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Saturday, October 31, 2020

A World Gone Amuck

 Warren H. Carroll's "1917: Red Banners, White Mantle," was a different view of history than I was taught.  This little history concentrates on a specific time, contrasting four cataclysmic occurrences.

   * Russia collapses and totalitarianism takes over.

    *A worldwide pandemic hits.

    *Europe becomes involved in a war.

    *Our Lady of Fatima offers hope in Portugal.

   Today, in 2020, the world is also enmeshed in natural disasters, terrorism, political dissension, and HATE.  I can't help but think Our Lord will send us another message of hope.  We can't wait for this year to end, this time to be over, and any succor Our Lady can offer.

    That's how Warren Carroll depicts the people in this history.  Pope Benedict XV offered to broker peace but his plans and ideas were not accepted.  (Reminds me of Fratelli Tutti, Lumen Fidei, Evangeli Gaudium


, and everything else Pope Francis wrote.)  The world did not listen to the Vicars of Christ then, nor now, and worse, 

Friday, October 30, 2020

What Do you Have to Lose by Believing?

 There's an article in the Nov/Dec issue of Yankee magazine, "When Santas Get Together," that asks people who play Santas what they think about the job, the children, what they ask for and about, and other memorable moments.

What struck me the most was the answer to the question, "Do you believe in Santa Claus?" Santa answered, "What do you have to lose by believing?"

Wow.  You lose out in the fun.
You lose out in the imanginative joy.
You lose out in creative reproductive play.
You lose out in a lot of pleasure: of seeing the wonder in a child's eyes, the hope in his heart, the expectation of satisfaction.

You really lose out!

Bump up the question, "What do you have to lose by believing?" by applying it to God.  What do you have to lose by believing in God?  

Answer: your soul.


Thursday, October 29, 2020

The New Normal

 What would the New Normal be for you?  Mine would consist of the following:

*  everyone working from home

*25 hour work week                                   

*  NO political parties

*  bring back card games
         whiffle ball
         jumping rope
         playing checkers

*  long walks

*  musical families where everyone sings and each one plays an instrument

*  the library and Senior Center are open 24/7

*  daily Mass would be at 5:00 PM

*  Saturday's Sunday Mass would be at 7:30 PM

What would be the new normal for you?  


Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Pangrams

                              [Photo: Glen Noble/Unsplash]
 

An English pangram is a sentence that contains all 26 letters of the English alphabet. The most well known English pangram is probably “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

  • Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex Bud. - Dmitri Borgmann

  • Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.

  • Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. - Mark Dunn

  • Glib jocks quiz nymph to vex dwarf.

  • Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz.

  • The five boxing wizards jump quickly.

  • How vexingly quick daft zebras jump!

  • Quick zephyrs blow, vexing daft Jim.

  • Two driven jocks help fax my big quiz.

  • The jay, pig, fox, zebra and my wolves quack!

  • Sympathizing would fix Quaker objectives.

  • A wizard's job is to vex chumps quickly in fog.

  • Watch "Jeopardy!", Alex Trebek's fun TV quiz game.

  • By Jove, my quick study of lexicography won a prize!

  • Waxy and quivering, jocks fumble the pizza.

Here's a famous one that tells you how many letters it uses.

This Pangram contains four a's, one b, two c's, one d, thirty e's, six f's, five g's, seven h's, eleven i's, one j, one k, two l's, two m's, eighteen n's, fifteen o's, two p's, one q, five r's, twenty-seven s's, eighteen t's, two u's, seven v's, eight w's, two x's, three y's, & one z. - Lee Sallows

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Death is Calling


Is it a strange thought to think more and more of one's death, as one gets older?  I think not.  Now that All Souls Day is a week away, I feel the urge to acknowledge the day in some manner.  The cemeteries where my parents, grandparents, etc. are far away, so it is not feasible to visit them.  The least I can do is pray for my beloved deceased.

This morning I heard a prayer St. Padre Pio said.  The priest said he prays it after Communion.  I can see where that would be appropriate, but this section is what resonated with me.  

Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late, and the day is coming to a close, and life passes, death, judgment, eternity approach. It is necessary to renew my strength so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches. I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile. 

Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers, I need You.

Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of bread so that the Eucharistic Communion be the light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart. 

Stay with me Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to you, if not by Communion, at least by grace and love. 

Stay with me Jesus, I do not ask for divine consolation because I do not merit it, but the gift of Your presence, oh yes, I ask this of You.

 I am going to pray it before going to bed.  In my old age, I yearn for the presence of Jesus.

Monday, October 26, 2020

God's Voice

 It is through meditation that one hears God's voice.  You get used to the movements of God within and recognize that voice of God.  It is through that auditory knowledge that one discovers that he is never alone.

Jesus Christ becomes your closest friend and the two of you will see life differently.  It is the grace from God, acting in prayer that will heal and transform you.


Sunday, October 25, 2020

Being Pulled Apart

 The priest this morning told us that we think we are stuck in between the liberals and the conservatives, well think of Jesus.  He was stuck between the Sadduccees and the Pharisees.  I'll add the Herodians, too.  

What did Jesus do?  He didn't side with any of them.

Saturday, October 24, 2020

I'll Be Just Over the Horizon

 I was watching and listening to Malcolm Guite.  He had just come back from visiting his 100-year-old mother.  It was from her mother's milk that Malcolm became imbued with poetry.  He started to recite John Masefield's poem, "The Golden City of St. Mary," when she joined it.  There was something magical in her voice that made the poem take on new meaning to Malcolm.  He realized that "The Golden City of St. Mary's was about dying and death.

Here is the poem for you to see yourself.  Malcolm expressed the hope that when he dies he will go to a quiet mooring in the Golden City of St. Mary.

The Golden City Of St. Mary

Out beyond the sunset could I but find the way,
Is a sleepy blue laguna which widens to a bay,
And there's the Blessed City, so the sailors say,
The Golden City of St. Mary.

It's built of fair marble, white, without a stain,
And in the cool twilight when the sea-winds wane
The bells chime faintly, like a soft warm rain,
In the Golden City of St. Mary.

Among the green palm-trees where the fire-flies shine,
Are the white tavern tables where the gallants dine,
Singing slow Spanish songs like old mulled wine,
In the Golden City of St. Mary.

Oh I'll be shipping sunset-wards and westward-ho
Through the green topping combers a-shattering into snow,
Till I come to quiet moorings and a watch below,
In the Golden City of St. Mary.

Friday, October 23, 2020

Healing from Difficult Childhood

Blessed Margaret of Castello is the patroness of many things:

Right to Life Movement
Survivors of Abortion
The Cripple
The Blind
The Deformed

But I think the one title that most people will identify with is her being the patroness of those who had a difficult childhood.  Who had the perfect childhood?  She shows us how to handle that tragedy.  Forget the man who fathered you.  He is nothing compared to your Heavenly Father.  God loves you unconditionally.  Stay close to God.

Thursday, October 22, 2020

House of Sand and Fog



 House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III is a page-turner.  The House is the main character.  It is fought over and there is no winner.  It starts with Kathy having a surprise eviction from the House.  She was depressed.  Her husband had left her and she was in such a funk that she wasn't opening her mail.  So she didn't know the county was going to evict her for non-payment of taxes.

      The law officer who evicted her helped her put her things in storage, find a motel, and a lawyer.  He becomes very involved with her.  They become lovers.

      Meanwhile, the house was put up for auction and an Iranian family, the Behrani bought it.  They move in with ideas to sell it for a profit and move up to a bigger house.  The trouble is, the county made a mistake.  They auctioned off the wrong house. 

     But Mr. Behrani owns it legally and he won't sell it back to the county at the price he bought it because it is worth a lot more than that auction price and he can sell it on the open market at a much higher price.

    Poor Kathy is stuck.  Her boyfriend, the cop, tries to intimidate the Behrani's.  It gets worse and ends tragically.  I don't won't to give any spoilers, but the House wins.

     I was struck how the author, Andre Dubus III gets inside the skin of his characters.  He hits the emotions of a scared, angry, depressed female exactly.  Yet, he describes the macho lust of his male characters, also.  He is a good writer and this is a good book.

