I have read that JPII was heavily influenced by his experiences of living under communism. When the authorities wanted to denigrate someone who had annoyed them, they spread lies or pressed untrue charges that the person was a sexual degenerate. Marcel Macial appreared to be orthodox and a solid supporter of church teaching, so tragically the Pope believed the accusations to be lies put about by liberals in the church. I don’t know McCarrick’s level of orthodoxy to know if this applies to him. For John Paul not to have acted on what Cdl O’Connor told him is strange. I think he must have believed the rumours were baseless. I have a book on John Paul 2’s miracles. I believe him to be a saint. I know he made mistakes, he himself admitted that. For instance he said at the end of his life that he had been too lenient with heretics, he didn’t like confrontation and so didn’t act as strongly as he should. In recent years we have (sort of) got used to the idea of a dictator pope. John Paul was nothing like that; he wanted to bring the church along with him. I cannot otherwise understand why he assented to the promotion of so many mediocre bishops. By Benedict’s time it was clear the pope wasn’t getting the best advice on appointing bishops so he used clandestine ways of sounding out good Catholics and clergy for their opinions. I heard this in confidence but times have moved on so there’s no harm in mentioning it. I wish JP had done the same.
I pray the Luminous Mysteries usually one day each week, on Thursdays (with Geralyn). I suppose if we had 8-day weeks, I might to choose to do it twice, but that is neither here nor there. Why do I love meditating on them? First, they contain two theophanies found in the New Testament: the one at Jesus' Baptism, and also the other on the Mount of the Transfiguration. I was baptized 3 times on my first day of life (January 2). Maybe I needed all three! And to this day, miracles still occur each year on the anniversary (August 6) of the Mount Tabor theophany (clouds descend and cover the top of the Mount!) Also, the story of the wedding feast at Cana is one of my favorites in all the Bible! Hail Mary...
The Wedding Feast of Cana I have found is very excellent is teaching Marian Devotion. To Jesus through Mary. Why we do as we do as Children of Mary. 'Do as He tells you'. Also it is a very family, down home kind of mystery. God working at a wedding. It is just lovely to think about.
