John Kass, Peggy Noonan and Jerry Bowyer Get It.....

Oh, I go to my email and it was LOADED with places to read! Some VERY angry people out there who really are not thrilled at the election of Benedict XVI (herein known HERE as BenXVI so I don't have to continue to correct my spelling.... grin).

HOWEVER, there are some that really do get it, and not all are CATHOLIC.

Just three for you to browse, that will raise emotions in you whether you like BenXVI or not. Those who don't, won't like what is said, I can guarantee.

Those who do will stand up and cheer and pass them on, as I am doing.

Thank you to Scott, to Leslie and to Sarah, who brought my attention to these three articles, among many.

A lead-in is given with each that can give you an idea.........

John Kass
New pope's past being wielded with ugly intent

Published April 21, 2005

While the bells in Rome were ringing, announcing a new pope to the world's Roman Catholics, there was also an ugly sound.

It was broadcast across the world, a political first strike to undercut the new leader of the Catholic Church.

Adolf Hitler was invoked, and the Nazis and the Spanish Inquisition. The images were strung together, then placed tightly about the neck of the German-born Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, to immediately delegitimize the man now known to the world as Pope Benedict XVI.

Peggy Noonan

Why They Ran

The new pope speaks to the inner adult in all of us.

Thursday, April 21, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

There were many moving and dramatic moments in Rome two days ago, but this is the one I think I'll remember: the sight of them running.

Did you see them running to St. Peter's Square as the bells began to toll?

They came running in from the offices and streets of Rome, running in their business suits, in jeans with backpacks over their shoulders. The networks kept showing it in their wide shots as they filled time between the ringing of the bells and the balcony scene.

So many came running that by the end, by the time Benedict XVI was announced, St. Peter's and the streets leading to it were as full as they'd been two weeks ago, at the funeral of John Paul II.

Why did they run? Why did this ancient news--"We have a pope"--representing such irrelevant-seeming truths and such an archaic institution--send them running?

Why did they gather? Why did they have to hear?

Jerry Bowyer

Is the Pope Catholic?
Answer: Yes, he is. Maybe that's why the initial coverage on the New York Times web site used words like these: "Enforcer", "Hard-liner", "Crackdown", "Ultra-conservative", and "Ideologically Pure". Those are mostly headlines and leads; I didn't have the stomach to read the rest. While the Times was trashing the new leader of the Catholic Church a commentator on CNN was using words like "bruiser" and "bully", and I don't think it was a segment about WWF Wrestling. It seems that somehow the secular press had gotten itself into the position of expecting (and hoping) that the next Pope wouldn't be a Catholic. Sure, they knew he'd be a member of the RC Church, but to actually believe all that stuff! How could that happen?

Just watch the coverage today. I think it will get worse. The Church has to modernize. The Church has to give in to the sexual revolution in order to prosper in the 21st Century. We'll hear all of that and more. Pope Benedict XVI has already answered that argument, back when he was Cardinal Ratzinger. He said that mainline Protestantism is the test case for a liberalized Catholic Church. You see there already is a Catholic Church which is exactly what the modernists want it to be. It's called Episcopalianism.

"The messenger does not water down the message,"

Many years ago, I heard (I believe it was a priest, but can no longer remember the source, only the message) someone answering another who had been saying that the Catholic Church needed to 'get with it' and change.

The response was that it is not the job of the Church to continue to lower the standard, but to raise the Standard HIGH, and when WE fail to meet it, to lift us up and help us to begin again to meet it. To continuously LOWER the Standard simply means that as mankind continues to sin, fall short, fail, etc, that banner would continually need to be lowered further and further.

Jesus Christ never lowered the Standard. The Sinners came to Him, repentant, and He lifted them up, challenging them to 'GO AND SIN NO MORE'....... He knew we would fall short, fail... not make it though we intended to, and He provided a way to reconcile with Him AND with others. AA and Alanon have given this process the title "The Fifth Step". (Fourth is examining our conscience) The Church calls this process "The Sacrament of Reconciliation" (aka "Confession").

