1ºI'm Canadian and, as a subject of the Commonwealth, I'm still very much in shock over the Queen's passing. And, I'm not sure why. The Monarchy doesn't impact my daily life. I've never been a "royal watcher", but an era has past. Charles is now King. I guess that reducing him and his kids to celebrity status in grocery store tabloids is making it more difficult. The Queen saw us into the "atomic age" and left us in an age of uncertainty and discontent. But she was a constant. I remember her portrait on my kindergarten wall, I saw her portrait at the office yesterday. I'm not sure if this makes sense to anyone in the U.S., but I'm not sure if I feel loss or a sense of confusion.
2ºDebbie Palm The reigning monarch is the chief commander of the military. They also have the power to dissolve parliament and force new elections of every position in the House of Commons. They are the head of the Church of England and can revoke and give noble titles. While HM Queen Elizabeth II was a very good and moral monarch, HM King Charles III will be a very interesting one to watch. Queen Elizabeth was very neutral, and avoided being a political leader as much as possible. King Charles is sure to be very different, and I fear he will be the reason the United Kingdom falls apart.
3ºREADINGS
FIRST READING
[In view of the omission of yesterday’s continuous reading on account of the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the following reading may precede today’s, in accordance with the GILH paragraph 249:
From the beginning of the book of Lamentations
1:1-12, 18-20
RESPONSORY
Lamentations 3:52, 54, 56, 58; Acts 21:13
My enemies hated me for no reason;
I said: I am lost.
I called for help, O Lord,
and you heard by prayer.
– You said: Do not be afraid;
you took up my cause and redeemed my life.
For the sake of the name of the Lord Jesus,
I am ready not only for imprisonment
but even death.
– You said: Do not be afraid;
you took up my cause and redeemed my life.
SECOND READING
From a letter by Saint Peter Claver, priest
(Epist. Diei 31 maii 1627 ad Superiorem suum data: Edit [in lingua hispanica] A. Valtierra, S. I., San Pedro Claver, Cartagena, 1964, pp. 140-1)
To preach the Gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim pardon to captives
Yesterday, May 30, 1627, on the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, numerous blacks, brought from the rivers of Africa, disembarked from a large ship. Carrying two baskets of oranges, lemons, sweet biscuits, and I know not what else, we hurried toward them. When we approached their quarters, we thought we were entering another Guinea. We had to force our way through the crowd until we reached the sick. Large numbers of the sick were lying on the wet ground or rather in puddles of mud. To prevent excessive dampness, someone had thought of building up a mound with a mixture of tiles and broken pieces of bricks. This, then, was their couch, a very uncomfortable one not only for that reason, but especially because they were naked, without any clothing to protect them.
We laid aside our cloaks, therefore, and brought from a warehouse whatever was handy to build a platform. In that way we covered a space to which we at last transferred the sick, by forcing a passage through bands of slaves. Then we divided the sick into two groups: one group my companion approached with an interpreter, while I addressed the other group. There were two blacks, nearer death than life, already cold, whose pulse could scarcely be detected. With the help of a tile we pulled some live coals together and placed them in the middle near the dying men. Into this fire we tossed aromatics. Of these we had two wallets full, and we used them all up on this occasion. Then, using our own cloaks, for they had nothing of this sort, and to ask the owners for others would have been a waste of words, we provided for them a smoke treatment, by which they seemed to recover their warmth and the breath of life. The joy in their eyes as they looked at us was something to see.
This was how we spoke to them, not with words but with our hands and our actions. And in fact, convinced as they were that they had been brought here to be eaten, any other language would have proved utterly useless. Then we sat, or rather knelt, beside them and bathed their faces and bodies with wine. We made every effort to encourage them with friendly gestures and displayed in their presence the emotions which somehow naturally tend to hearten the sick.
After this we began an elementary instruction about baptism, that is, the wonderful effects of the sacrament on body and soul. When by their answers to our questions they showed they had sufficiently understood this, we went on to a more extensive instruction, namely, about the one God, who rewards and punishes each one according to his merit, and the rest. We asked them to make an act of contrition and to manifest their detestation of their sins. Finally, when they appeared sufficiently prepared, we declared to them the mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation and the Passion. Showing them Christ fastened to the cross, as he is depicted on the baptismal font on which streams of blood flow down from his wounds, we led them in reciting an act of contrition in their own language.