So I had ordered some various saint medals to place on my Rosary. I put them on my Rosary this morning.
In the afternoon I noticed that the St. John of the Cross medal had become detached.
St. John of the Cross you are killing me with the irony.
The dumb thing is that when I ordered these various medals I only ordered one of each. These types of medals are very cheap and not made of any precious metals. So it was rather silly not to plan ahead and order multiple of each type.
WARSAW, Poland — A new statue that depicts the late pope, St. John Paul II, throwing a rock into red water has provoked debate in his native Poland and revived memories of a 1999 Italian sculpture that showed him crushed under a rock, to which the new work was intended as a counter-statement.
The statue by Polish artist Jerzy Kalina, titled “Poisoned Well,” was inaugurated Thursday in front of Warsaw’s National Museum to mark 100 years since the much-loved pope’s birth on May 18, 1920.
Kalina, 76, said the installation in the museum’s fountain relates to John Paul II’s efforts in the 1980s to help free Poland from communism, which is symbolized by the red color the water has from a red fabric placed on the fountain’s bottom.
The artist, the creator of many works dealing with the Catholic faith and church, said he also wanted to send a “warning against multiplying forms of red revolution” and encourage the return to the “clear well.” He was apparently referring to the gradual disappearance of faith and religion in Poland.
But some critics associated the art work with blood and violence. The sculpture also drew ridicule on social media, with some commenters comparing the life-sized likeness of the canonized pope toting a rock to a cartoon figure.
The museum said the installation was Kalin’s response to “La Nona Ora,” Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s sculpture that showed the pope as “feeble old man” pinned to the ground by a huge meteorite.
… Source
Of course, anybody seeing this would make those obvious connections. Well not really. It does elicit other ideas for me.
Can a Pope create a rock so big he can’t lift it? Apparently no.
There is also some kind of Abbot & Costello routine in this:
Abbot: Did you see this picture of the two rocks?
Costello: No I only saw the man holding one rock.
Abbott: Yes, that’s the rock doing it.
Costello: You mean the rock is holding the rock?
Abbot: Naturally.
I had been meaning to go deeper into the life of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Edith Stein. I knew the basic biographical details of her life and of her martyrdom. Some of the details of her family life and how her sister Rosa followed here into the Church and Carmel. I just had never really gone deep into her writings. So I decided to read through her Collected Works as published by the Institute of Carmelite Studies.
I know that this will not be the easiest task or just light reading. I will probably have to learn along the way much more about phenomenology, of which I only have the barest intellectual sketch.
First up is her autobiography as published in Life in a Jewish Family.
The first thing to know about this autobiography is that it mostly covers the time from her childhood to becoming an assistant to professor Husserl. There is some foreshadowing in regards to her later years before her martyrdom, but nothing substantiative.
Still, I found this to give a valuable insight into her formative years. I really enjoyed reading about her mother, her family, acquaintances, and friends. Usually background information I have read concentrated about how difficult it was for her mother when she became Catholic. While that aspect is certainly true, her mother was really quite a wonderful person making the best of the early death of her husband and taking care of her family. Her mother gave her a lot of free reign in making choices in regards to directing her life, despite the fact that they were not choices her mother would have always thought best.
I also enjoyed seeing how she grew in virtue. She is very honest about her shortfalls and that while she was never cruel to others, she could be not understanding and dismissive. She details her attraction to the intellectual life and philosophy, but there is a lot along the way that sets this path. You get a palpable sense of the hard work this entailed and how little she was certain in following this goal.
Her relatively short time as a Nurse in WWI was also a very interesting chapter of her life. I get the feeling that some of this was very transformative for her, especially considering her writing a thesis on empathy.
Since this autobiography was never finished, it ends abruptly, so a chronology is placed at the end to fill out some of the details up to her and her sister being taken to Auschwitz. This barely goes into the details of her conversion, years of teaching at a Dominican nuns’ school, and entering Carmel.
I am very glad to have read this as it helps me to enter more into the life of this great saint.
This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 10 September 2020 to 23 September 2020.
The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.
Angelus
General Audiences
Speeches
- 10 September 2020 – To a Delegation of the European project “Snapshots from the borders”
- 18 September 2020 – To the Editorial Board of the Weekly “Tertio” (Belgium)
- 19 September 2020 – To the Members of the “Banco Farmaceutico” Foundation
- 21 September 2020 – To Autistic Children of the Sonnenschein Clinic (Austria)
Papal Tweets
- “Everyone is important in God’s eyes, everyone can transform a part of the world polluted by human voracity into the good reality willed by the Creator. #SeasonOfCreation” @Pontifex 18 September 2020
- “We are called to be instruments of God our Father, so that our planet might be what He dreamed of when he created it and correspond with his plan for peace, beauty and fullness. #SeasonOfCreation” @Pontifex 19 September 2020
- “Those who reason using human logic, that is, the logic of the merits acquired through one’s own greatness, from being first, find themselves last. Instead, those who humbly entrust themselves to the Father’s mercy, from being last, find themselves first (see Mt 20:1–16)” @Pontifex 20 September 2020
- “We need to pursue a genuine fraternity based on our common origin from God. The desire for #peace lies deep within the human heart, and we should not resign ourselves to seeking anything less than this.” @Pontifex 21 September 2020
- “The journey of reconciliation calls for patience and trust. #Peace will not be obtained unless it is hoped for.” @Pontifex 21 September 2020
- “Life is grounded in three fundamental and closely connected relationships: the Relationship with God, with our neighbour and with the earth. #SeasonOfCreation” @Pontifex 22 September 2020
- “#Solidarity needs subsidiarity. There is no true solidarity without social participation, without the contribution of families, associations, cooperatives, small businesses, and other expressions of society. #GeneralAudience” @Pontifex 23 September 2020
Papal Instagram
This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 3 September 2020 to 17 September 2020.
The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.
Angelus
General Audiences
Speeches
- 3 September 2020 – To a group of lay people from France engaged in the field of ecology
- 11 September 2020 – To the participants in the annual Meeting of the International Gynaecologic Cancer Society
- 12 September 2020 – To the Participants in the meeting of the Laudato si’ Communities
- 12 September 2020 – To the relatives of the teenagers tragically perished in the nightclub in Corinaldo (Ancona)
Papal Tweets
- “The Sorrowful Virgin whose pierced heart mourned the death of Jesus now grieves for the sufferings of the crucified poor and for the creatures of this world laid waste by human power. #SeasonOfCreation” @Pontifex 15 September 2020
- “Climate restoration is of utmost importance for the Earth’s future. Thus, I invite all nations to adopt more ambitious national targets to reduce emissions. #SeasonOfCreation” @Pontifex 16 September 2020
- “As many spiritual masters have taught us, heaven, earth, sea, and every creature have an iconic capacity or mystical capacity to bring us back to the Creator and to communion with creation. #SeasonOfCreation #GeneralAudience” @Pontifex 16 September 2020
- “Contemplation, which leads us to an attitude of care, is not a question of looking at nature from the outside, as if we were not immersed in it. But we are inside nature, we are part of nature. #SeasonOfCreation #GeneralAudience” @Pontifex 16 September 2020
- “To contemplate and to care: these are two attitudes that show the way to correct and rebalance our relationship as human beings with creation. #SeasonOfCreation #GeneralAudience
General Audience” @Pontifex 16 September 2020 - “Today, the nature that surrounds us is no longer admired, but “devoured”. We must return to contemplation; so as not to be distracted by a thousand useless things, we must find silence; for the heart not to become sick, we must be still. #SeasonOfCreation” @Pontifex 17 September 2020
Papal Instagram
One Less God Than You: How to Answer the Slogans, Clichès, and Fallacies That Atheists Use to Challenge Your Faith is a fairly recent book by John DeRosa.
I first came to know about John DeRosa on Twitter and became interested enough in what he had to say on the subject of Classical Theism to subscribe to his podcast. I really enjoy his podcast, which covers topics from philosophy, theology, to scripture. He has many great guests on, and I will need to listen to the whole of his archive of shows.
So I picked up this book, figuring it would be something I would enjoy. It really delivers on its subtitle. I liked pretty much everything regarding the approach this book takes. For one, it starts right by concentrating on prayer as a priority first before engaging in dialogue with atheists. The next is that it is presented in a listen-reason-propose framework. A form of Socratic dialogue is used, which avoids confrontational approaches. Some Catholic books about talking with atheists often come off as aggressive. Or present a view of atheists purposely denying God even though they “Know he exists.”
