Ordinary Old Catholic Me

When we get to the.  .  .ahem. . . latter end of the stages of man, one notices more the reality that we all share. We lose the bloom of youth, and the status quo of middle age and start to decline, some ever so slightly, some more so, but if we live long enough, we see that no one is spared, not even the most successful of stars, or entrepreneurs, believers or non-believers. And no avoidance the material world can provide will distract us any longer. It is either meaningless or Meaning Exists. 

What happens on the Altar during Mass is beyond profound. And yet, we are so casual in response to it, to Him. What do I see? What should I understand? What do I feel? It is really the key to eternal life. 

You get the idea. But there is a solution. It is the Will of God. Ain't easy to follow it. I wish I were better at it. But we are all human, and fallen. And need God's Grace ever. Particularly in the celebration of the Mass. 

It was another eventful week in the Catholic Church. As one friend said to me today, "It's exhausting!"  That certainly is true, but it is also something we have to reckon with as the faithful whether we like it or not. Pope Francis took a step, which was somewhat expected, regarding the status of the Traditional Latin Mass. It was a bigger step that many had anticipated. It basically erased the actions of two prior Popes and restricted the Latin Mass, the Extraordinary Form in a serious, and some feel, draconian way. I add my puny comments to the plethora of those that have flooded the internet this past week. 

I have so much more to learn about this poet extraordinaire who happened, by the Grace of God, to choose Catholicism as his faith on the earthly road to heaven.
I am glad I have learned what I have, and he reminds me of the majesty of its universality and the fact that God comes to us daily in the Bread of Life. He IS the Bread of Life. We must remind ourselves always of that. 

Continuing with a discussion of my discovery of a poet and short story writer, George Mackay Brown and marvelling at how he found his way to Catholicism. I intended that this be the final second part, but I got even more interested in him, and want to do a third part, next week. I am so glad I have "met him". I hope you are too. 

I love it when I find something and someone new who intrigues me. Today, is the first part of two on the poet and short story writer from the Orkney Islands (Northeast of Scotland) named George Mackay Brown. Naturally, there is a Catholic connection. And while some might say that Brown lived an ordinary life in a small place, in fact even that place was extraordinary and its impact on him also. And that impact gave us his creative legacy.
 

So, I read a really small article related to the scientific method. It reminded me of the phrase, "Faith Precedes Understanding" which brought me to the related phrase "Faith Seeks Understanding" and which led to the various considerations of the next half hour. 

In part, the decision of the USCCB to create a "teaching document" related to Eucharistic coherence and the teachings of the Church got me thinking about the phrase, "Hell is paved with Good Intentions".  Here's my take on things. 

Real life meets faith life. My Tortoise Shell Cat does a really vindictive thing and reminds me of how we behave in relation to the God of the Universe and how He somehow still loves us.