Yet everywhere I look today, including Television Media, Print Media, and Internet, we have been hearing speculation for YEARS that when JPII dies, the Church MUST choose a Pope that will 'bring the Church into today'. One that will lower the Standard that Christ has given us to make PEOPLE's LIVES easier, because in the minds of Catholic dissidents (aka 'Cafeteria Catholics') the Church is out of touch with reality.

Secular and religious alike, many were hoping for a new and improved Church that would suddenly change to meet THEIR standards so that they do not need to repent and confess and rise up to try again to meet HIS standards.

Fr Joseph Fessio, a friend of the former Cardinal Ratzinger now Benedict XVI, has said something very close to the words of Wisdom I heard long ago.

Quote:
Fessio said Ratzinger's devotion to the message of God as revealed through Jesus Christ and Scripture proves that he deserves to be the pontifical messenger to the church.
"The messenger does not water down the message," Fessio said.
End quote.

So what happens when those who do NOT want to hear Truth want to plant seeds of doubt in people's minds? They begin to depersonalize the messenger in any way that they can. It is called propaganda, also known as 'brain washing'. They call names, they write half-truths, they repeat this so often it 'becomes truth'. Those who are not discerning people, who believe what they read and hear without researching buy it and pass it on, and it becomes embedded, though without basis. All lies have a small piece of truth in them, but no lie has Truth in them. It is propaganda, aka 'brain-washing'.

brain·wash·ing (brnwshng, -w�shng) n.

1. Intensive, forcible indoctrination, usually political or religious, aimed at destroying a person's basic convictions and attitudes and replacing them with an alternative set of fixed beliefs.
2. The application of a concentrated means of persuasion, such as an advertising campaign or repeated suggestion, in order to develop a specific belief or motivation.

It began whenever Cardinal Ratzinger's name was mentioned as a possible successor to JPII. It continues, and grows worse as time goes on now that he is Pope Benedict XVI.

Articles and emails, talk shows that interview those who call him various names in order to lessen him in the eyes of the general public, and, in the Church. Dissenters in the Church began to minimize him by calling him an 'interim Pope' almost immediately.

ONE such dissenter almost immediately dissed the new Pope to a combined class of 9th-12th grade CCD students, including telling them that he had been a Nazi. Those students came enthused, left disillusioned with a false teaching of who this man is. They learned that he is not worthy of being heard nor followed.This dissenter is a PRIEST .

Was John XXIII an interim Pope, or the man God chose for a season?

If he was an interim Pope, as many say he was, he has affected our lives forever with VII. Dissenters there also took the Council and tried to run with it, making changes never called for in our Church, and eventually calling this the 'spirit of vii'. There is spirit, and there is Spirit (as in Holy Spirit). Those who were frustrated with JPII were those who chose to heed the 'spirit', and continue to tell us that the Holy Fathers 'just don't get it'.

I think that they DO get it.

I think that Truth exists, absolutely. Jesus Christ never said... oh, ok, you did good by having so many husbands and now living with your lover to the woman at the well. He told her what she had done, how she had lived in sin, and then, when she repented, He said to her, "Go and sin no more".

And SHE left thrilled, telling everyone that she had met the one that they had been waiting for! Truth sets us FREE.

Moral relativism: the belief that right and wrong (ethics) are arbitrary and transitory, determined by the individual or the culture. It has invaded every aspect of our society, including the Church, and it spouts its philosophy in every possible media that we have today, be it books, news (all types, print, tv radio, internet, etc), homilies/sermons, schools (from grade school to high school to college), and advice of friends and family.

Cardinal Ratzinger spoke about it during the Mass at the beginning of the Conclave, his last words to us as simply Cardinal, though he did not know it, nor did we. It was a prophetic homily as to the direction his Pontificate will take. He will not be speaking in the false sense of 'compassion' that so many do today. He will speak Truth in Love.

To SOME, that will sound like anything BUT love. To those mired in relativism, it will sound as 'old-fashioned and out of touch' as did JPII. To those who want to make the Church into a democracy and form it in mankind's image, it will continue to frustrate.

