Silly Ditty

 Spring

I don't know about Spring.

Spring blooms ahead anyway.

Whatever the temperature-still spring.

Spring can be sunny or dull gray,

Or rainy.  Spring can be anything.

Yet, it's not winter, so Spring yay!

Definition of a Martyr

 A martyr is someone who dies for the faith.  They're killed because of their religion.  I'm reading a little book, Blessed Charles de Foucauld: A Grain of Wheat.  Blessed Charles de Foucauld died in the first World War, 1916.  He was killed not for religious reasons, at all.  During an attack by rebels, de Foucauld let himself be taken, was tied up, robbed, and killed.  His body lies in El Golea.  

In a meditation of John 19:30, Bl. Charles wrote:

My Lord Jesus you are dead.  You died for us?  If we really believe this, we ought to want to die, to die a martyr's death; to accept suffering in death instead of being afraid! It won't matter for what motive we are killed if we ourselves receive that unjust and cruel death as a blessed gift from you, if we thank you for it as a gentle grace, as a blessed imitation of your end... The motive for killing us won't matter, if we will die out of pure love and our death will be a sacrifice pleasing to you.  If this is not martyrdom in the strict sense of the word, and in the eyes of the world, it will be in your eyes.  It will be a very perfect image of your death and a loving end which will lead us straight to heaven.

What do you think?  "If we receive the death as a gift from God."

Then many of us are martyrs, are we not?

Tomb of Blessed Charles de Foucauld in El Golea.

With A Little Help From My Friends

 TOPS is a "weight loss" group.  It's big on recognition and support.  There's no diet because it's up to the individual to pick a method that works for them.  I count carbs.  Another is on a plant-based diet.  Another is on Keto.  Whatever works.

The support is the mentoring.  We've been texting each other.  I usually send cartoons about being fat.  I intersperse the jokes with helpful nutritional hints, i.e., "low cal and low carb" snacks.  High Protein breakfasts and/or other meals, to try.

We encourage one another when we haven't loss any weight and we celebrate when we do.  

The recognition is regional and state.  The region will have a workshop meeting.  The state recognition can be formal, really dress up.  There's usually a theme and people dress for the occasion.  Those that have reached their goal weight are honored, as well as those that have kept their weight off.  

Lastly, TOPS is one of the cheapest weight loss clubs.  Also, their magazine has invaluable information, as well as their website.  They're very well done.  I bet there's a club near you and if not, there're online TOPS clubs.  

Who Watches the Watchers

 Another free ebook from the Gutenberg project and another Joseph Muller mystery is my subject.  The Case of the Pool of Blood in the Pastor's Study by Auguste Groner is a nice, short, and enjoyable mystery.  

The protagonist is a detective in the Austrian Imperial Police.  He's different than the other detectives.  Firstly, because he's an excon.  He understands the criminal mind.  He's very methodical and can visualize scenarios to place situations. He hardly eats nor sleeps, when in the middle of a case.  But solve the "who done it," he will.  

In this case, the village houses an insane asylum and the director will sometimes walk around the village with inmates.  The suspects include some of the inmates and maybe a villager or maybe one of the keepers.  Trust Detective Muller to see what others miss.

 

Opposites Can Attract

 The Best Gift by Irene Hannon is a love story with no sex.  !!!!! How refreshing!  The gift to AJ is an inheritance of half a book store.  The other half belongs to a man.  Mmmmm.  Could be.  Nah, they're opposites.  She's an outgoing extrovert.  He's somber and introverted. 

There was a little caveat in the will.  The two have to work together for six months before they could inherit.  Fortunately, a threat to the bookstore business necessitated that they work together.  Their neighbors and AJ and Blake went to their town hall and expressed their point of views.

The merchants won and so did romance.  Not only did AJ and Blake inherit the bookstore legitimately, they became engaged.  Nice story and nicely written.

A Cozy Mystery

 Everyone knows not to judge a book by its cover.  However, Loom and Doom, by Susan Sleeman, not only had an attractive cover, it has a ribbon bookmark.  Evidently, this book is only one in a series of "Antique Shop Mysteries."  The author, Susan Sleeman is only one of the many authors that write for "Antique Shop Mysteries."

The mysteries are touted as "cozy" mysteries.  The locale, in Maine, the antique shop, which Maggie, the main protagonist, owns, and the quaint village, add to the lure qualifying the book as "cozy."  

The village was having a large "flea" type sale, where all the merchants place their merchandise outside.  There's a festival type atmosphere and the festivities begin with an auction. One of the items, which Maggie wants to buy for herself, is a carpet bag. When she was bidding, another bidder ran up the bid against her.  Maggie finally won. 

