As Sparks Fly Upward

The Life Dilemma

2011-07-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

Here is the BIG QUESTION: To euthanize or not?

Let me 'splain.

So i am VERY pro-life, BUT I have this 20-year old cat.

She has been a wonderful and faithful companion for twenty years! I owe her a lot for being there during all the hard times, lowering my blood pressure and bringing lots of companionship, laughter and love into the lives of my children and I.

She wheezes when she breathes now. Her feet are misshapen and probably arthritic. Take her to the vet you say? Well even IF the vet took food stamps I am currently out of them and will not get more for a week. Now the poor dear has a weepy eye and seems almost deaf.

There has been some talk with friends that there may be a Humane society clinic Where i can take her and turn her in. But i will feel like a traitor on SO many levels. What should I do?

WOW

2011-03-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

Its been almost a year since my last post! Too long i think. What's on my mind now? Lots of things that are not positive but setting my boring future aside.....here is what i am thinking about a lot lately:

Tradition!

Traditioooooooonn sang Tevya the milkman in Fiddler on the Roof!
Tradition! That is not of GOD, say protestants of certain stripes

Its not our tradition...say some.

Does the Sacred Word of God forbid traditions? NO by no means! The Bible only rails against the "traditions of men". So what are the traditions of GOD? Are they the adaptations of Jewish worship and prayers incorporated into the new worship of the new religion of Christianity by the first apostles of Jesus Christ? OR are they "new" ways of worship invented by those who believe they are lead by the Holy Spirit of God today?

If you were Jesus Christ what what you say? Seems to this humble soul, that if Jesus hand-picked certain men to found the new faith and gave them authority we should follow their traditions.

WHO is Jesus addressing here in this passage--specifically?

Matthew 16 ¹³ When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

¹⁵ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷ Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you that you are Peter,^[b] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades^[c] will not overcome it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be^[d] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be^[e] loosed in heaven.” ²⁰ Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

I was taught, years ago in a Christian talk that Jesus was addressing all believers here, but the person pulled verse 19 out all by itself. However, is that the reality here? or is Jesus doing a specific thing here? For over a fifteen hundred years believers thought that this scripture was as straight as it appears. When did we get to make our own interpretations of this out of context? only in the last 50 years i would theorize.

Lastly, another question, when did the freedom spoken of as a legacy of the power of the Cross and resurrection of Christ become freedom OF religion? When did Religion become a "bad guy"? I believe that Satan wins a round with us if because some people abused a good thing we throw out the good thing altogether. Lets not hand Satan and his ilk any more wins! Please!

An old poster from the wall in my room

2010-04-04T19:26:00.001-07:00

Max Ehrmann

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,

and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender

be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;

and listen to others,

even the dull and the ignorant;

they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,

they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,

you may become vain and bitter;

for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;

it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs;

for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

many persons strive for high ideals;

and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.

Especially, do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love;

for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment

it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,

be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,

no less than the trees and the stars;

you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,

whatever you conceive Him to be,

and whatever your labors and aspirations,

in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,

it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

The Skull and Crossbones at the Foot of the Cross

2010-04-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

The earliest Crucifixes (they were not ashamed to put Jesus on the cross, they used the full Crucifix), Had a skull and crossbones at the base of the cross. Ancient peoples believed that Golgotha was the place where the bones of Adam were buried. So when depicting the cross of Christ, they placed the God of Love upon the cross with the bones of "the first Adam" as Paul calls him. at its base.

The precious blood of our Savior dripped down upon the bones of Adam and redeemed him to God. O God on this Passion Friday, Cleanse us by your precious and Holy blood. Redeem us fully, in every area of our lives, right to our very bones.

Love

2010-03-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

You love to the degree you're willing to sacrifice for the one you love. -- Fr. John Corapi

I would say that if you do not understand who God really is but claim to worship Him, you are actually worshiping a false God.

God is love, but what is love? It is NOT feelings of attraction or lust. God is LOVE and so HE defines love, His actions ARE love, His works are from love and can be no other. If He allows suffering, it is love, that motivates Him. If He allows us our free will it is because of His love. To love is to be like God. Love lays down ones life for another, love sacrifices all for the beloved.

God gave us His very best, His ONLY BEGOTTEN(not made) Son. He allowed Him to suffer and to die, for us.

To call the silly selfish desires that we have to keep someone ours so that we might feel good is not love. Love desires what is best for the Beloved.

I have a friend that God called called to Him recently, This was out of God's love. And though her husband suffers loss and her children miss her dearly, this too is love.

My most popular post

2010-03-07T10:34:00.000-08:00

About a year and a half ago i was on a futile search for the name of a song that i loved. I thought the name was from the Chorus You made me alive, But it is not! The song is called Gift of God made popular by Justin Rizzo. I have found that many people all over the place have been searching for this song also, which says to me that it has a real anointing of the Holy Spirit on it. So since I have had more hits for that original post, than any other on my blog, i am reposting the song here.

Enjoy!

UNBELIEVABLE!

2010-01-29T18:02:00.001-08:00

Is Ritual and Ceremony Important to God?

2010-01-29T15:32:00.000-08:00

I was challenged over Christmas by a family member who said that ritual and ceremony were not important to God, only your relationship to Him is important. .

Let's just look at our relationship with God. If I treat God at least the way that I treat my beloved friends and family, I would find out more about Him. What are His habits, likes and dislikes, what kind of information do I have to base my relationship with this all-important person in my life?

Well I have the Bible and some other early writings of people who knew Jesus Christ first or even second-hand. If I start in the Bible, in the Old Testament i come to places where God specifically called for ritual and ceremony, He ordered a place of meeting, at first a tent, then later a building or temple. He also ordered statuary and vessels for the ceremonies. He proscribed the way that He was to be worshiped and adored in the tent or temple. Hmmm. Well, you ask, I thought Jesus did away with all that stuff?

Let's look at Jesus, He went to the temple and he had a Bar-Mitzvah, and he read his Half-Torah. He went to the temples first to preach until they threw Him out. He kept passover, we know this for certain and He honored the local marriage Ceremony with his presence also.

What about His followers did they seem to think that ceremony and ritual was now passe"? Well when we look at our earliest record of Jesus followers they risked their lives to get together for mass(breaking bread together).

I would conclude that in my relationship with Jesus Christ, I better get on board and embrace Ritual and Ceremony.

Let's Digress into Humor a Bit

2010-01-20T16:46:00.000-08:00

Because laughing is supposed to tighten up stomach muscles!!! lol

The Fat Man's Prayer

Lord, my soul is ripped with riot,
Incited by my wicked diet.
We are what we eat, said a wise old man,
And Lord, if that's true, I'm a garbage can!
I want to rise on Judgment Day, that's plain,
But at my present weight, I'll need a crane!

So grant me strength that I may not fall
Into the clutches of cholesterol.
May my flesh with carrot curls be sated
That my soul may be polyunsaturated.
And show me the light that I may bear witness
To the President's Council on Physical Fitness.

At oleomargarine I'll never mutter,
For the road to hell is spread with butter.
And cake is cursed, and cream is awful,
And Satan is hiding in every waffle.
Mephistopheles lurks in provolone,
The devil is in each slice of bologna,
Beelzebub is a chocolate drop,
And Lucifer is a lollipop!

Give me this day my daily slice -
But cut it thin and toast it twice.
I beg upon my dimpled knees,
Deliver me from Jujubees.
And my when days of trial are done
And my war with malted milks is won,
Let me stand with the saints in heaven
In a shining robe - Size 7!

I can do it, Lord, if you'll show to me
The virtues of lettuce and celery.
If you'll teach me the evils of mayonnaise,
The sinfulness of hollandaise
And pasta a la milanese
And potatoes a la lyonaise
And crisp fried chicken from the south!
Lord, if you love me, SHUT MY MOUTH!

Victor Buono

The Barrow Wight

2009-11-20T11:50:00.000-08:00

I listen to the singing of the Barrow Wight

As I lie helpless upon the slab

The Cold seeping up from my feet

Into my heart, fogging my brain

I reach across to my best companion

Upon the slab next to me

But cannot see him, or find his hand to grasp

I cannot remember the song

To summon the fellow in the Bright Blue cap

Long years of Westernesse lie upon me

The bright jewels scattered about are useless baubles

With no sun to illuminate them

In this Barrow Mound

S

The Bed of Pain

2009-10-24T13:09:00.000-07:00

God speaks to us in many ways, one of them, noted in scripture, is The bed of pain.

I have been home for over a week with severe Bronchitus. It is very similar to the time I had pneumonia. I have been stuck in the house, alone most of the time, with no one to talk to but cats. Now cats ARE wonderful companions but they are a little bit selfish and lazy. They never bring me breakfast or lunch or any other meal in bed, or any of the other accouterments of a good nurse.

So, as in most of my life, if there is a significant change, i look up and say "Why God? What are You doing? What do you want from me?".

This time HE took his time letting me know(or was it me not listening...). But I am starting to get the message, that He wants more of my time and to make some course corrections.

I really wish i was not so dense and heard His voice without the "bed of pain" but I am not....Sigh...

Apart From Me You Can do Nothing.

2009-09-03T06:28:00.000-07:00

From today's reading in Luke 5:

After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.

So many times in our lives we are working so hard for God. But have we asked God what He wants us to do? The disciples found that when they followed Jesus Instructions the catch was overwhelming!

I have been chagrined to find that my efforts get nowhere, but when i commit them to God He makes them bear fruit. Sometimes He lets me know i am fishing in the wrong place and sometimes, I believe, He just needed me to acknowledge His Lordship in what i am doing to bring forth a blessing.

Are You a Pharisee?

2009-08-21T06:25:00.000-07:00

Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.

I have heard this story from Luke 10 all my life. I always imagine that if i saw a car accident, or some poor victim lying in the sidewalk, of course, I would help them. But what if Jesus meant ANY situation like this?

As I was driving to work yesterday and pondering my relationship with a difficult co-worker, this parable came to mind. I realized that God was speaking to my heart. That He was saying that my petulant, and immature co-worker was the man in the story. No, he had not fallen in with robbers, or had he? The more I thought about it, the more i realized that God was opening my eyes for hte first time to show me that he had. That the poor the wretched and the lame are not always that obvious.

That my co-worker had fallen in with the worst robber of all! He had been robbed of his correct sexual identity, his dignity as a person, and a loving heart. Instead of disdaining him, I should not be the Pharisee and pass by on the other side of the road. But I should be the hero in Luke 10, the proverbial "Good Samaritan". My grumbling and shunning this person was making ME a Pharisee.

God forgive me, all my life I believed that I would be the "Good Samaritan" in this story, but instead I have been the hated Pharisee!

A quote

2009-07-30T10:38:00.001-07:00

"Man is not a lost atom in a random universe" (Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 29).

2009-07-19T09:51:00.001-07:00

Life Begins at Conception

2009-07-15T13:07:00.001-07:00

2009-07-13T14:11:00.001-07:00

Live Tiger Evangelism

2009-07-10T21:12:00.000-07:00

I thought that i had blogged this long ago, but i cannot find it.

Years ago a priest recounted this story during a homily at mass at the Cathedral parish here, I cannot recall which Priest for certain. But let me say that my theory of evangelism is based on the saying of St. Francis of Assisi "Preach the Gospel at all times, when necessary, use words."

Actually this method of evangelism works to bring people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and also to save a marriage or love someone back to health. It comes from this story.

There was a farmer who felt that he was struggling with his marriage and needed some help. he went on a quest to seek out a wise man that he had heard could make a powerful potion to heal ills of the heart. The wise man lived far away at the top of a mountain. The farmer traveled to the mountain and climbed up to the home of the wise man to seek his advice. Upon explaining his problem to the wise man, the wise man fell into deep thought for a time while the farmer waited. At last the farmer pleaded "can you make me a potion to win back the love of my wife"?

At length the wise man spoke and said "Bring me the whisker of a live tiger and I shall grant your wish". The farmer left discouraged. How could he take the whisker from a tiger, while it was still alive!?

On the way home he had lots of time to think and he formulated a plan. He knew that a Tiger lived in a cave near the top of a hill near his farm. Upon arriving at his home he cut off a nice large steak from the side of beef in his cooling house and went to the foot of the hill.

He placed the steak at the foot of the tiger's hill on a piece of cloth and went home. The next day he went back with another steak. He found the first one gone, not even a bone left behind! He placed a second steak a little ways onto the path up the hill and went home.

The third day he brought another steak and placed it a little further up the hill, advancing only a few feet. He continued for weeks to feed the tiger and advance slowly up the side of the hill toward the tiger's den. After 3 weeks of patient feeding he placed the steak within site of the Tiger's den, in all this time he had not seen the tiger at all.

The next day he came back to see the Tiger watching as he placed the meat a little closer, and he realized that the tiger knew that it was him who had been providing these rich meals. As he advanced closer and closer to the den the tiger became more accustomed to his presence and did not even bother to hide any more but watched impassively.

Finally the day came when he walked boldly up to the front of the Tiger's cave and the Tiger came out and gobbled up the meat as soon as the man walked away. The farmer placed the meat in this location for 5 more days until the Tiger came to him for the meat and took it from his hand. He did this 3 more days and on the 4th day he took a small pair of scissors with him, and as the Tiger ate from his hand he reached down gently and nipped a whisker from the Tiger and the Tiger only crinkled his nose a bit and finished eating.

