There’s been a big power cut in Spain and Portugal.

Isn’t technology terrible. Oh for a quieter, idyllic life, where people still thought priests had something interesting to say. Yes, yes, yes, it provides food, communication, transport, drugs and all that. It even allows you to listen to me and then dismiss what I say. But on the whole it’s just awful.

A famous theologian agrees with me, so I must be right.

https://mega.nz/file/knszFJCJ#XCEhCa89qUU_kq9lMISjTiM8I1WERw1qHq_R8Ig9GsE

It’s nearly 100 days since Donald Trump 2.0 arrived in power.

Bishop Mariann Budde asked Trump to be merciful. Trump, once he’d looked up the word, was outraged. How dare this so-called “Christian” tell Him, The One, to be merciful. One of these days he fully intends to read some bits of the Trump Bible. He’s pretty sure that Jesus was never merciful and hated all immigrants, except white ones with billions of dollars of course.

https://mega.nz/file/RvU2mIpQ#ewJyKFi8LJlkVt7ejNJo7uD1WhUqwvWgPl5GXlcrZfo

It’s exciting local election time everybody!

Politics can be a difficult and messy business. It’s a vocation. Guess what else is a vocation? Yes, it’s being a priest. Jesus mingled with politicians and other disreputable outcasts. So there’s hope for them yet.

This is what we need, more religion in politics. That always works out well.

https://mega.nz/file/Jn0HAD5Q#TDLyXzf4uKE5WlberJAjQqL8rxsGcEL4Umse-FTMyAI

Look due south at about midnight. The brightest star in the sky is Arcturus. It’s bright orange tint is unmistakable.

To find it at other times of the night, just follow the handle of the Plough.

Once you have Arcturus, turn ninety degrees to your left. The dazzling bright blue star is Vega. These two stars could hardly be more different. Even just a casual look reveals how different they are. In the picture below, Arcturus is on the left and Vega is on the right.

Arcturus is roughly the same mass as the sun. But as it is near the end of its life, it has expanded to a bloated red giant. Much as our sun will do in a few billion years time.

Vega is a much younger star, but also much more massive. It’s burning through it’s nuclear fuel at an enormous rate and shining far hotter and brighter as a result. Because of the precession of the earth’s axis, Vega has been the northern pole star in the past, and will be again one day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcturus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vega

These beautiful jewels in the sky will be there on any clear night for the next few months.

It’s the funeral of Pope Francis. It will be full of important Christians, like Donald Trump. Today will be full of symbolism, but the greatest symbol is the way we live a Christian life. Serve others. Feed the hungry. Visit prisoners. Offer strangers hospitality.

His burial in Santa Marria Maggiore will be accompanied by prisoners and migrants whom Pope Francis met. Trump will not be there.

https://mega.nz/file/EvcAHDoC#wXkRSvj2MBug1nfxKIYtAO9-vb11AnR4rvQEr4gI9cM