War Posts

I have about twenty-four posts on the possibility of war, but the search bar is not working. The tag is WWIII. Use the label chart at the side of this blog, and these will come up.

For Our Lady's Birthday-The Temple of the Trinity

Fr. Gabriels's book, referred to in the last post, is exquisite. His thoughts on Mary bring our imaginations and hearts to another level. Such is the gift of a good spiritual writer.

But, of course, this superb writing about the Blessed Mother stems, like that of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, from a great love for her. Being priests, the Lady Mary would be their lady.

Fr. Gabriel writes that the thirty years in Nazareth provided Mary with time to have Jesus as the total center of her life. She did everything for Him. As Fr. notes, all her affections, thoughts, all her actions, surrounded the needs of Christ. Her heart, states Fr., beat in "perfect harmony with His".

This is a description of the deepest love possible. Fr. Gabriel quotes St. Pius X from Ad Diem Illum: she "shared the thoughts of Christ and His secret wishes, in such a way that it can be said that she lived the very life of her Son."

But, Mary is part of the Trinitarian life, and was, in Nazareth. " She was (from the moment of the Incarnation), the beloved Daughter of the Father, the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, and the Mother of the Word...Thus Mary is the temple of the Trinity."

Fr. Gabriel then writes that Mary is the great model for those of us desiring intimacy with God. "She leads us to Jesus and teaches us to concentrate all our affections on Him, to give ourselves entirely to Him, until we are completely lost and transformed in Him. Then, through Jesus, she guides us to the life of union with the Trinity. By reason of sanctifying grace, our soul is also a temple of the Trinity, and Mary teaches us how to abide in this temple as a perpetual adorer of the three divine Person who dwell therein." 

How wonderful to be thus lost in God, totally....

For Our Lady's Birthday-One-The World's First Love

I would like to share, for Our Lady's birthday, two thoughts from two famous authors. One is Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, whose book Divine Intimacy I am borrowing for a short while. The other is Venerable Fulton J. Sheen. Both have lovely meditations on Mary and today is a good day to share these.

First, Venerable Sheen. In a talk on Mary called "Mother of Jesus" from the book, Your Life is Worth Living, he gives a small but beautiful thought on the feminine principle in religion beginning as a dream, a dream of God's, of course. He writes, "All people have love in their mind and heart, a composite of memories, thoughts, dreams, ideals, and experiences. Then one day, someone appears. It's called love at first sight, but it is love at second sight. Every great love is a dream come true.  Did you ever see a dream walking? Well, I did. Love is very much like music. We hear music for the first time and we like it because we already have that music in our hearts!

When God became man, or when He willed it from the very creation of the world. He dreamed about a Mother who would decide the time of His birth, circumstances, and all of the detail. He thought of her long before she was born; the world's first love...God could make His own Mother the way artists can create...Almighty God pre-existed His own Mother and made her just as beautiful as He could. That is why she was immaculately conceived." 

What a beautiful thought we have here on the creation of Mary, from a love song in God. Such a thought will make us love Mary more and more.



For Fr. Gabriel's comment, you will have to wait for the next post.

Americans, are you worried, yet? You should be.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/06/john-kerry-congress-syria_n_3881200.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

http://www.globalresearch.ca/did-the-white-house-help-plan-the-syrian-chemical-attack/5347542

from the second article:

Meanwhile, additional data from Damascus about the actual chemical attack increases the doubts about Washington’s version of events. Immediately after the attack, three hospitals of Doctors Without Borders (MSF: médecins sans frontières) in the greater Damascus area treated more than 3,600 Syrians affected by the chemical attack, and 355 of them died. MSF performed tests on the vast majority of those treated.

