So today, Cardinal Burke “issued a call this morning for the Catholic faithful to “work for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.””

I may be harsh, but I can’t help but compare +Burke to the neighbour who lives next door to a household in disrepair due to an abusive father. Dad’s gonna come home drunk again, and all the neighbour can do is tell the children that they make sure their rooms are spick and span.

Sure, the Catholic faithful have to keep praying. But the answer isn’t speaking to the kids. The answer is smacking around (figuratively) a derelict dad who refuses to come up with four yes/no answers.

Totally. Harmless.

Good on Eugenie Bouchard for playing along.

Playing. Along, folks.  Playing.

It wasn’t sexist, or demeaning. It was, and is, precisely what sports needs.  A little ‘play’ after some hard work under the hot Aussie sun.

(Not to be included, though, are men’s tennis players ‘twirling’, as Serena Williams suggested.  Let’s not get stupid, here.)

Many disciples turned away.

One of the most stirring words in Scripture, taking place in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of St. John the Evangelist.

Disciples, of Whom Our Lord had MANY, about-faced on Truth. A biblical scholar I can’t put my finger on right now, had researched that in excess of a few HUNDRED people – all at once – up and left.  Apparently, John 6:66 was at the very NEXUS and HEIGHT of Christ’s ministry!  Ruminate on that for a brief moment.

Should Jesus have moulded His words for a “modernized man” who could not bear to listen?  Whether he should have or should not have, is irrelevant.  He didn’t adjust His most Glorious Words.  And that is why reading paragraphs 94 and 95 of Evangelii Gaudium wounded my heart.

To those who are also wounded, I say; do NOT turn away!  This is a suffering that MUST occur!  Let that pang COMPLETELY envelope your body… and pray, “Lord, I desire to suffer for souls… including my OWN.”

Many disciples turned away.  I refuse to do so.

Extra ecclesiam nulla salus!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To quote a young George Bailey from one of my favourite flicks of all time “It’s A Wonderful Life”;

“It’s poison I tell ya… poison.”

And Health Canada knows it.

We were not made to control birth with a flippin’ pill.

 

H/T to Socon Or Bust

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you imagine how frustrating that would be?

You’re at the kiosk at a government office.  You’ve got all the documentation… the photo id… birth certificate… you’re a nationally recognized tv sports commentator… heck, your show is being played on the flat-screen that hangs just behind you.

“I’m Damian Goddard.”

“Uh, no you’re not.”

“I tell you!… I AM DAMIAN GODDARD!”

“Sir, please keep it down or I’ll have to call security.”

“Why won’t you listen to me?  I have everything you need right in front of you.  I am who I say I am!”

(The government worker continues to stare blankly into my eyes as the words drip from a mouth in full sneer…)

“Prove it.”

Prove it.  Huh.

Can you imagine how livid you’d be?  Can you imagine how justified  you’d be in turning the place upside down due to the egregious injustice being forced upon you?

Now.  Forget, for the moment, you’re some high-falootin’, tv sports dude.

Imagine, for the time being, you are The One.  The Son of God.  A man, known to near everyone around him – friends and enemies alike – as a particular Jesus of Nazareth.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is engaging the Pharisees.  And because it is the Gospel of John, I try to pay close attention to how many times, and under what circumstances Our Lord uses the words “I AM”.  Today, he says it three times in the matter of a few sentences.  Three.  Times.

I am God.

No, you’re not.

I am God.

No, you’re not.

Yes I AM.  I am God.

No.  You’re.  Not.

YHWH.  I AM WHO AM.  Begotten.  Consubstantial.  Incarnate.

And these Pharisees, tethered to the Mosaic law, could not even recognize the very Reason, Logic, and Word engaging them.

Lord, give us eyes to see and ears to hear.  Please let us be not caught up in man, but caught up in You.

——————–

Post-script

By the way, did you catch that INCREDIBLE Gospel commentary from St. Augustine?  That “light” is in Heaven, and on Earth.  At the same time.  And a Catholic Priest, through the very working of the Creator, makes time and space come together at the consecration of the Holy Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament, the Body, the Blood, the Soul, the very soul-jarring Divinity of Our Lord, Our Saviour… Jesus Christ.

Good God.  Sweet, sweet Father in Heaven who Loves me more than I can ever possibly fathom… I mean this; thank you.  Thank you, oh so much, for my being born into the Catholic Church.  The One True Faith.

Yours faithfully,

Damian Goddard.

 

 

Are you bookmarking?

I know.  That sounded a little Jimi Hendrix-ian.

Or, maybe I need to lay off the “shuffle” on my iTunes?

To some, the fight for traditional marriage may seem like 4th-and-forever on your own 2-yard line.  But until that buzzer of all final buzzers sounds, the fight continues.  And thanks to some dedicated NFL’ers, marriage has received a much-needed shot in the arm.
Oh, how I miss using sports lingo!