Our Lady of Fatima

It happened 98 years ago - three young children, Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia were doing what most children do in their free time - play. But at one time they also knelt down in a field to pray the Rosary. It was in a place called Cova d’Iria in Fatima, in Portugal. The Blessed Mother appeared to them above a tree saying to them “Pray the Rosary - and come back tomorrow to see me.” No one believed them, but Mary appeared to them again, and again. She also told them a few secrets which they kept to themselves.
They told their parents and then eventually their local priest, who questioned them and at first would not believe them.....the police found out, and they had them arrested. They were threatened, and of course the children were afraid they would end up in prison. But they did not change their story.

Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta

The first time Mary appeared was on May 13, and she appeared every month on the 13th. On August 13, the police arrested them and put them in prison. On the last time Mary appeared, October 13, close to 100,000 people were present and a miracle took place where the sun appeared dancing or swirling - everybody saw it, and therefore all started to believe the children. Those secrets were revealed later - the war would end soon - World War I, and Russia would be converted, because it was a Communist country, and in 1989, Communism started to decline from Russia, and the people started to change, and now even churches are open for people to pray. However Mary predicted another war, World War II, between 1939 and 1945 where thousands f people were killed. Jacinta and her brother Francisco died within 2 years of the apparition, because of the Spanish Flu, an illness that killed many thousands of people in Spain and Portugal. Lucia became a nun, and lived until she was over 90, dying in 2005. Millions of people visit Fatima every year, and 2 years from now there will be great celebrations because it will be 100 years since Mary appeared in Fatima.

Let's do our part.....

Only God can grant faith….but we can give witness.
Only God can give hope…but we can pass it on to our brothers or sisters.
Only God can give love…but we can learn how to love.
Only God can give peace…but we can sow unity.
Only God can give strength…but we can animate the discouraged.
Only God is the Way…but we can help guide others.
Only God is light…but we can help it to shine for all.
Only God can give us our senses….but we can use them to enjoy the beauty of creation, share a message of hope, listen to the Word of God, great music, and walk out of our way to help others.
Only God can do what seems impossible…but we can do what is possible.
God can do any and all things…but prefers to include and count on you and me.
So, let’s not disappoint Him.

100 years ago - World War I

These are some photos from World War I, about 100 years ago. Things were much different back then, and means of communication were prehistoric, compared to today's standards. A letter could take 2 weeks to reach its destination, even within big cities. Hospitalization and medical care was very different and old-fashioned, to say the least. Let us be thankful for what we have today.

Man's best friend

I have always been afraid of dogs. Probably because when I was a child (something I don't actually remember) a dog bit me in my face, leaving a tiny scar on my cheek which is very hard to see. I know how friendly dogs can be, and when I blessed a handful of them last Monday, they were all so well-behaved, probably because they were all kept on a leash by their owners. Yet, when I visit a family and ring the door-bell, and a dog comes barking towards me, I feel sheer terror, even if it's a tiny chihuahua or a toy poodle, or even a Maltese, no pun intended. Yet when their owners calm them down, and explain to me they are very friendly, I do calm down, especially if they are locked  in a room or outside in the back yard. This happened many times and people are used to my phobia. I know deep down in my heart that they are man's best friend, and this photo consoles me. I hope it cheers your hearts too.

Back to blogging

As you all know, I hate to miss one single day of blogging and sharing something inspirational. After a brief visit to San Francisco with my brother and his wife, and this week's Clergy Assembly with all the priests, where Internet access was limited, I'm back to sharing my daily post. Tomorrow the photos will return and these will be also posted on the parish Facebook page, which was not possible for me to do the past few days. But as they say 'absence makes the heart grows fonder' and so all my friends who faithfully check this blog and the Facebook link will appreciate this service even more.

During our Clergy Assembly, I shared with my fellow priests a more personal way of saying the Rosary, precisely on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, October 7. This is what I called the Diocesan Rosary. Bishop Cary liked the idea so much that we actually prayed the Diocesan Rosary together in the afternoon. I will share with everyone the method of this Rosary, but it basically connects all the parishes and missions of our Diocese in a very spiritual and intimate way. What it involves is simply dedicating each of the 50 Hail Mary's to each parish and its missions, besides our neighboring Dioceses, our 6 Bishops and other organizations that make an important part of our parishes. Stay tuned.....next week I will share the whole line-up of prayers to be said before each Hail Mary.

