One of the most deadly tendencies of pastors, teachers, and parents must be the denial of sin and the consequences of sin.
The false ideology of "universal salvation", very popular among those who have fallen away Catholic children or grandchildren, pushes Catholics into fake positions of mercy which ignores justice.
Those who suffer from evil people, (who make, even daily, evil decisions), hope and pray for justice, and share the recognition that consequences follow sin.
Temporal punishment due to sin is a teaching of the Catholic Church. Saints understand that hell is real and that even they could go to hell. The making of saints has become more difficult because of the clouding of minds, hearts, souls regarding who is saved and who is not.
Who is saved? Those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, states John in the Book of Revelation.
Who is not saved? Those who refuse to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and keep His commandments, states Paul in the Epistle to Titus and in other places.
Simple....the saints are those who love and obey Christ.
Those leaders in the Church should be in the business of making saints.
Are they? Do they? Do we?
Monday, 29 December 2014
Prayers, Please
Down to low 40s and no heat as I cannot afford to run it for long....
The flat is too drafty and the heat goes away as soon as the monster-electricity meter-eater is off.
Two duvets, a sweater, a coat and a hot water bottle, sleeping in jeans and a turtle neck and I am still cold.
STS calls me the "Salamander". I am reminded of W. H. Auden, who when visiting Vienna, was so cold, he took the pictures off the wall and put them on top of him. I sympathize entirely....
You can find part two......
The flat is too drafty and the heat goes away as soon as the monster-electricity meter-eater is off.
Two duvets, a sweater, a coat and a hot water bottle, sleeping in jeans and a turtle neck and I am still cold.
STS calls me the "Salamander". I am reminded of W. H. Auden, who when visiting Vienna, was so cold, he took the pictures off the wall and put them on top of him. I sympathize entirely....
Why A Certain Kid Got Weird Pressies for Christmas
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| http://sunnybrookmontessori.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/13-cutting-carrots.jpg |
In 1998, when STS was ten, his Christmas pressies included an adult cookbook and a complete tool kit. I told him I did not want him to grow up being a helpless male. His daddy's idea of fixing something was calling in a handyman. Well, I ended up fixing things, like loose doorknobs, toilet handles and bulbs, blinds, both Roman and Venetian, and various things in the kitchen. I also did all the painting and decorating.
STS can do tons of useful stuff, plus he makes computers.
Well, a kid does not have to grow up helpless. We also had jars of screws, nails, bolts, nuts and other bits, never throwing out what could be useful. We had two drawers, called "Miscellaneous Drawers" of things to re-use and for fixing up other things-like those extra metal clips one gets in Pier One flat furniture for example.
We can fix most small things and figure out bigger things. We ripped old carpet off of oak floors and redid them with rubbing and wax. We decorated with wallpaper and paint and stencils. We stripped doors or other things, fixed back and front steps, drawers, various bits of furniture and so on.
We could fix broken phones, radios, and tvs. It is in the blood, I think, to do such things, but parents have to let kids experiment and have fun making and mending things.
We had two large sets of drawers with computer pieces and bits to fix printers and speakers.
Why not?
One learns to be creative as well as handy. I taught myself rosemaling and stenciling, painting, and removing wallpaper, stripping doors, sanding and varnishing. (I do have a background in studying art, but my dad let me help do such things).
Fun, and good therapy for intellectuals.
I heard a parent say that he did not want his boys to learn how to do manual labor.
Sad.
STS has helped me lay out four flower gardens from scratch, lay a patio down in the back, make a stone garden path, put up fencing, build a shrine, make alpine and rock gardens, in addition to herbal borders and work with trees and bushes.
He can clean drains, clean outside gutters, fix windows, and basically figure out what he does not know.
Why? Math and physics, plus a mom who wanted him to be capable.
Such skills teach patience, logic, and give confidence to kids.
To be a snob an not let your child do anything creates an adult child.....
We can cook Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Tex-Mex, Ukrainian, Czech, Indian, English and American.
Giving STS a cookbook opened up a new love for him-cooking. And we learned how to work together in the kitchen without killing each other-a real feat.
Part of cooking is learning to shop for food, and I hear from the diocesan grapevine, that such a skill is desired in the rectories where that certain sem has worked.
To know kale from lettuce from romaine from chicory from lolla rosa from radicchio is a learned skill, as well as learning how to use spices.
