to Juan Diego who presented it to his bishop as proof of Our Lady's having revealed herself to him atop Tepayec Hill on the outskirts of Mexico City in the year 1531. If you turn the shroud on its side and plot the stars on a musical sheet, this is the sound it makes." [3]  See music sheet from Mystic Post [4] with background cropped:

Quoted below, in part, is from Matrix Drops [5]:

NASA has publicized the results of the related examination of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

It was established, with instruments of the eye-specialist, that in the picture, the eyes of Mary’s retinas, when exposed to light – similar to the human’s eye – expand and contract. The researchers have also concluded that the temperature of the cloth, where the image can be observed, is permanently 36.6 degrees, such as a healthy human’s body temperature. The image has also been examined with a stethoscope. The scientists have measured a pulse of 115 beats/min at Mary’s belt which corresponds with the number of a fetal heart rate.

NASA engineers have also stated the paint with which the image was made does not exist on Earth and has never existed – written by the Tsn.ua which is a news site on the internet.

In the beginning of the 20th century a bomb was detonated next to the image. As a result of this, everything was destroyed in a large circular radius, the image, however, remained intact.

More on Our Lady Of Guadalupe's image on San Juan Diego's tilma, quoted, in part, from olg.cc [6]:

The image, to this date, cannot be explained by science.

The image shows no sign of deterioration after 450 years!  The tilma or cloak of Juan Diego on which the image of Our Lady has been imprinted, is a coarse fabric made from the threads of the maguey cactus. This fiber disintegrates within 20-60 years!

There is no under sketch, no sizing and no protective over-varnish on the image.

Microscopic examination revealed that there were no brush strokes.

...

According to Kodak of Mexico, the image is smooth and feels like a modern day photograph.  (Produced 300 years before the invention of photography.)

The image has consistently defied exact reproduction, whether by brush or camera.

Several images can be seen reflected in the eyes of the Virgin. It is believed to be the  images of Juan Diego, Bishop Juan de Zummaraga, Juan Gonzales-the interpreter and others.

The distortion and place of the images are identical to what is produced in the normal eye, which is impossible to obtain on a flat surface.

The stars on Our Lady's Mantle coincide with the constellation in the sky on December 12, 1531....

 

Similarly, see article entitled Science Proves Our Lady Of Guadalupe Is A Miracle  published by Catholics Online [7].

[1] https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/our-lady-of-guadalupe

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEDLgSrePIA

[3] https://www.spreaker.com/user/wcatradio/marys-shroud-of-guadalupe-miraculous-hea

[4] https://mysticpost.com/2019/05/music-from-heaven-listen-now-celestial-music-found-by-scientist-on-mantel-of-our-lady-of-guadalupe-miraculous-and-healing/

[5] http://www.matrixdrops.com/en/news/nasa-has-called-the-image-of-the-virgin-of-guadalupe-living

[6] https://olg.cc/about/about-our-patroness/our-ladys-image-on-the-tilma/

[7] https://francismary.org/science-proves-our-lady-of-guadalupe-is-a-miracle/

San Juan Diego Feast Day - 9 December

San Juan Diego's feast day was not included in the Roman Catholic Daily Missal 1992  and is not part of the Tridentine calendar, even though San Juan Diego died in 1548 [1], four hundred and fourteen (414) years before it was published.

The Blessed Virgin Mary chose Juan Diego, but the Vatican apparently doubted the apparitions and it took nearly 454 years after his death before he was canonized on Wednesday, July 31, 2002. [2].  "[T]he process for canonization in this case was subject to delays and obstacles of various kinds." [3]  San Juan Diego was "the first indigenous Saint of the American Continent." [4]

As the saying goes, it is better late than never.

Quoted in part below, without emphasis and italics, is from Vatican.va [5]:

St Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548). Little is known about the life of Juan Diego before his conversion, but tradition and archaelogical and iconographical sources, along with the most important and oldest indigenous document on the event of Guadalupe, "El Nican Mopohua" (written in Náhuatl with Latin characters, 1556, by the Indigenous writer Antonio Valeriano), give some information on the life of the saint and the apparitions.

Juan Diego was born in 1474 with the name "Cuauhtlatoatzin" ("the talking eagle") in Cuautlitlán, today part of Mexico City, Mexico. He was a gifted member of the Chichimeca people, one of the more culturally advanced groups living in the Anáhuac Valley.

When he was 50 years old he was baptized by a Franciscan priest, Fr Peter da Gand, one of the first Franciscan missionaries. On 9 December 1531, when Juan Diego was on his way to morning Mass, the Blessed Mother appeared to him on Tepeyac Hill, the outskirts of what is now Mexico City. She asked him to go to the Bishop and to request in her name that a shrine be built at Tepeyac, where she promised to pour out her grace upon those who invoked her. The Bishop, who did not believe Juan Diego, asked for a sign to prove that the apparition was true. On 12 December, Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac. Here, the Blessed Mother told him to climb the hill and to pick the flowers that he would find in bloom. He obeyed, and although it was winter time, he found roses flowering. He gathered the flowers and took them to Our Lady who carefully placed them in his mantle and told him to take them to the Bishop as "proof". When he opened his mantle, the flowers fell on the ground and there remained impressed, in place of the flowers, an image of the Blessed Mother, the apparition at Tepeyac.

With the Bishop's permission, Juan Diego lived the rest of his life as a hermit in a small hut near the chapel where the miraculous image was placed for veneration. Here he cared for the church and the first pilgrims who came to pray to the Mother of Jesus.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Diego#cite_note-68

[2] http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/2002/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_20020731_canonization-mexico.html

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Diego#cite_note-68

[4] http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/2002/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_20020731_canonization-mexico.html, first paragraph after the Gospel of Matthew.

