Level Wise

For the last few weeks we’ve been reading a book aloud in the evenings titled “The Holy Family: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph” published by the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This little book is so rich with Catholic lore that it makes a convert’s head spin. Tonight we learned that Joseph’s body is also believed to be in Heaven with Jesus and Mary:

A good online friend without a blog needed a rant.

No one gets fired in Hollywood. I don’t know if you have noticed that. People part company because of “creative differences.” Executives tend to move to another branch of the studio, even if the branch has to be invented. Contract negotiations fall apart. But think about it, when have you ever read the “F” word in the trades, or heard it on Entertainment Tonight?

Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, let them that are broken go free, and break asunder every burden.

Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own flesh.

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall speedily arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up.

Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear: thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou wilt take away the chain out of the midst of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not.

Easter, of course, was wonderful and always is. Just imagine the Tridentine Easter liturgy in a church like this one - of which we are unworthy members - and you’ll understand why. But I squandered Lent. If not for the flu, tendonitis, atrial fibrillation, and a host of business problems I would consider myself to have done no penance whatsoever. But, as Joshua over at Katolik Shinja expresses so well,

I finally realized that disappointment might be what the season’s all about: disappointment with one’s sinful self. Lent is for penitence. If I want to feel good about myself, I’ll turn to Oprah and Dr. Phil.

An old song with a haunting pro-life message:

There was a fair maiden lived in the north
Oh the rose and the linsey - oh
She fell in love with her father’s clerk
Down by the Greenwood side - oh

He courted her for a year and a day
Oh the rose and the linsey - oh
Till her the young man did betray
Down by the Greenwood side - oh

She leaned her back against the thorn
Oh the rose and the linsey - oh
And there two bonny boys she’s born
Down by the Greenwood side - oh

She’s taken out her little knife
Oh the rose and the linsey - oh
And she’s rubbed them of their life
Down by the Greenwood side - oh

Now might be a good time to remember the speech of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in 1095 here:

Why Flowers Don’t Have Faces
by Amy, age 8

Before Adam ate his apple,
the flowers had faces.

Before you saw smiles,
but now you just see traces.

Now to see the smiles
you must travel miles.

The devil long before
had destroyed our smiles.

That is why to see them
you must travel miles.

This has been the first morning I’ve seen daylight in Orland for a long time. So, after having a good smoke with my Christmas Peterson (thank you, honey), I loaded everyone up in the van and headed to the Saturday swap meet in town.

On the way, we stopped by a local orchard and bought a bag of fresh navel oranges and a few jars of homemade jam. The proprietor has three acres of citrus, which he ripens on the tree and sells direct to the consumer in a little roadside store. The store is open for about 6 months out of the year, and also sells locally grown kiwi, mandarins, grapefruit, almonds, pecans, and walnuts. The third-generation owner has a regular job with the sherriff’s department, but he will be retiring next year to work the family business full-time.

I keep up occasional correspondence with the prioress of a cloistered Carmelite monastery, and she pointed out to me that our daughter’s baptism (Jan. 2nd) coincided with the birthday of St. Therese of Lisieux. I didn’t know this. Now this is exceedingly cool because I have a devotion to St. Therese, and last year I received as a gift an icon of her from the convent at Lisieux itself, blessed by a priest, and it is this very icon that hangs over Marie’s bassinet. More proof that Someone is watching out for us in ways strange and mysterious…

Little note: I know many people pronounce Lisieux as “Li-soo” because it’s easier that way, but in actual fact it is pronounced “Liz-ee-uh.”

Two weeks ago, the tabernacle, including Our Lord present in repose inside, along with several sacred vessels, was stolen from St Augustine and St Monica Parish on Detroit, Michigan’s east side. Today, although the lock on the tabernacle is damaged and it no longer closes, all has been returned. The items were brought back by a neighborhood man who knew the 3 people who had stolen the objects. He said they were poor and desperate, and, after eating the Hosts inside, were unable to sleep peacefully. He, as well, after many sleepless nights, retrieved the tabernacle and objects from the trio and brought all the objects back to the parish. A $500 reward was given to the man, and he in turn, gave some money to the three, telling them to leave town. The pastor of the parish, however, does not want to press charges. He is thankful that the Sacred Hosts were not desecrated and that so many prayers around the country were answered.

Isn’t it wonderful how Holy Mother Church provides so many avenues of grace to her children? The Holy Father has announced the following ways to obtain a plenary indulgence in this Year of the Eucharist:

“A Plenary Indulgence is granted to all faithful and to each individual faithful under the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer in keeping with the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff, with the soul completely removed from attachment to any form of sin), each and every time they participate attentively and piously in a sacred function or a devotional exercise undertaken in honor of the Blessed Sacrament, solemnly exposed and conserved in the tabernacle.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to consider Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s appeal over the so-called Terri’s Law, leaving the fate of the severely brain-damaged woman for whom the measure was enacted with state courts that have repeatedly ruled she should be allowed to die.

“Do you see this lantern?” cried Syme in a terrible voice. “Do you see the cross carved on it, and the flame inside? You did not make it. You did not light it. Better men than you, men who could believe and obey, twisted the entrails of iron and preserved the legend of fire. There is not a street you walk on, there is not a thread you wear, that was not made as this lantern was, by denying your philosophy of dirt and rats. You can make nothing. You can only destroy. You will destroy mankind; you will destroy the world. Let that suffice you. Yet this one old Christian lantern you shall not destroy. It shall go where your empire of apes will never have the wit to find it.”