Prayer for our Family by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Heavenly Father,
you have given us the model of life in the Holy Family of Nazareth.
Help us, O Loving Father, to make our family another Nazareth
where love, peace and joy reign.
May it be deeply contemplative, intensely eucharistic, revived with joy.

Help us to stay together in joy and sorrow in family prayer.
Teach us to see Jesus in the members of our family, 
and may we welcome with an open heart and open arms all those
who visit our humble home.

May the eucharistic heart of Jesus make our hearts humble like his
and help us to carry out our family duties in a holy way.
May we love one another as God loves each one of us,
more and more each day, and forgive each other's faults
as you forgive our sins.

May we see our home a safe haven where love
and compassion are expressed and shared,
may we get to know you ever more clearly,
to follow you ever more nearly
and to love you and others ever more dearly.

Help us, O Loving Father, to take whatever you give
and give whatever you take  with a big smile.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, cause of our joy, pray for us.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
Holy Guardian Angels, be always with us, guide and protect us. Amen.

Prayer for all needs

Prayer for all needs (written by Saint Clement of Rome)
We beg you, Lord, to help and defend us.
Deliver the oppressed. Pity the insignificant. Raise the fallen. Show yourself to the needy. Heal the sick. Bring back those of your people who have gone astray. Feed the hungry. Lift up the weak. Take off the prisoners' chains. May every nation come to know that you alone are God, that Jesus is your Child, that we are your people, the sheep that you pasture. Amen.

Back to posting soon

All the priests of the Baker Diocese are presently gathered together with their Bishop for their annual Clergy Assembly at the Powell Butte Diocesan and Retreat Center. We have limited connectivity to the Internet, but will do my best to share a few reflections as time allows.
The theme for this year's meeting is the Theology of the Body, the working title St John Paul II gave to 129 talks he delivered between September 1979 and November 1984. It is a biblical reflection on the meaning of human embodiment as male and female, particularly as it concerns the call of the two to become "one flesh."
The speaker, Damon Owens will be presenting a talk about the same topic at St Francis Church on 27th Street, Bend, tonight at 7pm. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Saint Faustina Kowalska

St Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938)

Saint Faustina was born Helena Kowalska in a small village west of Lodz, Poland on August 25, 1905. She was the third of ten children. When she was almost twenty, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, whose members devote themselves to the care and education of troubled young women. The following year she received her religious habit and was given the name Sister Maria Faustina, to which she added, "of the Most Blessed Sacrament", as was permitted by her congregation's custom. In the 1930's, Sister Faustina received from the Lord a message of mercy that she was told to spread throughout the world. She was asked to become the apostle and secretary of God's mercy, a model of how to be merciful to others, and an instrument for reemphasizing God's plan of mercy for the world. It was not a glamorous prospect.
Her entire life, in imitation of Christ's, was to be a sacrifice - a life lived for others. At the Divine Lord's request, she willingly offered her personal sufferings in union with Him to atone for the sins of others; in her daily life she was to become a doer of mercy, bringing joy and peace to others, and by writing about God's mercy, she was to encourage others to trust in Him and thus prepare the world for His coming again. Her special devotion to Mary Immaculate and to the sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation gave her the strength to bear all her sufferings as an offering to God on behalf of the Church and those in special need, especially great sinners and the dying.
She wrote and suffered in secret, with only her spiritual director and some of her superiors aware that anything special was taking place in her life. After her death from tuberculosis in 1938, even her closest associates were amazed as they began to discover what great sufferings and deep mystical experiences had been given to this Sister of theirs, who had always been so cheerful and humble. She had taken deeply into her heart, God's gospel command to "be merciful even as your heavenly Father is merciful" as well as her confessor's directive that she should act in such a way that everyone who came in contact with her would go away joyful. The message of mercy that Sister Faustina received is now being spread throughout the world; her diary, Divine Mercy in my Soul, has become the handbook for devotion to the Divine Mercy.

