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Benedict XVI, Zagreb, Croatia, 5 June 2011 [ Wikipedia ;  photo ] One of the most beautiful passages on death that I have ever read is from Pope Benedict's encyclical letter on hope,  Spe Salvi , No 48. I have often quoted from this passage at funerals. Spe Salvi, 48. Pope Benedict In hope we were saved (Romans, 8:24). The belief that love can reach into the afterlife, that reciprocal giving and receiving is possible, in which our affection for one another continues beyond the limits of death—this has been a fundamental conviction of Christianity throughout the ages and it remains a source of comfort today. Who would not feel the need to convey to their departed loved ones a sign of kindness, a gesture of gratitude or even a request for pardon? . . . We should recall that no man is an island, entire of itself. Our lives are involved with one another . . . The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over

  St Francis and Brother Leo Meditating on Death El Greco [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Luke 12:32-48 ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India) . Shorter form, Luke 12:35-40. Omit  [text in square brackets] .  Jesus said to his disciples: [“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.   Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.   For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ] “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning,   and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knoc

  Bono [ Wikipedia ;  photo ] Paul David Hewson, the U2 member better known as Bono,  spoke recently  with Lauren Laverne on  Desert Island Discs , a long-running radio programme on the BBC, about his half-brother and his at times difficult relationship with his father, Bob Hewson.  Sinéad Crowley, the Arts and Media correspondent of RTÉ, Ireland’s national broadcaster,  in her report  on this wrote:  Bono (62) also spoke to Laverne about how his relationship with his father came under tremendous strain following the death of his mother, although he now admits he was partly to blame, adding that after Bob's death in 2001, he apologised to him during a visit to a chapel in France. 'There was nobody there, I lit a candle and I got on my knees, and I just said, “look, I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, you went through a lot and please forgive me”, and I felt free,’ Bono said . Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 [ Wikipedia ;  photo ] Continue at Bangor to Bobbio.

St Francis and Brother Leo Meditating on Death El Greco  [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, SouthAfrica) Gospel   Luke 12:32-48 [or 35-40] ( New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)     Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  ‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit;   be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.  Blessed are those slaves whom the mas

The Adoration of the Name of Jesus , El Greco  [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel   Mark 13:24-32 ( New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)      Jesus said to his disciples:   ‘But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened,      and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven,      and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory.   Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. ‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place,

reposted from: Costing Not Less Than Everything . The Last Communion of Saint Lucy – Tiepolo A Nocturnal Upon Saint Lucy’s Day, Being the Shortest Day –  John Donne ‘TIS the year’s midnight, and it is the day’s, Lucy’s, who scarce seven hours herself unmasks;     The sun is spent, and now his flasks     Send forth light squibs, no constant rays;             The world’s whole sap is sunk; The general balm th’ hydroptic earth hath drunk, Whither, as to the bed’s-feet, life is shrunk, Dead and interr’d; yet all these seem to laugh, Compared with me, who am their epitaph. Study me then, you who shall lovers be At the next world, that is, at the next spring;     For I am every dead thing,     In whom Love wrought new alchemy.             For his art did express A quintessence even from nothingness, From dull privations, and lean emptiness; He ruin’d me, and I am re-begot Of absence, darkness, death—things which are not. All others, from all things,