Dubrovnik, Croatia
The Pope is in Dubrovnik, Croatia today. I've been to Dubrovnik twice in my life, both times in conjunction with a visit to Medjugordje. The first time I was there in 1989 it was part of Yugoslavia the second time it was just beginning to become part of Croatia.
Several things I remember about Dubrovnik are: that it lays claim to St. Blase of blessing of the throats fame--they sell candles there that are a unique twisting of two big candles into a "u" shape. I used to have a set but I think they were left behind in a church somewhere along my life's journey.
The other thing that I remember was a huge reliquary that included a ton of relics located in the Cathedral, including a large reliquary containing the arm of St. John the Baptist. The most impressive or questionable relics contained in this display were two both dealing with infants.
First there were the relics of the Holy Innocents martyred by King Herod. Sure enough there were little skeletal remains contained in a glass box but it would take a great amount of faith to believe that they were actually the "holy innocents" but after years of reflecting over this I have come to see that there is no doubt that they contain the bones of holy innocents who died before their families were ready to see them go.
The other "questionable" relic there is the "diaper" of Jesus. Now I admit I have never researched the question in the Anchor Bible Dictionary to see whether babies wore diapers in Palestine at the time of Christ and if they did who had the foresight to keep Jesus' diaper packed away when He no longer required it. But again my doubt has turned into faith that the relic of the diaper of Jesus points to the humanity of the Son of God at its most rudimentary expression. As cute as babies are they are capable of creating quite a mess and its left to an adult to clean up. God humbling Himself even to that point makes the mystery of the Incarnation even that more real.
I had hoped that the Pope would remark on one or the other of these Dubrovnik specialties but I looked and he did not...so I have.
Friday, June 6, 2003
Thursday, June 5, 2003
Musings
I'm reading a "new" Thomas Merton book that is very good. I'm not sure if it has been released yet since I think I'm reading a review copy. The book was one that he worked on in 1959 but sat unfinished until in 1968 he finally got around to making a few corrections.
Trouble is that he had specified in a trust in 1967 that if he died this manuscript (at that time unfinished) should never be published. He left the corrected and finished copy with a priest friend and asked him to have some cloistered Carmelites read it for their review. They loved it, but in the meantime Merton never returned to pick up the manuscript, his body came back in body bag from the Orient.
The priest friend in his grief rather forgot about it too, until in the 1970's when he discovered the manuscript that the Carmelites had returned and their glowing recomendation of it. He wrote the Abott of Merton's Monastery and informed it that the book should be published as Merton had conveyed this wish to him before leaving on the trip that took his life.
Trouble is that oral testimony does not override a written will for obvious reasons ("well Daddy told me just before he died that he wanted me to inherit the farm not junior"). So the manuscript went unpublished until now. The change has come about because Cisterician Studies has published bits and pieces of it over the years and it is felt that to do the text justice the final edited version should be released.
I've read a few chapters so far and it is very good!
The name of the book is The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation
I'm reading a "new" Thomas Merton book that is very good. I'm not sure if it has been released yet since I think I'm reading a review copy. The book was one that he worked on in 1959 but sat unfinished until in 1968 he finally got around to making a few corrections.
Trouble is that he had specified in a trust in 1967 that if he died this manuscript (at that time unfinished) should never be published. He left the corrected and finished copy with a priest friend and asked him to have some cloistered Carmelites read it for their review. They loved it, but in the meantime Merton never returned to pick up the manuscript, his body came back in body bag from the Orient.
The priest friend in his grief rather forgot about it too, until in the 1970's when he discovered the manuscript that the Carmelites had returned and their glowing recomendation of it. He wrote the Abott of Merton's Monastery and informed it that the book should be published as Merton had conveyed this wish to him before leaving on the trip that took his life.
Trouble is that oral testimony does not override a written will for obvious reasons ("well Daddy told me just before he died that he wanted me to inherit the farm not junior"). So the manuscript went unpublished until now. The change has come about because Cisterician Studies has published bits and pieces of it over the years and it is felt that to do the text justice the final edited version should be released.
I've read a few chapters so far and it is very good!
The name of the book is The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation
Wednesday, June 4, 2003
Tuesday, June 3, 2003
Monday, June 2, 2003
Life of the Florida Fish and Game Officers
or Where People Think Jesus is a Turtle...
From Jacksonville.com:
Officers John Giles and Guy Carpenter II responded to a complaint about a man who had water turtles in an illegal enclosure. Upon arriving at the man's house, the officers found two Florida cooter turtles in a skylight that was buried like a swimming pool in the front yard.
After telling the man that the turtles needed some way to get out of the water if they wanted to, he responded by saying that one of the turtles was Jesus and that he had planned on eating both of them later in the evening.
The officers told the man that he needed to put a rock or log in the pool with the turtles so that they could get out of the water, but he decided to let them go into the lake in his back yard instead.
or Where People Think Jesus is a Turtle...
From Jacksonville.com:
Officers John Giles and Guy Carpenter II responded to a complaint about a man who had water turtles in an illegal enclosure. Upon arriving at the man's house, the officers found two Florida cooter turtles in a skylight that was buried like a swimming pool in the front yard.
After telling the man that the turtles needed some way to get out of the water if they wanted to, he responded by saying that one of the turtles was Jesus and that he had planned on eating both of them later in the evening.
The officers told the man that he needed to put a rock or log in the pool with the turtles so that they could get out of the water, but he decided to let them go into the lake in his back yard instead.
Sunday, June 1, 2003
Thanks to Martin Farkus for This Link
Fast Lane to Heaven
Very interesting site! Man had near death experience, experienced a vision of a "lady of light" (all the more interesting that the Pope added Mysteries of Light), had a vision where he foresaw a terrorist attack on New York or Washington and major wars breaking out throughout the world starting in the Middle East as a result (all in 1984). The book predicting the major terrorist attack was published in 2001 (six months before September 11th)!
Fast Lane to Heaven
Very interesting site! Man had near death experience, experienced a vision of a "lady of light" (all the more interesting that the Pope added Mysteries of Light), had a vision where he foresaw a terrorist attack on New York or Washington and major wars breaking out throughout the world starting in the Middle East as a result (all in 1984). The book predicting the major terrorist attack was published in 2001 (six months before September 11th)!
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