Pope Benedict’s visit to the UK is grossly misunderstood.
His real purpose was to stir things up, to till the soil, like a tractor pulling a plough.
It is only when the close packed and drenched soil is disturbed thus that it is ready to receive the seed.
We all must be ready to humbly sow the Seed, now that Farmer Benny has moved on to the next field.
So, sow on, you so ‘n’ sos!
(That includes me!)
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
Sorry for that brief ‘effort’, but I am finding difficulty stringing words together.
I am still shocked and awed by the Pope’s visit. Shell-shock has the same effect on the human brain, temporarily disconnecting long cherished interneuronal connections (synapses).
Pending my full recovery, please carry on regardless/nurse/sister/matron etc.
Perhaps I should change my posting name to ‘Polly Philous’
(Toad will get that one, I’m sure)
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‘Polly Philous’ — ¿ a lover of parrots ?
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Well dear Burro, the Holy Father certainly stirred things up – and all without raising his voice, and with eyes that penetrated the soul. As a priest friend who met him today told me “you knew you were in the presence of holiness”. There is much work for the faithful, but much work for our Bishop’s who have not always shown themselves ready to listen to the Holy Father. Perhaps they have listened, but seem not to want to put his words into practice. We should pray for them. We deserve Pastors worthy of the Shepherd.
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Burruguru:
http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Feeling_the_Philous_Love.html
Can only assume this is what you are thinking of.
Interesting, anyway, because it quotes Christ as saying about laying down one’s life for one’s friends. It seems to me ‘greater love’ would be laying down one’s life for one’s enemies. But I suppose He knows best.
MIMI seems to have a Spanish keyboard. ¡Hollin!
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I hadn’t really intended to watch any of the Holy Father’s celebrations of the Mass. However by chance when I switched on the television Pope Benedict’s Mass from Glasgow was just beginning. From the moment he began the Eucharist I was captured and wild horses wouldn’t have driven me away. I haven’t watched so much TV for a long time. I couldn’t get enough of seeing and hearing him. I’ve tried to analyze my feelings over these last few days, but without coming to any real conclusions. I wept several times whilst seeing and hearing him, and even now almost a week later the memory of his visit remains with me. The farewell at the airport was extraordinarily moving and as his plane disappeared I experienced a kind of grief that he was no longer here in the UK. I do feel shaken up by it all and need to reflect deeply on what has happened to me as a result of the Holy Father’s wonderful visit.
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caerbran: (I recognise the cat). Welcome. Your post elsewhere was very touching and I understand your turmoil. Just wait on the Holy Spirit – all will be well. I pray for your courage in the days to come. The visit of the Holy Father will have repercussions, like a small stone in a still pond. The ripples will yield mighty works.
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The Holy Father’s ‘stirring up’ and ’tilling’ might also be contained in the word ‘challenging’ which many people have used to describe his words to us.
The following photos were taken by my 16 year old son, who was lucky enough to be able to attend the Masses at Westminster Cathedral and at Cofton Park – you may enjoy them:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pchidell/sets/72157625019274230/with/5017876127/
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Caerbran, I also had a heavy heart when the Holy Father was no longer on British soil.
You have been blessed, we have all been blessed by his visit. Yes, the Vicar of Christ shines with the “kindly light” of Christ. Bask in its warmth and beauty and let it lead you to the fullness of Truth.
You are in my prayers.
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Excellent photos Maryla. Your son is very talented.
Who are the two ‘minders’ in white, at his shoulders?
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The one in glasses is the Holy Father’s chief liturgist, Msgr. Guido Marini, and I’m afraid I don’t know about the other one. Perhaps someone can help us out here…?
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Nice to see you Malcolm.
We would be very interested in hearing more from you in the times ahead. If you feel up to producing an article for posting, instructions are to be found on the ‘About this blog’ page.
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Many thanks to all for your encouraging replies to my post.
Yes at present I am in what can only be described as a state of turmoil and indecision. However I’m greatly blessed in that I’ve always had a devotion to the Mother of God and St Columba. My Christian name Malcolm actually means Disciple of Columba.
Blessed John Henry Newman’s Hymn – ‘Lead kindly light’ is running like a protective computer program in the background of my life.
What really amazes me is the complete turn around in my attitude to Benedict XVI.
Prior to his visit I wasn’t really interested, indifferent. Yet I was won over by his gentle courtesy that nevertheless refused to compromise with the ills of aggressive secularism. His actual message was prophetic in the best biblical tradition.
Incidentally I’m in the process of reading his book: Introduction to Christianity. It a great book and one that offers profound insights on every page.