Well, you all get the point. Of course, as a Montessori mother, I let STS cut carrots when he was two, pour real liquids using glass jugs and cups, and basically hit the sensitive time for learning practical skills an fine motor movement skills. Toddlers can help with Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner prep, including oiling down or buttering down the turkey and making cookies and fruit breads. Two to three year olds can chop peppers, cut celery and carrot sticks, pour water into the glasses, help make stuffing, mash potatoes and so on. They can also grind herbs and cut green spring onions.
Being a mom is fun, and having a child who can do things is also fun.....
What happened to parents?
Sad day for Britain--Retreat!
What happened to the good, old Blighty spirit?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2888716/Retreating-Queen-s-Guard-End-era-palace-sentries-fall-face-mounting-fears-new-lone-wolf-terrorist-attack.html
link now works....for me at least and hope so for the readers
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2888716/Retreating-Queen-s-Guard-End-era-palace-sentries-fall-face-mounting-fears-new-lone-wolf-terrorist-attack.html
link now works....for me at least and hope so for the readers
Sad day for Malta
The banner headline in today's Times of Malta is this: "Church doesn't have to take a central role."
This was said by the Apostolic Administrator Bishop Charles Scicluna in response to the President Marie-Louis Coleiro Preca's Republic Day comment in her main speech that the Church was "no longer central to Maltese Society."
Sad, sad, sad. The role of the Church is to guide and inform the State. Without Catholicism, any States becomes rudderless and will soon be ruined on the rocks of socialism, (most Catholics here do not get that socialism is wrong and dangerous), and secularism. To denigrate the role of the Church in Malta is to acknowledge the death of a culture, of a unique civilization.
The bishop tried to gloss over the statement by saying that a light illumines a room if it is in a corner, as well as in the middle of the room. False analogy.
Without Catholicism, the one true religion, societies fall quickly into relativism, subjectivism, selfishness, greed, and all the other capital sins.
If Christ is not the center of social and political life, chaos follows.
Already, Malta has legalized same-sex marriage and divorce. Pro-abortion legislation is just a matter of time, as most of the non-Muslims here contracept.
I am disappointed in Bishop Scicluna's reponse. He should have challenged the president head-on. Catholics do not need to ameliorate deceit and evil. He should have made a much stronger statement. Without strong, masculine, aggressive clergy at the top of the hierarchy, Catholicism will fade away, disappear, and churches will close.
Malta will no longer be Malta.
Of what are these churchmen afraid?
Restaurant Check in Malta
Tarragon is in St. Paul's Bay. The food is superb, the wine excellent, and the service amazing. The waiters are quiet but efficient. None of this horrible Maltese habit of hovering over one while one is trying to eat and discuss St. Augustine's views on massa damnata.
I learned that in my absence, STS has, under the normal tutelage of seminaries and good older friends, become an expert in wines.
We had a South American white wine, which name escapes me and yummy food overlooking the very rocks on which St. Paul crashed.
I mentioned that I wondered what he would think of this place and STS assured me that he knew how to abound and how to be abased. STS made sure I had a night of abundance.
Recommended by STM and STS, Tarragon...http://www.tarragonmalta.com/
I have just heard that the owner has opened another place, more like a cafe, in St. Julian's. Perhaps, I can share info on that place....
Making Saints Part Two
Holy communities with real saints for abbots or prioresses or whoever, would make for excellent followers.
The same is true for families. If the leader, that is the dad, is holy, the chance for vocations and holiness in the children seems more likely.
Some people say saints are born, not made. Yes, God does decide through Divine Providence and predestination, who will have more grace and what types of grace. One can follow my other posts on grace and predestination on these points.
But, environment must be an issue of importance. Children raised in godless households, totally spoiled and without virtue training, can become saints, but it is much harder. One cannot count on a St. Augustine.
The newer orders may have a better chance of nurturing saints than the older ones, and many older ones are dying out. The vocation numbers reflect both the charism of the founders, such as Dominic or John Bosco, but also those in current authority.
Of course, if the older orders embraced the Latin Mass, I am convinced we would see a renewal of the traditional orders.
to be continued...
The same is true for families. If the leader, that is the dad, is holy, the chance for vocations and holiness in the children seems more likely.
Some people say saints are born, not made. Yes, God does decide through Divine Providence and predestination, who will have more grace and what types of grace. One can follow my other posts on grace and predestination on these points.
But, environment must be an issue of importance. Children raised in godless households, totally spoiled and without virtue training, can become saints, but it is much harder. One cannot count on a St. Augustine.
