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In 1962 at the opening of the Second Vatican II--a worldwide Council in the Catholic Church--Pope John XXIII said it was time to " throw open the windows of the church and let the fresh air of the spirit blow through." Many of us are still waiting for our windows to be fully opened so that we can breathe in that fresh air.   But Pope John was right, of course, and much good has come out of that Council.  It should not be dismissed, but there is a lot of work still to be done to authentically, genuinely, carry out the wisdom that flows through the documents it created. I don't have much patience for those who cling to pre-Vatican II days as if they were better, citing the appearance of more reverence and piety.  Appearances can be deceiving.  Unless there is a longing to create a divergent path under the illusion that the Church split in the 1960s, it would be best to begin working toward healing. I'm thinking about this because it is Holy Thursday.  Our his

Right about now I imagine many of you have your eyes on Easter.  Panic starts to set in when you consider everything that needs to be done to get ready--buying/preparing food, cleaning the house, planning Easter baskets, clothes, kids, grandkids, work, etc.  The list goes on and on. Unfortunately, when all of these things overwhelm us, we lose sight of what Holy Week is about.  This very week, when we should be slowing down, meditating on scripture and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we can barely give him a second thought. Fortunately, the Church has multiple opportunities to draw us in, away from all that distracts us, to help us focus.  Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil (or Easter Sunday), if we give ourselves over to them, are the perfect way for us to enter into what Jesus did to give us life. I would like to offer you one additional way, that has sort of become a tradition of mine.  I make time for some solitude and rest in Bishop Barron's Sta

Here in central Minnesota, palm fronds are part of our Palm Sunday Mass. We generally take them home, fold them into the shape of a cross while they're still green and pliable, and put them somewhere in the home where they'll be visible. Before next year's Lent, we'll return them to the parish church, where they're burned to make ashes for Ash Wednesday. That's the idea, at any rate. Some years, including this one, I forget about bringing last year's back. Letting that upset me is an option. But not, I think, a reasonable one. And that's another topic. Last weekend, my now-grown son asked my wife about the palm fronds he'd brought home from Mass. That reminded me that it's been 11 years since I made a short video, and 10 since I've shared it online. It's a short (4:26) how-2, showing how we fold our fronds. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (How my family folds palm fronds into a Saint Andrews cross, using a lanyard weave.

Today is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week. Lent is almost over. At Mass this morning, we walked through our Lord's last days in Jerusalem, starting with the first century equivalent of a ticker tape parade. Jesus was top of the charts, wildly popular. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Holy Week: Jesus went from top of the charts to torture and execution. Two millennia later, we're still celebrating. Which sounds crazy, but isn't.)

The TRAPPIST-1 planetary system is news again, this time because we've taken the innermost planet's temperature. That, by itself, isn’t newsworthy. We've been using infrared observations to learn how hot exoplanets are at least since 2006. 1 What makes the latest observations special is that they’re the first time scientists have measured a comparatively small, cool exoplanet's temperature.That's what I'll be talking about this week, along with whatever else comes to mind. Top Three Multiplanetary Systems Solar System Kepler-90 Planetary System, Upsilon Andromedae d and back to TRAPPIST-1 Taking TRAPPIST-1 b's Temperature With Webb’s MIRI Blackbody Radiation, Red Stars and Astronomical Art Thermal Radiation and the Ultraviolet Catastrophe! Star Light, Star Not-So-Bright Coming Next Week: Possible Interiors of TRAPPIST-1's Planets More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (JWST takes temperature of TRAPPIST-1 b: the first detection of

  Entry into Jerusalem (scene 1) Duccio di Buoninsegna [ Web Gallery of Art ] Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road  (Matthew 21:8; Gospel for Procession of Palms). The Commemoration of the Lord’s Entrance into Jerusalem Gospel for Procession of Palms   Matthew 21:1-11  ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India)    Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,   saying to them,  “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.   If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them’, and he will send them at once.”   This took place to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you,      humble, and mounted on a donkey,      and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

