Catholic Carnival: All Saints'/All Souls' Day Edition

Before the throne of God and the Lamb the saints will sing a new song; their voices will resound throughout the earth, alleluia.   --- Evening Prayer I, Solemnity of All Saints

First, let's turn to the topic that jumps first to mind whenever October 31st rolls around:  That's right, it's Reformation Day!   

What, you were thinking of something else?  This is, as everyone knows, the anniversary of the day that Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the church door.  Or... is it?  Chris Burgwald of Veritas thinks it's a jack-o-lantern of a story --- that is, it has a few holes in it. 

Mr. Burgwald wasn't the only blogger musing about the start of the Reformation this week.  Blogger Funky Dung at Ales Rarus suggests an appropriate hymn:  The Church's One Foundation.  Thoughtfully, he provides us with a "forgotten" verse that seems to be missing from my hymnal.  Does yours have it?  Why not, do you think?

Joel at On the Other Foot, too, considers whether this makes October 31 the Devil's  Holiday, but he's got good cause to be optimistic about it.

Moving on to other topics:  November first, of course, is the Solemnity of All Saints, that celebration of the Church Triumphant.   Do we think of the saints as our friends?  We should --- they're more real than we are, Kevin Miller points out at  Heart, Mind, and Strength blog. 

Current events were on the mind of some.   For example, Angry in the Great White North lets us know that Canadian government knowingly funds avowed anti-Christian groups.   But others are in more of a mediative mood...

Rob, Crusader of Justice blogger, shares an intensely moving personal experience that took him by surprise at a recent retreat.   

At my own bearing blog, I consider one way to ask, "Only say the word and I will be healed."

Kicking Over My Traces, a slimy mollusk who clearly aspires to be a hoofed mammal, presents a series of questions, a sort of self-examination:  am I being mindful to God?

Penitens at A Penitent Blogger asks another question:  What's God's plan, and do I really need to know?

Alicia at Fructus Ventris considers some words from the book of the prophet Malachi:  she says that because of widespread infidelity and divorce and the rejection of bearing offspring, "we are offering the diseased and malformed to God, not the perfection and the first fruits."

And finally, two bloggers find inspiration in unlikely spots in popular culture: 

Herb Ely posts on "Patsy Cline, Martha Stewart, and Phylacteries;"

while Our Word and Welcome To It unearths a TV Guide from the past to find a (relatively) ancient, unheeded warning.

Thanks to all who submitted posts!

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I shall not turn away.   --- Evening Prayer, Office for the Dead, All Souls

Comments

[Bernard Brandt]

Yes, there have been a number of individuals who have posted in their weblogs about 'Reformation Day'. I'm one of them.

I did so because there was a bloke who decided to post the entire 95 theses as a comment for an entry on my weblog. I erased it, as it was not on-topic, but I felt obligated to make reference to a website where the text was, refer to a summary of as regards the import of those theses, and to acknowledge the source. Anything else (at least to my poor excuse of a mind), would have been discourteous and inconsiderate.

And while I think and believe that the good doctor hyperbolicus(aka, Martin Luther) exceeded the bounds of sanctity, sense, and good taste in having mailed the theses in question (if not having posted them), I also believe that good Pope Julius, and the clergy of the time, had it coming.