[5[ http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20020731_juan-diego_en.html

Feast Of The Immaculate Conception Of The Blessed Virgin Mary - 8 December

 Quoted below, without hyperlinks, is from Learn Religions [1]:

The Immaculate Conception refers to the condition that the Blessed Virgin Mary was free from Original Sin from the very moment of her conception in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne. We celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary—her birth—on September 8; nine months before that is December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

The Blessed Virgin Mary confirms Her Immaculate Conception to Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes.  Quoted in part below is from The Arlington Catholic Herald [2]:

On March 2, [1858, Our Lady of Lourdes] asked Bernadette to "Go and tell the priests that people are to come here in procession and to build a chapel here." The parish priest of Lourdes wanted to know the lady’s name, and he asked for a miracle: that a rose bush flower in the middle of winter. After school March 3, Bernadette went to the grotto. When she saw the lady, she asked for her name, only to receive a smile.

On March 4, with about eight thousand people present, the lady returned. The rose bush did not bloom, but she did reveal her name: "Que soy era Immaculada Concepciou." "I am the Immaculate Conception." Bernadette did not know this title was assigned to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Four years earlier, in 1854, Pope Pius IX dogmatically declared this a truth of the Catholic faith.

[1] https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-the-immaculate-conception-542107#:~:text=The%20Immaculate%20Conception%20refers%20to%20the%20condition%20that,December%208%2C%20the%20Feast%20of%20the%20Immaculate%20Conception.

[2] https://www.catholicherald.com/Faith/Your_Faith/_I_am_the_Immaculate_Conception_/#:~:text=%22%20Bernadette%20did%20not%20know%20this%20title%20was,felt%20that%20she%20was%20in%20front%20of%20it.

Feast Of Saint Andrew The Apostle - 30 November

The paragraphs quoted in part below without hyperlinks are from overviewbible.com [1]:

The Apostle Andrew was one of the twelve main disciples of Jesus Christ and the brother of Simon Peter. Andrew was the first apostle Jesus called and the first apostle to claim Jesus was the Messiah.

Despite his seemingly important role as an early follower of Christ, Andrew is only mentioned 12 times in the entire New Testament—and four of those times are simply lists of the 12 apostles. He comes onto the scene early in the gospels, but only plays a minor role.... 

...

Perhaps Andrew’s most distinguishing feature is that he’s Simon Peter’s brother. Each of the gospels refer to him as Peter’s brother—but Peter is never referred to as Andrew’s brother. This, plus the fact that Peter is always  listed before him indicates that Andrew was either younger or just less important....[Emphasis  original.]

Quoted without references and hyperlinks from Wikipedia [2]:

Andrew is said to have been martyred by crucifixion at the city of Patras (Patræ) in Achaea, in AD 60. Early texts, such as the Acts of Andrew known to Gregory of Tours, describe Andrew as bound, not nailed, to a Latin cross of the kind on which Jesus is said to have been crucified; yet a tradition developed that Andrew had been crucified on a cross of the form called crux decussata (X-shaped cross, or "saltire"), now commonly known as a "Saint Andrew's Cross" — supposedly at his own request, as he deemed himself unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross as Jesus had been. The iconography of the martyrdom of Andrew — showing him bound to an X-shaped cross — does not appear to have been standardized until the later Middle Ages. 

...

Andrew is the patron saint of several countries and cities including: Barbados, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Ukraine, Sarzana, Pienza and Amalfi in Italy, Esgueira in Portugal, Luqa in Malta, Parañaque in the Philippines and Patras in Greece. He was also the patron saint of Prussia and of the Order of the Golden Fleece. He is considered the founder and the first bishop of the Church of Byzantium and is consequently the patron saint of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

[1] https://overviewbible.com/andrew-the-apostle/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_the_Apostle

Selected Feast Days In December (Excluding Christmas Eve & Christmas Day)

1. Feast Of The Immaculate Conception Of The Blessed Virgin Mary - 8 December

2. Feast Of San Juan Diego - 9 December

3. Feast Of Our Lady Of Guadalupe - 12 December

4. Feast Of Saint Thomas, Apostle - 21 December (per the Tridentine calendar)

5. Feast Of Saint John, Apostle & Evangelist - 27 December

Historical Fasting During Advent

"Advent 2020 starts on Sunday, November 29, 2020...and ends on Thursday, December 24th 2020 ...." [1]

Quoted below, in part, without emphasis in bold, is from a blog post entitled What Ever Became of Advent Fasting and Penance?  written by Msgr. Charles Pope, in 2016 [2]:

...Advent, like Lent, is considered a penitential season. During these times we are to give special attention to our sins and our need for salvation. Traditionally, Advent was a time when would take part in penitential practices such as fasting and abstinence, just as is done during Lent.

In recent times, though, Advent has become almost devoid of any real penitential practices. Neither fasting nor abstinence is required; they are not really even mentioned. There is nothing in the Missal or other liturgical sources that refers to Advent as a penitential season....

During the Middle Ages, Advent observances were every bit as strict as those of Lent....

...

Today’s token fast (required only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday) isn’t much of a burden: one full meal and two smaller meals. Is that really a fast at all? And we are only obligated to abstain from meat on the Fridays of Lent rather than the entire forty days.

Frankly, I doubt that we moderns could pull off the fast of the ancients, or even the elders of more recent centuries....

Perhaps this is a good illustration of how enslaved we are by our abundance. The more we have, the more we want; and the more we want, the more we think we can’t survive without. We are so easily owned by what we claim to own, enslaved by our abundance.

Some religious orders still adhere to some kind of fasting during Advent.  For example, those who belong to the Missionaries Of The Poor ("MOP") [3] abstain from meat and fish, expect for the Solemnity Of The Immaculate Conception Of The Blessed Virgin Mary on 8 December.  During this time their diet includes vegetables, eggs, beans and peas.  This information was given by a brother at the MOP monastery in Monroe, North Carolina, USA.

[1] https://www.calendarpedia.com/when-is/advent.html; emphasis in bold removed.

