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...in the Church Militant!
Saturday, 28 March 2015
Malta Day on The Blog
Today, most of my posts are about Malta.
Here are photos from my Christmas visit with STS. I had not seen him for fifteen months...too long!
Enjoy, and pray for this brave, little island so close to my heart.
Advertisements on the plane engines! Explaining Maltese goodies!
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One of the famous Cats of Malta asleep in the local, corner store below. Miss the cats of Malta.
The artwork and holy items are from the great museum at Rabat.
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Here are photos from my Christmas visit with STS. I had not seen him for fifteen months...too long!
Enjoy, and pray for this brave, little island so close to my heart.
Advertisements on the plane engines! Explaining Maltese goodies!
One of the famous Cats of Malta asleep in the local, corner store below. Miss the cats of Malta.
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| Reliquary |
One of the saints of Malta tends the ill and wounded
Roman Mosaic from the Roman Villa at Rabat build during the reign of Claudius.
Tomb in the catacombs at Rabat dating backs thousands of years.
Supertradmum looking towards St. Paul's Bay where St. Paul was shipwrecked. I am wearing layers because of the cold.
Maltese wine and potato skins for a late lunch looking towards St. Paul's Bay.
STM on a freezing cold day in Gozo at the oldest ruins of temples in the world, the Ġgantija Temples. More may be found here.
Malta Day on The Blog
Today, most of my posts are about Malta.
Here are photos from my Christmas visit with STS. I had not seen him for fifteen months--too long!
Enjoy, and pray for this brave, little island so close to my heart.
Advertisements on the plane engines! Explaining Maltese goodies!
One of the famous Cats of Malta asleep in the local, corner store below. Miss the cats of Malta.
The artwork and holy items are from the great museum at Rabat.
.jpg)
STM on a freezing cold day on Gozo at the oldest ruins of temples in the world, the Ġgantija Temples. More may be found here.
Here are photos from my Christmas visit with STS. I had not seen him for fifteen months--too long!
Enjoy, and pray for this brave, little island so close to my heart.
Advertisements on the plane engines! Explaining Maltese goodies!
One of the famous Cats of Malta asleep in the local, corner store below. Miss the cats of Malta.
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| Reliquary |
One of the saints of Malta tends the ill and wounded
Roman Mosaic from the Roman Villa at Rabat built during the reign of Claudius.
Tomb in the catacombs at Rabat dating backs thousands of years.
Supertradmum looking towards St. Paul's Bay where St. Paul was shipwrecked. I am wearing layers because of the cold.
Maltese wine and potato skins for a late lunch looking towards St. Paul's Bay.
A seminarian who obviously needs blacks!
"Mother, do not take my photo, again!"
STM on a freezing cold day on Gozo at the oldest ruins of temples in the world, the Ġgantija Temples. More may be found here.
We have seen this all before
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-egypt-president-backs-joint-arab-military-force-20150328-story.html
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-us-intelligence-yemen-20150325-story.html#page=1
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.
Our Lady, Victor at Lepanto, pray for us.
Our Lady, Holy Name of Mary, pray for us.
Our Lady, Protector of Vienna and The West, pray for us.
Lunar Eclipse Holy Saturday
from http://www.moongiant.com/Lunar_Eclipse_Calendar.php
Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) - April 4, 2015
Partial umbral begins: 3:15am. - April 4th
Total eclipse begins: 4:58 a.m.
Greatest eclipse: 5:00 a.m.
Total eclipse ends: 5:03 a.m.
Partial umbral eclipse ends: 6:45 a.m.
> Moonset at 6:25am in San Francisco
Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) - April 4, 2015
Partial umbral begins: 4:15 a.m. - April 4th
Total eclipse begins: 5:58 a.m.
Greatest eclipse: 6:00 a.m.
Total eclipse ends: 6:03 a.m.
Partial umbral eclipse ends: 7:45 a.m.
> Moonset at 6:46am in Denver
Central Daylight Time (CDT) - April 4, 2015
Partial umbral begins: 5:15 a.m. - April 4th
Total eclipse begins: 6:58 a.m.
Greatest eclipse: 7:00 a.m.
Total eclipse ends: 8:03 a.m.
Partial umbral eclipse ends: 8:45 a.m.
