Updated, October 23, 2020 to add a line with a link to an earlier post and a video, which I included in the endnotes but somehow left out of the paragraph in which they belonged, cuz I’m talented that way.
+JMJ+ The weekly series on the soul, Part 42, will be posted next Thursday because today is a special day for me here at the blog and it snuck up on me and I didn’t realize it fell on a Thursday. Yes, I have a liturgical calendar but, sadly, it won’t slap me in the face and/or write my posts for me. (What, I bought the calendar, now I have to use it, too? Do I have to do everything around here? Oh, well, um, yes, I guess I do. Argh.) So, since October is the month of the Rosary and today is the feast day of Pope St. John Paul II, and the Rosary is so important to me (see, for example, the Rosary Project and the Live Rosary Archives on this site), that’s what I’ll write about tonight. (I’ll write more about why the Rosary is so important to me in another post soon, maybe for Monday’s post, before October is over.)
I’ve written before about the connection between the Divine Mercy devotion and abortion. (See notes and links below.) Tonight I’ve been reading an article by Carrie Gress (also added three of her books to the booklist today) on the Hidden Connection Between Mary and Divine Mercy. She points out something I hadn’t really thought about: St. Maximillian Kolbe, St. Faustina Kowalska, and Pope St. John Paul II were all living in Krakow at about the same time. I don’t think I ever thought about that before. Links to article and books mentioned at the end of this post. (See note about a tour with Steve Ray in the links at the end of the post.)
(Update, June 25, 2019: I can’t find the book listed anymore on the CTS website, so that link is caput. There are other edits at the end of the post.) I stumbled across a book a few days ago: Meditations and Catechesis on the Psalms and Canticles of Morning and Evening Prayer, by Pope St. John Paul II and Pope (Emeritus) Benedict XVI. It’s published in the UK by Catholic Truth Society, and doesn’t ship to the US. I had to get a copy through AbeBooks and they got it from Blackwell’s in the UK. (To add to the fun, my bank at first declined the transaction because it involved sending payment overseas. A phone call got them to lift the ban—for one day. Oy vey.) But I’ve got it now and it’s mine, all mine!
Join me on Twitter as Pope St John Paul II reflects on the psalms and canticles of Lauds and Vespers. [This is an old post, the Tweets may or may not pull up and the links in them may be broken.]
Ahem. Back to what I was talking about. What was I talking about anyway? Oh! The book! Well, even if you can’t get hold of the book, you can still read the meditations and catechesis on the web. These took place at the general audiences held by the popes on Wednesdays. Pope St. John Paul II began the series by covering Morning Prayer (Lauds) and then covering Evening Prayer (Vespers). But he passed away before he could finish and Pope Benedict picked up where he left off. Pope St. John Paul II went through each day of the four-week Psalter and discussed each day in three parts, one part per Wednesday audience. (Pope Benedict didn’t adhere to that schedule the way his predecessor did.)
I’m sharing quotes and notes from the audiences (using the web versions rather than the book mainly because it’s easier) on Twitter using the hashtag #PsalmsJPII beginning with Lauds and going through Vespers. Join me and join in. Feel free to comment, too. Each session is also up at Storify — four, so far — so you don’t have to miss a scintillating minute of it. ;) See links below.
St. Augustine (hey, #CivDei peeps!) is mentioned quite a bit in the talks. Not surprising since he did write that Enarrationes in Psalmos thingy and he is a beloved Church Father and Doctor of the Church. I’ll be bringing special attention to the good doctor when we get to him, you can be sure of that! (What in the world is #CivDei, you say? Well, that’s a story for another day. Post in the works e’en now.)
Notes and Links
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/disciple96 Follow the project on Twitter: #PsalmsJPII Follow my projects on Storify: [Sadly, Storify closed down May 16, 2018.]
Morning and Evening Prayer: Meditations and Catechesis on Psalms and Canticles:
At CTS (Catholic Truth Society): [Link broken and as of June 25, 2019 I cannot find the book on the publisher’s website.]
Catholic Heart and Mind 