[2] https://blog.adw.org/2016/12/what-ever-became-of-advent-fasting/

More Random Thoughts - November 2020

1. Root of all conflicts: Pride & Greed.

2. Three words to resolve all conflicts: "Love thy neighbor."

3. Two words to save one's soul: "Love God."

4. Source of mistrust: Being lied to.

5. Return to innocence: Live every moment with hope.

6. Denial of truth: A form of self-torture.

7. Betraying the good: Unjustifiable and indefensible.

8. Hell: For those who want to replace God and be glorified.

9. Purgatory: A contrite heart is necessary for entry.

10. Heaven: For those who put others first.

11. Decisions: The best come from the heart, not the mind.

12. Sin: A reminder of one's weakness to keep one humble.

13. Acceptance of sufferings: Key to understanding Christ.

14. What a mirror should reflect: Christ within oneself.

15. Reflection in the mirror: What one wants others to see.

16. Looking at oneself with honesty: Courage is required.

17. An ideal childhood: A life of carefree abandonment.

18. A life in captivity: Living with obsession & addiction.

19. Create an expectation: Don't if it won't be fulfilled.

20. Avoid disappointments: Expect nothing and be surprised.

The Presentation Of The Blessed Virgin Mary Feast Day - 21 November

Quoted without emphasis and hyperlinks from Britannica [1]:

Presentation of the Virgin Mary, also called Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, feast [is] celebrated in the Roman Catholic and Eastern churches on November 21. It was held in the Eastern church in the 6th century but did not become widely accepted in the West until the 15th century. The pope St. Pius V (1566–72) suppressed it, but in 1585 Pope Sixtus V reestablished the feast. Generally considered a feast of popular piety, it signifies Mary’s total and lifelong devotion to God, as anticipated by her Immaculate Conception, and heralds her future vocation as the sacred vessel for the Incarnation.

The feast is based on a legend contained in the Protevangelium of James, a 2nd-century work not included in the Bible. It commemorates a visit by the three-year-old Mary to the Temple in Jerusalem, where she was dedicated to the service of God and left to be raised as a consecrated virgin. This act was done in fulfillment of a sacred promise made by her parents, Saints Anne and Joachim, during their long struggle with childlessness.

An essay written by Father Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876, The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, provides more information on the consecration of children [2].

With regard to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger had this to say, in part [3]:

Her consecration differed greatly from that of all other children. Many were brought to the temple only because their parents desired it, and without their own knowledge of the reasons for which it was done. Others wept bitterly at parting with their parents. No other at that tender age, had understood the ceremony, and none had made the consecration with such entire devotion to the Lord.

[1] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Presentation-of-the-Virgin-Mary

[2] http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Presentation%20of%20Mary%2002.html

[3] Ibid.

Mozart's Opera COSÌ FAN TUTTE Renamed COVID FAN TUTTE By Finnish National Opera And Ballet

(Taking a break from Catholic feast days and matters Catholic.)

Quoted from OperaVision's YouTube  channel [1]:

On stage, singers are rehearsing Die Walküre, when they are suddenly interrupted. As management has been laid off and the news of a global virus spreads rapidly, the Wagnerians are suddenly instructed to perform a modern satire on the situation.

Covid fan tutte satirically revisits Mozart's classic opera by adapting its storyline to reflect Finland's experience during the coronavirus crisis. Starring Karita Mattila and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, the production lightheartedly follows ordinary Finns’ lives amid press conferences by the government and pandemic experts. The libretto for Covid times is by Minna Lindgren; the music is (almost) 100% Mozart's.

Streamed on OperaVision on 16 October 2020 at 19:00 CET and available for 6 months...[now on YouTube].

The opera, Covid Fan Tutte, was sung in Finnish (click on CC for English subtitles).  The link at [1] goes to the performance.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwNz8C33JOc

Saint Elizabeth Of Hungary Feast Day - 17 November

Quoted from itmonline.org [1]:

St. Elizabeth is remembered for her charitable works, especially for the establishment of hospitals. ...Elizabeth lived at a time when the combined disasters of climate, war, pestilence, and poverty caused great suffering, and she became devoted to helping those who had nowhere to turn.

Elizabeth was born in Hungary in 1207. Her short but fruitful life lasted 24 years; she passed away in Marburg, Germany on November 17, 1231....

She began life as part of the Hungarian nobility, daughter of King Andrew II. At age 14, she married the 21-year-old Ludwig IV, of Thuringia (Germany). He was appointed regent of Meissen and the East Mark and who soon became employed by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II as a soldier and diplomat.

Elizabeth was religious since her early years, and Ludwig supported her in this, including her acts of charity. While he was away for missions under Frederick II, Elizabeth took charge of local affairs and distributed alms in all parts of her husband's territory....

...

Ludwig died on one of his military campaigns, succumbing to illness not war wounds....

Quoted from Franciscan Media [2]:

In 1228, Elizabeth joined the Secular Franciscan Order, spending the remaining few years of her life caring for the poor in a hospital which she founded in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. Elizabeth’s health declined, and she died before her 24th birthday in 1231.

Quoted from  itmonline.org [3]: 

Soon after the death of Elizabeth, miracles were reported to occur at her grave in the church associated with the hospital, especially miracles of healing....

Quoted without hyperlink from Wikipedia [4]:

From her support of the [Franciscan] friars sent to Thuringia, [Elizabeth of Hungary] was made known to the founder, St Francis of Assisi, who sent her a personal message of blessing shortly before his death in 1226.

Canonization of Elizabeth of Hungary, quoted from departments.kings.edu [5]:

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, or Thuringia, is the first royal Franciscan tertiary to be canonized. At only twenty-four years old, Elizabeth of Hungary died and the world lost of one of the most pious women to ever live. Within only four years, Pope Gregory IX named her a Saint (in May of 1235).

