ontology lends itself to theology

The “Theology of the Body” is St. John Paul II's integrated vision of the human person. The human body has a specific meaning, making visible an invisible reality, and is capable of revealing answers regarding fundamental questions about us and our lives:

1. Is there a real purpose to life and if so, what is it?
2. What does it mean that we were created in the image of God?
3. Why were we created male and female? Does it really matter if we are one sex or another?
4. What does the marital union of a man and woman say to us about God and his plan for our lives?
5. What is the purpose of the married and celibate vocations?
6. What exactly is "Love"?
7. Is it truly possible to be pure of heart?

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from the horses' mouth...boker yom kippur

VIDEO MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
ON THE OCCASION OF THE DAY OF CHRISTIAN UNITY
[PHOENIX, 23 MAY 2015]

 

Brothers and sisters, may the peace of Christ be with you.

Forgive me if I speak in Spanish, but my English isn’t good enough for me to express myself properly. I speak in Spanish but, above all, I speak in the language of the heart.

[in Spanish:]

I have the invitation you sent me for this celebration of Christian Unity, this day of reconciliation. And I wish to join you from here. “Father, may we be one so that the world may believe you sent me”. This is the slogan, the theme of the meeting: Christ’s prayer to the Father for the grace of unity.

Today, Saturday May 23^rd, from 9 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon, I will be with you spiritually and with all my heart. We will search together, we will pray together, for the grace of unity. The unity that is budding among us is that unity which begins under the seal of the one Baptism we have all received. It is the unity we are seeking along a common path. It is the spiritual unity of prayer for one another. It is the unity of our common labour on behalf of our brothers and sisters, and all those who believe in the sovereignty of Christ.

Dear brothers and sisters, division is a wound in the body of the Church of Christ. And we do not want this wound to remain open. Division is the work of the Father of Lies, the Father of Discord, who does everything possible to keep us divided.

Together today, I here in Rome and you over there, we will ask our Father to send the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and to give us the grace to be one, “so that the world may believe”. I feel like saying something that may sound controversial, or even heretical, perhaps. But there is someone who “knows” that, despite our differences, we are one. It is he who is persecuting us. It is he who is persecuting Christians today, he who is anointing us with (the blood of) martyrdom. He knows that Christians are disciples of Christ: that they are one, that they are brothers! He doesn’t care if they are Evangelicals, or Orthodox, Lutherans, Catholics or Apostolic…he doesn’t care! They are Christians. And that blood (of martyrdom) unites. Today, dear brothers and sisters, we are living an “ecumenism of blood”. This must encourage us to do what we are doing today: to pray, to dialogue together, to shorten the distance between us, to strengthen our bonds of brotherhood.

I am convinced it won’t be theologians who bring about unity among us. Theologians help us, the science of the theologians will assist us, but if we hope that theologians will agree with one another, we will reach unity the day after Judgement Day. The Holy Spirit brings about unity. Theologians are helpful, but most helpful is the goodwill of us all who are on this journey with our hearts open to the Holy Spirit!

In all humility, I join you as just another participant on this day of prayer, friendship, closeness and reflection. In the certainty that we have one Lord: Jesus is the Lord. In the certainty that this Lord is alive: Jesus is alive, the Lord lives in each one of us. In the certainty that He has sent the Spirit He promised us so that this “harmony” among all His disciples might be realised.

Dear brothers and sisters, I greet you warmly, with an embrace. I pray for you. I pray with you.

And I ask you, please, to pray for me. Because I need your prayers in order to be faithful to what the Lord wants from my Ministry.

[Blessing]

God bless you. May God bless us all.

      ....sans video

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intercession through the communion of saints, yes! (but for the right reasons)

This year's Bridgefolk conference (grass roots Mennonite-Catholic dialog) focused on the theme of the communion of saints and intercessory prayer.  Over the course of the weekend we heard multiple perspectives on the story of a Japanese Mennonite man, Jun Yamada, studying at a Catholic university in Japan, who was miraculously healed of leukemia a quarter-century ago, following the combined prayers of Mennonites and Catholics together.  This miracle was investigated and validated by the Vatican, leading to the canonization of St. Joseph Freinadametz (a 19th century Catholic missionary in China), whose intercession for Jun had been invoked by Jun's professor, Fr. Fauzone.  Both Fr. Fauzone, and Jun's brother, Nozomu Yamada were present at this year's Bridgefolk conference, enabling us to hear the story first hand.  The conference was held at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), in Elkhart, Indiana, where NozomuYamada had been a student when he received the call communicating the expected, imminent death of his brother, Jun.  We learned that at the canonization ceremony, Pope John Paul II remarked that "we should have this type of miracle more often," referring to the ecumenical nature of the prayer that led to the miracle. 

