The Saints John

St. John Fisher

Since the name Janet is a diminutive of the feminine form of John, I have long laid claimed to all the Sts. John (Juan, Ian, Jane, & Jean, etc)  as my very own. Therefore, I thought it was really nice of Holy Mother Church to give me not one, but two new saints.

St. Jean de Brebeuf

When Pope St. John Paul II was still alive, I used to worry all the time because I knew odds were that I would outlive him, and I knew I could never love another Pope as much as I did him. But then I was wrong, because I love Pope Benedict that much too.

I am old enough to remember a bit about Pope St. John XXIII. I was 13 when he died. I remember, of course, that he convened Vatican II. Other than that I remember him as being very personable and jovial. It seems to me that the media and the world in general regarded him in much the same way as they do Pope Francis, without all the

St. John the Baptist

conservative/liberal garbage--but maybe I was just young and naive. I don't think, though that the news media was quite so obnoxious.

I have, of course, not been completely able to escape the knowledge that there has been a lot of negative talk surrounding these ordinations for one reason or another, but I have studiously avoided reading any of it. I have pretty much realized that it's the Church's business to decide about stuff like this, and my business to get rid of the plank in my own eye. 

I did notice an exchange on Facebook the other day which took place after a friend said that he was happy about the ordinations, and someone responded by telling him why he was unhappy about them. I immediately thought that the Pope

St. Jane Frances de Chantal

St. John the Apostle

Sts. John were probably laughing and shaking their heads about all the hoopla and being excessively grateful that they were in heaven and no longer had to shepherd such a contentious flock. I imagine that Pope St. John Paul II, was saying to Pope St. John XXIII, "At least you didn't have to contend with bloggers."

I, along with my friend, am just grateful that the Church has given us the gift of two more examples to follow, along with so many others. They might not all get to be Johns, but I'm pretty fond of some of them, too. 

St. John of the Cross

Perhaps this bestowal of two new Sts. John upon me is an effort to make up for the enormous disappoint I underwent when the

calendar of Saints was changed after Vatican II and someone decided to spirit away my St. John of the Cross from my birthday and move him elsewhere. Well, I suppose I will have to get over that some day, and maybe now would be the time.

I like this picture of St. John Newman

because it reminds me of my old profile picture.

and if you do a Google image search for St. John Newman, you will see that he sat in this position all the time, as do I. In fact, I usually have my hand in the position that his is in in the above picture. I might not be able to behave in a saintly manner, but I can at least sit in this obviously holy position.

San Juan Diego

AMDG