Crannóggy Island

  Eternal rest grant unto Pope Francis, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

After imparting the Urbi et Orbi   Blessing below to the people and to the world in 2004, the Holy Father commented on the fact that Easter is celebrated at the same time in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches this year. Because of a fortunate coincidence in the calendar, this year we Christians of East and West are celebrating holy Easter on the same day. I express my warmest good wishes to everyone and in particular to the venerable Patriarchs, the Bishops and the faithful of the Eastern Churches. I pray to the Risen Lord that all of us who are baptized may soon come to relive together on the same day every year this fundamental feast of our faith. This year Easter is also celebrated on the same day - coincidentally, also the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea where the orthodox creed was agreed.    Pope John Paul's Easter Blessing    " Resurrexit, alleluia  - He is risen, alleluia!" This year too the joyous proclam...

“He who seeks not the Cross of Christ seeks not the Glory of Christ.” (Saint John of the Cross) “Behold, Jesus Christ crucified, who is the only foundation of our hope; He is our mediator and advocate; the victim and sacrifice for our sins. He is goodness and patience itself; His mercy is moved by the tears of sinners, and he never refuses pardon and grace to those who ask it with a truly contrite and humbled heart.” (Saint Charles Borromeo) God Died? Who hangs on the centre tree at the Place of the Skull?  That’s the question of Good Friday, the conundrum of the Cross. That’s the true “scandal” of Jesus’s crucifixion, in the original sense of the word. The identity of the crucified man is the Stone on which the Church has stumbled again and again. Whoever that is hanging on the tree, He cannot be God – can He? God gleams with Glory, but that  thing  on the tree is ugly, mangled, distorted, barely human, much less Divine. God is placid, immoveable, without passion. Th...

Today, April 2, the Church commemorates the twentieth anniversary of the death of St. John Paul II in 2005, whose feast is celebrated on October 22. He was canonized by Pope Francis along with St. John XXIII in 2014.  The article below is taken from the website of t he Saint John Paul II National Shrine   SAINT JOHN PAUL II Introduction “Everyone knows John Paul II: his face, his characteristic way of moving and speaking; his immersion in prayer and his spontaneous cheerfulness. Many of his words have become indelibly engraved in our memories, starting with the passionate cry with which he introduced himself to the people at the beginning of his pontificate: ‘Open wide the doors to Christ, and be not afraid of him!’ Or this saying: ‘No one can live a trial life; no one can love experimentally.’ An entire pontificate is condensed in words like these. It is as though he would like to open the doors for Christ everywhere and wishes to open up to people the gate that leads t...