Lectio Divina With An Orange

Take an orange.

Lectio: 

Look at the orange.  Examine its shape, feel, and smell.

Studium:

Peel the orange.  Examine it.  Feel it.  Smell it.  Break it apart into sections.  Examine them.  Feel them.  Smell them.

Meditatio:

Taste each section.  Savor the taste of each one.  Let your mouth feel the texture and juice.  Eat each section slowly.

Oratio:

Praise God for creating this fruit.  Tell Him about how it tastes and what you think about it.  Thank Him for the orange.

Contemplatio:

Ah....just rest in the pleasure of the orange and God's love for creating the orange for you.  "Thank you Jesus for oranges."     Amen.

Cardinal Pell jailed in Australia ahead of March 13 sentencing

Cardinal Pell jailed in Australia ahead of March 13 sentencing: MELBOURNE, Australia (CNS) -- Australian Cardinal George Pell has been taken into custody for the first time since historic child sex abuse charges against him were set for hearing in May 2018.

The time between the verdict and appeal is too long, so Cardinal Pell is in prison, now.  I am praying Psalm 140 for him.

Deliver Cardinal Pell, Lord, from the wicked:
preserve him from the violent,
From those who plan evil in their hearts,
who stir up conflicts every day,
Who sharpen their tongue like a serpent,
venom of asps upon their lips.

Keep Cardinal Pell, from the clutches of the wicked;
preserve him from the violent,
who plot to trip him up.
The arrogant have set a trap for him;
they have spread out ropes for a net,
laid snares for me by the wayside.

We say to the Lord: You are the Cardinal's God;
listen Lord, to the words of our pleas.
Lord, our Master, our strong deliverer,
You cover our heads on the day of armed conflict.
Lord, do not grant the desires of the wicked one;
do not let his plot succeed.

Those who surround Cardinal Pell raise their heads;
may the mischief they threaten overwhelm them.
Drop burning coals upon them;
cast them into the watery pit never more to rise.
Slanderers will not survive on earth;
evil will hunt down the man of violence to
over him.
For we know the Lord will take up the cause of the
needy, justice for the poor.

Then the righteous will give thanks to your name;
the upright will dwell in Your presence.

Amen.

Cardinal Pell convicted on five counts; verdict will be appealed

 It's clear to me that the jury was rigged against him.  Weren't there any Catholics on the jury to understand the vestments the Mass celebrant was wearing, or that the priests go outside to greet the people, or that the sacristry is crowded with people, or that Communion wine is locked away, or that a prince of the church would have a valet or someone help him disrobe.  Talk about miscarriage of justice! Cardinal Pell convicted on five counts; verdict will be appealed: MELBOURNE, Australia (CNS) -- An Australian court found Cardinal George Pell guilty on five charges related to the sexual abuse of two 13-year-old boys; sentencing is expected in early March.



"Although the complainant got all sorts of facts wrong, the jury must have believed that Pell did something dreadful to him," Father Brennan wrote. "The jurors must have judged the complainant to be honest and reliable even though many of the details he gave were improbable if not impossible."