The newer orders may have a better chance of nurturing saints than the older ones, and many older ones are dying out. The vocation numbers reflect both the charism of the founders, such as Dominic or John Bosco, but also those in current authority.
Of course, if the older orders embraced the Latin Mass, I am convinced we would see a renewal of the traditional orders.
to be continued...
An Epiphany
Thinking of St. Thomas Aquinas today, and Becket, and many of the great leaders of our Church who have been canonized, it dawned on me how hard it is for a family, a community, and a society to help create a saint.
A person becomes a saint within a context, and not in a vacuum. We know that some saints, including Aquinas, became holy against the wishes of their parents. St. Damien of Molokai did not have the support of his parents, either. Saints born and growing in adversity may be called to live in adversity, hence, the training from youth.
Some saints are nurtured in the home to become holy, such as St. Therese the Little Flower, and St. Etheldreda, who seems to have so many saints in the family one loses track of the names. SS. Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa were brothers, and another brother, Peter, as well as the mother, Emilia, the grandmother Macrina, the sister Macrina, and the sister Theosebia are all saints. We honor SS. Augustine and Monica, as well as SS. Bernard of Clairvaux, his holy mother Blessed Aleth, his brothers Blesseds.
My epiphany today involves the fact that saints are not made without tender loving care or great fighting within a family. The nature of the saint is not to be mediocre, but strong and independent of the world. A saint becomes so either in adversity or in the great nurturing of a holy family, a theme about which I have written on this blog before, especially in the home schooling series and virtue series.
But, this light on the nurturing of saints reveals that those born in adversity to holiness or to expectations which are not "holy", still need nurturing, such as in a religious order, or a good convent or excellent seminary.
This is the problem. The Catholic Church is lacking in holy institutions. Holy institutions are made when holy men and women create or carry on the original vision of holiness, such as that of SS. Benedict, Stephen Harding, Dominic, or God Himself, as in the vocation to marriage.
I shall continue this later.
A person becomes a saint within a context, and not in a vacuum. We know that some saints, including Aquinas, became holy against the wishes of their parents. St. Damien of Molokai did not have the support of his parents, either. Saints born and growing in adversity may be called to live in adversity, hence, the training from youth.
Some saints are nurtured in the home to become holy, such as St. Therese the Little Flower, and St. Etheldreda, who seems to have so many saints in the family one loses track of the names. SS. Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa were brothers, and another brother, Peter, as well as the mother, Emilia, the grandmother Macrina, the sister Macrina, and the sister Theosebia are all saints. We honor SS. Augustine and Monica, as well as SS. Bernard of Clairvaux, his holy mother Blessed Aleth, his brothers Blesseds.
My epiphany today involves the fact that saints are not made without tender loving care or great fighting within a family. The nature of the saint is not to be mediocre, but strong and independent of the world. A saint becomes so either in adversity or in the great nurturing of a holy family, a theme about which I have written on this blog before, especially in the home schooling series and virtue series.
But, this light on the nurturing of saints reveals that those born in adversity to holiness or to expectations which are not "holy", still need nurturing, such as in a religious order, or a good convent or excellent seminary.
This is the problem. The Catholic Church is lacking in holy institutions. Holy institutions are made when holy men and women create or carry on the original vision of holiness, such as that of SS. Benedict, Stephen Harding, Dominic, or God Himself, as in the vocation to marriage.
I shall continue this later.
The Kindness of God
Kindness. a virtue, as well as an Attribute of God, is fast disappearing from this earth. One cannot measure kindness in terms of Christmas gifts, or party invitations, or coffee-dates. One measures kindness in such movements of the soul as forgiveness, love, and peace.
Too many religions and too many people fall into hatred, seeing this great evil as a strength rather than a weakness. Mercy comes from a strong heart, not a weak one. To forgive and to forget indicates an inner peace, most likely won through suffering and death of self.
Kindness comes from the soul when a person looks at another in mercy. Sometimes this is hard, as when one is insulted or worse, purposefully injured. But St. Bernard today reminds us that this type of deep mercy is what God gives us in Christ, in the Baby in the manger and on the Cross. Can we not attempt to do the same, measuring kindness by the stick of mercy?
When we become kind, we think of the suffering of the other more than our own. When we become kind, we see the suffering Christ in the face of the other. When we become kind, we have wrestled with our own sins, begging God to purify us through His mercy and grace.
| In the fullness of time there came also the fullness of God from St. Bernard The kindness and love of God our saviour for mankind were revealed. Thanks be to God, through whom we receive such abundant consolation in this pilgrimage, this exile, this distress. |
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Before his humanity appeared, his kindness lay concealed. Of course it was already in existence, because the mercy of the Lord is from eternity, but how could men know it was so great? It was promised but not yet experienced: hence many did not believe in it. At various times and in various different ways, God spoke through the prophets,saying I know the plans I have in mind for you: plans for peace, not disaster.