MSF director of operations Bart Janssens summed up the findings: “MSF can neither scientifically confirm the cause of these symptoms nor establish who is responsible for the attack. However, the reported symptoms of the patients, in addition to the epidemiological pattern of the events — characterized by the massive influx of patients in a short period of time, the origin of the patients, and the contamination of medical and first aid workers — strongly indicate mass exposure to a neurotoxic agent.” Simply put, even after testing some 3,600 patients, MSF failed to confirm that sarin was the cause of the injuries. According to MSF, the cause could have been nerve agents like sarin, concentrated riot control gas, or even high-concentration pesticides. Moreover, opposition reports that there was distinct stench during the attack suggest that it could have come from the “kitchen sarin” used by jihadist groups (as distinct from the odorless military-type sarin) or improvised agents like pesticides

Humility is Humiliation, Gentleness, Modesty

 

St. Pachomius receiving the cenobite rule from an angel

"Be humble so that God guards and strengthens you, because God looks to the humble. Be humble so that God fills you with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, because it is written that He guides the humble and teaches His ways to the meek."  St. Pachomius wrote this. Most Catholics do not understand that to be humble is to be humiliated.

When one is poor, one meets humiliation daily, and it is hard. When one is ugly or sick, one is rejected daily. There is nothing nice or easy about being humbled by others.

When one can rejoice in that humiliation, when one can blame one's self and know that the humiliation is deserved, then one is holy.

A truly humble person does not care what other people think of him, as he knows his poverty is from God.

The world judges constantly and so do Catholics.

Recently, because I wanted to visit the States, I asked some relatives if I could stay with them. The answer was no.

Therefore, I changed my plans, as I cannot afford hotels. That is sad. 

Recently, as I needed to leave the country where I was, and go to another, I asked some friends who had said I could stay if I needed to do so, and they pulled back on their invitation. When they invited me for two months, they were not sincere.

People who are middle-class or wealthy assume that one is a sinner if one is poor.

That is true. One is a sinner

But, we are all sinners, rich and poor. 

And, if a poor, or sick, or ugly person is more of a sinner than you, does it make a difference?

To rejoice in rejection, one must face the pain first of all. 

A wise old priest told me a month ago that to be truly humble, one had to admit dependence on others and be dependent on others and God. He did not know me and he did not know my circumstances. He merely was talking to me about humility.

But, two things have destroyed the Catholic sensibility about humility. One is socialism. Socialism destroys how people look at individuals. Individuals no longer have a story, but are merely statistics with which the government has to deal. People no longer know how to help those who fall between the cracks. They assume there is a program, a plan, a government solution. This is not always the case.

Human dignity rests on the realization that one is capable of work in order to gain basic needs, to be earned by one's self. Human dignity is absolutely ruined by hand-outs from the State.

A person can avoid holiness and humility in a socialist state because everyone is treated the same. But, this hides the truth. We are not equal in gifts, nor in wealth, nor in looks, nor in status.

God decides those things.

Many people only want to be surrounded by beautiful people. The non-beautiful are excluded from their circles. This happened to me. Someone actually said to me, "Too bad we cannot be friends because of money." I did not answer. What could I say? I belong to the non-beautiful. No one can "get" anything from me except who I am. I cannot give wealth, or status, or security.

The second thing which destroys really accepting humility is pride. If one feels embarrassed, or stung, or hurt by rejection because of poverty or ill health or a lack of good looks, one is still harboring pride. It is only when one responds with complete freedom to rejection that one has come into holiness. It is only when one finally accepts one's degraded state that one is holy. Non-acceptance is rebellion and rebellion is pride. Blushing is pride. 

Humility is recognizing that God is in control even when people despise one for one's poverty, or ugliness, or ill health.

Yes, some people are despised because they represent failure or falling off the edge of society, which most people do not want to face. Security demands that some shut their eyes to pain and suffering.

Now, in Dublin, some beggars are almost professional. I have seen photos on line of the same persons begging years ago who are outside my church daily. Some pass the same baby around and beg with that baby. If one crosses certain streets, at different times of the day, one can see the same baby with three different "dads".  On another day about a month ago, I saw the same baby carriage with the same baby and two different women standing by the carriage with baby, begging at different times of the day. This is deceit, of course. 

