Luke 9: 58…..Jesus said, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
And then there’s our beloved St. Mother Teresa….
Nabi Asketh: Here are some interesting facts about the prices of the dwellings in which some of the shepherds lay their heads:
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York leads the pack with this 15,000-square-foot mansion on Madison Avenue, in one of the priciest corridors of Manhattan. EST. Value $30,000,000.
Disgraced Cardinal Wuerl lives on prestigious Embassy Row in D.C.:
After getting an earful from angry Catholics, Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory agreed to give up his $2.2 million mansion.
Here's the 6,000 square-foot-house, which sits in the city's upscale Buckhead neighborhood…..
Did these shepherds not receive the Luke 9:58 memo from Our Lord?
But some shepherds did receive the memo:
Boston's Cardinal Sean O'Malley resides in a rundown rectory on the South End. "We no longer need all the symbols of the past, especially when those symbols now seem ambiguous at best and a contradiction of some of our Gospel values at worst,'' O'Malley said when he moved out of the archbishop's traditional mansion in 2003.
Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, shares part of a converted convent with his elderly mother.
Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia sold the church’s $10 million mansion when he moved to town in 2011. "He felt it was not really necessary to live in a residence that large," said Ken Gavin, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. "He wanted to live more simply." (Daniel Burke - CNN 8/3/14
Bishop Zubik: The 39-room mansion in Squirrel Hill near the Shadyside border that housed Pittsburgh's Catholic bishops for six decades has been sold to an undisclosed private trust for more than $2 million. It has been unoccupied since mid-2006, when former Bishop Donald Wuerl was named archbishop of Washington, D.C. His successor, Bishop David Zubik, chose to live in an apartment at the diocesan seminary in East Carnegie, and put the mansion up for sale. (Ann Rodgers - Pittsburgh Post Gazette 9/3/09) [Editor's Comment: My best Confirmation experience was at the sacrament for my now 16-year-old niece celebrated by Bishop Zubik who before Mass, to quiet the restless and chatty congregation, came in and essentially did a "show and tell." He began by spending several minutes kneeling in prayer before the altar which immediately silenced the congregation. He concluded by asking the people to please quietly pray for the confirmandi while he vested. The church went from a social hall to a quiet place of prayer.]
If St. Mother Teresa could do so much good with the little that she had, why do so many shepherds around the world need to live in such opulence?
Deep down in the depths of the human heart there is something that all human beings share in common: An inner “loneliness” or inner “longing” for the Lord, whether we realize it or not. This longing leaves each of us with a choice. On one hand we can ease the longing by seeking closeness to Jesus through prayer and the spiritual life. Or we can cover the longing up with stuff as the great sinner turned Saint, Augustine, learned so well. After a life of lustful debauchery through the overindulgence of drink and sex, he had an incredible conversion experience, one that would lead him to utter his great words of Truth: “My God, My God, My heart will always be restless until it rests in Thee!”
The shepherds need to learn that only Jesus can fill the hole in their hearts. Anything else will lead to a ”near occasion of sin.” Jesus’ words can save them from themselves if only they will hear and heed them….
Mark 9:35…."Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all."
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| Mother Teresa served the poor in humble surroundings with none of the luxuries of modern life. |
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York leads the pack with this 15,000-square-foot mansion on Madison Avenue, in one of the priciest corridors of Manhattan. EST. Value $30,000,000.
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| Cardinal Dolan's humble New York pad worth $30 million |
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| Cdl. Donald Wuerl lives in a third-floor penthouse at Our Lady Queen of the Americas parish ion Washington, D.C.'s Embassy Row. |
Here's the 6,000 square-foot-house, which sits in the city's upscale Buckhead neighborhood…..
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| Bishop David Zubik |
But some shepherds did receive the memo:
Boston's Cardinal Sean O'Malley resides in a rundown rectory on the South End. "We no longer need all the symbols of the past, especially when those symbols now seem ambiguous at best and a contradiction of some of our Gospel values at worst,'' O'Malley said when he moved out of the archbishop's traditional mansion in 2003.
Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, shares part of a converted convent with his elderly mother.
Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia sold the church’s $10 million mansion when he moved to town in 2011. "He felt it was not really necessary to live in a residence that large," said Ken Gavin, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. "He wanted to live more simply." (Daniel Burke - CNN 8/3/14
Bishop Zubik: The 39-room mansion in Squirrel Hill near the Shadyside border that housed Pittsburgh's Catholic bishops for six decades has been sold to an undisclosed private trust for more than $2 million. It has been unoccupied since mid-2006, when former Bishop Donald Wuerl was named archbishop of Washington, D.C. His successor, Bishop David Zubik, chose to live in an apartment at the diocesan seminary in East Carnegie, and put the mansion up for sale. (Ann Rodgers - Pittsburgh Post Gazette 9/3/09) [Editor's Comment: My best Confirmation experience was at the sacrament for my now 16-year-old niece celebrated by Bishop Zubik who before Mass, to quiet the restless and chatty congregation, came in and essentially did a "show and tell." He began by spending several minutes kneeling in prayer before the altar which immediately silenced the congregation. He concluded by asking the people to please quietly pray for the confirmandi while he vested. The church went from a social hall to a quiet place of prayer.]
If St. Mother Teresa could do so much good with the little that she had, why do so many shepherds around the world need to live in such opulence?
Nabi Sayeth: So much stuff is a huge distraction to the spiritual life. One cannot focus on Jesus when one is trying to care for one’s stuff. St. Francis of Assisi walked away from a fortune so that he could be as close as possible to Jesus. Do the shepherds who live extravagant lifestyles not want to be as close as possible to Jesus as well?
The shepherds need to learn that only Jesus can fill the hole in their hearts. Anything else will lead to a ”near occasion of sin.” Jesus’ words can save them from themselves if only they will hear and heed them….
Mark 9:35…."Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all."
ONE CARDINAL with over 2000 personal victims of his sex abuse !
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