Triumphantly the farmer took his treasure to the wise man and presented it to him proudly. The wise man remembered him and gazed for a bit at the whisker. Then he asked patiently how the farmer had obtained the whisker. When the farmer recounted his tale in full, the wise man smiled.

"My son" he explained "In this same way that you obtained the whisker from the live Tiger you will win back the love of your wife. Go and use the same patience and generosity with her and win her again!"

"Preach the Gospel at all times, when necessary, use words". And to St. Francis advice i would add pray, and trust the Holy Spirit to guide you.

The Codex Sinaiticus and Me

2009-07-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

A number of years ago the Dead Sea Scrolls visited the Public Museum of Grand Rapids ( http://www.centuryone.com/2122-7.html ) I got together a few freinds and my children and we went to see this awesome exhibit! It took my breath away to be inches from the Isaiah Scroll! Isaiah is a particular love of mine in scripture.

In fact, the Bible is a particular love for me. My favorite thing to study and book to read! Over the past 30 some years since i had a powerful experience of God in my life, i have sought to memorize as much of it as possible. When scripture is read at mass, many sections are like old friends to me, giving my peace and comfort.

Today The British Library has announced that a project to scan the Codex Sinaiticus in total and post it online is complete! The Codex dates primarily from the 4th century but some parts are even from the First Century.

Whereas the Dead Sea Scrolls are Hebrew scrolls of the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament), along with some additional psalms and documents from Qumran, the Codex is the First known Complete Christian Bible. It was written all in Koine Greek(the vernacular).

In viewing the actual pages today a similar sense of awe and wonder consumed me. This is a gift of God to humanity, written lovingly by some anonymous monks, scribes who we do not know and have never been canonized as saints. I thank God for them!

Paul said "without faith it is impossible to please God", I believe that faith is what brings us closer to God. We all sin, we all fall short of perfection and need to be redeemed daily, but unless we trust in the infinite mercy of God we will never understand Him or His Love letter to us--the Bible! http://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en

Respect

2009-07-02T22:02:00.000-07:00

Our society is going through a drought of respect! It really has been building for a long time, or should I say tearing down for a long time. I thought i saw the beginnings in the 80's when the "reality" talk shows became big. The ones where people got on TV to tell about thier spouses sins and yell at their neighbors. They gloried in enticing children to come on television and complain about their parents; likewise the mentally ill and morally deficient revealed their depravity with pride on Jerry Springer and other similar shows.

The ripples could be seen then, my children picked up from other kids to complain about their teachers. I firmly believe that God puts authority in our lives to teach us, train us and sometimes to chastise us. I told my kids that Ii would weigh their teachers word on any dispute more heavily than theirs, and that I expected my children to put up with the idiosyncrasies of various instructors as lessons in coping with difficult people and obedience.

I have looked on various managers and employers similarly in my own life. If they were unjust, scripture tells me that I must be just and learn my lesson from God.

Today I observed a 5 year old girl strike her mother for refusing to purchase her a stuffed dog, when the mother firmly and without anger of any sort insisted the girl put the dog back and refused to buy the plastic necklace for her that was already on the counter, I took the time to let the mom know that she was doing the right thing(when the girl was not in earshot).

But coming on the heals of a conversation yesterday with a friend on how to counsel her freind whose husband was committing adultery, it concerned me! I think the societal lack of respect may have reached crisis proportions! More and more men and women are casting off all moral restraint to enter into fornication or adultery at the expense of love, family, children, even their own futures! Clothing also reveals a lack of respect, letting underwear show, and body parts that should not see the light of day be flaunted before all!

Commercials, television, movies and music, glory in showing anger and disdain for other human beings. Sexuality is treated only in the most base sense, a way to USE another human being for your own recreation!

Respect needs a 911 call to the Almighty!

Don't Fall Into the I am not Religious Trap!

2009-06-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

In our search for genuine, heartfelt authentic Christianity, many believers have fallen into a dangerous trap of the Evil One! Perhaps they have seen people who keep religious practices but do not have their hearts upon God. Perhaps they did not find God as a young person because their parents or the Church failed them. But the Fault is NOT in the Church! The Church is Jesus Bride! The Church is the Kingdom of heaven that Jesus desires to bring to earth! The Church is the only place that will challenge us to "work out our salvation in Fear and trembling!

Without the Church, I am outside, in the dark with no oil for my lamp(see Matt 25) when the Bridegroom comes for His bride!

I am Religious(at least I try to be!) and I will not be ashamed of the body of Christ, or of His Cross!

The Greatest of Gifts!

2009-06-21T06:10:00.000-07:00

My sin has taught me something! When i chose to refrain from partaking of the gift of the Holy Eucharist because I was not in a state of grace, I learned a little bit of a yearning for God. A hunger for the God's most precious gift to humanity grew in me.

Once I was reconciled to God through the gift of Confession and absolution, the Bread, that only HE can give was more precious to me. Now my eyes are more open to see the REAL FOCUS of the mass. Not music, which i love, and long to partake in! Not liturgy, that holds our attention so much at times! Not even the homily or the scripture that is so precious to me!

It is the Very Gift of God, that by a miracle of grace becomes bread and wine, that we may consume, the very Life of Jesus Christ!

The Heart of God!

2009-06-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus! In today's reading the heart of God is laid bare for all to see!

The first reading is a sad one from Hosea, it speaks of the tender parental love that God has for His people, how he nurtured them and taught them and expected love in return and was disappointed! How, like a good father, he restrains his Disappointment and seeks to show pity on them once more.

The Gospel reading today, gives us a glimpse of the Cross, the final moments when a sword peirced the heart of the One Who Loves us so! We pierced that heart and continue to do it, each time we turn our backs on right and truth! And yet that Heart chooses to continue to be our perpetual sacrifice, given on the altar of Catholic and Orthodox Churches all over the world each day, until the coming of the GREAT day of the Lord!

Lastly, Paul, who has glimpsed somewhat of the Love of God's heart, gives us a heartfelt prayer that should be ours all our lives, because it will transform us!

¹⁴For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵from whom his whole family^[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.~Eph 3

Obama: beginning to scare citizens

2009-06-09T16:56:00.001-07:00

Obama: beginning to scare citizens

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

By Lou Pritchett

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America' crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

Note: Lou Pritchett is a former vice president of Procter & Gamble whose career at that company spanned 36 years before his retirement in 1989, and he is the author of the 1995 business book, Stop Paddling & Start Rocking the Boat.

Mr. Pritchett confirmed that he was indeed the author of the much-circulated "open letter." "I did write the 'you scare me' letter. I sent it to the NY Times but they never acknowledged or published it. However, it hit the internet and according to the 'experts' has had over 500,000 hits.

I think Mr. Pritchett is speaking for many of us. Please use the Share button below to pass this on.

Love,

Shared via AddThis

We are not Obama Haters

2009-05-24T05:06:00.000-07:00

There may be some misunderstanding among those who see this blog and others who have strong opposition to the President being honored at Notre Dame. This is NOT about hating Obama, the man.

To hate President Obama would be almost as wrong as killing the unborn. Our opposition is to the culture of death, that is being furthered by this man's policies. It has no place being honored at a Catholic Institution, and our Bishops have already said this. Specifically forbidden the giving of honors to politicians who are anti life. And Yes Obama is Anti life!

In case you have been sleeping since the election, within a very very short time after the election the president started implementing the promises he has made to Planned Parenthood that would increase their profits and further their annihilation of poor minority children. He started with the rescinding of the Mexico City policy, which forbade the use of American monies to kill the unborn in foreign lands. This policy is estimated to have saved the lives of several million babies since its implementation.

Next, the President, in a purely political move, authorized the use of taxpayer monies to fund completly unnecessary research on live human embryos to harvest thier stem cells. This research is unnecessary because of breakthroughs in stem cell research that prove that no infants need be killed to further the noble cause of stem cell research.

In his march to aid profits for the death mongers at abortion mills Obama has started removing restrictions to abortions which help women wait a bit and think through the implications of killing thier own child. In addition he has made plans to do away with parental notification for abortions, a law that protects young women from major surjical procedures without proper background history for the medical caregivers. This law helps save the lives of the mothers-to-be.

Think about it, when a lady becomes pregnant she is considered a mom-to-be, doesn't that say that we know there is a baby in her womb? When pro-abortionists promote thier cause they say that they want to help make abortion less common? WHY? If it is just a blob of tissue then who cares? But if it is, after all, as scientists tell us, the taking of life, which exists from the moment of first cell division, then yes it should be rare!

An Inspiring Response

2009-05-23T04:31:00.000-07:00

sad really!

2009-05-21T21:26:00.001-07:00

A New Hero

2009-05-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

May 15: A protester of President Obama's Notre Dame visit during graduation ceremonies on Sunday is arrested and hauled away by police.
May 15: Protesters of Obama's graduation visit to the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
May 15: Protesters march against President Obama's visit to Notre Dame.
May 15: A protester is subdued by police on Notre Dame's campus in South Bend, Ind.
May 15: A protester of Obama's visit to Notre Dame is restrained by police on the campus in South Bend, Ind.
May 8: A truck adorned with anti-abortion protest signs is seen during a protest at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. University of Notre Dame students who plan to protest the school's awarding of an honorary degree to President Barack Obama on campus during commencement Sunday are calling for a peaceful, prayerful approach.
May 8: Anti-abortion protestors led by Alan Keyes cross the path of pro-Obama Notre Dame students in South Bend, Ind. University of Notre Dame students plan to protest the school's awarding of an honorary degree to Obama on campus during commencement Sunday.
May 8: A truck adorned with anti-abortion protest signs is seen during a protest at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.
May 8: Notre Dame senior Matthew Degnan

Notice that Mr. Degnan has his hands behind his back. That is because he got arrested today while praying on Notre Dame Campus!

Photo and caption Courtesy of Fox news
To watch an 80 year old priest arrested while trying to honor the Lady of Notre Dame! They had just finished praying:

St. Plurks Potato Soup

2009-05-06T21:14:00.000-07:00

This soup was developed with the help of the best cooks at St. Plurks Online Parish!

1/3 C butter
A large bunch of Green onions, chopped, tops and all
6-7 medium potatoes (i used russets), clean and chop(leave skins on)
4-5 Chicken bullion cubes
2 quarts water
1 Cup dry milk powder
Pepper to taste
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Saute' the green onions in the butter on med low heat, for 15 to 20 min. Add potatoes, bullion cubes and water, and let simmer until potatoes are done(not too soft). Add dry milk powder and stir well, pepper to taste and crumble in bacon and simmer a few more minutes.

Great with Corn bread!

Take a stand!

2009-05-05T06:33:00.001-07:00

Very scary!

2009-04-23T12:30:00.001-07:00

Easter Sunday

2009-04-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

You may think this post is late in coming. Its not. I have lots of time. Easter, for Catholics, is so important it is our longest holiday of the year, it has a preparation period of 40 days of reflection and penitence, then one week of commemoration(holy Week), and now we are in the 50 days of Easter, which ends at Pentecost.

During Lent we sing no Alleluias, During Easter we sing them all the time. We just finished yesterday the Octave of Easter, eight days of readings surrounding the events of Easter itself. Yesterday was considered both "Doubting Thomas Sunday" and "Divine Mercy Sunday". The first for the gospel reading that we read on that day, the upper room visits of Jesus, first without poor maligned Thomas, and then with him and his profession of faith.

Divine Mercy Sunday has a number of meanings, but primarily celebrates the Mercy of God in granting us forgiveness for our sins.

So Happy Easter.

Holy Saturday

2009-04-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

The day of silence. Traditionally(no that is not a bad word but a word that indicates we have a rich heritage as Christians), Holy saturday is the day when Our Lord is missing from the earth. The Pauline Revelation tells us that He descended into hell and defeats Satan and takes the keys of death and hell from him on this day.

It is a day of waiting for us. For the disciples it was a day of confusion and dwindling hope.

Good Friday

2009-04-12T05:05:00.000-07:00

Good Friday for Catholics is a day of fasting and abstinence. We fast all day and when we do bread our fast we abstain from meat. Throughout lent, which is the time set aside for repentance and examination of our life compared to Christ's, we are setting ourselves aside to seek God and take a good look at our lives and how we may become more like Him.

On Good Friday we are devoted to commemorating Christ suffering for our sakes. If you take the time to do this you do find that your life is changed. The reminder of Jesus suffering for you cannot help but humble you and make you take a good look at your life. We must ask ourselves, am i living a life worthy of such sacrifice?

Holy Thursday

2009-04-11T23:00:00.001-07:00

Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday (for the Maundatum Novum, or the New Commandment in English), commemorates the institution of the Holy Eucharist. On this night, on the first night of passover, Jesus fulfills what he referred to throughout his lengthy discourse in John 6.

In John 6:66 many of His followers left Jesus because they could not accept His teaching that they should eat His flesh and drink his blood. Here at the Last Supper one more of Jesus followers falls away because of this teaching, Judas. Judas cannot accept the suffering, humble Messiah. He looses faith just like the ones at the end of John 6.