St Francis of Assisi

Probably one of the most beloved and well-known Saints, even among non-Catholics, and presently my  parish Saint here in Bend, Oregon, St Francis became affectionately known as the patron saint of animals. And in his honor, we bless our dogs, our cats, our lizards, horses, as well as giraffes and armadillos every year. He became one of the Church's most efficient reformers and started by reforming himself. The son of a cloth-merchant, one day he stripped naked in the local piazza and gave his father everything he had, including the clothes he was wearing. Instead he put on him a simple robe and gathered around him a few other men (among them St Anthony) and thus started the Franciscan order.

The catalyst for this move came after a vision he had at the church of San Damiano, when Jesus spoke to him through the famous colorful cross and asked him to go and rebuild his church. This meant literally and figuratively, because he did fix the dilapidated church, but also founded an order which is still going very strong around the world, 800 years after its foundation.
Later in his life, St Francis received the stigmata, the wounds of Christ and also inspired St Clare to start the female counterpart of the Franciscan Order, the Poor Clares. He was also known to have created the first nativity during the Christmas midnight Mass, taking the image of the baby Jesus down to the crypt, where he had already placed a donkey and cow and a manger with straw.

To many of us, St Francis may seem out of touch with reality, rather than a profound philosopher. But that's exactly the kind of people the church needs even today, down-to-earth workers, with a good scale of values and who know where their priorities are. Francis lived a short life, born in 1181 and dying in 1226, but in his short life, he started a revolution of love, compassion, charitable work and encouraged everyone for a life of poverty, a lifestyle that all the Franciscans around the word still imitate.

Food Fest 2015

The 2nd annual International Food Fest will take place today at the Community center at St Francis Parish Church, and a variety of dishes from around the world will be offered today starting at 5 PM. The poster below shows the countries represented, and besides Malta, India and Africa (the 3 countries that represent our priests and sisters working in our parish,) there is also a sampling of food from Mexico, France, Italy, Greece, the Philippines and others.

 

Family visiting

Golden Gate in San Francisco, CA

I apologize for not being able to place any post over the past 5 days. My brother and his wife were visiting me and we also went together to San Francisco for 3 days. These few photos show some of the places we were able to visit. Obviously others will follow.

Bay Bridge with boat at sunset

A beautiful dome at City Hall, San Francisco

Our hearts go out to the victims of another school shooting, this time at Umpqua Community College  in nearby Roseberg, in our beloved state of Oregon, a suburb of 22,000 people.

A Creed to live by

A reflection of Mount Hood on Trillium Lake, Oregon

Do not undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others.
It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Do not set your goals by what other people deem important.
Only you know what is best for you.
Do not take for granted the things closest to your heart.
Cling to them as you would your life,
For without them, life is meaningless.
Do not let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past nor for the future.
By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.
Do not give up when you still have something to give.
Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
It is a fragile thread that binds us to each other.
Do not be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.
Do not shut love out of your life by saying it is impossible to find.
The quickest way to receive love is to give love;
The fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly;
In addition, the best way to keep love is to give it wings.
Do not dismiss your dreams. To be without dreams is to be without hope;
To be without hope is to be without purpose.
Do not run through life so fast that you forget not only where you have been,
but also where you are going.
Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.

PS: There may not be any posts over the next few days. since I may not have access to the Internet.

Healed and Whole

One day I dug a little hole and put my hurt inside.
I thought that I could just forget I’d put it there to hide.

But that little hurt began to grow – I covered it every day.
I couldn’t leave it and go on – it seemed the price I had to pay.

My joy was gone, my heart was sad, pain was all I knew.
My wounded soul enveloped me – loving seemed too hard to do.

One day, while standing by my hole, I cried to God above,
And said, “If you are really there – they say You’re a God of Love!”

And just like that – he was right there, and just put His arms around me,
He wiped my tears, His hurting child – there was no safer place to be.

I told him all about my hurt, I opened up my heart.
He listened to each and every word, to every sordid part.

I dug down deep and got my hurt, I brushed the dirt away –
And placed it in the Master’s hand and healing came that day.

He took the blackness of my soul, and set my spirit FREE !
Something beautiful began to grow where the hurt used to be.

And when I look at what has grown out of my tears and pain,
I remember every day to give my hurts to Him, and never bury them again.

The simplicity of Pope Francis

As Pope Francis visits the United States, these photos speak for themselves about what has been happening in the last few days. Pope Francis travels in a simple Fiat 500, a small car rather than a big limousine guarded by security guards. However police officers check everyone entering St Patrick's Cathedral, even the humble nuns of Mother Teresa. His thumbs up shows how he's feeling these past few days.