Each chapter of the book deals with a common atheist slogan you are likely to hear. He suggests some pathways in discussing the topic. As his framework suggests, the key is listening to the person to find out what they think on a topic and how they frame an objection. The temptation is to jump right in with an answer as soon as you see the general direction it seems to be aiming. Providing examples and principles to “reveal important truths about the topic under discussion.” This can be followed up by asking questions to clarify and proposing arguments and pieces of evidence. Plus it is always important to define things as you go. Ask how they define something and be clear on your own definitions. Otherwise, it is way to easy to talk past each other.
The chapters provide some possible responses, questions to ask what you might propose. Some topics include what he calls middlegame responses to advance the conversation. What he provides is not meant to be a script, but just some starting points that you can use and build upon with your own approaches and responses. Also offered are references for future study to go deeper into a specific topic.
I really enjoyed the tone of this book and how he thought through the various topics. This is a very accessible book for a general audience. Besides, how he explains this framework is valuable for any discussions.
The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer by Fr John Bartune
I have been going through this book over the last year. It uses the four Gospels to provide a series of spiritual reflections. It goes through all the Gospels taking a paragraph or so and then given a series of topical reflections on the specific topic. The topics each time are:
– Christ the Lord
– Christ the Teacher
– Christ the Friend
– Christ in My Life
There are references to the Catechism along with quotes from the Church Fathers and others along with some small group discussion questions. Gospel texts are taken from the 1966 version of The Jerusalem Bible.
These commentaries are broadly spiritual reflections using the various senses of Scripture. They are pretty much jargon-free and not scripture scholar deep-dives. Some of the mediations use Ignatian techniques of imaging the various scenes and presenting these points of view.
Overall I can recommend this as a good daily read to go through and think about the Gospels.
This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 13 May 2020 to 14 September 2020.
The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.
Angelus
Daily Homilies (fervorinos)
- 13 May 2020 – The mutual remaining between the vine and the branches
- 14 May 2020 – Day of fraternity, day of penance and prayer
- 15 May 2020 – Our relationship with God is gratuitous, it is friendship
- 16 May 2020 – Christ died and rose for us: the only medicine against the worldly spirit
- 17 May 2020 – The Holy Spirit reminds us how to access the Father
General Audiences
Messages
Papal Tweets
- Image @Pontifex 4 September 2020
- “During this #SeasonOfCreation, may we be attentive to the rhythms of creation. The world was made to communicate the glory of God, to help us to discover the Lord of all in its beauty, and to return to Him.” @Pontifex 4 September 2020
- “Mother Teresa, tireless worker of charity, pray for us, so that our criterion for action might be gratuitous love, offered freely to everyone without distinction of language, culture, race, or religion.” @Pontifex 5 September 2020
- “At times it takes greater love to rehabilitate a brother or sister. In the #GospelOfTheDay (Mt 18:15–20) Jesus invites us to put them in God’s hands: only the Father can show a greater love than that of all brothers and sisters put together.” @Pontifex 6 September 2020
- “Rather than a problem to be solved, the world is a joyful mystery to be contemplated with gladness and praise. #SeasonOfCreation #LaudatoSì” @Pontifex 7 September 2020
- “Mary, the Mother who cared for Jesus, cares with maternal affection and pain also for this wounded world.” @Pontifex 8 September 2020
- “The Christian response to the pandemic and to the consequent socio-economic crisis is based on love, above all, love of God who always precedes us (see 1 Jn 4:19). When we welcome this divine love, then we can respond similarly. #GeneralAudience” @Pontifex 14 September 2020
Papal Instagram
This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 20 August 2020 to 27 September 2020.
The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.