To them, the words found below may not mean much, but they DO to our Benedict XVI:
ITim 4:1-7
1: Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons

2Tim 3:1-7
1: But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of stress.
2: For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3: inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good,
4: treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5: holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. Avoid such people.
6: For among them are those who make their way into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and swayed by various impulses,
7: who will listen to anybody and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

And finally,
2Tim 4:1-4
1: I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:
2: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching.
3: For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings,
4: and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.

Speaking Truth in Love .... it won't be a pleasant job for him, nor will it be pleasant for many to hear. But without Truth, we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven, for sin cannot enter there. Our Salvation depends on it.

Cardinal Ratzinger to those about to enter the Conclave:

Let us dwell on only two points. The first is the journey towards "the maturity of Christ" as it is said in the Italian text, simplifying it a bit. More precisely, according to the Greek text, we should speak of the "measure of the fullness of Christ," to which we are called to reach in order to be true adults in the faith. We should not remain infants in faith, in a state of minority. And what does it mean to be an infant in faith? Saint Paul answers: it means "tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery" (Eph 4, 14). This description is very relevant today!

How many winds of doctrine we have known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking... The small boat of thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - thrown from one extreme to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, and so forth. Every day new sects are created and what Saint Paul says about human trickery comes true, with cunning which tries to draw those into error (cf Eph 4, 14). Having a clear faith, based on the Creed of the Church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas, relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and "swept along by every wind of teaching," looks like the only attitude (acceptable) to today's standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires.

However, we have a different goal: the Son of God, true man. He is the measure of true humanism. Being an "Adult" means having a faith which does not follow the waves of today's fashions or the latest novelties. A faith which is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ is adult and mature. It is this friendship which opens us up to all that is good and gives us the knowledge to judge true from false, and deceit from truth. We must become mature in this adult faith; we must guide the flock of Christ to this faith. And it is this faith - only faith - which creates unity and takes form in love. On this theme, Saint Paul offers us some beautiful words - in contrast to the continual ups and downs of those were are like infants, tossed about by the waves: (he says) make truth in love, as the basic formula of Christian existence. In Christ, truth and love coincide. To the extent that we draw near to Christ, in our own life, truth and love merge. Love without truth would be blind; truth without love would be like "a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal" (1 Cor 13,1).

Open Letter to Meredith Chaiken-Weiss South Florida Sun-Sentinel

First, for your letter that appeared on on April 18....

Overlooked aspect of Schiavo case

Meredith
Chaiken-Weiss Lighthouse point

April 18, 2005

With the passing of Terri Schiavo, many have focusd on the importance of drafting living wills. However, one other very important lesson has been lost: Eating disorders and image issues with young girls/women.

Terri reportedly suffered from bulimia nervosa (binging then purging), which weakens the heart and can lead to heart attacks. Terri had a heart attack and her brain was deprived of oxygen for too long.

I am disappointed that the National Eating Disorder Association is not taking advantage of a great opportunity to educate this country even further on the dangers of such disorders and the warning signs for parents and friends. Such an effort would also show that at least one positive came from this sad situation.

My response:

I am asking you for proof from Terri's medical records, dental records and/or hospitalization records from the admission to the Hospital after her collapse that Terri had a heart attack caused by bulimia. I have read much of the hospital discharge notes, and other records that were available, and I find her cardiac enzymes were NOT elevated. Her Toxicology screen showed no drugs in her system. Her potassium was a LITTLE low... she did not have any heart attack.

There was also no mention of any eating disorder that would cause her collapse. So where, besides SOME of the media and Mr Schiavo, is this information coming from?

Where are her dental records that would SHOW the damage to her teeth that comes from binging and purging? (I am an RDH, as well as a nurse.... so show me!) Where are the marks on her fingers that often accompany the constant forced vomiting?

I am looking for her discharge notes from Northside Humana online, but have lost the url for them, but rest assured, if I find them, I will be pointing out those areas that indicate that there was no heart attack directly from them.

UNTIL then, I asked Cheryl Ford, RN about the allegations that have been repeatedly made re: heart attack and bulimia. Cheryl has graciously given me permission to quote her response to me here, and I am printing it nearly in entirety. Anything left out of the original email is personal information not having any bearing on this discussion:


(WICatholic),
You are unable to find bulimia because there isn't a place in the records that say Terri was medically diagnosed as a bulimic. Michael diagnosed her with bulimia himself when he decided he wanted her dead... (and not before he was awarded 1.7 million dollars). None of this is rocket scientist material.