A huge 225 foot mural welcoming Pope Francis

Giving his message at St Patrick's Cathedral, NYC

 

St Junipero Serra

Yesterday Pope Francis canonized St Junipero Serra, better known for introducing the Catholic faith to the west coast of the USA. This is the official biography given by the Franciscan Order.

Born at Petra, Majorca, Spain, November 24, 1713, a son of Antonio Nadal Serra and Margarita Rosa Ferrer who spent their lives as farmers, Junípero Serra was baptized on the same day at St. Peter’s Church and was given the name Miguel José.
In Petra, Serra attended the primary school of the Franciscans. At 15-years-old, he was taken by his parents to Palma to be placed in the charge of a cathedral canon, and he began to assist at classes in philosophy held in the Franciscan monastery of San Francisco.
Serra was admitted as a novice at the Convento de Jesús outside the walls of Palma on September 14, 1730, and made his profession on September 15, the following year. He chose the name Junípero in memory of the brother companion of St. Francis. He studied philosophy and theology at the Convento de San Francisco. The date of his ordination to the priesthood is not known, though it probably occurred during the Ember Days of December 1738.  Serra obtained his doctorate in theology in 1742 from the Lullian University, Palma. He was called to the Scotistic chair of theology at the same university as primary professor in January 1749 to become an Indian missionary in America.

On April 13, 1749, with Francisco Palóu, Serra sailed for America. He landed in Vera Cruz, Mexico on December 7, 1749. Although horses were supplied for the friars, Serra elected to walk the 250 miles between Vera Cruz and Mexico City. They reached San Fernando College on January 1, 1750, spending the previous night at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

In less than six months, an urgent call came for volunteers for the Sierra Gorda missions. Serra was among the volunteers. During his apostolate in Sierra Gorda with the Pame Indians between 1750 and 1758, Serra not only oversaw construction of a church, which is still in use, but developed his mission in both religious and economic directions. Under his presidency of the missions (1751-1754), the missionaries of the other four towns also built mission churches. 
Serra learned the Otomí language and used a visual method of teaching religion. Zealous in preaching and in promoting both liturgical and popular devotions, he succeeded in bringing the Pame people to practice the faith in an exemplary way. Economically his mission prospered through the introduction of domestic animals, the fostering of agriculture, and the development of commerce. He also defended Indian rights against non-native settlers in a protracted contest over the valley of Tancama. During building operations on his church, he worked as an ordinary day laborer.
He was then assigned to the college of San Fernando, where he arrived September 26, 1758. There he was made choir director, master of novices from 1761 to 1764, college counselor from 1758 to 1761, and a confessor. As a home missionary Serra preached missions in Mexico City, Mezquital, Zimapan, Río Vero, Puebla and Oaxaca. In 1767, he was appointed president of the ex-Jesuit missions of Baja California.
He set out in mid-July and reached Loreto on April 1. Serra resided at the former Jesuit headquarters and assigned missionaries to the 15 missions between San José del Cabo in the south and Santa María in the north. Serra enthusiastically volunteered in 1768 to join expeditions to Upper California. On March 28, 1769, Serra left the mission at Loreto on mule-back, arriving at San Diego on July 1. En route, he founded his first mission at San Fernando de Velicatá on May 14. Serra kept a diary of his journey during which he suffered greatly from an infirmity in his legs and feet and had to be carried on a stretcher.
 

Serra devoted the next 15 years of his life to evangelical work in Upper California. During that period he founded nine missions: San Diego, July 16, 1769; San Carlos, Monterey-Carmel, June 3, 1770; San Antonio, July 14, 1771; San Gabriel, September 8, 1771; San Luis Obispo, September 1, 1772, San Francisco, October 9, 1776; San Juan Capistrano, November 1, 1776; Santa Clara, January 12, 1777; and San Buenaventura, March 31, 1782. He was present at the founding of Presidio Santa Barbara, April 12, 1782.
Serra remained at San Diego until April 14, 1770, when he embarked for Monterey. From June 3, 1770, until his death, he maintained his headquarters at Mission San Carlos. Serra died at Mission San Carlos, August 28, 1784, at the age of 70 and is buried in the floor of the sanctuary of the church he had built. By the end of 1784, Indian baptisms at the first nine missions reached the number 6,736, while 4,646 Christianized Indians were living in them.
Serra was small of stature, five feet two inches in height. He had a sonorous voice, swarthy skin, dark hair and eyes. Though it appears that he had a fundamentally robust constitution, he suffered a great deal during the latter part of his life. His first affliction was the swelling and painful itching of his feet and legs from mosquito bites which caused varicose ulcers. At times he could neither stand nor walk. After 1758 he began to suffer from asthma.