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Bible Journaling as Lectio Divina

 Bible Journaling and Lectio Divina, here's a marriage made in heaven.  Bible Journaling are notes on the scripture you've read and/or thoughts that apply to you at that time.  Lectio Divina is praying with the scriptures.  

Here's what I envision:

Lectio--read the scripture

Study--google, read the footnotes, refer to a commentary, to understand the scripture you read.  Write notes or draw a picture, or put a stamp or sticker--something to explain and help you remember.

Meditate-- Now with what you understand think how this scripture applies to you. 

Oratio--Talk to God about it.  Elaborate on your picture(s) and/or notes, if God leads you to more understanding

Contemplatio--Rest in the prayer.  Do you get what the scripture is saying to you?  Think into it.

Resolutio--What are you going to do about it?

Image from Lifeway: https://s7d9.scene7.com/is/image/LifeWayChristianResources/IMG_5738?wid=550&op_usm=2,.5,6,0


Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Why didn't Moses Enter the Promised Land?

 Today, in my ecumenical Bible Study we speculated why Moses was forbidden to enter the Promised Land.I found the answers interesting:

Moses disobeyed God.  He was not told to hit a rock.  Moses hit it twice!

Moses took credit for bringing forth water.  "Must we bring you water out of this rock?"

It was time for new leadership.  Moses was to bring the people to the Promised Land.  His work was done.

Anyway, Moses dies after this, having never entered the Promised Land.

Everyone thinks this is a harsh punishment.  But is death punishment?  God took His friend, Moses, home with Him.  That's all.  It was a reward for a job well done.


Monday, October 19, 2020

A Wellness Vacation

TOPS is offering a scholarship to attend their annual retreat.  All you have to do is write why you want to go.  Here's my contribution. 

TOPS Club Inc

Real People. Real Weight Loss.®

Helping Millions to Take Off Pounds Sensibly Since 1948

TOPS RETREAT

On retreat, one’s health and wellbeing are constantly in front of you.  You are very aware, each day, that it is possible for you to achieve your goal. You are living your life with a purpose.

This is what I need.  I’m ashamed to say, that living healthy is not in the picture of my day to day activities.  Sometimes I feel like a hypocrite because I can “talk the talk,” of a healthy lifestyle, but I can’t “walk the walk”.

A retreat will help me take a step back and evaluate where I’m at, from a distance.  I need a shift in perception.  You never know what you can learn from others that can affect your future choices and/or evaluate your present lifestyle in a different light.

Wellness is all about health.  A TOPS retreat will give me a wellness vacation.  Hopefully, the retreat will be the incentive boost I need to create a permanent mindset I can take home with me.

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Scripture for Halloween


 Keep in mind that this is for a six-year-old.  Matthew 5: 16  "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light..."                  

Saturday, October 17, 2020

Bible Tabs for Kids


 How do you like it? I didn't know if my grandkids would be too young for a Bible (10 and 6).  The six-year-old is obviously too little because she can't read.  So she gravitates to children's versions of the Bible.  But the 10-year-old was impressed that we are using a REAL Bible and not just a children's stories.  

I didn't know how the Bible would be accepted so I bought the cheapest one.  The print is really too small to read, but not for a child.  I'm trying to make it fun, yet very grown-up.  The ten-year-old now knows how to look up the book, chapter, and verse.  In fact, she likes doing it.

I bought these tabs to help her find the books easier.  Aren't they cute?

Friday, October 16, 2020

The Immutability of God


I'm having another puppet show for my grandkids.  This time it's Noah's Ark.  The last one was the story of Adam and Eve and creation.  Remember God in that one?  Well, we are made in the image and likeness of God so all my puppets are sock puppets, like God.  This second one, Noah's Ark, God makes His appearance again, as He talks to Noah. So I was wondering how and what kind of sock puppet I should make for Noah's God.

Then I remembered that God is unchanging.  He's immutable!  YES!  I don't have to make a new sock puppet.  I can use the same one over and over.

These sock puppets, although simple, are teaching my grandkids some deep concepts: we are all made in the image of God and our God is immutable!
 

