Little Red Riding Hood’s Fiat

 Actresses have many roles in their career. The puppet that portrays Little Red Riding Hood is an example. Here she is as Little Red Riding Hood. 

And to play the part of Mary in the Annunciation, here she is again.

Infertility Can Become An Obsession

 

Infertility can be an obsession.  I know from my own experience.  Even though I have three children, I did go through some fertility treatments because I wasn't getting pregnant.  The first time was an easy solution.  I wasn't ovulation and that probably was from a ruptured appendix trama, when I was eleven/twelve years old.  After my first child, five years went by before I sought medical answers, again.  Exploratory surgery opened my tubes.  I was happy with two children but God unexpectantly gave me a third. Thank you, Jesus! 

So I readily identify was Lana, the main character, who couldn't get pregnant, in Her Daughter's Mother by Daniela Petrova.  Lana chose to have an egg donor fertilized with her partner's sperm.  The only problem is that her partner left her.  Lana chose to continue.

When reviewing the donors, Lana saw a picture of a young, healthy egg donor who had the same ancestry that she had.  That's why she chose her.   

One day, coming home she saw the egg donor on the train and decided to follow her to learn more about her.  Lana by this time was pregnant. Well as fate would have it, they met and became friends.

Not much later, the egg donor, the mother of the baby Lana was carried was murdered.  Or was she?

There's no dearth of suspects: Lana's partner--the sperm donor, the psychologist, a jealous boyfriend, and a few more. Lana does her own sleuthing and there are some thrilling scares. This novel is entertaining and a bit different.

Thank You, Jesus, for Loving Father Aniello

Come Gesu, anch'io ti amo fino a morire. 

https://spiritdaily.org/blog/news/well-known-priest-father-aniello-dies-from-covid

I've mentioned this priest numerous times.  He is the one who introduced me to the Holy Spirit.

Rev. Aniello Salicone, S.X.of the Xaverian Missionaries was born in Italy in 1940. In 1952 he entered a Minor Seminary. In 1961 he left the Pontifical Seminary of Salerno (Italy) to join the Xaverian Missionaries in Parma. He was ordained a priest in 1966. After 8 years of ministry in Italy, he left for London to learn English. The year after, he went to Sierra Leone, West Africa to teach and minister in the diocese of Makeni. In 1980, Fr. Aniello went to Chicago for post graduate studies at the Catholic Theological Union (CTU), where he earned his Master of Art in Theology. He went back to West Africa, and was sent to Liberia at St. Paul Major Seminary.

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Fr. Aniello taught Pastoral Theology and ran the seminary for seven years. He went to the Xaverian House in Holliston, Massachusetts in 1994. He began his healing ministry in 1995 and went to Chicago in 2001 to help Fr. Michael Davitti, a Xaverian Missionary who runs the St. Therese Chinese Catholic Mission. He served in Italy, London, West Africa, and many states throughout the United States.  He was one of the Fr. Joe Whalen’s Archangel St. Raphael Holy Healing Ministry’s beloved priests. Fr. Aniello was blessed with many God-given gifts and was the assistant to the Rector at the Xaverian house in Franklin, Wisconsin. Many will remember him for his famous prayer:
“Thank you Jesus for loving me as your number one. Please help me to love You, others, and myself the way you loved me.”

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“His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant.” 

MATTHEW 25:23

Pray always for purity and love

The Entrance

 The Grandkids are learning about Mass.  So far, we've got behavior in the church down--entering and taking a seat.  

We enter the playroom and dip a finger in the holy water font and bless ourselves. Then we look around for the sanctuary light, otherwise, this playroom chapel might not be Catholic. 

Ah, there's a red sanctuary light.

There's a little brouhaha between the altar servers over who's going to light the Sanctuary light, but I assured these little acolytes that there's work for everyone.

And here's the Tabernacle:

We in the congregation need to know where the Tabernacle is (on top of a trunk) because we genuflect facing the Tabernacle, then bless ourselves and go into our pew.  The pew is pretty full of stuffed animals, dolls, and puppets, but they are polite and make room for us.

That's as far as we've got.  Next week we'll learn about the Liturgy of the Word.

What's inside this Tabernacle?  Why didn't you know?  That's the best part.  There's a covered bowl that my niece Christina gave me from Austria.  We are using this as our ciborium.  

We are using chocolate for hosts.  What's better than that?  Money?  Yes! How about chocolate covered money!  

 Then we put our precious valuables inside our Tabernacle.

and we in the pew wait for the procession to enter so Mass can begin.  We all took turns and swapped places.  The altar server carrying the cross.  The Lector carrying the book.  Last is the priest.  

Once everyone reached the altar, we all took our places, the priest kissed the altar and greeted everybody.

Stay tuned.

Things Aren't What They Seem

 What a nightmare--falling in love with your enemy.  That's what happens in Julianne MacLean's novel, A Fire Sparkling.  The plot goes deeper.  Vivian even is tortured by the man she thought she loved.  Events were so terrible that Vivian never talked about them.  

The story unfolds when Vivian's granddaughter, Gillian sets out to find out what happened to the people in Vivian's past.  The past is WWII London and Paris.  So this is a historical novel.  

We All Need Somebody to Blame

 At first, Isabel Wilkerson's book, Caste, reminded me of Rene Girard's Scapegoat, but once Caste became personal, I fell under its spell.  Wilderson proves her point.  The USA has a caste system and black Americans are the lowest caste.  

Just about all the examples she gives, I remember.  I also remember my indifference to the events and the people involved in them--I am ashamed to say.  The most powerful chapter in the book is the last two chapters; she ends with a bang.  

"The Heart Is the Last Frontier," and the "Epilogue: A World Without Caste," meant the most to me.  I learned that regarding people as people gives one empathy for each other and that knocks down preconceptions.  Wilkerson waxes dreamily of a world without bias, where we enjoy everyone's talents and we are one people looking out for each other. (Didn't Jesus say that?)  

Personally, I think the solution is intermarriage.  If everyone has DNA from Asians, Africans, etc., and everyone has someone in their family who is gay or trans, etc., only then will everyone be free of prejudices.

But that's a reach, no?

However, I also remember from Girard's Scapegoat, that the human being needs to blame someone.  The most common question asked when anything happens is, "WHO did this?", not "How do we fix this?"  

Adam blamed Eve.  Eve blamed the serpent.  Who's going to get blamed next?

Cardinal Cushing's Outreach to Other Faiths

Cardinal Cushing's outreach to other faiths: This week we continue to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the death of Cardinal Richard Cushing by highlighting the developments in ecumenism and interfaith relations.  

1960's!