In character Serra was eager, optimistic, zealous, dynamic, even adamantine. Primarily a man of action, he preferred the active apostolate to the classroom or to writing. He remained a model religious despite his distractions and activity — a man of prayer and mortification. He had a consuming love for his American converts. He fought for the freedom of the Church against royal infringement. Serra was considered by some too aggressive, zealous, and demanding. Though he defended the Indians, he had a paternalistic view and believed in and practiced corporal punishment.
The cause for Serra’s beatification began in the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno in 1934, and the diocesan process was finished in 1949. On September 25, 1988 he was beatified by Pope John Paul II. Pope Francis canonized him on September 23, 2015 during a Mass in Washington, DC. Serra monuments and memorials dot his Camino Real from Majorca to California. He is the subject of several dozen biographies in various languages. His writings with translation have been published in four volumes by Rev. Antonine Tibesar, OFM. He is known as the Apostle of California. Serra International was established in his honor. His life and his mission system are studied in California schools.

Saint Pio of Pietralcina

St Pio of Pietralcina (1887-1968)

The beloved Pio of Pietralcina was known all over Italy because of his stigmata, which he had in his hands and feet for 50 years of his life. They mysteriously disappeared at the moment of death, but all through his life he suffered criticism, especially when the church authorities denied him saying public Mass and hearing confessions.  He also had the gift of bi-location and even predicted Pope St John Paul's appointment as a Pope when Karol Wojtyla went to confession to Padre Pio as a young teenager.

This is one of my favorite prayers by St Pio of Pietralcina, (1887-1968) whose liturgical feast we celebrate today:
My dear Jesus, release from my mind and heart
- any troubles from the past,
- any worries about the present,
- any anxieties about the future.
So that I can desire always, and in everything, just one thing
– TO GO AGAINST MYSELF IN FAVOR OF YOUR LOVE.
I entrust my reckless and troubled past to Your bountiful Mercy, o Lord. I also entrust to Your infinite Love my confused and undecided present. And I entrust to Your holy Providence my mysterious future. Amen.

A Lego Vatican

As Pope Francis arrives in the USA today, here's an interesting story about how interest in the Vatican and its prominent Number One resident is becoming more popular....
When Father Bob Simon was in 7th grade, he tried to build a replica of the Vatican out of red and blue Legos but it didn't look "anything like the real thing." Since his first attempt, he's "had it in his mind" that he would one day build a replica of the Vatican and St. Peter's Square. In September of 2014, he began building a replica ahead of Pope Francis' visit to Philadelphia.

Fr Bob Simon with his masterpiece

"It took about ten months," said Simon, 50, a pastor at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Moscow, Pennsylvania. "I was buying bricks [Legos] for about two years before I started." Simon said he used nearly half a million Legos to complete the replica, which is on display at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The replica features a mini figure of the pope waving to a crowd and an array of other figures from nuns with iPhones to robbers, characters with sombreros and Elvis.

"I wanted to show a lot of diversity," Simon said. "St. Peters Square is one of those places where people from all over the world come together." The piece, on display through February, will be shown alongside the 10,000 square foot Vatican Splendors display that opens at the Institute on Saturday. The replica and other Lego creations have brought "record crowds," this summer, according to Larry Dubinski, president & CEO of The Franklin Institute.