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Aliyah

 Aliyah is a Hebrew word.  My mind pictures the Lector, at Mass.  The Aliyah is an honorable position.  It is the person who goes up (and that's what Aliyah means--go up) on the raised platform in the synagogue and read the blessings over the Torah.  There's a ritual to it and traditionally it was only men who could by the Aliyah.  Today non-orthodox synagogues have women Aliyah.



Altar, candles, a reader--familiar?


Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Aaron



My ecumenical bible study is on Exodus 33: 12-33.  The verses are interesting, but it's the person of Aaron whom I find interesting.  These verses cover the interaction between God and Moses.  No one else.  Why?  More pointedly, why Moses?  

Moses is a strong person and has seem chosen from his birth.  He was saved by Pharoah's daughter, and educated as a member of Pharoah's family.  So combined with the training and temperament needed to be a leader, God chose Moses.

I know Moses was a murderer, but remember the victim was abusing God's chosen people.  That's not an excuse for the murderer but rather an excuse for Moses's indignation.  Moses was guilty of murder.  That does not exclude Moses from being a leader.  Remember, God does not choose the qualified.

Aaron did not kill anyone.  He was a nice guy, everyone thought so.  He got along with everybody.  He was also blessed with communication skills.  Whereas Moses stuttered, Aaron expressed what Moses wanted to say.  They were a good team.  Moses was the leader and Aaron was the communicator.

If there were an election to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, who would you vote for?

Moses --  brought up by the Hebrew's oppressors -- Egyptians
                a murderer
                doesn't speak well

Aaron --  true Israelite, born and brought up
                law-abiding
                popular
                very articulate

Aaron would win the election.  Yet, God chose Moses to be the leader.

God's ways are not our ways.

Aaron was a people pleaser.  He wanted to keep the people happy that's why he made a golden statue of Ba'al to represent a god.  Would Moses have done that?

Everyone has different gifts.  People pleasers make good politicians, not necessarily good leaders.



Monday, October 12, 2020

Number One Hit With the Oldest Lyrics

 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain that which is to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time of love, and a time of hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.  

These lyrics are from Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8.  These words are traditionally credited to King Solomon who would have written it in the 10th century, BC.  Pete seeger wrote the song in a way.  The only words he wrote were "Turn!  Turn!  Turn!" and the rest of the lyrics were from Ecclesiastes but rearranged to stress the message which was "peace."

Peace was tantamount on everyone's minds when Seeger wrote this due to the Vietnam War.  Then in 1999, Pete Seeger had 45% of the royalties to be donated to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.  

There are a few songs whose inspiration was the Bible.  Other examples are the "Rivers of Babylon, the Lord's Prayer, U2's "40", Sinead O'Connor's "Psalm 33" and Cliff Richard's "The Millennium Prayer."


Dominic Story

 Once he set off from Lausanne to go and see the bishop, who was in the neighborhood because they were good friends for a long time.  Several of the brethren were going on ahead of him and he was following on behind, talking to the sacristan of Lausanne about Jesus.  Suddenly a stoat ran out in front of the brethren and disappeared into a hole.  They stopped by the hole.  When the Master came up and asked, "Why are you standing here?" they said, "Because a beautiful little white animal has gone into that hole."  Then the Master bent down and said, "Come out, beautiful little animal, so that we can look at you." It came out at once into the mouth of the hole, and fixed its eye on him.  Then the Master put one hand under its front paws and stroked its head and back with the other hand.  The stoat did not resist at all.  Then the Master said to it, "Go back now to your place, and blessed be the Lord who created you."  At once the little animal went back into its hole.  The sacristan of Lausanne told this story. Early Dominicans, Selected Writings, Edited Simon Tugwell, O.P., pp.127-128.


For Billy's Cat IKEA

 It's funny how I let you into
my heart, knowing I'd lose you.
But still, I named you IKEA
and fell helplessly in love with a
black and white cat who purred
and rubbed my legs.  No word
can describe the emptiness I feel
I wish to God I could appeal,
but I know some day my heaven
will be all my pets in procession.

Goodbye, farewell, I won't forget.
You were my favorite, loving pet.

Sunday, October 11, 2020

Many are better than One.


