The exchange last week between leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Pope Francis over Trump’s proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border blurred the lines between national, religious and political aspirations but in many ways was truly unfortunate.

During his visit to Juarez, Mexico to celebrate Mass, Pope Francis, must have felt, great pain seeing first-hand the many people, who through no fault of their own, have long-suffered or paid an ultimate price in an effort to escape the misery afflicting large parts of their country. It is in this context, and in his humanity the Pope spoke out, perhaps inspired by the words of The Lord himself “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me…” ^{(Matt. 25:35)}

Stumbled across this email today from July 14, 2015 entitled simply "Hope this helps"  When taken together with the thoughts recently put together for the Naval War College lecture, provides perhaps the foundation for a short essay or book on the topic of a Christian philosophy of finance and investment.

 Watch Fr. Emmanuel on Fox News a Spirited Debate here

Watch: the latest video at video.foxnews.com

Listen to Fr. Emmanuel live on CBS News discussing, economic injustice, poverty, and Christian persecution.

Part 1:

Official visit seeks to further strengthen relations between Vatican and 300 million-strong Eastern Orthodox Church.

BOSTON, Nov. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Lantern Foundation, a U.S.-based non-profit organization that provides financial support to Christian religious and community organizations globally, today announced that its Founder and President Fr. Emmanuel Lemelson is expected to join an official Orthodox Church delegation for the two day official visit of Pope Francis this coming week in Constantinople, Turkey.

 Fr. Emmanuel Lemelson, the founder and president of the Lantern Foundation speaks about "A Vision for Private Foundation" to benefit the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the Archons Dinner Feb. 15, 2014 in Anaheim, CA.

Our modern marketplace for investment in the formation and growth of public enterprises is imperfect, but it still works.  It is a mechanism to transfer the wealth of the public to the companies we formulate to produce things; they reflect our country and our people as a whole.  The market can go mildly wrong, or it can go terribly wrong.  When it is mildly wrong, it presents buying opportunities to shrewd investors; when it goes terribly wrong, it can become a machine of economic injustice.

I had just started writing a blog entry on the state of the union address (which deals mostly with the widespread discomfort, or suffering – if I can use that word, of the American people), when I came across news of a new biography written about Pope John Paul II.   After reading the news article, I tried to go back to writing about politics and the economy, but just couldn’t avoid giving a short commentary instead on the new book "Why he is a Saint: The True story of John Paul II"

It is not my intention to cause controversy, I am not particularly interested in politics per sae, and I know this blog does not have a focus on religion as such, but since I could not avoid either politics or religion in today’s news, I thought this would be a nice break from the “hyper” coverage of the Apple iPad – although I respectfully tip my hat to Mr. Jobs for being a visionary product engineer, and PR genius – I have to confess I want an iPad.

I tried not to write about Haiti this week, but doing anything else seemed profane.  I have seen that our response to Haiti is intense and obvious, perhaps more so than the Tsunami in 2004.  It has been suggested by some, that this may be because Haiti is at our door step.   Generally, the message is one of us Americans, a great philanthropic country, leading the humanitarian effort - and we are, as we always have. 

Four year olds like to make play houses from just about anything, If it looks like a “hut” or “hideout”, even better.  My son is no exception.  Last night we conducted our nightly routine of building a house on the bed constructed of pillows.   The procedure then involved (as usual) camping-out in the “hut”, for story time.