The Dollar Bill

Here are some things about the dollar bill that you may find interesting!
Take out a one dollar bill and look at it. The one dollar bill you're looking at first came off the presses in 1957 in its present design. This so-called paper money is in fact a cotton and linen blend, with red and blue minute silk fibers running through it. It's not paper money at all...its fabric money. We've all washed it without it falling apart. A special blend of ink is used, the contents we will never know. It is overprinted with symbols and then it is starched to make it water resistant and pressed to give it that nice crisp look.
If you look on the front of the bill, you will see the United States Treasury Seal. On the top you will see the scales for the balance - a balanced budget. In the center you have a carpenter's T-square, a tool used for an even cut. Underneath is the Key to the United States Treasury. 
That's all pretty easy to figure out, but what is on the back of that dollar bill is something we should all know. If you turn the bill over, you will see two circles. Both circles, together, comprise the Great Seal of the United States. The First Continental Congress requested  that Benjamin Franklin and a group of men come up with a Seal. It took them four years to accomplish this task and another two years to get it approved.
If you look at the left hand circle, you will see a Pyramid. Notice the face is lighted and the western side is dark. This country was just beginning. We had not begun to explore the West or decided what we could do for Western Civilization. The Pyramid is un-capped, again signifying that we were not even close to being finished. Inside the capstone you have the all-seeing eye, and ancient symbol for divinity. It was Franklin's belief that one man couldn't do it alone, but a group of men, with the help of God could do anything.
"IN GOD WE TRUST" is on this currency. The Latin above the pyramid, ANNUIT
COEPTIS, means "God has favored our undertaking." The Latin below the pyramid, NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM, means "a new order has begun."

Click to enlarge and see more details

At the base of the pyramid is the Roman Numeral for 1776. If you look at the right-hand circle, and check it carefully, you will learn that it is on every National Cemetery in the United States. It is also on the Parade of Flags Walkway at the Bushnell, Florida National Cemetery and is the centerpiece of most hero's monuments. Slightly modified, it is the seal of the President of the United States and it is always visible whenever he speaks, yet no  one knows what the symbols mean. The Bald Eagle was selected as a symbol for victory for two reasons: first, he is not afraid of a storm; he is strong and he is smart enough to soar above it. Secondly, he wears no material crown. We had just broken from the King of England. Also, notice the shield is unsupported. This country can now stand on its own.
At the top of that shield you have a white bar signifying congress, a unifying factor. We were coming together as one nation. In the Eagle's beak you will read, "E PLURIBUS UNUM", meaning "one nation from many people." Above the Eagle you have thirteen stars representing the thirteen original colonies, and any clouds of misunderstanding rolling away. Again, we were coming together as one. Notice what the Eagle holds in his talons. He holds an olive branch and arrows. This country wants peace, but we will never be afraid to fight to preserve peace. The Eagle always wants to face the olive branch, but in time of war, his gaze turns toward the arrows.
They say that the number 13 is an unlucky number. This is almost a worldwide belief. You will usually never see a room numbered 13, or any hotels or motels with a 13th floor. But think about this: 13 original colonies, 13 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 13 stripes on our flag, 13 steps on the Pyramid, 13 letters in the Latin above, 13 letters in "E Pluribus Unum", 13 stars above the Eagle, 13 plumes of feathers on each span of the Eagle's wing, 13 bars on that shield, 13 leaves on the olive branch, 13 fruits, and if you look closely, 13 arrows. And for minorities: the 13th Amendment.
Why didn't we know this? You probably don't know it and your children don't know it because no one ever felt it important enough to tell us about it. Too many veterans have given up too much to ever let that meaning fade. Many veterans remember coming home to an America that doesn't care. Too many veterans never came home at all.

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ
The Noblest One to know.....
The Wisest One to follow.....
The Truest One to trust.......
The Strongest One to build on.....
The Kindest One to imitate.......
The Humblest One to serve.....
The Highest One to love......

Saint Januarius

St. Januarius (Gennaro) is a patron saint of and former bishop of Naples in the 4th century. Januarius and his friends were initially sentenced to be eaten by the lions, .tigers, and bears ( Oh my) at the Naples amphitheatre. Although the beasts had been starved for several days before the day of the planned transformation of the Christians into animal crackers, the beasts refused to attack Januarius and his colleagues. The spectators at the amphitheatre were frightened by the indifference of the starving animals to the Christians and rumors began to circulate that the Christians had magical powers and were possibly protected by their god. The governor of Campania ordered their immediate beheading and Januarius' body was later returned to the Cathedral in Naples.
Over a century later, it was purported that a vial of St. Januarius' blood surfaced and was preserved and permanently fixed in the metal reliquary in the Cathedral of Naples. Thousands of people assemble to witness this event in the cathedral of Naples, three times a year: on September 19 (Saint Januarius day, to commemorate his martyrdom), on December 16 (to celebrate his patronage of both Naples and of the archdiocese), and on the Saturday before the first Sunday of May (to commemorate the reunification of his relics).