In the discussion that followed one of the presentations, one Catholic of Mennonite origin explained that seeking the intercession of saints had been one of the easiest of his initial objections to Catholicism for him to let go of.  In his view, the "cloud of witnesses" mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, coupled with Protestant willingness to seek intercessory prayer from living Christians, especially from those one considers to be holy, laid ample foundation for seeking intercession from faithful Christian witnesses throughout the ages.  Another Mennonite responded that it was still important to him to affirm that Christians can go directly to God in prayer, without the aid of an intercessor.

I appreciated and could identify with both comments.  I like the idea that when we die and go to live with God eternally, joining the cloud of witnesses, that God allows us to continue to cooperate with his salvation of the world through our prayers for and with those still struggling on Earth.  I find that more appealing than the thought of having my individuality merely absorbed into God after I die.

The second comment touched on my own distaste, not for the practice itself of seeking intercession from the communion of saints, but for the way it is sometimes explained and defended, suggesting that God is more likely to answer our prayers if they go through someone important, through someone holier than us.  This seems to present an image of God as distant and difficult to access, which runs counter to Jesus's story about the prayers of the Pharisee and the publican, and to his teaching on prayer, which presents God as eager to give us what we need, as a Father would give his son a loaf of bread rather than a scorpion.  Nothing I can think of in the Bible, portrays God as someone who is reluctant to answer prayer and who needs to be sweet-talked by those who are close to him on behalf of ordinary Christians.  To encourage Christians to entrust their prayers to a saint because that saint is closer to God than we are seems to encourage us to cultivate a greater sense of our own distance from God, under the guise of greater reverence for God. 

I see intercession as a gift that Christians give to each other.  It is an expression of love.  Sometimes the only thing we are able to do to help someone we love is to pray for them.  When we ask a friend to pray for us, it is not because we think that God does not hear our own prayers, but because we want the support of our friends.  We want to know that they are one with us in what we are asking.  There may very well be some sense in which God's grace is able to flow more freely when Christians pray together, united in their desire for God's work.  This may be true whether it is Christians alive today who unite themselves in prayer, or whether it is Christians on Earth today uniting themselves to Christians who are living now in God's presence. 

I have found that in times of great distress or serious illness I sometimes feel too overwhelmed to pray myself, and it is a comfort in those times to know that others are praying for me.  This was especially true when I underwent a bone marrow transplant for leukemia in 1997.  I remember expressing concern to my family and friends as I lay in a hospital bed, facing an uncertain future, that I felt unable to pray.  I was quite disconcerted about this, for it seemed to me that of all the times in my life, this was a most important time to be deeply engaged in prayer.  I was reassured by the words of someone close to me who said, "That's ok.  This is a time when you can relax in the knowledge that we are all praying for you."  And I did gratefully relax into that knowledge.

In a similar manner, I have found comfort recently in entrusting difficult situations to the intercession of Mary, the Undoer of Knots.  Sometimes I find myself trapped in my own thoughts that go round and round without reaching clarity, unsure of how to move forward, and unsure, even, of how to pray.  In these situations, I may be unsure whether my prayers are genuine or self-deceiving, and I may be painfully aware of my own forgetfulness and inattentiveness to prayer throughout the day.  In these times, it can be comforting to entrust my need to the intercession of Mary or of some other saint I have read about who seems like they might understand my situation.  It's not that this replaces my own efforts to pray to the Holy Trinity, but it supports and complements my own prayer, and comforts me knowing that others are praying for me during those moments and hours when I am too distracted or angry or tired or bored or confused to pray to God myself.  It is my hope that the intercession of the saints helps to sustain and develop my relationship with God by praying, when I am unable to do so myself, for precisely those things that will draw me back into a direct relationship of prayer with God.

