Mercy!

For the sake

of His

sorrowful passion,

have mercy

on us

and

on the

whole world!

~ St. Faustina Kowalska

Chaplet of Divine Mercy

The fast track to sainthood

Ye non-Catholic socks may have missed this little news item, so I'll throw it in the dryer for you.

The pope has waived the standard 5-year waiting period to put the late John Paul II on the road to sainthood.

The last time this was done, at least as far as yours truly can recall, was back in 2002 when JP2 himself waived the waiting period for the late Mother Theresa.

Typically, it takes quite a long time for someone to be declared venerable, get beatified, and become sainted.

Sometimes, this takes centuries.

But, the world we live in seems particularly hungry for (maybe, starving for) icons of modern virtue.

And, I suppose that great need is why waiting periods are being waived.

I'm all for it.

Ingrafted branches

Yours truly was a little disappointed this morning, as our regular Thursday meeting was derailed.

We are still in the middle of studying the letters of St. Paul, more particularly Romans 11:11-24.

You know those verses, the ones about ingrafted branches.

Anyway, in light of what's going on between the Anglican/Episcopal and Catholic churches this week, I thought they would be particularly topical.

But, that's not where the conversation led us.

Oh, well. Maybe, we can re-group after Thanksgiving!

My patron saint

I suppose it's appropriate that this Sunday has yours truly contemplating the life of his patron saint: Righail.

For ye socks who have difficulty pronouncing ye olde Gaelic, the modernday Scots have simplified things by spelling his name the way it sounds to modern English-speakers: Rule.

Anyway, I'd always known St. Righail was the fellow who lived in a hermitage on Dundrum Bay in Western Ireland. That's where he supposedly predicted the Great Famine of the 1840's about a millenia and a half before it actually happened. Way back in the 4th Century, he wrote of a vision he had of a great broom that swept away three-quarters of the island's population.

But, what I just learned today was the connection between St. Righail and the Apostle Andrew.

Apparently, 'twas himself that carried the remains of the apostle from their original resting place in Patras, Greece, all the way to Scotland in or about the year 327.

Don't know what took him from Scotland to Ireland, though.

Any ideas? Anyone? Bueller?

Don't try this at Mass

OK, as if yours truly needed to find a way to make napping on the big brown sofa any easier, I've discovered a new channel on the recently-expanded cable package that does just that.

For ye socks who are blessed to reside in this little corner of heaven, it is channel #169 on Bright House. Ye out-o-towners will just have to find EWTN.

That stands for Eternal Word Television Network.

Now, at the risk of sounding completely sacrilegious, I have discovered there is nothing that puts me to sleep quite so fast as Mother Angelica's recitation of the Rosary. It is merely (divine?) conincidence that it is broadcast every day at just about the precise time the couch beckons me for a nap.

The rhythmic repetition of the Hail Marys, etc., goes on for a whole half hour, just long enough for me to recharge my batteries.

And, I wake up really feeling like I've gotten away with something. Not just because, maybe, subliminally I have done something remotely soul cleansing. More because I know there is no way I could possibly get away with this without the wonders of cable tv.

Not that I've ever really tried to snooze in a real church or anything.

Anyway, think less of me if it suits you, but this channel is getting added to my favorites . . .

Caritas in veritate

In case ye socks missed it last month, Pope Benedict XVI issued a major encyclical bearing that title.

It translates as "Charity in truth," if like me ye took some other language than Latin to satisfy your high school graduation requirements.

Anyway, it's a pretty lengthy document, and I've been weeding thru it for a couple of weeks now.

Not so much because I feel compelled to read all of the holy father's writings, but because the topic of charity has been popping up quite a bit in this little corner of heaven lately.

Don't know why, just has.

I'm finding there's a lot more to do with it than parting with your cash.

Probably already "knew" that, but it's being reinforced.

Not a bad thing to have reinforced on a Sunday . . .

Pope Benny's American Birthday Bash

Ok, I know not all ye socks have a great appreciation for the Catholic Church.

And, truth be told, the church has given you plenty o' reasons for that viewpoint over recent years.