Money Can Buy Education

Passing for White by James M. O'Toole is a biography of the Healy family.  Why them?  The family is unique for their time.  This is the nineteenth century and a white man married his slave and produced 10 children. Eight children survived.
   The patriarch of the family is interesting.  Michael Healy immigrated to America from Ireland and eventually landed in Georgia.  He did very well.  He also owned slaves and married one of them, Eliza.  He wasn't religious at all and didn't bring up his children in any.  But he was forward thinking.  He must have been concerned about his children's future, there being half black and white.  In those days, that meant that his children were all slaves.
    At a young age, around seven, he sent his oldest son north to school.  He chose a Quaker School.  After a few years, however, a fortuitous event occurred. On a business trip, Michael Healy encountered a Catholic priest, John Fitzpatrick and the futures of his children started.  Fitzpatrick told Healy about Holy Cross College.  It was just starting and was looking for students.  There was a preparatory high school attached to it.  Also, parochial elementary schools fed into the prep school.  All the boys eventually attended and followed the same path, except Michael who ran away to the sea, and Eugene who never lived up to his potential.
     The oldest James and Sherwood became bishops.  Patrick joined the Jesuits and became president of Georgetown University.  Michael became a sea captain but drinking too much did him in.  The baby of the family didn't fare well.  Not much is known about him.
     The three girls all became nuns. One left and got married.  The other two rose to positions in their order.
     I found it hard to like the Healy children.  In denying their "blackness" they denied their mother and their heritage.  Of course, I realize that my twenty-first-century eyes can't see what they saw, nevermind felt and thought.  I'm trying very hard not to be judgemental.
    And I feel very, very sorry for their mother.  Her children left home around age seven, never to be seen again. 
   In a way, they succeeded because of the Church, but it was their father's money that financed their education.  They could have converted to Catholicism and become monks.  Then you would never have heard of them, again. As it was, they received the best educations in the world.  They were among the best-educated priests in the USA. Yes, they were smart and earned their accolades, but Daddy paid.  No money=no education.

The Viral Scandal of Clerical Unchastity

The Viral Scandal of Clerical Unchastity: Early in the book of Job, the blameless and upright man is besieged with a series of catastrophes.  Father Roger Landry's article in the Pilot looks at the current clerical sexual abuse problem from a few angles.  He offers a few solutions and debunks them.  The only one that will work is frequent, constant contact with God, i.e., frequent confession, retreats, on-going formation, close monitoring of all priests.



You mean that hasn't been on-going practice?

Can't Sleep?

Here's an article in the National Catholic Register about not being able to sleep.  It recommends praying the Gradual Psalms.  Those are Psalms 120-134.  I might try it some time but usually,
when I wake in the night I don't want to put on a light to read.  I'll watch TV. 

What I thought was funny was the monk who walked with a lantern (must be a flashlight, nowadays) to see if any monks had fallen asleep.  If he caught a monk sleeping, then the sleeper had to walk with the lantern.  

If you don't know the Christian Faith you don't get Western Civilization

What do you think of Prof. Esolen's claim that students and teachers don't know poetry and classic literature because they don't know the Christian faith?  Read his article in The Catholic Thing. 


I readily can see his point.  Where I don't agree is with his music opinion.  But I'm not a music person; I don't have the ear for it.  I'm an alto and can't sing most songs because I can't find the pitch.  I like the happy clappy music at charismatic Masses.  I'm bored with the music at the traditional Latin Mass.  But he may be right; what do I know?

Today's education is so math and science orientated that all the subjects can't be taught well.  Language arts courses fall behind.  Maybe schools should be 12 months and longer days.  But who's going to pay for it. 

Complicated isn't it?  

Chair of St. Peter

Chair of Saint Peter | photo by Lawrence OP | flickr.

Mnsr. Moran explained the Chair of St. Peter, this morning.  Peter as the first pope which is what we call the Bishop of Rome his in the catacombs since it was illegal to be Christian.  In Priscilla's catacomb are inscriptions that say:

Hâc cathedrâ, Petrus quâ sederat ipse, locatum 
Maxima Roma Linum primum considere iussit. 

(On this chair, where Peter himself had sat, 
great Rome first placed Linus and bade him sit.) 

Maybe whether the seat was a rock, marble, or wood is debatable. When the Goths invaded Rome it was destroyed.  The next chair was wood and moveable.

By the seventeenth century, the chair was becoming rickety so Pope Alexander VII enclosed the chair much as it is viewed today.  So the chair is an actual relic from way back when early popes sat on it.

But the term "chair of St. Peter," is not referring to that piece of furniture.  No.  It is referencing the authority of the Pope, specifically his teaching authority.