(WICatholic), my husband is a Dentist, and as you know, I am a nurse and a former paramedic EMT. When a patient has bulimia, there are many exhibited signs prior to their hearts having problems. People just don't fall over and not have previous symptoms or warnings. Besides that, it states right in Terri's admitting records she had no elevated cardiac enzymes. In any case, here are a few warning signs and symptoms that TRUE bulimic experience..

* Amenorrhea (the absence of at least 3 consecutive periods) is common in bulimics and anorexics as a result of disrupted hormonal function. Poor nutrition and low body weight are associated with a reduced estrogen level and an increased risk for premature osteoporosis (bone loss).

* There is lethargy before cardiac problems..Terri was far from lethargic.

* The skin often dry and has a yellow tinge. According to her family, Terri had beautiful skin and it certainly was not yellow.

* Bulimics may have scars on the backs of their fingers where their front teeth scrape the skin during self-induced vomiting, tooth decay, erosion of tooth enamel, and extreme tooth sensititivity to hot and cold. She did not have any problems with that!.

* Eating disorder patients often complain of cold intolerance, dizziness, constipation, abdominal discomfort, and bloating. Bobby lived in same complex with Terri. They were incredibly close to each other. Bobby said nothing like that was ever wrong with his sister and she told him everything.

* Edema (swelling) may occur, usually in the legs, as a result of an electrolyte imbalance caused by starvation or excessive vomiting. Terri did not have muscle cramping or edema in her legs.

* Later physical symptoms include hypotension (abnormally low blood pressure), potassium deficiency in the blood, and hair loss. Terri's hair was beautiful.


Point being (WICatholic), there is a list of symptoms that occur in bullimics before they have coronary issues (Note: WI CATHOLIC EMPHASIS). People just don't become bullimic and fall over. It takes time. If you read Michael's 1992 affidavit (BELOW) he also testifies to her not having any problems.

Psychiatric disorders that may be associated with starvation or purging include conversion disorder (loss or change in voluntary motor or sensory function that is not caused by a physical disorder), schizophrenia, and mood disorders (e.g., depression).

Indications There are many signs that indicate a risk for an eating disorder. Health care providers, are trained and licensed to observe for the following symptoms.

Weight that is 15% below normal that is not due to an underlying medical condition ...eating in secret (bulimia)

* vomiting after eating (bulimia)
* using medications, laxatives, or diet pills to control weight (bulimia)
* chewing and then spitting out food (an eating disorder that resembles bulimia but is not classified as such according to the DSM-IV)
* experiencing amenorrhea (absence of menstruation) that is not due to an underlying medical condition
* weighing oneself often
* experiencing a mood change after eating or after weighing oneself
* feeling dissatisfied with body weight or shape
* feeling fat even though they are assured that they are thin
* feeling a loss of control when eating
* having a fear of gaining weight uncontrollably
* being uncomfortable eating in front of others
* being uncomfortable with comments from others regarding weight or eating

Terri was normally happy and vivacious from everything her family and friends reports. Even (Michael Schiavo) himself and his brother on the news reported when they were KILLING her, what a great gal she was and how she was ALWAYS smiling and laughing. Bulimic are usually not like that!

Terri was upset because of Michael and that is why she was crying the afternoon before her trauma occurred. Michael made her unhappy to the point of where she was going to leave him.

(see his med mal statements below)
Note: WI CATHOLIC " Medical Malpractice Statements"

and also note that all this color in were Cheryl's highlights, not mine:


p.44 of MS Depo Med Mal Pt 2 07-27-92.pdf

1 A '87. '87 we came here.

2 Q '87. Okay.

3 A April, '87.

4 Q Okay. After you were married on November 10,

5 1984, up to the time you came to Florida in April of

6 '87, did you note any abnormal eating habits as far as

7 your wife was concerned?

8 A Not that I can recall, no.

9 Q Did you notice any -- I mean, did she seem to

10 eat balanced meals?