What reply did man make, man who felt the affliction, and knew nothing of peace? ‘How long will you keep saying “Peace, peace” when there is no peace?’ And so the angels of peace weep bitterly saying Lord, who has believed our report?
But now at last let men believe their own eyes, because all God’s promises are to be trusted. So that it cannot escape the notice of even troubled eyes, He has set up his tabernacle in the sun. Behold, peace is no longer promised, but conferred; no longer delayed, but given; no longer predicted, but bestowed. Behold, God has sent down to earth a bag bulging with his mercy, a bag that, at the passion, is torn open so that our ransom pours out of it onto us. A small bag, perhaps, but a full one: for it was a small child that was given to us, but in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead.
After the fullness of time had come, there came too the fullness of the Godhead. He came in the flesh, so that at least he might make himself manifest to our earthly minds, so that when this humanity of his appeared, his kindness might also be acknowledged. Where the humanity of God appears, his kindness can no longer be hidden. In what way, indeed, could he have better commended his kindness than by assuming my flesh? My flesh, that is, not Adam’s, as it was before the fall.
What greater proof could he have given of his mercy than by taking upon himself that very thing which needed mercy? Where is there such perfect loving-kindness as in the fact that for our sake the Word of God became perishable like the grass? Lord, what is man, that you make much of him or pay him any heed?
Let man infer from this how much God cares for him. Let him know from this what God thinks of him, what he feels about him. Man, do not ask about your own sufferings; but about what God suffered. Learn from what he was made for you, how much he makes of you, so that his kindness may show itself to you from his humanity.
The lesser he has made himself in his humanity, the greater has he shown himself in kindness. The more he humbles himself on my account, the more powerfully he engages my love. The kindness and humanity of God our Saviour appeared says St Paul. The humanity of God shows the greatness of his kindness, and he who added humanity to the name of God gave great proof of this kindness.
The Lashing of The Tail
Quite a while ago, a priest told me that when we experience a victory over evil in our lives, or in the lives of someone for whom we are praying, and, especially if we have asked Mary, Our Mother to intercede, we sometimes get negative feedback from the devil.
He called it the "lashing of the tail". This holy man explained to me that Mary stands on the head of satan, but the tail moves back and forth, hitting those who have been instrumental in interceding for a spiritual victory.
The lashing of the tail may result in an illness, or injury. It may result in the loss of some material object or objects. It may result in a misunderstanding among friends-anything which God allows the devil to inflict on those who pray, fast, work for the Kingdom.
My guess is that many of you readers have experienced the lashing of the tail and have wondered why, after answers to prayers, something, or some things seems to go wrong. If we are not experiencing negative feedback, we are not doing our job as Catholics.
Years ago, I complained to God about this lashing of the tail after a particular prayer was answered for someone else. I said to the Father that I was upset that such devilish activity was surrounding me.
A little voice, a quiet voice, said "You do not see what my Hand is holding back. You do not see how you are protected."
Well, I do now not question the lashing of the tail. Nor do I expect such. But, if God allows a few war wounds, I rejoice.
However, you all can still pray for me, and for those who have gotten lashed by the tail.
Sunday, 28 December 2014
Jesus Found Where?
A very smart person told me that St. Luke's emphasis of Christ reaching out to the Gentiles, women, and the outcasts, such as the shepherds in the fields, reminded him of the Mary and Joseph finding Jesus in the Temple.
But, in what court did they find him? This vsp indicated that Christ could have been in the Court of the Gentiles, as Mary was allowed to find him, and she would not have been allowed in the normal court of the Jewish teachers, which was reserved for men only.
Of course, Mary could have, as a distraught mum, "gate-crashed", as I pointed out.
The vsp noted that Christ could have been teaching in the Court of the Women.
Interesting idea, as Mary would have been accepted there, and, as this vsp noted, nowhere does Luke indicate that any men asked Jesus where his parents were, as they would not necessarily do either in the Court of the Gentiles or the Court of the Women.
If Christ was found in either, this would be another poignant passage where God is showing that His Son was being sent to the outcasts, those who were not the "in-crowd", the Sadducees, Pharisees, and scribes.
