Rules for Life

 This is making the rounds.  Anything to add?  My favorite is # 1.

Canute Anecdote

Coin with Canute image

Canute (Cnut) (?994-1035) was king of Denmark, Norway, England, and Sweden.  It has been said that he was the most effective king in Anglo Saxon history, in spite of not being Anglo Saxon.

I like this story about him.  He was truly a humble man.  By that I mean that he was a gifted leader and acknowledged his gifts.  In addition, he also acknowledged his shortcomings.  The story relates how Canute rebuked the flattery of his retainers.  Tiring of their extravagant praises of his greatness, he brought everybody down to the seashore, with his throne chair.  He ordered his chair to be set at the edge of the water, as the waves came in.  Canute then commanded the waves to not come in and wet him.  The incoming tide did not obey.  When Canute was thoroughly soaked, he took off his king's                  crown and never wore it again.  Instead, he hung it upon a statue of the crucified Christ.

$ 500 or a Year in Prison

Due to the blizzard, Feb. 8, Governor Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency and closed all the streets at 4:00 PM and posted a fine of $ 500, or a year in prison, for violating the ban.  Hence, I’m stuck at home.  Fortunately, the electricity has not gone out and the television and computer are still operating.

In checking my email and Facebook, some friends were discussing the penalty for violating the emergency ban.  Joking, it was commented that perhaps being in prison wouldn't be so bad; they’d get some writing accomplished. 

 Mmmm, what would my “cloistered brothers” think about that.  Writing?  Pencils and pens aren't that readily available in prison.  Were they thinking of using a computer—in prison?  You would be lucky to be able to think.  There’s a constant din of noise; it’s not a hotel with privacy doors.  Would you like to use the toilet in your cell? Actually, that’s the only available seat.   Do you want a desk lamp?  Get real!  The lighting depends on where your cell is.  The overhead lighting in the halls and corridors are it.  Deal with it.

Yet, St. Paul managed to do quite a bit of writing, in prison.  And his writing was filled with hope and joy.  I’m sure there were deprivations, but Paul never mentions them.  His sufferings added depth to his words.  His chains were part of his apostleship. 

Others have done likewise.  Remember the religious sisters jailed for demonstrating against the US Army School of the Americas.  Their arrest, their diaries, and the publicity surrounding their imprisonment allowed their message to get out further than they thought it ever would.

Is the idea of getting their writing more publicity, enticement enough to want to risk prison?  Not, for violation of an emergency ban.  There’s no honor in that.  Better to book a weekend at an inn.  Do your writing in quiet with accommodating surroundings.  St. Paul says:

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.  May no temptations take hold of you but such as man is equal to.  God is faithful and will not permit you to be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also give you a way out that you may be able to bear it.  (1Cor. 10:12-13)

150 Years a Priest

The Apostle of Prisons, Pere Marie Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P. was ordained a priest 150 years ago, on February 8, 1863.  Here are some of his impressions on that very day.  These are compiled by Renata Commazind from the Resurrection Community in Casco, Maine.

Ordination to the Priesthood of Fr. Lataste – February 8, 1863  The Apostle of Prisons

Approaching his Ordination, Fr. Lataste still felt the fear before the sanctity which such a mission demands. But he is not crushed anymore by that call, as when he was young.; he trusts now in God’s mercy:

He writes;” Oh! How the power of the Priest is high, marvelous, redoubtable! Also, when one often sees men at the hight of their position of their work in the world, never though can a priest, as virtuous and saintly he might be, ever be worthy of his mission, rigorously speaking; he will always be less; what he will be, he will be, not by his merits but only by the great mercy of God towards him.”  

                                                                                                  Pg. 100 of “Ces femmes qui etaaient mes soeurs”      

                                                                                                              Book by Fr. Jean Marie Gueullette O.P.             

February 8, 1863- Marseille - Br. Jean Joseph Lataste is ordained to the Priesthood by Msg. Petagna, representing the Bsp. of Marseille. In the Oratory of the Third Order Sisters of St. Dominic.

February 10.- Fr. Jean Joseph celebrates Mass for the first time. It is the Commemoration of the suffering of Our Lord.

Febr. 11, - Feast of the Engagement of Mary and Joseph. Fr. Lataste celebrates the second time ,Holy mass at the Grotto of St. Mary Magdaleine at La St. Baume.

February 23, 1863 he writes to Mrs. Piron ( a good friend )  “ Yes, now I am a priest, a servant of God, priest for all eternity. I leave it to you and your heart and piety to guess what feelings were then in my soul and still are every day. Feelings of joy, gratefulness, love, of total giving of myself to the will of God, who is so good, so merciful, so wonderful toward his children, even to the weakest and most unworthy. The 8th and 10th of Feb., are two days, which I will never forget. My father and my oldest brother Theophil and the youngest of the three, my brother Honore, were with me. The always pious and good Honore and the two others were first uneasy, but then deeply touched. The light has not yet touched their souls, but everything moved them: the dignity of the celebration, the impression which a first Mass gives, especially in the presence of 80 Monks, a day of a solemn exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, the fraternal welcome, which they received, the intimate joy and the true fatherly affection which one receives in a Cloister.”            By Robert and Claude Evers in “Apostle of Prisons” 

Can I Play?