Below is a photograph obtained online, entitled Marburg Photo: The remains of the St Elizabeth Hospital  from Tripadvisor [6]:

(finding only one photograph on the subject matter after numerous searches, whether this ruin was in fact the hospital Saint Elizabeth of Hungary founded is uncertain)

[1] http://www.itmonline.org/bodytheology/stelizabeth.htm

[2] https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-elizabeth-of-hungary

[3] http://www.itmonline.org/bodytheology/stelizabeth.htm

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_of_Hungary, under the Association with the Franciscans section.

[5] https://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/elizabethsth.html

[6] https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g187343-i20948474-Marburg_Hesse.html

Feast Of Saint Gertrude The Great - 16 November

Quoted below is from Catholic Saints [1]:

... Gertrude was born in the year 1263, of a noble Saxon family, and placed at the age of five for education in the Benedictine abbey of Rodelsdorf. Her strong mind was carefully cultivated, and she wrote Latin with unusual elegance and force; above all, she was perfect in humility and mortification, in obedience, and in all monastic observances. Her life was crowded with wonders. She has in obedience recorded some of her visions, in which she traces in words of indescribable beauty the intimate converse of her soul with Jesus and Mary. She was gentle to all, most gentle to sinners; filled with devotion to the Saints of God, to the souls in purgatory, and above all to the Passion of Our Lord and to His Sacred Heart. She ruled her abbey with perfect wisdom and love for forty years. Her life was one of great and almost continual suffering, and her longing to be with Jesus was not granted till 1334, when she had reached her seventy-second year.

An essay, using words that appear to be somewhat disturbing, depending on one's viewpoint, in describing Saint Gertrude, was published by Harvard Magazine  in 2012, quoted in part without the defunct "Page Not Found" hyperlink [2]:

... To early twentieth-century students of the psychology of religion, Gertrude’s “absurd and puerile” visions were an example of what William James called “theopathic saintliness.” Protestant historians and some recent feminists have either condemned her for the implausibility of such visionary experiences as her alleged exchange of hearts with Jesus, or lauded her for an individualism that claimed direct access to divine grace, bypassing the clergy....

None of this bears much relation to the historical figure of the Helfta nun. The Gertrude we know from the important work associated with her, the Herald of Divine Love, was not a lone individual, languishing in sickly and sexually sublimated ecstasy. Indeed, as the scholar Anna Harrison has recently emphasized, Gertrude was not so much an individual as a community.

...

The fact that an entire community “authored” Gertrude’s works undercuts the picture of her as a lone, childishly needy mystic and forms the basis for a necessary reinterpretation of the spiritual teaching of Helfta....

No one is perfect nor are saints for none of them was immaculately conceived, unlike the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Saints have done more for God, directly and/or indirectly by their influence, to bring God to people and people to God, than the average person.  They ought to be respected.

[1] http://www.catholic-saints.info/roman-catholic-saints-a-g/saint-gertrude.htm

[2] https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2012/05/vita-gertrude-of-helfta

Saint Albert The Great ("Albertus Magnus") Feast Day - 15 November

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy  introduces Albert the Great as a universal thinker.  The introductory paragraph is quoted below [1]:

Albertus Magnus, also known as Albert the Great, was one of the most universal thinkers to appear during the Middle Ages. Even more so than his most famous student, St. Thomas of Aquinas, Albert’s interests ranged from natural science all the way to theology. He made contributions to logic, psychology, metaphysics, meteorology, mineralogy, and zoology. He was an avid commentator on nearly all the great authorities read during the 13th Century. He was deeply involved in an attempt to understand the import of the thought of Aristotle in some orderly fashion that was distinct from the Arab commentators who had incorporated their own ideas into the study of Aristotle. Yet he was not averse to using some of the outstanding Arab philosophers in developing his own ideas in philosophy. His superior understanding of a diversity of philosophical texts allowed him to construct one of the most remarkable syntheses in medieval culture.

Quoted from America Needs Fatima [2]:

Albert Bollstadt was born at the German castle of Lauinger on the River Danube in 1206. Nothing is known of his youth, but he studied at the University of Padua and in 1222, became a Dominican, much to the anger of his family.

He taught at Cologne in 1228, and later, at a University in Paris, where he received his doctorate in 1245. He returned to Cologne in 1248 upon the request of his Dominican superiors to establish a school of advanced learning. He became regent of the school there, and during that time taught St. Thomas Aquinas.

...

He died in Cologne on November 15, 1280 and is buried in the Church of St. Andrea. He was canonized and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1931 by Pope Pius XI.

For his great knowledge and scientific writings, he is considered the patron of scientists.

From etwn.com [3]: 

Thought for the Day: St. Albert the Great was convinced that all creation spoke of God and that the tiniest piece of scientific knowledge told us something about Him....In creation, Albert saw the hand of God.

 

[1] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/albert-great/

[2] https://www.americaneedsfatima.org/Saints-Heroes/st-albert-the-great.html

[3] https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/albert-the-great-458

Random Thoughts - November 2020

1. The acceptance of suffering with patience and humility draws one close to God.

2. Freedom of expression does not obviate the need to be respectful of others regardless of their beliefs.

3. A time will come when one has to face the truth and bear the consequences of lies and denials.

4. The path toward ultimate vengeance ends in death that never dies.

5. One who has been hurt can only heal with mercy and forgiveness.

6. Love resides in the heart.

7. God speaks through the heart.

8. Hate enters the mind as a cancerous tumor that spreads to the heart.

9. A heart consumed by hate no longer hears God.

10. Greed's appetite is insatiable.

11. Pride's twin is self-aggrandizement.

12. Compromise is the opposite of selflessness.

13. Those who lead a hedonistic lives pay no attention to their descendants' future.

14. Environmental hypocrites keep pampering themselves.

15. Man's ability to overpower nature dwarfs in comparison to nature's power over man.

16. Human cruelties are driven by ignorance and/or fear.

17. Those who are working to escape this planet should first work on escaping their own deaths.

18. Fur farming is sustained by vanity.

19. Mercy awaits those who act with compassion.

20. Cooperation advances civilization; division ends it.

21. Euthanasia is not an act of mercy.

22. End abortions by sexual abstinence.

23. Those who are self-righteous will gladly kill.

24. Innocence is seen as weakness by one who is evil.

25. Time exists within timelessness.

French Muslims Protect Catholic Church In Southern France

Quoted from AP News [1]:

A self-described man of peace and pragmatism, ["a French-born Muslim, Elyazid"] Benferhat and a friend gathered a group of young Muslim men to stand guard outside their town’s cathedral for the All Saints’ holiday weekend, to symbolically protect it and show solidarity with Catholic churchgoers [after hearing "about a deadly Islamic extremist attack on a church in Nice"].

