Reflections on Pope Benedict

All the news over the last days about the last this and the last that regarding Pope Benedict’s last days in office caused me to think about who he was and his last day as Pope.

We first knew him as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as he gained international respect and notoriety as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope John Paul II.  As we learned more about this man, we learned that he was an impressive scholar and author as well as a musician of sorts as his hobby.  We learned that he made significant scholarly contributions to Pope John Paul II in his writings including encyclicals and other matters of faith.

It is very interesting to note that he did not expect to be elected Pope and was looking forward to his retirement back to Regensburg, Germany, to study, to write and to play music with his brother who is a priest including at Masses in his brother’s parish.  Yet, as the saying goes we plan and God laughs.  Our Lord had a much different plan for Cardinal Ratzinger.  The high respect and esteem for him was demonstrated by election as pope on the second day of the conclave.  And, most of us have referred to him by his papal name, Pope Benedict, ever since.

Being the successor to Pope John Paul the Great had to be a very unenviable positon.  Nevertheless, Pope Benedict found his niche.  He has made further scholarly contributions to the world.  He, also, continued to make ecumenical outreaches to other faiths as well as to the orthodox.  He came to the capital of our country and won us over.  And, not to be overlooked but to be applauded, was his apologies to those people who had been abused by the clergy and to offer aid and assistance.  That was way overdue and he, certainly, gained a great deal of respect from many including me for this act.

In these last few days, he reported that, upon election to the papacy, one loses all his privacy.  So, he thinks that his retirement must be in a form of seclusion in order to maintain a degree of privacy that he will not have were he to even try something simple such as taking a walk in Rome.  Undoubtedly, the paparazzi and all sorts of people would surround him.  We understand this loss of privacy and that goes with this very public position.

As he retires from his position as our Pope, let us thank him for what he has done on our behalf and forgive him for whatever mistakes we perceive that he made.  Let us hope that we will be able to learn from his further scholarly contributions.  And let us pray that he may have many wonderful and healthy days in the winter of his life.  May God bless you, Pope Benedict!

Now, you know what I think and I would very much like to know what you think about this subject.   

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer

Where does it end?

A number of years ago, I made the dubious speculation, which I really did not take seriously at the time, that the same arguments made to promote homosexual marriage could be used to in favor of polygamy and for other “relationships.”  To my great surprise and dismay, my speculation is becoming reality.  As I was driving yesterday and listening to the news, it was reported that the lawsuit in favor of polygamy continues in a federal court.  I could not believe it and was thinking, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, here we go again!

The reason for my speculation years ago was how I have observed court precedents get greatly expanded over time to cover all sorts of unanticipated situations if only logic and not other factors such as common sense, morality and ethics ignored.  For example, when the Fourteenth Amendment was passed after the Civil War, I do not think any of its proponents would have anticipated that it, along with the Commerce Clause of the federal constitution would be used as the legal basis and rationale for the radical expansion of the role of the federal government into all aspects of our lives.  After all, the role of the federal government was never meant to intrude into our personal lives but to protect us from the intrusion of the government for such basic rights as the free exercise of religion.  But, the federal courts have used those Fourteenth Amendment precedents and other precedents to override state laws against homosexual marriage.  And, now, the precedents and arguments for homosexual marriage are being used to legitimize polygamy and to overrule state civil and criminal laws against polygamy.  Where does it end?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “The parties to a marriage covenant are a baptized  man and woman....”  Paragraph 1645.  That seems pretty clear what God and His Son have taught for thousands of year.  But, the courts have ignored that.  In paragraph 1645, it states “Polygamy is contrary to conjugal love which is undivided and exclusive.”  Seems pretty straightforward as well.

If my memory serves me correctly, in considering a law to admit Utah to statehood, Congress told Utah that statehood for Utah would not go forward unless and until it abolished polygamy which had hitherto been legal.  After all, Brigham Young had many wives.  After Utah abolished polygamy, its statehood dreams became reality.

There are already groups who want to legalize marriages between adults and children with no age restrictions. And, there are groups who seek polyamorous relationships (multiple wifes and husbands in to one relationship) to become legal.

Let’s look at other considerations about this.  Abraham, David, Solomon and others of the times had multiple wives.  Using the historical precedent of Abraham, Muhammed had multiple wives and polygamy is tolerated among many Islamic nations.  So, if we render the free exercise of religion to Islam as part of our irrational view of tolerance (see my earlier blog quoting Bishop Sheen on the subject of tolerance), and our irrational view of homosexual “marriages”, then, polygamous relationships in this country would be legalized.  The federal judge in a polygamous lawsuit asked the question, what would be the difference between a legalized polygamy and a man having several different households with women who he lived with?  In other words, immoral relationships with multiple concubines or mistresses but each in a separate residence?