Pope Francis holding the liquefied reliquary

Sometimes the "blood" liquefies immediately, other times it takes hours.  When the priest brings the vial to the altar that holds the saint's blood, the people, who gather by the thousands, pray that the blood becomes liquid once again. If the miracle takes place, the officiant proclaims, "Il miracolo é fatto!" and waves a white handkerchief. Then a Te Deum is sung and the reliquary is taken to the altar rail so the faithful can kiss the vial.  The priest conducting the service chants "The miracle has happened." The choir and the congregation respond with a Te Deum, and prayers are offered to St. Januarius. There have been a few instances when the substance in the vial had not liquefied and the faithful believes that it is a sign of impending peril. Five times when liquefaction has failed there have been major disasters, the latest being an earthquake in southern Italy that killed 3,000 people in 1980.

The other side

When I was a little boy, my mother used to embroider a great deal. I would sit at her knee and look up from the floor and ask what she was doing. She informed me that she was embroidering. From the underside I watched her work within the boundaries of the little round hoop she held in her hand. I once complained to her that it sure looked messy from where I sat.
She smiled at me, looked down and gently said, "My son, you go about your playing for a while and when I am finished with my embroidering, I will put you on my knee and let you see it from my side."
I wondered why she was using some dark threads along with the bright ones and why they seemed so jumbled from my view. A few minutes passed and then I heard Mother's voice say, "Son, come and sit on my knee." This I did only to be surprised and I thrilled to see a beautiful flower. I could not believe it because from underneath it had looked so messy.
Then Mother said to me, "My son, from underneath it did look messy and jumbled, but you did not realize that there was a pre-drawn plan on the top. It was a design. I was only following it. Now look at it from my side and you will see what I was doing."

Many times through the years I have looked up to God and asked, "Father, what are You doing?" He has answered, "I am embroidering your life."
I say, "But it looks like a mess to me. It seems so jumbled. The threads seem so dark. Why can't they all be bright?"
The Father seems to tell me, "My child, you go about your business of doing My business, and one day I will bring you to Heaven and put you on My knee and you will see the plan from My side."

Saint Robert Bellarmine

Saint Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621)

Born at Montepulciano, Italy, October 4, 1542, St. Robert Bellarmine was the third of ten children. His mother, Cinzia Cervini, a niece of Pope Marcellus II, was dedicated to almsgiving, prayer, meditation, fasting, and mortification of the body.
Robert entered the newly formed Society of Jesus in 1560 and after his ordination went on to teach at Louvain (1570-1576) where he became famous for his Latin sermons. In 1576, he was appointed to the chair of controversial theology at the Roman College, becoming Rector in 1592; he went on to become Provincial of Naples in 1594 and Cardinal in 1598. This outstanding scholar and devoted servant of God defended the Apostolic See against the anti-clericals in Venice and against the political tenets of James I of England. He composed an exhaustive apologetic work against the prevailing heretics of his day. In the field of church-state relations, he was also very effective in a time of major upheaval all over Europe. Remember that these were the days of the Protestant Reformation, with various leaders starting their own religion, King Henry VIII and the Anglican/Episcopalian religion, Luther with Lutheranism, Calvin and Zwingli in central Europe, and others. And like other well-know priest saints of this era, Robert was able to defend the church with the likes of St Vincent de Paul, St Ignatius of Loyola, St Francis Xavier, St Julian Peter Eymard, St Francis De Sales, St John Baptist Vianney, St Charles Borromeo and many others.

Robert Bellarmine was the spiritual father of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a Jesuit novice, and also helped St. Francis de Sales obtain formal approval of the Visitation Order, the female order founded by St Jane Frances de Chantal. He has left us a host of important writings, including works of devotion and instruction, as well as controversy. He died in 1621 and was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930; the following year he was declared a Doctor of the Church. His remains, in a cardinal's red robes, are displayed behind glass under a side altar in the Church of Saint Ignatius, the chapel of the Roman College, next to the body of his student, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, as he himself had wished.