[They stood in front of] the 13th-century church in the southern town of Lodeve[.]

...

His group is considering how to take the idea forward, and would like to do it again for Christmas, and for other towns to follow Lodeve’s lead. But for now all religious services in France are banned at least until Dec. 1 to try to slow fast-rising virus infections.

[1] https://apnews.com/article/france-muslims-protest-church-5e4384d209c9d0ae3fc181c86010ff34 

A Reading From The Gospel Of John On All Souls' Day - 2 November

Based on the Gospel of John, All Souls' Day ought not to be for only the souls in Purgatory and the souls faithful to God but also for all the souls "that have done good things". [1]

John 5:25-29 is the Gospel reading for the first of three Masses on All Souls' Day in the 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal.  The passage quoted below is from Biblegateway - Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA) [Emphasis  added] [2]:

25 Amen, amen I say unto you, that the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.

26 For as the Father hath life in himself, so he hath given the Son also to have life in himself:

27 And he hath given him power to do judgment, because he is the Son of man.

28 Wonder not at this; for the hour cometh, wherein all  that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God.

29 And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+5%3A25-29&version=DRA

[2] Ibid.

All Souls' Day - 2 November

Quoted in part from Learn Religions [1]:

All Souls['] Day is a solemn celebration in the Roman Catholic Church commemorating all of those who have died and are now in Purgatory, being cleansed of their venial sins and the temporal punishments for the mortal sins that they had confessed, and being made pure before entering into the presence of God in Heaven.

From worldometer.com [2]:

1,204,883 people have died so far from the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak as of November 01, 2020, 23:20 GMT. 

A prayer for the deceased, from Divinum Officium [3]:

Fidélium ánimæ per misericórdiam Dei requiéscant in pace. Amen. (Latin)

May the souls of the faithful, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. (English)

 

From 2 Maccabees 12:44 [4]:

for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead.

[1] https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-all-souls-day-542460

[2] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-toll/ (this link does not always work)

[3] https://divinumofficium.com/cgi-bin/horas/officium.pl,Tertia.

[4] https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2maccabees/12, at 44.

Feast Of All Saints - 1 November

Quoted from Learn Religions [1]:

All Saints Day is a special feast day on which Catholics celebrate all the saints, known and unknown. While most saints have a particular feast day on the Catholic calendar (usually, though not always, the date of their death), not all of those feast days are observed. And saints who have not been canonized — those who are in Heaven, but whose sainthood is known only to God — have no particular feast day. In a special way, All Saints Day is their feast.

Quoted from CHURCH TIMES [2]:

The glory of the saints is the fruit of their contemplation. The Psalmist writes that we must “look upon [the Lord] and be radiant”. [3] Commenting on this verse, St[.] Thomas Aquinas writes that “God is light and the one who approaches the light will be illuminated.”

The earthly lives of the saints testify to an important spiritual reality. The closer human beings draw to God, the greater their awareness of their sinfulness is. As our Gospel reminds us, true sanctity involves poverty of spirit. It is utterly opposed to the self-congratulation of an “in-group” who know themselves to be especially worthy of esteem, or especially favoured by God. As they grow in virtue, the saints feel even more keenly both their imperfection and their total dependence on the Lord.

...

“The reason that the world does not know us”, [Saint John the Apostle] writes, “is that it did not know him.” [4] The saints reveal to us a God whose character is quite different from our worldly fantasies of glory and dominion. The Beatitudes describe a series of qualities — poverty, meekness, undergoing persecution — which the world sees as signs of weakness and failure. Yet these are the qualities made manifest in Jesus’s earthly life, and in the lives of his saints.

[1] https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-all-saints-day-542459, quoted without hyperlink.

[2] https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2020/30-october/faith/sunday-s-readings/all-saints-day

[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2034%3A5&version=NIV

[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1John+3%3A1&version=NIV

Selected Feast Days In November

Below are some of the feast days in November:

1.  Feast Of All Saints - 1 November

2.  All Souls' Day (or Feast Of All Souls) - 2 November

3.  Feast Of Saint Albert The Great ("Albertus Magnus") - 15 November

4.  Feast Of Saint Gertrude The Great - 16 November

5.  Feast Of Saint Elizabeth Of Hungary 19 November

6.  Feast Of The Presentation Of The Blessed Virgin Mary - 21 November

7.  Feast Of Saint Andrew The Apostle - 30 November

Feast Of Saint Simon And Saint Jude, Apostles - 28 October

 Quoted below, in part, is from Catholic News Agency [1]:

St. Jude Thaddaeus

St. Jude, known as Thaddaeus, was a brother of St. James the Lesser, and a relative of Jesus. Ancient writers tell us that he preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Lybia. According to Eusebius, he returned to Jerusalem in the year 62 and assisted at the election of his brother, St. Simeon, as Bishop of Jerusalem. 

He is an author of an epistle (letter) to the Churches of the East, in particular the Jewish converts, directed against the heresies of the Simonians, Nicolaites, and Gnostics. This Apostle is said to have suffered martyrdom in Armenia, which was then subject to Persia. The final conversion of the Armenian nation to Christianity did not take place until the third century A.D.

St. Jude was the one who asked Jesus at the Last Supper why He would not manifest Himself to the whole world after His resurrection. Little else is known of his life, but legend claims that he visited Beirut and Edessa.

