Monday, May 31, 2021
After fourteen Months
It was raining outside so I couldn't go to my usual outside Sunday Mass. I went to my parish Mass which I haven't been to for fourteen months. I saw people I never saw before. The familiar faces looked old or sick. Wow! How did that happen?
Time does a job on us. No one escapes. We better be ready to join Jesus because everything here is transient. Only God abides.
Sunday, May 30, 2021
Friday, May 28, 2021
Thursday, May 27, 2021
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Monday, May 24, 2021
Reasons to Love Spring
This is the best time of year to go for a walk in
the woods. Living in Franklin, MA, we
are blessed to be in the middle of the best the world has to offer.
We are half an hour to an hour away from the
city. I don’t only mean Boston, but also
Providence, RI, and Worcester. All three
cities have unique cultural and entertainment allurements.
But for this particular moment in time, I want to
concentrate on the areas’ natural surroundings.
A few days a week, I am fortunate enough to get out
and take a nature bath. On Mondays, I
walk with the Wrentham Seniors. We meet
at the Wrentham Senior Center at 9:30.
They walk year round in all kinds of weather, putting cleats on their
boots to walk on ice in the winter. They carry umbrellas when walking in the
rain. The group also walks at a fast
pace. The first time I walked with them
I could barely keep up and fell behind.
One reason I might have fallen behind, besides being
out of shape, was because I was used to the walking pace of my Thursday hiking
group. This group is led by a 90
year-old lady. We go everywhere, from
Rhode Island to areas surrounding Boston.
Lastly, on Friday, after a TOPS meeting some of the
members go walking. TOPS is a nutrition
conscious group, that meets on Fridays at 12:30 at the Franklin Senior
Center. The vast majority of the group
are there to lose weight, but we’ve had a couple of people who are there to
gain weight. TOPS is good for everyone. After our meeting we walk in surrounding
towns’ woods for an hour.
What’s my favorite?
Honestly, I can’t pick my favorite walk, especially this time of
year. There’s just too much of
everything. No matter which group I’m
with, no matter what day it is, no matter where I go, I never see everything
there is to see. But it’s all wonderful.
This Monday, on Knuck Up Hill, in Wrentham, the sky
was so clear, we could see the Boston cityscape. Half an hour later, we walked
by six turtles sunning themselves on a log.
Fifteen minutes later we stopped to talk to a lady who had just caught a
large mouth bass in Trout Pond. She
threw it back in. She explained that she
catches and releases.
No matter
where we turn in spring, there’s something going on.
A favorite place this time of year is Wallamonapoag,
in Wrentham, because of the herons nesting.
We counted 36 nests, that we could see. Wallamonapoag is a nature
preserve. The name is native-American
for “Place of Shells.” It features several beaver dams, forests, some large
eskers and the heron rookery. There are also a couple of swans who have taken
up residents, among the noisy mallards.
The swans just had seven cygnets . It is such a delight
to see the proud parents parading their family.
The eskers can be too steep for some people. An esker is a remnant of a glacier. Glaciers once covered all of New
England. As the glaciers melted, the
water carried gravel and boulders that were laid down in steep ridges. Since an
esker is mostly gravel, they are too often mined for solid fill. Therefore, eskers are becoming scarce.
Besides the eskers, near the water are many
salamanders, toads, box turtles, bugs, fungi, worms, and other small
creatures. This time of year is when we
see lady slippers, too. And yes, it is
still against the law to pick them.
On Friday afternoons, after our TOPS meeting, some
members walk with me. Delcarte
Conservation Area in Franklin is the perfect spot. It is a natural gem. In one panoramic view of
the pond one can see the fish jumping, some box turtles sunning themselves, and
the swans and cygnets gliding silently and majestically along. There are a couple of beaver lodges but I’ve
never got a glimpse of the beavers, although there’s evidence of their
handiwork, here and there among the fallen trees. No matter where we look,
there’s life, living.
We never know what we’ll see when we head out for a
walk. Perhaps some Canadian geese will
let us know that we’re unwelcome, or we’ll see tree swallows swoop around amusing
themselves. We could come upon some mallards having a romantic conversation.
Life is happening, everywhere.
Sometimes you have to really listen and look, but
there’s always the joy of revelation—the singing birds, the flowers of the
woodland, the animals darting here and there, busy/busy nesting and
gathering.
It’s impossible to see everything. But we try.
Spring is too short; life is too short; don’t miss
any of it. Nature is the place where something incredibly interesting happens;
you just have to be there to see it.
Sunday, May 23, 2021
Oh Deer!
This morning I went to Mass at Fatima Shrine. I was extremely early, so I walked over to visit Father Aniello Salicone's grave. There is still no grave marker on it. As I prayed I noticed people walking by, just beyond the trees. I wondered if that was the Upper Charles Rail Trail. I saw a path going through the trees and as I walked over to investigate, in the periphery of my eyes I spotted movement.
