In focus

Fr. Speekman posted a comment recommending I get my life in focus...

I found the focus ring!

The glue that holds us together

I received this by email from one of the local lay Carmelites.

This was interesting. A few liberties were taken, but close enough. Hope you enjoy it.

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This is a pretty neat story and an interesting thing that few of us know. It's brief, so please read on.

A couple of days ago I was running (I use that term very loosely) on my treadmill, watching a DVD sermon by Louie Giglio...and I was BLOWN AWAY! I want to share what I learned....but I fear not being able to convey it as well as I want. I will share anyway.

He (Louie) was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is...how He spoke the universe into being...how He breathes stars out of His mouth that are huge raging balls of fire...etc. etc. Then He went on to speak of how this star-breathing, universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder. At this point I am LOVING it (fascinating from a medical standpoint, you know.) ....and I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical school as I learned more and more about God's handiwork. I remember so many times thinking..."How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???"

Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart...how our loving Creator is also our sustainer.

And then I lost my breath.
And it wasn't because I was running my treadmill, either!!!
It was because he started talking about laminin.
I knew about laminin. Here is how wikipedia describes them: "Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue." You see....laminins are what hold us together....LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already. But what I didn't know is what laminin LOOKED LIKE.

But now I do.
And I have thought about it a thousand times since (already)....
Here is what the structure of laminin looks like...AND THIS IS NOT a "Christian portrayal" of it....if you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see...



Now tell me that our God is not the coolest!!!
Amazing.
The glue that holds us together....ALL of us....is in the shape of the cross.
Immediately Colossians 1:15-17 comes to mind.
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things HOLD TOGETHER." Colossians 1:15-17
Call me crazy. I just think that is very, very, very cool. Thousands of years before the world knew anything about laminin, Paul penned those words. And now we see that from a very LITERAL standpoint, we are held together...one cell to another....by the cross.

You would never in a quadrillion years convince me that is anything other than the mark of a Creator who knew EXACTLY what laminin "glue" would look like long before Adam even breathed his first breath!!

We praise YOU, Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love and freedom

Turn on the radio, the TV, open a book, a magazine, and you will soon and repeatedly be confronted with the big lie of the culture that enslaves. Fr. Speekman, writing about Sunday's Gospel (It is not those who say to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, who will enter the kingdom of heaven), and how to avoid hearing the dreadful words "begone... I have never known you",

The decision to love heroically is actualised in an utterly simple way; the lover must obey the demands of love. Keep, observe, obey the commandments are the words Moses uses. The verbs are active because love is not a feeling. Love is an act and the blessing is realised when we keep the commandments.

Did you catch that? love is not a feeling. The freedom of the children of God is here; the contrary lie of the culture is the path of slavery. well, follow the link and read the rest of it!

Thanks, Father, for being a clear voice!

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I bought a webcam to bring myself a bit further forward on the technology curve. 25 years ago I was writing software for this sort of product, and the product today? well, I'm not impressed...

"Real Presence"

In the Liturgy of the Hours, Office of Readings for Corpus Christi, the second reading is by St. John Chrysostom (347-407), in which he basically says "You say you want to see Jesus in the holy Sacrament of the Altar... you do see him, what you really want to see is his garments." - sort of cuts to the chase!

Edit: My mistake, it was in Divine Intimacy by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene O.C.D., #203, Second Sunday after Pentecost.

St. John Chrysostom said to those who wanted to see Christ in the Eucharist with their bodily eyes, "Behold, you do see Him; you touch Him, you eat Him. You would like to see His garments; He not only permits you to see Him, but also to eat Him, to touch Him, to receive Him into your heart... He whom the angels look upon with fear, and dare not gaze upon steadfastly because of His dazzling splendor, becomes our Food; we are united to Him, and are made one body and one flesh with Christ" (RB).

So, even though it wasn't in the Liturgy of the Hours, it was in the preceeding work, the Roman Breviary...

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Our chapter is blessed with the very real presence and garments of Fr. Bart de la Torre O.P., who is visiting for Katie Keenan's high school graduation. He re-blessed the Chapter House for us last night.

When Fr. Bart last visited, none of this was here; Kathleen is explaining a bit...


Fr. Bart looks at our informational poster that has his picture; from 1997!


Kathleen has been collecting rosaries at Our Lady of the Valley for Fr. Bart to take back to the Mexicali parish when he returns.


Fr. Bart begins the blessing of the Chapter House...


After blessing the inside, we go outside


Fr. Bart throwing the holy water on the building. Did the camera catch a holy fireball? (no, it's just the tail light of the trailer caught in the camera flash. Had me going, though!)


and, with Katie!!

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and, from my run-away weekend to Bend; Burns caught my attention with blue flowers in the wet fields,


Cranes and lots of water birds in what's left of the spring wetlands,


and antelope (some nursing little ones, which I've not seen before); this bold individual was looking for the gate to cross the road.

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"These Holy Mysteries" is another way of referring to the sacraments; for "sacrament" means "mystery" - In current vernacular usage, a mystery is something we don't know which can be discovered by investigating the clues, as in "murder mysteries." However, the original meaning of the word is in terms of the sacraments, thing which are visible and plain before us, but the action of which is hidden, both from sight, and the understanding, since we approach them by faith.

But, this weekend of the Holy Mystery most sublime, had it's own mystery on the plane of the ordinary; a recovered trove of family memorabilia; letters, pictures, documents, from about 1900 to 1945; an individual had found this in a storage unit in Hermiston, and had spent two years looking for the family (even visiting this blog!), not realizing that the address on the letters of the 1930s to 1945, was still good! How this material came to be in a storage unit in Hermiston, we may never know.

Materials laid out at the Deschutes County Historical Society; the first picture only captures about the half of it, and a couple examples...








The Great Mystery brings us Eternal Life; life, on the other hand, brings us the little mysteries...

into the desert

For what it's worth, this thought occurred to me while traveling the long miles across the desert yesterday:

"Perhaps I go too far, but consider that every error conceived by the mind of man, is the result of the use of his unaided human reason; therefore, it is unwise to rely too much upon it. The Church, which Jesus promised to guide in all truth to the end of time, does not put forth for your belief that which is the product of merely human reason, but that which God has confided to her. Therefore, it is wise to rely on that which is reliable."

Immanuel - truly, "God with us" - He has not left us orphans. Blessed Solemnity of Corpus Christi!


BTW, Bend has a nice public library, where I am posting this!

SAY WHAT?

Fr. Speekman at Homilies and Reflections from Australia posts this instructional bit for the Feast of Corpus Christi:

The Body and Blood of Christ - Year A

[...]
I want to mention a simple but often forgotten truth about receiving Holy Communion and that is that sometimes it can be very wrong to receive it.

Did you know that sometimes it is actually a very great sin, a sacrilege, to receive Holy Communion - that even though it is always good to come to Mass it is not always good to go to Holy Communion? Did you know that by receiving Holy Communion when we shouldn't we commit a very serious sin and we leave Mass in a worse condition than when we arrived?

