Overdue Debt

 One good thing about being sick is people understand that you can't go out and about.  Good.  I can stay home and read.  Since I've discovered Glenn Cooper and Cal Donovan, I've don't have to look around or wonder what to read next.

Next was The Debt.  Since I love history, Catholic history, conspiracy, thrillers, and intrigue, I loved this book.  Cal Donovan in his research has discovered that the Vatican hasn't paid a centuries old debt.  The interest would do more than choke a cow.  No way could it ever be paid.  But before I go into the arrangements to pay off the debt in a way to satisfy all parties, I have to tell you why I was interested.

It's silly.  Still.  The story begins with the Vatican kidnapping of Jason Sassoon.  The year is 1848.  Europe is in turmoil.  The pope has been routed out of Rome.  Napoleon is threatening.  The cardinals need money to hire soldiers to defend the church - they're desperate.  They can't ask the Rothchild's, again, they have to go to another.  Why would a rival of the Rothchild's, the Sassoon's help?  They would pay to get their son back.  This is the start.  But what caught my attention was the name Sassoon.  That's the name of a hair salon in Boston.  My favorite hairstyle was a Sassoon cut.  

I know.  Silly.  Still.  That's why I was rooting for the Sassoon family to be good people and come to an arrangement to satisfy what happened.  The history is true.  There is and was Rothchild's and Sassoon's.  The conspiracies abound in power families, politics, and life.

Cal Donovan discovers this debt and Pope Celestine wants to pay it back but the church has no money.  No one has that kind of money.  And the Sassoon family is split into the good Sassoon's and the bad Sassoon's.  The good are agreeable.  The bad are scheming money hounds.  Fortunately, the good ones hold the majority vote in the business.

So far, I like the endings in Cooper's Vatican novels.  They're satisfactory.  All the lines come together and are tied up neatly.  

The Dead Tell Tales

 Since I've been sick all week, I was looking for books to read.  I saw Covenant of the Dead by Glenn Cooper on Facebook.  The Boston locale, murdered nuns, and it looked like a series.  Have I found a new Three Pines Mysteries? 

I hope so.  I could just picture the locales.  Been there, many times.  The major characters are Sister Elisabetta Celestino and Cal Donovan. Boston Police Detectives Santos and Trinh, are important, too.

Three nuns are murdered and there was nothing stolen except their rosaries.  Eli (Sister Elisabetta) and Cal pay a visit to the nuns.  Then in the Boston Globe, there's news that the murderer is a priest with a red nose. That fits the description of only one priest and he's accused.  He suspiciously dies before going to trial.

Eli and Cal pay a visit to the medium that said a priest with a red nose did it.  There's a picture above the mantel of Arthur Conan Doyle--think Sherlock Holmes.  It seems he had been to this very house and had a seance.  

That was over a hundred years ago and the Bostonians rioted to have these necromancers out of their city. A riot broke out and the medium's four children burned to death.  She blamed the nuns because they were very vocal with their rosaries and singing.  Mmmmmm.  Keep that in mind.

More tragedy to the medium's family.  Her husband and only remaining child were in a car accident.  Husband died and the daughter had to have her legs amputated.  This is the daughter who earns her living doing seances.  

Meanwhile, back in academia (Eli and Cal are professors at Harvard Divinity School).  They contact people in the know to look up Arthur Conan Doyle and Boston seance. Their research also uncovers similar nuns' deaths, dating back a hundred years.  After putting two and two together, rather parenthetical equations, the answer is revealed.

That's not the end.  This is a thriller.  Now that you know who and how, you better move fast to stop more murders.  

Judas' Guilt

LECTIO:     John 13: 21-27

After He had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, "I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me."
     His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant.  One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.  Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask Him which one he means."
     Leaning back against Jesus, he asked Him, "Lord, who is it?"
     Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish."  Then, dipping the piece of bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon.  As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
    "What you are about to do, do quickly," Jesus told him,

STUDIO:

Note that Judas must have been sitting next to Jesus.  They were sharing the same bowl.  That is an honor and makes Judas' betrayal even more egregious. What was Judas' thinking and feeling?  Because Jesus knew what he was going to do and Jesus told him to go do it, does Judas think Jesus wants him to do it?

MEDITATIO:

Judas should have never put himself in this position.  As much as I sympathize with Judas, Judas did choose to betray Jesus.  Well, they all abandoned Jesus, in effect, they all betrayed Jesus.  Oh Judas, I wish you could have asked Jesus for forgiveness.  

ORATIO:

Lord, have mercy on Judas.  I know he had free will and chose to betray you, but doesn't his returning the money show that he was sorry he did it?  