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Malcolm, can I also recommend his Jesus of Nazareth? I was given Volume 1 for my birthday. It is packed with gentle, scholarly wisdom.
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joyfulpapist
I actually have Benedict’s Jesus of Nazareth and have read it. So maybe since 2007, when it was first published, the Holy Spirit has been working within me. At the time I was impressed with the Holy Father’s theological learning. He quotes from many of the leading biblical scholars both Catholic and Protestant. Hopefully he will soon complete the second part – From the Transfiguration to the Resurrection, Ascension and Pentecost.
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I’ve managed to change my user name to malcolm. It makes life much easier.
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Malcolm, I love your cat! Is it a Burmese?
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Mimi
Not specifically to my knowledge. He displays signs of an aristocratic pedigree. He is very affectionate and given the chance would stay on my lap for hours at a time.
He’s not very big and Burmese cats tend to be much larger. His pointed ears suggest ancient Egypt. I shouldn’t be surprised if he has the blood of the Pharaoh cats running in his veins.
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“God created the cat so man could have the pleasure of caressing a tiger.”
We have just lost our beloved little black cat after 18 years…… sob 😦 She looked quite like your cat pictured in your avatar Malcolm, except that Kitty had a white star on her throat. She unexpectedly adopted us in Spain when she was a stray kitten, so the spur-of-the-moment name “Kitty” just stuck with her.
Sad to think that as animals have no souls, we won’t be finding them in Heaven…… or will we? Who knows? Nothing is impossible for God.
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Just seen this nice report of the Holy Father’s visit from the Catholic journalist and author, Joanna Bogle:
http://origin.ewtn.com/news/blog.asp?blog_ID=4
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Kathleen
I love your quotation re’ the cat and caressing a tiger.
My previous little cat was run over by a car. I missed him terribly so I can understand your loss and empathize with you. I honestly don’t know if animals have souls. Animals do add a very special dimension of joy to our lives so maybe that joy also has an eternal dimension and our pets are not lost to us forever.
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Malcolm, volume 2 went to the publishers in May, and is being translated ready for simultaneous publication in several languages. http://www.bigccatholics.com/2010/05/new-volume-of-pope-benedicts-jesus-of.html
It focuses on the Passion and Resurrection, apparently. Out in time for Christmas? I hope so.
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“Animals do add a very special dimension of joy to our lives…”
Indeed, but never interfere in the affairs of cats. Or they will whizz on your keyboard.
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Kathleen muses gloomily:
“Sad to think that as animals have no souls, we won’t be finding them in Heaven…… or will we? Who knows? Nothing is impossible for God.”
Well, that’s what the ‘experts’ inform us, Kathleen.
As I understand it, we (Toad? Not likely!) will all just be ‘up there’, like in Dante, doing nothing but eternally and timelessly ‘enjoying’ God.
Personally, I’d swap that dreary prospect for a three-hour walk with my dogs, followed by total oblivion.
(And, I suspect, so would you.)
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“God created the cat so man could have the pleasure of caressing a tiger.”
Says Kathleen.
That sounds like a quote from someone else but her.
I hope so. But anyway, how true!
>i>And God created the dog so man could have the pleasure of caressing a wolf.
And God created the ape so man could the pleasure of caressing himself.
And God created man so man could have the pleasure of killing ‘himself’.’
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Got the coding wrong again. Doh! Something should be done! I can get it straight D****n, before I send it.
“Waddya ya want, for nothin?” says my wife.
Right.
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Well, drawing the themes of saints and animals together, I’m sure many of you know CS Lewis’s glorious fantasy The Great Divorce. Witnessing the procession surrounding a great (but on earth unrecognised) saint in heaven, which includes animals as well as humans she knew on earth, Lewis is told by his guide, “… there is joy enough in the little finger of a great saint such as yonder lady to waken all the dead things in the universe into life”.
Pure speculation, of course, but comforting. And challenging: to save your cat, simply become a saint!
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Thanks Manus – that’s encouraging! I haven’t read C.S. Lewis’s book you mention, but I hope to do so.
Toad,
You norty, rood old amphibian (as Rabit would say), of course this creature of limited powers of creativity did not invent that lovely quote….. that’s why it was in inverted commas. I just read it somewhere and remembered it.
And I am not gloomy btw, just musing on the wonders awaiting us in Heaven one day. As “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the wonders that God has created for those that serve Him”, I’m not too worried, and nor should you be….. or should we?!! Heaven will be more wonderful than anything we can imagine, but we have to get there first. There will be no boredom as portrayed by Dante, and the other rather off-putting description of Heaven being an “eternal singing of praises to God” cannot sum up the idea of blissful joy that no words can describe. We are just so incredibly limited in our knowledge of God’s greatness, that’s the trouble.