It was a mother and baby deer. The mother was huge. Taller than I am. The baby must have been a newborn. It was about a foot tall and skinny, skinny. It looked like it was nursing. I was trying to stand very still, as I took my cell phone out of my purse, to take a picture. The mother deer leapt into the woods-gone from sight. The baby wobbled a second then collapsed. I watched the baby struggle to stand and then it very wobbly walked towards me. I tried to take a picture but its colouring blended in the background, besides it was very shady. IOW, I couldn't get a picture. It kept coming closer and I started walking backwards. I didn't want its mother to reject it because of human smell or something, but then it turned and wobbled into the woods, out of sight.
I didn't hear anything, but I hope the baby did and found its way to its mother.
What a blessing to experience that!
Thank you Father Aniello!
Saturday, May 22, 2021
Friday, May 21, 2021
Wednesday, May 19, 2021
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Don't Cling to the Past
Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended. to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. " John 20: 17
Jesus said this to Mary Magdalene at His Resurrection. Compare that statement to this one, said some days later:
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side.” John 20: 27
Why would Jesus tell Mary, "No" and Thomas, "Yes"? This always bothered me until last Sunday's homliy. The homilist told us about going home to visit his mother, whom he hasn't seen in almost two years, due to COVID-19 restrictions. He was upset at how much his mother had aged. It made him realize that from now on their roles would be reversed. His mother will be needing him for support and to meet her needs, where before he, her son could rely on his mother to support him and meet his needs. He said he has a hard time letting go of the way it was. But he has to. He can't cling to the past.
And that's the difference between Mary Magdalene and Thomas. Mary when she saw the Resurrected Christ, she thought He was Jesus. But He wasn't. She even calls Him, "Raboni." No, He is not her teacher, her minister, her spiritual guide, any longer. Mary was clinging to the way He was. This was the Resurrected Jesus. Thomas knew this. Mary didn't see that, at first. Thomas had heard the stories, even though he had his doubts. When Thomas saw the Resurrected Jesus standing before him, with his five wounds, he understood that this Jesus is God, his Lord and Savior.
Monday, May 17, 2021
Sunday, May 16, 2021
Saturday, May 15, 2021
Friday, May 14, 2021
Thursday, May 13, 2021
Finding Whom
"The Awakening of Miss Prim" by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera was written in Spanish and this is the translation. It really is a fantasy. Miss Prim takes a job cataloging books in the library of a very unusual man. The man is homeschooling a group of children. Two of the children are his wards.
It seems the man, who is called, "the man in the winged-chair," is multi-lingual and an expert on classics. Money is no object. He had a religious conversion but it is barely alluded to except to say that the village and its personality are the results of "the man in the winged-chair's" new ideas.The village is inhabited by intellectuals who are free thinkers. Everyone is kind and have left busy lives to live the simple life in this idyllic village.
Miss Prim and "the man in the winged chair" interact intellectually and emotionally. Miss Prim who was rather an uptight and opinionated feminist, has her ideas rocked. She turns around but she doesn't know whether that's good.
It's a book to reflect upon.
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
Exorcisms and Writing
Interview With An Exorcist by Father Jose Antonio Fortea is a series of questions and answer style writing, by Father Fortea. It is quite thorough and answers everything anyone would have always wondered about. Father Fortea was an exorcist for many years but is not any longer. Now he writes novels. He thinks he will have more influence with novels to get people to come to God through his stories.
Actually, that is the reason I read "Interview with an Exorcist." I have a Spanish friend who is hooked on Fortea's writing and loves his novels. I would like to read them also but they're not translated into English. The only book in English is "Interview With An Exorcist." The stories about real exorcisms and explanations were thrilling enough! Fortea's novels must be good, too.
Monday, May 10, 2021
Sunday, May 9, 2021
Saturday, May 8, 2021
Friday, May 7, 2021
Thursday, May 6, 2021
Twenty Four Hours
Twenty - four hours is all we've got,
when you think about that,
it's not really a lot.
Divide that by two and twelve's
what you'll get,
cos the other half for many,
is spent in the bed.
Get up every morning
ask God for help,
as you begin your journey
into the first twelve.
Stop for a minute along the way,
maybe help brighten somebody's day.
When we're in a hurry
we sometimes forget,
there are those who may need us
who's day's been upset.
Well look at the clock, it's bedtime already,
was the day what I planned, did I accomplish plenty?
Did I see all the beauty as I went on my way like,
the birds and the flowers and God's children at play?
Yes Twenty four hours
is all we've got,
when you think about that,
it's not really a lot.
by Jazzer
Wednesday, May 5, 2021
Ascension Craft
Watch Jesus ascend.
This is how we made it. Around Advent, I was given a kissing ball. It was beautiful and lasted not only throughout the Christmas season but to Valentine's Day. To get rid of it, I just tossed it out onto the snow in the garden. And there it languished.
Tuesday, May 4, 2021
Monday, May 3, 2021
Sunday, May 2, 2021
Saturday, May 1, 2021
UST
Yes, I wondered what UST was, also. So I watched it. It is a photo essay of the University of Santo Tomas and this video tells its history.
Joyous Worship
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