If we are conscious of having committed a grave sin, what we call a mortal sin, we should definitely not go to Holy Communion until we have confessed this sin. If we do go we commit a sacrilegious communion and we need to confess that also.

Again we have the folks who will tell you to just make an act of sorrow, an act of contrition, and then you can go to Holy Communion. Please be clear about this: under normal circumstances, and I don’t have time to go into the details of the rare times when other rules apply, when it comes to a grave sin we absolutely must go to Confession before receiving Holy Communion.

When we receive Jesus himself, Lord of the Universe, Redeemer and Judge of all humanity, into ourselves, we must surely be prepared. A spotless soul, cleansed of all sin is the only place we should dare invite his presence, anything less and we dishonour and offend him.

I conclude with a word from Pope Benedict which he spoke only three days ago: We, Christians, kneel only before God, before the Most Holy Sacrament, because we know and believe that in it is present the one true God...

Not conscious of a grave sin? Is perhaps a little examination of conscience in order?
Missed a Sunday mass that you haven't confessed?
Contracepting?
Rejecting the teaching of the church in favor of your own opinions regarding abortion, contraception, marriage, homosexuality, the all male priesthood, or whatever?

Far be it for me to tell you what to do; you have been told. I am only saying that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, present body, blood, soul, and divinity in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, has established this as the criteria. As St. Paul has warned, do not approach the sacrament unworthily, lest you eat and drink judgment.

So, even if you don't have a servile fear of God's wrath and punishment, how about displaying the filial fear which respects and loves the wishes of the Beloved Lord our Savior Jesus Christ? Should you argue, "wait, this is just a rule of the Church, not Jesus!!" I would respond that you are quite wrong to divide Christ by separating the head from the body in this way, for Jesus conferred His authority to the Apostles till the end of time, saying "whoever rejects you rejects me..."

Give honor to whom honor is due, [Romans 13:7] and to God the Honor and Worship that is due Him alone.

Apologetics Tale
Patrick Madrid tells the story of being invited to publicly debate a very anti-Catholic Protestant on the subject of images in worship.Patrick won the flip and was first up to bat. He began by saying, "My opponent will try to tell you that the Catholic use of images in worship is at worst, idolatry, and at least, meaningless." He then pulled a large, beautiful crucifix from beneath the podium. "This is a crucifix. Through this image we Catholics follow the example of St Paul and preach Christ crucified. Furthermore, we believe that some images, through long focus of prayer and veneration, soak up some of that holiness, and we revere them more than others. We love these reminders of Our Lord's death and we venerate these physical things, not for themselves, but because they are vehicles of God's love and grace in our lives."He then put the image on the floor and said, "However, if this image really is an idol, or at least just a worthless carving, I would like to invite my opponent to come forward and act on what he believes. If it is a terrible graven image--if it is an idol, then I invite him to spit on this image and trample it under his feet. If it is an idol, then this is the right thing to do. If it is no more than a meaningless image, then it won't matter if he does spit on it and trample it under his feet. Sir, will you be the first? Then I will invite everyone in the audience to do the same."No one came forward.

The above is taken from http://gkupsidedown.blogspot.com/.

[Blogger note: Is honoring a picture of George Washington, as the Founding Father of my Country, on my wall at home a form of worship due God alone? Is my devotion to raise my right hand upon my heart when saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America a form of worship due God alone? Or, are these things giving honor where honor is due? Is honoring an image of Christ on the Cross that reminds me of His suffering and gift of Eternal life, worshiping an idol? Of course not.]

Corpus Christi

Mike Turner's wife Maria writes:

on Saturday there will be adoration at Sacred Heart from 6:30pm till 9:00pm and on Sunday from 3:00pm to 4:00 pm. During those hours, I would like to have Liturgy of the Hours, Litanies, prayers, Eucharistic songs (Adoro Te devote, Ave Verum, etc.). Would you be able to attend any of these hours? Maybe other Dominicans would like to join us?

I would be happy to hear from you if know about any celebrations around the diocese on the occassion of Corpus Christi Feast. In Christ, Maria

If you have anything for me to forward to Maria, send an email!

Roman Catholics for Obama '08

Archbishop Robert Chaput of Denver has written a thoughtful essay in First Things:

Thoughts on “Roman Catholics for Obama ’08”
By Charles J. Chaput


My belief as to why Catholics support the fanatics of homicide, who defend and promote the practice of homicide which daily kills more people in the US than the Iraq war has to date, is summed up by this picture. Sorry if you don't like it, but take a deep breath and look where you are.




Hat tip to Jay Anderson for the article, and Carter Barnes, programming geek extrordinaire, for the picture, and The lair Catholic Cavemen, whose links led me to Jay's article on the Archbishop's article on the ...

interior life of Elisabeth Leseur

From The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur, The woman whose goodness changed her husband from atheist to priest.

Sept 13, 1904

I am going to take advantage of a rare day of calm in my increasingly troubled and scattered life to make a serious examination of conscience and meditation. And first I want to write a little in this journal; it will do me good, for I feel a great solitude in my soul, humanly speaking, and a word of faith or of charity, falling from human lips, would bring warmth to my heart.

It is God’s will that, until my most intense wish is granted, I should walk alone in the path of suffering that He has shown us, and that He has made quite rough for me lately. And yet He is more than ever close to me and supporting me.

From the human point of view, no light is visible. Sadness in the present, anxiety for the future, frequent impediments in everything through my illness, the privation of all that could have transformed my life: good and fruitful work, reading – and this because of more immediate and humble duties. Absence of the consolation that contact with people of intelligence, faith, and truly Christian love always brings; physical discomfort – all these at present make a dull, sad atmosphere in my soul.

Today in recollection and humble prayer I will implore the divine aid I need so much, and plan out my life for this winter, such as it presents itself to me. First, I must firmly renounce the concrete visible good I would so much have liked to do; my duty to my dear invalids comes before all, and since I believe in the Communion of Saints, I will as God to apply to those I love and to souls the sacrifice of this inaction. I must learn to use stray moments to write and work. I must not neglect to meditate daily, for that is so necessary to me, and I will do it when and how I can.

To return to greater serenity, inner and outer; to struggle against absorption in beloved one’s suffering; to avoid speaking of my miseries, which is harmful to inner concentration. To be serene with myself and to try and acquire more indulgence for others.

Not to dwell upon the little wounds that my feelings and convictions perpetually suffer, but to offer them “manfully” to God. Not to give way to discouragement and a type of moral lassitude as a result of emotional sadness and bodily trials, but to keep alive in myself supernatural joy and the will to act, without any care to know the result of my action and efforts.

Mike will in town soon!

Here's a update from Mike Lee;

Friends of Mike Lee;
Here is the link to news about Mike's visit home next month, and also the link to the newest newsletter.

http://friendsofmikelee.org/lee/
To view the newsletter, click on the link that says May Newsletter! near the top of the page -- and you may need to slowly count to ten while it loads!