The parallels of Jesus giving us His body and blood to eat and drink with that of the Passover story, are rich and closely intertwined with the Institution of the mass. A close study of Jewish practices explains all the parts of the mass juxtaposed over the Last supper that Jesus spends with His disciples, carefully teaching them some of His final life essays in their class on Church building. The final essay being His death and Resurrection.

Passion Sunday

2009-04-05T06:19:00.000-07:00

Sometimes known as Palm Sunday because the Gospel chosen for this Sunday starts with Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem just prior to passover. Historically this is Passion Sunday in which the whole passion narrative is read as the Gospel. It is a longer mass, because all 4 scripture readings are longer and we have some additional special prayers and readings.

The 2000 year history of our faith is rich in symbolism and rituals based in our Jewish roots. Many of the prayers of the Church can easily be seen as Jewish prayers and blessings. The early Church almost immediately had to go underground because of severe persecution throughout the Roman world. So symbols and signs, like the Ichthus, and the Crucifix were identifiers to other Christians. Possessing these symbols could also bring death! However denying them would be unthinkable and many Christians that remain unnamed perished as unnamed martyrs of the Faith!

Let us never be ashamed of the Church or it's practices, many have died to bring them down to us! As Paul Says "I am not ashamed of the cross of Christ". The earliest crosses had the crucified Christ proudly displayed on them, which spoke the gospel message without words! Other symbols of Christ came later, in our history but are still revered for their connection to Jesus, of whom we should never be ashamed to identify ourselves.

As Gamaliel said of the early Church " For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. ³⁹But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God." (Acts 5)

A reprint from The Voice Magazine Online

2009-03-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

Pro-Life Pastor Walter Hoye Sentenced to Jail
Published by TheVoiceMag February 20th, 2009 in Breaking News and Culture.

Pro-life Pastor Walter Hoye was found guilty of violating “The Bubble Law,” a city law that provides an 8-foot buffer zone between pro-life protesters and women entering the abortion clinics. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and ordered to stay 100 yards away from the clinic where he was arrested for the next three years.

According to the Oakland Tribune, Pastor Walter Hoye, is the first person charged and found guilty of the city’s two-year-old law and must also pay $1,130 in fines and remain on probation for three years after either serving his 30 days in county jail or entering an alternative program run by the sheriff’s department.

Pastor Hoye’s case, has garnered national attention from Christians and pro-life supporters, many of whom traveled from as far as Dallas in support of the beloved pastor, who they said was having his First Amendment rights taken away. Some believe that he was especially targetted by the abortion clinics.

As reported by the Tribune, the courtroom’s atmosphere was charged and filled with both pro-choice and pro-life activists. Supporters of both groups also crammed the hallways of the courthouse before the hearing and shouted at each other as they jockeyed for a seat.

The ruling was made by Alameda Superior Court Judge Stuart Hing.

The tensions flared after the hearing. One pro-lifer wrestled with sheriff’s deputies as he shouted at the judge, condemning him for placing Hoye in jail, while others sang “We Shall Overcome.” Many Christians were shocked at the news of Pastor Walter Hoye’s arrest and believed he was convicted wrongly.

“It is my prayer that God’s name be glorified and the life of His Son Jesus Christ be revealed in me,” said Hoye while he awaited his sentence.

“It’s not an issue of pro-life or pro-choice, it’s about the ability of a man to stand up and speak his truth,” said Dion Evans, shortly before he was restrained by sheriff’s deputies as he shouted at the judge.

Judge Hing said he received stacks of letters in support of Hoye. Perhaps they helped to reduce the sentence. Pastor Hoye was facing up to two years in jail and $4000 in fines.

Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Robert Graff, who tried the case, argued that Hoye was not an innocent man standing on a sidewalk with a sign but someone who violated a city law.

“To suggest that he was merely holding a sign on the sidewalk does not speak to the totality of what is going on here,” Graff said. “This is a balancing of rights here. These people’s rights have to be balanced as well.”

Hoye’s defense attorneys, paid for by the Life Legal Defense Foundation, argued, at times with tears in their eyes, that the law was unconstitutional and that a punishment of jail was cruel and unusual.

Graff, who agreed Hoye should not be placed in jail, suggested the Judge place him on probation for 3 years with an order to stay 100 yards away from the abortion clinic. Graff said, “If Hoye did not agree to that, he should be sent to county jail for two years.”

Hing sentenced Hoye to 30 days in jail with the option of entering a sheriff work-release program that allows him to do sheriff-sponsored community service in exchange for jail time.

Hoye was warned with a threat that if he was found approaching women at the abortion clinic in the future, he would be in violation of his probation and could face additional time in jail.

Meanwhile, Life Legal Defense Foundation is challenging the city’s law in federal court.

Copied in toto from http://www.thevoicemagazine.com/blog/breaking-news/pro-life-pastor-walter-hoye-sentenced-to-jail/

NOTE: as soon as we get the information to write in suport of Pastor Hoye I will post it here!

Infant Stem Cell Research

2009-03-10T05:53:00.000-07:00

32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me...
37 Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
39 When did we see you sick...?
40 The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'~ Matt 25

Yesterday President Obama signed into law permission for the use of infant stem cells for research. Why do i use the term "infant" instead of embryo? Because an embryo is a tiny infant. It is human life, and to research on human life is reprehensible. It is the stuff of the most horrible science fiction of the past.

When we used to read science fiction 30 or 40 years ago about harvesting humans to feed or enhance other humans we knew instinctively that it was evil. Today they change the words and make it sound noble.

I call upon those that are diabetic or disabled in any way that could "benefit" from these appalling research methods to let it be known that they refuse to be party to the killing of the innocents.

Today's Gospel

2009-02-27T07:35:00.000-08:00

Today's gospel reading is short but very interesting, this one never struck me before. It is the first Friday of Lent, for Catholics it is a day of abstinence from meat. This past Wednesday was a day of fasting and abstinence. We have already had psalm 51 on both days as the psalm reading, calling us to repentance and reconciliation with God. So in that light here is the reading for today:

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,
"Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?"
Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast." ~Matthew 9:14-15

What struck me here is that Jesus disciples never fasted! I never thought about that before. But it occurs to me that they had the power of God with them at all times. He could overcome anything that came up, He raised the dead, cast out difficult demons and with a word calmed a storm.

We however, need to set ourselves aside, away from our physical wants and to connect in a stronger way with God to see miricles in our lives. Come Lord Jesus.

Who said..

2009-02-25T11:44:00.000-08:00

"No parent should ever have to choose between
work and family; between earning a decent wage and
caring for a child.”~Bill Clinton(you were thinking Mother Theresa weren't you?)

More on Faith

2009-02-21T06:03:00.000-08:00

It is interesting, after going through that entire blog entry with my musings on faith, today's readings are about faith! The first reading is the great faith chapter Hebrews 11. I love this chapter. I listen to the scripture readings in the NIV when I stream them in my devotions. But the one verse i memorized from the KJV, From memory: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." In the NIV it is rendered thus: 1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.(ibs.org).

This chapter is an excellent summary for me. It recounts various patriarchs and how their faith in the promises of God sustained them or inspired them. Near the end of the passage there is mention of Barak. I did not remember reading about Barak. So i looked him up. He was the commander of the Israeli army under the judge Deborah. Since he was listed as a man of faith, i read the account. It seems that Barak had to trust that Deborah was truly hearing from God, and upon her word of the surety of his victory went out and attacked the army of Sisera and they were routed by God. They inexplicably fled before his troops.

All this is to say that I know that God is powerful, and that He raised Jesus from the dead and did many powerful miracles. But do I truly believe all that Jesus said? Jesus told us that we would do greater miracles than He did. And yet I am continually held back by the whisperings of the evil one in my ear "you are not good enough, God could not care for you..." In believing this am I any different than Eve? I think that God's love is not big enough to cover my faults and sins. How arrogant of me! God made the heavens and the earth. He owns all the cattle on a thousand hills. He made the stars and the whirlpool nebula!

I am reminded of a children's bible school song i learned somewhere:

He's still workin' on me
Makin' me what i outta be
It took Him just a week
To make the moon and stars
The sun and the earth and
Jupiter and Mars
How loving and patient
He must be
'Cause He's still workin' on me.

The psalm today is the clincher--it is psalm 145, here are some excerpts to close this entry:

8 The LORD is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.

9 The LORD is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made.

14 The LORD upholds all those who fall
and lifts up all who are bowed down.

15 The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.

16 You open your hand
and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways
and loving toward all he has made.

18 The LORD is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.

19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.

Thank you Jesus.

Funny

2009-02-20T18:28:00.001-08:00

more animals

Thoughts on healing

2009-02-19T19:27:00.000-08:00

In the Gospel readings this past couple weeks we are going through the book of Mark. I have really been struck in a different way about Jesus teachings on faith. I sense that God wants His people to have faith for healing and deliverence in a greater way. I have had a growing sense that as this time of great evangelism is upon us, those of us that God has spent the last ten, twenty and thirty years preparing in the Spirit are going to be called upon to stretch in the wisdom and gifts that we have been given. We are going to have to learn to rely on God's voice, not methods or formulas, and have greater faith in Him to touch lives.

Here in Mark 1, obviously very early in Jesus ministry, He proves that He has great power, there is a demon cast out of a man and then they leave the synagogue:

29As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. 31So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

32That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33The whole town gathered at the door, 34and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

This is the God we rely on. Who heals with a touch and the voice of command.

Those who had simple faith are healed like this man: " 40A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."
41Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" 42Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured." This man surely had faith in Jesus and Jesus immediately responded to that faith.

Then, of course there is the man who was healed NOT because of his own faith but because of the faith of his friends!:

Mark 2~ 3Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."... He said to the paralytic, 11"I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

Then in Mark 4 Jesus rebukes his disciples for their lack of faith(and the light perhaps starts to dawn for them that he is the Messiah!)

35That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

39He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

41They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

In chapter 5 of Mark, Jesus tackles tougher problems, the demon possessed man who had a legion of demons and then He raises Jiarus daughter from the dead.

In Chapter 6, Jesus again encounters a lack of faith: 4Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." 5He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6And he was amazed at their lack of faith." notice that even though He is God incarnate, He cannot heal when there is a lack of faith!

In chapter 7 Jesus encounters a woman who will not take "no" for an answer. He even calls her a dog and she is not deterred " 27"First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."28"Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."29Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter." 30She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

This last one struck me for many reasons. First because I often fall for the lie that i am not good enough for God to bless. This woman told Jesus that she was at least good enough for the Crumbs from his table and that would be enough for her.

Next,it hit me for the first time,that Jesus drove out THIS demon without being present with the patient,or even speaking a word of command. He just told her, that her child was free. I believe that God wants us to learn to trust Him more and learn to tap into His power in greater ways.

Ponderings on the Sorrowful Mysteries

2009-02-14T19:08:00.000-08:00

Image: The Polish Pieta-note the size of Jesus wounds

I had these thoughts today as I prayed through the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.

The First Sorrowful Mystery The Agony in the Garden: The Agony in the garden represents the loneliness of separation from God that Jesus accepted in order to take on our sins. Sin separates us from God, this was probably the first time that Jesus ever felt that separation and he begged his disciples to stay awake with him, because he felt such profound loneliness.

The Second Sorrowful Mystery The Scourging at the Pillar: The scourging of Jesus in the outer court of Pilate's palace represents bodily suffering, Jesus took on the pain that we feel from sickness, disease, cancer, leprosy, Multiple sclerosis, beatings, abuse and all the other pains known to humankind. He took it all upon his body.

The Third Sorrowful Mystery The Crowning with thorns. I believe that the crowning with thorns represents mental anguish. Both from mental illness and also from temptation and disappointment and all other agonies of the mind.

The FOurth Sorrowful Mystery The Carrying of the Cross. I believe that this represents the drudgery of bearing our day to day life. The boredom the waiting, the persevering in all things for the sake of God and family and friends. Though we at times seek a better life in the hereafter with God, we must take up our cross each day and bear it with the help of the Holy Spirit our Comforter.

The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery The Crucifixion. This represents the final triumph of Jesus. He passed through death for our sakes in order to accept the sting of death and brave hell for us. He conquered both so that those who die in Christ will suffer neither. Praise be to Him! The Sacrifice Lamb!

A legacy

2009-02-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

Michael Dubruiel was a Catholic Author and wife of the famous Blogger Amy Wellborn of Charlotte Was Both Blog. It is very poignient to read the last column that he was preparing for his Diocesan newspaper, just before he collapsed and died suddenly at age 50 right after his workout at the local Gym. Here is his column.

The Last Column

February 4, 2009 by Amy

{(Michael had been writing a column for the Diocesan newspaper called “Some Seed Fell” and posting them after publication on his blog. His sweet secretary Allison just sent me the last column he wrote, being published this week, that he wrote Monday night.)~Amy Wellborn's comments on her blog http://amywelborn.wordpress.com/ }

While in Washington, D.C. several weeks ago, I ran into an old friend, Father Benedict Groeschel, CFR, with whom I have collaborated on several books. We met after a Mass for pro-life leaders at Trinity College. It was exactly five years and 10 days from that night in Orlando, FL when Father Benedict nearly lost his life in a tragic accident, and almost four years to the day that I spent a week with him in New York, assisting him in putting the finishing touches on a book that he co-authored with Bishop Baker.