> Moonset at 6:34am in Chicago
Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) - April 4, 2015
Partial umbral begins: 6:15 a.m. on - April 4th
Total eclipse begins: 7:58 a.m.
Greatest eclipse: 8:00 a.m.
Total eclipse ends: 8:03 a.m.
Partial umbral eclipse ends: 9:45 a.m.
> Moonset at 6:39am in New York
Deserts Posts for Lent
16 Dec 2014
This means that God calls us into the desert, and a desert has few colors, few delights. St. John writes this: IT now remains to be said that, although this happy night brings darkness to the spirit, it does so only to give it light in .
03 Nov 2013
The name El was the title of the desert god of many of the ancient religions. El was also the god of the storms. However, the One, True God took the name and made it His Own, the God of all Creation, the Father of all Mankind, ...
16 Dec 2014
St. Angela writes that Christ's entire life was one of penance. This seems obvious after one points this out. God on earth must have suffered constantly. I was thinking last night, as I was suffering intensely, of the great Desert .
19 Feb 2013
The desert is hard. It is very hot in the day and very cold at night. Sand gets into one's skin, eyes, hair. It is full of dangerous animals. Water is scarce. One has to rely on God totally in the desert. He is our Guide, as we cannot ...
21 Dec 2014
Going into silence and the desert which God gives us give us opportunities to see the predominant faults and get rid of these. When the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became Man, He entered into a life of suffering, not ...
11 Oct 2014
14 And they coveted their desire in the desert: and they tempted God in the place without water. 15 And he gave them their request: and sent fulness into their souls. 16 And they provoked Moses in the camp, Aaron the holy ...
19 Dec 2014
And, that is God's plan in allowing me to walk around for hours in drenched clothing on a cold day. It is practice....the practice of the virtues and the dying to comfort and vanity. God knows what He is about. The desert can also ...
02 Jul 2014
When Moses had to flee from Egypt , into Sinai, he was not seeking God. He was being drawn to God by God. God was calling him to purgation and perfection. Purgation came in the long weeks in the desert, before he came ...
Because of a conversation with a friend, two re-posts
Sunday, 24 February 2013
On St. Peter and the Transfiguration-- a lesson in not being afraid of the future, not holding on to the past
Continuing my thoughts today on the readings of the day, I am grateful to my excellent grade school, high school and college teachers, who taught me how to read the Bible. I was fortunate in that "us kids" had our own and I loved mine, done by the Maryknoll Sisters with gorgeous illustrations. My son used it until I got him another one and now it is with some home schooling family.
Another beautiful Bible I lovesd when young was the Taize Bible(Jerusalem Bible translation, but I just would look at the paintings), as the illustrations were so hauntingly symbolic and beautiful. Children and young adolescents, as well as teens, learn through art, just as we all do, if we take the time.
That is one reason I use art in my posts, as I cannot write everything a reader can see.
St. Peter made a huge mistake today in the reading. It is comforting that the Evangelist let us see that Peter grew into his perfection, as we must, and was not automatically "with it".
Peter states, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah” Luke 9:33
Luke notes that Peter did not know what he was saying. Duh.
However, I think Peter was trying to do three things, which we try to do to avoid the road to perfection.
Peter was fighting the New Covenant and wanting to hold on to the Old Covenant. A sign of God's Presence in the desert had been the Tent with the Law and the Ark of the Covenant. Now, Peter was smart enough about his Scripture, as all Jewish men were at the time, but he missed the point.
He did not want something new. He wanted to hang on to the familiar.
How many times do we do this? We want to play god and plan out every detail of our live, based on past experiences. We are afraid to try some new way.
Peter wanted his old way of religious worship. The temple, the tent, etc.
He understood that he was witnessing a Theophany, but he wanted to keep it, save it in the old and not move on into the new.
He was frightened of the Cross. What does the Scripture say that Elijah and Moses and Christ were discussing? The Gospel today states clearly that "they were speaking of his passing". That means, the man who symbolized the Law and the great prophet, and Christ, the Son of God, were discussing Christ's Passion-the New Covenant.
Peter got this part, but he was scared. Surely, Christ was not going to suffer? Surely, Christ was not the Lamb of God? As a man who knew his Scripture, Peter was getting worried. Why?
