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I've always preferred the Winter Olympics to Summer (I generally ignore the latter), but until I listened to this week's show, I wasn't planning to watch much of this year's because of the host country. But I'm genuinely excited now and will watch as much as I can. And hope China gets embarrassed in the medal count.

Also, perhaps providentially, Gaudium Et Spes was in this morning's Office of Readings. It fit well with the first reading on the death of Moses. But some hours later, I don't remember it well.

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I appreciate the commentary on Gaudium et Spes. It was insightful. I happen to be reading today a speech from Pope Benedict XVI from December, 2005, where he said basically the same thing about that portion of the Council’s work. Here it is,

“ Those who expected that with this fundamental "yes" to the modern era all tensions would be dispelled and that the "openness towards the world" accordingly achieved would transform everything into pure harmony, had underestimated the inner tensions as well as the contradictions inherent in the modern epoch.

They had underestimated the perilous frailty of human nature which has been a threat to human progress in all the periods of history and in every historical constellation. These dangers, with the new possibilities and new power of man over matter and over himself, did not disappear but instead acquired new dimensions: a look at the history of the present day shows this clearly.”

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Ed - my question is: do the Dames of the Order of Malta have any say in the present conflict? And, if so, what is their perspective? Thank you for your excellent in-depth report on the Order.

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I would like to respectfully submit that the most corrupt and inept major sports governing body is neither the International Olympics Committee nor the Major League Baseball commission, but is in fact the Federation Internationale de Football Association, which regularly reminds me of the reality of the Fall. "But we sent in the FBI to arrest their president and a bunch of other people and clean up FIFA", you might contend; to which my response would be that even after one is absolved of moral guilt, the temporal effects of sin still linger, and FIFA has many, many sins which still (ma)linger.

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