Working with a very frail Father Benedict at the time, I was reminded of an interview that he had given some years earlier at EWTN with Doug Keck on Booknotes. During that interview, when Father Benedict’s book Arise From Darkness was first published, Doug asked Father Benedict to elaborate on something that Father had called the “big lie” in his book. The “big lie,” Father Benedict said, (and I’m paraphrasing him at this point), is to think that if we say all the right prayers and live correctly, then nothing bad will ever happen to us. Sadly, there are many good people who have lost their faith by believing such a lie, and that makes it a big one indeed!

One only has to think of Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, and how much He suffered on the cross, to correct one’s view on this matter. In our own day, there are many whom we know have lived saintly lives, many who have prayed much, and yet have suffered too.

This brings me to another incident that I learned from Father Benedict while working with him four years ago in New York. I was waiting for him to make some corrections on a text when I noticed what looked like a wedding program. I asked him if it was for a relative or a couple he had married. He replied that it was neither, but told me the story of the person behind it.

Diana was a young Puerto Rican woman who grew up in a very faith filled home. Even though they were poor, her mother taught her at an early age to trust God above everything. By the time she was old enough to go to college, Diana found a way to pursue her education - again something that she credited to her strong faith - and became the first member of her large family to graduate from college. She then married and was hired by a large investment firm in New York.

Even though her job kept her busy, she found time to attend Mass everyday. When her friends threw parties, Diana made up goodie bags for them that included candy and make-up, but also a prayer book and holy water. When a member of her family couldn’t pay their bills, Diana secretly paid them. When someone in the family got into trouble she bailed them out of jail.

One night Diana had a strange dream. In the dream Jesus appeared to her, dressed in a white robe, standing on a cloud of smoke. He was beckoning her to come to him, telling her not to worry, that he was going to take her with him. Then it seemed to her that the whole world disappeared from beneath her and she awoke. She told her husband about the dream the next morning, but he didn’t want to hear about it—it scared him.

The next few nights, the dream repeated itself. She told her mother, who wondered what it could mean.

A month later on September 11, 2001, Diana was at work at her investment firm in the World Trade Center on one of the top floors. She phoned her husband and mother on her cell phone after the second plane struck the tower below her. She reminded them of the dream, just before the tower crumbled.

What is the opposite of the “big lie”? Trust.

When questioned by an English journalist about the future of the Religious Order that he co-founded, Father Benedict gave a simple reply, “We have no plans, except to be led by God.”

None of us knows what the future holds, but hopefully we can embrace what is inscribed in our coinage, “In God we Trust.”

ARRANGEMENTS

Viewing

Sunday, February 8

5-8 pm

7pm Vigil Service

Fr. Brian Flanagan, Diocese of West Palm Beach

Craig Funeral Home

1475 Old Dixie Highway
St. Augustine, FL 32084
Office: (904) 824-1672

MASS OF THE RESURRECTION

Monday, February 9

11am

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine

35 Treasury Street
St. Augustine, Fl
904-824-2806

Most Reverend Robert J. Baker, celebrant

Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J., homilist

~Sparks

Cooleration

2009-02-06T18:52:00.000-08:00

Is that a word?

Love my new group. Randomly, i ran into an old aquaintance from around the diocese on a Catholic web site, and messaged him hello. We struck up a bit of a conversation and he mentioned that he was doing the music at a local parish on Sunday evenings with a band. I mentioned that i was a strong vocalist looking for a gig. He then asked if i could practice friday nights and I can.

Sometimes my life just does not cooperate with Choir or mass times for Church very well and i am catch as catch can. But lately my boss at my one job has had mercy on my giving me virtually every sunday off. Which is has been pretty much unheard of in my life for the past 12 years except for a period of unemployment in 2006(for about 7 months). And i am free on all the scheduled friday nights coming up.

So i started tonight and love it. The leader of the band is firm but kind--i need that as i can make mistakes but can also be hard on myself. The musicians are awesome and talented and the boss has a way of bringing out the best in everybody. He also is a talented songwriter. We are doing some of his songs and they are very good. And he coordinated all the songs with the scriptures for this week very nicely.

This song is one i have only had rare exposure to but I am starting to love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isve04xCYyY&feature=related

Pax Christi Tibi(to quote the most intelligent man i know)

I needed cheering up so...

2009-02-05T19:01:00.001-08:00

My Version of Truckers Stew

2009-02-04T12:45:00.000-08:00

1 lb of ground beef (or venison or sausage) browned
1 lb of bacon cooked in 1/2-1 inch chunks
2-3 onions
2 cans pork and beans
1 can each of kidney and black beans
2 cans of green beans
2 cans of butter beans(or 1 can butter and one lima--we just love butter beans)
1 1/2 Cup Ketchup
3 T vinegar
4 T mustard(yellow or brown)
2 C brown sugar
salt to taste

Brown your meats and the onions, drain. Add beans, if you are using a crock pot, drain the beans before adding, if stove top you will need the liquid. Add rest of ingredients and simmer in crock pot for the whole day(6-8 hours) or approx 3 hours stove top stirring occasionally.

Notes: This is not a health nut soup, you may want to limit it to speacial occasions :-)

Fallible Men

2009-02-02T09:18:00.000-08:00

Was reading a section in the book "The Biblical Basis for the Catholic Faith" by Salza on how fallible men can have infallible teaching(not all the time but when lead by God's Spirit). It was pointed out that, of course we know David was an adulterer and murderer, and Moses a murderer. Peter made mistakes, and the writers of the Bible were all fallible men with infallible writings.

However I had never really noticed this before, in passing the author mentioned that the high priest Caiaphas, though he was a very corrupt man, made an infallible prophecy. So i set out to find it this morning right after my scripture time.

I found this account of it in John, with John's commentary: "49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish."

51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life."~John 11.

This explains a lot to me that i have pondered over the years. I have personally been scandalized when a certian extremely prominant Christian Singer left her husband to marry another famous celebrity and had refused to listen to her music, though it was very good, ever since. There was also a very popular priest years ago who had a powerful healing ministry that left the church in disobediance to get married. Then I wondered about all those healings--of course they were real, and his wonderful books on healing.

These are only a couple of people who have caused scandal in the body of Christ that affected me personally. But i remember that Warren H. Carroll pointes out in the Founding of Christendom that God's anointing is real even if the person subsequently turns his back on God.

A Poem

2009-01-25T17:22:00.000-08:00

By Studdard Kennedy

When Jesus came to Golgotha, they nailed Him to a tree.
They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, red were His wounds—and deep.
For those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap.

When Jesus came to Birmingham, they only passed Him by.
They would not hurt a hair of His, they only let Him die.
For men had grown more tender, they would not wish Him pain.
They only passed down the street, and left Him in the rain—the winter rains that drenched Him through and through.

And when all the crowds had left the street.
Jesus crouched against a wall, and sighed for Calvary.

Tortured by Despair

2009-01-25T11:44:00.000-08:00

Torture, that is what depression that has degraded all the way to despair does to a person. Torquemada could not do as good a job on the body as despair does to the mind. I have observed this firsthand. People who are unable to prosper in life becuase of this inner torture. It is as painstaking to watch as the torturer works someone over with despair, stripping them of the will to live,love and laugh. You cringe, you try to reason with them, you attempt to pull them out of it. But a wise friend of mine pointed out to me long ago that people with a pile of old junk in their possession will cling fearcly to it because it is their pile of junk and it is familiar and they cannot see anything else over their pile.

Our problems can loom so large that we cannot see the pot of gold the Lord Has for us becuase of them.

I just read in a novel that a cynic is a frustrated idealist. When i googled it, i found that many people quote this but no one ascribes it to anyone. I think it is true though. It seems as if all cynics i have met are actually tenderhearted souls who have been gravely squelched.

The world is a cruel place suited best for politicians with Teflon exteriors. I certainly don't think that i will lack for work when i receive my masters in counseling. But can i really make a difference, that is the real question? Can I pry the junk out of a frustrated idealists hands and hand him a pot of gold? Perhaps with the help of the almighty. For nothing is impossible with God.

How to respond to the President(a reprint from Andy Levy)

2009-01-21T21:06:00.000-08:00

My “To Don’t” List for the Right
by Andy Levy

The only thing worse than bad winners are sore losers, and we’ve had enough of them for the past eight years. So with that in mind, in the wake of today’s historic inauguration, here’s my Handbook For The Loyal Opposition, 2009 edition - a “To Don’t List,” if you will. Or even if you won’t.

DON’T question the motives - question the policy. When you disagree with Obama’s policies, say so, and make it clear why. But remember that President Obama is doing what he thinks is best for the country, as President Bush did. Both men love America and want what’s best for her. End of story.

DON’T make it personal. We don’t need another Derangement Syndrome. We don’t need people doing things like emphasizing Obama’s middle name in a derogatory fashion. How anyone would think that’s beneficial to their cause, or to the country as a whole, is beyond me. Also, it’s not even clever. Neither are smushwords like BusHitler, or sillywords like Rethuglicans and Dhimmicrats.

DON’T cozy up to and champion foreign dictators and despots. Sean Penn is an ass. No reason to be like him. ‘Nuff said. (Corollary: Don’t cozy up to and champion foreign dictators and despots and then act outraged when people question your patriotism.)

DON’T pretend you’re being brave when you criticize your government. Not while people in other countries actually, y’know, DIE, when they do that.

DON’T use the word “divisive.” At this point, all that word means is “You disagree with me,” and the English language gets mangled enough these days.

DON’T use the phrase “speaking truth to power.” EVER.

DON’T move to Canada.

DON’T say you’re going to move to Canada and then stay here. (I know it’s too late for Stephen Baldwin, but not for the rest of you.)

DON’T apologize to foreigners and say things to them like, “I didn’t vote for Obama,” or “He’s not MY president.”

DON’T say or do everything in your power to drive this country apart and then claim you want unity when it’s your guy in power. This is like the convicted felon who conveniently finds God when he’s up for parole.

DON’T call people un-American one week, and then talk about how “We are not blue states or red states, we are the United States” the next. (This rule may only apply to Tom Hanks, but I put it in just to be safe.)

DON’T automatically think people who disagree with you are stupid or evil. Some of them are, of course. But most of them aren’t, and you might actually learn something if you listen to them.

And finally, DON’T use the fact that many on the left behaved abominably for the past eight years as an excuse to behave the same way. America needs adults. And if it bothered you when they did it, it’s a good sign that you shouldn’t do it.

An Ode to Sully

2009-01-19T09:27:00.000-08:00

Found this randomly on the web, ok on Mark Shea's blog, but it is the most unique take on the landing on the Hudson!:

A Testimony of a sort...

2009-01-16T16:28:00.000-08:00

I have a pretty decent "testimony"(how I met the Lord and gave my life to Him and returned to the Church of my youth), it involves drugs and depression and suicidal thoughts and a dramatic turn a round from life for myself and the world to life fully lived for God.

But I have come to believe that my real testimony is that God can "cover a multitude of sins", or lots of foolish mistakes. A case in point is the way that God continually covers for my forgetfulness and ADD.

Recently I took some of my precious Christmas money from my mom and indulged in purchasing two bottles of clearance bubble bath at Bath and Body Works in the mall where i work one of my jobs. I took it back to work with me and randomly, without thinking, left it sitting on a counter near the cloak room. About two days later i came in to work and asked after my package, noting that i had probably just sat it down somewhere and meant to have our staff put it aside for me but forgot. They had a Bath and Body Works sack in the lost and found and surrendered it to me. I got all the way home before i realized that it was not mine. Someone had purchased some hand lotions and an expensive looking face cream. I returned it to work the next day and explained that this was not mine. In the meantime the customer had picked up my sack and now had my purchase.

I asked about the package several times to find that as of last week the lotions sack had been picked up but mine was not returned. I assumed that i would never see it again and i was out my tiny widows mite for my little indulgence...sad.

On Monday of this week I left my lunch sack behind in the cloak room with my new leather mittens( a birthday gift from a sister in Christ), two pop cans(an important form of income at our house :-)) and a LIBRARY BOOK! I was really worried about being picked up by the library police most of all! All kidding aside, I cannot afford to pay for a lost book, especially with the two missing cans not in my income...

When i next went back to work, i inquired about all of the above, no luck. I searched the cloak room and opened all the unlocked lockers. no luck. Yesterday, when i mentioned to Lindsey, my coworker, at the lost and found desk, about my now lost mittens and book, she remarked "OH yes, someone returned your Bath and Body Works Bag! Now that was funny because I had started earnestly praying ONLY for the return of the book and mittens. The two most important lost items. I scanned the cloak room again for that lost package, thinking i had just missed a spot and still nothing.

When i went to go home last night, late, I looked one more time wistfully for my sack, with my Bath and Body Works sack happily in my hands. AND THERE WAS my sack under the original chair that i sat it on Monday night. I had searched under that chair several times!

To top all this, this morning I could not find my wallet. I went to work without it, trusting i would not get pulled over for anything. When I had been at work almost an hour a lady from the early freight team let me know that she had found my wallet sitting on the chair in the CLOAK ROOM this morning(it was fine, and all money and cards intact)! God truly watches over the foolish and the silly. He is ever faithful to us even when we are not faithful to HIM.