He was beaten to death with a club, then beheaded post-mortem in 1st century Persia. His relics reside at Saint Peter's in Rome, at Rheims, and at Toulouse, France.

...

St. Simon the Zealot

Little is known about the post-Pentecost life of St. Simon, who had been called a Zealot. He is thought to have preached in Egypt and then to have joined St. Jude in Persia. Here, he was supposedly martyred by being cut in half with a saw, a tool he is often depicted with. However, the 4th-century St. Basil the Great says he died in Edessa, peacefully.

[1] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-jude-thaddeus-and-st-simon-the-zealot-apostles-541

Feast Of The Kingship Of Our Lord Jesus Christ - Last Sunday Of October (25 October 2020)

An error was made in the 2 October 2020 post now entitled Notable Feast Days In October 2020.  It has been corrected to show that the Feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ for 2020 is 25 October 2020, not  31 October.

"In 1970 its Roman Rite observance was moved to the final Sunday of Ordinary Time. Therefore, the earliest date on which it can occur is 20 November and the latest is 26 November." [1]  "Roman Catholics adhering to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite use the General Roman Calendar of 1960, and as such continue to observe the [the Feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ] on its original date of the final Sunday of October." [2]

Stated another way, "The Feast of Christ the King is the Last Sunday in October on the Traditional Calendar.  In the Novus Ordo  it falls on the Sunday before the First Sunday of Advent." [3]

The Gospel reading for the Feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ is Jn. 18:33-37 [4]:

AT THAT time: Pilate said to Jesus: Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered: Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or have others told it thee of Me? Pilate answered: Am I a Jew? Thy Own nation, and the chief priests, have delivered Thee up to me: what hast Thou done? Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence. Pilate therefore said to Him: Art thou a king then? Jesus answered: Thou sayest that I am a King. For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth, Everyone that is of the truth, heareth My voice. 

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_Christ_the_King, quoted without hyperlinks.

[2] Ibid.

[3] http://www.catholictradition.org/Christ/cking-feast2.htm

Boring Abstract Thoughts Inspired By A Report On Two Catholic Churches Burned In Santiago, Chile

Quoted from ChurchPOP [1]:

Rioters set fire to and destroyed two Catholic Churches in Chile on Sun., Oct. 18[, 2020]. The riots “commemorate” last year’s anti-government protests.

Vandals destroyed both the St. Francis Borgia Church and the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Santiago, Chile. Built in 1876, they are the oldest churches in Santiago.

(There are photos and videos in the article cited above.)

America The Jesuit Review  reported as follows [2]:

St. Francis Borgia Church also was vandalized, and religious items were removed, church official said. The parish is home to institutional ceremonies for the “Carabineros,” Chile’s national police, a force unpopular with protesters over accusations of it employing repressive tactics, including 345 eye injuries from the use of pellets shot from anti-riot weapons, according to a U.N. report.

...

The assailing of two parishes comes as Chile’s Catholic Church suffers the fallout from accusations of clergy sexual abuse and the hierarchy’s improper response to such crimes. A January survey from polling firm Cadem found that 75% of respondents disapprove of the church’s performance.

 

The Catholic Church is blameless; the evilness of some of those in charge of it ought to be weighed against the evilness of those who desecrate it.  The evilness in others, secular or religious, is neither a reason nor an excuse to perform evil deeds in retaliation.  Evil doers have set God aside or have rejected God which leaves a vacuum in the soul for Satan to enter, inhabit and ruin.

There are people who believe that the ultimate goal in life is to have everything their way, not Christ's way.  Satan plays along with their self-centered, prideful delusion by providing temptations and means to satisfy their insatiable craving.  Satan is not interested in bringing all kinds of pain into people's lives.  It is a waste of time because every life has a preset expiration date.  Since souls never cease to exist, Satan works tirelessly to entice them to follow a disguised path that leads to eternal suffering.

The soul is a separate entity apart from the physical being.  This blog entry asserts that it has a closer and deeper connection to God than either of the heart or the mind.  An ineffable longing connects the soul to God.  The eternal soul is free to make an irrevocable choice to sever this connection, with Satan's encouragement, and does so by influencing and controlling thoughts and actions.

Matthew 22:37 supports the claim that the soul is independent from the heart and the mind [3]:

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

[1] https://www.churchpop.com/2020/10/19/rioters-set-fire-celebrate-destruction-of-two-historic-catholic-churches-in-chile/

[2] https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2020/10/19/demonstrators-burn-two-catholic-churches-chile-anniversary-protests

[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+22:37, quoted without references.

Feast Day Of Saint Raphael The Archangel - 24 October

Quoted from Regina [1]:

This holy Archangel, sent by the Almighty to Tobias, himself explained who he was, in the following words: “I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven who stand before the Lord.” Several authors maintain that he is one of those heavenly spirits who constitute the first and highest choir, and are called Seraphim. He is generally called an Archangel like St. Michael and St. Gabriel. Our knowledge of him is taken from the book of Tobias, ...

"Archangel Raphael's energy color is Green." [2]

[1] https://www.reginamag.com/saint-raphael-the-archangel/

[2] https://www.learnreligions.com/meet-archangel-raphael-angel-of-healing-124716, quoted without hyperlink.

The Catholic Church Comes Out With A Major Change (With Unresolved Issues) On Wednesday, 21 October 2020: "Pope Francis calls for civil union law for same-sex couples"

The following is quoted in part from an article published on 21 October 2020 by the Catholic News Agency  entitled Pope Francis calls for civil union law for same-sex couples, in shift from Vatican stance [1]:

In a documentary that premiered Wednesday in Rome, Pope Francis called for the passage of civil union laws for same-sex couples, departing from the position of the Vatican’s doctrinal office and the pope’s predecessors on the issue.

The remarks came amid a portion of the documentary that reflected on pastoral care for those who identify as LGBT. 

“Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. They’re children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it,” Pope Francis said in the film, of his approach to pastoral care.