Peter, like all Jewish men, knew this passage: Peter knew that Elijah was going to bring in a new age.
Malachi 4:5
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD,
6: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Peter also knew that John the Baptist was not Elijah. This had been settled.
John 1:19
And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?
20: And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.
21: And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not.
Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.
Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
23: He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.
So, Peter might think that this Elijah appearance was the real deal. And, he would have remembered the famous story of Elijah raising the widow's son from the dead.
1st Kings 17:17 to 1st Kings 18:40
Poor Peter was being forced out of his comfort zone.
He had to understand that Christ was the promised Messiah, that Christ was the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.
Other ideas of suffering from Isaiah 53 may have creeped into Peter's consciousness.
No wonder he wanted to hang on to the old and not face the new.
How many times do we want to hang on to what is known to us in religion instead of being open to the unknown? Peter had not known Christ like this. But, Christ wanted these three apostles to see Him in order to strengthen them before the Crucifixion.Christ revealed Himself at the Transfiguration in His Glory, but not with the marks of His Passion.
His Glorified Body was yet to be revealed.
Obviously, when Peter denied Christ, this denial was serious sin, as he has seen Christ as the Son of God.
Thankfully, he repented and was forgiven and went on to rule the Church in wisdom and grace (with a little help from St. Paul).
Peter was a man who seemed to have had to learn things the hard way.
Let us cooperate with grace.
Let us pursue perfection.
The Law, the Prophets, the Love-a personal mediation
I have been told recently by some priest friends, that the Sunday Gospels for Lent are among the oldest liturgically scheduled readings in the Church. Today's and last Sunday's on the Temptation have been read on these respective Sundays for over a thousand years according to two priest friends. How wonderful.
The Transfiguration was always a mystery to me until I saw it in terms of Love. Christ, Who is about to walk to Golgotha and endure pain for us, is giving his disciples a glimpse of His Glory, so as not only to encourage them for the days to come (and is this not timely today?) but also to show how much God loves them by sending His Only Son for this purpose.
Moses and the Law and Elijah and Prophecy point to Christ as the Messiah, the Fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, the One, True Prophet and One, True Priest, as well as being the Son of God.
How these monotheists must have been shocked at this revelation, that Christ is God, as well as the Father, and the Holy Spirit. We have been given The Trinity in baptism and we walk in God. So, too, Peter, James and John walked in the Trinity, two to death and one to exile. So, we are warned, as well as loved today. Christ in His Glory points to our own final glorified bodies united with our souls at the end of time, but only after sufferings and trials.
Love is always the answer. Love. And, why did the disciples keep silent? Were they afraid? No, I think it is that when we have a love experience, we cannot find the words to describe this. And, love is so sacred, it really is hard to discuss it, or, rather, Him. Silence protects the Love in our hearts. The monastic orders know this. Silence is like a protective shield guarding the Love of Christ in our beings. Let nothing dilute that Love today.
The paintings show turmoil and fierce movement. Why? When the Divine, when God reveals Himself in our lives, He interrupts the doldrums the ordinariness of our lives. We are thrown into the happy, yet disturbing chaos of love. Those of us who have experienced this interruption have been changed. How happy we are when love changes our lives..........how wonderful to have this glimpse of immortality. Listen to Love.
| Luke 9:28-36 |
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Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up the mountain to pray. As he prayed, the aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became brilliant as lightning. Suddenly there were two men there talking to him; they were Moses and Elijah appearing in glory, and they were speaking of his passing which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were heavy with sleep, but they kept awake and saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As these were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ – He did not know what he was saying. As he spoke, a cloud came and covered them with shadow; and when they went into the cloud the disciples were afraid. And a voice came from the cloud saying, ‘This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him.’ And after the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. The disciples kept silence and, at that time, told no one what they had seen.
Today in 1566 Malta Day on The Blog
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| Our Lady of Valletta |
On March 28th, 1566, Grandmaster, Jean de Valette laid the foundation stone of the great siege city of Valletta, Malta. Today, Valletta remains one of the most intriguing cities in Europe, and will be the European Capital of Culture in 2018. The entire city is a World Heritage Site, and may God protect her from her enemies, even those within the city walls.