Veni Creator Spiritu

2009-01-13T23:21:00.000-08:00

That is the name of the song on this vid, it is moving. A friend told me that throughout the years all a priest has to do is put his stole on his neck and stand in a field or on the edge of a camp and men line up for confession. They are acutely aware of their need to be right before God and with their fellowman each day. May we recognize that need in the battles we face.

The words in english of the two most popular verses are:
COME, Holy Spirit, Creator blest,
and in our souls take up Thy rest;
come with Thy grace and heavenly aid
to fill the hearts which Thou hast made.

Now to the Father and the Son,
Who rose from death, be glory given,
with Thou, O Holy Comforter,
henceforth by all in earth and heaven.
Amen.

The Sword of the Spirit

2009-01-11T16:59:00.001-08:00

Here is a link to the online magazine for the group that i am affiliated with. The Worldwide Sword of the Spirit, is a group of Charismatic Communities around the world. We have communities in the U.S. Mexico, Canada, Honduras, Nicaragua, Brazil, Costa Rica, Lebanon, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium, Russia, Germany and the Philippines and New Zealand, that I know of, and many more that I am not familiar with.

Many of the groups are all Catholic or all Greek Orthodox, There are Protestant Fellowships, and a number of Ecumenical groups, including my own group, several in war torn Beirut, Lebanon and in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where they are a witness to the love of God bringing Catholics and Protestants into embracing fellowship with each other.

My community has several hundred families that are in covenant fellowship with each other. We meet to worship together, and have small cell groups, called households, that minister to our needs as they come up in life. We do not live together or share all things in common. But it is very common for us to share our resources as the Spirit leads us.

In my life as a divorcee, with 2 children, that i brought up alone(they are 18 and 21 now), I have been the recipient of the generosity of the brothers and sisters in Christ far more than i have been able to give.

Just recently i had the heat go out in my home and the sewer line backed up on the same day. One family felt lead to arrange for the sewer man to come out and paid him in my cold house. Then another family decided that they would pay for the furnace man. Both repairs cost around 300 dollars! So my tragedy turned into an example of God's love for me and my daughter!

I have had countless loans of cars and other items to fill our needs. Repairs paid for and money given to us. Meals made for us and things donated to us. There was a time in the past 10 years when i had a pretty good career going and i was a contributor financially to my parish and my Community. But i always needed help with child care and rides for the kids. The people of God are a great blessing! Whether you are giving or receiving. And I am here to tell you it is a lot more fun to give than receive!

http://www.swordofthespirit.net/bulwark/jan09index.htm

Gregorian Chant

2009-01-08T16:07:00.000-08:00

From the Abbey of Fontgombault WORDS: /Media vita in morte sumus:/ quem quærimus adiutorem, nisi te Domine, Qui pro peccatis nostris iuste irasceris? Sancte Deus, Sancte fortis, Sancte misericors Salvator, amaræ morti ne tradas nos. In te speraverunt patres nostri, speraverunt et liberasti eos. Sancte Deus, Sancte fortis, Sancte misericors Salvator, amaræ morti ne tradas nos. Ad te clamaverunt patres nostri, clamaverunt, et non sunt confusi. Sancte Deus, Sancte fortis, Sancte misericors Salvator, amaræ morti ne tradas nos. Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sancte Deus, etc. --------- / In the midst of life, we are dying:/ Whom shall we seek as a help, If not Thee, O Lord, Who dost rightly grow wrathful for our sins? Holy God, Holy Strong One, Holy and Merciful Savior, Do not hand us over to a bitter death. Our fathers hoped in Thee, They hoped and Thou didst save them. Holy God, Holy Strong One, Holy and Merciful Savior, Do not give us over to a bitter death. Our fathers cried out to Thee, They cried out and were not confounded. Holy God, Holy Strong One, Holy and Merciful Savior, Do not hand us over to a bitter death. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. Holy God, etc.

Theology 101

2008-12-30T11:55:00.000-08:00

I am spending some time learning a bit of Theology. I have neglected this part of my spiritual growth for many years as i always thought that i was too ADD to read that stuff. A very good friend has spent about a year challenging my under-worked brain in this area, and going to college has helped me hunger for knowledge of this also. The college i chose to finish my Bachelors is a Christian Free Methodist University. So our curriculum includes a lot of Christian thought and we are free to quote the bible and Christian ideas. Even though I am Catholic, that has not been a problem for me as I have a great love for Scripture and have a good knowledge of it. We dabbled a bit into basic Theology and philosophy in a couple classes.

Right now I am reading a delightful book called "Man and Woman in Christian Perspective" by Werner Neuer. I suspect that it is far easier reading than the much lauded "Man and Woman in Christ" By Stephen B. Clark, even though he is Catholic. I don't think i am ready for anything that heady.

Though I am familiar with the concept of man being the head of the family as shown in Genesis this writer digs much deeper and it is amazing stuff. For instance He points out that a man named J.T. Walsh came up with the theory that God has four levels of Authority in Creation. The first is of course God, then man, next is woman, and last the animals. He brings out that God only spoke to Adam about His regulation to not eat from the tree in the "midst of the garden", in Eden. Additionally he points out that when Adam and Eve fell into sin, God came to Adam about it. He had given the regulation to Adam and He held Adam accountable.

The sin had reversed the authority structure in creation. Woman had obeyed the serpent and man obeyed woman. Walsh also points out that in God's judgment that He specifically restored this order again. Telling woman that he will place the serpent under her feet and that she will desire to submit herself to her husband again.

Of course we know that the fulfillment of this prophecy is in Our lady and her submission to God that brings about the Incarnation of Christ.

New Music on Playlist

2008-12-29T21:17:00.000-08:00

I have added some new tracks, they are located at the end of the playlist. They are favorites from our local House of Prayer and from the Christian Nightclub where i sometimes volunteer. They just became available. Enjoy.

A Series of Unfortunate Events....

2008-12-28T17:54:00.001-08:00

One week before Christmas, my daughter was feeling increasingly sick and i scheduled an appointment to take her in to the doctors on a Wednesday. When I picked her up at school her condition had worsened and she whimpered at each swallow, with pain. At the doctors the verdict came back--Strep throat. No wonder she was in pain and her eyelids were swollen. I ran her quickly to the nearest pharmacy. After summoning her father on the phone the pharmacy reported that they did not take her insurance.The Pharmacy tech quietly notified me that our local superstore chain(called Meijers) might provide Amoxillan for free. I had heard something like this and was pleased to be reminded.

When i dropped the poor sick child at the house(she is 18) I ran down to the local Meijers store after a long day at my job. They quickly provided the medication and i charged a humidifier for her also. When I arrived home i was notified by phone that my ex-husband had our 21 year old son at the local Urgent Care for a bad cough and may need me to pick him up. I told him I would be on call as it is only a mere 5-6 blocks from the house. I picked up my son about an hour later, when he called for a ride and HE needed an antibiotic too! I drove him back to Meijers and told him to run in and see if his was free also. It was. I waited in the parking lot in the cold to spare my poor tired feet, with only the heat and radio running. After some time I pulled up in front of the store to have my son come out ready to go and my car would not start!

With a dwindling battery on my cell phone my son called a friend of his who is a "car guy". When Dom's friend arrived he knew immediately that i needed a battery jump and proceeded to do so. Then he could not open the hood of the old beater that he drives around town! He had an idea, to buy a battery from the store and jump me. I told him i did not want to know, he bought the battery and jumped my car and drove off with the excess battery.

The next morning, when i woke up for work,with my sick daughter sleeping soundly and restfully in her warm bed, it was only 61 degrees in the house and the furnace was blowing cold air! At the lowest the house should be at 68. I changed the batteries in the thermostat, fiddled with it and approached the basement. I found one side of the basement full of sewer water(!) and the furnace seemed fine, had a flame and was running constantly. My girlfriends husband came over that evening to access the disaster scene.

His verdict was that i should start calling charitable agencies first thing in the morning(Friday). I started in first thing with sick child back in bed, to call programs that were out of money and full of weatherizing advice. Then one furnace company told me that they would not look at it until the sewer situation was cleaned up.

Finally my girlfriend called to say that her husband had ordered her to research sewer men first thing for me and there was one on the way and she would meet him at my house to pay the BILL!!! Hallelujah! The Lord cares for widows and orphans!

Next I reached my other friend finally, who helps me maintain my finances, and is committed to helping me stay afloat, she accessed the situation and said she would call back.

In the meantime the sewer man came and was very excellent and thorough and was extremely grateful for my good coffee as fast as i could send it to the basement. I was happy that i had made too much that day. My accountant(that is what i call her) called back to say that she and her husband had decided to pay for the furnace repair if I arranged for it!

In the long run we could not get the furnace repaired until Monday but with borrowed space heaters, sweaters and warm socks we did quite well. Additionally,the furnace company gave us about 50 dollars off the bill because i took care of one of the owners sons for about a year.

Truly God cares for the poor, He lifts the needy from the dung heap to give Him a place with princes of men!

Tradition Revisited.

2008-12-15T16:52:00.001-08:00

Where did the Bible that I love come from? Tradition. What is the Bible, a tradition of God's and the Church's.

What are "traditions of men" as Paul calls them? Men deciding that they can abort parts of scripture that they disagree with, and then claim that what is left is the only acceptable source for all knowledge.

St. Jerome, pictured here, is often depicted by artists with a skull "The skull represents the seat of thought, and also symbolized spiritual perfection. Death of the physical body (symbolized by the skull) enabled one to be reborn at a higher level at which the spirit could rule."

Revelation 12

2008-12-12T06:15:00.000-08:00

Today's reading, from Revelation 12 struck me in a new way today. It is the description of the Incarnation. A direct reflection of the prophecy in Genesis, where God speaks to Adam and Eve:

14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,
"Cursed are you above all the livestock
and all the wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.

15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring [a] and hers;
he will crush [b] your head,
and you will strike his heel."

here in Revelation it says:

"3Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. 5She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days."

It strikes me that if, as Jehovah's Witnesses and some other small cults claim, Jesus was simply a man, as it seems the serpent was expecting Him to be, He would have been devoured by the serpent.

There are so many many reasons why Jesus had to be both true God and true man. This is only one.

There are so many Christians out there who in their niavate' believe that they can reinvent Christianity just by reading their own Bible at home. But there are so very many revelations and so much wisdom that God's Holy Church has gleaned over 2000 years of study and sacrifice for God's Church. People are truly missing out when they claim they don't need a Church or they don't need tradition.

Tradition (including well known facts about The Virgin Mary in the land where she lived out her final days, Ephesus Turkey) tells us that Mary never died. She just disappeared. Never has anyone claimed a grave site or anyone claimed to have been with her when she died.

So did Our Lady, go into the desert for 1,260 days and then was she "taken up". Or was she buried tenderly by God himself like Moses(Deuteronomy 34: 5&6)?

Save the Mint Farm!!

2008-12-06T08:45:00.000-08:00

Spread the word, St. John's MI is famous for its Mint festival, it is a nice little town with little crime and lots of good folks. Please spread the word about Crosby farm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yFtlrKKfLQ

Confirmation Bias

2008-12-04T07:23:00.000-08:00

Finally a name, I am taking a class in cognitive psychology and finally we have encountered the classic problem with much scientific research, especially opinion polls.

I would postulate that it is virtually impossible to do almost any "pure" research that does not have confirmation bias.

Confirmation Bias is defined as "the tendency to selectively look for information that conforms to our hypothesis and to overlook information that argues against it"(Goldstein, Bruce, Cognitive Psychology, 2nd Ed. 2008, Thompson Wadsworth. Now many scientists think that if they go into research assuming nothing that they have no bias. But I would say that by assuming that there is no mover of events or maker of matter they are using their own Bias. Likewise persons of faith assume that there is a creator will use that assumption behind their research.

Of course opinion pollsters are subject to their in the way that they word their questions or just the tone of voice in which they are couched. I have taught my new voters(a 21 year old and an 18 year old) to be intelligent voters and to read between the lines. Always ask what were the questions asked in the poll, what were you actually trying to measure, support for your candidate or the mood of the nation, and how did you go about measuring it?

Snow

2008-12-02T08:46:00.000-08:00

Snow glorious snow! It has snowed here for two solid days and the world is a white wonderland. Every surface is softened in white. Wires, tree branches, any leftover fallen leaves. It is all clean and fresh and white.

Our grubby city needed this softening. My stress level goes down immediately just from the beauty of it all.

Of Course my stress level increases when I try to walk on the slippery surfaces but it is well worth the extra effort to stay afloat.

I love snow. I feel sorry for those who only have a rainy season in winter, and must look out on the grubby damp landscape. Snow is one of God's wonders, it provides insulation for all the animals that do not hibernate, it softens the sounds of the city. Everything is less sharp, less harsh, easier on the eye.

Thank you God for snow.

A Christian Challenge

2008-11-15T08:55:00.000-08:00

It has been in the news the past few days that a Southern Carolina Priest has informed his congregation that they should repent, or in his words, go to confession and do penance for voting for a strong pro-abortion candidate for president. I do not name the priest here as his life is getting difficult right now and his personal blog is closed currently as are all links to email him or his parish.

But as a Christian and a Roman Catholic I would like to put in my little paddle here.