Pay Attention and Pray

 The Paulist have put out a good newsletter on the meeting at the Vatican.  It's realistic.  You know whatever results the pope can't win.  He will be criticized for doing or not doing.  He's wrong even when he's right. Watch for it.l
      It's only a 3-day meeting.  Hopefully, a plan will emerge, or at least a plan to make a plan.  A commitment has to be made to protect children and hold people, especially those in authority, accountable.
    Think about it.  God chose this time for us to live.  Why?  I don't know, perhaps for me to write this blog.  For sure, to pray.
     Don't give up hope.

World needs to be healed, not condemned, pope says

World needs to be healed, not condemned, pope says: VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Taking their cue from Christ, moral theologians can see that people need to be liberated and healed, not condemned, Pope Francis said. 

U.S. bishops condemn court's denial of imam's presence at execution

U.S. bishops condemn court's denial of imam's presence at execution: WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Supreme Court's refusal to allow an imam to be present at a Muslim man's execution Feb. 7 .

Analysis: Pope Francis' position on Venezuela

Analysis: Pope Francis' position on Venezuela: Vatican City, Feb 16, 2019 CNA.- Pope Francis’ recent letter to Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro confirmed the Holy See’s position on the Venezuelan crisis.  As a diplomatic habit, the Holy See never breaks diplomatic ties. Papal ambassadors are called to stay on the ground as long as it is possible, to support the bishops and to carry on institutional dialogue that can resolve into an aid for population.

Does Jesus say ghosts exist?

Does Jesus say ghosts exist?: Q. In a recent column, you quoted Luke 24:39 Where Jesus tells His apostles that He is not a ghost.  So does that mean ghost do exist?

Pixabay.Com CC0

Yes.  Too many people can assert that they've seen deceased relatives.

Fr. Peter M.J. Stravinskas on ‘The Report Heard Round the World’

Fr. Peter M.J. Stravinskas on ‘The Report Heard Round the World’   explains and rebuts the Pennsylvania report on accused priests.  I love how Father Peter says it belongs on the history channel, not the news.

Respect for the Lord's Annointed

Yesterday  I was reading chapter 26 in the first book of Samuel and was impressed by how David respected Saul and wouldn't kill him, even though he had several chances to do so.  I thought of that every time I hear the Pope Francis haters criticize him.  I've even heard that there's a petition going around the parish to ask the pope to resign.

Much to my surprise, I looked up the reading I'm proclaiming at Mass this Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.  It's the same one where David and Abishai have the chance to kill the sleeping Saul.  But David won't harm the Lord's anointed.

What is God trying to tell me?

Lectio Divina Skit

Lectio Divina Skit

Characters:  Brother Guigo, Brother Antonias, Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio, Contemplatio

Setting:  Monastery

Brother Guigo: Congratulations Brother Antonias on advancing from Postulant to Novice.

Brother Antonias: Thank you.  What’s next in my formation?

Brother Guigo: Getting to know God personally.

Brother Antonias:  What?  What do you mean?  Don’t I know Him already? 

Brother Guigo: You know God intellectually but you need to know Him with your heart?

Brother Antonias:  How do I do that?

Brother Guigo:  You need to learn to listen to Him.  You need to recognize His voice.  You need to converse with Him.

Brother Antonias: Wow! How do I do that?

Brother Guigo: Through a method of prayer called Lectio Divina.

Brother Antonias:  Don’t I pray enough?  I pray the Divine Office, five times a day.  I pray the rosary. I pray novenas and litanies.

Brother Guigo: Very good, little brother.  You talk to God but do you listen to Him? 

Brother Antonias: huh?

Brother Guigo: Lectio Divina is an encounter.  You will learn to be a friend of God.  You will listen to His voice and converse with Him.

Brother Antonias: I’d like to learn this.  How do I begin?