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Today, as I sit a long way from the sea, I think of this old, venerable place of 25 churches, each one beautiful in its own right, but some stunning, and, perhaps, among the most beautiful in the world. I miss my favorite places there to sit and blog, as well as the gorgeous weather. It will be 63 degrees F today.
I miss "my" chapel of Adoration, Christ Redeemer Sacramentini. I miss daily Mass.
As noted on the official city website, Valletta is only 900 metres by 630 metres, or for Americans, .56 miles by .39 miles, a little jewel in the crown of Malta. Here is the list of churches, some of which have been featured on this blog. May Valletta stand for another half-century in all her beauty and age.
• St John’s Co-Cathedral - St John’s Square
• St. Francis of Assisi – Republic Street
• Parish Church of St. Augustine – Old Bakery Street
• Sanctuary Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
• Carmelite Church – Old Theatre Street
• Anglican Cathedral of St. Paul – Independence Square
• Church of Christ Redeemer
• Church of the Jesuits
• Collegiate Church of St. Paul's Shipwreck – St Paul Street
• Church of St. Mary of Jesus
• Scots Church of St. Andrew
• Church of Our Lady of the Pilar – West Street
• Church and Monastery of St. Catherine
• Parish Church of Our Lady of Fair Heavens and St. Dominic
• Church of St. Mary Magdalene
• Church and Chapel of St. Anne
• Chapel of Sacra Infermeria – Mediterranean Conference Centre
• Church of St. Nicholas
• Church of St. Roque – St Ursula Street
• Church and Monastery of St. Ursula – St Ursula Street
• Church of Our Lady of Damascus
• Church of St. James
• Church of St. Barbara – Republic Street
• Church of St. Catherine of Italy – Victory Square
• Church of Our Lady of Victories – South Street
• Church of the Blessed Virgin of Notre Dame De Liesse – Liesse Hill
• Church of the Holy Family's Flight from Egypt
• Church of St Lucy
http://www.cityofvalletta.org/content.aspx?id=46663
Matthew 25:23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master
Some people never think if death or the four last things, then, suddenly, death comes upon them. In the past few weeks, I have had discussions with three men who believe that many people are facing eternal death, that is, hell, and are blithely not realizing that their time could be short.
In a conversation, one of the gentlemen noted that more and more he is noticing how many people are living their lives as if God did not exist. A second gentleman noted that people do not understand how serious sin actually is. The third expressed the view that, to be honest, most people he knew never thought about heaven or hell.
We are all given an allotted time on this earth to live out our salvation.
Some great saints lived to be very old indeed. One thinks of the saints of the Old Testament, who lived considerably longer than a hundred and in some cases almost into a second century. The closer one lived to the First Parents, the longer one lived. Abraham died at 175 years of age. SS. Alphonsus (90), Augustine (76), Robert Bellarmine (78), Hildegard of Bingen (81), Maximus the Confessor, (82), and John Paul II (84), are some of the many older saints who graced this earth for a long time, relatively. These are the lodestars.
We are aware of many saints who died in their adolescent years, and some in their early twenties, like St. Therese, the Little Flower, Elizabeth of Hungary, and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (all 24). These are the meteors.
Or, one thinks of the saints who died in their thirties, such as SS. Catherine of Siena (33), Anthony of Padua (35), and Faustina Kowalska, (33), called to God early, yet making a huge imprint on the daily life of Catholics.
Then we have the middle-aged saints, like SS. John of the Cross, (49), Thomas Aquinas (49), Francis of Assisi, (44) and Bonaventure (53).
Some saints lived into late middle-age, early old, as we say today, like SS. Angela Merici (66), Teresa of Avila, (67) and Bernard of Clairvaux (63).
All of these excellent people answered a call by God to do something and to be something in the City of God. Each one had a task and a character to mark the history of the Church with a special charism.
No two saints are alike. All are unique individuals who did not procrastinate or put-off holiness. They, like the faithful servant in the parable, cared about little things and, therefore, were trusted with big things.
Our lives may be short, or long. We do not know the day of our death, except for the chosen few to whom God gives this particular grace. Each Catholic should live each day as if it is his last, be he 24, 33, 67, or 90.
Presumption is the sin which puts off purgation and perfection.
Do not wait for age to become holy....you may not have another day.
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