CONTEMPLATIO:

May the Holy Spirit keep me from choosing betrayal to God.  Help me to never put myself in a position that Judas did.  That would be so easy.  Judas misunderstood Your mission.  I'm afraid I would have to.  Lord have mercy on such as me.

RESOLUTIO:

I hope I remember to pray before I make decisions.  Holy Spirit be my guide.

 

"Stylin"

 Why do I solicit fashion advice from a man who wears a suit from 30 years ago?  Actually, I didn't ask his advice.  He was being helpful and told me that my shirt was buttoned wrong.  

Half tucking in a top is supposed to define your waist.  This picture is what I was trying to do.  

Donkey was a Good Guy

 In explaining Holy Week to my granddaughter, I began with Palm Sunday. Jesus is in a parade riding on a donkey.  People are waving palms, like we wave little flags.  Hard to imagine what is going to happen in a week.  Anyway, back to the story.  Jesus' donkey.

I couldn't find a donkey to illustrate that Jesus chose humble transportation, rather than a majestic horse, elephant, camel, or a carriage.  A donkey.  All I could find was a chia pet donkey.  Hey, I work with what I have.  I made it work.  Kindof.  

It's not so bad.  It's the donkey from Shrek, and this donkey is a good donkey.  Everyone loves him.  My granddaughter thought that Donkey would be proud to carry Jesus.  She got it.

With Help from My Friends

 The Nine by Gwen Strauss is a true story of WWII prison experiences.  The author's great aunt Helene was one of the nine who escaped a German labor camp, near the end of the war. I usually put myself in stories, which is why these nine interested me.  If you were escaping any prison, don't you think the chances of being caught would increase, the more people involved?  Some wag once said that three can keep a secret if two are dead.  This is why I am amazed that nine agreed to try to escape, never mind execute the escape and traipse across Germany. And the first thing I would do, once out, would be to scatter, and definitely not tell each other where you are headed. They did none of this.  They stayed together as a group and would not let anyone fall behind, even when they wanted to.  It worked.

The journey was a ten day walk from the Leipzig labor camp to France.  Imagine what they looked like.  Nine rag-tag women walking along, some still in prison uniform, some barefoot, dirty, smelly, skinny like walking dead.  I'm surprised no one reported them to the Germans.  I'm also surprised that people helped them.  I can see helping one, but nine!!  The people themselves hardly had food, how could they scrounge enough to feed nine! These women weren't Jewish.  They were resistance fighters, from different countries.  They met in prison, helped each other, and agreed to escape together.

The story made me cry.  I am always amazed at the torture humans can inflict on each other.  Death would be preferable. There were heartening moments in the prison camp.  The women told each other their favorite recipes.  They sang songs.  They became a chosen family.

Surprisingly, after being home a few years, they were reluctant to tell their stories.  Sometimes, someone would write about it, but relatives weren't interested.  I found this very strange.  But this is why the author, a grandniece, wrote the book. Gwen Strauss did extensive research. There are pictures, notes, acknowledgements, and a bibliography. It is a strong, powerful narrative.

The author's research took her to interview the few remaining women, their relatives and even some of the people they encountered on their trek from the prison to France.  None of these women were happy or even had a good life afterwards.  That damn war ruined everything. However, the story is true and an important part of history to never forget.

 

 

 

Earthen Vessels

 People are born sinful.  It's our nature to always have this desire and even misunderstanding to choose badly.  Thank God for His grace.  This doesn't negate our goodness.  Our chosen presidents are not chosen for their moral leadership.  Even those who are chosen for their moral leadership, may choose wrongly, or what seemed like the correct choice, history has proven otherwise.  I'm thinking of the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the handling of Giordano Bruno and Galileo.  

We are earthen vessels, after all.  2 Cor 4:7. Lord have mercy.

God of All

Why are religions exclusionary, when Jesus healed those not included and even considered sinners? I copied and pasted this from an AI query.

• The Centurion's Servant (Matthew 8:5–13): Jesus praised the Roman centurion for having greater faith than anyone in Israel, healing his paralyzed servant from a distance.
• The Canaanite/Syrophoenician Woman’s Daughter (Matthew 15:21–28): Despite initial reluctance, stating his mission was to the "lost sheep of Israel," Jesus commended her persistence and faith, healing her demon-possessed daughter.
• The Gadarene Demoniac (Mark 5:1–20): In the Gentile region of the Gerasenes, Jesus cast "Legion" out of a man, freeing him from possession.
• The Deaf and Mute Man (Mark 7:31–37): This healing occurred in the Decapolis, a, region comprised largely of ten Greek cities, showing his ministry extended into pagan territory.
• The Samaritan Leper (Luke 17:11–19): Among ten lepers healed, only the Samaritan—a mixed-race foreigner often treated as an outcast by Jews—returned to give thanks

I copied and pasted the above reference, from an AI query.  