After the auction, Maggie's competitor for the carpet bag is murdered. He was killed with one of the auction's items--a sprocket.  Very strange.

Maggie wondered why this victim was after the carpet bag.  Upon closer inspection, she found a drawing of a house, hidden inside the lining of the bag.  The house in the drawing is in the vicinity.  There is a loom in the house missing a sprocket. There's a tunnel under the house and the key is the sprocket.

Maggie and her friends, piece everything together to solve the murder and its surrounding mystery. Therein lies the suspense.

Imprecations

It's been a week since I've posted.  The reason is because I've been contemplating what I should have said to my friend.  Sitting at the table, in a dinner for Book Club, my friend turned to me and asked, "Is it wrong to hate and wish evil happen to someone?"  Needless to say, the question took me by surprise.  Sensing she was really asking if she were a bad person to "wish evil" upon someone.  I said "no."  Well, for the past week, my answer has been bothering me.  I prayed about it.  I've read what those whom I respect have written, and I came up with the letter below. 

The person and situation are political.  My friend is enraged that our current president is in power.  She feels deeply and I sense partly ashamed of her vindictive hate.  After all, she is a good person.  How could these evil emotions overwhelm her?

This is reminiscence of King David and his kingdom.  How could his enemies triumph over God's chosen people?  She feels what David felt.  David expressed his very human feelings in lyrics.  We call these lyrics, psalms.  Meditating upon the psalms, I felt better able to respond to my friend.  So, I wrote her this letter.

 Dear Friend,

      You asked me if it were wrong to wish harm on Trump and his ilk.  I intuit what you felt yet were concerned.  After prayer and reading, I can formulate a better response than what I gave you, on Thursday.  The short answer is no.  However, I think it is important to know why.  Reading these imprecatory psalms will resonate with your feelings: Psalms 5, 10, 17, 35, 58, 59, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129, 137 and 140. An imprecation is a curse that invokes misfortune upon someone.  These particular psalms were calling down God's judgment on the enemies of Israel. God promises to help the persecuted and bring judgment on sinners.  These psalms are asking for justice to be done.

       In the book of Psalms, you will find the whole range of human experience. Most of the psalms were written by David.  In them he confesses sins, doubts, and fears.  He asks God for help and gives Him praise.  David also gives advice--suggestions as to what David would like God to do to his enemies (you'll like these, see 109). Imprecatory psalms are true human feelings.

       While Jesus instructs us to hate evil and work to overcome it--hate the sin but love the sinner, because everyone is made in the image of God.  Pray for the grace to separate the actions from the person.  Like David, we should pray for God to be swift in His judgment of evil people.  The psalms were not written out of vindictiveness or vengeance. Instead, David was invoking God's protection against degenerate and ruthless conquerors, who repeatedly tried to destroy God's people.

       Jesus, Himself, quoted some imprecatory psalms, John 2:17 and 15:25.  However, Jesus asks us to love our enemies--Note Well--the New Testament makes it clear that our enemy is spiritual, not physical! Ephesians 6:12.

      Let's pray for compassion for the people who are under the devil's influence.  We should want everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9. Above all, seek the will of God in everything, have patience, and leave the final outcome to the Lord.  Romans 12:19.

Peace,

Faith

Psalm 109

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1My God, whom I praise,

do not remain silent,

2for people who are wicked and deceitful

have opened their mouths against me;

they have spoken against me with lying tongues.

3With words of hatred they surround me;

they attack me without cause.

4In return for my friendship they accuse me,

but I am a man of prayer.

5They repay me evil for good,

and hatred for my friendship.

6Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy;

let an accuser stand at his right hand.

7When he is tried, let him be found guilty,

and may his prayers condemn him.

8May his days be few;

may another take his place of leadership.

9May his children be fatherless

and his wife a widow.

10May his children be wandering beggars;

may they be driven ^a from their ruined homes.

11May a creditor seize all he has;

may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.

12May no one extend kindness to him

or take pity on his fatherless children.

13May his descendants be cut off,

their names blotted out from the next generation.

14May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord;

may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.

15May their sins always remain before the Lord,

that he may blot out their name from the earth.

16For he never thought of doing a kindness,

but hounded to death the poor

and the needy and the brokenhearted.

17He loved to pronounce a curse—

may it come back on him.

He found no pleasure in blessing—

may it be far from him.

18He wore cursing as his garment;

it entered into his body like water,

into his bones like oil.