However, some are truly ones who have fallen out of the system. Here is an interesting article from just less than a month ago http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/aggressive-beggars-putting-off-tourists-business-owners-claim-1.1488591  Heroin addiction is a huge problem here. I cannot find recent statistics, but in the past 11 years, Ireland has had twice the death rate from drug usage than the EU average.

Two days ago, I passed a man on the street who obviously has AIDS. I have seen AIDS patients before and in teacher training, we discussed this, studied these symptoms and those of  STDS. He was in very bad shape. He had the open sores on his face, and he was emaciated. I do not know why he was on the street. He looked terrified, as one staring death in the face.  Another man was with him, giving him water and praying with him. They sat on the side of the street near one of the churches. Because the sick man was being tended to, I did not have to intervene. The man helping him was young and strong and was obviously there to help. I am dirt poor, but when I can, I buy real beggars sandwiches and juice. I do not give money, as I have so little anyway, and I do not want someone buying drugs or alcohol. But, orange juice and a sandwich have never been refused by street people, of whom there are many in Dublin. I have not been able to do this of late, however.  C.S. Lewis wrote, "True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less." But, sometimes, like this summer, I just cannot help.

http://drugsinfonewslineireland.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/dublin-rising-tide-of-heroin-addiction-as-600-new-injectors-seek-charities-help/

I know that beggar could be me. That beggar could be anyone of us. And, that is why some hate those who have not.

The poor are always with us, states the Lord, but too many people do not want to deal with poverty, or the ugly, or the sick.

These are the humiliations God has allowed in my life-all three. I pray that I do not miss the chances for grace and holiness which come with being rejected.

Pray for me that I can rise up to the occasion. I am still too proud. It hurts.When it stops hurting, and I accept humiliation graciously, knowing deep down inside I deserve it, then I shall have found that peace which passes all understanding. 

And Jesus saith to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the son of man hath not where to lay his head. 

Christ, the Son of God said this in Matthew 8:20. As He is my Bridegroom, my Love, I go where He has gone before me. He leads and I follow. 

Humility is being able to say, "I deserve every bit of suffering for my gross sins." Humility is being grateful for grace. Humility is truth...

Continuing on the theme of humility, I read this quotation. Ephram El-Souriany "Inside the meek and humble man, the spirit of wisdom rests." 

In my life, I have only met one truly humble person. This person was very young. She was modest, which is a sign of humility, and she was wise. I taught her many years ago, and she never contradicted me, or insisted on her opinions.

She was always willing to learn, and thought herself lowly and stupid. She had an IQ of around 160. You would never know that she was that intelligent, as she did not put herself forward.

I watched her with others, her peers, and the main virtue she always showed was great gentleness. She was truly meek. She never butted into conversations. She never lied, and she always deferred to others, unless asked point blank for an opinion. When she gave it, the rest of the class was astounded. How could this seemingly ordinary, poor (she was) girl be so discerning, so wise? Students started asking her for help. She always gave it. She would stay after class and help other students. 

She was humble. She honestly thought that all people were better than she was. She did not need to gloat or put forth her knowledge or grace. Being around her taught me so much. 

Humility is gentleness and modesty.

Few recognized her great soul and her great mind. She was one of the unnoticed. But, I noticed her 

Among her peers she stood out because she was always happy. 

She spent most of her life in hospital with a rare disease. She never talked about that. She was in pain constantly her entire life. No one knew. As teachers, we were told privately how to deal with her illness, but she asked for no special attention. She never complained, ever.

When I think of her now, this psalm comes to my mind. 

Psalm 130 
Vulgate

Canticum graduum David. Domine, non est exaltatum cor meum, neque elati sunt oculi mei, neque ambulavi in magnis, neque in mirabilibus super me. 

[2] Si non humiliter sentiebam, sed exaltavi animam meam; sicut ablactatus est super matre sua, ita retributio in anima mea. 

