Day 2 of Lent 2023 đ Saint Bernard the Mellifluous
   One of you subscribers wrote a beautiful âTestimonialâ of sorts and it is located at the bottom of this email.
   Today we enter the 2nd Day of Lent. Besides giving up drinking, like the Venerable Matt Talbot did, one of the other things people, especially children, often offer as Sacrifice for Lent is this: Giving up candy for 40 days. Thatâs difficult to do, especially if youâre a kid. Yet itâs a wonderful way to help children understand the value in sacrificing for themselves and for others. And at the end of Lent on Easter Sunday, kids often get a basket of candy with a chocolate Easter Bunny along with sugary marshmallow âPeepsâ shaped like ducks. Delicious!
   The saint we will talk about today is Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. He is known as the patron saint of bees and beekeepers. âMellifluousâ was the word used to describe him. That was because his sweet words seemed to flow like honey!Â
   Saint Bernard was a supervisory observer and critic for Pope King Louis the Fat and Pope King Louis the Young, both of whom I did not know existed until I read it on Terry Jonesâ website www.Catholicsaints.Info. Terryâs work is a saintly compendium of information about saints and others. Take a look at what Terry has compiled. It's simply astounding.Â
   Saint Bernard of Clairvaux is also known as a saint who helped end a schism or divide within the Catholic Church. He might be a saint to pray to now, because there is a bit of a divide, perhaps a schism, within the Church today. Some Roman Catholics detest Pope Francis and even refuse to use his name together with the word âPope.â Instead, they derisively call him by his original last name, âBergoglioâ and say, âPope Francis is tearing the church apart.â You can read about it in the New York Times.
   Saint Bernard would wake up every day and heâd then ask himself the question, âWhy Have I Come Here?â His answer would always be the same: âTo Lead a Holy Life.âÂ
   Leading a Holy Life is often easy and sometimes hard. Kids forgoing candy or casual and responsible drinkers giving up having drinks for 40 days is laudable. For the children, though, there might be an avenue for a slight and arguably successful way of getting around giving up candy for 40 days. Saint Bernard the Mellifluous might offer a bit of consolation for the kids who are dying to have Snickers, Milky Way, Skittles, etc âŚ.Â
   Just a spoonful full of Honey will make the sacrifice a tad easier. Thanks, Saint Bernard!
What follows is some commentary along with the wonderful email of encouragement received yesterday. The day we lost the most subscribers ever.
FIRST TIME EVER: A SHORT "EDITORIAL"
   Yesterdayâs email about the Venerable Matt Talbot and commentary on questioning why Pope Francis and the Church hasnât canonized him yet generated the most unsubscribes from the email list ever. That was surprising.Â
   So, if any of the rest of you think I am going to be a lemming and endorse every facet of Catholicism, youâre sadly mistaken. The unsubscribe button is located at the bottom of this email. There are serious problems with Catholicism today. A divorced person is not even eligible to receive the Eucharist for Holy Communion. I wonât drone on about the other obvious ridiculous pronouncements.Â
   Downright embarrassing Catholic Rules and Regulations will not deter me from being Catholic. I own my Catholicism. I was Catholic born and Catholic bred, and when I die, Iâll be Catholic dead. I am not, however, a blind loyalist to every part and parcel of the Roman Catholic Dogma. People are leaving the Church in droves. Iâm staying put. If you disagree with some of the arcane principles, just let them go and remain Catholic.
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