Prayers please

Pray for Cara, who just died of cancer at the age of thirty.

May God bring her to rest in Him.

A Kudo for Prince Charles

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/12/prince-charles-islamists-are-persecuting-christians-in-the-middle-east.html

and

unbelievable

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/12/uk-jihad-murderer-of-british-soldier-on-london-street-is-honest-upright-and-honorable-says-his-sobbi.html

Scary Thoughts on A Thursday

I am surrounded in a diocese with a majority of Obama Catholics, including many priests, nuns, and workers at the Chancery who voted TWICE for Obama.

I am surrounded by parish and family members who voted TWICE for Obama.

Do we not need to do penance for these people? Where are the prophetic voices?

from Wiki

May 2009, he stated, "Since President Obama clearly announced, during the election campaign, his anti-life and anti-family agenda, a Catholic who knew his agenda regarding, for example, procured abortion, embryonic-stem-cell research, and same-sex marriage, could not have voted for him with a clear conscience."^[52] 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Leo_Burke

footnote^ (Archbishop) Ray of Clarity – Kathryn Jean Lopez – National Review Online

Front row seat on Persecution Watch

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/in-the-line-of-fire/42158-duck-dynasty-gay-activism-and-the-clash-of-two-cultures

Some of you can join the online support on fb-
https://www.facebook.com/Philrobertsonsupport?notif_t=fbpage_fan_invite

I use to drink tea, but....

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/dec/19/tea-coffee-drinkers-sales?CMP=twt_gu

One from Lockerbie

Twenty-five years ago, I lost a friend in Lockerbie.


A few weeks ago, I was talking to a person in their early 30s, who claimed he never heard of this terrorist attack. Another woman I was talking to, in her late twenties, had never heard of Lockerbie.





But, I lost a friend, a beautiful, young, woman musician with a big smile, a peaceful heart, and load of talent in that terrorist attack. 270 died because of that action of terrorism.

At that time, on December 21, 1988, I was in America for parties celebrating my baby son and showing him off to relatives. My husband at the time and I were watching international news on the television when the pictures of the devastated village and the wreckage were being broadcast. We had just flown out of England for this visit a week before, making the entire event even more poignant. We mentioned to each other that we hoped no one we knew was on the plane.

It was not until last January, 1989, that a priest friend of mine told me of my friend's death. When I came back and the academic year started again, I tried to phone my friend many times. But, as she was a young person, I just assumed she was out and about.

At a surprise birthday party for my husband at the time, a small party of about 40 people, I mentioned to the priest that I could not get a hold of Jane. Then he said, "I thought you knew. Did you not know she went down in Lockerbie?"

That was the end of the birthday celebrations for me. Most of the guests had known and a month later, it was "old news". I talked awhile with the good priest, who just happens to be a psychologist as well, as we discussed Jane, her life, her death.

One young voice stilled. She had been on her way to America for Christmas. I had known she was going, and we had agreed to meet up in the New Year. I thought she had left earlier than December 21st.

Jane had been "almost engaged" with a nice young man. I felt for him.

What is hard for me is that with the 25th anniversary coming up, there are so many people who do not know about Lockerbie.

But, then, they did not know Jane. May she rest in peace. She missed her 28th birthday.

Melber, Jane Susan, musician and teacher, 27 years, born 01.01.61, Middlesex, England, American, seat number 27H

http://www.victimsofpanamflight103.org/victims

There is a scholarship fund which was set up by her parents at Gettysburg College, from where Jane graduated before going to the Royal College of Music in London.

Jane S. Melber (1983) Memorial Scholarship Fund
Established by Theodore W. and Lucile M. Melber in memory of their daughter, to be awarded to worthy and promising students for the study of music in Great Britain.

http://www.gettysburg.edu/academics/endowment-funds/all-student-aid.dot

http://www.gettysburg.edu/about/photo_gallery/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103

What is even odd for me is that I have taken that trip from Malta to Frankfurt this past November. That was the way the bomber was able to kill so many people in a more relaxed time of flying. Frankfurt is so big today, I wonder at the ability to stop further attempts.

May we always be ready for death.

The only man ever convicted for the bombing was a Libyan intelligence officer, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was found to have placed a suitcase containing the bomb on a flight from Malta to Frankfurt, from where it was transferred to a flight to London’s Heathrow, before detonating on Flight 103 a little more than half an hour after the Pan Am plane took off for New York.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-group-carried-out-lockerbie-bombing/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Perfection Series Starting Up Soon-Come And Rest Awhile

Christmas is coming soon. I witness the craziness of too much solicitude for the outward celebrations, a fact to which I referred in a post yesterday.

But, Christ waits for us to slow down, to reflect, to rest in Him. This takes a bit of time each day. It takes perseverance.

One of the things we learn from the saints is that in order to pursue the Love of Christ, we must have perseverance. Daily, we must choose to do the hard things which bring us closer to God.

St. Therese, the Little Flower knew this. St. Francis de Sales knew this. One must never give up.

For people in my generation and younger, giving up is just one more option among many. People now grow up not knowing what commitment and perseverance are. They have been able to change and make different choices more frequently than in previous generations.