This is an interesting theory. As I noted earlier on this blog, I believe that the shepherds were outcasts and the fact that the angels came to them was God showing that His plan for salvation went beyond the call of the People of the Promise, the Jews.
Thinking that Mary would have caused shock and horror in the main court, and would have been accepted in the Court of the Women and the Court of the Gentiles, I believe this theory may be true.
The teachers could have been teaching anywhere, but Mary would not have been allowed anywhere.
The finding of the Child Christ in the temple has always intrigued me and is an important event in Scripture, as it proves absolutely without a doubt that Christ always knew He was God, which is the teaching of the Catholic Church.
None of this modernist heresy, that Christ did not know He was God until His, baptism stuff...nope.
From the moment of His Conception, the Incarnate One was aware of Who He Is.
And, He was reminding His Mother in this event in the Temple.
Mothers need to be reminded of the work of their children, which is not their work, but God's.
I now wonder in what court Jesus was found....I wonder if Luke, a Gentile, was telling us that Christ had come for all men...and women.
A most difficult year coming to an end...
We all have what we can call the annus horribilis, the worst year, or one of the worst years of our lives.
Perhaps it was the year one lost a spouse to an unwanted divorce or to death,
Perhaps it was the year one lost a child to death.
Perhaps it was a year when one lost a job, a home, status.
Perhaps it was a year one had cancer and operations.
This past year has been one of the most difficult in my life as I did not see my son for fifteen months until this past short holiday. Not seeing one's child for any length of time, not knowing when one will see that child again, not being able to share birthdays, or special days must be one of the worst sufferings a mum can experience. One just carries suffering around in one's soul, quietly, until it carves out a place for God to come and stay. But, consolations do not necessarily come with God's Presence.
One gives one's children to God and then lets God take them wherever and whenever He chooses. We raise our children to be virtuous and mature adults and let them go do what God created them to do.
My son belongs to God, Mary and the Church, not me. But, I wish I could live in the same country as he does. Please continue to pray for that miracle, and that I do not lose confidence that God wants me in Auld Blighty. One walks in darkness while faith, hope and charity bring one to the fullness of God's plan.
Perhaps it was the year one lost a spouse to an unwanted divorce or to death,
Perhaps it was the year one lost a child to death.
Perhaps it was a year when one lost a job, a home, status.
Perhaps it was a year one had cancer and operations.
This past year has been one of the most difficult in my life as I did not see my son for fifteen months until this past short holiday. Not seeing one's child for any length of time, not knowing when one will see that child again, not being able to share birthdays, or special days must be one of the worst sufferings a mum can experience. One just carries suffering around in one's soul, quietly, until it carves out a place for God to come and stay. But, consolations do not necessarily come with God's Presence.
One gives one's children to God and then lets God take them wherever and whenever He chooses. We raise our children to be virtuous and mature adults and let them go do what God created them to do.
My son belongs to God, Mary and the Church, not me. But, I wish I could live in the same country as he does. Please continue to pray for that miracle, and that I do not lose confidence that God wants me in Auld Blighty. One walks in darkness while faith, hope and charity bring one to the fullness of God's plan.
Prayers Needed
Dear Readers, please pray for me as for the past week I have been suffering with increased painful tendinitis in my left foot and leg, and a right knee problem which is growing worse.
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| Shoes, England, 2012 |
As a walker and one who relies on my self to get around, especially to Mass and Adoration, these two afflictions have proved to be serious.
Thanks so much for your prayers. All for the glory of God...
Feast Day of Thomas a Becket
Tomorrow is the feast day of Thomas a Becket. Those of us in the modern world do not appreciate that his shrine was one of the largest and most popular pilgrimage destinations in Europe until Henry VIII ruined it.
The shrine appealed to all those who saw the tensions between Church and State as realities, and that Thomas represented the true hierarchy of Church over State.
The Church has the right and duty to not only educate those who work for the State, but to actually help form the basis for State government.
This simple fact has been lost by the Protestant emphasis on the separation of Church and State, a false teaching meant to diminish the authority of the Church in government, politics, the economy and society in general.
How common but how silly it is to think that man is only material, and without a soul. All laws and customs of a State must be built on this fact-that the goal of life is heaven, not earth.
Becket's life and death remind us that we need to make choices daily which include the realization that we are not dualistic beings, but persons with spiritual and physical needs. Becket reminds us that the Church is first and States are second in the hierarchy of truth, morals, virtues, and organization.
The City of God dwells within the City of Man, but sadly, too many people, including clerics, have wanted the Church to serve the State instead of having the State protect the Church.
