Chatting about: Commandments and Counsels

Ruth (Guest): Hello Everyone! Glad we have a full house tonight.

Ruth (Guest): So glad the men were growing in the Holy Spirit.

Ruth (Guest): that’s what I was waiting for!

Ruth (Guest): Yes. And for some the troubles start very, very early. I agreed to be a substitue for PREP (Parish Religious Education Program) and said I’d probably do best with the older kids. Today I had k-1. Fun! But one poor little guy –– with two moms & two dads running their households very differently, was having a really, really hard time!

Ruth (Guest): Hmm. I wonder 2727 what your experience of that has been.

Ruth (Guest): Pope Paul VI –– post Vatican II –– in trying to keep the various factions together said something like: Let’s not oppose the extremes. But some people pushed that toooo far.

Ruth (Guest): Combining parishes seems to be happening all over. Not enough priests.

Ruth (Guest): And so hard for bishops to “assign” the ones we do have: like in the military . . .

Ruth (Guest): parishoners? 2727

Ruth (Guest): Or maybe they do and decide for that reason not even to try.

Ruth (Guest): Realize how challenging Christianity is.

Ruth (Guest): Judy, AND in inaction! That is where, I fear, I fail most often.

Ruth (Guest): Indeed! Dawn.

Ruth (Guest): Joy and pain are not mutually exclusive. They can “live” simultaneously in one person.

Ruth (Guest): Some people find a way to “steal” the joy of giving, by just taking what does not belong to them, without asking, even when they might have otherwise received it as a gift.

Ruth (Guest): One priest told me to meditate on “The Lord is my shepherd; I ALREADY have everything I need.“

Ruth (Guest): I thought that that smacked a bit of that prosperity Gospel you were talking about. It felt manipulative . . . although I don’t think it was meant to be.

Ruth (Guest): Why would Jesus tell us to Ask if all our needs have already been met. And that was when my basement was flooding and the siding had been ripped off my house.

Ruth (Guest): Good reflection, Judy.

Ruth (Guest): And those called to all three evangelical counsels, usually interpret poverty, in this country at least, as shared wealth. Few lack for anything really needed.

Ruth (Guest): At least not for long.

Ruth (Guest): Indeed, sister.

Ruth (Guest): I altered the saying to “I have everything I need for eternal salvation” but the priest corrected me to the original statement EVERYTHING . . .

Ruth (Guest): Good point, 2727.

Ruth (Guest): Peace, and yet, sometimes anger, aggitation willingness to fight for what is right and what is needed are within His will I am quite sure.

Ruth (Guest): Lots of times people have no idea what trials one is going through –– unless you tell ‘em; and some would really rather not know.

Ruth (Guest): Good question, Sister.

Ruth (Guest): One thing we have learned: Silence, or looking away in the face of evil in high places is NOT a good idea –– even if the “whistle blower” suffers greatly because of his action.

Ruth (Guest): The Pope has, 5432, and so has our local bishop.

Ruth (Guest): Their letters were on the back table at church. The response has been a bit minimal though.

Ruth (Guest): Francis called for ZERO TOLERANCE. I’d have to look up the dates of the letters. They were both very recent, last week or the week before.

Ruth (Guest): That is in reference to abuse of children and “vulnerable adults” –– and yet, there are questions whether or not he is not in danger of “killing the messenger” . . .

Ruth (Guest): So true, Judy. But there are some matters on which we must not bend.

Ruth (Guest): That, Sister, is the essential.

Ruth (Guest): Amen, Dawn.

Ruth (Guest): Heart.

Ruth (Guest): also a Visitation Monastery?

Ruth (Guest): Prayerful good wishes.

Ruth (Guest): The Benedictines from Erie incorporated a “dying out” monastery from Minnesota. It seems to have worked well.

Ruth (Guest): Thank you Dawn. Blessings on you and yours as well.

Ruth (Guest): Good night all. God bless you!