De Profúndis: What a difficult world.

Initium sancti EvangélII secúndum Joánnem...

In principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum 2 hoc erat in principio apud Deum 3 omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est 4 in ipso vita erat et vita erat lux hominum 5 et lux in tenebris lucet et tenebrae eam non conprehenderunt

6 fuit homo missus a Deo cui nomen erat Iohannes 7 hic venit in testimonium ut testimonium perhiberet de lumine ut omnes crederent per illum 8 non erat ille lux sed ut testimonium perhiberet de lumine 9 erat lux vera quae inluminat omnem hominem venientem in mundum 10 in mundo erat et mundus per ipsum factus est et mundus eum non cognovit

11 in propria venit et sui eum non receperunt 12 quotquot autem receperunt eum dedit eis potestatem filios Dei fieri his qui credunt in nomine eius 13 qui non ex sanguinibus neque ex voluntate carnis neque ex voluntate viri sed ex Deo nati sunt 14 ET VERBUM CARO FACTUM EST et habitavit in nobis et vidimus gloriam eius gloriam quasi unigeniti a Patre plenum gratiae et veritatis

+ Prayer Requests and Intentions + Updated 5 Nov.

+ Blessed Mother Mary Ever-Virgin; Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Rafael; the communion of all Saints, and all holy men and women: pray for us... +

-For our Holy Father, H.H. Pope Benedict XVI
-For our Bishops and Priests, and all religious
-For our Holy Mother Church, the Bride of Christ, for Her defense from the Enemy
-For an end to all abortions and for a renewed culture of life
-For an increase in vocations, particularly to the Holy Priesthood
-For all our prayers, hear us.

-For all the faithful departed, especially Ramon and Willie, my grandfathers. Requiescant in pace.

08 September 2008

What a difficult world.

If I may indulge my emotional whims for the moment, I must confess with both remorse and deep hope that we live in a most difficult world. Indeed the obstacles facing anyone aspiring to a life in Christ are numerous and treacherous. We live in a world where so many who are gravely wrong preach their lies as gospel, and those who know the Truth cower in fear or silence before this malicious onslaught. What was once good and proper has become evil and improper. The world is plagued by wars and famine and some people would prefer to sit down and count their money, or make plans to ensure that they will either gain more or lose as little as possible. Indeed the cathedrals of today are the football stadiums and the skyscrapers of big business, but our churches, increasingly unadorned and irreverenced, are a nagging testimony to the degradation of our age.

Our hearts are uplifted by the occasional stories of true Christian love that are manifest in this choppy and dark morass of confusion and uncertainty, and yet we often ask ourselves if we too will ever enjoy the blessing of such love, or if we will ever be so blessed as to share it. Our souls seek moments of peace and prayer; our bodies and minds are swept into a vortex of schedules, duties, expectations, appointments, tasks, worries, anxieties... If any one object bears greater witness to our age, it is the laptop by which you read this very account. At one click you can be in New York. At another, China. Dans un autre, en France. Con un otro, en España. You can read Chaucer, then Twain, then Mailer in the blink of an eye. You may be chatting with a friend somewhere- are they really your friend? Do you really know them? You tire. You open a new window, and then you repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Click. Click. Open. Close. Fly. Blur. With precision you open window to window, and yet you know not at all where you are at that very instant.

Our humanity is sucked into this whirlpool of innovation and velocity so rapidly that we have not even the time to look ourselves in the mirror. A brief reflection in the shards of a world spinning madly about us is as much as we truly get to see of ourselves, and yet it is but a minute reflection.

So where are we after all? Quo vadis?