Some months back I collected more from around the two monkey puzzles in Redwood. Their present state above. They’re easy: you push the pointy end into soil, and keep watered and wait. I never tire of sprouting them. The others that I’ve sprouted continue to grow well outside.
Monkey puzzles are the common name for the tree Araucaria araucana, native to Chile and Argentina.
Found more the other day:
They’re found in the leaf litter. People walk over them in the park.
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Information:
| Feast Day: | April 11 |
| Born: | Todi, Tuscany, Italy |
| Died: | 655 at Cherson, Crimea |
Martyr, born at Todi on the Tiber, son of Fabricius; elected
Pope at Rome, 21 July, 649, to succeed Theodore I; died at Cherson in the
present peninsulas of Krym, 16 Sept., 655, after a reign of 6 years, one month
and twenty six days, having ordained eleven priests, five deacons and
thirty-three bishops. 5 July is the date commonly given for his election, but 21
July (given by Lobkowitz, “Statistik der Papste” Freiburg, 1905) seems to
correspond better with the date of his death and reign (Duchesne “Lib. Pont.”,
I, 336); his feast is on 12 November.The Greeks honor him on 13 April and 15
September, the Muscovites on 14 April. In the hymns of the Office the Greeks
style him infallibilis fidei magister because he was the successor of St. Peter
in the See of Rome (Nilles, “Calendarium Manuale”, Innsbruck, 1896, I,
336).
Martin, one of the noblest figures in a long line of Roman
pontiffs (Hodgkin, “Italy”, VI, 268) was, according to his biographer Theodore
(Mai, “Spicil. Rom.”, IV 293) of noble birth, a great student, of commanding
intelligence, of profound learning, and of great charity to the poor. Piazza, II
45 7 states that he belonged to the order of St. Basil. He governed the Church
at a time when the leaders of the Monothelite heresy, supported by the emperor,
were making most strenuous efforts to spread their tenets in the East and West.
Pope Theodore had sent Martin as apocrysiary to Constantinople to make
arrangements for canonical deposition of the heretical patriarch, Pyrrhus. After
his election, Martin had himself consecrated without waiting for the imperial
confirmation, and soon called a council in the Lateran at which one hundred and
five bishops met. Five sessions were held on 5, 8, 17, 119 and 31 Oct., 649
(Hefele, “Conciliengeschichte”, III, 190). The “Ecthesis” of Heraclius and the
“Typus” of Constans II were rejected; nominal excommunication was passed against
Sergius, Pyrrus, and Paul of Constantinople, Cyrus of Alexandria and Theodore of
Phran in Arabia; twenty canons were enacted defining the Catholic doctrine on
the two wills of Christ. The decrees signed by the pope and the assembled
bishops were sent to the other bishops and the faithful of the world together
with an encyclical of Martin. The Acts with a Greek translation were also sent
to the Emperor Constans II.
The pope appointed John, Bishop of Philadelphia, as his
vicar in the East with necessary instructions and full authority . Bishop Paul
of Thessalonica refused to recall his heretical letters previously sent to Rome
and added others,—he was, therefore, formally excommunicated and deposed. The
Patriarch of Constantinople, Paul, had urged the emperor to use drastic means to
force the pope and the Western Bishops at least to subscribe to the “Typus”. The
emperor sent Olympius as exarch to Italy, where he arrived while the council was
still in session. Olympius tried to create a faction among the fathers to favor
the views of the emperor, but without success. Then upon pretense of
reconciliation he wished to receive Holy Communion from the hands of the pontiff
with the intention of slaying him. But Divine Providence protected the pope, and
Olympius left Rome to fight against the Saracens in Sicily and died there.
Constans II thwarted in his plans, sent as exarch Theodore Calliopas with orders
to bring Martin to Constantinople. Calliopas arrived in Rome, 15 June, 653, and,
entering the Lateran Basilica two days later, informed the clergy that Martin
had been deposed as an unworthy intruder, that he must be brought to
Constantinople and that another was to be chosen in his place. The pope, wishing
to avoid the shedding of human blood, forbade resistance and declared himself
willing to be brought before the emperor. The saintly prisoner, accompanied by
only a few attendants, and suffering much from bodily ailments and privations,
arrived at Constantinople on 17 Sept., 653 or 654, having landed nowhere except
the island of Naxos. The letters of the pope seem to indicate he was kept at
Naxos for a year. Jaffe, n. 1608, and Ewald, n 2079, consider the annum fecimus
an interpolation and would allow only a very short stop at Naxos, which granted
the pope an opportunity to enjoy a bath. Duchesne, “Lib. Pont.”, I, 336 can see
no reason for abandoning the original account; Hefele,”Conciliengeschichte” III,
212, held the same view (see “Zeitschr. für Kath. Theol.”, 1892, XVI,
375).