Blame is a Waste of Time

 It has always puzzled me, even as a child, why the first question some people ask is, "Who did this?"  

How does that fix the immediate problem?  Later, once the problem is fixed, the cause(s) can be ascertained.  

Why do we blame others? 

 I will tell you a story about the King of Spain, Felipe VI.  My Spanish teacher's family lived in Spain, for a while.  Her son went to an International School, there.  One day, the boys held a birthday party in a hotel room. Suddenly, the hotel security and others burst into the party.  They demanded to know, who was throwing peanuts down from the balcony.

A young boy stepped forward.  The atmosphere hushed.  The security spoke to the boy in a respectful, but firm tone, in words something like this, "Your majesty, you should not throw peanuts down from the balcony....."

Besides the fact, that he was scolded, what registered in everyone's mind, was "Your majesty."

No one knew who Felipe was, until that moment.

Again, I ask.  "Why look to blame?"  Look what the security people did.  They exposed a person who wanted to be quiet about who he was.  Why didn't they say, "Stop throwing peanuts down!!!"  That's what they wanted the result to be. 

All this came to mind, when I read today's Readings, John 9: 1-41.  The religious authority weren't amazed that a man born blind could suddenly see.  They wanted to blame somebody. They were concerned with breaking the sabbath--control. 

Of course, that's not the point.  Sin is being blind.  Spirituality is about seeing.  

 It beats me how people can keep secrets for years, in this case, over sixty years.  Although I realize that I have never suffered trauma, like Eva did in The Book of Lost Names by Hanna Harmel.

The setting is France in WWII.  Eva is Jewish.  When France was first invaded by Germany, there was a section of France that people felt safe, called the Free Zone.  Gradually, that was not so, but in the beginning of the story, we see Eva's father picked up by the Gestapo.  Eva and her mother run to the Free Zone.  Eva's mother proves to be a pain in the a$$.  

The mother wouldn't leave their Paris apartment: what if their father came home and couldn't find them, where are we going, we don't know anyone there, etc.  

Eva worked for the resistance by forging documents.  However, the work was inside a Catholic Church.  The leader was a Catholic priest.  Eva falls in love with a Catholic.

As you can imagine, the mother complained the entire time. Poor Eva was torn between saving Jews and her mother.  Fortunately, the mother lost and Eva continued her work. As the war progressed, their town and the Free Zone wasn't safe.  They had to escape to Switzerland.

The title of the book, The Book of Last Names, comes from Eva's code.  In an old Catholic book, Eva put the true names of the people, whose names she changed in a code.  The ending of book has Eva responding to advertisement, looking for the book's owner.  Eva responds and she is united with the book.

I learned about forging as resistance, in this story.  It saved many lives.

You Don't Understand the Incarnation

 When Jesus was conceived in Mary, He took on human flesh.  That includes all of humanity.  He acted human.  I can think of three times when He acted like something I would do.  One is in Luke 2: 41-52. The family left Jerusalem without Jesus.  He was old enough to hang out with His friends, or travel with His cousins, etc.  So, Mary and Joseph weren't initially aware that He stayed behind.

In thinking back, I can recall many times I didn't tell my parents where I was, when I should have been in another place.  Skipping school, or church, or hanging out with kids I knew my mother wouldn't approve.

Another time, Jesus must have been tired, worn out, and had little patience, and he snapped at a woman and called her a "dog."  Matt 15: 21-28 and Mark 7: 24-30.  Anyone who has hung around me, especially when I haven't had enough sleep, knows that I have little patience.  To this day, I recall snapping at a student that had a little crush on me.  I pray for her.  She even came to my wedding and sat in the back.  I still feel remorse.

Lastly, Jesus cries out, in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me." Haven't you found yourself in a situation where you prayed to get out of it?  Why did I ever volunteer to Lector, fund raise, chaperone, etc.  Right now, at age 80, I pray to die before my children and husband.  But like Jesus, I add, "Not my will but Yours, Lord."

Jesus had two natures and His human nature was like ours.  If you don't think so, then you don't understand the Incarnation.

Of and/or From

 It drives me crazy that many think that the First Amendment says "Freedom from religion."  No it's "Freedom of religion."

Think about it.

Why would our Founding Fathers say "Freedom from religion", when the reason they came to America in the first place was to be free to practice their religion?  The Amendment says the government will protect you so you can practice your religion, not keep religion away from you.  

                                  Religion in the Colonies Map Worksheet by Ace Up Your Sleeve | TPT

A Politician's Dream

Tea Party in 1773 may happen again, but instead of tea, it might be coffee.  Well, no.  We love our Dunkin Donuts Coffee too much to just toss it into Boston Harbor.  I think we might just throw Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in Boston Harbor, or at least hang an effigy of him from the Liberty Tree.

