Pope Benedict VXI-Mercy Sunday Novena. Blog of many topics.

Our Pope is celebrating five years as a Pontiff of the Holy Catholic Church. I will share my introduction to this man and how I came to embrace him. Now during this time of trial I hope to encourage others to join in prayer for him.

Who can forget the death and outpouring of grief after the death of our beloved John Paul II? I cried for days. He was the pope of my youth and early adulthood. After the funeral my young son would comment whenever he saw the JPII on the cover of a magazine- “mom there is a picture of the poke are you going to cry?”

With this as my mindset, I admit that when Ratzinger came out for the first time as our new pope I did not accept him immediately. Something about him looked strange-or was it because no one could replace my beloved JPII? Our plans to head for Germany remained in place for World Youth Day. I probably would have canceled had I been allowed without losing an arm and a leg financially speaking. I traveled with three of my children , plus my sister and my niece. What a trip it turned out to be-another story for another time- but I look back on it with such fondness and marvel at our courage. We disembarked in Frankfurt and drove our rental van to northern France in one day. I was the main driver-never been to Europe before and never driven on an Autobahn.

Back to the point of the blog. After ten days of traveling Europe, many nights spent sleeping on the ground at a superstation- in whatever country we happened to be driving through- or some nights in a small hotel room along the way- we arrived at the World Youth Day site somewhat tired but excited. We parked our van in Bonn and caught a bus that took us to the World Youth Day site. We set up our Canadian tent and were settling in. My son who is now 20 but 15 at the time came to me and suggested we go to register. I heeded his advice. As we entered the main area people started to move forward and we realized the pope arrived so we hurried to the front and were front row to see him exit his pope mobile and address the thousands of youth already present. The seed of love for my new papa was planted.

The next day was very very cold – until this day we had enjoyed hot summer like weather. I listened to Pope Benedict acknowledge the evil Germany –his country— had perpetuated on the world in that last century. I heard him humbly acknowledge that Germany must make amends for this evil and lead the way to truth in Jesus Christ. I witnessed thousands and thousands of youth embrace him as they had JPII during previous WYD. I left with a heart full of love for my New Papa.

Since that time I have read many of his books, and I assure any reader who has not read the writings of this man that he is in love with his Savior Jesus Christ. This man gets it and he says it over and over in his sermons and his writings. Simply stated his message is that only in intimate relationship with Jesus Christ can any person overcome sin and attain true freedom. Everything for him is centered on the Lord. He is humble –intellectual- and faithful to the Lord and His living church.

To read the absurd articles coming forth the past few weeks from the likes of the New York Times is laughable if it were not for the many readers who will read the headlines and believe what they read without investigating further. This man is being savaged by innuendos and untruths – shoddy journalism that cannot really be called journalism as it does not contain any investigative work. Just a headline and a story to compliment the headline. Most people would call this Tabloid Journalism.

For my fellow Catholics who are as pained about the abuse scandals as I am and I am certain our Holy Father is- we must persevere forward in humility and truth. Is it us who are called to carry the penance and prayer needed to purify our church. We are the church –the Body of Christ . When one part of the body hurts the entire body hurts. These evil deeds did occur, without a doubt she needs purifying. The church must do her penance.

Many of us orthodox Catholics- I give thanks for my parents who remained true to the faith when it was not easy to do so in the 70-80’s- saw this coming. My parents raised me proper-but I myself did not always behave as a good catholic should. I have embraced this culture sporadically while I was growing up. As a member of the body of Christ my personal actions have caused the entire body to hurt.

The church is to be a presence of Christ in the World; she is not here to be popular or faddish. When many of her members-especially bishops and priests-and professed Catholics embarked on the sexual revolution and turned their back on 'Humane Vitae'- disaster could be the only result. Disaster is here- seemingly at a time when the church has been slowly returning to her orthodox roots.

Does anyone else notice how the ones who embraced the revolution or introduced it to society had the fun? It seems to be the generations after that pay the price. For example most priests and bishops who embraced sexual liberation and allowed a rampant homosexual culture into the seminaries, served their terms and retired quietly. The generations’ now- the good bishops and priests replacing the predecessors that allowed this rot to permeate our church are carrying the consequences. In Secular society —the people of the 60’s and 70’s who promoted free love and sexual freedom —at most caught gonorrhea or syphilis- they paid a relatively light earthly consequence. Contrast this with today’s generations’ who in many cases are DYING from an STD, or chronically infected with herpes, warts, or rotted reproductive organs. The generation removed are paying a much heavier price than those of the sixties and seventies who enjoyed their sexual orgies with consequences less serious this generation.

I apologize for rambling off into different topics-I return now to Pope Benedict VXI. I have been informed that the Knights of Columbus are commencing a novena today-Mercy Sunday- for Pope Benedict XVI. For those who can please join united in spirit. http://www.kofc.org/un/eb/en/papalnovena/index.html

We are blessed to have such a strong leader, a man who did not shy away from punishing those guilty of sex crimes when he became Pontiff. He met with victims and has been pursuing the ‘rot’ that must be cleaned and purged. I personally do not have one ounce of doubt about Pope Benedict XVI goodness or sincerity. We need his strong leadership in these troubled times for our church.

May God shower everyone with the abundance of his mercy on this Mercy Sunday!

Let us follow our Lord’s example and become people of mercy and love.