Francis by Patrick J. Marrin for June 16, 2020

The Pope should have gone with making peace. It couldn’t hurt, and Leo’s got as good a chance as anyone.

The Pope is Pangloss.

Doing the garden.

Digging the weeds.

Who could ask for more?

I was told a long time ago by my flight commander that every job was worth doing. That if I were ordered to clean desks, then I better make sure that mine were the cleanest desks in the Air Force.

A Christian bringing a wolf to Rome might send mixed signals. Don’t let her bring her kids with her.

When you are done there, Brother Leo, my garden needs some tending too. (;

Start at the bottom, Leo, and work your way up. Weed the garden; you might not get stigmata, but you may get blisters.

Good idea. It’s best to work your way up gradually to taming a wolf.

Leo, so long as they don’t conflict with your obedience, some of those goals can be worked on simultaneously. And you already take your vow of poverty seriously, so you can probably skip giving your stuff to the poor (not that you can’t help them in other ways, but they may well have more “stuff” than you do).

But as far as the stigmata go, it’s probably out of your hands (so to speak); you’ll get them or you won’t, but it’s not a matter of trying to develop them.

Sounds like a list of things that should take about a week to do…

With the proper vaccinations and hygiene, he shouldn’t have problems hugging a leper.