mattersofthemoment

Spotlight the movie took best movie in the Oscars this week.  We watched it last night.  I was disappointed as they made the story about the investigative team and how they overcame RC archdiocese resistance to get the story of child abuse and cover-up out, rather then what was going on in the church it self.

By coincidence, I had just finished reading the book and did not even know until Oscar night that a movie of this story had been made.  Here is my book review.

We moved across the street for March to a 2 bedroom unit as we could not stay where we were as it was booked for March.  It is much more fancier inside and out.  Here are a few pics – lot’s of room for visitors if you want to fly down for a stay!

While the unit is nice, it is a little more pricey.  The pool water is at 32 deg C and the pool get’s very crowded in the PM.

People are very friendly.  We met Alice Marie next door as we were moving in.  Two couples from Ottawa and a bunch of nice people from Wisconsin.

Our walk to Walmart is only 5 minutes now and it’s about the same distance now that we we had before to walk to church.  Bigger TV, better A/C, nicer beds.  We are really enjoying our new abode.

Oh yeah, and the pizza place is much closer!

Over the years, one of our enjoyments is to attend outdoor jazz festivals for the great music, people and spirit.  We started at the Ottawa IJF many years ago and continue to go there almost every year.  Key shows we remember out of hundreds are Tony Bennet, Wynton Marsalis and Diana Krall.

We have also been able to attend the Newport RI, Montreal QC, New Orleans LA, and Falmouth, Jamaica jazz festivals.  We have seen B.B King, Celine Dion, Brian Wilson and George Benson among many others at these famous festivals.  I often compare experiences at these events.  Ottawa remains our favorite little home town festival because it is small, intimate and has a great setting by the Rideau Canal.

Well we can now add another one to our list – the Punta Gorda Jazz and Wine Festival in Punta Gorda, FL just north of us here in Fort Myers.

This festival in it’s 11th year is a “smooth jazz” festival and boasted 3 international acts this year:  Nick Collione (guitar and vocalist from Chicago), Bobby Caldwell (vocalist from S. Miami) and Mindi Abair (tenor sax player from St. Petersburg, FL).

About 3000 people attended (relatively small).  There were boats anchored in the bay with hundreds more in attendance.  Everyone was ready for a party and the weather was superb.  It was our special treat out and what a treat it was.

What we really liked:

• you can bring your own food and wine into the festival, just no coolers
• Nick Collione is a superb entertainer and had almost everyone on their feet dancing
• the crab cakes were to die for
• the friendly people
• Mindi Abair had everyone up and dancing in front of the stage at the end
• free wine glasses and souvenir bag
• the dancing

Highly recommended.  Thank you Punta Gorda, Nick, Bobby and Mindy!  God willing we will be back again next year.

The crowd builds

I’m ready

Nick Collione

Bobby Caldwell belts out his signature song “What you won’t do for love”

The crowd

Nice time together (courtesy of selfie stick)

Mindy does her thing

Marie is into it

What about you?

It was a surround the stage blowout at the end!!!

One cannot but notice the abundance of birds here in Florida.  There are dozens of varieties all existing in union and peace with each other.  Here are a few examples of our sightings.

Cormorant

Wood Stork

Mockingbird

Osprey

Great White Egret

Ibis

Anhinga

Coot

Tri Colored Heron

Brown Pelican

Great Blue Heron

Here are some pictures of our modest Florida condo in Fort Myers.  After 3 years here, it feels like home.

Entrance

Living Room

Dinette

Bedroom

One is shutdown this year due to a small tornado that tore off the roof of the pool building.

There is lot’s of wild life right outside our door.

Wood Stork

Muscovy

Cormorants

Alligator

Always room for another Morgan.

Fab cruise to Aruba, Turks and Caicos, and Curacao for Marie’s birthday.  Our 11th cruise, 2nd on Carnival.

We liked the cabin – was spacious with a balcony.  And the service and towel animals made by Sri our attendant from Indonesia.

Aruba was the highlight of the trip – they call it “One Happy Island”.  Did some shopping and Iguana sighting.

Curacao has interesting architecture but is pretty barren and dry.  Nice flamingos.

Grand Turk was set up well for our visit with a huge swimming pool and beach right beside the ship.

All in all a very good getaway we really needed.

Mathew  23: 9-12

9 Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of “Father’; you have only one Father, and he’s in heaven.
10 And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them–Christ.
11 “Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant.
12 If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.

Tad Szulc, a New York Times reporter published this biography in 1995 some 10 years before the death of John Paul II.  I was attracted to it because I wanted to know about Polish history in anticipation of an upcoming trip to Poland.  I also wanted to learn the truth about Karol Wojtyla and his papacy given some misconceptions I had about his theology and apparent inaction to address priestly sexual abuse scandals in timely fashion.

Through Szulc’s book, I have come to know the man much better and to love and admire him immensely. Written in endless detail, the book traces Karol’s life from a penniless rock quarry worker/playwright during WW II to Holy Father head of the 1 billion member Roman Catholic Church over 27 years.