Brother Guigo: I have four friends that will teach what you need to know.  Ah, here comes the first one.  Let me introduce you to Lectio.  Lectio is Latin for “I read.”  The word lectern (points to the lectern) comes from Lectio.  The place where someone stands to read.

Brother Antonias: I thought that was an ambo. 

Brother Guigo: Very good, Brother.  An ambo is a lectern.  Ambo is Greek.  Lectio is Latin.

Brother Antonias:  What about a pulpit?

Brother Guigo:  You’re pulling us off subject.  A pulpit is like an ambo and lectern, but I want to talk about Lectio.  So Lectio, tell us what you do.

Lectio: One reads something spiritual to promote conversation with God. It is called Divine Reading or Lectio Divina.  It’s a deep reading in a calm and tranquil state of mind.  One biblical basis is Psalm 46:10, Be still and know that I am God.  Read the passage several times and pay attention to the tone, the nouns, and the descriptions. What is the theme—the point?  You could try thinking of yourself as a disciple of Jesus, hearing this for the first time.  If you don’t understand, you could google the verses.  There are also books called commentaries.  A good Biblical Commentary explains the Bible verse by verse.  The footnotes to the passage are helpful too.

Brother Antonias:  This sounds time consuming.

Lectio:  Well, yes it is.  It depends on how much you’re reading.  Just reading a few verses could be five minutes, maybe.  But more verses, or a paragraph, would take longer.  Many people do this in Adoration.

Brother Antonias: It doesn’t seem hard to do.  Is it considered praying?

Lectio:  Oh yes.  You are listening to God, Himself. You are reading His words to you.  He is speaking to you.  Those words you are reading is God conversing with you.

Brother Antonias:  WOW!

Lectio:  Are you open to the Holy Spirit leading you to understanding?

Brother Antonias:  Oh yes! I want to hear more.

Lectio:  Then let me introduce you to Meditatio.

Meditatio: Brother Antonias, when you read do you think about what you read?

Brother Antonias:  Of course.

Meditatio: Good because that’s the next step.  Thinking deeply.  Lectio involves reading but it is more like listening to the inner message of the words delivered through the Holy Spirit.  Meditatio isn’t the reading part, but rather communion with God. You are going to ponder the meaning and listen.  A few lucky people hear an actual voice.  But for most of us, God speaks through our thoughts.

Brother Antonias: God speaks to us in our thoughts.  So if the house is on fire and my mind screams, “Get out.”  That’s God.

Meditatio: Yes and so is the fireman who comes in and tells you to “Get out.” But back to your spiritual reading, you read the passage and look at from various angles. Look at the verbs: are they violent, negative?  What about the nouns?  Now stay open and allow the Holy Spirit to inspire a meaning for you.  Sit and listen.

Brother Antonias:  How do I know if what I hear is from God?  What if it’s Satan?

Meditatio:  If it’s from God it will be good and give you peace.  You will complete this time with God feeling happy and peaceful.  And that’s not all.  You’ll want to tell God how you feel and what you think.  This encounter will lead you to conversation or prayer and this part is called Oratio.

Brother Antonias:  Am I the orator or God? 

Oratio:  Both of you, little brother.  I am Oratio and I will explain the next step in Lectio Divina.  This is where you express what you are feeling, and thinking.  All the while remaining attentive to the Holy Spirit’s gentle promptings guiding the direction of the conversation.

Brother Antonias:  What if I have nothing to say?

Oratio:  Tell God.  And I’m sure you’ll be prompted to reread the spiritual reading again and you’ll see something to talk about.

Brother Antonias:  So Lectio Divina is reading, meditating, and conversing with God.  Read, think, and pray.  I got it.

Oratio: That’s not all.  There’s a finishing step.  And this is where Contemplatio comes in.

Brother Antonias:  Like Contemplation?  Wasn’t that Meditatio or meditation?

Meditatio:  Close but I like to think that Meditatio is more work.  I’m active, whereas Contemplatio is inactive.  Would you agree Contemplatio?

