The Duke and Duchess of Keller

The Duke and Duchess Of Keller

The reason for this entry was initiated by my grandson, Ben, who early this week sent me an email to tell me he liked Duke and Duchess. Some 14 years ago we got Duke. He is a timid usually quite dog unless he suspects someone is invading his domain. That means barking loudly if someone strolls past our house. And his throne is at the top the stairs where he can view his "vast" dukedom. ( you should really hear the two in concert at the arrival of guests!) Duchess is only two years old and is most energetic. These two are friends and companions, yet individually they are very different. Duke really is shy. He deliberately walks away and HIDES if he thinks he will get his picture taken. He will not look at anyone with a camera. Duchess, on the other hand, will even pose for pictures.

Duke has aways, unless he was treeing a squirrel when he was younger, been content to stay indoors. Duchess finds mole and rabbit hunting, or running laps (she can turn on a dime) preferable to the quiet life.

In either case, they fun to have around. Duchess can entertain herself by playing ball alone. It is comical and yet she does so enjoy it. Duke has not lost his knack of sitting quietly next to your chair at the kitchen table waiting for his leftover dinner treat, though he doesn't seem to find any fun in his running laps any more. It seems arthritis has become his other companion.

I guess I can see in these two friends how life changes and we can grow in who we are by what they have to teach us in their aging...Lord knows I can identify with the changes.

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Thanks be to God!

Always I Am Guided by the Spirit

Photo by Elisa Mary Pamelia, 2006

Yesterday I read in the blog Poetry, Prayer, and Praise a wonderful prayer for the souls in purgatory by St. Gertrude. To my surprise, this morning I opened my book of meditation for Pope John Paul II to find this . Today is the feast of "St. Gertrude, the Theologian of the Sacred Heart" and so if you will allow I will send this to you for reflection.

I wish you abundant heavenly favors in your commitment to preparing yourselves for the tasks awaiting you in life and accomplishment of good. . .a propitious occasion for living the Christian life intensely and opening the doors of your hearts to Christ.

I would particularly remind you of the great German mystic St. Gertrude (1256-1301). . .and she has rightly been described as 'the theologian of the Sacred Heart.' It is important indeed to know the personalities and spiritualities of our saints so as to be able to imitate them in the life of grace and testimony and to call upon them at moments of bewilderment and of temptation.

As St. Gertrude often recommended. I exhort you also to have always total trust in Jesus, or Redeemer and Friend, so as to be good. . .and worthy of esteem, making yourselves and those who love you happy.

I impart my blessing to all from my heart.

16 November 1983 from Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II

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And to this I say, "Thanks be to God."

Cleaning house...

As I cleaned out some folders today I came upon one of my favorite analogies. And so I share it with you. Perhaps you've already ready it, perhaps not. Whatever the case it never hurts to have a little "guidance" along the way.

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Thanks be to GOD!

Living the Mysteries

As I was listening to the Gospel reading at Mass this morning (Luke 20:27-38) I began to consider how the early Church Fathers would have approached the topic of the resurrection of our bodies as they taught the neophyte, the newly Baptized. When our Lord was, as Scott Hahn puts it, given the riddle of the seven brothers and childless widow Dr. Hahn says "...God's Law wasn't given to ensure the raising up of descendants to earthly fathers. The Law was given, as Jesus explains, to make us worthy to be 'children of God'--sons and daughters born of His Resurrection. "

The following is a sermon by St. Leo the Great called Pilgrims on Earth.

Introduction: St. Leo urges us to see heaven as our true home and to live here as if we were just passing through. These are the marching orders that mystagogy gives us. We are to live in the afterglow of the Ascension and in anticipation of Jesus' coming. We proclaim in every Mass: 'Christ will come again!' and He comes to us again, in every Mass!" (Scott Hahn and Mike Aquilina)

And so, dearly beloved, let's rejoice with spiritual joy, and let's gladly give God the thanks He is due. Let us freely raise the eyes of our hearts to those heights where Christ is. Hearts that have heard the call to be lifted up must not be held down by earthly desires. Those who are made for things eternal must not be occupied with the things that perish. Those who have begun the way of truth must not become entangled in the snares of falsehood. The faithful must make their way through these temporal things, keeping in mind that they are pilgrims in the valley of the world; and, even though they find some attraction along the way, they must not sinfully embrace them. but bravely pass them by. . .

Let's resist this deadly evil and 'aim at charity' (see 1 Cor 14:1, CCD). . . By this path of love, Christ came down to us; by it, we too, may ascend to Him. And to Him, with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Living the Mysteries
by Scott Hahn and Mike Aquilina

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And so it is that we, too, must travel the road of the neophyte. For which one of us can truly say, "I have nothing more to learn. I have all the insights. I need no more instruction." It certainly is not me. And now I see that my trek "home" is just as our Lord told the Sadducees. "They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise." (Luke 20:36)

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Thanks be to God! Amen!!

The Traveler is Home

Do you member my remark about the neolithic-looking meteorites? Sure you do... Well, Ron's home from his great adventure and has brought home some beautiful works of celestial art.

I guess from what he tells me these are rare finds and the joy is seeing what is on the inside not what is on the outside. And the privilege of the first to see the handiwork is also awe-inspiring.

This meteorite, though not apparent in this photo has what is called "an inclusion" or void in the middle. This is a picture he took of the outer edge of it.

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A "slice" of another meteorite has complex geometric designs. When etched and polished I am assured it will be an even grander work of art.

And whose art might that be? I think that is easy...I only have to go back to Genesis chapter one for that answer.

All glory and praise to God who makes all things.

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Thanks be to God.