06 August 2009

At this moment in the night

How grateful I am for today's Feast of the Transfiguration, my favourite feast day! It was a physically very difficult day for me but I feel very grateful for this day that is past.

I am trying to read Nicholas Afanasiev's The Church of the Holy Spirit. In many ways, although an Orthodox observer to Vatican II, he was the theological father of ideas enshrined in Lumen Gentium. It is very clear as I reread certain passages that Fr. Afanasiev's theological fatherhood extended into the thought of Pope John Paul II in his masterpiece Christifideles laici that has been so important in my own theological reflexion.

This is also a time in which I continue to get difficult medical news. My brain continues to atrophy and there is no way to stop it. The good news is that my IQ and my sense of myself are largely intact. I do hope that I will have enough time to do whatever God has for me.

I am working on two hymns inspired by the suggestion of Father Mark Daniel Kirby. The writing is slow, as all things are with me now, but I feel very inspired by the Year for Priests and St. John Mary Vianney.

I pray for you, dear reader, to have the grace and time to do the good God has for you to do, and I ask that you likewise pray for me.

+ Laus Deo.