...

“What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered,” the pope said. “I stood up for that.”

The remarks come in “Francesco,” a documentary on the life and ministry of Pope Francis which premiered Oct. 21[,2020] as part of the Rome Film Festival, and is set to make its North American premiere on Sunday[, 25 October 2020].

Some questions remain:

1.  How is a marriage between a man and a woman different from a civil union for same-sex couples besides certain legal and ceremonial differences?

2.  Is it ultimately only a difference in semantics?

3.  When will the Catholic Church mention same-sex unions in the Catechism of the Catholic Church ("CCC")?  To date, both CCC §1601 and §1660 focus only on marriage between a man and a woman, quoted below without references [2]:

1601 "The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament.

1660 The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of children. Christ the Lord raised marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament.

4.  Are same-sex couples required to live platonic lives in accordance with CCC §2357?  The section is quoted below without references [3]:

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. [Emphasis  added.]

The above section is unmistakenly alluded to by "the conservative bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, Thomas Tobin, [who] immediately called for clarification. 'The pope’s statement clearly contradicts what has been the long-standing teaching of the church about same-sex unions,' Tobin said in a statement. 'The church cannot support the acceptance of objectively immoral relationships.'" [4]

The Providence, Rhode Island, bishop ought to be reminded of such immoral relationships in the Catholic clergy that had taken place in the past and of those that are most likely still on-going.  Hopefully, with this change, all gay the clergy men and women will come out of the proverbial "gay closet" and be counted as part of the Catholic hierarchy of which the bishop is an integral part.

There is speculation that the most outspoken clergymen against homosexuality, including popes and cardinals, are sexually repressed, deeply bitter and outwardly unforgiving homosexuals themselves.  It is rumored that Benedict XVI could be gay.

The paragraphs below, quoted in part, are from an article in The New York Times  published on 17 February 2019 entitled ‘It Is Not a Closet. It Is a Cage.’ Gay Catholic Priests Speak Out [5]:

Fewer than about 10 priests in the United States have dared to come out publicly. But gay men probably make up at least 30 to 40 percent of the American Catholic clergy, according to dozens of estimates from gay priests themselves and researchers. Some priests say the number is closer to 75 percent. One priest in Wisconsin said he assumed every priest was gay unless he knows for a fact he is not. A priest in Florida put it this way: “A third are gay, a third are straight and a third don’t know what the hell they are.”

...

Just over a year ago, after meeting with a group of gay priests, Father Greiten decided it was time to end his silence. At Sunday Mass, during Advent, he told his suburban parish he was gay, and celibate. They leapt to their feet in applause.

His story went viral. A 90-year-old priest called him to say he had lived his entire life in the closet and longed for the future to be different....

...

 

“What if every priest was truly allowed to live their life freely, openly, honestly?” [Father Greiten] asked. “That’s my dream.”

Today, Father Greiten's dream, and the future the 90-year old priest longed for, is a step closer toward a reality a distance away.

[1] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-calls-for-civil-union-law-for-same-sex-couples-in-shift-from-vatican-stance-12462

[2] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c3a7.htm

[3] https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm

[4] https://apnews.com/article/pope-endorse-same-sex-civil-unions-eb3509b30ebac35e91aa7cbda2013de2

[5] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/17/us/it-is-not-a-closet-it-is-a-cage-gay-catholic-priests-speak-out.html

Saint Luke The Evangelist Feast Day - 18 October

Quoted below is from catholicfaithpatronsaints.com [1]:

The feast day of St. Luke the Evangelist is celebrated on October 18.  He is the patron saint of physicians and surgeons.

...

... Three canticles (hymns)  were preserved by St. Luke:  The Benedictus, the Magnificat and the Nune Dimittis (Canticle of Simeon).

The liturgical uses for the Benedictus, the Magnificat and the Nune Dimittis are as follows [2]:

The "Magnificat" is assigned to Vespers, the "Benedictus" to Lauds, and the "Nunc Dimittis" to Compline.

Regarding the Gospel of Luke, biblescripture.net  makes the following observation [3]:

St. Luke places great emphasis on prayer. Luke portrays Jesus as one who prays: Jesus prays during his baptism (3:21), before choosing twelve apostles (6:12), before the confession of Peter (9:18), before the Transfiguration (9:28), before the rendering of the Lord's Prayer (11:1), and before his arrest in the Garden (22:41). All except the prayer in the Garden are unique to Luke alone. The noun for prayer - προσευχή and the verb I pray - προσεύχομαι occur 43 times in his writings. He considers prayer to be among the more important elements of discipleship. Luke shows that prayer is the means by which God has guided his people throughout history.

[1] http://catholicfaithpatronsaints.com/prayers-quips-and-quotes-st-luke-the-evangelist-feast-day-october-18/, quoted without hyperlinks.

[2] https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09534a.htm, quoted without hyperlinks.

[3] https://biblescripture.net/Luke.html, quoted without emphasis in bold.

Feast Day Of Sainte Marguerite-Marie Alacoque - 17 October

Copied from the book, The Devotion To The Sacred Heart, foreword to the first edition, page xi, written by Father Patrick O'Connell, 1 January 1959 [1]:

    The complete edition of The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Father Croiset, S.J., is presented to the public for the first time in English.  This book was composed during the lifetime of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and published in 1691, the year after her death.  The letters of St. Margaret Mary...show that the book was written at the request of Our Savior Himself, conveyed to Father Croiset by St. Margaret Mary; in her letter to him asking him to compose this book she assured him on the , part of Our Savior that he was to get special assistance, and when the work was near completion she told him that it was so completely in accordance with the wishes of Our Lord that it would never be necessary to make any changes in it.  The book, then, rests on the authority of Our Lord Himself; as He promised, no change in it was ever found necessary...

