Heaven bound? Perhaps not too late...

The Ladder of Divine Ascent
(12th Century, Public Domain)

When Donald Trump feels perky at 3 a.m., he might want to ask himself this: Have I really blown my chances of entering those Pearly Gates?  Although he recently declared that such chances are slim to none, perhaps it's not too late for a spiritual 180.

In publicly admitting these doubts, a first essential step has been taken.  Honest self-assessment can be an excellent springboard toward the Light.  Religious history is filled with accounts of sinners turned saints, and fallible folks are often forgiven.

Which isn't to say just keep on doing what you're doing while adding a few cute confessions...  But it is to say that where there's still life, there's still hope - so why let precious time slip away while putting all your somewhat-scrambled eggs in threadbare baskets?

Resources

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/10/13/donald-trump-heaven/

Christmas Con Maduro

 

Venezuelan Christmas Dish
(Photo by Sosuna27)

When Christmas emphasizes “commerce, activity, culture, carols,” plus “dancing and traditional foods,” its holy essence can get lost in the shuffle.  Politicians and shopkeepers might then milk the hubbub for all it's worth.  They may even decide to lengthen the overall season.

Claiming to defend the Venezuelans' “right to happiness,” President Nicolas Maduro decreed that Christmas 2025 shall begin on October 1^st.  One recipient commented that a prolonged and ghoulish Halloween might be more reflective of the general mood.

Resources

 https://news.yahoo.com/news/articles/maduro-decrees-christmas-october-venezuela-040502796.html

Newest Oldest Mummies

 

Where there's smoke...
(Photo by Tomasz Sienicki)

Let’s face it: mummies are nothing if not old.  Yet old is a relative term, subject to older and even older than that.

So it should come as no surprise that caches of what are currently believed to be “the world’s oldest mummies” have recently surfaced in – of all places – Southeast Asia and China. And never mind a long, drawn-out process of natron desiccation. These newfound mummies were likely smoke dried without further ado.

A sooty solution which seems to have worked out just fine…  Scientists estimate such rituals to have occurred a whopping 10,000 years ago.

Resources

https://www.iheart.com/content/2025-09-16-scientists-found-the-worlds-oldest-mummies-in-a-surprWhichising-location/

Religious or Faithful?

Moses and the Golden Calf
(Painting by William Blake)

Some may talk the talk, and even walk the walk, but have they strayed from the path of enduring faith?

If you profess to be a Christian, ask yourself this question:  “Are you merely religious, or are you truly born again?”  Joseph Mattera lists a number of ways that people tend “to deceive themselves about their faith.” 

These include the following: going through religious motions but lacking “inner transformation,” viewing baptism as an endpoint rather than as a progressive beginning, feeling near to God but not actually with God, dabbling in spiritual gifts without developing spiritual fruits, railing against God rather than conversing with God, reciting prayers rather than taking them to heart, and mistaking idolatry for love.

Mattera concludes: “You can be sincere – and sincerely wrong.”  Beware the self-deception that threatens “a believer’s walk.”

Resources

 https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/10-ways-people-deceive-themselves-about-their-faith/

No Place Like Home

Schloss Goldenstein
(Photo by Eigenes Werk)

Although nursing facilities are often called homes, they rarely feel like such.  Elderly folks especially thrive upon the familiarity and congeniality of their actual home-sweet-home.

Three Austrian nuns who were “moved to a Catholic care” facility, “a decision they claim was made against their will,” returned to their convent home “with the help of former students and a locksmith.”  All in their 80s, each had felt “homesick and out of place” while away from the convent they had lived in for decades. One claimed the right to remain in the convent “until the end of our lives,” a promise which she then stated “was broken.”

Church authorities have been “highlighting concerns about... health and safety,” insisting that “the nursing home provided essential medical care.”  The nuns, however, have resumed their daily convent routines with the loving assistance of community supporters.  Such mutuality may very well outweigh any so-called care that clinicians might provide.

 Resources

https://www.iheart.com/content/2025-09-15-group-of-nuns-break-out-of-nursing-home-and-back-into-their-former-convent/

Tourists Behaving Badly

Saint Ambrose of Milan
(Public Domain)

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do” is advice worth considering, especially when traveling to countries that emphasize social mores.

This adage was allegedly first utilized by Saint Ambrose of Milan while mentoring Saint Augustine and his mother, Saint Monica.  The two had been planning to visit 4^th-century Rome and were wondering whether to adhere to its Saturday fasting schedule, which differed from that of Milan.

If some of today’s impetuous tourists were to seek wise counsel, much angst could be avoided.  This past summer, an Australian Instagrammer thought he’d entertain online viewers with a video of him drinking from a can left on a Japanese headstone as a likely offering to the ancestors.  “He’s then seen burping in front of the grave.”

This, plus many another tourist breach, has resulted in public outcry all the way up to embassy levels and online apologies.  What the world needs now is not only love sweet love, but also wisdom sweet wisdom.

Resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_in_Rome,_do_as_the_Romans_do            

https://news.yahoo.com/news/articles/anger-japan-instagrammer-drinks-burial-062859207.html

Autumnal Reflections

 

(Photo by Richard Ricciardi)

Leaves are often bursting with beauty just before they fall.  Humans also experience bouts of beauty before they finally detach from life in this world.

Contrary to popular opinion, dying is not just a fearful affair. According to Dr. Christopher Kerr, a decades-long hospice physician, this final phase can provide a “unique vantage point” that “changes one’s perspective and perception.”

In his study of “more than 1,500 end-of-life events,” Kerr found that “most dying patients” experience intense visions and/or dreams that provide transformational closure.  These experiences are marked with clarity, rather than with the confusion that often accompanies medication-induced states.

Although sometimes wracked with cycles of guilt and remorse, such processes allow for the release of unresolved relationship traumas, which often results in loving feelings of peaceful completion. 

Resources

End-of-life doctor reveals what people say right before death