Pope John Paul II was if nothing else supremely confident and determined in his papal approach.  He had a low tolerance for dissent.  Socially progressive he knew that the communist regime in Poland would eventually come to an end due to its many shortcomings like its unwillingness to grant workers the right to free unions.  Hence his patient stance of negotiation, non-confrontation and quiet unflinching diplomacy eventually led to the unravelling of the whole communist world.  A more brash or impatient approach would likely have lead to violent confrontation and many deaths.

Theologically conservative, his stance against abortion, artificial birth control, the roll and ordination of women, liberation theology and basic ecclesial communities in Latin America and inculturation of the church may have harmed the church.  We have seen a falling away of the faithful, the normalization of “cafeteria Catholics” and the growing appeal of the Pentacostal faith whose members are not burdened by central doctrine. However these trends were likely in place prior to his papacy.

The sexual scandal case of Priest Marcial Maciel, the leader of the Legion if Christ came later. Church authorities were criticized for slow investigations with conjecture that it was because Maciel was close to Pope JPII and was the greatest fundraiser of the church at the time.  In wasn’t until 2006 that Maciel was forced to retire despite repeated accusations over many years of sexually abusing minors and having fathered as many as 6 children.

At the end, Szulc gives an assessment of Pope John Paul II as a man who enjoyed immense personal popularity and respect but who was unable to transfer that acceptance to the Church which he headed. While leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions, Szulc suggests that John Paul II may have failed in important aspects of his duties as head of the Church.

I am having none of it.  Through his immense suffering and love, Pope John Paul II has become my hero – a true witness to the Faith who fostered a positive difference in the lives of millions of people in our time.  4.5 of 5 stars – a great read!

Image of Divine Mercy for Veneration

Yesterday Marie and I attended a day on divine Mercy in Ottawa.  The guest speaker was Fr. Chris Alar, a Marion of the Immaculate Conception in the U.S. Archbishop Prendergast celebrated an opening Mass and stayed for the first talk by Fr. Chris.  There were over 200 people there.

Wow!  What a day we had.  We learned that the Message of Divine Mercy communicated in Poland to St. Faustina in 1938 by Jesus is perhaps the greatest message of all time.  Fr. Chris a very dynamic speaker, took us through what we need to know about this subject.

Background

St. Faustina (a Sr. of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, a nobody from nowhere) reported a series of apparitions, visions and conversations with Jesus that took place in her room in the convent in Plock, Poland.  She later published the details in the book Diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul.  In 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized Sr. Faustina and declared the Sunday after Easter to be Divine Mercy Sunday.  Word about Divine Mercy has been slowly getting out to Roman Catholics.  Now that Pope Francis has declared this the Year of Mercy, the world is about to hear about it.

The Message (not optional)

A =  Ask for God’s mercy.

B = Be merciful to others.

C = Completely trust in Jesus.

If you do this you will go to heaven.  That’s it!!!

The Devotion (optional)

F = Feast of Divine Mercy (the Second Sunday of Easter)

I = Image (the image you see above is of the painting of what  she saw)

N = Novena (nine days of prayer using the Chaplet below)

C = Chaplet (prayed using Rosary beads)

H = Hour (between 3 and 4 PM, Jesus died at 3 PM)

The Graces of Divine Mercy Sunday

Jesus told St. Faustina (Diary para. 699) “The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain forgiveness of sins and punishment.” One must be sorry and want to amend one’s life, receive Holy Communion worthily (i.e., not be in a state of mortal sin) and trust in Jesus’ promise of Mercy.

It’s like an amnesty day for all past and forgotten sins.  No eternal or temporal punishment.  This is the most amazing message of all time!

Click here to listen a bit to Fr. Chris:

Just finished reading this biography by Walter Isaacson. It was a difficult read at times because Steve Jobs was very nasty at times – ignoring his family especially his first child Lisa and calling people xxxholes and firing them in front of other staff.

But I stuck with it, all 570 pages. In the end I came to admire the man. He had the uncanny ability to vision what people wanted before they knew it themselves.  He had multiple successes – the Macintosh, Ipod, Iphone, IPad and Icloud which made Apple the most successful technology company in the world.  His Zen Buddhism interest and background no doubt influenced  his approach to people and products.

He believed in brutal honesty in the workplace – he said “That’s xxxt” hundreds of times to people when shown their ideas or prototypes. One of his key roles at Apple apart from product design, was to ensure Apple had only “A” players on it’s staff.  “It’s not easy, but someone has to do it.” quips Jobs.  His focus he says, was always on making the best product possible, not making money. He played at the confluence of product design and manufacture with liberal arts and humanities.  He got people to do the impossible.  He had weird eating habits.

He was such a perfectionist that he lived in his first house for years with no furniture because he could not make up his mind what to buy. Another thing he is famous for is locking up Apple products so tightly that the user cannot get into them.  Otherwise, “they would screw it up” he believed.

It is perhaps for this latter reason that I have never felt compelled to purchase an Apple product. Call me nerdy but I like to know I can open the back and fiddle if need be.

In closing, I highly recommend this book for an honest look into one of the most enigmatic personalities in recent history. Jobs died of cancer in 2011 at the age of 56.

I learned a lot in reading this book, not just about Jobs.  Book 4.5 of 5 stars.  Steve Jobs documentary movie on Netflix 2 of 5 stars