There was a time when I wanted to ask my Catholic friends, "How do you decide when to pray to Mary and when to pray to God?"  I never had the nerve to actually ask that question, but today I would answer it for myself, that I pray to God whenever I can and as much as I can, and I ask for the prayers of friends living and dead when I feel stymied, unmotivated, blocked or unable to sense God's presence in my life--not because God is, in fact, distant, but because I feel distant from God and desire the support of others to help facilitate my reunion with God.

mirror with water spots

I guess this proves I am communally challenged




can't even keep  a decent discussion going


what the hell is my problem

i also found this beautiful poem

Also from 
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=17431

Subject: Lyr Add: JE VIS AVEC VOUS, MA PROMISE (Louis Riel)
From: Q
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 03:54 PM

Lyr. Add: I Live With You, My Betrothed
Louis Riel, 1881, translation Paul Savoie

1
I live with you, my betrothed
Though Mother Church's holy blessing
Has not yet been bestowed
On us. Still, you wear my gold ring.
2
I wedded you. O my lover
In the year of eighty-one,
Close by the cockle-shell river.
Under common law, we were one.
3
If the circuit priest's intention
Is to honor our petition,
We will fly to Fort Benton
To gain our sin's remission.
4
Our hearts require ths blessing
To embolden our bond ...

5
For fifteen years, a lone man
God Almighty I petitioned
To grant me a good woman
Well-born, well intentioned.
6
*Father Primeau assured me
My prayers would be answered.
My loving Master surely
Would grant me what I desired.
7
Yes, His promise has held true.
I have found my heart's pride,
A woman who dispells all rue;
The woman biding by my side.
8
Because no priest was present,
My love, we were forced
To wed this way.
My love, there will be no shame.

(Original French will be posted later)

The formal vows were taken the following year, the ceremony blessed by Father Joseph Damiani.
*Primeau, John Baptiste, was Riel's confessor in Massachusetts.

The poem shows the deep religious feelings of Riel; few of his poems do not.
The poem also shows how Riel wrote his poems; they were dashed off as the thoughts came to him and only rarely corrected or revised. This has led some historians to call his poems doggerel, but they express his feelings and are necessary to the understanding of the man.
"Selected Poetry of Louis Riel," translated by Paul Savoie and edited by Glen Campbell, 1993, Exile Editions.

"The Collected Writings of Louis Riel/Les Ecrits complets de Louis Riel," Ed. in Chief George F. G. Stanley, 1985, University of Alberta Press, occupy five volumes; his poetry, over 500 pages, takes up volume 4 (ed. by Glen Campbell).

another old song

From:
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=17431

Subject: Lyr Add: RIEL'S FAREWELL
From: raredance
Date: 25 Jan 00 - 10:09 PM

Ah, Riel's Farewell. This song was collected from a Metis in Lebret, Saskatchawan, who claimed that it was a letter that Riel wrote to his mother while he was in jail in Regina. Riel actually has a track record as a poet, having written a couple of songs, including Riel's Letter to his sister Henriette, that survived among the prairie Metis, and even published a small volume of poems in his early years. Thomas Flannagan, a scholar of Riel poetry, doesn't think that this one fits Riel's style. He thinks it was more likely written by on of Riel's followers using an old French tune. The English words are by Barbara Cass-Beggs who collected the song in Lebret.

RIEL'S FAREWELL

I send this letter to you,
To tell my grief and pain,
And as I lie imprisoned
I long to see again

You, my beloved mother,
And all my comrades dear.
I write these words in my heart's blood:
No ink or pen is here.

My friends in arms and children,
Please weep and pray for me.
I fought to keep our country
So that we might be free.

When you receive this letter
Please weep for me and pray
That I may die with bravery
Upon that fearful day.

C'est au cham de bataille
J'ai fait ecrir' douleurs
On couche sur la paille
Ca fait fremir les coeurs

Or je r'cois t'une lettre
De ma chere maman
J'avais ni plum' ni encre
Pour pouvoir lui z'ecrire

Or je pris mon canif
Je le trempis dans mon sang
Pour ecrir' t'un vieu'lettre
A ma chere maman

Quand ell' r'vevra cett'lettre
Toute ecrit' de sang
Ses yeux baignant de larmes
Son coeur sera mourant

S'y jett' a genoux par terre
En appelant ses enfants:
Priez pour votre frere
Qui est au regiment

Mourir, s'il faut mourir,
Chacun meurt q son tour;
J'aim mieux mourir en brave
Faut tous mourir un jour.