The above link takes you to a webpage that describes 3 planned events with Mike that you may want to participate in -- including a three part class with Mike teaching! Please plan to come to as many events as you can.

Also, the 2nd Annual Mike Lee Family Benefit Yard Sale is coming up on Friday, May 30th through Sunday, June 1st at the home of Bob and Connie Mortensen <4190 Columbine St., Boise, ID 83713. It's time to mark you calendar to come shopping, or to make the call to drop off some of your stuff, or to schedule a shift to work! Please contact Lori @ Lori_Newkirk@myfam.com or call 888-7006.

At this time when we are getting ready to welcome Mike back for a few days, we thank all of you for the continuing generous support and prayers for the Lees during their journey in Austria.

God Bless,
The Friends of the Mike Lee Family

and from the linked site, several activities listed, but this looks excellent:

Teaching: That They May Have Life, and Have It Abundantly:
Spirituality and Theology in the Gospel of John for Today
June 17, 18, and 19
Morning Session 10am-12pm
or
Evening Session 7pm-9pm
Morning and evening sessions may be mixed
Nazareth Retreat Center; 4450 N. Five Mile Road, Boise
No cost - freewill donation.

We will dig deeply into the key themes and terms in the Gospel of John in order to deepen our relationship with the Blessed Trinity. Key themes and terms include: gift, glory, obedience, love, belief, "signs", kingship, and light to name a few. We will discover that the depth of the Gospel will draw us to know, live for, and love our Lord in a new and more profound manner. Please bring a Bible, pen, and paper. Hope to see you there!!

Planting at Chapter House

These days, Fridays at the Chapter house are "gardening days." Here is our proud sub-prioress about to get on with the planting:



A glorious sunset after a day of planting:



And finally, placing a marker for our dear Janet O'Leary, whom we pray is enjoying the glory of God:






Chapter member Gayle Boyer, took the picture on her cell phone; thanks, Gayle!

50 Reasons

Hat tip to blogger Santiago Chiva, La opinión de un ciudadano, Granada Spain

Email chains

I receive a lot of email chain letters, some real, some fabricated and exposed at places like snopes.com, but they continue to excite and make the rounds.

this, however, is in honor of Father at Orthometer who recently mentioned Anita's (V-For Victory) contribution to the lexicon, Shambulation.

so read it, enjoy, and let's modify the rules, and play it in terms of the modern crisis of faith?

The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition . Here are this year's winners.

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people, that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The Bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

4. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

9. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

10 Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

11. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

12. Glibido: All talk and no action.

13. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

14. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

15. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

16. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

And the pick of the lot:

17. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an a$$hole

Here's an attempt:

Litorgy - what happens when Call to Action pretends to celebrate mass.
Catechasm - the gulf between popular error and unchanging truth.

give it a shot?!

Bp Vasa, Pentecost

Spirit of Pentecost, Mother's Day marks the sign of faith
By Bishop Robert Vasa

BEND — “Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit, O Lord, and they shall be created and Thou shall renew the face of the earth.” The Solemnity of Pentecost, this year, coincided with the celebration of Mothers’ Day. This provides us with two very appropriate topics upon which to reflect.

Mothers’ Day this year was just a bit different for me in that it was the first such day since the death of my mother in November. Nonetheless, there was not even the slightest hint of sadness about the absence of my mother on this day for the honoring of mothers. I hope that the absence of sadness is a mark of the tranquility and peacefulness of the mother-son relationship itself. As I write this, I am reminded of the scene of the death of the mother of Saint Augustine. Not that I would dare make any comparison between myself and this great saint but rather because of the ultimate tranquility with which Monica faced her final end.

Several days before she died, Augustine reports that she said: “What more I have to do here and why I am still here I do not know, since I have no longer anything to hope for in this world.” Then as the day of her death neared, she informed Augustine and his brother that they were to bury her where she was, namely at Ostia in Italy. Augustine’s brother protested that she should die in her own country and be buried there. She replied: “See what he is saying! You may lay this body of mine anywhere. Do not worry at all about that. All I ask you is this, that wherever you may be you will remember me at the altar of the Lord.” (Confessions, IX, 11)

This was amazing for Augustine and his brother for Monica had often expressed worry and anxiety about the question of her death and burial and this peace at her death was seen as a great gift from God. Several days later, on the day of her death, she expressed a bit of the reason for her tranquility. “Nothing is far from God, and there is no reason to fear that, at the end of the world, He will not recognize the place from which to raise me up.”

There are perhaps as many of us whose mothers have died as there are of those whose mothers are still alive. We have a bit of responsibility to both. For those who are alive we owe reverence and respect and a duty to live as they would have us live. For those who have gone before us “marked with the sign of faith” we owe that which Monica asked of Augustine, that is, to remember them at the altar of the Lord. It is a good and holy thought to remember the dead in our prayers and this most especially applies to those who brought us to life and nourished in us the life of faith. Trusting in the hope of future resurrection Augustine writes that “we did not think it right that a funeral such as hers should be celebrated with tears and groans and lamentations. These are ways in which people grieve for an utter wretchedness in death or a kind of total extinction. But she did not die in misery, nor was she altogether dead. Of this we had good reason to be certain from the evidence of her character and from a faith that was not feigned.”

I was most fortunate that something very similar could have been said of my mother’s death and funeral. Nonetheless, Augustine prayed for his mother and I pray for mine. May we all extend to our mothers the wishes of a happy mothers’ day and, if applicable, promises to remember them at the altar of the Lord.

It was also Pentecost. The birthday of the Church. The day of that special coming of the Holy Spirit. The reading from the Acts of the Apostles, detailing that first Pentecost, is in sharp contrast to the Old Testament story of the Tower of Babel. They have always struck me as polar opposites. In the Old Testament, men quite capable of understanding one another embark on a concerted plan to build a tower to heaven and make a name for themselves. The unanimity of speech gave rise to a pride which led them to seek to “be as gods” and to be independent of the One who was God. The Lord’s response, aimed at disrupting their plans was simple, “Let us then go down and there confuse their language, so that one will not understand what another says.” (Genesis 11:7) How different this is from the Acts of the Apostles where we read that the people were confused by the speech of the Apostles at Pentecost “because each one heard them speaking in his own language.” (Acts 2:6)

I sometimes wonder if the spirit of our age is the spirit of Pentecost or a spirit of Babel. There is such a cacophony of voices each claiming to be speaking the truth about the meaning of the Gospels that it sounds more like Babel than the Church. One voice, claiming the inspiration of the Spirit, contends that there is not one truth in God but many truths, indeed one for each person. Another voice proclaims that there is such a thing as one objective truth. One claims that what we do and how we live does make a difference to God. Another asserts that all that is important is the we love God in our hearts and that we are conscientious. One insists that some things are always evil and ought never to be done while another maintains that every decision about good and evil rests with the intention of the person. Some hold that it is unfair, unjust and judgmental to insist upon some kind of standard of conduct in order to be “worthy” to receive Holy Communion while others hold that no such standard should be considered.