The stability of the family, and the stability of society are gone. The individual faces the world alone.

This makes perseverance almost impossible. St. Francis de Sales helps us, but reminding us of where we get our spiritual energies.

Here is a snippet from his Introduction to the Devote Life:

I have already spoken of that mental solitude into which you can retire when amid the
greatest crowd, and furthermore you should learn to like a real material solitude. Not that
I want you to fly to a desert like S. Mary of Egypt, S. Paul, S. Anthony, Arsenius, or the
other hermits, but it is well for you to retire sometimes within your own chamber or garden,
or wheresoever you can best recollect your mind, and refresh your soul with good and holy
thoughts, and some spiritual reading, as the good Bishop of Nazianzum tells us was his
custom. “I was walking alone,” he says, “at sunset, on the seashore, a recreation I am wont
to take in order somewhat to lay aside my daily worries.” And S. Augustine says that he often
used to go into S. Ambrose’ room—his door was open to every one,—and after watching
him absorbed in reading for a time, he would retire without speaking, fearing to interrupt
the Bishop, who had so little time for refreshing his mind amid the burden of his heavy
duties. And we read how when the disciples came to Jesus, and told Him all they had been
doing and preaching, He said to them, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and
rest awhile.” 

A Hero Pope

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=825

I suggest we all pray to St. Anastasius I, whose feast day is today. He was the pope in troubled times, when various groups ripped apart the various dioceses of the Church.

He was a champion against Origen and Donatism.

The errors of Origen and those of Donatism plagued us still.

   St. Anastasius I, pray for us, and for the Church.

We have gone mad!

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem filed a legal opinion last week confirming that the state does not recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages, allowing a man married to another man to come to North Dakota and marry a woman without divorcing his husband.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/12/16/North-Dakota-Allows-Man-In-Same-Sex-Marriage-To-Also-Marry-Woman

Downsizing Two: Advent Thoughts on Death Again

The problem for most of us is that we identify with our things, especially in America.

It is part of the American Dream to have a house, a car, a chicken in the pot.

But, the Christ, Our Lord Jesus, calls us to the interior life over and over.

Why? Because if there is goodness and life in the soul, the body will follow in goodness and life.

Simple.

We identify too often with what we do, as well.

For example, when I can, I paint. I paint using acrylics, water color, and oils.

I could say I am an amateur painter.

But, that is not who I am.

I write. I have been writing all my life, since I could hold a pen or pencil.

I have tons of manuscripts.

But, I am more than a writer. And those "things", the poems, the short stories, the fairy tales, do not determine who I am.

If I hang on to things, it is because I have forgotten who I really am. I am a daughter of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

He has everything. I need, I mean, need, nothing but Him. Like the bride who only has eyes for Christ, so, too, the lover of Christ only has eyes for Him. He determines my needs and wants.

to be continued....

Think about this....

If you added up the time spent--the minutes and hours in cars or trains or buses going to shops to buy Christmas things, if you added to that all the time in queues, shopping, returning, and added to that the time decorating inside and out, and added the time making too many cookies, cakes and candy,  and compared that time with the time you spent in prayer this Advent, what would you be thinking about your spiritual life?

We waste so much time on the exterior-and not enough on the interior.

One Reason to Read The Lives of The Saints

http://www.medicaldaily.com/psychologists-discover-how-people-subconsciously-become-their-favorite-fictional-characters-240435

An older study has shown how we become characters we read about in novels, especially our favorites. So, do I act like Little Dorrit, Ann Elliot, Elinor Dashwood, or Fanny Price?

Perhaps we gravitate towards favoring characters who are like us?

This study and common sense tell us why it is important for your children to read the classics with heroes, like Kidnapped or The Far Side of the Word. and the lives of the saints.

Read the lives of the saints and let your children read them over and over and over.

Role model is learned by watching and by reading.

When my son was little, we had the Mary Windeatt series. Here is an old list I found. We passed these on to other home schooling families, but I hope you can find these.

