High tech Pope

I just thought this was an interesting story. Pope Benedict now has an e-mail address. benedictxvi@vatican.va. So if you have a prayer request or just want to drop the guy a line it is simple as a few key strokes away. I guess Pope John Paul II was the first high tech Pope and was seen typing away on a laptop. It's good to see that trend continued.

You can read the story by clicking below.

Yahoo! News - Pope Benedict XVI Gets E-Mail Address

Why Do They Need Nipples?

Is this necessary?

So I was shopping this evening and I noticed in JcPenny that all the women mannequins had nipples. Why I'm not sure. Was it really cold in the store or is it just that mannequin manufactures need to throw more sex into the mix because sex sells? As if the overwhelming majority of clothing wasn't sexy enough, you have to sell it this way? I don't know why this bothered me so much today...maybe I'm a little older or maybe my morality has caught up with me. Either way, is there any place it's safe to go without being assaulted with sexual images such as this?

'HABEMUS PAPAM'

It's so interesting watching the annoucement of the news of the Catholic Church's new Pope, Pope Benedict XVI. First the smoke came and then the bells tolled for a long time. Soon St. Peter's Square was packed, I mean packed. They announced Cardinal Ratzinger of Germany and people screamed in jubilation. For a Catholic who has never experienced a Pope's election it is extraordinary to watch the ceremony and the excitement of people. He's got huge shoes to fill and many things to do. So a little prayer comes from me for him to have the wisdom and grace to do God's work. And remember Pope Benedict XVI, "Do not be afraid." Amen..

Cleaning at 1 a.m.?

Ok, so how many of you out there clean your house starting at 10:30 p.m.? Am I the only one? If you think I'm crazy, I must be a little. Because the past week my home has managed to explode in dirtiness and I don't hardly even seem to be home. Today my Aunt and Uncle are coming to visit and I don't want to think I'm a slob. So I dusted, threw crap away and swept the floor at 1 a.m. If I'd just learn the art of cleaning as you go along, these things might stop happening to me.

The World Grieves for One Man

Not Only the Eternal City, But a Packed One

They Are There for One Man

24 hours.
That's the amount of time some people faced waiting in lines to catch only a brief glimpse of the body of Pope John Paul II.
Pilgrims slept in the streets when the lines were closed over night, and sang and prayed in line. And once inside the Basilica, there was silence.
Reverance for the man whose death brought more than 1 million to pass him yesterday and another 2 today and tomorrow. A man who an estimated 2 to 3 million Polish country men and women boarded trains, planes and buses to pay their respects at his funeral Friday. A man where more than 200 heads of state, including Fidel Castro, will attend his funeral.
I am awe struck at the photos and video coming from the Vatican and around the world this week. Who knew one man could stir the world like he did?
While everyone didn't agree with what he said, I don't know any one who didn't respect him. One who stood up for his beliefs and took them to the world like few others evagelizing. Yes fellow Catholics, he was one of the great evangelizers of our time. He went to the corners of the world to tell of his love for God and made sure everyone from the rich to the poor heard his message.
I feel lucky to be alive at this time. To be a witness to the life of a great man. And to watch the millions who dropped what they were doing and went to Rome and the Vatican just for those few seconds to see the small man dressed in blood red vestments who changed the world.

Gone Home, Never Forgotten

A New Journey Begins

At approximately 9:37 p.m. Rome time Pope John Paul II died and went to be a peace.

It has been extrodinary to watch and listen to the media accounts surrounding his illness, decline and now death. More than a billion (yes, that's with a B) Catholics around the world have been offering prayers as well as people from all walks of faith. This was a a great man who had the admiration of many including myself. He held tight his beliefs and refused for others to corrupt it. He was loved by the young, and everyone who I have ever heard who had met him spoke the the energy, the passion the love they felt, even as his age and Parkinsons disease took hold of his body.

So today I am in mourning with the world but I am at peace because I know the Pope is now starting a new journey, a journey to be with his best Lord, and because of this it is also a joyous time. And in honor of a man who stood for peace I submit to you a Prayer for Peace from St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.