The paragraphs below are excerpts from the same book, cited above, the first is from page 10 (Life of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque) , the second is from the Appendix on page 326 (Prayers Composed in Honor of the Sacred Heart by St. Margaret Mary):

    And in another place she writes: "From this time on, my divine Master has never ceased to reprove me for my faults and to show me how hideous they are.  What displeases Him most and what He reproves me for most severely, is want of respect and attention before the Blessed Sacrament, especially at the time of Office and prayer.  Alas!  of how many graces have I not deprived myself by distractions, by looking around from curiosity, by a more comfortable but less respectable posture?  The sorrow which I feel as soon as I perceive that I have offended Him in anything obliges me to go immediately and ask for some penance, for my divine Savior assured me on many occasions that the least penance performed under obedience was more pleasing to Him that the greatest austerity of my own choice....

Prayer of Adoration to the Blessed Sacrament

    Jesus Christ, my Lord and my God, whom I believe to be really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, receive this act of most profound adoration to supply for the desire I have to adore Thee unceasingly, and in thanksgiving for the sentiments of love which Thy Sacred Heart has for me in this Sacrament.  I cannot better acknowledge them than by offering Thee all the acts of adoration, resignation, patience and love which this Divine Heart has made during Its mortal life, and which It makes still and will make eternally in Heaven, in order that through It, I may love Thee, praise Thee and adore Thee worthily as much as it is possible for me.  I unite myself to the Divine Offering which Thou dost make to Thy Divine Father, and I consecrate to Thee my whole being, praying Thee to destroy in me all sin and not to permit that I should be separated from Thee eternally.  Amen.

[1] Croiset, Father John [Père Jean], S.J. The Devotion To The Sacred Heart. Translated by Father Patrick O'Connell, B.D., TAN Books, Second Edition, 2013.

Saint Teresa Of Avila Feast Day - 15 October

Below are ten (10) selected quotes, arranged in no particular order, attributed to Saint Teresa of Avila, from AZ Quotes [1]:

"Truth suffers, but never dies." ~ Teresa of Avila

"It is love alone that gives worth to all things." ~ Teresa of Avila

"Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes with which Christ looks out his compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now." ~ Teresa of Avila

"This body of ours has one fault: the more you indulge it, the more things it discovers to be essential to it. It is extraordinary how it likes being indulged." ~ Teresa of Avila

"Christ does not force our will, He only takes what we give Him. But He does not give Himself entirely until He sees that we yield ourselves entirely to Him." ~ Teresa of Avila

"Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life. . . . If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing." ~ Teresa of Avila

"Let us live in such a way as not to be afraid to die." ~ Teresa of Avila

"What peace can we hope to find elsewhere if we have none within us." ~ Teresa of Avila

"The closer one approaches to God, the simpler one becomes." ~ Teresa of Avila

 "He who has God finds he is lacking nothing." ~ Teresa of Avila

[1] https://www.azquotes.com/author/19882-Teresa_of_Avila

Latest Proof That Satan Is In The Vatican

The following is quoted from an article dated 11 March 2010 [1]:

While admitting that it is hard to prove, [Fr. Gabriele Amorth, Vatican's chief exorcist, who passed away at the age of 91 on 16 September 2016 [2]] says the consequences of the devil's work are evident: Cardinals who don't believe in Jesus, bishops who are linked with the devil. As early 1972 Pope Paul VI talked about the "smoke of Satan" that hovered in the Vatican, but it is more recent events like the pedophilia scandal the church is confronted with and the grisly murder by a Swiss guard of his commander and wife that Amorth uses as evidence of the devil's presence.

The recent scandal involves "Cardinal Angelo Becciu, whom Pope Francis abruptly removed from his role last month [24 September 2020] [3] over suspected misuse of funds." ... "The cardinal authorised the payments to [Cecilia Marogna] while serving as number two in the Vatican's Secretariat of State, which manages the Church's vast donations." [4]

"Italian financial police on Tuesday arrested a [Cecilia Marogna] in Milan who was paid half a million euros ($590,000) by the Vatican into a Slovenian bank account." [5]

Quoted from AFP,  the same source as above [6]:

In several interviews, she confirmed that the sum of 500,000 euros had been paid to her Ljubljana-based company Logsic.

Like 72-year-old Becciu, Marogna is originally from Sardinia.

The cardinal authorised the payments to her while serving as number two in the Vatican's Secretariat of State, which manages the Church's vast donations.

"I didn't steal a single euro," Cecilia Marogna told newspaper Domani of the payments made in tranches of tens of thousands of euros.

Rather, "I have a letter from the cardinal giving me the right to travel and conduct diplomatic relations to help the Church in difficult regions," she said, claiming to know "senior members of the Italian secret services".

She told Corriere della Sera that she is "not Becciu's mistress", calling herself a "political analyst and intelligence expert" with "a network of relationships in Africa and the Middle East" to protect the Vatican's representatives abroad.

Several Italian media outlets received anonymous envelopes with details from the accounts of Marogna's company.

Investigative TV programme Le Iene broadcast some of them showing spending of 200,000 euros on luxury products, including 12,000 euros for an armchair.

"I think I have the right to buy myself an armchair after all that work!" Marogna said, claiming that she is an innocent victim of internal Vatican power struggles.

One could only hope that Ms. Cecilia Marogna would soon be able to enjoy her time relaxing in her €12,000 armchair while reminiscing with ex-Cardinal Angelo Becciu over a couple of bottles of 750ml Bordeaux wine that would pair well with her luxury goods and armchair -- 2005 Petrus Pomerol, to be exact, available for US$5,499.97 each (SKU#52505750-1) [7], after her release by the authorities.

[1] https://abcnews.go.com/Travel/chief-exorcist-rev-gabriele-amorth-devil-vatican/story?id=10073040

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Angelo_Becciu

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_Amorth

[4] https://www-pp.afp.com/en/news/15/cardinals-woman-arrested-italy-after-500000-euro-payment-doc-8t24n22

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] link to totalwine.com, accessed 14 October 2020.  Please note that quantity is limited.