P.S. We might have to cleanse ourselves in Purgatory for a time before we enter Heaven, so better first shape up all we can on Earth whilst we still have the chance, don’t you think? 😉
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Amazing, but true: in yesterday’s Mass on EWTN, the celebrant, Fr Anthony Mary, gave a long homily on the very subject of whether animals go to Heaven or not!!! You can download it through the internet on You-Tube.
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Perhaps it’s just a comforting self-delusion, but I have always firmly believed that when the “new heavens and the new earth” appear at the end of time, all our beloved pets will be there too. “For nothing loved is ever lost” — no?
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Oh boy, these were the good old days when writers and readers used to converse in real time!
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Whoever deleted my reply to my friend Brother Burro, you showed your true colours. You also demonstrated this blog is on on the side of the devil.
In the name of Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, strengthened by the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Blessed Michael the Archangel, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and all the Saints, we confidently undertake to repulse the deceits of the devil, including in those places on the Internet falsely claiming to represent Catholic views.
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Dear Rabit
Happy New Year! I hope that you and the donkeys are keeping well.
I’m afraid that I haven’t been looking in much lately and don’t know what you’ve all been chatting about.
I am told that the comment was deleted in error, please do accept my apologies on behalf of the team.
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Hello Raven,
I don’t believe that it was deleted in error. Nothing personal – and I always held you in high regard – but you’ve all lost it, and I’ve made my position clear. ‘Traditional Catholics’ cannot be on the same side as an attempt by neo-nazis to overthrow the state. The blog is now just a narrow Trumpist political rant, completely out of touch with the authentic Catholic values we held when we set up this site. We wrested control from the fascist Mundabor in 2010, and in restrospect we might as well not have bothered! Never mind the deletion of the comment. It was reply to Brother Burro and I have since contacted him by email with my reply to his above comment.
Gareth
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Gareth says: “We wrested control from the fascist Mundabor in 2010…”
Yes, let’s do go back to 2010 – the first half of the year – when there was a commenter on another website called Rabit who was exposed as a deceitful provocateur with an enormous closetful of idiotic diarrhoetic sockpuppets who were causing mayhem on that other site, resulting in quite a few of Rabit’s erstwhile companions (me included) to scorn him, whereupon, having been justifiably doxxed by blogger MMCXVI for his concealed earlier association with the very sad Catherine Pepinster’s pseudo-Catholic organ, The Tablet, other *issues* in his life coincidentally came to light causing Rabit to become an ex-pat, jump off the White Cliffs of Dover and skedaddle for a place where his reputation was less well known.
I eventually put Rabit’s history out of mind only to now suffer a flashback – what with his disparagement of Mundabor for no reason other than to burnish his Rabity reputation as saviour of CP&S. Whether or not Rabit actually saved this blog or was himself also given a pink slip by CP&S I cannot say because I was not present during the 2010 Civil War.
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Many thanks for setting the record straight… and for sparing us the effort, JH! :o)
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LOL, JH and thanks for the predictable school playground character assassination. It’s what you do best. For the record, I did not save the blog. I said “we” (I thought you were a lawyer?) “We wrested control.” The key person was Burro actually, who took the password from Mundabor, as he knows, but then what do you know about any of it? As you say, you were keeping your distance: waiting to see how things would work out, before committing yourself. I may have my faults but I’m not a coward, I step up to the fight. You are all on the wrong side of history now, and going down with a narrow Trumpist political movement you disastrously supported, instead of the ‘traditional’ Catholicism you claimed to espouse. Shame on you all.
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Yes, thanks JH. What an elephantine memory you have!
Despite your long absence from commenting on CP&S, we are delighted to have you back, noticing that you have lost none of your old wit and feistiness.
Oh, and you’re right… it was a “pink slip” (or its equivalent).
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OK all, this is the point where I tell you all to cool it.
I am currently deeply unimpressed by the comments.
If, in my judgment, any more of these comments dip into vituperation or incivility I am going to (i) delete them and (ii) put the offender(s) into premoderatimon.
Also, can I remind you all that the blog is a team effort that we provide to you for no charge. We don’t always agree on some of the posts (an example being that I am rather relieved that P45 is getting his p45), but we are tolerant of each others’ views. Civil disagreement is welcome, but this really isn’t the place for denunciations and bombastic accusations of heresy.
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Dear Raven,
I am happy to say that I have nothing more to say, and even happier to say it to you.
God bless you and I hope your views prevail over those who are in error.
Gareth Thomas
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