The lifelong goal(vocation in Catholic terms) of a Catholic Priest is to save souls from the eternal fires of hell. By informing his congregation that support of a grave moral evil(abortion), makes one complicit in murder he is fulfilling his calling. Now many were not aware because of media flak, that Barak Obama is THE most pro-abortion candidate to run for President of all time, this is unfortuntate, because many lives will be lost simply because of rulings by judges that he will appoint, without even passing the Freedom of Choice Act.

His promise to pass the Freedom of Choice Act as his first act as President is disturbing in nature. This act(FOCA) would make abortion a civil right and strip absolutely all protections from vulnerable women and vulnerable babies. It would make it a civil right and therefor subject even Religious hospitals to being forced to perform abortions. It would repeal laws that require abortion clinics to give care to babies accidentally born alive, and laws that keep minors from obtaining a major, and dangerous surgical procedure without consulting their parents. Additionally, it would take away requirements to inform women in crisis the grave consequences both physical and emotional of the procedure. The implications could be even more far reaching, it is even possible that a physician who is morally opposed to killing could be forced to perform these procedures if the woman insisted that her rights were being denied.

In the Roman Catholic Church, scholars have researched the implications of our behaviors for 2000 years and have abundant, sound Christian teaching behind their assertions. This man should be supported for his stand. He has never refused to give communion to anyone but left this matter up to the consciences of his parishioners, who know their own hearts. If a parishioner were to feel that they were unaware of this horrible stance of Obama's they should probably just mention their inadvertent support for this in the confessional just to cover all the bases with the Almighty. Better that then face eternal hellfire.

Galadriel

2008-11-06T08:54:00.000-08:00

Been thinking about Galadriel. For you non-tolkien geeks out there, Galadriel was an Elf Queen, the most powerful one that appears as a character the the whole Lord of the Rings Trilogy. She had a secret power, her power was over water, and the power to protect her people and preserve them from the darkness outside their land.

I was thinking how Galadrel, without the ring is just another elf lady. WIth it she is powerful and helps to protect and shield all who take shelter in her. Nenya is the name of her ring and its power is one of protection, preservation and concealment from evil.

The past year or so i have been pondering and observing the power of love in people's lives. When people Feel loved, they behave differently. They are more optomistic, stand taller and can accomplish more, they have more courage and treat themselves better. If they loose that faith, it is like Galadriel without her ring, they fall back into grayness and are just people. If it is stolen from them or meanly taken away abrubtly they are lost, they find it hard to look up into the sun any more. They have trouble feeling motivated and caring about success or others.

Much of the time this is all a perseption. A co-worker whose husband is suffering a lot physically and has to go in for another surgery, told me yesterday that she felt suicidal becuase of the lack of acknowledgment from her husband recently. Now standing on the outside of this situation i can easily see why he would not be able at this time to be terribly appreciative of anyone. But i am carefully choosing the time and the words. to break this news to the wife who is hurting also. Perception. Perception.

Image is everything they say, much proven by our resent election.

If we see ourselves as loved individuals, even if we only know that God alone of all people loves us, If we are truly convinced of who God is and how much he loves us, it is a truly transforming thought. I am loved. I am loved beyond what I can imagine. I am loved to the depth of my being by the most incredible being ever! That is a ring that you can put on and it will conceal you from evil.

Be a smart voter

2008-10-26T05:59:00.000-07:00

You Made me alive

2008-10-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

Today's first reading for mass from Eph 2:1-10 reminded me of a favorite song, and therefore i uploaded my playlist. But I could NOT find the song that I really now have on my heart, from this scripture. And I cannot recall the artist.

here are the lyrics:

As for me I was dead in my transgressions,
I was bound to my sin,
bound to condemnation,

As for me I was the object of His wrath,
Fully deserving of death,
Fully deserving of death,

But you saw me there,
because of Your great love,
You saw me there because you're rich in mercy,

You saw me there
because of Your great love
You saw me there because you're rich in mercy,

And you made me alive,
when I was dead,
You raised me up,
and seated my with Christ,
And By Your Grace,
I am saved,
and its through faith
Its the very gift of God.
Yeah oh yeah

repeat all....

update: this song is called Gift of God by Justin Rizzo! I will get it on my playlist As soon as available.

An Unfinished Life

2008-10-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

The shimmering moon slips quietly past the
Pale ocean of clouds
As he ponders the earth beneath
He looks thoughtfully down
On those of us who struggle
To carry on with our lives
Putting things away

Setting things aside for someday

Someday when we can
Be who we want to be
Someday when we can rest
Time for reading and thinking
For love

Love is an illusive thing

If you grasp onto it once
It may slip away and cheat you
Or it may show its true colors
Interrupting you with the gray
Of reality

Once in a lifetime or less
The perfection of consummation comes
When souls meet that soar together
And make the music that stirs hearts
Inspiring those around it to hope.

Sparks

Blog Action Day tomorrow OCT 15

2008-10-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

I'm starting early because on the subject of poverty I have a lot to say. According to Pam Stenzel the greatest indicator that a person will live in poverty is if they live in a single parent family.

I started out my Adult life as a sold out, on fire Christian. I was very careful who I chose to marry, I thought. But I ended up divorced. With two children.

Financially we have been places that I never thought I would go. I have stood in lines and sat at agencies with hat in hand to my great embarrassment a number of times.

I WAS a giver, I have always been a hard worker, I like being independent. I enjoyed giving to the St. Vincent De Paul Society or helping my group at work sponsor a family at Christmas. It was very humiliating to be called by St. Vincent De Paul and Asked how they might help ME. It was also very humiliating to have a group sponsor me at Christmas one year when the kids were little. I put a few things for me on the list they asked for because they said I should, thinking that I would give them a few choices, a pair of boots for me, some bubble bath(my only get-away), and a few other small items I could think of. Whoever the anonymous group was that sponsored me got every single thing that i put on the list for me and the kids! I cried and cried--they did discreetly deliver things in the evening and hid them on the porch so that I could play Santa Claus.

Now I don't really advocate jumping on the band wagon for toys-for-tots since i have heard that some kids get sponsored by so many groups they sell their extra toys at school. But groups like the Old Newsboys group, buy winter coats, boots and hats for your kids--they are great, you get a voucher and go to the assigned stores, like Sears or Burlington Coat factory and you can get the assigned items with a reasonable price tag, all paid for by their donors. I thank God for these type of programs.

Even more helpful for poor single moms is to be noticed by a friend or family at church, who get to know them and take them shopping for their needs. I say this because most agencies require so much paper work to get help, and it is demeaning and frustrating, you often get sent away to research more paperwork before you get help, you must expend a lot of time to drive around getting forms and certificates for every family member.

However, the personal touch of getting to know a single mom helps her emotionally too. She sees that people care about her needs. She isn't given the standard care package with the requisite 6 boxes of Mac and Cheese and 1 can of peas and 1 can of fruit cocktail.

What if you really need toilet paper? or cleaning supplies for the house, or deodorant? Those are things you can't buy with food stamps. You can't buy garbage pick up or gas with them either.

The times that a friend took me to the store and she could see that everything I bought was a necessity, and then urged me to get a few things for me, were unforgettable. They were healing, when the man that committed his life to me forever, kicked me to the curb like a used Kleenex, it is very healing to have a friend say, "Hey I will always be here for you, lets go out to lunch or a movie, my husband will watch the kids."

Thank you to all those heroes in my life who made it bearable along the way. Thanks to those of you who watched my kids for peanuts while I went back to college. They are now 18 and 21 and they are not on drugs they have not gotten pregnant, or gotten anyone pregnant and they attend church regularly. Thanks most of all to the God who made us and watches over us faithfully.

Paradigms

2008-10-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Ever meet someone who is stuck in a paradigm? If that is all a person knows it is far easier for them to fall into the groove of their lives and continue with what they are accustomed.

For instance one young lady that i know is stuck in rebellion. If life is too calm for her, she rebels, and it is not turning out well for her at all. She has kicked the proverbial door too many times and it is all coming down around her.

I also know a man who is so used to failure and rejection that he cannot seem to pull up out of that rut. My image is of the pilots in that first star wars movie making their bombing runs at the death star, one of the wing men informs the other fighter that the enemy is on his tail, and yells "pull up! pull UP!" but the man is already in the furrow and already has set in his mind the mission and he dies trying.

It is good to keep your eye on the goal, and even to die trying, for a noble purpose. However it does not bless God to refuse His love, or His gifts, in fact in the long run many good things for the kingdom are probably not accomplished because people refuse God's gifts or refuse to use them.

Here is how I feel, God

2008-10-11T17:12:00.000-07:00

I need you Jesus, I am a sinner and I am so glad that you are there for me, to wrap your arms around me every night when I sleep, when I loose myself in weariness.

I am yours Jesus, pimples and all, I am not sure why you made me, but perhaps together, You and I can sing a few songs and heal some hearts.

Sparks

Join in--I am going to...

2008-10-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Insights

2008-10-01T21:37:00.000-07:00

Had some insights that I thought i would put down here.

In my studies recently(current class is on marriage and family), I read some information that particularly made sense to me.

Apparently women in a dating or marriage relationship need primarily to feel secure in the relationship. This explains a lot to me. It explains why women are distressed by men's silence. It also explains why a woman who normally has no trace of jelousy in her is extremely threatened by other women when she is involved in a relationship that is very tenous.

In a video series that we were watching the other night by Gary Smalley, he encouraged husbands to always do little things to make thier spouse feel secure in thier relationship. Just little things like calling from work daily or always letting thier spouse know where they will be and who they are with. Though Dr. Smalley recognized that it is difficult for him, as a man, to share about his day, he forces himself to do this becuase it is something that his wife values she reports that it makes her feel more a part of his life and ministry.

I hope that in my capacity as a family life educator that i get some opportunities to strengthen and encourage good healthy marriages and even help to save marriages in distress. I believe that it pleases the heart of God to help support the marraige covenant.

The Song

2008-09-30T07:39:00.000-07:00

This is dedicated to the same friend as below.

Dedicated to a Friend

2008-09-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

Grief

2008-09-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

Grief settles into your belly, with a dull ache, located somewhere below your heart and above your stomach. It takes away the appetite and dims the eyes. Makes it hard to lift your head.

It passes and fades and comes back to haunt after a certain word or situation. This could be sparked by seeing something that the beloved would have enjoyed, or laughed at. Something that should be shared with them....but cannot.

It fades again, and dims and you make a decision to go on. If you are really a healthy emotional animal, you choose to function, and move on, mechanically at first. Later, as you process your grief, over time, you begin to direct your thoughts into new channels and eventually look doggedly into the face of what happened and defy it to kill you. You start to force yourself to think in new directions, but make no plans, and take no prisoners. This is the path out. Push forward, look to God and cling to Him. He will carry you when you cannot walk.

Psalm 34 ~~Those that look to Him are radiant, their faces shall never be covered with shame.

Harvesting wheat

2008-09-24T23:37:00.000-07:00

A vivid memory for me tonight, as I approach the untimely funeral tomorrow of my favorite cousin, is riding on the wagon as the wheat was harvested. There was this tall orange metal wagon, with a chute at the bottom that the combine shot the grains of wheat into as it separated the wheat from the chaff. Nance and I would sit up on the top edge and the cool, smooth grains would come cascading down into the wagon. There was a nice grainy smell and it was fun to ride behind my gramp on this machine. We especially liked to sit on the grain when gramp pulled the chute at the bottom and ride the grain down to the chute and brace our feet against it and let the smooth cool grains slide past us.

One time grandma found out we liked to walk in the grain bin and we got a whippin' from her for getting our shoes in the grain. I think that gramp never told her about letting us ride on the wagon.

Nance and I loved to play around the farm when we visited grandma and grampa. We used to climb up into the hayloft and play house. Making the bales of hay into different furnishings, depending on which way we arranged them. Bales of hay can really look like furniture if you are ten and it is twilight dim in the loft.

Nancy was the first person in my life to call me by my most common nickname. And I called her Nance. Cuz Nance if we were really being extra cool. Her stepdaughter met me for the first time this evening at the funeral home and when she heard who I was said that her "mom" often talked about me and the troubles we used to get into. Like how grandma broke yardstick after yardstick on our behinds because we always broke the rules. If grandma said don't go past the back fence into the neighbors property(there was a nice woods back there) we did it first thing, if grandma said don't jump in the hayloft, we found a way. She was my best bud growing up, we were like peas and carrots.

Why did we never get together in recent years my cuz? I am so sorry. I will see you tomorrow for the last time, on this earth, but I will spend all the masses for the rest of my lifetime praying for the repose of your soul. May you rest soon in the arms of your Savior and receive the peace that you never found in this life, my Nance.

Suz

The Seed Parable

2008-09-20T05:33:00.000-07:00

Today's gospel reading is the parable of the sower and the seed. Of course this is a very familiar parable, and a favorite of a friend of mine. But today i saw it in a new light.

Here is an excerpt, from Jesus summation of the story:

"The seed is the word of God.
Those on the path are the ones who have heard,
but the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts
that they may not believe and be saved.
Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear,
receive the word with joy, but they have no root;
they believe only for a time and fall away in time of temptation.
As for the seed that fell among thorns,
they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along,
they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life,
and they fail to produce mature fruit.
But as for the seed that fell on rich soil,
they are the ones who, when they have heard the word,
embrace it with a generous and good heart,
and bear fruit through perseverance.” "--Luke 8

What really struck me today was the final sentence ...the ones who...embrace it with a generous and good heart and bear fruit through perseverance.