Contemplatio:  I like to think of Contemplatio as resting rather than inactive.  And I have an even better image to distinguish between us.  Think of feeding an infant its milk.  The feeding is meditatio and when the baby is finished, it is lifted on the shoulder and patted and rubbed where the baby rests contentedly in love.  Contemplatio is the infant on the shoulder.

Brother Antonias:  I like that image.  Let me apply it to Lectio Divina. I read, I meditate, I pray, and I rest in love.

Contemplatio: Yes, it’s so nice to rest in the Holy Spirit.  You might thank God, here.

Brother Antonias:  I can see where you might be led to praise Him, too.

Contemplatio/Oratio/Meditatio/Oratio:    Amen.

Brother Guigo: Well, Brother Antonias, what do you think of Lectio Divina as prayer, now?

Brother Antonias:  I can’t wait to add Lectio Divina to my daily routine.  I can pray the Rosary, my Breviary,  Litanies, Novenas and now Lectio Divina.

Brother Guigo:  You’ll have to set aside time to do this.  It’s not like going for a walk praying the rosary, or reciting a litany in chorus.  Lectio Divina needs silence and time.

Brother Antonias:  I know.  Lectio Divina makes sense as a natural movement: read, meditate, converse, and complete with resting in Love.

Brother Guigo: Yes, it’s a natural development.  With practice using the guidelines of Lectio Divina you will find yourself doing more and more listening and resting in the Holy Spirit.  This method will be spiritually fruitful for you if you open yourself to receive what God wants to give you.  May God lead you, love you, and bless you.

Contemplatio/Oratio/Meditatio/Oratio:    Amen.

Copying St. Patrick

Babysitting the four-year-old yesterday. She was helping me with my plants in my garden kitchen window. I have a holy water font on the front corner. It's Our Lady of Guadalupe. I asked her if she knew who the statue was and she said, "Mary and Jesus."  I asked, "Where's Jesus?"  She pointed to the angel on the bottom.  Interesting.

She also placed every little animal she was playing with, in front of Mary. They were visiting her.

While we were there, I pointed out the purple shamrock plant, next to the statue.  I showed her that it was shaped to show her how to bless herself.  You start at the point, "In the name of the Father."  Then you drop down to the bottom/center. "And the Son."  And at each point, "The Holy--Spirit. Amen."

She liked that.  So we picked one of the purple leaves and pressed it between two pieces of wax paper, for her to keep.

I got the idea from St. Patrick who taught the Trinity on the leaves of a shamrock.

Apologists outline helpful responses to criticisms of Catholic faith

These are the covers of "Forty Reasons I Am a Catholic" by Peter Kreeft, and "Forty Anti-Catholic Lies: A Myth-Busting Apologist Sets the Record Straight" by Gerard Verschuuren. The books are reviewed by Brian Welter. (CNS)

Apologists outline helpful responses to criticisms of Catholic faith  Needless to say this is an advertisement.  But still.  

Why Is It So Hard to Answer?

Nothing drives me crazier than people who don't answer their emails.  Why can't they hit the reply button and say, "No?"

Is it because they don't like saying "no" to people?  Then why don't they respond, "I'm not sure.  I'll let you know."

Or, "Crazy busy right now.  I'll get back to you."

What is their problem?  I've often wondered why people don't respond.  What is their thinking process?  So this why an article in the Times on responding to emails, caught my eye.  Dr. Adam Grant concluded that people who don't respond to emails are rude.  I agree. 

A comment article in response by K. J. Dell'Antonia, "Why I didn't Answer your e-Mail," is cute.  It's quite funny but I don't buy it.  It takes little time to reply, "I'll get back to you." 

The biggest problem, which neither Dr. Grant nor Dell'Antonia mention, is the fact that the sender doesn't know whether you've received the e-mail or not.  Was it accidentally erased?  Did you read it and delete it in disgust?  Are you not speaking to me?  Are you angry?

