The Zodiac
Apparently some people think their zodiac signs changed and some people say they didn't and some say they did in the east and some say who cares because we use the west and bla bla bla bla bla.
All of that gets a mostly disinterested "hmm" statement from me. What is very interesting however was the reaction.
The crazy knee jerk flip out even effected me. Just last night I said F*** being a libra, I'm a scorpio. My wife Kelli was intrigued as well.
Why did so many of us react this way? I'm Catholic, Kelli is Christian, at least one of the posters on my feed was an atheist.
Outside of the new age crowd, no one believes that your sign has anything to do with anything. On the other hand I cannot disprove astrology just as much as one of its followers cannot disprove God but I digress.
We all seemed to really care. I have seen news stories come and go about possible findings of Noah's ark's landing site or the real final tomb of Jesus and facebook doesn't light up like that. Tell a taurus they might be something else however, they'll say you're full of bull.
Santo Subito
That's itallian or latin for sainthood now. That was the cry of thousands in April of 2005 after the death of Karol Wojtyla, better known to the word as Pope John Paul the Second.
Seen as a man of the times, he was a major factor in the cold war, he was a force for dialogue between different faiths, he survived an assassination attempt, brought the church up to date on evolution, upheld the sacrament of marriage while simultaneously maintaining the inherent dignity of gays and died with the utmost dignity, he may soon be recognized as a saint.
John Paul II (JP2) is one of my all time favorite religious people. He was the rock star pope, the athlete pope. He brought a 2,000 year old church into the new millennium with class.
The recent announcement that the Vatican that JP2 will be beatified the Sunday after Easter made me very happy. JP2 canonized more saints than all his preceding popes to 1598 or something like that combined because he wanted more modern saints on the ledger. He wanted saints that young people today could look to for strength and conviction.
It's all well and good to consider St. John the Baptist as a role model but in this day and age running out to the country in sack cloth and dunking people in a river doesn't resonate.
The confirmation of a nun's miraculous cure from parkinson's disease after praying to the late pontiff was the catalyst for beatification. One more miracle from JP2, who suffered from parkinsons', must be confirmed before he would be officially recognized a saint.
It is important to mention here that the church and the pope do not make saints, they merely give official recognition to those where it can prove it. In the Catholic Church, canonization involves a decree that allows veneration of the saint in the liturgy of the Roman Rite throughout the world. If JP2 is was to be a saint, he was or was not at the moment of his death.
Anyways, I hope that churches around the globe celebrate his beatification and pray that his eventual (I hope) sainthood energizes a church that needs some energy right about now.
A book anyone with a serious interest in religion should read
Light of the World: The Pope, The Church and The Signs Of The Times is a great book by journalist Peter Seewald.
It is an interveiw over the course of a week with current pope Benedict XVI and Seewald doesn't pull punches.
Among the questions:
What caused the clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church?
Was there a "cover up"?
Have you considered resigning?
Does affirming the goodness of the human body mean a plea for "better sex"?
Can there be a genuine dialogue with Islam?
Should the Church rethink Catholic teaching on priestly celibacy, women priests, contraception, and same-sex relationships?
Should there be a Third Vatican Council?
Is there any hope for Christian unity?
Is Christianity the only truth?
Can the Pope really speak for Jesus Christ?
How can the Pope claim to be "infallible"?
And more... If you are a student of world religion, an interested catholic or just a global minded person with an interest in what the spiritual leader of 1 billion people thinks about different things, read this book. Kudos to my lovely wife who bought it for me for Christmas.
False Phrophets
The Westboro Baptist Church, also known as those idiots that protest soldiers funerals, will not protest at the funeral of 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green who died in the Arizona shooting last week. They also won't protest the funeral of a judge who died in the same event.
In exchange they got live radio interviews on several stations. Guess we've changed our tune about not negotiating with terrorist...I exaggerate. Seriously though, if we all just ignore them, they really might just go away.
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Good lunch, and good day.
Whoa, that was a potpourri of bubbling blogs. Very interesting and thought provoking, even if it was all over the map. These are strange times. Isn't it funny how three people we know did not "get" a change in our zodiac signs, and several that did are upset.
ReplyDeleteJP2 as he has been officially dubbed was no doubt a great man who did great things for the church. Not so sure I feel the same way about Benedict, but then I am not as well read on the subject as you. Will check into that later.
On the note about the Westboro Baptist Church, I had never heard of them until this blog. Got to get out from under the rock I've been living under!