This video gives you the raison d’etre for the book, It’s Game Time Somewhere, by Tim Forbes.  This is the theme—watch 100 events, 50 sports, within a year.  But why?  This is the story, and the journey to get there.  That’s why you’ll keep turning the pages.  And that’s why you’ll nod your head in agreement.

Not every dream ends when you wake up.  Some people are blessed to continue the dream.  Tim Forbes was blessed enough to drop out of the corporate world and step into his dream world.  It’s Game Time Somewhere: How One Year, 100 Events, and 50 Different Sports Changed My Life, relates this dream of Tim Forbes, who left his successful corporate job and lifestyle to pursue his love of sports.

Tim and his wife, The Bird, make a deal.  The deal was that Tim would support The Bird, while she went for her MBA, and then the roles would reverse.  The Bird would support Tim, while he left his corporate job and pursued his dream—working in sports.

The tale is the story of what happens to Tim.  Starting at Professional Golfers Career College, to “sports society experiences", the reader is taken on tour in making life-changing decisions, to disenchantment slowly evolving, back to capturing excitement.   As an adult looking at his childhood's favorite sports, they seem like love—better the second time around? 

Forbes writing style is fun.  His descriptions, surprises, disappointments, and disgust, are portrayed vividly.  The reader will feel.  He calls the commercials during TV games Television Interruptus.  Watching the games as a spectator at the real event, he can pick out the wasted time the game is forced to play around, just to accommodate the sponsors' commercials.  At least at home, you can switch channels, but at the event, itself, Forbes cries out, “What to do?  What to do…?   I’ve got it!  Let’s break up the monotony with a beer and a quick fistfight!”

The Little League World Series had such long breaks that “Several of the players completed puberty in the time it took to get the back underway.” 

Forbes landed a job in golf, after Professional Golfers Career College.  It soon became a “job.”  After this job, Forbes took up his “sports walkabout” seriously—50 different sports.  And the sports weren't just the big ones: football, baseball, soccer, etc.  He visited 100 events from car racing, swimming, tennis, kickball, cross country, curling, etc. 

He learned that being a sports fan wasn't as much fun as it use to be, and it just may be the fans’ fault.  But you will see, reading further, it will depend on the level of the sport.  “There is an undeniable ugliness in the world of spectator sports.”  Money spoils the fun. 

The amateurs, the second-tier, the no-hyped, fringe sports, were where the spectators found the most satisfaction.  “Smaller just may be better.”  Who knew?

Somewhere from packed stadiums to counting heads, the spectator atmosphere changed for the better.  The smaller group lived and died with their athletes.  These second-tier sports had die-hard followers.  They took their victories and defeats to heart.  And get this—they also took their good attempts to heart. 

Another surprise was learning about the transition from paying athletes to play, to athletes paying to play.  What a concept!  This epiphany came when Forbes realized that The Bird paid an entry fee to run a marathon.  Now here’s proof of an athlete loving her sport.  She actually paid for the privilege to play!

There are many lessons, in It’s Game Time Somewhere.  Tim Forbes learns to love a new sport—lawn bowl; he makes new friends, he has new found appreciation for some hard working, and deserving athletes, and he has written a book.  A good book, that relates how a man learns a lot about himself, while journaling the process.  

Pray to Listen and Understand

Open these ears.

Luke 4: 20-30 relates the story of Jesus preaching in the temple.  "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."  And he goes on to tell the people that they don't listen.  That they don't get it.

Can you imagine the scene?  Everyone arguing, shouting, pushing, and maybe calmer people trying to make sense of it all.  The result being that the crowd wanted to push Jesus off a cliff.

Nice.

He escapes.  I picture his escape was due more to the crowd arguing among each other.  They probably turned their wrath from Jesus to someone else, like some obnoxious loud mouth. I also don't think it would be common practice to throw someone off a cliff because they didn't like his preaching. Who'd open their mouth, it that were so.

You have to have "ears that hear," to understand Jesus' message.  You have to have faith and hope, too.  Greater than faith and hope, Jesus shows us how to love.  We are to love the Father; we are to love our neighbor.

And this is why they wanted to throw Him off a cliff.

Pope on Social Networks

I'm happy to see the Pope tweet and on Facebook, and blogging.  All media should be utilized to promote the Good News.  But I'm glad that he's he, and not me.  I could never stand all these "hangers-on" types pulling on me.  Just look at them, in this short clip.  Don't you feel like shouting, "Leave him alone?"