I had this problem once.  I sent an email to someone asking if he could recommend someone.  I half expected a negative response but you never know, he might have been able to direct me in the right direction.  No response?  Did he receive the email?

 I resent it.  Still no response.

I sent it to his personal email, not his business one.  Still no response.

I sent a snail mail to his business.  No response.

I sent a snail mail to his home.  No response.

I left a phone message on his business phone.  No response.

Why couldn't he just say he couldn't help me?  I don't know.  So I drove to his business and went into his office and talked to a secretary or somebody and you know what she said?  "He's above the fray."

She told me to drop it.  And I did.  But reading Dr. Grant's article confirmed my opinion.  He may be above the fray but that's rude and he's rude. 

You know what I'm going to do.  I'm going to print out Dr. Grant's article and snail mail it to him, highlighting the conclusion that people who don't reply to emails are rude.  He'll probably wonder who
he didn't respond to, but people who live above the fray must be used to crypticness. 

Egg or is it Noodles, on Your Face

Here's a twist. https://www.rt.com/news/451546-russia-ad-restaurant-shaming/  It seems that the noodle company, Tanuki, posted an add of an obese girl next to a skinny one.  The message stated that fat girls eat pizza and skinny girls eat Tanuki noodle.

The problem is the model they used is Whitney Thore.  She is the spokesperson against body shaming.  She has a hormone disorder and campaigns against body image stereotypes. 

An apology resulted and the ad removed.  Research Tanuki, research!

Actor Gary Sinise describes his road to the Catholic Church

Actor Gary Sinise describes his road to the Catholic Church: WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Gary Sinise, the actor is perhaps best known
for playing supporting roles has an unusual conversion story.  Please read the article.

Holding Your Hand When You Die

Not exactly holding your hand, but close.  When prisoners are executed, it is an accepted practice for Domineque Ray was executed without his imam with him. 

the condemned person to be accompanied by his spiritual minister.  However, in Alabama,

Mr. Ray was sentenced to death for the 1995 rape and murder of a 15 year old girl.  You might say where was her spiritual comfort.  Indeed!  However, two wrongs do not make a right and Mr. Ray may have repented and needed prayers for his sins before he met God.

"People deserve to be accompanied in death by someone who shares their faith. It is especially important that we respect this right for religious minorities," said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, and Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, in a Feb. 8 statement. They are the chairmen, respectively, of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee for Religious Liberty and the USCCB's Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development." 

Please read the article in the Pilot.

Acrostic

An acrostic is a form of poetic arrangement of lines where the first letters in each line have meaning when read vertically.  In this case, the text of the acrostic offers a riddle that matches the vertical meaning.

Albums at the beginning of the nineteenth century were popular.  They contained cut-up magazine clippings, poetry, pictures, etc.

Acrostic                                                     

by Jane Johnston Schoolcraft

A thing of glitter, gleam, and gold,
Loose thoughts, loose verse, unmeaning, old,
Big words that sound a thousand fold;
Unfinished scraps, conceit and can't,
Mad stanzas, and a world of rant.

The Hill of Crosses, Lithuania

Recommendation for Advent

Near the end of Advent, I came across a web-site known as the Daily Poem. There are podcasts on the site.  I listened.  David Kerns was reading a poem.  I was hooked.

I got the APP.  I listen to a poem mostly every day.  But the first time I listened was during Advent and David Kern was reading from an anthology of Christian poets put together in a book by an Anglican priest-poet, Malcolm Guite.  The book is Waiting on the Word. 

Even though I was reading after Advent, the poems were applicable to the winter season.  I enjoyed them.  What's not to enjoy? If you don't enjoy one, there are others.  In fact, when my book club, Argonauta gets together to choose books, this is my choice.  When we read poetry, it's always a particular author.  What if we don't care for him?  Well, the problem is solved with an anthology and Waiting on the Word would be perfect for our December choice.

