Love

Love's painful sting envelopes me
   whole and entire
But there is no one there
   No, not even Thee
They say absence makes the heart
   grow fonder.
But they forget to mention
   the pain and torture
When? When whilst thou come
   to ease this bleeding wound?
I cannot but hope that your
   answer is soon . . . soon.
Save me! Save me from this Cross
   that kills!
The yoke is too heavy and my
   heart has cracked.
The dove's woeful cooing
   shrills!
And over my heart scabbed is
   blacked.
Then comes Your Holy Mother
   in Mercy shrined.
And with arms outstretched
   her brightness blind.
She takes my heart and
   makes it whole.
And with her love
   She makes me Thine.
Oh! Thou Blessed Mother
   Take me to He!
For I am heavy burdened
   and sickly grieved.
She smiles joyfully with
   sad eyes teared.
And points to her heart
   where Thine sword pierced.
Again my heart fails and
   I fall toward the dark.
But She catches me before
   all hope is lost.
I cannot! I am nothing.
   I am unable to pay the cost.
My Lord and my God
   Why hast Thou forsaken me?
She pulls me up a ragged hill
   and there I see
You have already carried my Cross
   and for that
They hung You on a Tree.

A Warning

The New York Times has done it again... If you haven't read it, you should, just so you can see how their latest article on Pope Benedict XVI/Cardinal Ratzinger is completely ludicrous, ridiculous, infuriating, and ignorant.

Click here to read it now, but you may want to read this first.

This article only encouraged me to write what I am about to say, and what I have been wanting to say for a long time:

The Church has been corrupt since its foundation. Remember Judas? But we are still One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church founded by Christ and in Christ. Christ knew we were sinners, and in His infinite wisdom, mercy, and love, He established a Divine institution made of imperfect people. Christ was able to take the sin of Judas and use it for the Salvation of the entire world.

Indeed, priests and bishops alike have abused children, teens, and even adults, but that is THEIR own sin. It is NOT the fault of the Pope, or the Catholic Church as a whole. Yes, more action should have been taken early on; the Bishops had all the power they needed in order to handle it. Even the New York Times says so:

"Bishops had a variety of disciplinary tools at their disposal — including the power to remove accused priests from contact with children and to suspend them from ministry altogether — that they could use without the Vatican’s direct approval."

"Some used this authority to sideline abusive priests, minimizing the damage inflicted on their victims. Other bishops clearly made things worse, by shuffling abusers from one assignment to the next, never telling parishioners or reporting priests to the police."

So why isn't the media focusing on the lax and corrupt bishops? Why must they place the sin of others on one man's shoulders? Clearly, one man could fix the mental problems of hundreds of abuser priests and their victims quickly...How can they expect that?

Have they examined how slow our own justice system is, or how corrupt? Many victims lose their livelihood due to our own slow and corrupt court system. Does the media blame Obama? Certainly not...he's a saint!

Pope Benedict XVI has been nothing but humble and sincere throughout these entire scandal proceedings. Has anyone heard him (I mean him, and not some "representative") deny these accusations of the press, even when he knows himself to be innocent? No. He is doing everything in his power to speed this process along, and he asks for forgiveness of all things! How dare he! Come on folks, wake up and smell the incense!

Furthermore, an ordinance from 1922 does not make an innocent man guilty! Talk about staying with the times people...

It is indeed a tragedy that so many priests and religious would stray from the Way. And just as the Pope said, "Mercy does not mean the lack of justice." Their sin is inexcusable, and the effect on their victims is unchangeable. These men will be brough to justice, whether they are dead or alive. However, blaming one man for their transgressions only highlights our fallen human nature and shows that Man has not changed since the time of Christ. We must remove the beam from our own eye, so that we may see clearly to pluck the splinter out of our neighbor's eye.

A message to my fellow Catholics: If the world justice system does bring this to court, it could undermine the entire Church...but only on the surface. The Catholic Church shines most when it is persecuted. Christ on the Cross shows us this simple fact. As members of the Body of Christ, including the Pope, we will continue to suffer until the end of this world and the beginning of the New. So, this time of persecution is a call to arms...spiritual arms. Continue to pray for our Pope and our Priests, and for those who persecute them. Do not lose faith.

A message to those who oppose Christ and and His Church: I want to warn those that wrongly accuse and persecute the Church, because it is more than an institution. It is more than a hierarchy composed of laymen, priests, Bishops, Cardinals, and one Pope. It is the Body of Christ.

YOU WILL NEVER DESTROY THE CHURCH. WE ARE AN ETERNAL BODY. THE POPE MAY BE STRIPPED OF HIS TITLE, BUT HE WILL ALWAYS REMAIN THE POPE. HE WILL CONTINUE TO LEAD US, EVEN IF WE MUST GO UNDERGROUND. YOU CAN DESTROY EVERY CHURCH BUILDING, BUT YOU WILL NEVER DESTROY CHRIST'S BODY. IF YOU SPILL OUR BLOOD, YOU SPILL CHRIST'S BLOOD, BUT WE KNOW THAT THIS BLOOD IS OUR SALVATION. FOR A TIME, IT MAY SEEM AS IF YOU HAVE WON THE BATTLE, BUT YOU WILL NEVER WIN THE WAR. CHRIST HAS ALREADY WON! CHRIST IS RISEN! ALLELUIA!