[3] Speret Israel in Domino, ex hoc nunc et usque in saeculum.

Psalm 130

Douay-Rheims 

1 Lord, my heart is not exalted: nor are my eyes lofty. Neither have I walked in great matters, nor in wonderful things above me.

2 If I was not humbly minded, but exalted my soul: As a child that is weaned is towards his mother, so reward in my soul.

3 Let Israel hope in the Lord, from henceforth now and for ever.

May God bless her where ever she goes. She exuded grace and humility. I want to be like her.

Answer to prayers in Rome and around the world? Keep praying.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Congress-Against-Syria-Strike/2013/09/07/id/524364?s=al&promo_code=14CCC-1

Another Reading from the Papal Vigil Tonight

John 20:19-29

Douay-Rheims 

19 Now when it was late that same day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them: Peace be to you.

20 And when he had said this, he shewed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord.

21 He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.

22 When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost.

23 Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.

24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

25 The other disciples therefore said to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them: Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.

26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: Peace be to you.

27 Then he saith to Thomas: Put in thy finger hither, and see my hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing.

28 Thomas answered, and said to him: My Lord, and my God.

29 Jesus saith to him: Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed.

One of the Readings from the Peace Vigil Earlier Tonight

Douay Rheims The Book of Jeremiah 

37   

20 Then king Sedecias commanded that Jeremias should be committed into the entry of the prison: and that they should give him daily a piece of bread, beside broth, till all the bread in the city were spent: and Jeremias remained in the entry of the prison.

38 

14 And king Sedecias sent, and took Jeremias the prophet to him to the third gate, that was in the house of the Lord: and the king said to Jeremias: I will ask thee a thing, hide nothing from me.

15 Then Jeremias said to Sedecias: If I shall declare it to thee, wilt thou not put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken to me.

16 Then king Sedecias swore to Jeremias, in private, saying: As the Lord liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, nor will I deliver thee into the hands of these men that seek thy life.

17 And Jeremias said to Sedecias: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: If thou wilt take a resolution and go out to the princes of the king of Babylon, thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burnt with fire: and thou shalt be safe, and thy house.

18 But if thou wilt not go out to the princes of the king of Babylon, this city shall be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire: and thou shalt not escape out of their hands.

19 And king Sedecias said to Jeremias: I am afraid because of the Jews that are fled over to the Chaldeans: lest I should be delivered into their hands, and they should abuse me.

20 But Jeremias answered: They shall not deliver thee: hearken, I beseech thee, to the word of the Lord, which I speak to thee, and it shall be well with thee, and thy soul shall live.

21 But if thou wilt not go forth, this is the word which the Lord hath shewn me:

22 Behold all the women that are left in the house of the king of Juda, shall be brought out to the princes of the king of Babylon: and they shall say: Thy men of peace have deceived thee, and have prevailed against thee, they have plunged thy feet in the mire, and in a slippery place, and they have departed from thee.

23 And all thy wives, and thy children shall be brought out to the Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape their hands, but thou shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and he shall burn this city with fire.

24 Then Sedecias said to Jeremias: Let no man know these words, and thou shalt not die.

25 But if the princes shall hear that I have spoken with thee, and shall come to thee, and say to thee: Tell us what thou hast said to the king, hide it not from us, and we will not kill thee: and also what the king said to thee:

26 Thou shalt say to them: I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not command me to be carried back into the house of Jonathan, to die there.

27 So all the princes came to Jeremias, and asked him: and he spoke to them according to all the words that the king had commanded him: and they left him: for nothing had been heard.

28 But Jeremias remained in the entry of the prison, until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and it came to pass that Jerusalem was taken.

One of the readings from the Peace Vigil from St. Leo the Great Discourse 95

VI. The blessedness of desiring righteousness

After this the Lord goes on to say: blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied Matthew 5:6 .It is nothing bodily, nothing earthly, that this hunger, this thirst seeks for: but it desires to be satiated with the good food of righteousness, and wants to be admitted to all the deepest mysteries, and be filled with the Lord Himself. Happy the mind that craves this food and is eager for such drink: which it certainly would not seek for if it had never tasted of its sweetness. But hearing the Prophet'sspirit saying to him: taste and see that the Lord is sweet ; it has received some portion of sweetness from on high, and blazed out intolove of the purest pleasure, so that spurning all things temporal, it is seized with the utmost eagerness for eating and drinking righteousness, and grasps the truth of that first commandment which says: You shall love the Lord your God out of all your heart, and out of all your mind, and out of all your strength : since to love God is nothing else but to love righteousness. In fine, as in that passage the care for one's neighbour is joined to the love of God, so, too, here the virtue of mercy is linked to the desire for righteousness, and it is said:

VII. The blessedness of the merciful

Blessed are the merciful, for God shall have mercy on them Matthew 5:7 . Recognize, Christian, the worth of your wisdom, and understand to what rewards you are called, and by what methods of discipline you must attain thereto. Mercy wishes you to be merciful, righteousness to be righteous, that the Creator may be seen in His creature, and the image of God may be reflected in the mirror of thehuman heart expressed by the lines of imitation. The faith of those who do good is free from anxiety: you shall have all your desires, and shall obtain without end what you love. And since through your almsgiving all things are pure to you, to that blessedness also you shall attain which is promised in consequence where the Lord says:

VIII. The blessedness of a pure heart

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God Matthew 5:8 . Great is the happiness, beloved, of him for whom so great a reward is prepared. What, then, is it to have the heart pure, but to strive after those virtues which are mentioned above? And how great theblessedness of seeing God, what mind can conceive, what tongue declare? And yet this shall ensue when man's nature is transformed, so that no longer in a mirror, nor in a riddle, but face to face 1 Corinthians 13:12  it sees the very Godhead as He is 1 John 3:2, which no man could see ; and through the unspeakable joy of eternal contemplation obtains that which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man.  

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360395.htm

Live Adoration From The Vatican Now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw1UYylwwuc and now the video is available at the site.

http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/libretti/2013/20130907-libretto-veglia-pace.pdf

I saw thousands of very young people there on the broadcast. The future of the Church-God bless them.

Cormorant .007

Was it an Israeli Stork or an American Stork?

Ducks Must Take Over As The Stork Is Dead!

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/09/07/Stork-detained-as-spy-in-Egypt-found-dead

The Spy Stork is now dead. I suggest the ducks take over. If you missed my post on that, here it is....


http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/09/i-hope-you-did-not-miss-this-on-zionist.html

There was a vulture spy as well, way back in 2011. I keep track of bird spies.

Next, sea birds may be needed. Cormorants can do that underwater thing.

Hope-persecution watch again

http://www.persecution.org/2013/09/07/syrian-refugee-syriac-couple-get-married-in-the-monastery/

Repeat Post Because American Catholic Parents Are Not Getting It

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/09/a-note-to-american-parents-from-europe.html

The Mary Statue Saved Because It Was Used As A Pig-Trough

Today is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Dublin. The statue is one of my favorites, as it depicts Jesus Christ like the real baby He was, squirming out of His Mother's arms. The sermon by the Carmelite priest included his reading the call to fasting and prayer today by Pope Francis, and if parents missed my list of things to do today, here is the link. goo.gl/IHWdMe  Now, I want to describe this beautiful statue and give the history of Our Lady of Dublin from a small pamphlet from the Carmelites at Whitefriars Street Church, where the shrine is located. 

The Mass was lovely, although only about 80 people were there. It is raining and about 57 degrees Fahrenheit, which might have something to do with the attendance, but there is another Mass in honor of Our Lady of Dublin at 3:00 this afternoon.

One also gets a special blessing today and a sprinkling of holy water from the priest.