Our Health Secretary has declared war on Dunkin Donuts for containing too much sugar.  Our governor, Maura Healey says, "Come take it from me!"  

People in New England love Dunkin' Donuts.  It seems like there's a "Dunk" on every street corner in Boston.  We love it so much.

You may think it's a silly thing to make a big deal over, but think about it.  It's exactly what a politician would latch onto, to publish herself.  It's not THAT important but will keep your picture in the newspapers for a bit.

The Samaritan Woman

 John 4: 5-52 is about the Samaritan Woman.  This is a long passage and accordingly has a lot of meat in it.  So, what surprised me in thinking about it, is that I realized at least two new facts that I never realized before.  The first is the fact that Jesus doesn't ask the Samaritan to convert to Judaism.  Come to think of it, He doesn't ask the Romans to convert, either.  Perhaps just belief in Jesus is what counts.  Think of Dismas on the cross.  He doesn't say he is sorry.  He just expresses belief.  

Doesn't this dismiss any divisions in religion, we may have?      

To change the thread: it is said that the Samaritan woman had five husbands.  Think of the times.  Women had no power--no say in marriage or divorce.  Therefore, five men rejected her.  She had no authority to reject them!  The poor woman!  Five times she was thrown out!  I am glad she found Jesus.

Question

 How does the foreman on a jury get picked?  Do certain people have an aura of leadership?  Is it intelligence?  Alertness?  Poker face?

Just wondering. 

Whenever I am in a role where I am placed in the front of an audience, I look over the crowd of faces. I see some that look very attentive. Are they more intelligent than the others?  When the speaker tells a joke, they laugh out loud. Others don’t. Why?  Didn’t they get the joke—weren’t they listening—are they thinking about it—just naturally poker-faced?

What do you think?  

Culture is Important

 This is another Book Club recommendation, A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci.  The calamity is the mix of morality between races.  This is set in the American South of the 1960's.  Segregation had just ended and is grudging, not accepted, but rather enforced by law.  People still automatically kept the same roles as before segregation ended.  Blacks automatically sat in the back of the bus, went into back doors, and didn't mix.

The story begins with a black man, Jerome, being arrested for the murder of his two white employers.  Immediately, the reader sees the language and treatment, the accused endures.  Jerome's mother-in-law asks Jack Lee to be his attorney.  They know each other and live in the same town, albeit different segregated neighborhoods.  

Jack knows he doesn't have the skill nor experience to win the case, but he was willing to give it his best.  In walks Desiree DuBose, a hot shot civil rights lawyer from Chicago.  Plus, she's black. Together they try to defend Jerome.

This book should be recommended reading for high school history/literature classes.  I was alive then and had forgotten how bad it really was.  It was bad, really bad.  Desiree stood up to all the vile harassment and hateful vitriol.  Besides the evil vibes, Jack's sister was killed, Jerome's wife was arrested, also, and all the families involved were traumatized.

The reader of course knows Jerome is being railroaded, but the story includes how the witnesses play out on the witness stand.  It seemed Jerome had no chance.  Reading their testimonies and Jack and Desiree's rebuttals sound convincing, but the jury is all white and not Jerome's peers.  

The ending is satisfactory

Autonomy

 My friend, who passed over five years ago, once had a discussion on "autonomy," with me.  At the time, I didn't understand her devotion to the word.  It seemed like unbridled anarchy.  What kind of world would we have if everyone believed as she did?  She believed in abortion, gay rights, even therians/otherkin rights. She divorced her husband and was in the midst of a robust love affair, when I first met her.

I could barely discuss, never mind argue with her.  She was smarter and more self-assured than I was. She was a science teacher, an artist, and a reiki master.  Unfortunately, she got cancer and chose to have doctor assisted suicide.  She was really suffering.

What could I do but pray for her?  And what to pray for?  

She came to mind, during this morning's gospel on Matthew 4: 1-11.  This is the gospel where Satan tempts Jesus in the desert.  My friend, I think would lean more towards the temptations, than towards Jesus' choices.  Jesus was following scripture.  She would have scoffed at scripture dictating His choices.  He should have been able to choose what He wanted.

But don't you think Jesus did choose what He wanted?  He wanted to obey Mosaic laws.  

Maybe she would choose what Jesus did.  I'll never know.

His temptations are so very human.  His first one was food.  After all, He had been fasting for 40 days.  I know that if my belly is full, I'm not hungry.  But if I haven't eaten in a while, I'm hungry and will grab whatever, good for me or not.

His second temptation was authority over His religion in Jerusalem.  Think that He was offered the job of pope over all Jews.  Didn't Satan know Who He was?  Why would He be tempted for something He could have, if He wanted?  Free will be damned.  

Lastly, was Lord over all the world.  His kingdom is not in this world.  Satan has it.  