From Abydos messengers were sent to the imperial city to
announce the arrival of the prisoner who was branded as a heretic and rebel, an
enemy of God and of the State. Upon his arrival in Constantinople Martin was
left for several hours on deck exposed to the jests and insults of a curious
crowd of spectators. Towards evening he was brought to a prison called
Prandearia and kept in close and cruel confinement for ninety-three days,
suffering from hunger, cold and thirst. All this did not break his energy and on
19 December he was brought before the assembled senate where the imperial
treasurer acted as judge. Various political charges were made, but the true and
only charge was the pope’s refusal to sign the “Typus”. He was then carried to
an open space in full view of the emperor and of a large crowd of people. These
were asked to pass anathema upon the pope to which but few responded. Numberless
indignities were heaped upon him, he was stripped of nearly all his clothing,
loaded with chains, dragged through the streets of the city and then again
thrown into the prison of Diomede, where he remained for eighty five days.
Perhaps influenced by the death of Paul, Patriarch of Constantinople, Constans
did not sentence the pope to death, but to exile. He was put on board a ship, 26
March, 654 (655) and arrived at his destination on 15 May. Cherson was at the
time suffering from a great famine. The venerable pontiff here passed the
remaining days of his life. He was buried in the church of Our Lady, called
Blachernæ, near Cherson, and many miracles are related as wrought by St Martin
in life and after death. The greater part of his relics are said to have been
transferred to Rome, where they repose in the church of San Martino ai Monti. Of
his letters seventeen are extant in P.L., LXXXVII, 119.
(Taken From Catholic
Encyclopedia)
View article:
Very sorry for the big lull, readers; for the past week, I’ve been absorbed with doing not very much. Yes, that’s right: no Internet connection, not checking your phone for days on end, with my family hidden deep in a forest. Wildlife, sports, leisurely meals, lots of family time.
Since the gap, I also have a lot to share with you from our Triduum, but more on that later.
I’m not promoting idleness, but a break from schedules, early alarm clocks, planning and productivity can do wonders for being human, don’t you think?
When Blessed John Paul II was bishop of Kracow in 1962, he gave a retreat to university students. It is a deeply inspiring series of meditations. One of the first talks speaks of how, in life, there are things of relative importance and things of absolute importance. We ourselves can experience being of relative importance: we discover after doing something well in our work that we are esteemed one day, then passed over the next. When in the middle of an important project, it takes on the status of absolute importance only to be largely forgotten about a few months down the line.
Only in prayer do we discover the one thing that is of absolute importance. When we go on retreat, we engage in the one thing of absolute importance: ourselves in relation to God.
The then Karol Wojtyla put it like this:
“There is no gathering in which each one of us is more wholly himself and has a fuller sense of his own selfhood and his own absolute importance than he has here [on retreat].”
Holidays are similar, I find. Within our families, we are cherished for who we are, not what we can achieve. In relaxing, we rediscover our identity formed in relation with those we love. Being together with no rushing, no deadlines, no using of relationships for our own ends, in some way recreates us. After all, who are we but the relations that we have with others?
Holidays, as well as moments to be together, also need to give us moments of no rushing, no deadlines, with our Creator. He is the One who makes us new. I think sometimes that if I come back to London after a holiday feeling pampered and indulged, but no closer to Him, what’s the point?
Finally, GK Chesterton thought that doing nothing was a “rare and precious” thing. Here is what he writes in his Autobiography:
When given the gift of loneliness, which is the gift of liberty, [such men who do not appreciate the freedom of having nothing to do] will cast it away; they will destroy it deliberately with some dreadful game with cards or a little ball. I speak only for myself; I know it takes all sorts to make a world; but I cannot repress a shudder when I see them throwing away their hard-won holidays by doing something. For my own part, I never can get enough Nothing to do.
He probably wouldn’t have approved of our canoeing this week, but definitely sitting around the table after lunch Doing Nothing.
Original post:
The Vermont Senate has defeated a bill to legalize assisted suicide again.
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin promised to legalize assisted suicide during the 2010 election campaign. Shumlin also accepted out-of-state money from the suicide lobby towards his election campaign.
In mid-March the Vermont Senate Judiciary committee rejected a bill to legalize assisted suicide. Bills to legalize assisted suicide have been defeated on several occasions over the past few years.
The suicide lobby appears to be getting desperate in Vermont.
After the assisted suicide bill was rejected in March, the supporters of the bill decided to
attach the assisted suicide bill to a tanning bed regulation bill
.
After a two hour debate in the Vermont Senate, yesterday (April 12), the Senate voted 18 to 11 to reject the assisted suicide bill again.
The article on WPTZ.com (News Channel 5) stated:
Supporters
engineered the showdown earlier in the week when, in a surprise maneuver, the
Health and Welfare Committee attached the bill to an unrelated measure
regulating indoor tanning salons.
The
Judiciary Committee had earlier decided against sending the end of life bill to
the Senate floor.
“For ten
years we’ve watched the ‘death with dignity’ bill in the Senate, for ten years
it’s stayed in committee with no hope of getting out,” said Sen. Claire Ayer, an
Addison Democrat. “At least have the discussion, whether the vote is up or down
is almost irrelevant.”
But
opponents, including Sen. Richard Sears of Bennington County who is chairman of
the Judiciary Committee, railed against what he considered an assault on Senate
procedure. At one point Sears told colleagues the bill had been “hijacked” from
his committee and if senators stood by, the “people of Vermont would be the big
losers.”
Republican
Lt. Gov. Phil Scott ruled the tanning and end of life measures were not germane
to one another and senators agreed, effectively ending consideration for the
year.
But the
preceding debate, before a standing room only crowd, including spirited floor
speeches zigzagging between the value of providing terminally ill Vermonters
with end of life choices, and the relative importance of following Senate
protocol.
Spectators
witnessed several moments of political theater when Sears questioned Sen. Hinda
Miller, the Chittenden County Democrat who had engineered the debate, asking her
to explain legal and ethical considerations of the
bill.
After
Miller was unable to answer a series of questions, she asked for a recess and
rushed over to confront Sears.
Senate
President Pro-Tem John Campbell then tried to referee the tension between
members of his own party.
A moment
later, Sears said to Miller, ‘If you want to debate, we’ll have a debate. If you
aren’t prepared for the debate, you shouldn’t cry foul! It’s not
abuse.”
“Be nice,”
another Democrat cautioned Sears.
Campbell,
who also opposes the legislation, told reporters with so much pressure by
advocacy groups, “this debate has to happen.”
The bill
would permit Vermont doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to a
patient who had twice requested it, was in the final weeks of life, and who had
cleared a series of other eligibility requirements. It is patterned after an
established law in Oregon.
Several
members spoke passionately about their own family histories with terminal
illness, or those of vocal constituents, arguing for or against various
dimensions of the proposal.
“I respect
those who object on religious grounds, but my choices should not be restricted
because of someone else’s religious preferences,” said Sen. Diane Snelling, a
Republican from Chittenden County.
Ahead of
the vote, some members made clear they were not passing judgment on the merits
of the ‘death with dignity’ bill, but on the process of the
Senate.
Many
expect the issue will be reintroduced next year. Gov. Peter Shumlin supports the
bill, and House Speaker Shap Smith has said a majority of his chamber would vote
in favor of it were the Senate to approve it
first.
Dick
Walters, president of the advocacy group Patient Choices Vermont, said he
“appreciates the attempt by our Senate supporters to bring this bill to the
Senate floor for a vote. We celebrate their courage and willingness to discuss
an issue that is so important to so many
Vermonters.”
The roll
call vote (to overturn the ruling of Lt. Gov. Scott and proceed with full
consideration of the bill) follows:Ashe –
YES
Ayer – YES
Baruth – YES
Benning – NO
Brock – NO
Campbell –
NO
Carris – NO
Cummings – NO
Doyle – NO
Flory – NO
Fox –
ABSENT
Galbraith – YES
Giard – NO
Hartwell – NO
Illuzzi –
NO
Kitchel – NO
Kittell – YES
Lyons – YES
MacDonald – YES
Mazza –
NO
McCormack – YES
Miller – YES
Mullin – NO
Nitka – NO
Pollina –
NO
Sears – NO
Snelling – YES
Starr – NO
Westman – NO
White –
YES
YES-11
NO
- 18
Congratulations True Dignity Vermont.
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Catholic liturgical music is serious, solemn, transcendent, but Catholic musicians are never more fun and inspiring than when they are talking about what they love most. This is what happens at sacred music events around the world: the social and intellectual are critically important elements. The musicians (and music enthusiasts) at the Chant Café, a project of the
Church Music Association of America
, bring that sense of life and love to the digital world. As St. Augustine said, “Cantare amantis est.”
Among the contributors:
Arlene Oost-Zinner, programs director CMAA and chant director St. Cecilia Schola | archive
Adam Bartlett, composer, conductor, and Phoenix musician | archive
Charles Culbreth, California-based parish musician and composer | archive
Fr. Christopher Smith is a priest in Beaufort, SC, currently studying in Paris | archive
Jeffrey Tucker, managing editor Sacred Music journal and polyphony director St. Cecilia Schola | archive
Originally from:
The Lord brought forth His people with joy, alleluia:
and His chosen ones with gladness, alleluia, alleluia.
V. Give glory to the Lord, and call upon His name:
declare His deeds among the gentiles (Ps 104:43, 1).
One Who Comes to Meet Us
Some of you may be wondering why I chose, during this Octave of Pascha, to preach each day on the Introit of the Mass. The simple answer is this: someone suggested that I meditate and write on the Introit texts. And so I did. But there is another reason. Listen to what Father Maurice Zundel says:
The Introit greets us at the entrance of the Mass. It is like a triumphal arch at the head of a Roman road, a porch through which we approach the Mystery, a hand outstretched to a crying child, a beloved companion in the sorrow of exile. The Liturgy is not a formula. It is One who comes to meet us.” (The Splendour of the Liturgy)
Toward the Heavenly Sanctuary
The Church gives us eight Introits for the glorious Paschal Octave: one for each day. Each one is a mystic portal opening onto a particular facet of the Mystery and pointing us toward the heavenly sanctuary where, beyond the veil, Christ the Priest stands in glory before the Father.
Get On With It
Today’s Introit is but a single verse from Psalm 104. “The Lord brought forth His people with joy, alleluia: and His chosen ones with gladness, alleluia, alleluia” (Ps 104:43). The psalm refers to the Exodus. This verse, chosen by the Church for us today, is about getting out of Egypt.
Into Life
Easter, or Pascha as the Church calls it in her official liturgical books, is about moving out and moving on. Out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Out of darkness into light. Out of sin into holiness. Out of decrepitude into vigor. Out of a pitiful self-absorption into fascination with the beauty of holiness that shines on the Face of Christ. Out of death into life.
The Illusion of Coziness
It is a strange thing that, when it comes to getting on with it spiritually, some of us drag our feet. There is something inside us that remains attached to that old life of bondage under Pharaoh in Egypt. We reminisce about the “bad old days” and our imagination twists them into the “good old days” that they never were. There is nothing worthy of nostalgia about living in sin, under sin, or with sin. One of the devil’s ploys is to make us feel comfortable in our sins. He likes nothing better than to appeal to our innate desire for feeling cozy, and he creates the illusion of coziness by using our sins. In this way, he suggests that we really need not move forward, that things are fine just as they are, and that those think otherwise are either fanatics or idealists.
Today’s Introit says that the Lord brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen ones with gladness. Joy because a new life was opening before them. Gladness because God had taken care of their enemies — a symbol of the old sins that pursue us — by sending them headlong into the churning waters of the Red Sea. Joy, because “the strife was o’er, the battle won.” Gladness because, as the Exultet puts it, we have been “restored to grace . . . and separated from the vices of the world and the darkness of sinners.”
Resistance
What would prevent you from experiencing this joy and gladness? A secret attachment to sin. A hankering after things as the Old Self would have them be. A resistance to the costly change of heart that is the price of new life.
Original link:
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What’s the difference between a stay-at-home mom and a
stay-at-home dad?
A can of beer and a
laptop.
Yes, I am spending the day at home with the two youngest so
that Anne-Marie can get some shopping done in Pembroke. Nothing says redneck
like a can of beer in one hand and a baby in the other, I got to say. Luckily
we have a fence around the yard so the neighbours cannot witness this
spectacle.
I wait patiently for the older girls to get home from school
so I can hand one of my handfuls over to them, and to begin to type with both
hands. Capitalization can wait for the edit, I guess.
No man needs to be convinced of the irreducibility of the
spouses. It just takes mom to leave for a few hours now and then. You’d think
that after five kids I’d be a pretty confident single parent. And I am. I never
panic. But I do reach for the Baby Tylenol
quicker than some. The baby is teething, I guess. Well, she is bugging me.
Close enough.
But it’s not all for loss. I concentrate on certain aspects
of family life when I’m on duty. My parental attention never lines up perfectly
with Anne-Marie’s. That’s okay; I must love myself and accept myself in all of
my fatherly crapulence. (BTW,
Microsoft Word
recognizes ‘crapulence.’) To be fair, even though I may overdo the glucose and
the crackers in the kids’ diet, I do try to do at least one bit of ‘deep-cleaning’
on these occasions. That kind of thing makes up for all the mistakes and oversights
I commit over the interim.
When we were young my brothers and I used to like it when we
were left with dad every now and then. That meant spaghetti for supper, which
we could eat in front of the TV. But doesn’t that say it all? It wouldn’t be
special if it was all the time; if was all the time that would be bad. Mom
brings a certain predictability – stability – that dad is not altogether suited
for, or perhaps for which some dads are not suited. This dad and this dad’s father
among others. Dads are like fireworks; mom is a campfire.
So what am I making the kids for supper? I bet you’ll guess
frozen pizza or perhaps can-o-ravioli. Nope. We are having breakfast for
supper. How very dad!
So, in the end, am I a wise or foolish virgin – or perhaps,
wise or foolish steward?
I live my life one way and I parent that one way too, that
is, according to my spiritual master’s specification:
dilige et quod fac vis
–
love
and do what seems right to the one who loves
. (My rather liberal
translation of Augustine’s famous maxim.) In the end, the kids will grow up
knowing that dad loved them despite his inattention to detail. And they will
grow up knowing mom loved them because of her attention to detail.
Taken from -
Today, the Archdiocese of New York released the following statement to the press regarding the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 2011 Annual Report on the implementation of the Charter for Protection of Children and Young People.
ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK IN FULL COMPLIANCE WITH CHILD PROTECTION CHARTER
For the seventh consecutive year the Archdiocese of New York was found to be in full compliance with the Bishop’s Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, created in 2002, in response to the grave problem of child sexual abuse in Catholic institutions. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released their annual summary earlier this week.
The situation in the Archdiocese of New York details how we have continued to ensure a safe environment for our young people. Since 2003, the Archdiocese has completed a total of 87,926 background checks on clergy, employees, and volunteers, including 7,588 for the most recent calendar year of 2011. Additionally, during the same time period 78,893 people have received safe environment training – more than 7800 in the past year — and 157,479 school children received age appropriate safety training in the 2010-2011 school year.
The Child Protection Policies require that all those who are in regular contact with minors must: complete the screening process, including a background check; abide by the Safe Environment Policies, the Policy Relating to Sexual Misconduct, and the Code of Conduct; and complete Safe Environment Training appropriate to their position. If any person is not in compliance with these requirements, they may not work or volunteer with minors. Since the child protection policies have been implemented, 52 people have been excluded from working with minors due to negative results of background checks or failing to comply with training or background check requirements.
The audit is undertaken by outside auditors under the supervision of the independent National Review Board established by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Safe Environment Program of the Archdiocese was established to implement Articles 12 and 13 of the Charter. Article 12 mandates the establishment of programs to train staff in “ways to make and maintain a safe environment for children and young people”, and to publicize “the standards of conduct for clergy and other persons in positions of trust with regard to children”. Article 13 requires that the Archdiocese evaluate the background of all clergy and of all those whose duties include ongoing, unsupervised contact with minors.
-30-
Tags: Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, child abuse, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB
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Statement on Charter for Protection of Children and Young People
The Catholic priest gave up two spots on a lifeboat in favour of offering spiritual aid to the other victims as they all went down with the “unsinkable” vessel.
BY Patrick B. Craine
Fr. Thomas Byles
Amidst all the tales of chivalry from the Titanic disaster there is one that’s not often told.
It is that of Fr. Thomas Byles, the Catholic priest who gave up two spots on a lifeboat in favour of offering spiritual aid to the other victims as they all went down with the “unsinkable” vessel.
A 42-year-old English convert, Fr. Byles was on his way to New York to offer the wedding Mass for his brother William. Reports suggest that he was reciting his breviary on the upper deck when the Titanic struck the iceberg in the twilight hours of Sunday, April 14th, 1912.
According to witnesses, as the ship went down the priest helped women and children get into the lifeboats, then heard confessions, gave absolution, and led passengers in reciting the Rosary.
Agnes McCoy, one of the survivors, says that as the great ship sank, Fr. Byles “stood on the deck with Catholics, Protestants and Jews kneeling around him.”
“Father Byles was saying the rosary and praying for the repose of the souls of those about to perish,” she told the New York Telegram on April 22, 1912, according to the website devoted to his memory, FatherByles.com.
In the words of the priest’s friend Fr. Patrick McKenna, “He twice refused the offer of a place in a boat, saying his duty was to stay on the ship while one soul wanted his ministrations.”
Nearly two weeks after the disaster, The Church Progress in St. Louis, Missouri wrote this moving tribute to the heroic priest:
In almost every line that has been written, and in every sentence that has been spoken, there stands boldly out above every other expression a picture of sublime heroism that will be copied into the pages of history. And well it may, for it is deserving of that honor.
But when it is, mention should be made of one whom pens and tongues have almost forgotten in their accounts of this awful sea tragedy. Among those who safely reached the land again no one seems to have been aware of his presence on the ship, but we may hope that many who meet him in a blissful eternity will praise God that Father Thomas Byles was there to administer absolution unto them.
Originally posted here:
The untold story of the Titanic’s Catholic priest who went down hearing confessions
Since early last fall, I’ve been awakening at 3 AM to pray the Divine Mercy chaplet for those in their death agony, and those who cross my mind at the time.I just found this interesting article on Spirit Daily, and am pleased to see that this is a common occurance. It’s also the time of the best spiritual inspiration and self examination for me.
I hope you enjoy this article:
There is a neat little account in a neat little book. The account (one of many dealing with life, God, and miracles) is about the phenomenon of the three o’clock hour. We’ll get to the booklet in a second.
What is it about three p.m. and a.m.?
We have hashed this over a number of times. It keeps coming up. We know about the afternoon: three p.m. is the hour designated as the end of the Crucifixion, the time of Our Lord’s death — the most momentous hour since Creation.
In the 1900s, Saint Faustina Kowalska of Poland received revelations from the Lord that accented this hour, including the potent Chaplet of Divine Mercy, which tradition says should be recited at three p.m. (and is celebrated in a special way this Divine Mercy Sunday).
(“….When they say this Chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying not as the just judge but as the Merciful Savior,” the Lord told Faustina in 1935).
But what about that almost bewitching, corresponding, and crosswise hour of three a.m.?
Here we get more mysterious.
For through the years — as many of you know — folks have told us they’ve had striking experiences indicating that this is a time when prayers are especially powerful, or when evil is particularly strong (and must be countered), or that the middle of the night is when the “veil” thins.
Perhaps it is simply the quiet of night?
Or is it a second time of the day for the Chaplet?
Is there some sort of confluence in the spiritual world?
Time after time, we’ll read of a major event or death and in the article it will mention that it occurred at three a.m.
Fire. Murders. Holy deaths. There are even a movie, song, and magazine, all called 3 A.M.
Some say there are many deaths at this time because it is when the body is weakest.
One viewer wrote to us citing the fact that another major mystic (this one in Italy) had explained — in her own revelations — that night prayer, especially at 3 a.m., is “for adults to make amends for the sins of the night, to keep Satan away from weak people, and that culprits may ponder, repent, and make good resolutions which will become facts at sunrise.”
In Miracles from God and Challenges of the World, Father Robert Gamel writes of a friend named Jimmy who had been in the seminary for a while, before leaving to start a family. (His entrance into the seminary was a story unto itself: he had asked for the Lord to send a full can of beer on the beach where he was sunbathing as a sign if he should seek a vocation and one had washed up!)
Unfortunately, when his children — a boy and girl — were young, Jimmy developed a cancerous tumor in his muscle tissue that eventually spread to his lungs.
As Father Gamel writes, “His wife could not handle the fact that he was dying and refused to take care of him. He offered his pain and suffering for his wife and kids. He spent the last weeks of his life with his parents separated from his wife and the kids he dearly loved.
“In this phase of Jimmy’s life, he was truly experiencing the Crucifixion of Christ. Abandoned by his family, his parents watched him die.
“Then came the unexpected miracle from the Lord:
“He died at three a.m. as the clock outside his room struck the hour. This was the hour of Divine Mercy [in Father Gamel's interpretation of the morning hour]. This was also the first time that clock had run in two weeks!
“How incredible it had stopped right before the exact time of three. And even more incredible, it decided to run again at that moment.
“But the miracle was not over; Jimmy had managed with his last breath to place his hand on his chest giving the peace sign to all who were there. That was how Jimmy always said goodbye to people. And now he was saying his last goodbye. His crucifixion ended. His sacrifice complete.”
We hear similar affirmations.
“Thank you for making me feel that I am not the only one who is experiencing the ’3 am wake up,’” wrote Angela Biggs of Forth Worth, Texas. “I have been waking up at 3 a.m. for many years now. During the eighties and nineties, it was most every night. Since then, I wake up at 3 am every night with few exceptions. Interestingly, the time change does not seem to effect the ’3-a.m. wake up.’ During standard time I wake up at three a.m. During daylight savings time I wake up at 3 a.m. When I am traveling, I wake up at 3 a.m. in the time zone where I am. I have been complaining to husband, doctor and friends about this for years, because I felt it could be taking a toll on my health. A few years ago, a spiritual author and lecturer was on our local public broadcasting station asking the same question, because he too is awakened every morning at 3 a.m. He said 3 a.m. is when he does his best writing and that we should keep a journal of whatever we are thinking or experiencing at that time. I have three dogs. They sleep on the floor at the foot of my bed. They wake up at exactly 3 a.m. every morning, and if I am not awake yet, they begin to urgently scratch my bed until I am not just awake, but wide awake, so much so that I have to get out of bed to get them to stop! And if I go back to bed, it starts all over again.”
Added Lisa K. Kloss of Eau Claire, Wisconsin:
“For many years have been having this happen. Before the internet I thought it was just happening to me! After I read the diary of St. Faustina I understood better. Many times I have heard a male voice say my name which is what woke me up at that time. I became a Third Order Carmelite in 2001 and when I got to know my guardian angel I realized it was his voice, and he also will wake me up anytime I ask him in the mornings, right down to the minute. I have not had an alarm clock for over fifteen years and I have to get up a lot of times very early to travel to show my dogs. If I say, ‘Angel, wake me up at exactly 4:37 a.m.,’ I will hear my name, sometimes twice and louder the second time, and look at the clock….exactly 4:37! One night a few years ago I woke (at 3 a.m.) to an evil shadow hovering above me within an inch.”
However, she felt an angel came instantly to rid the darkness.
It is a time of spiritual warfare. It is a time for intercession. It is a time for meditation. It is a time, when we remember to pray, for grace.
Noted Janice Stravinskas of Saugus, Massachusetts: “I have been awakened suddenly at this hour, many times, with promptings to immediately begin praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet, to ask for mercy on the world. I have read Sister Faustina’s Diary, cover to cover, and after that began a serious devotion to the chaplet. Since then, I have had these experiences of being suddenly awakened, at this hour, mostly between 3:00 am and 3:30. After I pray, I return to a nice peaceful, restful sleep.”
Some years ago, another wrote us to say, “Probably Christ ‘rose from the dead’ (after descending into Hell) on the third day (Easter Sunday) at 3 a.m. Three being a sacred number. 3 a.m. being shortly before dawn. I have also recently been waking up and praying the Divine Mercy chaplet during the 3 a.m. hour. I believe this is a forerunner to the return of Christ.
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We hope that Holy Week and the Triduum was a blessed experience for all. A big thank you to all those who work in parish ministry for making Lent, Holy Week and Easter Weekend so meaningful. It’s easy to take for granted something that we experience year in and out but these things don’t just happen. To the volunteers, pastoral staff, clergy, choir members, lectors, servers and all those who help tell the story of our faith, we’re most grateful.
Hopefully there’s an opportunity for a little down time for those who have been working so hard to support our faith community. My own Holy Week/Triduum was as busy as ever this year. Having said that, it seems that it’s just been one big blur since the January 6th announcement of Archbishop Collins elevation to the College of Cardinals (see photo of Cardinal Collins greeting parishioners after Easter Sunday services above).
A few of the more interesting experiences this past week or so:
1) Having the opportunity to chat for two hours with our seminarians in their final years of formation regarding effective communication especially as it relates to the parish level as well as a primer on working with the media, opportunities/pitfalls, etc. While it’s never easy speaking after lunch, add to that the last day of classes for the year – we still managed to have a very interesting discussion and best of all, no one fell asleep!
2) Some random interview requests, which isn’t unusual, during Holy Week including a discussion on CBC Radio about the Christian origin of Hot Cross Buns (didn’t expect that one when I woke up in the morning), discussing the Pope’s comments at the Chrism Mass in Rome, the usual Easter Weekend stories regarding church attendance/significance of Good Friday & Easter Sunday as well as a request for comment on the “blue” language used in certain sports circles (we politely declined that one). We also had a media request on Holy Thursday at 1:30 p.m. for the Easter Sunday homilies of all 200 + parishes. Not sure if the media outlet recognized that not all of our clergy have these homilies typed out, much less ready to go on Holy Thursday given the crush of Holy Week services. It’s nothing but not interesting to pick up the phone on any given day.
3) Attending services at St. Michael’s Cathedral is always special – this Good Friday, the church was at capacity by 2:15 p.m. and all Easter Sunday Masses were filled to the rafters. As the cathedral currently undergoes renovations, it’s clear that the additional 200+ seats that will be in place at some point in the not too distant future (the new choir loft) will be welcomed with open arms, especially during significant days on the Christian calendar.
In past years, speakers outside the Cathedral would provide sound for those unable to make it into services over Easter Weekend. Unfortunately, with the extensive scaffolding up and work being done on the church, the speaker wires were disconnected, leaving the speakers inoperable this time around. That said, at least 150 people stood outside the Cathedral throughout the Good Friday service, quietly reflecting even though they were unable to hear what was going on inside.
I was trapped for a few minutes outside myself, conducting an interview as the service began and eventually winding my way back in to help with some of other cameras positioned inside the church. I couldn’t help but wonder though, was there a way to pastorally respond to the folks outside? Should we have started the recitation of the rosary or the Stations of the Cross?
While it’s impossible to know the size of crowd, how the weather will cooperate, how many will remain outside if there is no sound whatsoever, it gave me reason to pause. How to reach the scattered? I was also amazed at the witness from those who remained outside – no sound, no awareness of where we were in the service but there to remember the fallen Christ. What a powerful witness.Then I started thinking about Pope Benedict’s theme for this year’s World Day of Communications – silence and the gift that it can bring in our own journey. Maybe this was exactly what was needed, steps away from the Eaton Centre, Dundas Square and the hustle and bustle of the city. Silence.
If you’d like to listen to Cardinal Collins’ homily on Good Friday, click here. You can also listen to his Easter Sunday homily by clicking here.
So while the story remains the same year in and out, somehow each Lent, each Holy Week, each Easter Weekend allows us to rediscover our faith in new and profound ways. This year was no different and for that, there’s much to be thankful for…indeed He is risen!
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I miss that white shirt. I wonder where Anne-Marie put it? In the pool house?
