The many shades of green from the Master's palette.
~~~^j^~~~
Thanks be to God!
Thanks be to God!
An occasional bit of wit 'n' wisdom as gleaned from the wise and learned. Family fun and times to share.
"Your neighbors are the channel
through which your virtues are tested
and come to birth...just as those
who are evil give birth to all their vices
through their neighbors."Catherine, born in 1347, was 23rd child (a twin) of Jacopo and Lapa Benicasa of siena. When she came of age, her parents wanted her to marry but she insisted that she was betrothed to Christ. In anger, her parents insisted that she act as a servant to the rest of the family. Finally, her father relented and she was allowed to follow her mystic calling. She did not become a nun but joined the Third Order of St Dominic.
Catherine is famous for her Dialogues (written accounts of her revelations from God) and her Letters which initially gave spiritual instruction and encouragement, but gradually began to deal with public matters. Many of her letters were directed to popes, kings and othe public leaders.
These were the days of the Avignon Papacy, when the pope and his staff had moved from Rome to sourthern France. Catherine not only wrote to Pope Gregory XI, respectfully chiding him for leaving Rome, but in 1376 (she was 29 years old) visited him in Avignon and did the same.
Catherine died on this date in 1380 at the age of 33. In 1970, Pope Paul VI declared her a doctor of the Church.The Little White Book
This was just soooo much fun. We went to see it last night and had a grand time. It was entertaining and I was awed by the realism. Thank you, Neil. Grandpa and Grandma were glad you came to stay, because we got to see this movie.
When Erma Bombeck graduated from high school in 1944, she was determined to go to college and become a successful writer. She enrolled at Ohio University, but her future as a writer seemed bleak. Articles for the college newspaper were rejected, and she struggled to pass freshman composition. Discouraged, she enrolled at the University of Dayton.
Brother Tom Price, faculty advisor for the university magazine, invited here to do some humor pieces. Erma gave it a try and one day Brother Tom turned to her and said three key words which changed her live: "You can write."
Upon her 1940 graduation. Erma got a job at the Dayton Journal-Herald where she launched the career that would make her famous. Her column, based on her experience as a wife and mother, eventually spread to 900 newspapers.
While at the University of Dayton, Erma converted to Catholicism.The Little White Book
Baby Talk
by Father William M. Joensen
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;
there are different forms of service, but the same Lord; there are
different workings but the same God who produces all of them
in everyone.
[1Cor 12: 4-6]Good babysitters and daycare personnel come at a premium these days. There is something gifted about the person who can overcome the sadness and fear experienced when mom or dad drops a child off and steps away. Part of the task is to redirect the child's attention to something colorful, curious,entertaining in that moment--some partial good that can distract the child from his or her own sadness, the awareness of the absent good. There is something charismatic about the manner of a worthy babysitter, the creativity of a devoted daycare provider. Who they are is not a diversion, a surrogate, but a participation in--a reference to--the love and presence of the parent. Trust and peace are engendered not simply in the learned awareness that mom or dad will return at the end of the day; rather, because the caretaker allows the longing for reunion to be a source of expectation, hope, and joy.
The Spirit is no surrogate, but the alter ego for Christ's activity of mutual service, secure belonging, and enduring presence. The Spirit does not level difference into an uninflected monotone, but parses and punctuates gifts for the good of everyone who is to produce and partake in the varied activity of Spirit.
The one who seek to fill himself first ends up only being full of oneself. In contrast, our primary work is to be an ongoing refraction of the Spirit's sufficiency. We communicate the tenderness of God who is always present as parent, lover, friend. We realize that no one is meant to be more that a heartbeat away from the cadence of God's compassion, the embrace of mercy. Child of God care is the consecrated service produced in everyone generated by god--the God whose sameness is not something profane, but the point of departure for diverse gifts to be expressed.Spirit of the living God, your presence wells up in me as I will to witness on your behalf. Endow me with strength; counsel me with creativity and insight; grace my gestures and speech with your gentleness and love. do not abandon me, but draw me ceaselessly into the company of the Father and the son, the same God now and always.