Autonomy is tricky.  It sounds nice. The freedom to make your own choices.  But you need to know how your choice affects others.  You need to take into consideration the consequences.  

Maybe you need discernment, help, a guide, otherwise you probably make selfish, emotional decisions.  Perhaps, it is best to follow an ethical code--like religion.

                     If this image is under a copyright, please let me know and I will remove it. 

Dust

 Today is Ash Wednesday.  Ashes is what everything eventually will become.  Did you ever return to your childhood home?  Nothing is as you remembered.  Stores are renamed.  Movie theatres are gone.  Your favorite drug store where there was a soda fountain is missing.  Condominiums are everywhere.

Everything is changed or completely gone.  Reminds me of Ash Wednesday, "You are dust and to dust you will return."  Again, my mantra comes to mind, "All is passing, only God abiding."

This Lent I will work on my relationship with God and others, who are in His image.

Juvenile Thinking

 How does one mature in an immature environment?  My "cloistered brothers" were telling me that they feel sorry and don't know how to help the 18–25-year-olds, in prison.  How can they ever grow up in prison?  After they've served their time and go outside back home, how will they fit in?

Thinking about it, I don't know if they ever will.  They will always be that juvenile delinquent and think like one.  I say that because I had an experience that cements my opinion.  

When I was about 35-years-old, I took a class to obtain a real estate broker's license.  Sitting in the classroom, I found myself "checking" out the guys that entered the room.  After a bit, I stopped myself and asked, "What am I doing?  I am 35 years old, married, and the mother of three children!" 

Why was I thinking like that?  I think it was because the last time, I was in a classroom was when I was in college and would have been "checking out" the guys, as they entered the room.  Even though I was 35, I was thinking like I was 18.  

How in the world, could excons think any differently?  They would just pick up where they left off, before they became incarcerated.

God help them.

Reliving the Past

 The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark is a mystery, thriller, and a study in character development.  The gist of the story is that Olivia Dumont is a ghostwriter who needs money.  She is estranged from her father-- you will understand in the story.  Her father, Vincent, is a successful mystery thriller writer.  However, he has Lewy Body Dementia and needs to get a story out.

As a teen, Vincent survived a murder trauma in his family.  Consequently, the townspeople always thought he was guilty of murder.  The court system, however, said he was innocent.  However, a cloud always hung over his head.  Now that he is dying, he wants his side of the story to come out.

Fifty years ago, Vincent's brother and sister were murdered.  That night is revisited-- eventually relived in the story Olivia is writing. Olivia learns about each sibling through diaries, films, still photos, and interviews with the victim's friends.  At first, it seems that Vincent was guilty as hell.  However, a different side of each character is displayed, than public perception thinks. 

It is an interesting "who dun it."

Wind Phone

 What is a Wind Phone?  It is a device to give comfort to those who need it.  Usually, it is an old fashion rotary phone that isn't connected to anything. People symbolically call their deceased loved ones and converse with them.  Grieving people call whomever they want.  People say they feel solace.  There seems to be some kind of cosmic connection.  People who use these Wind Phones feel better, somehow.  

The story of the Wind Phone begins in Japan by Itaru Sasaki.  He missed his cousin who died of cancer.  He purchased a phone booth and installed an old phone that was not connected in it.  Whenever he missed his cousin, he went into the phone booth, lifted the phone receiver and talked into it.  He called this The Wind Phone.  The next year, 2011, an earthquake resulted in a tsunami the obliterated the coast of northern Japan.  Many people died and felt overwhelmed with grief.  Itaru Sasaki moved his phone booth to the devasted area with the most missing people.  He welcomed mourners to visit his Wind Phone to call to talk to their lost loved ones, hoping they would be comforted, somehow.  Some people said the Wind Phone did help them cope.

Don't knock it until you try it.  Here is a link to Wind Phones in the USA.  Map | My Wind Phone

Who would you call?

What would you talk about?

Where would you like to see a Wind Phone?

Discernment

"My cloistered brothers" are getting closer to the answer to "What do you expect to happen when you pray?".  We are reading Tomes Halik's Is God Absent?.  The discussion brought up the question.  We tied it to the Olympics, which is presently taking place.  We asked, "Is everybody praying to win?"

We decided asking God for things is like hoping magic happens.  Rather, our prayers should be contemplative, in trying to discern God's Will.  We should ask to understand God's plan for us. 

What Happens on the Island Stays on the Island

 The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club by Martha Hall Kelly is a relaxing read.  Surprisingly easy because it actually is an historical novel with romance.  I always enjoy reading books with local venues.  Martha's Vineyard is a swim away (for good swimmers, not me) from Seacoast Blvd.  I judge the weather by looking at the island from the end of Seacoast Blvd.  Heat fog, rain, misty, or a clear day.