 


“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor.”   I can prove it.  This weekend 5 members of my family came together to paint the house.  Not only did we paint the house, but we put three coats of paint on it.  It was extremely windy, so by the time we finished the house, the first side was dry.  So we painted the house three times.

If I were alone, I would have considered it an accomplishment to have painted it once!

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Sing My Love

Book Review of Black is the Color of My True Love's Heart by Ellis Peters 


Who did it? Not who you think, and does he/she get away with it? Another interesting fact about this mystery is that the setting is really a character. Everything takes place at a music school, Follymead. (ominous title)

Fighting begins with singing ballads. From the songs we learn who are lovers, former lovers, and soon-to-be-lovers. When one of the "star guests" disappears, the reader suspects his ex-girl friend. Later on, the reader is led to suspect the "girlfriend wannabe."
Things are not at all what you suspect, even who is dead and who isn't. Can you follow me?
No? Good. That's the point. Ellis Peters has written another "who-done-it" with her usual flair.
"Black is the Color of My True Love's Heart"
Neverending White Lights
Blood and the Life Eternal
Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Heart
Bless your heart
And your tired eyes
And try to keep your strength
Your life bleeds like the red I wore
On my lips as skin turned pale
Take this breath
For the lives we waste
For the hollow souls we own
Give me hope
For a restless heart
Where we'll go no one will follow, close
I swear to god I only fall apart
I swear to god I only fall apart
You've waited all your life
To take this from my blood
Indebted to you, indebted to me
Indebted to god until we bleed
This life will last

Monday, October 5, 2020

Priority Shift

 



There are many things this pandemic has made me realize.  The one I feel the absence of most is my prison ministry.  It is making me reflect on what God is doing.  

Do you think He is showing me that there are other things I could be doing to draw closer to Him?  Ministering to my family is one example.  Maybe I should back away from prison ministry.  I was getting too involved.  I was at the prison five days out of seven.  

Maybe I should change Lay Dominican fraternities.  I know this sounds funny but all the Lay Dominican Fraternities that I have visited pray too much.  I'm not used to it.  Because of the time schedule of the prison, we don't have time to do the devotional prayers.  We pray the Liturgy of the Hours and that's it.  And I'm not that devotional.  I pray the daily rosary and Liturgy of the Hours.  When time permits I do Lectio Divina.  That's it.

I'm not sure that I could only go to my fraternity in the prison and not be talked into participating in anything else.  But that's what I'm going to try to do.

Sunday, October 4, 2020

Veritas Mask

 I was so blessed at Mass this morning.  The Eucharistic Prayer never meant so much to me as it did today.  I woke up early and was reading Luke 22: 14-20.  I was struck by the coincidence that I had read these very words.  It was awesome.  Especially resonating were the words "new covenant" and "Do this in memory of me."  


Then watching people go to Communion, I notice someone wearing a mask with a Dominican Shield on it.  I knew immediately who she was.  It was a Facebook friend who lives in Florida.  I remembered that her son lives around here, so she was visiting him.

Lastly, I received the sacrament of the sick after Mass.  I'm having a medical procedure tomorrow.

Three blessings!  

Friday, October 2, 2020

The Snake in the Chalice


In some images of St. John the Evangelist, he is holding a chalice.  There are different stories regarding the symbolism of the chalice.

One could be that John drank from Jesus' cup at the Last Supper.  Also, drinking from Jesus' cup meant sharing in Jesus' suffering, which John did, dying in exile.

The most interesting story is that an enemy put poison in John's wine.  But before John drank the wine, he blessed it and prayed.  When he did this, the poison took the form of a snake and slithered out of the wine and chalice and went away. Think of this next time you drink wine.  Pray first.


Thursday, October 1, 2020

The Socket Puppet God

 Since we are made in the image and likeness of God, therefore, since we are sock puppets, it is only right that God is a sock puppet, too.  He is all Love, hence the heart on the front.  The heart on the back has tears since Adam and Eve did a bad thing to make God cry.



Galilean Fish Broil

BIBLICALLY BROILED FISH This Lenten recipe comes from “A Continual Feast.”  Note the beautiful story of Jesus appearing to the apostles on t...