11 A As far as I can tell.

12 Q What kind of --

13 MR. WOODWORTH: Are we talking now the entire

14 marriage or just until we came to Florida?

15 Q (By Mr. Deacon) No. I'm restricting these

16 questions, and thank you, you know, for that, I'm

17 restricting these questions from November, '84 until

18 April, '87, which is about a two and a half year period

19 of time.

20 A Before I came to Florida?

21 Q Before you came to Florida.

22 A She ate normally.

23 Q Was she employed during that time?

24 A Yes, she was.

25 Q What did she do?

___

p.45 of MS Depo Med Mal Pt 2 072792.pdf

1 A She worked for Prudential.

2 Q And from -- and for what period of time?

3 A She started five months before we got

4 married, so that would be '84.

5 Q And she worked there all during the time up

6 to the time you left?

7 A Right. She transferred.

8 Q Did she complain of any food intolerance at

9 that time, from the time you were married until the

10 time you came to Florida?

11 A Not that I can recall.

12 Q She was seeing a doctor now and then; was she

13 not?

14 A Which doctor?

15 Q Dr. Winer and Werther?

16 A As far as I can tell. I'm -- when we were

17 married?

18 Q Yes.

19 A No, she didn't see them when we were married.

20 Q Okay.

21 A We were only up there a year when we got

22 married.

23 Q Did her weight remain normal for those two

24 and a half years?

25 A Fluctuated up and down a little bit, not

___

p.46 of MS Depo Med Mal Pt 2 072792.pdf

1 much; basically the same.

2 Q Can you give me a weight range, if you're

3 able to?

4 A No, I can't

5 Q About the same as when you met her, which is

6 about 145 before?

7 A Fluctuated, like I said, up and down a little

8 bit.

9 Q Was she on any particular diets?

10 A No.

11 Q Did you note that your wife, during this

12 time, between November, 1984 and April of 1987, was

13 drinking any kind of large quantities of iced tea or

14 other liquids?

15 A She was -- used to drink a lot of Coke.

16 Q What do you mean by a lot?

17 A I can't give you an estimate, but it was a

18 good amount.

19 Q From just your observation, how many Cokes a

20 day?

21 A Five.

22 Q What about iced tea?

23 A Not that I can recall, no.

24 MR. WOODWORTH: We're still talking '84 to

25 '87?

___

p.47 of MS Depo Med Mal Pt 2 072792.pdf

1 MR. DEACON: Same time, right. The same time

2 period.

3 MR. WOODWORTH: Okay.

4 Q (By Mr. Deacon) Was she on a diet at that

5 time?

6 A No.

7 Q During that time, did she complain of any

8 physical problems that you can recall, any illnesses,

9 headaches, upset stomachs?

10 A Not that I can recall.

11 Q Now, you mentioned your wife was working at

12 Prudential; what were her hours at Prudential?

13 A Back then it was, I think, eight to four.

14 Q Eight a.m. to four p.m., right?

15 A Yeah.

16 Q Okay. Were you working at that time?

17 A Yes.

18 Q And where were you working?

19 A At McDonald's.

20 Q And what were you doing there?

21 A Manager.

22 Q And your hours?

23 A Fluctuated from five in the morning to one,

24 or ten to six, or four to close.

25 Q So you had fluctuating hours?

___

p.48 of MS Depo Med Mal Pt 2 072792.pdf

1 A Yeah. Basically closing.

2 Q If you worked at closing, it would be four to

3 close; is that right?

4 A Right.

5 Q Okay. During this period of time, did you

6 notice your wife having any -- did you notice your wife

7 having any menstrual periods during this -- I mean,

8 any -- I'm sorry, any menstrual problems during this

9 time?

10 A Not that I can recall.

11 Q Did her periods seem to be regular?

12 A As far as I can tell.

13 Q Did she ever say anything to you, Mike, I'm

14 concerned about the fact that I'm not getting a period,

15 or my periods aren't coming regularly, during that

16 time?

17 A Before we moved here?

18 Q Yes, sir.

19 A No, not that I can recall.

20 Q Okay. Do you recall her seeing the doctor at

21 all for irregular periods during that time?

