John Janaro's Blog, page 123

"Apocalypse in Slow Motion" - Thoughts (Part I)

The elementary school teacher said, "This is a special new year, children. Do you know why? Because it's the beginning of a new decade."

One particularly bright and imaginative student, a kid who had just turned 7 years old, was suddenly struck by what a wonderful and mysterious thing this was, and before she could explain further he said out loud, "That's right. It's 1970!" 
He felt like the universe was open at his feet, full of possibilities.
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As the sky faded into twilight, two boys were walking back to their apartment building from the local deli, with paper bags filled with hot kosher frankfurters and fresh buns and sauerkraut. The air was cold, but the bags were warm and they smelled wonderful.
The smell was even better than the taste, and the taste was like nothing else on this earth. The boys were bringing home dinner.
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Soon a hamburger restaurant opened a few doors down from the deli. The hamburgers weren't that good, but they were cheap. And they had something else too: an official representative who dressed up as a clown! Not only that; this clown was in TV commercials for hamburger restaurants all over the country.
He was on TV. He was important.
Soon the kids heard that the clown was going to make a special visit to their restaurant, and for some reason (no one really remembers why anymore) this was a wildly exciting event, more exciting than if the President of the United States were coming. Kids thought they would get to meet the clown, and even get his autograph. That would give them a "share" in his mysterious, superior mode of existence constituted by his being-a-television-star.
They went to the restaurant. It was a hot day. Kids were everywhere. Parents were there too, acting just like the kids. The clown drove through on the back of a truck and everybody was screaming and running. One particular group of kids waited for hours but got nowhere near the clown. But they got a discount on burgers that day.
It was...disappointing.
Several years later, when they were older, the kids came to the cynical realization that there was not just one clown. There were lots of costumes, and many actors could play the part simultaneously at every restaurant in every neighborhood.
The kids realized that " things are not always as they seem... "
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The boy wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up. We were conquering Space, after all. Starting with the moon. Rockets were going to the moon a lot at the beginning of "the new decade."
The boy liked to study his moon map in the living room. Sometimes the TV News was on; his Dad would watch it. There was a sound that the boy always associated with the News. It was a sound he was totally used to hearing; one of these sounds that was clearly just part of life.

"Rattattatt! Rattattatt! Rattattatt!! BOOM! Tetetetet
Rattattatt! Rattattatt! Rattattatt!! Rattattatt!! BOOM!!
Rattattatt! Rattattatt! Rattattatt!! BOOM! Pup pup..
Rattattatt! Rattattatt! Rattattatt!! Rattattatt!!
Rattattatt! Rattattatt! Rattattatt!! BOOM! Tetetetet
Rattattatt! Rattattatt! Rattattatt!! Puppuppup!! BOOM! Rattattattatt! Rattattattattatt!! Tetetetetet! Pup...
Rattattatt! Rattattatt! Rattattatt!! Rattattatt!!Rattattattatt! Rattattattatt! Rattattattatt!! BOOM!"

It was probably only a few seconds every night, but the boy's head was full of those noises coming out of the television.

There were also grave sounding reporters and occasional words on the screen. The boy remembers seeing the word "chaos" a lot. He didn't know what it meant, and he thought it was pronounced " chow -s." A reasonable phonetic mistake.
The grave voices of the reporters always spoke about the same strange places, and these place names bounced through the boy's imagination right along with the "Rattattattatt! Rattattattattatt!!" noise: " Saigon, Hanoi, Saigon, Saigon, Cambodia, Phnom Phen, Laos [aha! maybe "Chaos" was another place, like Laos], Saigon [mostly Saigon from the reporters], bombing, Phnom Phen, enemy territory, Viet-Cong... Rattattattattattattattattatt!! Rattattattattattattattattatt!! BOOM! Rattattattattattattattattatt!!"
Where were these places? They weren't on his moon map.
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The boy had yet to hear the crisp sound of a single shot from a hunting rifle in the woods. 
But as he gazed at the moon and dreamed of going there, he was so used to the sounds of machine gun and AK47 bursts coming from the TV that he barely noticed them.
In the jumble of serious reporter words, another strange one came out from time to time: Quagmire .

"Everything You Say Goes to Everybody"

May 25 marks the 11th "anniversary" of my first post on Facebook. We were still using a dialup modem, so we were behind the times (although it was rural Virginia).

"So how does this work? Everything you say goes to everybody?" Yup. That about sums it up!

The Creativity of Love: Music Helps Lead the Way

I don’t know HOW the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra did THIS gorgeous online musical collaboration, but listen to it (in the link below), then stand up and

Dutch Clover in the Grass

This is “Dutch Clover” really close up (photo 1), and then a bit further back (photo 2). These bright blossoms are out all around in tall patches of grass.

Hooray for the wildflowers!