Thus, instead of a unity wrought by and of the Spirit there exists a Babel of opinions each contending for its position in the marketplace of ecclesial ideas. Such a state of disharmony exists that it is not even possible for all who claim membership in this One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church to agree that the innocent life of the pre-born child ought to be assiduously protected always and everywhere. If we cannot even be certain of the sanctity and inviolability of the life of the tiniest babe in or outside of the womb of its mother, then we cannot all be listening to the same Spirit.

So we pray, certain that the Holy Spirit has come, but doubtful about how well we have listened. Yet, we pray and we are hopeful that He might come again and that we might be properly responsive to hear and understand His words: “Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit, O Lord, and they shall be created and Thou shall renew the face of the earth.”

© 2002-2008, Catholic Sentinel

Paul VI, the Smoke of Satan in the Church

Exclusive: the revelation of Card. Noè:" When Paul VI denounced the smoke of Satan in the Church, he was referring to liturgical abuses following Vatican II."

read Fr. Z's translation and comments here

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from Holy Rosary parish, in Portland:

"On Corpus Christi, Sunday, May 25, Mass will begin at 10:30 AM. Fr. Anthony will celebrate the Dominican Rite Missa Cantata, followed by a solemn procession with the Holy Eucharist. Cantores in Ecclesia will sing the polyphonic Proper from William Byrd's Gradualia of 1605.

from this vale of tears: sigh...

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Dominican Tertiary, visionary of our Lady

Our Lady of Laus, Refuge of Sinners



Our Lady of Laus, Refuge of sinners, look down with kindness and compassion upon the physical and moral miseries of our age! Have mercy on thy children and deign to convert us all entirely to the love of thy Divine Son!

How to Forgive - wikiHow

How to Forgive - wikiHow

Back from Portland

I'm back after a brief trip to La Grande and Portland. Its always such a pleasure to encounter the Blues before reaching Baker City:



or, to see Mt Hood from the Dalles:



The beauty of the mountains catches the attention, and turns the mind to the Creator who made them; and when I got back here is a lovely scripture sitting in my email to remind me of not only the beauty of Creation, but the purpose:

Chronicles 7:14

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

Jeremiah 29: 11-13

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart."

thank you June for sending this reminder.

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At Our Lady of the Valley (La Grande, Oregon) there is an inset carving of a pelican feeding its young, as in this picture (credit: Rome of the West, I didn't bring a camera)




Pelican? what is this?

Ps 101:4. For my days are vanished like smoke, and my bones
are grown dry like fuel for the fire.

101:5. I am smitten as grass, and my heart is withered:
because I forgot to eat my bread.

101:6. Through the voice of my groaning, my bone hath
cleaved to my flesh.

101:7. I am become like to a pelican of the wilderness:

OK, so there are pelicans in the Old Testament. St. Francis DeSales, in the Introduction to the Devout Life, comments on this verse:

...seek solitude after the Saviour's Example, Who is
symbolised as He hung upon Mount Calvary by the pelican of the
wilderness, feeding her young ones with her blood.

Look closely at the picture, and you will see the blood of the flesh which the pelican is feeding its young. This Christological symbol took on a new meaning for me yesterday, however; by where it was: not on the main altar, but on the side altar; Mary's side. Our mother, from whom the Son took flesh, gives us His flesh to nurture our lives. How fitting, that our Lady who participates in the dispensation of all grace, should have this tender symbol associated with her as well.

thank you, Fr. Augustine, for the brief time in which we shared the path of Christ; I hope I can walk this path in your company another day.

From the Boise Weekly, a liberal cloth, on a New Reason to "Freak out about the Weather"

"[*@#%] scientists can't make up their minds. Now that we've all been trained to worry about the Earth warming up to a few degrees, some scientists are now claiming that we have a bigger problem to worry about: the coming of a new ice age. The twin culprits are the sun's magnetic field and the flow of ocean and wind currents with the bottom line being that we've suffered the coldest winter since Al Gore [the Profit] became a superhero and glaciers are once again growing rather than shrinking. According to Australian geophysicst Phil Chapman, a lack of sunspot activity and the weakening of the sun's magnetic field is to blam for the world's rapid cooling since January 2007. "This is the fastest temperature change in the instrumental record, and it puts us back to where we were in 1930," said Dr. Chapman. "if the temperature does not soon recover, we will have to conclude that global warming is over." [May 7, 2008, Boise Weekly].

.........In case you do not know him, here is a picture of the bloviate, Al Gore:

KANSAS ARCHBISHOP JOSEPH NAUMANN: GOVENOR SEBELIUS REPUDIATE ABORTION OR DO NOT RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION.

ABP. NAUMANN: AN ORDINARY THAT IS NOT SO ORDINARY.

The following is a statement issued by Abp. Naumann of Kansas City on Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius' veto of a bill that would have informed women of the development of the child in their womb and alternatives to abortion. In other words, fully informed in order to give full consent. In track to marshall obedience to pro-abortion mentals, the Guber vetoed a bill that would help women, stating to the archbishop in the past that she must uphold state and federal laws and court decisions that may be contrary to the natural law. Absurdity incarnated Ms. Sebelius! A governor of a great state like Kansas should work to change the law first of all, and secondly, to pass laws that full inform the women and the public about options to killing children in the womb. The requirements that women be fully informed has not been probibited in all forms by the Nation's highest court. Ms. Sebelius is in a fog. Further, this issue is about raw power. Why raw? Because innocent people die when power is wielded without regard to the innocent. The scriptures say to rescue the innocent. Finally, a bishop that is doing just that. What follows is the archbishop's statement found at http://www.theleaven.com/V29N37ColumnistNaumann.htm dated May 9, 2008:

On the day of my return (Monday, April 21) from the exhilarating experience of participating in Pope Benedict’s pastoral visit to the United States, I learned that Governor Kathleen Sebelius had vetoed the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act (HS SB 389), which had been passed by significant majorities in both chambers of the Kansas Legislature. Last week, an attempt to override the governor’s veto failed in the Senate by two votes.Governor Sebelius in her veto message claimed: “For years, the people of Kansas have asked their elected officials to move beyond legislative debates on issues like abortion.” From her veto message, I received the impression the governor considered it a waste of the Legislature’s time to pass a statute that attempts to protect some women by making certain they have the opportunity to be well-informed: 1) about the development of their unborn child; and 2) about abortion alternatives available to them. Evidently, the governor does not approve of legislators devoting energy to protecting children and women by making it possible to enforce existing Kansas laws regulating late-term abortions.The governor’s veto message demonstrated a lack of respect to the members of the Kansas General Assembly who had carefully crafted and resoundingly passed the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act, as well as to the many Kansans who find it more than an embarrassment, in no small part due to several previous vetoes by Governor Sebelius of earlier legislative efforts to regulate abortion clinics, that Kansas has become infamous for being the late-term abortion center for the Midwest.What makes the governor’s rhetoric and actions even more troubling has been her acceptance of campaign contributions from Wichita’s Dr. George Tiller, perhaps the most notorious late-term abortionist in the nation. In addition to Dr. Tiller’s direct donations to her campaign, the governor has benefited from the Political Action Committees funded by Dr. Tiller to support pro-abortion candidates in Kansas.In her veto message, the governor took credit for lower abortion rates in Kansas, citing her support for “adoption incentives, extended health services for pregnant women, providing sex education and offering a variety of support services for families.” Indeed, the governor and her administration should be commended for supporting adoption incentives and health services for pregnant women. However, the governor overreaches by assuming credit for declining abortion rates in Kansas. Actually, lower abortion rates are part of a national trend. Our neighboring state of Missouri has actually had a steeper and longer decline in its abortion rate.Governor Sebelius’ inclusion of public school sex education programs as a factor in the abortion rate decline is absurd. Actually, valueless sex education programs in public schools have been around for years, coinciding with increased sexual activity among adolescents, as well as increases in teen pregnancy and abortion. On the other hand, the governor does not acknowledge the significant impact of mass media education programs, such as those sponsored by the Vitae Caring Foundation, or the remarkable practical assistance provided by Crisis Pregnancy Centers which are funded through the generosity of pro-life Kansans.What makes the governor’s actions and advocacy for legalized abortion, throughout her public career, even more painful for me is that she is Catholic. Sadly, Governor Sebelius is not unique in being a Catholic politician supporting legalized abortion.Since becoming archbishop, I have met with Governor Sebelius several times over many months to discuss with her the grave spiritual and moral consequences of her public actions by which she has cooperated in the procurement of abortions performed in Kansas. My concern has been, as a pastor, both for the spiritual well-being of the governor but also for those who have been misled (scandalized) by her very public support for legalized abortion.It has been my hope that through this dialogue the governor would come to understand her obligation: 1) to take the difficult political step, but necessary moral step, of repudiating her past actions in support of legalized abortion; and 2) in the future would use her exceptional leadership abilities to develop public policies extending the maximum legal protection possible to the unborn children of Kansas. Having made every effort to inform and to persuade Governor Sebelius and after consultation with Bishop Ron Gilmore (Dodge City), Bishop Paul Coakley (Salina) and Bishop Michael Jackels (Wichita), I wrote the governor last August requesting that she refrain from presenting herself for reception of the Eucharist until she had acknowledged the error of her past positions, made a worthy sacramental confession and taken the necessary steps for amendment of her life which would include a public repudiation of her previous efforts and actions in support of laws and policies sanctioning abortion.Recently, it came to my attention that the governor had received holy Communion at one of our parishes. I have written to her again, asking her to respect my previous request and not require from me any additional pastoral actions.The governor has spoken to me on more than one occasion about her obligation to uphold state and federal laws and court decisions. I have asked her to show a similar sense of obligation to honor divine law and the laws, teaching and legitimate authority within the church.I have not made lightly this request of Governor Sebelius, but only after much prayer and reflection. The spiritually lethal message, communicated by our governor, as well as many other high profile Catholics in public life, has been in effect: “The church’s teaching on abortion is optional!” I reissue my request of the faithful of the archdiocese to pray for Governor Sebelius. I hope that my request of the governor, not to present herself for holy Communion, will provoke her to reconsider the serious spiritual and moral consequences of her past and present actions. At the same time, I pray this pastoral action on my part will help alert other Catholics to the moral gravity of participating in and/or cooperating with the performance of abortions.

Bishop Vasa: rightly placed hope

Christian hope rooted in Christ's death, triumph over sin
By Bishop Robert Vasa
Print Edition: 05/09/2008

BEND — Over the past months I have commented both in sermons and in writing on Pope Benedict’s Encyclical on hope. I do continue to return to it for points of reflection and encouragement on a fairly regular basis. I have found in it very rich and even challenging material. Throughout the Easter Season I have reflected on the type of hope which the Apostles and others who lived in the days of Jesus possessed. It is very easy to see them as people who had a rightly placed hope, a hope centered in God and focused on eternal life.

The events of Palm Sunday are perhaps indicative of a truth somewhat different from this perception. Remember that the people saw Jesus healing the sick, curing the blind and the lame, multiplying bread and fish and even changing water into wine. When they perceived that Jesus was coming into Jerusalem to take up His kingly throne, they were ecstatic with hope that now, at last, His kingdom would come, that they would be part of it and there would be health and food and wine in abundance for all. This accounts for the enthusiasm with which Jesus was greeted on that original Palm Sunday.

Their hope for a material kingdom, a hope that all their immediate needs and wants would be gratified was far different from the hope which Jesus came to bring. Their hope was a meager hope, as Pope Benedict describes these rather limited hopes. It was not until the Lord’s resurrection that the light of genuine hope began to shine on the lives of the Apostles. It was a categorically different type of hope. It was an insurmountable, an indomitable hope. It was a hope founded on the fact that Christ had conquered sin and death forever.

In this regard the Holy Father writes about the hope and joy of the saints. They are men and women, who often despite horrendous conditions and even tortures, lived peacefully and joyfully. Concerning their capacity to suffer for the sake of the kingdom of God the Holy Father writes: “Yet this capacity to suffer depends on the type and extent of the hope that we bear within us and build upon. The saints were able to make the great journey of human existence in the way that Christ had done before them, because they were brimming with great hope.” (Spe Salvi, 39)

In contrast, I suspect most of us are rather brimming with meager hopes. Like the people of Jesus’ day we hope for an earthly kingdom, we hope for good health and food and wine in abundance. When we have these things we readily rejoice as did the people of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. They too were brimming with meager hopes. Yet these hopes do not seem to us to be meager anymore than a teen infatuation seems to that teen to be only “puppy love.” It is only much later when more authentic love is discovered that one looks back and recognizes the meagerness of that previous love. It is only in light of the resurrection that the Apostles were able to look back, and perhaps even laugh, at the meagerness of their previous hope.

“The capacity to suffer depends on the type and extent of the hope we bear within us and build upon.” A person suffering with cancer may have “hope” for a cure to their cancer, they may even be “brimming” with this hope. This is certainly a worthy and even necessary hope. Yet when the diagnosis is that nothing more can be done, then in what do we hope? Many see only the hope of finding some other alternative cure. Lacking that, unless there is a hope which supercedes these other meager hopes, the alternative is to seek to avoid the suffering which appears now to be inevitable. Making the “great journey of human existence” is not only about being brimming with hope but rather it is about being “brimming with great hope,” brimming with a hope infinitely greater than the meager hopes which often compel us in our day to day lives.

