Project BLACK MAMBA

Today is the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, the last Sunday of the liturgical year: King-link, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:

The embrace of individualism in today's society moves Jesus from the central role He is meant to occupy in the lives of Christians. This feast allows us to reaffirm & refocus our faith & respect in the kingship of Jesus just as it did when it was first established (in 1925).

Otherwise, on 22 November we would remember Saint Cecilia, Virgin & Martyr (second century), martyred under the emperor Marcus Aurelius: Martyr-link ūna, Martyr-link duae, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine '14 & Wayback Machine '11. Quoth the Holy Family bulletin:

A native of Rome, St. Cecilia made a vow of virginity at an early age. Her parents forced her to mary a noblemen named Valerian. She converted him & his brother Tibertius to the faith of Christ. They all were martyred for the faith between the years 161 & 192. St. Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians.

Scripture of the Feast of Christ the King
Mass Readings
The Book of Daniel, chapter seven, verses thirteen & fourteen;
Psalm Ninety-three, verses one, two, & five;
The Book of revelation, chapter one, verses five thru eight;
The Gospel according to John, chapter eighteen, verses thirty-three(b) thru thirty-seven.

Mass Journal: Week Forty-eight
Reflection by Matthew Kelly, founder of the Dynamic Catholic Institute.

Three or four years ago, my brother Andrew gave me a copy of a book titled Letters to a Young Poet. It is a small book that contains a collection of letters written by the great German lyric poet Rainer Maria Rilke to Franz Kappus, who at the time was a young aspiring poet. In one of the letters, Rilke penned some words that have remained ingrained on my heart since I read & underlined them in that small volume:

"Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart & try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms & like books that are written in a foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to love them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."