19May it be like a cloak wrapped about him,

like a belt tied forever around him.

20May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers,

to those who speak evil of me.

21But you, Sovereign Lord,

help me for your name’s sake;

out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.

22For I am poor and needy,

and my heart is wounded within me.

23I fade away like an evening shadow;

I am shaken off like a locust.

24My knees give way from fasting;

my body is thin and gaunt.

25I am an object of scorn to my accusers;

when they see me, they shake their heads.

26Help me, Lord my God;

save me according to your unfailing love.

27Let them know that it is your hand,

that you, Lord, have done it.

28While they curse, may you bless;

may those who attack me be put to shame,

but may your servant rejoice.

29May my accusers be clothed with disgrace

and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.

30With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord;

in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him.

31For he stands at the right hand of the needy,

to save their lives from those who would condemn them.

All You Need is to Love God

Peter Kreeft's How to be Holy is a guidebook.  If I were a spiritual director I would recommend this book.  I would be discussing the chapters with my directee.  Kreeft's style is easy, humorous, colloquial, and is an accessible, modern Abandonment to Divine Providence by Father Jean Pierre de Caussade. I confess I couldn't get through Caussade's book, but I had no problem reading How to be Holy.  That's my point.  

Kreeft unpacks  Romans 8:28—“We know that all things work for good for those who love God”.  His short chapters enable the reader to read and meditate on a chapter a day.  That's perfect for me.  

The Link between God and Me

 St. Charles de Foucauld wrote a prayer that more or less says he's such a sinner, he can't see how he will ever get to heaven.  Near the end of the prayer, he sees the heart of Jesus beating his name.  It's Jesus love that will draw us to Him and heaven.  

                                                Act of Confidence in the Sacred Heart of Jesus

As bad as I am, as great a sinner as I may be, I must hope that I'll go heaven, You forbid me to despair.

You forbid me to ever be discouraged, in front of my misery--You won't let me tell myself; "I can't go any farther--the road to Heaven is too steep--I'm going to give up and slide back down to the bottom."  Faced with my continually renewed faults, for which I ask Your pardon each day, and which I repeatedly fall into, You forbid me to tell myself: "I can never correct myself--holiness is not for me.  What have I in common with Heaven?  I am not worthy to enter there."  In light of the infinite graces You've heaped upon me, and the unworthiness of my present life, You for bid me to say to myself, "I have abused so many graces--I should be a saint and I am a sinner; I can't correct myself; it's too difficult; after all that God has done for me, I'm full of vices and pride; there is nothing good in me; I'll never go to Heaven."  You  tell me to hope in spite of everything.  I must believe that I will have enough grace to be converted and one day be with You in glory.  What is there in common between the perfection of Heaven and my miserable self? 
    This is Your Heart, Lord Jesus--Your Heart is the link between these two things which are so unlike one another.

Blessed Prison

 In a letter from St. Cyprian, when being Christian was against the law, he writes “How blessed is the prison honored by your presence, how blessed the prison that sends men of God to heaven!”

I can’t help but think of my “cloistered brothers”.  

  

Shirking Responsibility

 It's hard to think, know, and understand, that when praying to God, that's not the end.  One cannot sit back and think that God will solve our problems.  Worse, solutions will probably ask for strength and work.

God gave us intelligence, judgment, and free will.  We are to use them.  God will inspire us to use our gifts, but it's up to us to do the work.

Remember the story of the man who heard on the news that a flood was imminent.  He prayed to be saved.  The flood came, but he stayed in his home and prayed.  The police came and knocked on his door and asked him if he needed help.  He refused because he was relying on God.  As the flood waters reached his second story windows, the fire department rowed a raft to him and told him to come aboard.  He said no, God will save him.  Finally, a helicopter flew on his roof, and he still refused their help.

When he arrived in heaven, he asked God, "Where were you?  God replied, I sent the police, the firemen, and the helicopter.  Why didn't you use your gift of intelligence and judgement to accept their help?"

Some Conversions are Hard to Believe

 Please, Lord, teach me now how to serve you with all my heart, to know at last what it really is to love, to adore, so that I may worthily administer your kingdom here on earth, and find my true honour in serving your divine will.’

When Thomas Becket was consecrated bishop, this was the prayer he recited.  At least, this is the prayer, author Jean Anouilh put in Becket's mouth, in the play.  I think everyone can pray it.  Don't we all aspire to do God's will?

Public domain via Wikimedia

Becket had a religious conversion, and it defined his life from then on.  Hard to believe; it does happen.  Many monks, nuns, and other religious, can attest to that fact.