random thoughts on a Sunday night

• So  how was your Divine Mercy Mass?  Father preached at some considerable length about the very great sufferings of Pope John Paul II and Sr. Faustina  but  he also mentioned  the Gospel reading. Poor Rocky was so tired from work that he dozed off a few times. I only nudged him awake because if he'd started snoring everybody would have heard it. The Divine Mercy image was not brought out this year, nor  was the chaplet prayed before or during Mass. Compared to  Divine Mercy masses of yesteryear this was pretty toned down. I think the devotion is quietly fading in the United States. 
  
  
  
•  My brother-in-law loves Disney so much that he used to go once or twice a year. To each his own... and it was his money to do as he pleased and none of my business  but I couldn't fathom it. I still can't. The You Tube videos of squealing adults gong to Disney as if it's a pilgrimage site used to be strike me as weird but harmless now they seem decidedly unhealthy. 
  
  
  
• I have no desire to watch "The Chosen".  The trailers and still photos just had a strong Protestant/Mormon vibe to me and as it turns out it's blasphemous.  It also makes the Lord a sweet, lovable goofball. I despise that as much as I loathe the girly pink-cheeked and doe eyed images of Our Lord. 
  
  
  
• I've noticed something rather interesting. When Rocky and I drive through the wealthy parts of Northern Virginia we see Ukrainian flags in front of the mansions. There are a few in the middle class neighborhoods and none to be seen the working class or poor neighborhoods. 
  
  
  
• St. John the Evangelist was special among the Apostles. Perhaps it was due to his youth and innocence. He was the one out of all the Apostles who was entrusted with protecting Our Lady after the Crucifixion. When he had his vision of Our Lord on the isle of Patmos, he, a very old man did not greet Jesus familiarly. He threw himself to the ground and prostrated himself before God. I try to think about that when I pass by the Blessed Sacrament or when faced with a priest or deacon who wants to give me Communion in the hand.

Rejoice

 

Happy Easter

 

Holy Saturday

 

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

O KING OF THE FRIDAY

 

O KING OF THE FRIDAY

O King of the Friday

Whose limbs were stretched on the Cross,

O Lord who did suffer The bruises, the wounds, the loss,

We stretch ourselves

Beneath the shield of thy might,

Some fruit from the tree of thy passion

Fall on us this night!

He Has Trodden the Winepress Alone

Isaiah 63:1

Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra, this beautiful one in his robe, walking in the greatness of his strength. I, that speak justice, and am a defender to save. Why then, is thy apparel red, and they garments like theirs that tread in the winepress?

 

Palm Sunday

 

Uncle Luke and the Angel

 If someone claims that Our Lord, Our Lady, saints or angels are stopping by to chat with them regularly you should avoid them. If you think that the King of Kings is popping into your kitchen every day and saying you're  the most wonderful person in the world and that He is more united with you than any other creature you need to run to your priest and possibly a physician. That may very well be a demon or a brain tumor talking.

Chasing after unapproved apparitions is bad news but that doesn't mean that God doesn't step in when we need Him. I suspect that most true apparitions are not intended for the world to know about and are a one time event for most people who are so visited. Here's a family story about a relative who needed a miracle and may have gotten one.

My Great Uncle Luke was a wonderful person but he was an alcoholic. My mother isn't sure if his drinking started when he was a teenager or if it's something that began after he came home from the Korean War. Whenever it started it was very bad and was destroying him. His sisters, Grandma and Great Aunt Violet decided that something had to be done. Grandma befriended Luke's young wife and his young children spent pretty much every day at her home. Aunt Vi came home and spent her vacation talking to Luke's supervisor at work, his banker, and a lawyer. She took control of his money, made sure his bills were paid, bought clothes for his children and saved the home that Luke's grandchildren live in today. 

Luke's drinking finally landed him in the hospital. While he was there he had an experience that changed his life forever. He later told my grandmother and no-one else that an angel walked into his room. What the angel looked like or said, he did not tell her but from that night on he didn't need to drink anymore. He died when I was five and he was known as a wise and well beloved member of the family and community. He was also considered to be one of the most charitable men in the town. So many people came to his funeral that they had stand in the back and overflowed into the churchyard. It was such a spectacular turnaround that anyone who hadn't known him when he was a young man wouldn't have believed that he ever had an alcohol problem. God acts in our lives.