My journey this weekend was quite short, fewer than 20 miles each way. Saint Thomas Parish in Redmond was the scene of this weekend’s Confirmation. Seeing their lovely church reminded me that “all serious and upright human conduct is hope in action.” The hope which encouraged and fostered the building of a new larger church more than four years ago is still alive and active. In some ways such buildings are perhaps extravagant. One could argue that all we really need is a large auditorium, a multi-purpose building in which we can have Mass as well as a series of other parochial events. It seems to me that such an arrangement might be tenable as a short term necessity but it bespeaks a kind of hopelessness. After all, it says that having a heart-uplifting sacred space set apart exclusively for the worship of God is either not possible or not necessary.

If we were to take a bit of license with Pope Benedict’s passage it might be re-written as: “Yet this capacity to suffer (to build something beautiful for God) depends on the type and extent of the hope that we bear within us and build upon.” The many beautiful churches of the diocese, built 75 to 100 years ago, are a testimony to the great hope of those who went before us.

As we are heartened by the manifest hope of what our forebears built, the youngsters who endure my questioning and come forward for the anointing of the Holy Spirit need to see our hope in action as well. We have an obligation to try to imitate the saints. They “were able to make the great journey of human existence in the way that Christ had done before them, because they were brimming with great hope.” May we, in our turn, both for our own sakes and for the sake of those who come after us likewise manifest an indomitable hope, a great hope.

Perhaps, in this context of hope, I would be a bit remiss if I did not mention again the diocesan camp/retreat center which we are planning for our rural diocese. If the Holy Father is correct that “all serious and upright human conduct is hope in action” then the varied churches of the diocese are a sign of the hope in action of our ancestors.

The current building projects throughout the diocese are a sign of hope in action within our parishes. The diocesan project is a sign of hope in action for our diocese. The marvelous side effect of moving forward in hope is that doing so actually fosters the hope which it manifests.

© 2002-2008, Catholic Sentinel

And seek not what you shall eat or what you shall drink: and be not lifted up on high. For all these things do the nations of the world seek. But your Father knoweth that you have need of these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his justice: and all these things shall be added unto you. Lk 12:29-31

A kick-save x 2

The following is from an article in Social Justice Review, Vol 99, No 3-4, 2008. Notice the volume number; do the math; SJR was founded under Leo XIII!

A KICK, A SQUEEZE AND A HUG

DONALD DeMARCO, Ph.D.

It was Thursday night, January 5th, 2006. At OM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada had just won the world junior hockey championship by a score of 5-0 over the Russian finalists. The hero of the night, and of the series, was 19-year-old Justin Pogge (rhymes with "stogie"). He had distinguished himself on this occasion by stopping 35 shots on net. It was his third shutout of the series, an accomplishment unique in tournament play, and it cast him in the spotlight as "man of the hour".

During the post-game celebration, he tipped his new World Junior Championship ball cap to a wildly exuberant crowd, a gesture that acknowledged the regular chanting of his name-"Pogge, Pogge, Pogge!"-that had resounded throughout the packed arena during that evening's game and during the entire series.

Goalies are supposed to make saves-pad saves, stick saves, skate saves, and kick saves. Justin Pogge's very first "kick save" was his most important, but it had taken place far from the hockey rink and the roaring crowd. It had saved not merely a goal, but two lives.

...Winding the clock back nineteen years, we find the twenty-two-year-old Annet Pogge attending her engagement party in her home town of Fort McMurray, Alberta. A hundred and twenty-six friends and relatives had come to the elaborate affair in order to offer her their best wishes. The hopes of the well-wishers may indeed have proved effective, though not for any forthcoming marriage. Something entirely different was about to take place, but it was certainly no less significant.

Annet had been expecting a baby for four months. When she informed her boyfriend of her condition, he walked out on her, leaving his now ex-fiancée with the humiliating task of explaining to the assembled guests why there would be no wedding. Her rejection, humiliation, and ruined hopes were too much for her to bear. She left the party that evening and walked to a bridge over a river that ran through the town. Here she could drown herself and her sorrows all at once.

"Just when I was thinking of doing it," she told the Toronto Globe & Mail, "when I was thinking of terminating everything, not just the pregnancy, but me, I felt a kick. It was light, but I felt it. It was the first real sign of life. I remember thinking, 'Oh, God. This is a sign. God wants me to live.' I couldn't end my life then - I couldn't."

The kick that signaled life defeated the pain that almost led to tragedy. The victory was one that Annet Pogge had to re-enact again and again before her son could begin executing his kick saves for great and enthusiastic audiences on a world stage. Annet experienced financial hardship and made many sacrifices in keeping her son and allowing him to stay in hockey. She told him the story of that nearly fatal moment on the bridge, long before she told anyone else. As she explained to the Edmonton Sun, she wanted him to know that he was born out of love and that it was his action, gentle and unconscious though it was, that saved her from ending both their lives.

...Two golden moments, one mirroring the other. The second, amidst fanfare and jubilation on a frozen surface of ice in Vancouver: "Canada smashes Russia, takes gold!" proclaimed one headline. The first, alone on a bridge overlooking a watery grave, except for a gentle kick that reminded her that her life should be lived and not thrown away. The more golden moment by far was the one in which a kick-save by an unborn child of four months kicked away despair and death.

The Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League have signed Justin Pogge. By all indications, he has a most promising career ahead of him as a professional goaltender. His story is an invaluable reminder to all of us, however, that hockey at its best is just a metaphor, though one whose significance we should trouble ourselves to understand. Keeping a puck from crossing the goal line pales in importance when compared to what it symbolizes: preventing discouragement from entering our hearts and threatening to destroy our lives and the lives of others who depend on us.

The task of the goalie is to make saves. The word "save" is etymologically related to "salvation". The best thing about sport is that it reminds us of a struggle that ultimately transcends it-between hope and despair, good and evil, life and death. We should be wise never to sever this link. The major difference between the symbolism of sports and life itself is that only in life can we all be winners.

"For of all sad words of tongue or pen", wrote John Greenleaf Whinier, "The saddest are these: 'It might have been!"' Canada's gold did come about, but it might not have been without the goalie who himself might not have been without his mother's love. This is a good story. But how many sad stories are there of things that "might have been" that cannot be told?

DR. DeMARCO, an Advisory Editor of Social Justice Review, teaches at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Coon. Several of his recent books are available from the Central Bureau of the Central Verein, including Character is a Time of Crisis and Virtue’s Alphabet.

Oh yeah, happens all the time...

I've lifted this post entirely from Fr. Finigan at The Hermeneutic of Continuity. it addresses a little-advertized aspect of abortion.

In the Times online today, Dr Thomas Stuttaford, "The Times doctor", answers this question in his column:

I had an abortion recently, and though my boyfriend and I agreed it was the right thing to do, I feel guilty and I've gone off sex. Will these feelings pass?