The Latest Effort to Crush the People of Hong Kong

I hope no one has forgotten about Hong Kong.
The Communist PartyState in China probably planned to establish its newly presented "Hong Kong Security Law" — a pretext for redefining the city's pro-democracy demonstrations as "sedition" — before the pandemic delayed the formalities of its bureaucratic process.
Now, after a three month delay, the annual meeting has finally begun of the National Peoples Congress (the enormous pseudo-parliamentary "rubber stamp" wielded by the Party to legitimize its unchecked, unaccountable decisions). For more information about the new "law," read the article linked below the image.
Whatever happens, the Protest Movement of 2019 — vindicated by Hong Kong’s District Council elections last November — spoke truth to power with admirable eloquence. Power has been left with no option other than to impose itself. 
Nevertheless, no one knows what the future may hold... #IStandWithHongKong

Click LINK for article from BBC News

Continuity in Faith: Francis and John Paul II

Here are some words that Pope Francis spoke or published in connection with yesterday's 100th birthday of Saint John Paul II. Once again, it is very clear that Francis has a profound appreciation for and continuity with the faith and the Christian anthropology of his incomparable predecessor. Francis has brought a style and approach and insights of his own while also continuing the rich legacy of papal teaching since the Second Vatican Council.

For the opening of a new Center at the Angelicum University, Francis wrote that John Paul II "is at once both the inspiration behind this project and its first and most important architect. This is thanks to the rich and multifaceted heritage that he left to us, and even more so by the example of his open and contemplative spirit, his passion for God and man, for creation, history and art. The range of experiences that marked his life, especially the momentous historical events and the personal sufferings that he sought to interpret in the light of the Spirit, led Saint John Paul II to an even deeper reflection on man and his cultural roots as an essential reference point for every proclamation of the Gospel.

"Indeed, in his first Encyclical he wrote: 'We approach all cultures, all ideological concepts, all people of good will. We approach them with the esteem, respect and discernment that since the time of the Apostles has marked the missionary attitude, the attitude of the missionary. Suffice it to mention Saint Paul and, for instance, his address in the Areopagus at Athens. The missionary attitude always begins with a feeling of deep esteem for what is in man, for what man has himself worked out in the depths of his spirit concerning the most profound and important problems. It is a question of respecting everything that has been brought about in him by the Spirit, which blows where it wills (Encyclical Redemptor Hominis, 12; cf. Address to UNESCO, 2 June 1980). We need to keep this approach alive if we wish to be an outward-looking Church, not satisfied with preserving and administering what already exists but seeking to be faithful to our mission."

~Pope Francis, "Establishment of John Paul II Cultural Center at the Angelicum" (May 18, 2020)
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Francis also recorded a video message for the youth of the Archdiocese of Krakow, whom he also knows from his own visit in 2016. The message, in Italian, was subtitled in multiple languages including English:

"Dear young people, this year we celebrate 100 years since the birth of Saint John Paul II.

"It is a wonderful opportunity for me to address you, young people of Krakow, thinking about how much he loved young people, and remembering my presence among you for World Youth Day in 2016.

"Saint John Paul II was a gift of God to the Church and to Poland, your motherland. His earthly pilgrimage, which began on 18 May 1920 in Wadowice and ended 15 years ago in Rome, was marked by his passion for life and by a fascination with the mystery of God, of the world and of humankind.

"I remember him as a great man of mercy: I am thinking of his Encyclical Dives in Misericordia, of the canonization of Saint Faustina and of the establishment of Divine Mercy Sunday.

"In the light of God’s merciful love, he captured the specificity and beauty of the vocation of women and men, he understood the needs of children, of young people and of adults, also considering cultural and social conditioning...

"Today, you too can experience him, and know of his life and his teachings, which are available to everyone thanks to the internet. Each and every one of you, dear boys and girls, bears the imprint of your family, with its joys and sorrows.

"Love and care for the family is a characteristic feature of John Paul II. His teachings are a secure point of reference for finding concrete solutions to difficulties and to the challenges that modern-day families face.

"But personal and family problems are not an obstacle on the road to holiness and happiness. They weren’t for young Karol Wojtyła, either, who suffered the loss of his mother, brother, and father.

"As a student, he experienced the atrocities of Nazism, that took so many of his friends from him. After the war, as a priest and bishop, he was forced to face Atheistic Communism. Difficulties, even tough ones, are proof of maturity and of faith; a test which can only be passed based on the power of Christ, who died and rose again.

"John Paul II reminded the whole Church of this in his first Encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, where it says, 'The man who wishes to understand himself thoroughly must with his unrest, uncertainty, and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death draw near to Christ. He must, so to speak, enter into Him with all his own self.'

"Dear young people, this is what I hope for each and every one of you: to enter Christ with your whole life. And I hope that the celebrations of the centenary of the birth of Saint John Paul II will inspire within you the desire to walk bravely with Jesus, who is 'the Lord of risk, he is the Lord of the eternal more. As He did on Pentecost, the Lord wants to work one of the greatest miracles we can experience: He wants to turn your hands, my hands, our hands into signs of reconciliation, of communion, of creation. He wants your hands, boys and girls: He wants your hands to continue building the world of today.'