The story takes place in 1942.  There are soldiers all over the island practicing for "D" day.  Again, I can identify.  Right across from my beach, are remnants of a paved road on Washburn Island, because this island, also, was used for "D" day practice.    This island, I really can swim to, in fact just float across.  Washburn has my family's favorite beach.  It's not crowded.  You don't need a beach sticker.

The characters are the Smith family and their farm.  The women are left to tend to the property.  Briar, the teenager sees U Boats off their beach.  No one else does.  But she's correct.  A man from the U Boat swims ashore and Briar rescues him.  He wants to defect.  Briar takes him home and hides him.  They have seen what happens to German prisoners and they don't want that to happen to him.  

Briar's sister Cadence is a would-be-writer.  She falls for one of the soldiers on the island.  Grandma is ill and is in the hospital.  Bess is pregnant with the girls' brother baby.  Don't forget "Briar the Liar."  This is the family trying to hold onto the farm.

There's a couple of murders around them.  There's also a spy but who?

  Oh, the Book Club--it's a planning session for the girls and a few friends.  They plan to distribute books to the soldiers.  It isn't easy but they make a skinny book that is easy to carry and it's accepted.  They help with the farm, with whatever they can.

This is a time of confusion and sadness.  The story gave me pause for reflection.  I am happy to have been after the war.  Thank you, Daddy.

Spaghetti Pie

 What to do with leftover spaghetti?  I found a recipe for spaghetti pie and made it my own.  Here's the recipe.  First you need leftover spaghetti.  

a pie plate

about a pound of ground meat

half an onion chopped

1 glove of garlic chopped

3/4 tsp. oregano

salt to taste

pepper to taste

1 can crushed tomatoes

1/4 cup parsley

1/2 cup mozzarella

Spread the leftover spaghetti into the pie plate, going up the sides of the plate.  Cook the ground meat with salt, pepper, onion, garlic, and oregano.  When the meat is cooked add the tomatoes and stir.  Add parsley.  Taste.  Adjust with salt, pepper, as needed.  

Put the meat mixture in the pie plate, over the spaghetti.  Spread it evenly.  Sprinkle mozzarella liberally over the top.

Bake at 350 degree oven until the mozzarella is melted--about 20 minutes.  Enjoy

Curses Can Be Broken

 A friend of mine recommended Fairy Tale by Stephen King.  I tried it.  I found it odd that every time I was going to quit reading it, the story became interesting. As it came out to be, I read the entire book.  It is ridiculous, but it is a fairy tale and they are ridiculous.

The narrator is the main character.  Charlie Reade is likeable, strong, honest, and everything a hero should be.  Since Charlie's mother died, his father became a drunk.  Charlie prayed to God to have his father to stop drinking.  Being in a similar situation, I know praying to get someone else to change doesn't work.  Free will!  But Charlie made a bargain with God that if his father stopped drinking, Charlie would dedicate his life to doing good deeds.  Again, I know from experience, that making bargains with God results in outcomes that aren't what you want.  However, they are in a way.  I guess God is just smarter than us.

Anyway, back to the story of Charlie Reade. Charlie's good deed was helping a grouchy old man and his dog.  Through this man, Mr. Bowditch, Charlie finds gold (literally).  A hole in Mr. Bowditch's shed leads to another place and time.  Remember this is a fairy tale.

Charlie's adventures in this new land is the story.  They're hair raising, but this is not a scary Stephen King book.  I did not have nightmares.  I found how the two worlds, above and below the ground come together, interesting.  It was a different type of book for me, and Stephen King.

AI and Peace

 A board that I serve on wanted to change its meeting time.  We used a program called Genius, which is a scheduling program which recommends the best time slots for meetings.   There were about twenty of us.  We put in the times we would be available for meetings.  Genius did its computing.  

The result was that there were no times that everybody could attend.  But it listed some suggestions.  Actually, it was me that spoiled Genius' choice.  The time it picked was the time my walking group, walks. I reasoned that our meeting was only once a month; I could miss one Walk.  I also could just leave the group, or end the walker earlier, or just do a short walk--once a month.  Anyway, I capitulated.

That's not what I want to point out.  I was thinking that if AI can figure out a way to schedule meeting times to placate everyone, why couldn't we use AI to settle world-wide problems?  Every country could express their needs and ask AI to satisfy everyone.

Remember AI didn't actually satisfy all members of the board.  I had to capitulate.  The same probably would happen with countries.  Every country would have to agree to negotiate.  

Doesn't everyone desire peace?  Why wouldn't every country agree to abide by the negotiated agreements they devise?  

I can think of one, maybe two, reasons.  One, needs are not wants, and the countries need to see that.  Secondly, of course, the countries' leaders/negotiators, are human.  Errare humanum est.  