Father Josef Eugster and the New Foot Health Method

Did you know that a Catholic priest was a leader in reflexology?  What do you think of reflexology?

Saint Maria Goretti and Barbie

Saint Maria Goretti and Barbie

Maria 1901

Saint Maria Goretti (October 16, 1890 – July 6, 1902) is an Italian virgin-martyr of the Catholic Church, and one of the youngest canonized saints. She was born to a farming family. Her father died when she was nine, and they had to share a house with another family, the Serenellis. Maria took over household duties while her mother, brothers, and sister worked in the fields.

On July 5, 1902, eleven-year-old Maria was sitting on the outside steps of her home, sewing and watching the baby sleep, while Alessandro Seenelli was threshing beans in the barnyard. Knowing she would be alone, he returned to the house and threatened to stab if she did not do what he said; he was intending to rape her. She would not submit, however, protesting that what he wanted to do was a sin and warning him that he would go to Hell. She fought desperately and kept screaming, "No! It is a sin! God does not want it!" He first choked her, but when she insisted she would rather die than submit to him, he stabbed her eleven times. She tried to reach the door, but he stopped her by stabbing her three more times before running away.

The baby awoke with the noise and started crying, and when the mother came to check on her, they found Maria on the floor bleeding and took her to the nearest hospital in Nettuno. She underwent surgery  but her injuries were beyond the doctors' help and she died.

Alessandro Serenelli was captured shortly after the attack: the police taking him to prison overtook the ambulance carrying Maria to the hospital. Originally, he was going to be sentenced to life, but since he was a minor at that time it was commuted to 30 years; judges even considered he was not as mature as he was expected to be and that he grew up in a poor, neglectful family, with several brothers and relatives suffering from madness and an alcoholic father. It has also been suggested that it was due to her mother's plea for mercy that he was not sentenced to death. He insisted he had attempted to rape her several times and decided to kill her because of her refusal and desperate crying. He remained unrepentant and uncommunicative from the world for three years, until a local bishop, Monsignor Giovanni Blandini,visited him in jail. He wrote a thank you note to the Bishop asking for his prayers and telling him about a dream, "in which Maria gave him lilies, which burned immediately in his hands. Alessandro had a religious conversion and became a changed man.

La Cascina Antica, the Goretti home is on the right.

After his release, Alessandro visited Assunta, Maria’s mother, and begged her forgiveness. She forgave him, saying that Maria said to forgive him on her death bed so she could not do less.

Rumors of miracles happening abounded at this time when people prayed for Maria’s intercession.  Maria's three brothers would claim that she intervened miraculously in their lives. Angelo heard her voice telling him to emigrate to America. Maria’s brother Alessandro was reportedly miraculously given a sum of money to finance his own emigration to join Angelo. Sandrino died in the United States in 1917, and Angelo died in Italy when he returned there in 1964. Mariano said he heard her voice telling him to stay in his trench when the rest of his unit charged the Germans in World War I. He, the only survivor of that charge, lived until 1975 and had a large family.

On June 24, 1950, Pius XII canonized Maria as a saint.  Her mother Assunta was present at the ceremony, along with her four remaining sons and daughters, Maria’s siblings. Alessandro, her converted murderer was also present.

The story of  Maria Goretti is a prelude to my essay, today. You needed to understand the background reference.

 A few years ago, I was talking to an Italian missionary priest. He told me that he was born and grew up in the same village as Saint Maria Goretti. In fact, he and the other village children would often go to the Goretti house to visit Maria’s mother, Assunta Goretti.  Assunta told the children stories.

I thought and said, Well, there you go. “ You grew up listening to stories told by a saint’s mother and you grew up to be a priest.  I grew up playing with dolls and became a mother.”

Today I was wondering the role playing has in forming children’s career choices. I didn’t have many dolls but I had a few and they were all baby dolls.  I played being a mommy.