22 A No, I don't recall.

23 Q Was there a time when she thought she was

24 pregnant before you got here?

25 A I really don't recall.

___

Fight4Terri @aol.com

Theresa Marie Schindler December 3, 1963 ~ March 31, 2005 Light a candle For Terri at her online Memorial Website Memory-of.com - Memorial website in memory of Theresa Schindler (1963-2005) http://theresa-schindler.memory-of.com/about.aspx

Visit: www.fight4terri.blogspot.com

Visit Terri's site: www.terrisfight.org

Cheryl Ford, RN (Fight4Terri@aol.com) is not affiliated with any other group and works to protect the rights of the disabled community.

Terri and the Pope

I have some people whom I have 'met' online that I consider to be friends, and some speak from lived experience about different issues. This is one that I asked if I could share on my blog. God bless you and your wife, Frank!


Originally published in THE MONITOR (Weekly Newspaper of the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey), Thursday, April 15, 2005, page 8.

Terri and the Pope

By F.X. Blisard


"Be not deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap (Gal 6:7).

Sooner or later, the engineers of the death of Terri Schiavo and their legions of supporters will learn the truth of these words. For the Lord certainly didn’t waste any time "responding" to the murder of Terri Schindler Schiavo, did He? The very next day, His own "good and faithful servant," Pope John Paul II, Apostle of the Gospel of Life, began his own "dying proces" a term I have grown to hate in the past month for the cavalier way in which it has been bandied about in the media.

But the psalmist says, “precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Ps 116:15). The original Hebrew here for “saints” literally means “faithful ones” (hasidim), and the term translated “precious” (yaqar) literally means “expensive” or “costly.” This has always suggested to me that allowing one of His faithful friends to die is a kind of “investment” on His part: good steward that He is, He would not waste so precious a thing as the life of one of “His own” when He could just as easily cause it to serve a purpose. We have heard so much lately about the “purpose-driven life”…what of the “purpose-driven death”?

According to the ubiquitous “apostles of death,” the only purpose such deaths as Terri’s serves is to make their own lives easier—which is definitely not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about God’s purposes, which are always long-range, always strategic, and always transformational. The classic example is the reconciling utterance of Jacob’s beloved son, Joseph, to his traitorous brothers:

"As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today" (Gen 50:20). It is difficult, at this juncture, to see how God could bring anything good out of the heinous deed we all witnessed in Florida last month, but the death of our Holy Father so close upon the heels of our holy sister Terri’s is a clear sign from heaven if ever I saw one—a sign that He will be with us in the battle ahead. If that seems a confusing connection to you, let me walk you through it.

The manner of the Holy Father’s "dying process" was in such stark contrast to Terri’s that I don’t see how anyone can miss it. His was a public acting-out of the Evangelium Vitae (Gospel of Life) that he had so tirelessly proclaimed, while hers was a public martyrdom at the hands of the high priests of the "Culture of Death" which this Pope himself had both identified and indicted—most recently in response specifically to Terri’s own situation! Pope John Paul II was engaged in an all-out war with that Culture of Death, and that war will hardly cease with the close of his pontificate. If anything, it will likely intensify. Europe, with its dangerously low birth-rate and its embrace of euthanasia-as-policy, has already surrendered to the enemy. Our nation is the last bastion, but the walls were definitely breached in March of 2005. If you have not yet realized this, I pray this will serve as your wake-up call.

I get a real kick out of all the media pundits who are (as of this writing) having a hard time wrapping their minds around the world’s reaction to the week-long solemnities in St. Peter’s Basilica, especially their desperate hope that, maybe now, with the next pope, the Church will "finally"become more "relevant" and less "medieval." They are mistaking the all-too-evident timelessness of the Church for some (imagined) antiquated quality. As to their frantic speculations as to the future course of the Church… if you hit the mute button on your TV remote and listen for a minute, you just might hear that sound so eloquently described by the psalmist:

"He who sits in the heavens laughs; the LORD has them in derision" (Psalm 2:4). After reading the balance of that psalm, I, for one, would not want to be on the receiving end of that laughter.