"I entrust you all to the intercession of Saint John Paul II and I bless you, wholeheartedly. And you, please, do not forget to pray for me.

"Thank you!"
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Finally, there were the words Francis preached at the morning Mass, which he offered at John Paul II's tomb in Saint Peter's Basilica:

"Saint John Paul II was a man of God because he prayed. And he prayed a lot! How could a man who had so many things to do and so much work to lead the Church, how could he take so much time for prayer? He knew well that the first task of a bishop is to pray... And he taught us that when a bishop carries out an examination of conscience in the evening he must ask himself: how many hours have I prayed today? [He was a] man of prayer.

"Secondly, he was a man of proximity. He was not detached from the people, on the contrary he went out to find the people and traveled the whole world, finding his people, looking for his people, getting close. And closeness is one of the traits of God with His people. Remember what the Lord says to the people of Israel: 'Look, what people have had their gods as close as I am to you?' A closeness of God to the people which then is becomes even closer in Jesus, becomes stronger in Jesus. A shepherd who is not close to his people, is not a shepherd, he is a hierarch, he is an administrator, perhaps good but not a shepherd. Proximity to the people. And Saint John Paul II gave us the example of this closeness: he made himself close to elderly and the little ones, to the near and far, always close.

"Thirdly, love for justice. But full justice! A man who wanted justice, social justice, justice of peoples, justice that drives wars away. But full justice! This is why Saint John Paul II was the man of mercy because justice and mercy go together, they cannot be distinguished, they go together: justice is justice, mercy is mercy, but one is not found without the other. And speaking of the man of justice and mercy, let us think of what Saint John Paul II did to make people understand the mercy of God. Let us think of his devotion to Saint Faustina, whose liturgical memory is now extended to the whole the church. He felt that God's justice bore a face of mercy, an attitude of mercy" (Homily of Mass of May 18, 2020).

John Paul II Centennial (1920 - 2020)

Today we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Saint John Paul II.⭐️

Rejoice at the Presence of the Lord

“Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad,

let the sea and all within it thunder praise,

let the land and all it bears rejoice,

all the trees of the wood shout for joy

at the presence of the Lord for he comes,

he comes to rule the earth.

With justice he will rule the world,

he will judge the peoples with his truth.”

~Psalm 96:11-13

We are Called to Live Forever with God

The mercy of God in Jesus Christ is where we find our roots. Where else can we hope to stand? 

Mercy is the creative, forgiving, regenerating, ultimately fulfilling love of God beyond all measure. Mercy is the love that gives us what we lack, that empowers us to accomplish what we can't do by ourselves.

In Jesus God gives Himself. He is the way and the truth and the life. He is our hope for healing and for attaining our destiny. Jesus gives Himself to save us from our sins, and also to give us a participation in the life of God. The life of God! Whoever even thinks about this? Whoever thinks about the fact that Jesus brings not only freedom from sin but also a radical elevation of life to the level of union with God?

We are struggling in these days just to survive, to keep from sinking beneath so many possibilities for anxiety: about our health, about our loved ones, about our schools and places of work, about whether "life-as-we-used-to-know-it" will ever return, about what lies ahead. We might sometimes feel like we're barely treading water in the ocean of our own sanity. 
And yet we are called to live forever with God. It's difficult even to begin to grasp what this means. Do we even want this, really? Yes, we have been created to want this, and the Spirit of God is already at work stirring our souls to make space for His gifts, blowing like the free air through our restless hearts. Yet we live on the surface of ourselves.
We must trust in God, and throw ourselves upon the mercy of God.

Called to Live Forever With God

The mercy of God in Jesus Christ is where we find our roots. Where else can we hope to stand? 

Mercy is the creative, forgiving, regenerating, ultimately fulfilling love of God beyond all measure. Mercy is the love that gives us what we lack, that empowers us to accomplish what we can't do by ourselves.

In Jesus God gives Himself. He is the way and the truth and the life. He is our hope for healing and for attaining our destiny. Jesus gives Himself to save us from our sins, and also to give us a participation in the life of God. The life of God! Whoever even thinks about this? Whoever thinks about the fact that Jesus brings not only freedom from sin but also a radical elevation of life to the level of union with God?

We are struggling in these days just to survive, to keep from sinking beneath so many possibilities for anxiety: about our health, about our loved ones, about our schools and places of work, about whether "life-as-we-used-to-know-it" will ever return, about what lies ahead. We might sometimes feel like we're barely treading water in the ocean of our own sanity. 
And yet we are called to live forever with God. It's difficult even to begin to grasp what this means. Do we even want this, really? Yes, we have been created to want this, and the Spirit of God is already at work stirring our souls to make space for His gifts, blowing like the free air through our restless hearts. Yet we live on the surface of ourselves.
We must trust in God, and throw ourselves upon the mercy of God.