Here is the information from the pamphlet and a prayer below.

"One of the most beautiful statues in the city. The Black Statue of Our Lady is offset by the surrounding white marble and stone work. It is a wood carving in oak. Its original home was almost certainly the Cistercian Monastery of St. Mary in Dublin's north inner city. (I add here the streets around there are called Mary Lane, Lamb Street and so on. Also, the statue is very French Medieval in design, which would again make the Cistercian connected viable. French influence Marys have distinct faces.) At the time of the Reformation monasteries were targeted and destroyed and their contents plundered. One story tell us that the statue was used as a pig-trough in order to escape detection. (It would have been turned over, the priest said today and slurry thrown in the back.)The story arises from the fact that the back is hollow. For whatever piece of good fortune, the statue was saved and ended (up) being bought by Fr. John Spratt in 1824. ( The priest said that Father Spratt found it for sale in a shop just yards from where the monastery had been on Capel Street, so that, amazingly, the statue would not have traveled but yards from the original site on Abbey Street). Sadly, the original silver crown was never recovered. The Feast of Our Lady of Dublin is celebrated on September 8th."

Thanks to Wiki for St. Mary' s Abbey, Dublin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary's_Abbey,_Dublin

Thanks to Wiki for the Shrine of Our Lady of Dublin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Dublin

Prayer to Our Lady of Dublin

Our Lady of Dublin, Intercede for our young people, that they may be holy, wise and prudent; for the mature that they may set a good example; for the old, that they may enjoy contentment and a quiet rest in their declining years. For those gone astray, that they may find their way back to their Father' House. For all our homes, that the peace and harmony of Nazareth may dwell in them. Amen

And, I ask my readers to ask Our Lady of Dublin to help me set up the Adoration House in Walsingham.

Meditations And A Movie

As a young person, in my adolescence, one of my favorite books and movies was Random Harvest. Who cannot love a movie with both Greer Garson and Ronald Colman, in black and white? A friend of mine told me it was on line and I found it. Watching this brought back memories of watching classic movies with my mom.

But, the story, written by the same author as Lost Horizon and Goodbye Mr. Chips, the great James Hilton, resembles the modern desire for completion in body, mind, and soul.

Hilton's story is about a man who loses his memory in WWI because of shell-shock. Now, as David Jones is my favorite poet, one sees a pattern in my interest here. He also experienced trauma and wrote and painted his way out of it.

But, the real power of the story for me rests in the idea that we have a drive for love which is unquenchable.

The main character is restless until he finds the missing three years of his life, and the woman he loved then.

What he does not know, until the end (spoiler alert) is that the woman who has been his private secretary and hostess wife is actually that same woman.

To me the message is that one must be true to one's self, and also, that mistakes from the past can be undone.

We live in an age of psychology, which complicates our ability to understand simple stories of love lost and rediscovered.

Of course, the story is fiction. But, is this not the story of our life with God? We lose Him through sin and selfish carelessness. We gain Him by persistent and prayer. We become new creations, redeemed, but with the character and gifts given to us at birth.

We are like the Bride who must go into the desert and seek the Bridegroom.

The story is rather modern, as Greer Garson's character truly takes hold of her future.

She decides to suffer. Can you imagine a story popular today about a person choosing selfless suffering for love?

The story ends happily. But, not without years of sacrifice.

Meditations on a movie, without popcorn....

Staying Focused in Times of Trouble

My ancestors, and most likely yours, dear readers, went through times of uncertainty, chaos, even danger. The fact that you and I are alive and reading and writing indicate our ancestors prevailed.

How do you think they did this through famines, wars, financial crashes, displacement? My family was, on one side, travelers on the Oregon Trail. One cannot imagine that journey and the hardships of going west.

My great-grandmother, at 18, came over from Bratislava to Iowa by herself in the late 1880s. Brave girl.

We who are paying attention know that we are facing perhaps one of the most terrible upheavals of civilization for centuries.