That is the duty of a true State-to protect God's one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church from Her enemies. Becket points to the sad truth that too often the State persecutes the Church.
It is easy to see why the shrine at Canterbury was one of the first to be destroyed by the very king who took the Church and crushed it in order to make a new one, a false one, totally under the power of the State.
Becket's tomb and shrine would have been a constant reminder of Henry's sins and his taking authority away from the Pope and clergy.
So, the shrine, the tomb, the relics had to go.
Many years ago, I was at the Venerabile in Rome for this feast day. The Anglican cleric in charge of keeping the skull of Becket at the Anglican parish in Rome brought the glass casket to the seminary for all of us to venerate. I remember as if it were yesterday going up to the altar and looking at the skull with the mark of the broad sword, and kissing the glass case.
Honor Becket. His presence in the Church Victorious will be more and more a sign for us in the time to come.
Parenting Styles
I have been observing families all over America and in some countries of Europe over the past several years. I also have reflected on my own upbringing and on my own small family.
Parenting styles have become more and more inconsistent over the years. I actually blame the fact that parents have wanted to be friends with their children on an misunderstanding or refusal to take God-given authority over one's children.
But, even in years past, pre-Vatican II if we Catholics want to have a point in time in which to place changes in family life, parenting styles were becoming more and more fluid.
Even in the 1950s, one could see patriarchies in the Midwest of American having differences of interpretation. As I grew up among Swedes, Norwegians, Germans, Luxembourgians and Czechs, the families were based on patriarchies.
Ireland, England, and Malta are matriarchies.
But, even within these larger categories, parenting styles vary.
I see that some parents want to be parents always, which is good and bad, but not necessarily respecting their adult children as adults.
I see some parents stopping being parents as soon as the children leave home, living very separate lives on purpose from their children.
I see parents disagreeing on parenting styles in families, causing confusion among the children and causing a disgust with authority based on an unreal, antagonistic view of what and how a couple should act with children.
More and more, I am witnessing a huge problem of parents not training their children to respect adults.
This, sadly, is very obvious in Malta.
But, one thing is clear-that the Catholic ideal of parenting is rarely employed, people falling into ethnic or dysfunctional models learned as children.
A real sign of the decay of the West is the lack of parental, specifically paternal authority. Only when a biological father decides to be a real spiritual and psychological father can there be stability in a family.
I intend to reflect on my large sample of experience, but also to look into what the ideal family should look like, as God has a plan for families. This plan does not mean that we are to live like cookie-cutter parents, but that within a framework of the true religion, there is a way for stability and spirituality within the family.
One thing is very clear--the matriarchal model is not only dangerous but an aberration to be corrected. I am not sure in some cultures that this is possible until fathers and husbands decide to embrace the authority given to them by God.
to be continued.....
Comino
Because of rough seas, our ferry this morning crossed over to the far side of Comino. Now, I would love to live on Comino, but there are only four people living there now. It is a bird sanctuary and I would love that as birds are my favorite animals.
Apparently, when the weather in the past was too awful for the priest to come on Saturday night and Sunday morning for Mass, the residents use to face the Mass being held on the Gozo mainland church of Our Lady of the Rock, and follow the Mass with semaphore like flags...I do not know for sure if this is true, but it makes for a great legend.
Comino is a rock with scrub brushes, but if I could get the wifi there and go to the chapel daily, I think this would be a great place for a semi-contemplative.
Returning later.
Saturday, 27 December 2014
Walking in The Footsteps of Ancestors
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| http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Temple_de_Ggantija.jpg |
The Ggantija Temple site dates back to 3,600-3,200. The people who built this temple and others, as the one at Tarxien, which I visited in October of 2013, disappeared suddenly after a few 1,000 years, and before the Phoenicians and Romans came to Malta.
Over fifty temple sites dot the islands of Gozo and Malta, which seems to be an extraordinary number of sacred places for such small spaces. Only animals were sacrificed, including pigs, cows, goats and birds, which look in the drawings, like quail.
A cult of fertility also seems obvious because of all the "fat ladies" found, statues of small to huge sizes of well-endowed females, as well as some phallic symbols.
To stand in a place where human beings stood over 5,000 years ago creates a feeling of continuity. But, who these people were and where they came from is a mystery. The one female skull computer-reconstructed, looks very much like a beautiful Maltese woman, and definitely Caucasian.
The mystery of the people of the Temples of Malta and Gozo may never be solved
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