The answer begins:

Lack of interest in sex after an abortion is so common that it can almost be said to be expected. Before long your libido is likely to have returned, but both you and your partner have to bear in mind that even now having an abortion is a huge event in anyone's life. It is possible, but by no means inevitable, that the changes this will have wrought in the way you feel about a future together may have irretrievably undermined your relationship. If this happens, neither of you should assume blame or feel guilty.

Years of experience with patients have reinforced the teaching I received in my early medical life that even the most ardent affair may not survive an abortion...

Those who work in pro-life counselling for women in crisis pregnancies report that a considerable proportion of those who come to see them are using one or more forms of contraception. A doctor in my parish suggested using a picture such as this to illustrate the principle that new life is not a force that can be easily resisted. Where this life has been crushed by abortion, it is surely only natural and to be expected that the urge to engage in the same life-giving activity should be muted.

The second expert, Suzi Godson, concludes her answer with the astonishingly complacent advice:

Be kind to yourself, and your partner, and be grateful that you live in a country where abortion is both safe and legal.

Actually, we live in a country where abortion is presented as "safe", where the consequences are glossed over if they are mentioned at all, even the consequence that the relationship you were trying to save is unlikely to survive the killing of your baby.

I'm not sure we should give very much weight to the "loss of libido" danger in itself - it is the secular sanctification of libido that has brought about the destruction of so many millions of human lives. Nevertheless it is another feature in the whole sorry story of routinely available abortion. I wonder how many women are told about this "expected" phenomenon before they consent to an abortion?

big hat tip to Fr. Finigan for posting this.

Babies in Detroit Dumpster

This is copied entire from Steve Ray's blog:

Bishop Quinn to hold memorial Mass for 25 aborted babies


Bishop John M. Quinn
Detroit, May 3, 2008 / 06:16 am (CNA).- On Saturday Bishop John Quinn of Detroit will offer a funeral Mass for twenty-five babies whose bodies were recovered from garbage dumpsters behind an abortion clinic.

In March Dr. Monica Migliorino Miller, who heads the group Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, videotaped the contents of several bags of trash removed from the back of a Lathrup Village abortion clinic named Womancare of Southfield. The graphic video shows bloody surgical materials, hypodermic needles, private medical records, and the remains of aborted human babies.

“This is no ordinary funeral,” said Father Frank Pavone, head of Priests for Life, writing in his column on priestsforlife.org. “There are still too many of our fellow citizens who don’t even acknowledge that the people who will be buried this Saturday are people at all. To mourn their deaths publicly, therefore, is not just to honor them, but to sound a wake-up call to our nation that we are living amidst the biggest holocaust of all time.”

He called upon priests to alert their congregations of the burial of these children who were “brutally, legally killed.”

“Abortion has become too abstract,” Father Pavone continued. “The word has lost its meaning. The conceptual knowledge that children are being killed is no longer enough to awaken many people to action. We need the funerals, we need to see the bodies, we need to hear the disgusting details of the abortions in order to be roused out of our moral slumber and end this killing once and for all.”

According to Father Pavone, Alberto Hodari, the head of the abortion clinic where the bodies were found, also threw patient medical records into the dumpster. “Sadly, that is the only issue on which he may get into trouble,” he said.

“When society will punish a man for the pieces of paper he threw in the garbage but excuse him for throwing babies into that same garbage, we have become guilty of straining the gnat and swallowing the camel,” Father Pavone said.

Father Pavone said that two weeks after the funeral, pro-life advocates in Dallas will pray at a grave of 1,300 babies. They have prayed at the grave there for 25 years in a row.

A timely reminder

Divine Intimacy, by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.
#183 Mary's Prayer

"A little pure love," says Saint John of the Cross, "is more precious in the eyes of God . . . and of more value to the Church . . . than all other works put together (SC, 29,2).

Mary shows us how far we are from the truth when, pressed by the urgency of our works, we make our apostolate consist solely in exterior activity, underestimating the interior apostolate of love, prayer, and sacrifice, on which the fruitfulness of our exterior acts depends.

Justice?

We all know what a hypocrite is, and why a known hypocrite is at best ignored, but more often despised; and in the final analysis, ineffective; perhaps even irrelevant.

The characteristic of a hypocrite is that they are quick to tell others how to live, but do not live in accord with what they would impose on others. I personally take umbrage at the man in the motorcade of limos who jets around the world to tell me I should walk instead of drive, or risk destroying the planet. This sort of thing never changes; Jesus pointed the finger at those who “lay heavy burdens, but won’t lift a finger to help.”

But let us leave the material domain for a moment and examine the moral domain; as the Holy Father did when addressing the United Nations. This venue provides an international forum for examination of issues which relate to justice, issues that have ramifications from the international halls to the walls of the womb. There is a thirst for justice, and a thirst for power. Sometimes these things are difficult to separate; but it helps to recall that justice is to “render a due good;” and that justice has a component due to God and to our neighbor.

But it is easy to point fingers, and since to “he who is with out sin” is granted the right to “cast the first stone,” perhaps a bit of examination of conscience is in order. And speaking of order, I particularly do this in the context of the Order to which I have vowed. This Order, since it’s creation, has held uniquely the charism of Preaching; the task of bringing the Good News to those who do not know it or have abandoned it. This charism has been exercised in many and varied ways since 1216, and now, 800 years into the task, in the light of the Vatican Council’s instruction to return to the charism of the founder, I look, and frankly, in many instances, have a hard time seeing the founding charism at work in the modern world. But I was not going to throw stones, so let me just put the question: In terms of justice, what is the “due good” to the world and to souls, from the Order of Preachers, and is it being offered? Are we busy in the political arena, telling the world that the world must do this and that, all the while ignoring fundamentals of natural law, not to mention the complete abandonment of “preaching Jesus Christ, and him crucified?” There seems to be a belief within many that belief has no place again, that hope is in temporal and passing goods, rather than in the eternal. Going back to how I opened this meditation, have we become that which is named, demanding justice of others, while demonstrably withholding that which justice demands of us? Irrelevant, indeed, is the voice of a preacher lost in the sea of voices promoting every passing fancy of doctrines invented by men.

It wasn’t always like this, and for a moment I’d like to call attention to a soul who, although not a member of the Order, was influenced by the Order, and as a result of her interior life of faith, brought about the conversion of her atheist husband who, after her death, became Fr. Felix Leseur O.P. Elisabeth Leseur passed away this day, May 3, 1914. She understood how the Justice of God works, and here are a few of her thoughts which I have gleaned from the first few pages of her book, The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur (posthumously published by Fr. Leseur).

“Every soul that uplifts itself uplifts the world.”


March 28, 1900

The only good moments are those given to God, to the poor, and to work. I am going to give myself to these with more ardor than ever. In certain ways my ideas have changed: I believe much more in individual effort, and in the good that may be done by addressing oneselfnot tothe masses but to particular souls. The effect one can exert is therefore much deeper and more durable. Did not He who remains the Eternal Model in all spiritual thigns do the same? And it did not hinder Him from transforming the world. Following Him, let us turn with tenderness to every person, however poor or sinful, and let us endeavor to be "all things to all men." (1 Cor 9:22) Let us think less of humanity and more of men; or rather let us remember that humanity is only made of human beings and that each one of them bneeds the light and strength that God gives, and it belongs to us to spread this light as far as we can. What a mission for weak and sinful creatures such as we!