But, I for one have been pleasantly surprised by Pope Benedict XVI's willingness to confront those reasons head-on during his visit to the United States this week.

What struck me most as I listened to the commentators observing the pope's birthday celebrations today was the statistic that only 11% of European Catholics attend Mass on a regular basis.

In the U.S. of A., that figure is 25%.

So, perhaps, the Holy Father isn't just visiting us because we know how to throw a party. Maybe, he's taking notes on what the Church is doing right over here so he can carry those lessons back home to the Vatican?!

Just one sock's conjecture.

Drop the apostrophe and move the "s"

Ok, I don't want to engage in the debate over whether or not today is a holiday manufactured by Hallmark and the candy industry. Truth be told the Roman Catholic Church kinda invented it themselves to supercede the ancient pagan fertility festivals. Whatever.

But, the grammarian in me must tell all ye socks not to call it St. Valentine's Day.

It should be "Saints Valentine Day."

That's because the day traditionally celebrates not one but TWO early Christian martyrs named Valentine.

The first is St. Valentine of Terni was persecuted by the Emperor Aurelius and died in 197.

The second St. Valentine of Rome is my favorite. He died in 269, and his relics (at least some of them) ended up at the Carmelite Church on White Friars Street in Dublin, Ireland. It's the Irish connection I like.

Anyway, there are NINE other Saints Valentine. But, their feast days come later in the year, I guess.

History and grammar lessons over. Enjoy your VD, and spread it around. (Disgusting pun intended.)

Myth vs. Reality

It really irritates me when history is purposely distorted, or downright fictionalized.

Case in point, "Chief Seattle's Letter."

I am not going to waste my socks' time regurgitating the drivel I'm sure you've probably already seen. I'm sure you know the diatribe I'm talking about. It's the one that glorifies AmerIndian traditions at the expense of Judeo-Christian values and culture, ending with the trite phrase, "We are all brothers."

Whatever. I mean, if you're "in" to drinking that Kool-Aid, go ahead. But, at least have the decency not to bastardize history in the process.

The FACT of the matter is that Seattle was never so eloquent. The so-called "letter" was actually lifted from a screenplay written by a New York City drama teacher named Ted Perry in the early 1970s. He, incidentally, is mortified that his work of FICTION has been passed-off as truth by others, and has spent a lot of time trying to set the record straight.

But, it's an uphill battle, mostly because those who pervert our history in the name of ecology and secular humanism have seen fit to reprint it ad nauseum on t-shirts, postcards, websites, etc. It has even been quoted (unwittingly, I hope) in the works of the late Joseph Campbell and the former President George H.W. Bush.

So, my plea to ye socks in the dryer is, when you hear something you know is a bunch of malarkey, stand up for the truth! And, if confronted by this particular example of buffoonery, tell the purveyors that Chief Seattle was a confirmed Roman Catholic, converted by French missionaries, and saw to it that his entire tribe attended regular Mass and joined together in prayer every morning and every evening. The chief accepted Jesus Christ as his savior, acknowledged His virgin birth, and knew God as the Blessed Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He didn't worship twigs and branches or pray to rocks.

Would that some others would follow his TRUE example.

I-4 is more than a nightmare

Anyone who's had to use Central Florida's most infamous road can tell you that.

But, now it seems we finally have proof of who's to blame:

Ghosts.

That's right, ghosts.

It seems back when the notoriously traffic-clogged highway was inflicted upon the region back in 1960, the builders neglected to relocate a small Catholic cemetery on the south shore of Lake Monroe.

Instead, they unceremoniously dumped a bunch of fill dirt on top of the graves.

According to compiled statistics, this disrespect has caused some 2,000 accidents (of varying degrees of severity) along the quarter mile strip of east bound lanes just before the St. Johns River Bridge. That makes it the most accident prone section of highway between Daytona and Tampa.

One of our local tv stations had several "experts" on the air this evening to testify about this so-called "I-4 Dead Zone." They told of orbs, produced some spooky photos, etc.

And, it's not even Halowe'en yet, folks!

I say, fine. So, we've identified the problem. Now, what are we going to do to solve it?!