Spoken as Ratzinger before the Conclave

Homily at the Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff

The text below is a very strong call for a return to Christian witness in the face of all the problems that the Church been going through in recent years. - Editor

VATICAN CITY - April 18, 2005: Here is the text of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's homily at the Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff

At this hour of great responsibility, we hear with special consideration what the Lord says to us in his own words. From the three readings I would like to examine just a few passages which concern us directly at this time.

The first reading gives us a prophetic depiction of the person of the Messiah - a depiction which takes all its meaning from the moment Jesus reads the text in the synagogue in Nazareth, when he says: "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing" (Lk 4,21). At the core of the prophetic text we find a word which seems contradictory, at least at first sight. The Messiah, speaking of himself, says that he was sent "To announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God" (Is 61,2). We hear with joy the news of a year of favor: divine mercy puts a limit on evil - the Holy Father told us. Jesus Christ is divine mercy in person: encountering Christ means encountering the mercy of God. Christ's mandate has become our mandate through priestly anointing. We are called to proclaim - not only with our words, but with our lives, and through the valuable signs of the sacraments, the "year of favor from the Lord." But what does the prophet Isaiah mean when he announces the "day of vindication by our God"? In Nazareth, Jesus did not pronounce these words in his reading of the prophet's text - Jesus concluded by announcing the year of favor. Was this, perhaps, the reason for the scandal which took place after his sermon? We do not know. In any case, the Lord gave a genuine commentary on these words by being put to death on the cross. Saint Peter says: "He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross" (1 Pe 2,24). And Saint Paul writes in his letter to the Galatians: "Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, 'Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree,' that the blessing of Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." (Gal 3, 13s).

The mercy of Christ is not a cheap grace; it does not presume a trivialization of evil. Christ carries in his body and on his soul all the weight of evil, and all its destructive force. He burns and transforms evil through suffering, in the fire of his suffering love. The day of vindication and the year of favor meet in the paschal mystery, in Christ died and risen. This is the vindication of God: he himself, in the person of the Son, suffers for us. The more we are touched by the mercy of the Lord, the more we draw closer in solidarity with his suffering - and become willing to bear in our flesh "what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ" (Col 1, 24).

In the second reading, the letter to the Ephesians, we see basically three aspects: first, the ministries and charisms in the Church, as gifts of the Lord risen and ascended into heaven. Then there is the maturing of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, as a condition and essence of unity in the body of Christ. Finally, there is the common participation in the growth of the body of Christ - of the transformation of the world into communion with the Lord.

Let us dwell on only two points. The first is the journey towards "the maturity of Christ" as it is said in the Italian text, simplifying it a bit. More precisely, according to the Greek text, we should speak of the "measure of the fullness of Christ," to which we are called to reach in order to be true adults in the faith. We should not remain infants in faith, in a state of minority. And what does it mean to be an infant in faith? Saint Paul answers: it means "tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery" (Eph 4, 14). This description is very relevant today!

How many winds of doctrine we have known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking... The small boat of thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - thrown from one extreme to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, and so forth. Every day new sects are created and what Saint Paul says about human trickery comes true, with cunning which tries to draw those into error (cf Eph 4, 14). Having a clear faith, based on the Creed of the Church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas, relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and "swept along by every wind of teaching," looks like the only attitude (acceptable) to today's standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires.

However, we have a different goal: the Son of God, true man. He is the measure of true humanism. Being an "Adult" means having a faith which does not follow the waves of today's fashions or the latest novelties. A faith which is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ is adult and mature. It is this friendship which opens us up to all that is good and gives us the knowledge to judge true from false, and deceit from truth. We must become mature in this adult faith; we must guide the flock of Christ to this faith. And it is this faith - only faith - which creates unity and takes form in love. On this theme, Saint Paul offers us some beautiful words - in contrast to the continual ups and downs of those were are like infants, tossed about by the waves: (he says) make truth in love, as the basic formula of Christian existence. In Christ, truth and love coincide. To the extent that we draw near to Christ, in our own life, truth and love merge. Love without truth would be blind; truth without love would be like "a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal" (1 Cor 13,1).