Nov 28, 1900
Reflected a good deal on social questions, which even the most humble of us might help to solve. Social questions are essentially the questions of Christianity, since they are concerned wit hthe place of each man in the world and his material, intellectual, and moral improvement. These questions, which will last as long as the world, can advance only through Christianity; that is my absolute conviction. Christianity alone addresses itself to the individual, to that which is most intimate in him; it alone penetrates to the depths of being, and is able to renew it.

It is the duty of every Christian to interest himself in the crisis through which the people are passing, one which perhaps will change them profoundly. For new needs there should arise new apostles. The people - the masses that form the majority of the country, those workment, peasants, and humbel laboreres of every kind - need to be shown the True Source of all liberty, justice, and real transformation. If we do not make God known to them we shall have failed in the most important and pressing duty of all. But this is a work that demands a forgetfulness of self, a disinterestedness, a persevering will for which we need God and for which we must tranform ourselves absolutely.

A Marriage Saved in Heaven:

Elisabeth Leseur's
Life of Love



The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur: The Woman Whose Goodness Changed Her Husband from Atheist to Priest

Faith of our fathers

from Momentoes of the English Martyrs and Confessors, For Every day in the Year

June 17
THE COMMISSION TO PREACH
Ven. JOHN SOUTHWORTH, Pr., 1654

"GOOD people, I was born in Lancashire. This is the third time I have been apprehended, and now being to die I would gladly witness and profess openly my faith, for which I suffer. And though my time be short, yet what I shall be deficient in words I hope I shall supply with my blood, the last drop of which I would willingly spend for my faith. Neither my intent in coming to England, nor practice in England, was to act anything against the secular government. Hither was I sent by my lawful superiors to teach Christ s faith, not to meddle with any temporal affairs. Christ sent His Apostles, His Apostles their successors, and their successors me. I did what I was commanded by them who had power to command me, being ever taught that I ought to obey them in matters ecclesiastical, and my temporal governors in business only temporal. I never acted nor thought any hurt against the present Protector. I had only a care to do my own obligation, and discharge my own duty in saving my own and other men s souls. This, and only this, according to my poor abilities, I laboured to perform. I had commission to do it from him, to whom our Saviour, in his predecessor St. Peter, gave power to send others to propagate His faith."

"As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you." JOHN xx. 21.

June 18
LOOKING ON JESUS
Ven. JOHN SOUTHWORTH, Pr. 1654

"THIS is that for which I die, O holy cause, and not for any treason against the laws. My faith and obedience to my superiors is all the treason charged against me : may I die for Christ s law, which no human law, by whomsoever made, ought to withstand or contradict. The law of Christ commanded me to obey these superiors and this Church, saying who ever hears them hears Christ Himself. This Church, these superiors of it, I obeyed, and for obeying die. I was brought up in the truly ancient Roman Catholic Apostolic religion, and learnt that the sum of the only true Christian profession is to die. This lesson I have heretofore in my life desired to learn : this lesson I come here to put in practice by dying, being taught it by our Blessed Saviour, both by precept and example. Himself said, He that will be My disciple, let him take up his cross and follow Me. Himself exemplary practised what He recommended to others. To follow His holy doctrine and imitate His holy death, I willingly suffer at present ; this gallows, looking up, I look on as His Cross, which I gladly take up to follow my dear Saviour. My faith is my crime ; the performance of my duty the cause of my condemnation."

"Looking on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who having joy set before Him, endured the cross." HEB. xii. 2.

Hat tip to Fr. Tim at The hermeneutic of continuity

Public Service Announcement

Cher frère, chère soeur en saint Dominique.

Des frères et des soeurs dominicains viendront au Congrès eucharistique international, en juin 2008.
SVP, pourriez-vous transmettre cette invitation des Frères de la Ville de Québec, à toutes les entités dominicaines de votre pays : frères, moniales, soeurs, laïques.
Document Word - 1 page, dans les deux langues officielles du Canada.
Merci de rendre ce service fraternel et Bienvenue !

Henri de Longchamp, o.p.
Promoteur de la Famille dominicaine et du Laïcat dominicain au Canada
___

Dear Brother, dear Sister in Saint Dominic,

Some Dominican Brothers and Sisters will come to the International Eucharistic Congress, in June 2008.
Please, could you pass on this invitation from the Dominican Friars of Quebec City, to each Dominican entity ( friars, nuns, sisters, laity ) of your country.
Word document - 1 page in the two official languages of Canada.
A fraternal thank you and Welcome !

Henri de Longchamp, O.P.
Promotor of the Dominican Family and the Dominican Laity in Canada

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RENCONTRE DE LA FAMILLE DOMINICAINE
À L'OCCASION DU CONGRÈS EUCHARISTIQUE INTERNATIONAL

Les frères Dominicains de la Cité de Québec, Canada,
sont heureux d'inviter tous les membres de la famille dominicaine
à se joindre à eux pour la célébration solennelle des vêpres.
Les Dominicains - frères, soeurs, moniales et laïcs - présents à Québec pour
le Congrès ou simplement intéressés à se joindre à la fête sont les BIENVENUS!

QUAND : Mardi 17 juin 2008
OÙ : Église Saint-Dominique
175 Grande Allée Ouest, Québec
voisine du Musée provincial
sur les Plaines d’Abraham
Téléphone : 418 522 3963
( accessible par autobus no 11 sur Grande Allée
ou encore no 800 ou no 801 sur René-Lévesque )

HORAIRE 17H00 Accueil à l’église et visite
18h00 Vêpres solennelles
18h45 Repas festif

SVP téléphoner pour annoncer votre présence au repas
Source : Fr. François Pouliot, o.p., prieur
fpouliotop@hotmail.com

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A MEETING OF THE DOMINICAN FAMILY - ON THE OCCASION
OF THE INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS
The Dominican Friars of Québec City, Canada,
are happy to invite all members of the Dominican Family
to join them for the celebration of Solemn Vespers.
All Dominicans – Friars, Sisters, Nuns, Laity – attending the Congress or simply interested in meeting members of our international Family are WELCOME

WHEN : Tuesday 17 June, 2008
WHERE : St. Dominic Church
175 Grande Allée West, Québec
next to the Provincial Museum
on the Plains of AbrahamTelephone : 418 522 3963
( accessible by Bus # 11 on Grande Allée
or # 800 or # 801 on René-Lévesque Blvd )

TIME : 5 PM Welcome, tour of Church
6 PM Solemn Vespers
6:45 PM Festive meal

PLEASE : Phone to confirm your attendance

BY : Fr François Pouliot, O.P., Prior
fpouliotop@hotmail.com