Life before the Computer

An application was for employment
A program was a TV show
A cursor used profanity
A keyboard was a piano!

Memory was something that you lost with age
A CD was a bank account
And if you had a 3 1/2 inch floppy
You hoped nobody found out!

Compress was something you did to garbage
Not something you did to a file
And if you unzipped anything in public
You'd be in jail for awhile!

Log on was adding wood to a fire
Hard drive was a long trip on the road
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived
And a backup happened to your commode!

A strange combination - a mixed marriage - a conflicting partnership.

Cut - you did with a pocket knife
Paste you did with glue
A web was a spider's home
And a virus was the flu! 

Remember the typewriter?
And reading a newspaper?
How life has changed for many,
Shifting from screen to paper!

I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper
And the memory in my head
I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash
But when it happens they wish they were dead!

Our Lady of Sorrows

Our Lady of Sorrows by Adriaen Isenbrant

The liturgical feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is celebrated a day after the feast of the Cross, and even though we are far from the Lenten season, the church asks us to reflect on the 7 sorrows that Mary experienced, as beautifully depicted in this image by Adriaen Isenbrant from the 16th century, a panel visible in Bruges, Belgium.
The 7 sorrows that Mary had to face were these, as described in each of the panels surrounding the image of the Sorrowful Mother:
1. Jesus’ presentation in the temple and His circumcision.
2. The escape into Egypt.
3. Jesus lost and found in the temple.
4. Seeing Jesus carrying the cross and meeting him on the way to Calvary.
5. The crucifixion of Jesus.
6. The Pieta, as the dead body of Jesus is laid on her lap.
7. The burial of Jesus.
 
The beautiful hymn Stabat Mater Dolorosa is sung frequently during Lent, especially during the Stations of the Cross. The first three words mean Stood the mournful Mother weeping, and the poem was written by Jacopone de Todi in the 13th century, and was set to music by various composers including  Palestrina, Pergolesi, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Haydn, Rossini, and Dvorák. Here are the first 2 verses:
 
At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to her Son to the last.

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
all His bitter anguish bearing,
now at length the sword has passed.

The Feast of the Cross

Today the church commemorates the day when St Helena found the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Being the mother of Emperor Constantine, who ended the persecutions in 313AD, Helena was determined to find the abandoned cross on which Jesus was crucified. The excavations actually found three crosses buried in Jerusalem close to Mount Calvary. To verify which was the actual cross of Christ, they asked a sick person to touch each cross.  When he touched the third one, the person was completely healed, and thereby they concluded which was Jesus's cross.

A painting of the finding of the cross of Jesus by St Helen

The Cross of Christ dominates our lives in many ways. So many of us start meetings, classes, trips and gatherings with the sign of the cross. Passing by a cemetery, you see hundreds of crosses lining up the entire area. If you’re in Arlington Cemetery in Washington DC, the crosses number in the thousands. This feast is also called the Finding of the Cross, or the Triumph of the Cross. We all have crosses to carry, but when we are given a cross, we are also given the strength to carry them through our lives.

Prayer for Police and Firefighters

Living God,
We pray for police, firefighters, ambulance drivers,
The frontline workers of our fraying society,
Dealing with panic and death.
Give them strength to bear the strain and still be human, just and fair.
God, we dare to thank you for the work of traffic wardens:
We know we can't do without them, for our cities would seize up.
Yet many of us love to hate them.
Keep it in their minds, we pray, that they are loved and appreciated.

God of power and might,
We pray for people who have great power,
Those in charge of police and fire services,
The armed forces, security organizations.
Let them use their power with humility and justice.
And when they feel vulnerable, lonely, they have life or death decisions to make,
Or everyone seems out to get them, and nobody is there to help them.
God, do not be far from them: Be close in you caring and love for them. Amen.

Snow Sculptures

As the temperature reaches in the 90s once again in Bend and Central Oregon, I share with you today three spectacular snow sculptures crafted in the town of Breckenridge, Colorado, with the hope that it will cool off some of the heat that has effected many countries this summer. With one week to go for the summer season to end, we hope our prayers for cooler temperatures will be answered - but this will happen in December and January for sure, when everyone will praying for warmth. But that's the way the world goes. Our prayers are always answered - 6 months later!