(yes I know the French does not contain the proper accent markings)
rich r

IF TODAY YOU SHOULD HEAR HIS VOICE

conference    #  8






FR TIMOTHY  began by expressing the gracious gift he had recieved in praying the psalms with us the rhythm the pauses the intentional moments of listening for god he went so far as to suggest that he had recieved something far greater than what he had given to us in our conferences

it occured to me while he was speaking that we are in this flourishing time everything around us is in a  flourishing state i see young women who are pregnant i see the forests burgeoning with growth i see flower gardens literally bursting with color and greenery the air is fresh and cool not much sun but the life in the flora is a regular collective madness of flourishing power the birds are regaling everything not much insect life clouds which threaten to douse us once again in a flourishing storms of rain we  are drinking in lots of rain around here...i have this deep sense of some flourishing going on in my life...sometimes i feel i could burst with joy....this resulted in some tears




our flourishing in religious life is sustained by the recitation of the psalms
the psalms are a seedbed for the gardens of our lives
what are we doing singing and reciting these ancient poems
what do we think we are up to
to be to be do be do to    day -in- day -out   bringing these prayers
around in an endless cycle of continuous utterance the world round???

our earliest christian brothers and sisters adopted
the psalms immediately
most likely there was some form of collective psalmody going on
before the rites of eucharist took on recognizable form
from the time of Jesus' death to the the time of the writing of Mark's gospel
or    "peter's"  gospel  those marked by  the WAY
sustained their witness with the psalms in what became
the greatest witness to HOPE

at one level our engaging in the psalms is selfish
we find these chapels to be
places we like very much
we like the prayer and we make it a habit
and we pretend to own it to some degree
but really what we are doing is for others it is for
everyone else in the church it is a true charitable service
it is the ever flourishing garden
no matter what else goes down or awry in the church
the orders dedicated to the divine office will go on singing the psalms
each one is a song each one even when recited is a song
we are engaged in concentrated singing
this is why
MONASTERIES ARE FOUNDED FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHOIR
this takes priority

a little different from the world at large

although it is interesting to think about how important recorded music is in the life of people
 people take on a personal ownership of  "their music"   i have   "My"  music but

the divine office is the one true gem the one thing the treasure we cannot forsake in all of christendom

we keep alive this very public very ancient very drone-like method of prayer a nearly hypnotic form if it weren't for  mind -boggling  statements that wake us up
 or the wrestling match of anyone's particular struggle
the recitation of psalmody could easily descend into inanity...yet it has almost universal concensus that it is powerful and it is beautiful and it has its own perpetual motion...the  HOLY SPIRIT  if you will

herein fr timothy recounted two stories of people he new at the very end of their lives still conscious just before death requesting music requesting the last string quartets of beethoven or a haydn symphony for the other person

in the end there should be music as we finish up our stay here our ministry
whatever it could be we must attend it and end it with beautiful music
and the church learned this early on
 that despite all  no matter what  to go on praising god
'tis the way to lend dignity to everything every event every consequence
it is very quiet understated and insistent HOPE

sing and walk onwards   -  admonishes augustine of hippo

it is godly duty we perform the godly duty of doing it
just doing it day after day just doing it for no other reason
that to just do it
and the psalms as we know appeal to almost every imaginable emotion
every deep thought of mankind is imbedded somewhere
in the expressions in the psalms terrible anger anguish fear
horror laughter worry shame but always the acknowledgement of
transcending in the enduring hope of god
 we too are his hope after all
his language to us is intimate love talk



the   4   point structure of the prayer day:

EVENING
is the true beginning it is a moment of recounting
what has transpired that day and of looking onward in hope
to the next day
we let the day go
MASS is best in the evening tis in the evening we reconcile

the last supper was a late afternoon evening meal

NIGHT
is the time of truly letting go of the day of forgetting
of allowing everything to have its recourse in god
let us always bear in mind that Jesus
slept in the boat while the storm whipped up
compline is a beautiful prayer

MORNING
our tradition is that all churches face east
it is not so any longer
but up until the 20th century it was a standard
the rosetta windows were meant to be the
display of wonder in the morning every morning
announcing god's love for us
our eyes  AWAKENING  with the sun
in morning psalms we utter our deference to the possibility of life being new
a new day dawns we sing the glory this is the day if today you should hear his voice



DAY
day by day o dear lord three things i pray
the present of the present to be in the moment the only moment that really exists
present past - present present  - present future
all one each day the drama it is meant to be the time of flourishing
if at all possible      if we can flourish       if we can assist others
 in their flourishing or simply to flourish ourselves in the midst
of whatever flourishing may or may not be happening
sometimes religious life can appear pretty sterile
even from the inside
if we flourish in prayer we lend humanity to all of it

who is taking the pace         who sets the pace
jean vanier speaks of serving at the pace of a disabled person
allowing them to set the pace
let us not ignore the approach to time that the virtually helpless person
must assume


my brothers
         HE SO ENDED

let us pray











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