  Maybe they don't want to be saved CLICK HERE

Venus is dead as a doornail as far as life is concerned. Life as we know it, at any rate, and already I'm drifting off-topic. Geologically, though, we've know that there's still metaphorical life in Venus. Or was, until very recently. Orbiters have sent back evidence of geologically-recent volcanic activity, including images of shield volcanoes and lava flows. But we had no direct evidence of a volcano that's active now. Until scientists sifted through data recorded and stored in the early 1990s. Observing Venus: Five Millennia in About 700 Words Telescopic Views Pulp Fiction and the Radar Astronomers Missions to Venus SAR, Science and Magellan Active(?) Volcano on Venus: Maat Mons From the Magellan Archives: a Changing Volcanic Vent — — And New Lava Flows, Maybe Hot Spots, Sulfur Dioxide, Venusian Volcanoes and Acronyms Missions, Maps, Maat Mons and Mor e "Greater Admiration" More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Views of Ven

The Raising of Lazarus Caravaggio [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel     John11:1-45  [11:3-7,17, 20-27, 33b-45]    ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India)       Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.   It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.   So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”   But when Jesus heard it he said,  “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Continue at Bangor to Bobbio .

  I was going through a prayerful reflection that was using visualization.  The idea was that it took you to the Nativity scene where you met Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  I'm not used to this type of prayer for a lot of reasons, but the reflection continued with a focus on an embrace by Mary. This may sound really strange to some of you, if this is not your particular type of prayer, but it brought to mind a memory from long ago that I thought I'd share.  When I am in the right mood, and open to this type of prayer, I have found it quite powerful in the past, so I try to be open to it when invited to do so. Anyway, I was probably somewhere in my early twenties and I walked into my mom's kitchen.  I can see her standing there and we started talking.  I don't know if I needed the hug or if she did, but I seem to remember her saying that hugs are important, especially for people who live alone, as she embraced me deeply. I remember it felt so good, and her perspe

    March  2020 Lockdown Grief Friday, 27th March, in a village outside Birmingham, Brian noticed that he wasn’t feeling right, that he was much more tired than usual. Managing to get himself to work he cocooned himself away in his office, leaving early, at four, to go home and straight to  bed, praying  that the  extraordinary tiredness would soon lift. Next morning, though he found getting up extremely  d ifficult,  he swallowed some pills with an energy drink and dragged himself out the door. After all, as store manager for a large supermarket, he needed to be there for his staff, his customers, his community.  He owed it to the people to show up, especially amidst the panic buying. He  hoped, that today,  the shelves would be, at least, half stocked for his customers. Nevertheless, he knew that even if this were the case, that still the toilet roll supply couldn’t keep up. It barely made it out to the floor before it disappeared. They’d already limited the amount people could buy.

Imagine, just imagine meeting Jesus in person.  What would you say to him?  How would you react?  Would you start complaining to him, or would you drop to your knees? In John's gospel ( Chapter 4, Verses 5-42 ) we hear the account of a Samaritan woman who goes to collect water in the middle of the day.  There are reasons that she went at that time of day.  I'm not going to get into them right now, but, as the passage unfolds, she comes across Jesus sitting at the well, resting, because he was tired. They have an interesting exchange, and you definitely should read the entire passage, but here's what I don't want you to miss . . . After the woman encountered Jesus, and once she realized he was a prophet, maybe even the Messiah (the expected savior), she ran into town (leaving her water jar behind!) and told the people: “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?” What did Jesus say to her that was so significant, even

Betelgeuse, the bright red star in Orion's right shoulder, is a semiregular variable star, with small periods of 185 days and 2,100 days and a main period of around 400 days. It will explode at any moment, and we're right next door. If I had any sense, from one viewpoint, I'd talk about the ozone hole, denounce forever chemicals and promote a 'Save the Panda' fund I'd set up. Or maybe indulge in free association inspired by Revelation and Gematria, and slip in hints that your only hope is to give me money. Yeah. That kind of trouble I don't need. Besides, I suspect the weird mix of numerology and Bible trivia that infested 'Christian' radio during my youth is no longer in vogue. 1 So instead, I'll look at the last two times Betelgeuse was newsworthy. Then I'll talk about cosmic scale, stars and whatever else comes to mind. Headlines! Science Distances, Safe and Otherwise Estimates and an Example Looking Ahead, Looking Back

  Blind Pensioner with a Stick Vincent van Gogh [ Web Gallery of Ar t] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   John 9:1-41  ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India)     [For the shorter form (9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38) omit the text in brackets.]   As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.   [   And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”   Jesus answered,  “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.   We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.   As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ]   Having said these things,]  he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud   and said to him,  “Go, wash in the poo