Angelus
General Audiences
Messages
Papal Tweets
- “May the Holy Spirit make us grow constantly in knowledge of God so that we might spread His love and His truth in the world.” @Pontifex 20 August 2020
- “Amid so many passing things, the Lord wants to remind us of what will remain forever: love, because “God is love”.” @Pontifex 21 August 2020
- “God has no need to be defended by anyone and does not want His name to be used to terrorize people. We call upon everyone to stop using religions to incite hatred, violence, extremism and blind fanaticism. #HumanFraternity” @Pontifex 22 August 2020
- “God does not love you because you behave well. He loves you, plain and simple. His love is unconditional; it does not depend on you.” @Pontifex 22 August 2020
- “In the #GospelOfTheDay, we hear Jesus’s question directed to each one of us: “And you, who do you say I am?”. It is a question of giving not a theoretical answer, but one that involves faith, that is, life, because faith is life!” @Pontifex 23 August 2020
- “Let’s not forget the victims of the coronavirus. So much suffering, so many people who lost their lives; and so many volunteers, doctors, nurses, sisters, priests, who also lost their lives. Let us remember the families who have suffered because of this.” @Pontifex 23 August 2020
- “To pray is to allow yourself to be looked at by God without illusions, excuses, or justifications. Because from the devil come darkness and lies, from God come light and truth.” @Pontifex 24 August 2020
- “Today is the tenth anniversary of the massacre of 72 migrants in Mexico. I express my solidarity with the families of the victims who today are still asking for truth and justice. The Lord will hold us to account for all of the migrants who have fallen on their journey of Hope.” @Pontifex 24 August 2020
- “To pray is to allow yourself to be looked at by God without illusions, excuses, or justifications. Because from the devil come darkness and lies, from God come light and truth.” @Pontifex 24 August 2020
- “The root of every spiritual error is believing ourselves to be righteous. To consider ourselves righteous is to leave God, the only righteous one, out in the cold.” @Pontifex 25 August 2020
- “After the crisis, will we continue with this economic system of social injustice and depreciating care for the environment, of creation, of our common home? Let’s think about this. #GeneralAudience General Audience @Pontifex 26 August 2020
- “If we take care of the goods that the Creator gives us, if we put what we possess in common in such a way that no one would be lacking, then we would truly inspire hope to regenerate a more healthy and equal world. #GeneralAudience” @Pontifex 26 August 2020
- “Trust in the Lord and make an effort to enter into his plans, accepting that His salvation can reach us in ways that may be different from what we expect.” @Pontifex 28 August 2020
- “Putting the paschal mystery at the center of our lives means feeling compassion towards the wounds of the crucified Christ present in the many innocent victims of wars and violence, in attacks on life, in environmental disasters, and in poverty.” @Pontifex 29 August 2020
- “For Peter and the other disciples – but for us too! – the cross is a ‘hindrance’, whereas Jesus considers the ‘hindrance’ escaping the cross, which would mean avoiding the Father’s will, the mission that the Father has entrusted to Him for our salvation. #GospelOfTheDay” @Pontifex 30 August 2020
- “I follow with concern the tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean area and I appeal for constructive dialogue and respect for international law to resolve the conflicts that threaten the peace of the peoples of that region.” @Pontifex 31 August 2020
- “#SeasonOfCreation Video” @Pontifex 31 August 2020
- “Today marks the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. From now until October 4th we will celebrate the #JubileeForTheEarth with our Christian brothers and sisters of various Churches and traditions. #SeasonOfCreation” @Pontifex 1 September 2020
- “The #JubileeForTheEarth calls us to think once again of our fellow human beings, especially the poor and the most vulnerable. We are asked to re-appropriate God’s original and loving plan of creation as a common heritage. Message” @Pontifex 1 September 2020
- “A #JubileeForTheEarth is a good time to remember creation’s original vocation to exist as a community of love. We exist only in relationships: with God the Creator, with our brothers and sisters, and with all of God’s creatures within our common home.” @Pontifex 1 September 2020
- “A #JubileeForTheEarth is a time to return to God, our loving Creator. We cannot live in harmony with creation if we are not at peace with the Creator who is the source and origin of all things.” @Pontifex 1 September 2020
- “A #JubileeForTheEarth is a time to restore the original harmony of creation and to heal strained human relationships. #SeasonOfCreation Message” @Pontifex 1 September 2020
- “The current pandemic has highlighted our interdependence: we are all linked to each other, for better or for worse. Therefore, to come out of this crisis better than before, we have to do so together, all of us, in solidarity. #GeneralAudience” @Pontifex 2 September 2020
- “As a human family we have our common origin in God. We dwell in a common home, the garden-planet where God placed us. But when we forget all this, our social fabric is weakened and the environment deteriorates. #GeneralAudience” @Pontifex 2 September 2020
- “I invite everyone to join in a universal day of prayer and fasting for Lebanon, on 4 September. I also invite our brothers and sisters of other religious confessions to join in this initiative in whatever way they deem best. General Audience” @Pontifex 2 September 2020
- “We must always have this “holy restlessness” in our hearts, in the search for the true good who is God. Let us help others feel the thirst for God. He gives peace and happiness to our hearts.” @Pontifex 27 September 2020
Papal Instagram