We hardly know how to compare wars or the separation of families, or the complete fall of empires, nations, countries which have existed for some time.

St. Augustine saw chaos and wrote about the great fall of the Roman Empire. That empire had lasted  almost 504 years. Can you imagine the distress of the people of that time, seeing what seemed eternal burning and being destroyed?

Prosperous cities of northern Africa completely disappeared after the destruction by the Vandals. Where there were villas, gardens, libraries, markets, circuses, now there is only sand.

One is left imagining the destruction of a civilization which formed Europe.

We have no idea of the wealth of knowledge that was lost from the destruction of libraries and the art work destroyed by barbarians, who had no eye for beauty.

What is it in people which allows them to withstand chaos, war, disasters?

I worked in Mississippi for a short while, for four months, a year after Katrina. I wish I had my photos on this computer to show you the devastation even after one year. I went down to help after one of the greatest disasters to ever hit the States. It was a humbling experience, and I am grateful for the chance to have been there to this day.

The scenes were indescribable. But, what was amazing were the people of Bay St. Louis. They were helping each other in a real sense of community. Many were Christians, Catholics, but many were not.

Destroyed St. Louis Bay Bridge

Those who survived without great emotional or psychological damage were those who showed two traits.

The first was hope for the future; an inner strength gave them hope. These people had a core of being rooted in their own characters which connected to their minds, heart, souls the virtue of hope.

The second was love, not only for themselves, but for each other. Those who began to build loved the land, the heritage, their spouses, their community.

Not everyone survived well. I saw depression, illnesses brought on by depression, grief which lasted too long.

Notice no houses in Waveland and Bay St. Louis here

But, for me, the symbol of resilience was a couple I met whose baby was born almost nine months after Katrina.

God loves life and gives hope. But, we must have each other as well to carry on.

Build community now. Find that inner core of being. Have hope and nurture love.

Those may be the only things you will have to get you through the hard times ahead.


For months, I heard the new bridge seen below being built. I heard the new pylons being pushed into the sea bed. When I was there, the shrimp fishers were finally allowed out into the Bay to start up their businesses again. Just to see the boats in the bay at night with the lights flickering in the dark brought hope.

Hope and renewal overcame grief and despair.

A renewed coffee house and cafe

I became very ill with three different things and had to leave. A year later, my son and I drove back to visit my friends in New Orleans and in Bay St. Louis. We went over the newly opened bridge.

I shall never forget that day. I have always loved Walker Percy and as we flew over the new bridge in my PT Cruiser, I sensed the love of the South and the love of God buried in his novels, emerging out of sadness, sin, despair.

When I was there, the storm had uncovered ruins from prehistoric tribes. I walked over around those ruins which were to be covered up again by new buildings. I took photos of the site.  Men and women from thousands of years ago showed us a glimpse of their lives because of a storm. God has planted within us the drive to live and to love.

Humans are resilient. But, we need grace. We need the virtues.

God gives us grace. Use it.

The sound of the new bridge being built will be with me for a long time

Killing Creativity: Obamacare Does Not Cover: writers, photographers, freelance artists, musicians, disc jockeys,

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/creative-destruction_751425.html

Groups which covered our creative people are dropping coverage because of Obamacare.

Are these people to disappear from our culture?

The Death of Socrates

Sad day in Kashmir

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/kashmir-in-turmoil-over-peace-concert-featuring-zubin-mehta/2013/09/06/33f17c9c-1658-11e3-961c-f22d3aaf19ab_story.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Art and music use to bring people together, but there is one religion which hates music....and peace....

Stalin could not have done better than Illinois....

http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/04/school-to-kids-government-is-your-family/

I saw this earlier but was too fed-up to post it. But, this is the shape of things to come....

Do Not Miss

Earlier post today on things to do with the kids tomorrow on the day of prayer and fasting...

goo.gl/IHWdMe

St. John Chrysostom