35 St. Paul the Apostle (Jerusalem, ancient Greece and Rome)
45 Love as Strong As Death
255 St. Tarcisius (Pauline Press) Ancient Rome
300 St. Agnes (Pauline Press) Italy
300 St. Pancratius (Pauline Press) Asia Minor
300 Saints of the Byzantine World
385 The Wind at My Back Ireland
500 St. Benedict Italy
1090 Bells of Conquest France
1170 Saint Dominic Spain
1180 Francis and Clare Italy
1190 St. Dominic Italy
1220 Patron St. of First Communicants
1220 St. Hyacinth of Poland Poland
1225 Pillar in the Twilight Italy
1225 The Dumb Ox - St. Thomas Aquinas Italy
1350 St. Catherine of Siena Italy
1425 Wind and Shadows France
1440 Saint Joan France
1460 The Conscience Game England
1500 The Friar and the Knight Spain
1510 Leaving Matters to God Spain
1510 No Place for Defeat Italy
1520 Flame in the Night
1530 The Cross in the West US
1540 Bernadette and the Lady France
1550 A Gamble for God
1550 Saint Philip Italy
1560 Edmund Campion England
1565 St. Francis Solano Peru
1580 St. Martin De Porres Peru
1580 The King's Reward France
1580 The Cheerful Warrior France
1590 St. Rose of Lima Peru
1590 St. John Masias Peru
1600 Saint Issac and the Indians US
1630 Blessed Marie of New France Canada
1640 Father Marquette US
1650 Father Kino US
1650 Kateri Tekakwitha US
1660 A Woman Who Loved France
1725 The Ursulines US
1750 St. Louis De Montfort France
1750 The Road to the Kings Mountain US
1750 Wait for Me US
1760 Mother Seton US
1800 African Triumph Africa
1810 Friend to All Bohemia
1815 Pauline Jaricot France
1820 St. John Bosco Italy
1820 The Great Blackrobe US
1830 John Carrol US
1830 Miraculous Medal France
1840 No Greater Love Belgium
1840 Fr. Damien Belgium
1845 Ahead of the Crowd Italy
1845 Ven. Joseph Marello US
1850 Florence Nightingales Nuns England
1850 Rose Hawthorne US
1860 Katharine Drexel US
1860 The Little Flower France
1890 God's Secret Agent Mexico
1900 More Than a Knight Germany
1900 Yes is Forever US
1915 Our Lady Came to Fatima Portugal
1920 My Eskimos Arctic
1958 Pope John XXIII Italy

Now for something completely different Imladris and others in Legos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88574960@N02/

cool and creative

Prayers

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-passionate-plea-to-pope-francis-for.html

a thank you...

To those readers who sent me books for Christmas, a thank you. I am reading now, and you all will benefit, as I shall comment and give book reviews, as I have done, on this blog. The Ralph Martin book is absolutely FANTASTIC. Get it.

Secondly, I still need the American Missal, but only A and Cycle II, and a TLM Missal, as I was not allowed to pick these up and the daily and sunday missal I have (in England) is different than here.

As I cannot get to daily Mass, which I have been doing regularly in Europe, and which is a great hardship, it would be great to have the daily missal.

And, as I am going to the TLM on Sunday, and, again, do not have my missal, I would love to have one.

I know these are expensive, but if someone can manage these, I would appreciate it.

And, as I am in public places using the computer, it is hard for me to pray on line or read Scriptures on line.

As long as I am being "piggy", if someone feels they can manage the Baronius Breviary, that would be fantastic. Or, at least one part.

It is hard being separated from Mass and my books, so all things have been greatly appreciated.

Thoughts on The Sorrowful Mother-Part One

We think of the Sorrowful Mother at the foot of the Cross.

I am thinking of her today on a small donkey riding to Bethlehem.

Mary was on the same type of animal her Son would be riding into Jerusalem in 33 years. This ride would start His Passion Week.

Mary's ride on the 93 mile road to Bethlehem from Nazareth, with the Baby in the womb, and with Joseph at her side was a time of suffering.

Mary would have experienced the cold and wet of winter. It may have been raining or sleeting the entire four day journey. The nights would have been very cold and the married couple would have had to wear woolens-maybe socks and underthings-to keep warm. They slept outside next to the donkey.

Joseph must have felt terrible that his beloved wife, so good, so pure, so perfect, had to endure this journey.

It would not be the last journey, either.

As a very pregnant woman, Mary would have experienced discomfort. This is her joining in the suffering of her Son, Jesus. This is her sharing in the salvation of all. This is Mary, Co-Redemptorix and Mediatrix of All Grace, on a donkey, in the cold, going somewhere she did not know to have the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

She had the quiet joy of an expectant mother, but she also had peace and pain at the same time. This is the way of the saints, and she is the greatest one. Mary was pure, so did not need purification, but she shared in her Son's salvific role.

Mary knew Who her Son Is. She knew He Is God. She, the Bride, the Daughter, the Theotokos, knew Who He Is and who she is.

That made the journey all the more painful.

The Sorrowful Mother on the way to Bethlehem....let us ask her intercession today for all our needs.

Our Lady of Sorrow, pray for us.

Thirteen Post Day

...counting this one--it is so cold here, I am writing and reading to avoid going out! Will emerge tomorrow....

Pax vobiscum.

Remembrance Tree in Davernport, Iowa

Thoughts from The CCC

1022 Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven-through a purification or immediately, -- or immediate and everlasting damnation.

At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.

1034 Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna" of "the unquenchable fire" reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost.⁶¹⁴ Jesus solemnly proclaims that he "will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire,"⁶¹⁵ and that he will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!"⁶¹⁶

1035 The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, "eternal fire."⁶¹⁷ The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

Virgo Potens

..pray for us now and at the hour of our death, amen

I am doing a Father Z

I am currently reading:

Will Many Be Saved? By Ralph Martin

The Fulfillment of All Desire, by the same

The Global War on Christians by John L. Allen, Jr.

Faith of the Fatherless, by Paul Vitz

I still need a missal, which is expensive...but...

My birthday is in January, hint, hint....