I just had a sad conversation with a person that I care about a lot, who told me that she has ruined her life with her choices recently. I encouraged her by saying that Jesus will always take you back in His loving arms, no matter what you have done. Her sad response was "that doesn't work for me".

She had recently went through a phase where she was gung ho for Jesus this past spring. She seems to go through this every now and then in her life--try out the Christian life for a bit and then something happens... I don't know what, and she falls away. I don't know exactly what are the ingredients that help some people push through all that happens in life and still cling to God with all their might and the ones who do not. If I did I would bottle it and give it away for free!

I accepted Jesus over 32 years ago, and have been clinging to Him tightly ever since. There have, of course been times that I have had a wanderlust, but they don't ever get a real grip on me. Its like the value of knowing and walking with Jesus for me is beyond anything else in this life. And the more I get to know Him the more valuable He becomes to me.

Perhaps my friend has never been wholly convinced that Jesus really really loves and forgives her completely, from tip to toe. Perhaps she just does not have the eyes to see the love and forgiveness in His eyes for her.

I wish I knew.

The Economy

2008-09-17T08:03:00.000-07:00

It's obvious to me that the problems with the economy stem from 9/11/01.

I worked in the Home Improvement industry, and busness was just starting to roll that fall, and that day started out with promise. As the events unfolded on that day the store went dead. And the Fall Home Improvement Season never re-started that year.

The terrorists wanted to hurt us, as badly as possible, and the reverberations have been rippling outward ever since.

The following February we were just on the cusp of the Spring Home Improvement season and it looked promising again, as many people were feeling like they could resume thier lives from the fall.

Then we went to war in Afganistan. People held thier breath. We earnestly wanted to capture Bin Laden in that opening wave of fighting. The spring season was bitten with sober thought. Not as bad as 9/11 but still dampened.

On the national scene, travel and tourism industries had been gravely harmed by the terrorists and that was having its own ripple. As we have ground along, it seems to me that the ripples of 9/11 continue to hurt our economy, the fear and mistrust and divisiveness only stirred and made worse by politicians who undermine all that we are working towards with blaming and divisiveness.

All of the above has also been grievously exacerbated by the liberal media in conjunction with Hollywood who whittle away at our feelings of security and respect for our leaders.

When I was young, A president was respected and behaved respectfully just because he was the President, regardless of who voted for or against him. If we had been supportive of our president after 9/11 and Hurricanes Rita and Katrina and worked together to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem we would all be better off and more secure now.

Lets elect an honorable Military man for President and a hard working, sensible Christian lady for Vice President!

The Pelosi Debacle

2008-08-28T20:06:00.001-07:00

Ok here I am throwing my hat into the ring on Speaker Pelosi's comments on Meet the Press.

Last Sunday Speaker Pelosi made some misleading and ignorant comments about the Catholic Church stance on when life begins. I have nothing against the lady, myself, I don't like to condemn anyone or be against anyone. But I have to stand up for the truth. The truth was misrepresented in her comments and needs addressing.

Some charitable Catholic bloggers/commentators have noted that Pelosi may have done the best she could with an unexpected question for which she was obviously seriously unprepared.

BUT, that does not free her from the blood-guilt of unborn children who have been murdered senselessly becuase of her choices as a Congressperson.

Question for you Speaker Pelosi? What do you call a lady who is pregnant?

Most people I know call her a mom or a mom to be. WHY? Becasue we all know that what is going to come out of her body is a baby. When did it become a baby? Is there some magic moment when it becomes a baby? at birth? Is that at nine months then? what about a test tube "baby". We call IT a baby? hmmmmm. why?

When we teach children about how they grew inside their mothers uterus, we call it the development of a "baby" don't we? That's because even young children know that there is no magic moment when the cells become a baby.

Once the miracle of sperm and egg come together and cell division occurs the "baby" has everything it needs to be a human but nourishment to grow. If something is wrong with the umbilical chord or Uterine sack then we worry about the "baby" and intervene medically to save the child.

If a murderer kills a pregnant woman and the unborn child dies, we call it a baby or child, do we not? That is because in our heart of hearts we KNOW it is a child.

SO my point of view is not very scientific, others can give you lots of the scientific argument, I am telling you that when a woman looses a "baby" to a miscarriage, she and the father mourn the loss. not of some cells, but of their unborn child.

Let us as a society mourn the loss of our innocence and integrity and repent of the horrible deeds we, corporately are guilty of in murdering these children since 1973, lets start our healing process as a nation and support those who were victims of this crime by teaching them that every child is a "wanted" child!

Amen

A reponse

2008-08-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

This is a response to a Catholic blogger who recently endorsed Obama.

Dear Sir,

Just to address one of the most glaring problems with your endorsement(though the pro-death stance of this candidate should be enough for you).

Universal Health Care is one of the scariest propositions ever put forth to the American people. Putting Government in charge of healthcare gives to the secular state a control that has apocalyptic implications. In future it would be all to easy for the state to decide to withhold healthcare from people of a certain age, or have diseases that would not be cured by the care. It would be all to easy for government to decide to let persons die who would not have the "quality of life" that some decision maker thinks they should have.

I have one friend who was in a dune buggy accident at 18 and has been unable to hold a job outside of menial work for many years, his health care has been astronomical over the years to pay for. He cannot converse with you and looks to the world to be stupid and in articulate. He is even in recent years unable to fingerspell or do simple signs any more because of the deterioration of his health.

However he is a valued member of our faith community, and his repertoire of moaning a bit to a song or worship is heartening to those of us who know he is openly and without shame expressing his love for God. He quick and snappy moan to a joke from someone he knows can make us all laugh. He has suffered for about 30 years looking weird and unable to date or even make friends outside of those of us who know him well. He drools easily and coughs in a gross way at times, becuase he cannot control these things. Yet when he survived a recent bought with Pneumonia there were several hundred people including Bob who were grateful for the "miracle" that kept him alive.

Think about it.

From a Nike Commercial

2008-08-19T19:35:00.000-07:00

A Dream Deferred

by Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes homepage

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

--Knocked this off from a Nike Olympics commercial--fit my mood well

Fading

2008-08-18T21:57:00.000-07:00

All is black and white

The color gone

like twilight

I look at my hands

what do they say?

they tell a story

but who will write it?

They want to caress

to love

but no more.

No more will they dance gracefully

no more

they fade to

black and white

and shades of grey

its hard to see

hard to hear

animated no

more.

s

A confession

2008-08-17T05:04:00.000-07:00

One of my jobs is at a local Department Store. I have worked there for almost 2 years supplementing my income as a part-time faculty member at a local college. VERY part-time lately it seems with enrollment down especially in my area.
It has been very frustrating to be going to college in a Bachelors completion program, and then getting bumped by faculty with more seniority and not teaching at all. This drops my income by 2/3 of what i made last year. So I work doing part-time work at one or two other jobs to make ends meet.
I have a lot of frustration in my personal life too. So I have to confess I have recently looked at my store manager at Macy's, a lovely, competent and kind lady, who is much admired, and about ten years my junior. She is a Christian that i have always been grateful to for creating a very pleasant and quality atmosphere at our store.
After a particularly frustrating day at home with my kids. I looked at Stacy(our store manager) and I thought, "God, why does this lady have looks, success, a loving Husband, money, and nice kids and I have kids that still struggle from my divorce, over 17 years ago, I struggle to survive and i have no one in my life to love and cherish me. Here i am in the latter half of life and I never did get to travel, or take my kids on the trips I wanted to take them on as children. My kids have never had the traditions of vacations as a family, and keeping the holidays that i would have wanted to keep with them as a family. We are a broken family. Why God, does this lady have it all?"
Wednesday night, when I arrived at work, I was pulled aside and told to "sit down for this". Our beloved store manager, Stacy, only 39, with 4 children at home, and a loving husband, was killed in a car accident the day before.
I feel guilty for envying her and her family. Now her children will not grow up with a mom.
What more can I say? Her life was cut short. I feel guilty for thinking that my life is so terrible.

Seeing Red

2008-08-08T14:06:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up, and my children also, we were taught that green means go, yellow means yeild or caution and red means stop.

RED MEANS Stop! Not caution, or roll carefully or yield a bit!

I have seen drivers, who are plenty old enough to know better, ROLL a corner with BOTH a stop sign and a RED flasher! Like did they miss that part of growing up?

I think that at some point we passed a road mark where we chucked too many taboos in this culture. In the 80's we were all about getting free. We were into getting "in touch" with our feelings. We all had all this repressed anger, then we got "in touch" with it. Heaven help us now fully 1/2 of us have anger management problems. Perhaps some things are best left untouched?

Freedom is great but lets acknowledge that laws were made to protect people, including you! You don't want to end up like this poor soul:

Friends

2008-08-06T18:49:00.000-07:00

When my son was about three or four we were taking a walk when a city bus rolled by. He asked me innocently "mom, who are all those people". I was speechless for an answer. In about a minute the little voice answered for himself and for me. "I know" he said, "those are friends we haven't met yet".

Tradition!

2008-07-10T06:24:00.000-07:00

Ah Tevya, tradition is a beautiful thing. It is the glue that helps a society or group stay together and not loose sight of its goals.

As a volunteer at a Christian nightclub, I am respected and loved by the young poeple there. And the feeling is mutual. There is a core of wonderful young men and women there who love Jesus with all their hearts and will do anything for Him.

Occasionally, however, I hear an enthusiastic, if misguided, song about how we are "freed from tradition". It seems as if Paul's admonition to not be like the scribes and Pharisees who added to God's law has been warped into an unrecognizable rebellion against the very legacy that God has sustained in the Church for 2000 years.

I am saddened by this. Not only that, i see what a deception it is. This attitude by some Christians cuts them off from others and justifies divisions, when the proponents of it are using just as much "tradition" as those they accuse.

Does your church perform weddings? Where is that found in the Bible? Does your church sing the same songs from time to time, even if they were written as recently as 1960 through today? OH NO you might be guilty of a Tradition!!

Has your church studied and made decisions about doctrine? Isn't that YOUR tradition? Do you have a cross on the wall or a dove? Do you celebrate Christmas? Easter? Traditions all, and good ones to. Let us "hold fast to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter" (2 Thess. 2:15).

Dear to my heart

2008-07-09T13:17:00.000-07:00

As a long time member of the movement without borders The Charismatic Renewal, one thing that is dear to my heart is unity in the Body of Christ. I agree along with Mick Bickle of the International House of Prayer movement that As THE DAY of the Lord Draws near His people, will grow in their yearning desire for Him.

The Church which is called The Bride of Christ will grow in Unity and love for God as the Great Day approaches.

One evidence of that is in the news today. Though this comes about because of the continued discouraging actions of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the news today that a large and very Orthodox group of Anglican Churches have requested full communion and acceptance into the Roman Catholic Church is very welcome.

I don't believe all Unity in the body of Christ will come about because all other Christians accept Roman Catholicism but this is a very good sign that many, many Anglicans seek to heal the divisions in the Church that came about because of an adulterous King(Henry VIII).

I am sure that in the days to come, Benedict 16 will find other ways to bring more unity in the Church in the world today. He is a man of great respect and honor for not only the traditions of our Church but the traditions of all of Christendom.

And no, Virginia, tradition is not evil and Paul never said it was.

The Carrying of the Cross

2008-05-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

Was comtemplating the sorrowful mysteries today. On the fifth mystery, was contemplating Jesus, feelings.

I realized that the whole ordeal that Jesus went through took more than half a day. He was arrested in the garden on Holy Thursday evening/night sometime, dragged into the city, taken to court. I am sure they either had to wait for Ciaphus to get up and question him.

Then he was insulted and mocked an dragged away to Pilate to be questioned there, All i would presume without benifit of food or water or sleep, at this point. He was whipped with the maximum allowable amount of strokes thought to be short of a death sentance. Taken into the courtyard had a garment thrown over his fresh cuts and had thorns forced onto his head.

At this point Jesus must have been feeling like, " I am thirsty and in pain and want to pass out in the worst way" But I beleive that God sustained him physically just enough to finish His task. For everything to be fulfilled about Jesus, He had to be marred beyond all human recognition(psalm 22) and He had to be crucified over the bones of the first Adam upon Golgotha. Anything that kept Jesus from the Via Delorosa and Golgotha Hill would not fulfill all of the necessary things arranged by the Father. Jesus blood had to be shed over Adams bones to redeem Adam and Adams sin.

Jesus had to survive and be conscious throughout the whole ordeal until between 2 and 3 in the afternoon. He could not have His bones broken or cry out in pain("He opened not His mouth").

ANd what about the Father? He and Jesus are One, The Father must have felt every stroke of the whip just as you would if it were your spouse or child, only more so. The Father must have had to restrain Himself and all the host of heaven, there must have been weeping in heaven that day. We know from Genisus how much Abraham did not want his son to suffer, how much more so was Jesus God's son and how much more could the Father agonize that His son must bear sin and pain and death.

"Do No Harm"

2008-05-09T05:46:00.000-07:00

"I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone." From the Hippocratic Oath.

This used to be a required Oath for anyone graduating from Medical school, it included a clause that said that the practitioner would not perform abortions or provide medicine that would kill.