Does this sound totally unreal?  It does to me.  What has happened to the moral glue that held this country together over all these years?  It is being undone and our country and the western world is becoming undone.

Once again, where does it all end?

Now, you know what I think and I would very much like to know what you think about this subject.   

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer

Papal Resignation

On Monday morning, I awoke way too early and could not fall back asleep.  So, I checked  my Kindle Fire to see if anything new was going on. Oh, did I get a surprise - 5 minutes earlier, stories started to break that the Pope resigns.  But, these were just headlines and I was wondering if it was true or just unsubstantiated rumors.  At 7, the national morning shows were reporting the story and more information came out about it.  Wow, what a surprise!  It was reported that the last Pope to resign had occurred some 600 years ago.

In my opinion, this resignation or retirement of an aged and ailing man who is our Pope is a very positive modern precedent.  Just in the last hundred years, the lifespan of people in western countries has increased dramatically as a result of better diets, the availability of food, and better health care.
However, life longevity has not removed the infirmities caused by aging.  We discovered over the last few days that Pope Benedict had a pacemaker.  So, it helped keep him alive and active but it did not remove other ailments of aging alone and the normal fatiguing.

For a normal healthy person, the position of the Pope involves a great deal of activity in performing normal pastoral duties as the head of the Church as well as the administrative duties which involve papal appointments and diplomatic duties and the overseeing of the Vatican and functioning as the spiritual leader of over a billion Catholics. And, I am sure that what we see is just the tip of the iceberg.  He, also, must study and prepare messages to his flock and to lead the clergy not to mention the study and drafting of encyclicals.  The duties are almost overwhelming even with all the staff that he has at his disposal.

The Church, like many governments and businesses, puts age limits on officer holders.  For example,  bishops must resign at age 75 and cardinals who are 80 and older are not allowed to participate in the conclave to vote for popes.  We watched Pope John Paul the Great go from a very young and energetic pope to an invalid who suffered greatly before his death.  What view of him do we remember - I like to remember his energetic early papacy rather than his last several years.  But, I am old enough to remember his election.  Tens of millions of Catholics did not know him in his early years.  He made the choice to die in office and we all learned a great deal about prayerful suffering.  However, I certainly would have welcomed his retirement to enjoy in peace the last days of his life without all the stresses of that position.
Pope Benedict wrote a couple of years ago that he would resign the position if he could not continue to carry out his duties as a result of ill health. In that writing, then, he stated his intention but it was not given widespread coverage at that point as no one, apparently, thought it would happen. Keep in mind that his predecessor died at age 84 and he is now 85

Leadership often requires making different and controversial decisions.  I think it is refreshing for this pope to recognize his human frailties and to retire due to his declining health.  He is a very cerebral and holy man and this time of retirement will allow him more time to pray, reflect, discern, study and write.  He has written so much that is beneficial so we will enriched all the more from additional writings from him.

Now, you know what I think and I would very much like to know what you think about this whether or not popes should resign..  

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer

Lent

It seems as though Ash Wednesday and Lent are coming upon us very early this year.  So, this got me to thinking about it.  It is very interesting that Ash Wednesday comes shortly after last Sunday’s Gospel reading where Jesus was speaking to his home synagogue in Nazareth.  And, he tells the congregants after reading from a scroll of Isaiah that today that passage of the Scripture has been fulfilled in their hearing.  Soon, his neighbors said in essence, hey, wait a minute isn’t that the son of Joseph?  Of course, their meaning was that they knew his parents and saw him grow up and Jesus could not possibly be the Messiah.  Soon, their discontent became anger and they tried to throw him off the top of the hill.  How would we react if someone who we saw grow up, who was the son of poor parents and whose father was a laborer, got up in Mass and made the same claim?    Would we accept him or her as a prophet or holy person or would we do, as the Nazarean congregants, and scoff him or her out of the church?

As we have our so-called fling on Fat Tuesday, do we ever think why this is done?  It is because the next day is to begin 40 days of deprivation to commemorate the 40 days spent in the desert by Jesus as he fasted and prayed.  In paragraph 540 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church it says of this, “By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.”  So, on Fat Tuesday, people seem to believe they need to self-indulge before the 40 days of fasting. 

Of course, the culmination of Lent is the remembering of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus for our sins. So, these forty days offer a proper time to reflect upon Him and our lives as well to reconcile with Him through the Sacrament of Penance.  Again, as during Advent, it should be a reminder to take a break from the hustle and bustle of our  daily routines and activities of our lives, to reflect upon the life and death of Jesus as well as our own lives and to contemplate where we are and should be going as good Christians and Catholics.  Do we walk the talk, as the saying goes?

Let me know what you think.

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer