Since I'm in prison ministry, I became very involved emotionally, in The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb. Of particular interest was the subject of forgiveness. How do you forgive the perpetrator?
I don't know. Some people never forgive, even when there's a deathbed confession when someone else confesses to the crime. The poor victim and family will still not forgive.
But forgiveness isn't only part of this book. It is a prison book. The main character, Corbey, encounters the harsh conditions. I can imagine some of the correctional officers acting like the ones in the story. People are people. Power corrupts.
It is a sad tale on humanity. It will make you think.
Cappadocia is what we would now call Turkey. These three men and one woman are to be credited for defining Christianity. I will spend separate posts on each of them. This post is just an introduction to them. St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and Macrina the Younger. Macrina was a nun who shaped the theological and ascetical formation of Basil and Gregory of Nyssa, her brothers.
A funny thing happened in prison today. My "cloistered brothers" were discussing love with a Boston College professor. Augustine wrote that the human heart is drawn to what it loves. St. Therese of Lisieux said that love begins when you want nothing in return. St. Ignatius Loyola said that love is works. St. Thomas Aquinas taught that love is willing the good for the other.
A "cloistered brother" said that before he came to prison, he thought that love was for his gang. He would do anything for his gang. Their approval and what they wanted was showing his love. Since being in prison, he said, love is being the best man I can be to show others what a good God-fearing man looks like, and acts. I pray I influence my children, grandchildren, and fellow inmates.
When the "cloistered brother" finished his definition of love, Dr. McCoy ripped his notes in half and threw them over his shoulder.
During my meditation while praying the Rosary, I was on the last mystery in the Luminous Mysteries, and focused on Jesus being the Lamb of God. In all the visual pictures of the Last Supper, have you ever seen any lamb, on the table? Wasn't this a celebration of the Passover? Where's the lamb?
All you see is bread and wine.
I meditated on that.
However, I also looked up all the descriptions of the Last Supper in the synoptic gospels. Again, no mention of lamb, any meat whatsoever.
To a person meditating on the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist, the answer is obvious. The lamb is present in Jesus. He is the Lamb of God. Does He not say, "This is my Body," while holding up bread?
Three days ago, Louise Penny's new mystery, Miss Wolcott's Ghost, arrived in my mailbox. I couldn't do anything except read. I'm addicted to the author's characters. I know and love them all. Her characters drive the story and I'm hooked.
Inspector Gamache is awakened in the middle of the night by his phone. Who knows his number? The voice was familiar and panicked. But they didn't identify themselves.
That's how the novel begins.
The midnight caller said there was a murder victim in Lost Nation. That's the problem. Where the heck is Lost Nation.
A search reveals the place, and more searches reveal lost forgotten marine disasters, a long-dead amateur botanist, and historical research. Also, a disgraced former friend and colleague help, or maybe not.
Another character is a long extinct plant that was growing in, around, over, and through, the victim's body.
Miss Willmott's Ghost is the common name for Eryngium giganteum (also known as giant sea holly), a striking, thistle-like biennial plant in the family Apiaceae native to the Caucasus and Iran.
Key Characteristics
Appearance: Features cone-shaped greenish-blue flower heads surrounded by a dramatic "ruff" or collar of translucent, spiny, silvery-white/gray bracts that look ghostly pale, especially at a distance or in the evening light.
Growth habit: Typically grows 2 to 4 feet tall with a 1.5 to 2-foot spread, starting as a basal rosette of heart-shaped green leaves before sending up rigid, branching flowering stems.
Life cycle: Generally behaves as a biennial (growing foliage the first year, blooming and dying the second), but it self-sows prolifically to maintain a reliable perennial presence in the garden
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Origin of the Name
The common name honors the famous 19th- and early 20th-century English horticulturist Ellen Willmott (1858–1934). She reportedly loved this ghostly, silvery plant so much that she would secretly and pocket-fully scatter its seeds in other people's gardens and public spaces during her visits, causing the ghostly blooms to appear unexpectedly.
Cultivation
Light: Thrives in full sun.
Soil: Requires well-drained or sandy, average-to-poor soil; it dislikes wet or heavy winter ground.
Maintenance: Highly drought-tolerant once established, deer- and rabbit-resistant, and a favorite for attracting bees and butterflies
