Monday's Open Forum - What's on Your Mind?
Feel free to open any topic for discussion.
Where There Is No Vision: Reflections on Our Restless Age
More thoughts from an old man witnessing a culture lose its way Introduction “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” - Proverbs 29:18 “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” - Ecclesiastes 1:2 I keep returning in my prayers to two voices from Scripture that speak directly to our time. The wise man in Proverbs warns that "where there is no vision, the people perish." The Preacher in Ecclesiastes laments that "all is vanity;" our projects, our achievements, our carefully constructed meanings dissolve like vapor. These two truths haunt me as I watch our culture flail about, desperately seeking something to believe in now that the Christian story has been largely abandoned. We are a people starving for a vision giving meaning, yet everything we grasp turns to dust in our hands. The Restless Substitutes In my lifetime, I've watched secular society try to fill the God-shaped hole with various substitutes. Eac...
For Catholics, the month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We are mindful of the love of God made manifest in the crucified Christ; a powerful reminder of Christ’s kingship over all creation – a kingship he holds both by right as the Son of God and by virtue of the terrible price He paid to redeem it.
ReplyDeleteIn demonic contradiction to this, June has been designated as "Pride Month" around the parts of the world in which it has become a moral imperative to accede to the various agendas that the LGBTQ+ label represents. The month is replete with official proclamations, corporate sponsorships and marketing campaigns, festivals and galas, and increased political pressure to uncritically normalise the various lifestyles and moral claims encompassed by LGBTQ+ ideology.
#LGBTQMYNAMEISLEGION
DeleteI thank my lucky stars (again) that I live in an Eastern European country, slightly stuck in a time warp, and with a large section of its population being bloody-minded enough to shun innovations such as Pride Month even if they barely know what it means. However, our president is increasingly 'progressive'.
DeleteThere should be a "39 steps" (or whatever) guide to help people of a traditional-marriage-type persuasion to deal spiritually with this imposition.
Cardinal Zuppi arrived in Kyiv this morning for a two-day visit, beginning the peace-seeking mission that the Pope entrusted him with last month.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254485/cardinal-zuppi-arrives-in-ukraine-to-begin-work-as-vatican-peace-envoy
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/papal-peace-envoy-zuppi-visit-kyiv-june-5-6-vatican-statement-2023-06-05/
Ray
DeleteSounds like a good idea. We should pray for Zuppi's mission.
DeleteDuring Cardinal Zuppi’s two-day visit to Kyiv, this looks like a major event that is bound to have a significant impact on the future course of the war. Ukraine and Russia are both accusing each other of responsibility for blowing up a huge two-mile-long dam across the Dnieper, about 30 or 40 miles upstream from Kherson.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-is-kakhovka-dam-ukraine-2023-06-06/
Yes, our Ukrainian friend has just been on the phone to us about this. The hour of glory for 617 Squadron it isn't.
DeleteAt a lunchtime group, we have been working through the book of 2 Samuel, and reached chapter 15, dealing with Absalom’s rebellion. This has reminded me of the poem “Absalom and Achitophel” by John Dryden published in 1681.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago I came across extracts from it in the Penguin Book of English Verse, and couldn’t make head nor tail of it. But looking back, with the help of the relevant Wikipedia article, it now makes much more sense.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absalom_and_Achitophel
@Cressie, apart from a single brief mention in 2 Sam 8, Chapter 15 is where Zadok first puts in an appearance. Many years ago I came across a theory that Zadok was already a priest of the Jebusites before David conquered Jerusalem and David then decided to keep him on in the same post, but now as a priest of the new religion imposed by the Israelite conquerors. Does this make sense to you?
DeleteMAKE SENSE TO ME???? Nothing in this world makes sense to me except for ginger cats and butterfly cakes ! Please do not assume that ANONYMOUS is Cressida because the post is about poetry...I always leave my name.Besides I don't do Dryden or any other tortuous poets...still in recovery from Rape of the Locke (compulsory reading ) decades ago... While I am here I do have a question. I have just discovered that Mary Wade was sentenced to death by hanging at the Old Bailey in 1789 for stealing a dress and some other item of clothing. She was 11 years of age. Luckily for her she was transported to Australia . I can only think that Protestantism has poisoned Britain....nothing good has come from it in 500 years.......Cressida
ReplyDeleteThat was me about the poetry. Somehow I seem to have been logged out: I did set up a Blogger account I don’t know how to log in again.
ReplyDeleteNeanderthal Èireannach
When you tap the reply or comment buttons, the words "comment as" should be visible. If you tap them, an option appears for you to name yourself.
Deletehttps://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/06/02/georg-ganswein-leave-vatican-245413
DeleteArchbishop Ganswein is feeling the wrath of Pope Francis. I don’t remember any achbishop ever being put on gardening leave. I guess his sin was far greater than those of Marko Rupnick.
Hi Irishman
DeleteYou have to log in via a Gmail blogger account ... Failing that, just add your name to your comment.
@Cressida and @Neanderthal Èireannach, my apologies to both of you for getting your posts mixed up!
DeleteOld age, Ray!
DeleteHJ knew it wasn't Cressida's 'voice'.
@Bell. it looks as though Pope Francis hasn't forgiven Archbishop Gänswein for the book he published a few months ago.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.reuters.com/world/book-by-benedicts-top-aide-reveals-tensions-vatican-2023-01-06/
@Gadjo DiIo, did your Ukrainian friend say anything about the danger of losing the water supply for the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant?
ReplyDelete@Ray,
DeleteShe didn't talk about any details - and she doesn't actually live in that area -just general concerns, but she always manages to maintain her smile and optimistic spirit.
Almost exactly two years later, the Pope is back in hospital for abdominal surgery again
ReplyDeletehttps://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-francis-have-abdominal-surgery-wednesday-vatican-2023-06-07/
Yes, Pope Francis is scheduled to undergo surgery under general anesthesia at the Gemelli Hospital this afternoon. The operation will involve an abdominal wall reconstruction “with prosthesis under general anesthesia” requiring a “laparotomy“, i.e. a surgical procedure involving the opening of the abdomen. His hospital stay “will last several days to allow for the normal post-operation progress and full functional recovery,” the Holy See explains.
DeleteCardinal Mateo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and Pope Francis’ special envoy to Ukraine, met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday in Kiev. While welcoming the Holy See’s efforts to promote peace, the head of state asserted that, “since the war is on our territory, the algorithm for achieving peace can be Ukrainian only.”
ReplyDeleteCardinal Zuppi was sent by Pope Francis on June 5 to “listen in depth to the Ukrainian authorities on possible ways of achieving lasting peace, and to support gestures of humanity that contribute to easing tensions.”
Despite the Pope’s numerous appeals for an end to the war over the past year, this “mission” is not officially presented by the Holy See as a mediation for peace — an option rejected by both Kiev and Moscow.
Peace looks very far away in Ukraine. With the West's increasing military support for Ukraine, Russia's determined not to lose face, and with both sides so far apart, one wonders how this will end.
Zelensky has declared his terms - all occupied territory, including Crimea, returned to Ukraine. Additionally, he's seeking membership of NATO and the EU. Is this realistic? Will Ukrainian membership of NATO further peace or inflame the situation? Putin's initial aims, the Western regions to be under Russian control, may now have widened.
Should read: Putin's initial aims, the Eastern regions to be under Russian control, may now have widened.
Delete