And I thought I was late yesterday Kathy. Kathy you will be happy to know that one of your scapulars is now around the shoulders of a co workers mother who is in hospice care. I am getting much bolder in sharing these treasures. They have been brought up in two client meetings of late and I just have to show them and offer them one. Yesterday I had forgotten to give it to my co worker after she has asked for one and she was about to be off for a week for work. I was pulling out of the work garage and the thought hit me like a ton of bricks. I was worried that she had already left so I quickly turned around and drove down to the level of where she parks and when I got down there I saw only one car left and it was hers and there she was walking to it. The timing was impeccable because who knows, her mother could die this week and here she had asked me for one and I had forgotten until that late late hour.
Thanks Glenn. You are a great dear friend! I mean that sincerely. I felt I have known you my whole life. You are a brother in many more ways than just a brother in Christ though I should never say "just" when referring to Christ ever but you get the idea I am sure.
I was so happy to see the forum back! I had a real feeling this week with the Synod stuff that just set my hair on fire that I needed to fast from media for 24 hours which I did and it did increase my prayer about all of these things going on. The 30 day fast was likely also needed so that we were able to take a breath before the going gets very rough. I am a convert- this stuff has shaken me up enough that I have run to confession twice this week because I am so aggravated but my spiritual director today really helped me. I left the Methodist church believing Rome would never falter- Monday hit me like a ton of bricks! After my confession today I was meditating on the Cross and finally let some much needed tears out and I heard in my spirit what Jesus told the women of Jerusalem. I had a real feeling that my role is to stand close to His Mother and just be there for Him, no matter who else is leaving. Remember the women stood firm while Peter was nowhere to be found. Yet Peter came around and I believe in His Church. I am new at all of this being a Catholic stuff but I am not a new believer and the song in my head as I left Mass is on the radio right now by the Newsboys called We Believe We believe in God the Father We believe in Jesus Christ We believe in the Holy Spirit And He's given us new life We Believe in the Crucifixion We Believe that He conquered death We Believe in the Resurrection And that He's coming back again! Kind of like the Creed! And that is all I know and all I need to know! Blessings, Val
I have purposefully kept my nose out of synod talk. I only read Charile, Mark Mallett and Pelianito during the fourm shut down, so I am ignorant of what's been said and released. But this is exactly what I feel in my spirit - that the secret thoughts of many are being laid bare; that this is the primary purpose of the synod. And I've also been led to pray intensely for the synod participants. Watch and pray...
Thank you for this. So no decisions will be made then during this synod ? The second will be in October 2015 apparently.
This song should be copied and given to all young people in the streets ! It's something Else than the nonsense they hear every day in their ears !
St. Catherine of Siena - Please intercede for all shepherds in these dark times. Help them to guard their tongues, lest they offend the Lord. Lead them by your example to correct the Holy Father, if need be, in the Divine Spirit of Love and in private. Amen
'that the secret thoughts of many were laid bare'. You made me smile here Kathy you really did. Did you know Cardinal Kasper was caught telling...well things not so close to the truth...right on tape? Talk about secret thoughts laid bare. http://www.creativeminorityreport.com/2014/10/big-fat-liar.html By the way I regard Cardinal Kasper's comments as outright racist.
My understanding of what this synod is, based on an interview I saw with Cardinal Weurl [spelling?] is that this year's synod is really more of a brainstorming session where everybody can put their ideas out there and lay their cards on the table, so to speak. Next year is more serious, in terms of recommendations for actions and decisions being made. And who knows what could happen between now and next year; hearts and minds could be changed dramatically between now and then.
I don't know why but I thought I'd venture to MOG today and was pleasantly surprised to see it was opened again - thanks Padraig. I was soooo missing you all.
This is the final document of this year's Synod. It is taken from http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2014/10/18/0768/03043.html III EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS MESSAGE We, Synod Fathers, gathered in Rome together with Pope Francis in the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, greet all families of the different continents and in particular all who follow Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We admire and are grateful for the daily witness which you offer us and the world with your fidelity, faith, hope, and love. Each of us, pastors of the Church, grew up in a family, and we come from a great variety of backgrounds and experiences. As priests and bishops we have lived alongside families who have spoken to us and shown us the saga of their joys and their difficulties. The preparation for this synod assembly, beginning with the questionnaire sent to the Churches around the world, has given us the opportunity to listen to the experience of many families. Our dialogue during the Synod has been mutually enriching, helping us to look at the complex situations which face families today. We offer you the words of Christ: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me” (Rev3:20). On his journeys along the roads of the Holy Land, Jesus would enter village houses. He continues to pass even today along the streets of our cities. In your homes there are light and shadow. Challenges often present themselves and at times even great trials. The darkness can grow deep to the point of becoming a dense shadow when evil and sin work into the heart of the family. We recognize the great challenge to remain faithful in conjugal love. Enfeebled faith and indifference to true values, individualism, impoverishment of relationships, and stress that excludes reflection leave their mark on family life. There are often crises in marriage, often confronted in haste and without the courage to have patience and reflect, to make sacrifices and to forgive one another. Failures give rise to new relationships, new couples, new civil unions, and new marriages, creating family situations which are complex and problematic, where the Christian choice is not obvious. We think also of the burden imposed by life in the suffering that can arise with a child with special needs, with grave illness, in deterioration of old age, or in the death of a loved one. We admire the fidelity of so many families who endure these trials with courage, faith, and love. They see them not as a burden inflicted on them, but as something in which they themselves give, seeing the suffering Christ in the weakness of the flesh. We recall the difficulties caused by economic systems, by the “the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose” (Evangelii gaudium55) which weakens the dignity of people. We remember unemployed parents who are powerless to provide basic needs for their families, and youth who see before them days of empty expectation, who are prey to drugs and crime. We think of so many poor families, of those who cling to boats in order to reach a shore of survival, of refugees wandering without hope in the desert, of those persecuted because of their faith and the human and spiritual values which they hold. These are stricken by the brutality of war and oppression. We remember the women who suffer violence and exploitation, victims of human trafficking, children abused by those who ought to have protected them and fostered their development, and the members of so many families who have been degraded and burdened with difficulties. “The culture of prosperity deadens us…. all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us” (Evangelii gaudium54). We call on governments and international organizations to promote the rights of the family for the common good. Christ wanted his Church to be a house with doors always open to welcome everyone. We warmly thank our pastors, lay faithful, and communities who accompany couples and families and care for their wounds. *** There is also the evening light behind the windowpanes in the houses of the cities, in modest residences of suburbs and villages, and even in mere shacks, which shines out brightly, warming bodies and souls. This light—the light of a wedding story—shines from the encounter between spouses: it is a gift, a grace expressed, as theBook of Genesissays (2:18), when the two are “face to face” as equal and mutual helpers. The love of man and woman teaches us that each needs the other in order to be truly self. Each remains different from the other that opens self and is revealed in the reciprocal gift. It is this that the bride of theSong of Songssings in her canticle: “My beloved is mine and I am his… I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” (Song of Songs2:16; 6:3). This authentic encounter begins with courtship, a time of waiting and preparation. It is realized in the sacrament where God sets his seal, his presence, and grace. This path also includes sexual relationship, tenderness, intimacy, and beauty capable of lasting longer than the vigor and freshness of youth. Such love, of its nature, strives to be forever to the point of laying down one’s life for the beloved (cfJn15:13). In this light conjugal love, which is unique and indissoluble, endures despite many difficulties. It is one of the most beautiful of all miracles and the most common. This love spreads through fertility and generativity, which involves not only the procreation of children but also the gift of divine life in baptism, their catechesis, and their education. It includes the capacity to offer life, affection, and values—an experience possible even for those who have not been able to bear children. Families who live this light-filled adventure become a sign for all, especially for young people. This journey is sometimes a mountainous trek with hardships and falls. God is always there to accompany us. The family experiences his presence in affection and dialogue between husband and wife, parents and children, sisters and brothers. They embrace him in family prayer and listening to the Word of God—a small, daily oasis of the spirit. They discover him every day as they educate their children in the faith and in the beauty of a life lived according to the Gospel, a life of holiness. Grandparents also share in this task with great affection and dedication. The family is thus an authentic domestic Church that expands to become the family of families which is the ecclesial community. Christian spouses are called to become teachers of faith and of love for young couples as well. Another expression of fraternal communion is charity, giving, nearness to those who are last, marginalized, poor, lonely, sick, strangers, and families in crisis, aware of the Lord’s word, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts20:35). It is a gift of goods, of fellowship, of love and mercy, and also a witness to the truth, to light, and to the meaning of life. The high point which sums up all the threads of communion with God and neighbor is the Sunday Eucharist when the family and the whole Church sits at table with the Lord. He gives himself to all of us, pilgrims through history towards the goal of the final encounter when “Christ is all and in all” (Col3:11). In the first stage of our Synod itinerary, therefore, we have reflected on how to accompany those who have been divorced and remarried and on their participation in the sacraments. We Synod Fathers ask you walk with us towards the next Synod. The presence of the family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in their modest home hovers over you. United to the Family of Nazareth, we raise to the Father of all our petition for the families of the world: Father, grant to all families the presence of strong and wise spouses who may be the source of a free and united family. Father, grant that parents may have a home in which to live in peace with their families. Father, grant that children may be a sign of trust and hope and that young people may have the courage to forge life-long, faithful commitments. Father, grant to all that they may be able to earn bread with their hands, that they may enjoy serenity of spirit and that they may keep aflame the torch of faith even in periods of darkness. Father, grant that we may all see flourish a Church that is ever more faithful and credible, a just and humane city, a world that loves truth, justice and mercy. [03043-02.01] [Original text: Italian]
So God's Truth wins again. I pray everyone learns from that leaked letter that we must simply trust God. That will be an invaluable charism to possess as the storm is at its worst and the temptation to lose our faith and hope is there. Faith, Hope, and Charity.
Now then….who REALLY thought otherwise: Bishops Scrap Welcome to Gays in Sign of Split Catholic bishops scrapped their landmark welcome to gays Saturday, showing deep divisions at the end of a two-week meeting sought by Pope Francis to chart a more merciful approach to ministering to Catholic families. The bishops failed to approve even a watered-down section on ministering to homosexuals that stripped away the welcoming tone of acceptance contained in a draft document earlier in the week. Rather than considering gays as individuals who had gifts to offer the church, the revised paragraph referred to homosexuality as one of the problems Catholic families have to confront. It said “people with homosexual tendencies must be welcomed with respect and delicacy,” but repeated church teaching that marriage is only between man and woman. The paragraph failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to pass. Two other paragraphs concerning the other hot-button issue at the synod of bishops, whether divorced and civilly remarried Catholics can receive Communion, also failed to pass. The outcome showed a deeply divided church on some of the most pressing issues facing Catholic families. It appeared that the 118-62 vote on the gay section might have been a protest vote by progressive bishops who refused to back the watered-down wording. The original draft had said gays had gifts to offer the church and that their partnerships, while morally problematic, provided gay couples with “precious” support. …… Francis insisted in the name of transparency that the full document, including the paragraphs that failed to pass, be published along with the voting tally. The document will serve as the basis for future debate leading up to another meeting of bishops next October that will produce a final report to be sent to Francis. “Personally I would have been very worried and saddened if there hadn’t been these … animated discussions … or if everyone had been in agreement or silent in a false and acquiescent peace,” Francis told the synod hall after the vote. Conservatives had harshly criticized the draft and proposed extensive revisions to restate church doctrine, which holds that gay sex is “intrinsically disordered,” but that gays themselves are to be respected, and that marriage is only between a man and woman. “We could see that there were different viewpoints,” said Cardinal Oswald Gracis of India, when asked about the most contentious sections of the report on homosexuals and divorced and remarried Catholics. German Cardinal Walter Kasper, the leader of the progressive camp, said he was “realistic” about the outcome. In an unexpected gesture after the voting, Francis approached a group of journalists waiting outside the synod hall to thank them for their work covering the synod. “Thanks to you and your colleagues for the work you have done,” he said. “Grazie tante.” Conservative bishops had harshly criticized journalists for reporting on the dramatic shift in tone in the draft, even though the media reports merely reflected the document’s content. Francis’ gesture, and his words inside the synod hall chastising bishops who were overly wed to doctrine and were guided by “hostile rigidity,” as well as those bishops who showed a “destructive goody-goodiness,” indicated that he was well aware of the divisions the debate had sparked. His speech received a four-minute standing ovation, participants said. Read entire piece here: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/bishops-Francis-synod-Italian/2014/10/18/id/601554/
A lot did Eta, but Truth shines through. I'm sure that rat will get every one of us off the rails at some some point, probably more than once. Which is why this forum Padraig blesses us with and the guidance of Charlie, Mark Mallet, and Janet is so invaluable.
If I said this most members would not be to suprised, just ol Mac. But from you Padraig , Its a little frightening. Even if I felt it , I wouldnt say it. What if you are wrong? A lot of people look up to you.