I love it. It’s been an theme around here recently. We’ve observed how those who have their 1 or 2 children, so as to heroically prevent over-population and excessive pollution, so as to enable mom to get out of the house, and so as to enable both mom and dad to get to Barbados each year, fall back on families like mine that (a) pollute, (b) have a mom who ‘just’ stays at home, and (c) have never been and perhaps will never be south of winter (i.e. Barbados or anywhere close to it). Their bored, neglected, and yet wealthy, kids come flying to houses like ours like iron filings to magnets. They come and share in our modest lunches of bologna sandwiches and Selections brand cookies – they are always welcome, seeing how I have all this extra money laying about anyway – and, then, sometimes treat us to something of what they’ve picked up from mom and dad about too many children leading to global warming or some such thing.
I’ll warrant that a lot of gas does get produced at my house. Most of it’s mine, not the kids’.
In our house, I’ve noticed little boys and girls showing up to play, often after school as they wait for their parents to get out of work. And, now that our Sarah-Grace is nine, we have bored little girls constantly calling to talk to her on the phone. But nothing beats the young fella that friends of mine practically raised because he had no one to play with at home, coming to their house and berating “Catholicism for contributing to over-population.”
But you know what, leave the door-to-door stuff to the Mormons. I think the best way my family can evangelize is to live, love and share, even with those poor rich kids.
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I just received the following email:
Happy Easter to you!
I work in the Fundraising and Marketing team
at Aid to the Church in Need UK. I’m emailing in the hope that you won’t mind
giving a plug on your blog, to the ‘Night of Witness’ event to support
persecuted Christians that ACN is organising at Westminster Cathedral on the
evening and night of Thursday 17th May.
ACN’s Night of Witness is the biggestevent yet that ACN has organised. There is an extensive line up of UK
inspirational guests and performers on the night, including several bishops
from around the world, as well as Catholic band ‘ooberfuse’ – who had the
winningUK
entry for last year’s World Youth Day song contest.
This event gives us a crucial chance to stand
together with our brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering
persecution, in what is now a highly fraught era for Christians worldwide.
I know that you have posted in the past on
the plight of persecuted Christians, and I hope this event may act as an
opportune link for you to write a new piece should you feel inspired to do so.
Of particular note, in recent weeks we have received the news that almost the
entire Christian population of the Syrian city of(50,000 or more people) has fled Homs
violence and persecution engulfing their homeland. As you will know, other
high-profile (though not as high profile as we would like) issues include the
current detention, awaiting execution, of Asia Bibi on blasphemy charges in
Pakistan; the similar detention of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani on the same
‘charges’ in Iran; and, on a more positive note, the recent suggestion by
Cardinal O’Brien that murdered Pakistani politician Shahbaz Bhatti might be
made a saint for his heroic witness to the faith. Other recent news stories can
be read on our news page here: www.acnuk.org/news
I attach a promotional flyer for the event in
.jpeg format. The reverse of the flyer gives more details of the schedule and
line-up on the night.
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/370174729664843/
ACN web-page: www.acnuk.org/vigil
Many thanks in anticipation of your help and your prayers.
Mark
Banks
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Being mercifully free of live television, I do not always pick up on what the latest craze is, but I think that this weekend we are in the grip of a feverish concentration on the Titanic so it might be worth trying to work Fr Byles into this Sunday’s sermon. He was a parish priest from Essex who was travelling to conduct the wedding of his brother in Brooklyn. He paid £13 for his ticket. The website
calculates the value of that today as £1,000 using the retail price index, or £4,240 using average earnings. Either way, Fr Byles obviously valued the trip highly.
When the ship struck the iceberg, Fr Byles was on deck saying his office. During the panic, he helped steerage passengers up to the boat deck, helped women and children get into the lifeboats, refused a place on the lifeboat himself, went among the passengers hearing confessions, prayed the rosary with those left on board, and went down with the ship, still saying the rosary with them
I am grateful to Fr Stewart Foster who has written about Fr Byles in this week’s Catholic Herald. The article is not online, only in the print edition, but there is an interview with Fr Foster at Alive Publishing.
As well as providing a heroic Catholic reference for people who are hearing a lot about the Titanic on television, it might also be worth pointing out that the popular film caricatures him by having him recite verses from the Apocalypse. It is always worth waking people up to the subtle prejudice that they normally don’t notice in the mainstream media.
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Christy at
reviews a book that seems right up the alley of several women I know. Any book that features two women I greatly admire – Simcha Fisher and Jennifer Fulwiler – as well as eight others, is probably a good one.
Question: who will write the Canadian version?
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Anne-Marie ‘felt’ the negative comments more than I did, strangely. The way I see it, they don’t know me, so why take it personally? This is something that teaching has produced in me too. I used to take great offense at negative comments from students. Not no more.
Can you email me re. what we were talking about before, to tell me what ever came of it?
Incidentally, we are having a very NS day here: misty and foggy. Feels good, actually.
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