Thursday, March 19, 2015

Betty Landrieu Tedesco - Note from Billy

Hi Everyone,

Father Bob, OFM, founder of TAU House
A while back Pat Mallinson sent out a note saying that Betty Landrieu Tedesco (? she's remarried) wanted to have a pot luck gathering for when Bob Pawell is in town.  It will be this coming Saturday, 21 March around 6:30 for those who are interested.  She lives in Metairie but Pat didn't have the address with him when we talked. I will get back to you with that information when I get it.  I don't have her email address either, so if you want to let me know if you think you'll be coming and I'll eventually get the info to her.  Perhaps an idea of what you might bring would be helpful too.

Billy

Happy St. Joseph Day!


Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Happy Valentine 2015 Mishka

 

LENT DAY 6 - THE SECOND TEMPTATION

LENT DAY 6 - THE SECOND TEMPTATION
Having failed at his first attempt to tempt Jesus in a direct and relatively crude way, the devil plays a subtler game: "The devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant."
 
This is the more rarefied, more refined temptation of power. Power is one of the greatest motivating factors in all of human history. Alexander the Great, Caesar, Augustus, Marcus Aurelius, Charlemagne, the Medicis, Charles V, Henry VIII, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Nixon, and Kissinger - all the way down to your boss at work. These are all people who have been seduced, at one time or another, by the siren song of power.
 
We notice something very disquieting in the account of this temptation: the devil admits that all the kingdoms of the world have been given to him. He owns and controls them. That is quite a sweeping indictment of the institutions of political power. But it resonates with our sense that attaining high positions of power and not becoming corrupt is difficult to do.
 
It might be useful here to recall the two great names for the devil in the Bible: ho Satanas, which means the adversary,and ho diabolos, which means the liar or the deceiver. Worldly power is based upon accusation, division, adversarial relationships, and lies. It's the way that earthly rulers have always done their business.
 
A tremendous temptation for Jesus was to use his Messianic authority to gain worldly power, to become a king. But if he had given in to this, he would not be consistently a conduit of the divine grace. He would be as remembered today as, perhaps, one of the governors of Syria or satraps of Babylon (and do you remember the first-century satrap of Babylon?)
 
No, Jesus wanted to be the one through whom the divine love surged into creation, and so he said to Satan, "It is written: 'You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.'" 
 
Father Robert Barron

Happy St. Patrick Day!!!

Happy St. Patrick Day!!!
Happy Blessed Trinity Day