It is from the 4th Century BC. So a code that is over 2000 years old, that has kept physicians involved in life-giving activity's only, has now been thwarted, in the past 50 years.

What is so wise about our society that it can do away with such wisdom? Didn't the ancients recognize what we are missing somehow? That those who are sworn to "do no harm" should not be involved in killing? That they should always do what is best for their patients?

God's laws as put forth in the Bible had this thought in mind long before Hippocrates. The Ten Commandments kept people happier and healthier and more self-actualized. God did not set forth laws just to test men's obediance. He set them forth to protect humans from living unhappy lives, full of stress and anxiety and guilt. The Ten Commandments gave a direction toward life. Lying, cheating and stealing are stressful activities, being honest and living your life in the light of day are happier and more relaxed ways of life. Loving your own wife and pleasing her, brings happiness, forsaking the wife of your youth for another brings about the collapse of happiness for the entire family and for the new spouse also.

Worshiping God instead of yourself, places all the care and stress of this world and its troubles onto God's great and magnificent shoulders.

2008-05-01T16:01:00.000-07:00

Yhwh Alone is God. Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Elohenu , Adonai Achad, Adonai!

2008-04-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

Flyleaf performs Red sam

Here I stand
Empty hands
Wishing my wrists were bleeding
To stop the pain from the beatings

There you stood
Holding me
Waiting for me to notice you

But who are you
You are the truth
Outscreaming these lies
You are the truth
Saving my life

The warmth of your embrace
Melts my frostbitten spirit
You speak the truth and I hear it
The words are I love you
And I have to believe in you

But who are you
You are the truth
Outscreaming these lies
You are the truth
Saving my life

My hands are open
And you are filling them
Hands in the air
In the air, in the air, in the air

And I worship
I worship
I worship
I worship

You are the truth
Outscreaming these lies

The Faithfulness of God

2008-04-24T06:50:00.000-07:00

I have a cat that i rescued from the street in front of my house years ago. She is totally dedicated to me. When I am gone she is invisible, and when i arrive home she comes near the front door to see me arrive. If i sit in the living room she comes in there to see if i am going to stay and if it looks like i will she curls up in the chair next to me. Likewise if i sit down at the computer. She either sits at me feet or on the chair next to me if it is there.

God is more faithful than that. My cat will flee if i go in the kitchen because once she got underfoot and i stepped on her. God is there always.

When i am very sad, alone on my bed at night, I ask Him to wrap His loving arms around me, and I am comforted.

You may ask, legitimately if I can feel God's arms around me, no, I can't, but I am comforted.

When my car went totally out of control on an icy highway and I cried out a simple "oh God, Oh God, Oh God!" I bounced off the guard rail twice and was able to drive home and call AAA from my warm house. I thanked him all the way from the nearby exit, for not letting me land in the river that icy night.

At the turn of this year, my better paying job, as a College instructor, did not run. I was down by about 2/3 of my income, at a time when i was still struggling to play financial catch up from a period of unemployment. As a single mom, i did not now what to do, and i increased my hours as much as possible at my other, not so hot, paying job. I started selling my college books off. I turned it all over to God in prayer and prayed and prayed. My house went into foreclosure. Then i humbled myself to ask for help from a good Christian sister. She and her husband are very wise with finances. She disclosed to me that they had a large net worth, though they do not live like they do, and that she and her husband, were committed to me as if i was a widow that scripture talks about(to take care of the widows and orphans in your midst).

She offered to go over my accounts and try to help balancing them and they committed to stepping in financially to keep us from ending up homeless. That first month, they paid my mortgage that was due. Then she got on the phone and pled my case with the mortgage company. She solicited funds from members of her church and mine to help pay for my car repairs( both a Catholic and a Protestant free church). She also prayed with me about this every time we got together.

Then 500 dollars came in the mail. The state offered 1/3 of the foreclosure amount if I could come up with the other 2/3. Someone else sent me a loan of the other 2/3, no interest. She found back tax money i was owed--a substantial amount. The college i attend decided that instead of my owing them 788. dollars, they owe ME 505. dollars. Our parish St. Vincent De Paul Society, who does not help with car repairs as a rule, decided to pay for a 125. dollar repair anyways.

I am in the process of going through and annulment. Which is a sensitive and spiritual subject. I needed to pay my parish off the 200 dollars they had covered for me. I was embarrassed to ask anyone for this money. I did not know how different people feel about annulments, I believed that I was in the right requesting it, and my pastor does also. But I really did not want to go there. I cried out to God and said. "Lord, no one will donate 200 dollars to this? How can I ever pay it?" 200 dollars exactly came in the mail two days later. From a brotherhood of men who live single for God. They sometimes take up a collection among them for someone they hear is in need.

I cried and cried, here was a group of faithful Christian men, who were the instruments of God to help to heal the wounds a man had inflicted on me.

Sparks

2008-04-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

The Papa

2008-04-16T08:51:00.000-07:00

My impression of this man they call the pope. He is the reluctant scholar, who would prefer to retire to the German countryside and write books till the end of his days. He is a thoughtful philosopher, who loves cats and to play his piano.

A couple of excerps of articles about the Pope and Cats:

"But, says Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, who was in Rome for the pope’s inauguration, “The street talk that the pope loves cats is incorrect. The pope adores cats.

According to local news reports, the pope used to walk the streets of Borgo Pio, his former Roman neighborhood just east of the Vatican, where neighbors likened him to Dr. Dolittle with a Pied Piper charm. Stray cats would run to him when they saw him coming and he used to prepare food for them daily on special plates.

The pope’s publicly announced fondness for cats has once again put Rome's felines in the spotlight. Currently one of the hottest selling tourist mementos in the city is a little cardinal hat for cats that goes for $15 in stores such as Barbiconi, which specializes in clergy robes and accessories. Mahony’s cats both have cardinal hats, gifts given to him during his recent trip to Rome.

Mahony, who owns two silver tabbies named Raphael and Gabriel, believes that cats are perfect pets for clergymen “because they are wonderful companions. There is almost a spirituality about them. Their presence is very soothing."

.” ~from a 2005 MSNBC article.

And from the Friends of Roman Cats this excerpt:

"Stories abound how he visits Rome’s street cats, and how they respond to him.

He has shown particular attention to a colony of cats that live in a cemetery near Campasanto Teutonica, a German-language church not far from St Peter’s, where he used to deliver sermons when he was a cardinal. German theologian Konrad Baumgartner described one visit. The cemetery “was full of cats and when he went out they all ran to him. They knew him and loved him. He stood there petting some and talking to them for quite a long while.”

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said that the Pope talks to cats whenever he sees them, “Every time he met a cat he would talk to it, sometimes for a long time." Bertone wondered if the Pope used a special language to talk to cats. “I tried to understand the language he used with cats, who were always enchanted when he met them. I thought maybe it was a Bavarian dialect. I don’t know." Bertone told of one occasion when 10 cats started following the cardinal into the Vatican but they were stopped by one of the Swiss Guards who protect the Vatican.

I had read some 6 months ago that an order of nuns keeps the Popes former apartment in Borgo Pio with, I believe, three of the popes cats. Lastly, of course there is the book written by Chico the German cat:

"Chico is a real cat who belongs to a German couple in the German city of Pentling, where the Pope lived until he moved to Rome in 1981. The couple are caretakers of the house where Ratzinger had hoped to retire had he not been elected Pope.

Chico tells the story of the life of "my best friend" from his birth in Germany in 1927, through his days as a young man, priest, bishop and cardinal. It ends with his election as Pope on April 19, 2005.

It recounts the Nazi era in Germany when the Pope was a teenager, calling the war years "one of the most dramatic and shameful times in the history of man"." from Cathnews.com

You have to love this man, who is forced, like Peter, when he is old, to go where he is told, and his life is no longer his own. May he always have the comfort of cats.

Cats are a gift from God

2008-04-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

One of my fav sayings is "Cats are from God, just read The Horse and His Boy by C.S.Lewis". In the novel, a Narnian Boy is escaping slavery through the Country of Calormen. He is sometimes chased by a Lion or Lions and sometimes comforted by a cat.

Of course all who travel in Narnia frequently know who The LION is, and the Lion only chases the party when they need to move along and quit dawdling. The cat is there when there is comfort and reassurance and warmth needed. C. S. Lewis understood a lot about suffering and human nature. His Lion is not a gentle peace-nick, and many characters in the series will remark "He is not a TAME Lion you know"?. In fact at one point in this novel he scratches two of the characters a bit, reminiscent perhaps of Jacob's wrestling with God.

In the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, my favorite in this series, the Lion must painfully press his claw deeply into one characters skin to remove his dragon-ish tendencies. I have always felt a kinship to the petulant character of Eustace Scrubb, and feel that God has mostly gotten rid of my dragon-ish temperament.

Ready to rumble!! Sparks --<~

Fidelity to the Church

2008-04-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

Was reading a story today about the parishioners in a Boston parish that has been closed for some time. Apparently, as good Americans they believe that they have the right to keep on having a Church service there though they do not have a priest or deacon to even perform a sanctioned prayer service.

This is where American Culture and Christianity clash. The New Testament, believe it or not says more about Obedience than the Old. Jesus, though He was the Incarnate God, models humility and obedience to parents and governing authorities. We are no better. We must learn obedience to rightful authority in order to draw close to God.

If an authority in our lives asks us to clearly contradict scripture in a sinful way, we should obviously not obey. But if they ask us to wear Orange one day or celebrate our birthday the day after, we need to trust God that He gave us earthly authority to teach us and train us in obedience and humility.

Now my friend the theologian takes exception to this idea when it comes to our representational government. He feels that in America, we are the governing authority. Well ok--going to have to think this through--what would Jesus do? (sorry about ending in a preposition, just borrowing the phrase).

Sparks~feeling a spark of life again.

Jesus and the Battle

2008-04-12T16:18:00.001-07:00

So I am writing this paper, for a Biblical studies class (I attend a Free Methodist University and this is a required course). Today I am looking at the New Testament commentary and it really hits me, the commentator says that, of course the Jews in Jesus time are looking for a military leader, in their Messiah, one who will lead them out of Roman oppression, but instead they get someone who heals the sick and raises the dead.

Yes, ok.

Then it all comes together in my mind. God creates the heavens and the earth, it is all very orderly. He sets limits for the waters and the land. He tells man that he is giving to him all the plants to eat but one. It is all very orderly and organized, peaceful and harmonious. God is very laissez faire with man. They all get along.

Then man and woman blow it, God sets more guidelines, organizes the beginnings, at least, of a plan to get man out of this mess. God tries to give some pointers to man, for instance, when he warns Cain that his attitude is leading to trouble. Trouble happens anyways. Entropy is starting to occur in relationships, they started out organized and are getting out of control.

Man gets into more and more trouble(as sparks fly upward man is born to trouble~Job 5:7). God takes the controls off the waters and lets them flood the earth. Then God tries again to start a new relationship with man. He tries to lend more order. Man is told not to shed the blood of men, and animals who shed human blood are put under the same restrictions. God also allows man to eat flesh, for the first time. God sets some other food guidelines, probably for protection from diseases is my guess.

All this time, man needs no leader but God. When God makes His covenant with Abraham, He still deals directly with men and women with no special leadership. As God moves into a relationship with Moses He adds a lot more order and recommends a hierarchy of relationships.

Eventually the people, much to God's great disappointment, demand a King. What I see is that God has been trying all this time to cultivate a relationship with mankind. By demanding a King they are saying that they want an earthly representative instead of God. God allows them to have Kings that disappoint.

Now David pleased God, not because he was sinless, but because of His faith in God's love for Him. His sin was far greater than Saul's, and yet Saul,when confronted about his sin just hung his head, he seemed to have no faith in God's love and forgiveness. David, who sinned in such a dramatic and horrible way, truly repented and expected God to receive his repentance, he seemed to know more about God's character, God's love nature.

By the time we get to Jesus time in the Bible, the Kings have failed God over and over, until Jeremiah prophecies,

³¹ "The time is coming," declares the LORD,
"when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.

³² It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to ^[d] them, ^[e] "
declares the LORD.

³³ "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

³⁴ No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD.
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."~(chapter 31)

Jesus came to restore Israel and teach people how to fellowship with the Father. He shows us by His very presence among us how highly God regards us. He proves God's love and compassion over and over. The tears He sheds for Lazarus, in the shortest verse in the Bible, are an example of His loving heart. I think he wept, not only because Lazarus had died, but that all men must die. Those tears were shed for all of us, for that broken Eden, that shattered paradise. Those tears were wept for the loss of relationship with the Father.

Later when faced with taking on all of our sins, Jesus weeps so hard blood mingles with His tears. I think that He looks at us and knows what our sins do to us, the pain they cause to us and to each other. Lastly I believe He wept in Gethsemane because as He accepted the our guilt He accepted the separation and rejection of the Father, for the first time in His incarnate existance. His separation from the Father without the comfort of the Holy Spirit must have been the most horrible loneliness ever felt by a human being. He knew that in His complete Humanness He was destined for Hell and only He can fully know what that really means. And in His destitution He knows that though He will conquer death and hell, He must leave behind those who cannot.

Well some of this will go into my paper, it needs refining. But these are my thoughts today.

I feel more like cold ash today than a spark............