Looking now at the richness of the Gospel reading, I would like to make only two small observations. The Lord addresses to us these wonderful words: "I no longer call you slaves...I have called you friends" (Jn 15,15). So many times we feel like, and it is true, that we are only useless servants. (cf Lk 17,10). And despite this, the Lord calls us friends, he makes us his friends, he gives us his friendship. The Lord defines friendship in a dual way. There are no secrets among friends: Christ tells us all everything he hears from the Father; he gives us his full trust, and with that, also knowledge. He reveals his face and his heart to us. He shows us his tenderness for us, his passionate love that goes to the madness of the cross. He entrusts us, he gives us power to speak in his name: "this is my body...," "I forgive you...." He entrusts us with his body, the Church. He entrusts our weak minds and our weak hands with his truth - the mystery of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the mystery of God who "so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son" (Jn 3, 16). He made us his friends - and how do we respond?

The second element with which Jesus defines friendship is the communion of wills. For the Romans "Idem velle - idem nolle," (same desires, same dislikes) was also the definition of friendship. "You are my friends if you do what I command you." (Jn 15, 14). Friendship with Christ coincides with what is said in the third request of the Our Father: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". At the hour in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus transformed our rebellious human will in a will shaped and united to the divine will. He suffered the whole experience of our autonomy - and precisely bringing our will into the hands of God, he have us true freedom: "Not my will, but your will be done." In this communion of wills our redemption takes place: being friends of Jesus to become friends of God. How much more we love Jesus, how much more we know him, how much more our true freedom grows as well as our joy in being redeemed. Thank you, Jesus, for your friendship!

The other element of the Gospel to which I would like to refer is the teaching of Jesus on bearing fruit: "I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain" (Jn 15, 16). It is here that is expressed the dynamic existence of the Christian, the apostle: I chose you to go and bear fruit...." We must be inspired by a holy restlessness: restlessness to bring to everyone the gift of faith, of friendship with Christ. In truth, the love and friendship of God was given to us so that it would also be shared with others. We have received the faith to give it to others - we are priests meant to serve others. And we must bring a fruit that will remain. All people want to leave a mark which lasts. But what remains? Money does not. Buildings do not, nor books. After a certain amount of time, whether long or short, all these things disappear. The only thing which remains forever is the human soul, the human person created by God for eternity. The fruit which remains then is that which we have sowed in human souls - love, knowledge, a gesture capable of touching the heart, words which open the soul to joy in the Lord. Let us then go to the Lord and pray to him, so that he may help us bear fruit which remains. Only in this way will the earth be changed from a valley of tears to a garden of God.

In conclusion, returning again to the letter to the Ephesians, which says with words from Psalm 68 that Christ, ascending into heaven, "gave gifts to men" (Eph 4,8). The victor offers gifts. And these gifts are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Our ministry is a gift of Christ to humankind, to build up his body - the new world. We live out our ministry in this way, as a gift of Christ to humanity! But at this time, above all, we pray with insistence to the Lord, so that after the great gift of Pope John Paul II, he again gives us a pastor according to his own heart, a pastor who guides us to knowledge in Christ, to his love and to true joy. Amen.

HABEMUS PAPAM!

We have a Pope!

Cardinal Ratzinger, Now Benedict XVI

Long live the Holy Father. LONG live the Holy Father!

First Day of Conclave

I was very surprised to see that they voted already! I watched the procession and the taking of the oath of secrecy, etc. Never saw that before, for either JPI or JPII. The chemicals that they used very definitely turned the smoke dark as it came out. Took a few seconds, though.

So, tomorrow there will be four votes total, if no Pope is elected. Pray for Wisdom for those voting Cardinals.

Someone sent me a VERY cute cartoon of the new and improved Conclave. With all the respect due to the author, the Albuquerque Journal did not email the needed info when I tried to email it to my email address. So, will post the url here, give John Trevor the credit, and state that IF he desires, I will remove it from my blog. I tried to get the link directly to it, but none was sent. (All I got was their emblem and my email address, and my message to myself!!)

John Trever/Albuquerque Journal

Thursday, April 7, 2005 [04-2005]