IF YOU WATCHED "DOWNTON ABBEY"...

...or even if you didn't, enjoy.




Thanks to Lapin for the link.

JCF'S FRIEND CATHY - HOME TO GOD

JCF said...

I just heard:

Cathy went home to God this evening.

My heart is heavy...but I'm relieved she's free of pain.

Light eternal grant unto her O Lord...

May Cathy rest in peace and rise in glory.

May God give comfort, consolation, and the peace that passes understanding to all who love Cathy.

'SUPERMOON' SATURDAY NIGHT

From Live Science:

Thanks to a fluke of orbital mechanics that brings the moon closer to Earth than that it has been in more than 18 years, the biggest full moon of 2011 will occur on Saturday, leading some observers to dub it a "supermoon."

On Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, the moon will arrive at its closest point to the Earth in 2011: a distance of 221,565 miles (356,575 kilometers) away. And only 50 minutes earlier, the moon will officially be full.

At its peak, the supermoon of March may appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than lesser full moons (when the moon is at its farthest from Earth), weather permitting. Yet to the casual observer, it may be hard to tell the difference.

Great moon ball shines bright
Journeys on dark night's ceiling
Sun's light brings to earth

Image from Space.com

Thanks to Doug for the link to the story.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AILEEN, CATHY, AND CATHY

From Sally Boyd--- prayers continuing. ----

Begin forward message:

This is the latest news from her husband, Mike:

Wednesday, March 16, 2011
8:18 p.m.

AILEEN TALKED!! Sunday her therapists, knowing I have to take the boys back to Rapid, started working early that morning, so that by the time we get there to say our good byes, she spoke!!!!! She said "Hi Mike" "mom" and "boys"! It took SOO much strain and effort and sounded like a 90 year old smoker, but who cares!! Everyone in the room cried, even the therapists! I love this place!

Aileen is amazing. She is working and fighting so hard. Yes, we have a long way to go, but she is just the girl to do it. She is stronger than any ten men! I dare anyone to say different! God, prayers from each and everyone of you, and the will of a mom. Nothing could be stronger! Thank you all!

Oh my! What wonderful news! Thanks be to God and to all who care for Aileen and pray for her. May Aileen's recovery continue until she is restored to full health and strength.

From JCF:

I just spoke w/ Cathy's sister.

They're preparing to bring Cathy home to a room in her (other) sister's place, in hospice care.

As I know from relatively recent experience w/ my mom, being AT HOME is the way To Go.

Please keep Cathy and her family in your prayers...

JCF, at home is the place to go, if possible. May Cathy go gentle, without pain or distress, into the loving arms of Jesus.

From the other Cathy in England:

In the meantime, I haven't got a temperature, but I have got a really weird cold. In addition to all of the usual symptoms it has given me sharp, nagging pain and nasty pressure first in the left ear (yesterday), then in the right (today). Now when I whistle I can hear two separate notes at the same time, one a semitone higher than the other, and everyone on the telly has got two voices, like bad lipsyncing. Prayers please? ...

O Father, heal our friend Cathy from her cold and restore her speedily to full health and strength, in Jesus' name, amen.

BRAINS

A drive-in, no less.

From Lapin.

THE ORDINARIATE PRELATES LINE-UP

From the Catholic Herald:

The Pope has honoured three former Anglican bishops, the first members of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, with the title of monsignor.

Fr Keith Newton, the leader of the Ordinariate who has most of the functions of a bishop, has been granted the papal award of Apostolic Pronotary, the highest ecclesial title for non-bishops. Fr Andrew Burnham, the former Bishop of Ebbsfleet, and Fr John Broadhurst, the former Bishop of Fulham, have been granted the papal award of Prelate of Honour, and are therefore also monsignori.

The three former bishops receive honor upon honor from their new leader, Pope Benedict. One is even an Apostlic Pronotary. Imagine being a pronotary! But they're still not bishops.

These high papal officials are the highest class of Monsignor, are often raised directly to the cardinalate, and hold distinctive privileges in address and attire....They are addressed formally as "most reverend monsignor," and they wear the mantelletta, the purple choir cassock, the biretta with red tuft, and rochet for liturgical services, the black cassock with red piping and purple sash at other times, and may add the purple ferraiuolo to the black cassock for formal ceremonies of a non-liturgical nature, e.g., a graduation.

From Wikipedia.

I hope the lower classes of the ordinariate take note of the proper manner of address for their newly-named pronotory. How likely is it that that the Most Rev Monsignor Keith Newton will be raised to the cardinalate? Not very, in my humble opinion. And a biretta with a red tuft is not a mitre.

And what about the Roman Catholic priests who must serve for years before being named monsignors?

Thanks to Ann V. for the link.

PRIORITIES!

From TVNEWSER:

The Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton is expected to be a huge television draw next month, so all news organizations are spending significant resources on covering the event.

We already reported that MSNBC was sending Martin Bashir and Chris Jansing and that BBC America would be simulcasting BBC One’s coverage, but in this morning’s Wall Street Journal, some other interesting details were uncovered.

Among them: CNN will have 400 staffers covering the wedding, including cameramen, reporters and producers.

Which, of course, makes perfect sense, because there is nothing much happening in the rest of the world.

O wait!

By comparison, the Journal compares that to the number of staffers CNN has in Japan at the moment: 50.

Image from Ivy Press.

INNER PEACE

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat plain food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

 

...Then You Are Probably The Family Dog!

 

Doug strikes again. I may have done this one before, but I didn't have the wonderful picture of the dog.

AN IRISH POPE?!

There were two Catholic boys, Timothy Murphy and Antonio Secola, whose lives parallel each other in amazing ways. In the same yearTimothy was born in Ireland , Antonio was born in Italy .

Faithfully they attended parochial School from kindergarten through their senior year in high school. They took their vows to enter the priesthood early in college, and upon graduation, became priests.

Their careers had come to amaze the world, but it was generally acknowledged that Antonio Secola was just a wee cut above Timothy Murphy in all respects.

Their rise through the ranks of Bishop, Archbishop and finally Cardinal was swift to say the least, and the Catholic world knew that when the present Pope died, it would be one of the two who would become the next Pope.

In time the Pope did die, and the College of Cardinals went to work. In less time than anyone had expected, white smoke rose from the chimney and the world waited to see whom they had chosen.

The world, Catholic, Protestant and secular, was surprised to learn that Timothy Murphy had been elected Pope!

Antonio Secola was beyond surprise. He was devastated, because even with all of Timothy's gifts, Antonio knew he was just a bit better qualified.

With gall that shocked the Cardinals, Antonio Secola asked for a private session with them in which he candidly asked, "Why Timothy?"

After a long silence, an old Cardinal took pity on the bewildered man and rose to reply.

"We knew you were the better of the two, but we just could not bear the thought of the leader of the Roman Catholic Church being called POPE SE-COLA!

*No groaning now! You know you're going to share it with Catholic and non-Catholic friends alike!*

I've already asked Doug to leave the stage. :-)

ST PATRICK'S DAY SPECIALS

Since I'm pretty busy today, I'll refer you to two St Patrick's Day posts at other blog sites to keep YOU busy and out of mischief.

Padre Mickey has a lovely post on the life of St Patrick at Padre Mickey's Dance Party.

Rmj at Adventus gives us the beautiful "Lorica" of St Patrick.


The lovely icon of St Patrick pictured above is "borrowed" from Padre Mickey's blog.