Ugh, another wrench in my plan.  Ephesians 6:12.

A Deliberate and Constant Remembrance

My previous post explained how I found this crucifix.  As I cleaned off all the dust, the corpus fell off.  I guess my sins put Jesus there, why am I having such angst nailing Him back?  You know what.  I'm going to glue him back.  I don't have those itsy-bitsy nails, anyway.  

Why don't I just leave Jesus off the cross and keep it that way--a cross.  I think it's because I need a reminder just how much Jesus loved me.  He loves me enough to suffer for me.  Thank you, Jesus, for loving me!

Don't Judge Me

 This morning, I knocked over my hairbrush.  I need my hairbrush.  It fell off the back of my dresser.  

Picture the back of my dresser.  We have lived in the house for forty-six years.  I have never dusted the back of my dresser.  Think what that means.  Dust galore!  

Since I need to brush my hair, I had to look behind my dresser and see where the hairbrush landed. As I retrieved the hairbrush, I saw my old cross.  I had forgotten about it.  I think it may have been my grandmother's.  She had one like it.  I actually have another, exactly the same.  Maybe that's why I never missed it.  Anyway, I retrieved it.  This is what this picture depicts.

There is a corpus (body) on this cross. As I was dusting it, the corpus fell off.  What now?  Nail Jesus back on?  

Meditate upon that thought.

Key Moments

 Marianne Budd is the female priest, who has served as the bishop of Washington DC since 20011, and is no stranger to controversial decisions.  In her homily for the 2025 prayer service for Donal Trump's inauguration, she stressed compassion and mercy toward the marginalized.  This did not sit well with the President and his cabinet.

When I saw that she had written a book on how to be brave, I bought it.  How We Learn to Be Brave, at first seemed to be just a memoir.  More into the book, she tells how other people stepped up, when the time called for it. 

This is a book that highlights how people when faced with certain key moments react: Jesus, Esther, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, etc. They seemed to all be willing to take risks.  They didn't give up.  Not that they are always successful, but they persevere.  

We do not choose where we are in the human story,

only how we live in the time we are given.

Adult Fantasy

 If you liked

Princess Bride, I think you will like The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar. This book is touted as Louis Sachar's first book for adults.  Think Princess Bride for adults.  It has a princess, a magician, tigers in the castle's moat, and other fantasy kingdom tales.  It's an easy read.  When my book club picks books for next year, this book is definitely one to read around the holidays, because we want easy, short books.

The story takes place around the 1500's, in a land that doesn't exist now.  It was somewhere between Italy, France, and Spain.  The princess is betrothed to a prince. However, the princess falls in love with a scribe.  The magician is called in to make a spell to change their minds.  The magician narrates the tale.  

I like the short chapters.  It's like flash fiction.  It is labeled adult because there are sexual innuendos, and a house of prostitution.  Sachar does it so tastefully that I don't think a young teen would get them. 

If you are not an old grouch, I think you will like this story.

The Tiger By the Tail

 You name it: fiction, mystery, thriller, war story, romance, political thriller, suspenseful novel.  Up Country by Nelson DeMille is all that, besides being a good story.  The main character is Paul Brenner, a retired Army detective.  He had just retired, when his former commander asked him to solve one more crime.  This is the plot.

During the Vietnam War, a wounded Vietnamese Cong was on the second floor, trying to remain quiet when he witnessed a terrible crime taking place, below him on the first floor, by the Americans.  This building had been bombed and there were gaps in the floor.  This Cong wrote what happened to his brother, also a Vietnamese soldier, who was killed.  The letter was found and kept as a souvenir by an American soldier.  Many years later, the American soldier decided to send the letter to the United Staes Army/Government, for historical value or whatever.  When the letter was translated the government realized that a crime had been committed and wanted the perpetrator punished. That's the assignment Paul Brenner was given and that's all the reader knows and understands, too.

Brenner has the name, and the Vietnamese village the witness came from.  That's all.  Brenner doesn't even know if the witness was still alive. If he's dead, that the end of the assignment.  If he isn't, Brenner needs to get a positive identification of the perpetrator.  

I think I enjoyed this book so much because I was alive and can identify (in a way) with the times.  I was a twenty-something year old, during the war, and was both anti-war, and very busy with career, marriage, and new family, to really understand what soldiers like Paul Brenner were going through.  I know less than a handful of people who were in the war.

1.  Joe spent the entire war as a dental hygienist, in Japan.

2.  Tom who was a typist in an office, there.

3.  A cribbage partner, who won't talk about it.

4.  A priest who led platoons and had a bounty on his head, as did other platoon leaders.  The witness of the South Vietnamese soldiers, fighting for their homeland, led him to the priesthood.  The soldiers were devout.  

