I gladly and gratefully admit to being inspired by Rebecca to post a U2 song for this week's traditio. I love this song. I'll take (and give) grace over karma any day. "Grace makes beauty out of ugly things." Besides, doesn't this video just overwhelm you? It does me!

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, wrote in a letter to bishops last spring:

"In our time, during which in vast areas of the world the faith is in danger of being extinguished like a flame that has run out of fuel, the priority that stands above all others is that of making God present in this world, and revealing to the eyes of men the path to God. And not to any sort of god, but to that God who has spoken on Sinai; to that God whose face we recognize in love to the end (cf. John 13:1), in Jesus Christ crucified and risen. The true problem at this moment in history is that God is disappearing from the horizon of men, and that with the extinguishing of the light that comes from God, humanity is seized by a lack of direction, the destructive effects of which are becoming increasingly clear."

What does John 13:1 say? "Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end."

I give a deep diaconal bow to my dear friend Sharon, whose postings inspire me daily, for the Holy Father's quote to my attention.