Barbies weren’t around when I was playing.  I was about 13 or 14 when I first heard of Barbie and I was too old to play with them.  My daughters, on the other hand,  had too many Barbies to count.  They had just a couple of dolls that were babies.  My daughters are grown now and one has children and one chooses to not have children. In fact, she looks like Barbie, i.e., long hair, large breasts, small waist, long legs and wears spikey heals.  Mmmmm, do I see a pattern?

My granddaughters have no baby dolls, lots of Barbies, American Girl dolls, and Doc McStuffins.  And I currently read that couples today aren’t having children.  Is it because they never played mommy?  They would rather have a pink corvette like Barbie and keep their Barbie-like figure.

Statue of Maria holding lilies and a knife

 What do you think?

The Importance of Scripture to Catholics

Sometimes Catholics are accused of not putting any importance on scripture. But this is not true. The Mass itself exemplifies how important scripture is to Catholics.  As soon as the ministers and celebrant process into the church, the scriptures are held high above everyone.  You notice that immediately.

At the completion of the procession, the book of scriptures is placed in the center of the altar.

When it becomes time to read the Gospel, only an ordained minister can do that.  And he carries the book up high, again to the ambo the read it. AND!  EVERYONE stands up to listen to the Words.  We also pray by word and gesture: May we hold these Words in our minds, on our lips, and in our hearts.

Once the ordained minister finishes reading, he places the Book on a pedestal or a shelf that is high so everyone can see it.

And this is only the physical, obvious points.  The Mass itself, follows scripture.  But that's for another post.

Sleeping

Tomorrow I'll give a presentation on "sleep," at T.O.P.S.  Sleep affects your health, and therefore your weight.  Of course, you can't eat when you're asleep.  So there you go!

But you can't make yourself sleep, any more than you can make yourself fly.  But here are my hints:

Keep to a schedule. Same time to bed and rise.

No light in the room--not a clock--not a night light--not a crack in the shade.

Take a bath or shower before going to bed.  Make that a habit, you'll sleep better.

Don't eat or drink a couple of hours before.

Read in bed but don't watch TV in bed (Light will excite you.)

Go to the bathroom before bed.

Keep a pad of paper and a pen on your bedside table.

Keep a bottle of water next to the bed.

Keep tissues next to the bed.

Say your prayers.

If you do wake up to go to the bathroom, that's normal.  Go, and go back to bed.  If you don't fall back to sleep in 30 minutes get up and read.  Get cozy on the couch and you may fall asleep, there. So what?  You're asleep.

You need 7-9 hours of sleep a night. Some people find naps valuable but more than an hour may interrupt your sleeping routine. 

Don't worry if you find yourself spending a few sleepless nights.  It's probably stress, anxiety, your medicine, or you're coming down with a cold. Just try to ignore it and stick to the routine.

Nighty night.

Timb-b-e-e-r-r-r

The Overstory by Richard Powers was beautifully written. But it was too long. Sorry, I'm not into nature so I found myself plodding through descriptions. Too tedious! The novel is over 500 pages. I was skimming just to finish it.

I get it. We're all interrelated. We communicate or have the ability to communicate with nature. And man definitely needs to protect the vulnerable.

Bishop Edyvean, former auxiliary bishop of Boston, dies

Pilot file photo.

Bishop Edyvean, former auxiliary bishop of Boston, dies: Bishop Peter Uglietto, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Boston, announced Feb. 3 that Most Reverend Walter J. Edyvean, retired auxiliary bishop of Boston, passed to the Lord in the evening of Feb. 2.


What I remember best about  him was how kind he was to my "cloistered brothers."  He came to confirm those catechumens who were ready.  Of course, going through the security to get in was the usual hassle and he was good-natured about it.  He laughed when he took apart his crozier.  It was pure silver!  And I held it for him while he shook hands and greeted everyone.



I will pray that he rests with the Good Shepherd.