I was not prepared for the descriptions of fighting in Up Country.  I also hesitate to recommend this book to one of my book clubs.  It is gory--too descriptive of the violence perpetrated during war. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I learned, I laughed, I gagged, I cried, I blushed, and I sighed with relief when the crime was exposed.  I'll be thinking about UP Country, for a long time.

Expectations

 A few weeks ago, a "cloistered brother" asked what do you expect to happen, when you pray?  This book, Thirsting for Prayer by Jacques Philippe, has the answer.  It's a small book, only 152 pages.  It is divided into four parts.  They all address how to pray.  The introduction, however, answers my brother's question.  

When we pray, we expect our prayer to yield fruit.  The problem is, we want the kind of fruit we want.  If we are serious about prayer, we will encounter a relationship with God.  Our conversation will yield answers.  At the least, the supplicant will feel the strength and peace they need for their lives to bear fruit, as God desires, and they will understand that.

I did a lot of underlining in this book.  It contains some gems.

In prayer the soul is purified from sin, charity is nurtured, faith takes root, hope is strengthened,
the spirit gladdened.  In prayer the soul melts into tenderness, the heart is purified, the truth reveals 
itself, temptation is overcome, sadness is put to flight.  In prayer, the senses are renewed, lukewarmness vanishes, failing virtue is reinvigorated, the rust of vices is scoured away; and in the exchange,
there come forth living sparks, blazing desires of heaven, in which the flame of divine love burns.

That's what we expect to happen!

A Plum of a Story

 I picked up Plum Island by Nelson Demille, by mistake.  To me, Plum Island is across the Merrimack River and Salisbury Beach's black rocks.  As a child, my family often went there.  So when I saw a book written about Plum Island, I wanted to read it.

My Plum Island is known as a Wildlife refuge.  It's a state park.  I swam and fished there, also.  Demille's Plum Island is in New York, and not for people. It's a government animal disease research center.

However, the book did not disappoint.  The major character is a smart mouth detective, John Corey.  He is recuperating from being shot.  Across from his uncle's summer home is Plum Island.  Corey's neighbors worked there, until they were murdered.  The local sheriff asks for Corey's help.

While investigating, Corey meets two romantic prospects.  Beth is a detective, too.  Emma is a local historian that helps with the background.  John Corey is one horny male animal.  (I overlooked that aspect.) He does, however, start to fall in love with one of the ladies, until she is brutally murdered.  

The plot is a surprise because the purpose of the murder is not what anyone thought.  The story is fast paced.  It is good.

I've learned that John Corey is the protagonist in Demille's other books.  I'm looking forward to reading those.

On the Run

LECTIO:                                                   Matthew 2:1-12

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
in the days of King Herod, 
behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
We saw his star at its rising
and have come to do him homage.”
When King Herod heard this,
he was greatly troubled, 
and all Jerusalem with him.
Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, 
He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, 
for thus it has been written through the prophet:
And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
since from you shall come a ruler,
who is to shepherd my people Israel.”
Then Herod called the magi secretly 
and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 
“Go and search diligently for the child.
When you have found him, bring me word, 
that I too may go and do him homage.”
After their audience with the king they set out.
And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, 
until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.
They were overjoyed at seeing the star, 
and on entering the house
they saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
Then they opened their treasures 
and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, 
they departed for their country by another way.

STUDIUM:

Keep in mind, Jesus' bloodline.  As a son of David's line, He is thoroughly Jewish--Herod is not, and thereby a threat.  Also, this Gospel was written after the destruction of the temple.  For Matthew's audience, Jewish Christians, they would know that Jesus was the temple that was resurrected in three days. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19)

But the major character here is Herod and he is shown to be a scheming coward.  He lies to the Magi and orders all males under two to be killed.

Note how it was non-Jews who were among the first to honor Jesus.  God manifest Himself to all nations.

MEDITATIO:

Herod's plotting was for naught.  God's plans trump Satan's.  I have to always remember that.  Herod's plans were foiled but we can see that from the "get/go", Jesus was not welcomed and is going to have a hard time.

ORATIO:

Lord, may I always trust that You are in control.  Your love is for everybody-believers or not.  You came for all.

CONTEMPLATIO:

Lord, I trust in You.  You are God; I am not.

RESOLUTIO:

I must keep reminding myself that God is control.  He knows what He is doing.  Trust Him!

Secret recipes

 

What do you think?  I asked the chef for the recipe and she wouldn't give it to me.  I looked up recipes and made what I thought would approximate what I wanted.  No, it didn't.  I had made stewed tomatoes.  It was good, but not creamy tomato soup.

I am going to try this Martha Stewart recipe.  Someone commented to just use pasta sause instead of cans of tomatoes.  We'll see.  I'll do both and compare.