First he adds a station to the Stations of
the Cross, proclaimes 464 Saints & 1297 Blessed, and now he is adding
another set of mysteries to the rosary; who died and made him Pope? I think that
the powerful bead and religious items merchandisers have lobbied him so as to be
able to increase sales of longer rosaries, statues, holy cards, and other items.
He has gone to predominately Orthodox countries not to heal the schism but to
expand religious article businesses into those areas. The Orthodox and Easter
Catholics use a knotted string for their prayers, where is the markup in that?
He has been receiving kickbacks and placing them into his secret “Swiss Guard”
account.
This conspiracy theory doesn’t seem to be half as whacked as
some of the criticisms I have read over the last couple of days since the first
initial news. Soon I guess Oliver Stone will be making a movie called JPII where
he disputes the lone ungrassy Vatican knoll gunman theory. Over at Amy
Welborn’s blog because of the number of comments the comment counter is now
using exponents. I don’t quite understand all the criticism, I personally like
the idea of mysteries on the public life of Jesus, but if you don’t like them
don’t pray them. There have been many versions of the rosary throughout the
centuries as Disputations has
shown, including Franciscan and Carmelite varieties. The critics probably glide
right past the Fatima prayer added to the rosary and complain about the St.
Michael the Archangel prayer being removed from the Mass even thought it was
added only about seventy years before Vatican II. They must think there are two
dogmas – one where revelation was closed at the death of the last Apostle and
another that church tradition was closed at the end of the Council of Trent. It
reminds me of the saying that “The best Bible version is – the one that you will
read” and the best set of mysteries are the ones that you will truly
pray.
I have written a set of mysteries that even those of the constant
critical gaze set would like.
The Lidless Eye Mysteries
(With scriptural
meditations)
Just say woe
“Woe to you, Chora’zin! woe to you,
Beth-sa’ida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and
Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”
“woe to
that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed”
“But woe to you that are
rich, for you have received your consolation.”
“Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger.”
“Woe
to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep”
“Woe to you, when
all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
Us against them
“For he that is not against us is
for us.”
“He who is not with Me is against Me,”
Condemnation
“I will condemn you out of your own
mouth, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking up what I
did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?”
“But he who has doubts
is condemned, if he eats, because he does not act from faith; for whatever does
not proceed from faith is sin.”
“And making a whip of cords, he drove
them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the
coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who
sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house
a house of trade.”
You hypocrites
“Why put me to the test,
you hypocrites.”
“hypocrites; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.”
“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, `This
people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me”
“You
hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky; but why
do you not know how to interpret the present time?”
Brood of
Vipers
“You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape
being sentenced to hell?”
“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee
from the wrath to come?”
“You brood of vipers! how can you speak good,
when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaks.”
*All quotations from the RSV (Really Steady Vision)
version
