Notes to self 2: Catholic Reformation, Listen to Teresa, immediate care on Broadway, Insomnia, Catherine of Genoa, Lauds for pew-sitters . . .
Mixum-gatherum here, mostly Holy Week stuff . . .
See and maybe read: The Catholic Reformation: Savonarola to St. Ignatius Loyola.
There was much amiss within the Church at the close of the Middle Ages. The Protestant Reformation threw into high relief the urgent need for religious reform. Involving basic questions of doctrine, practice, and authority, this severe trial put in jeopardy the very life of the existing Catholic Church.
Teresa of Avila’s advice: Keep plugging, don’t settle for less, devil gonna get you if you don’t watch out. Keep in mind, however, God is on your side. He’s on your team.
And how about the immediate care operation on Broadway, 5100 N. block, where a fellow can come in with an earful of wax and leave with ear clear as a bell? Thank you, North Shore. In fact, let’s hear it for North Shore, later renamed Endeavor, remembering “smells as sweet” . . .
Insomnia report: 6/6/24, 1:40 a.m., started dishes, drinking hot coffee with cookie!
Previous post: McDonald’s 5-27-24, small coffee $1.39. On this day, 4-18-25, I had a tasty small coffee for a princely $1.49! Cheap at twice the price at either of three other Clark St. shops.
But what about Catherine of Genoa? No psychotic she. In an unhappy marriage she coped with a “generally miserable situation,” becoming a saint “because she had to . . . to prevent herself from going to pieces,” according to commentary in her Purgation and Purgatory : the Spiritual Dialogue (p. 9)
In her life there may have been “unconscious attempts of the ego to adjust to the overwhelming stimulation of her inner consciousness of the Divine.” (P. 10)
Her fasts “seemed to improve her health and mental functioning,” she “can in no way be classified as pathological or morbid . . . until the last days of her life [she remained] a highly organized, compassionate, and ever more available person . . .” (P. 11)
And then? Yesterday’s Lauds — morning prayer a good thing. Good Friday, fervent practitioners of divine office for pew-sitters. Relative few of us, 9 a.m, excellent way to start the dreadful, sanctifying day. Offered us way to be part of this version of monks’ and friars’ and others’ reading & chanting of Psalms and other responses, single priest up front. A special for Holy days.
Alas, it was an irresistible challenge to this worshiper, whose choir boy’s days ended eons ago in favor of altar boy career. He accepted the challenge and gave it his all, producing a booming and speedy and non-musical performance, as noted later by friendly observer.
To whom this worshiper, grateful for the candor, announced that at the end of the service, he had on his own decided no more of that. As rewarding as the service was, he would retreat from participation and shut up and keep head down and read and/or write, retreating to that great savior of Novus Ordo mass-attendance, meditation.
As for the Good Friday night-time Mass of the Presanctified, more later. Off now to Holy Saturday Lauds . . .