Friday, August 30, 2002

Joseph Dubruiel

This is a continuation of the 73 Steps to Spiritual Communion with God. The previous posts are found in the archives. This is step #70:



(70) To love the younger.



Benedict's advice to love the junior monk is a counsel that may not mean as much to us in a culture that prizes youth. There was a real danger in a culture where wisdom and age are seen as equal to see youth as foolish and of little significance.



Of course in the Gospel Jesus had told his disciples that "out of the mouths of babes" comes wisdom. The Christian realizes that there is a wisdom that comes not from years and reflection but directly from God.



The idealism of youth often carries with it a wisdom that can be lost with age. The high ideals that we both strive for and expect from others when we are young can grow into disillusion and cynicism with age. Having youth around whether at home, in the work place or in the church can greatly enhance our lives.



What is lost on modern man is this exclusion of youth from its midst. Modern people do not love "youth" meaning "others" as much as they love the idea of '"youth" for themselves.



There are many applications to this counsel for non monks. We should welcome children into our lives. We should see them as having much to offer in helping us to understand the ways of God in this life.



It should also be added that the abuse of children shows why this counsel is so important. If we see children as precious beings who must be protected and cared for, i.e. truly loved, then we will stand up and defend them whenever they come under attack from those who would use their innocence to use them sexually or damage their young souls in any way.

Thursday, August 29, 2002

The Truth About Father Mychal Judge, O.F.M.



A September 11th Hijacking: How 'Gay' Activists Smeared Father Mychal Judge



The Truth About Father Mike

The truth is that Father Mychal F. Judge, O.F.M., was a wonderful Catholic priest. Father Mike saw Christ in everyone. He ministered to everyone with a smile, a prayer and the love of Jesus Christ in his heart. Father Mike was tireless in living a life as a Priest modeled after St. Francis of Assisi. Although homosexual activists have hijacked this truth, I know that, from heaven, Father Mike would want you to know the truth about him. He would also want you to pray for those who bear false witness. Most of all, Father Mike would care not that you remember him, but that you remember and live the Prayer of St. Francis.

Wednesday, August 28, 2002

Today is the Feast of St. Augustine



From the Office of Readings:



O eternal Truth, true Love, and beloved Eternity, you are my God, and for you I sigh day and night. As I first began to know you, you lifted me up and showed me that, while that which I might see exists indeed, I was not yet capable of seeing it. Your rays beamed intensely on me, beating back my feeble gaze, and I trembled with love and dread. I knew myself to be far away from you in a region of unlikeness, and I seemed to hear your voice from on high: “I am the food of the mature: grow, then, and you shall eat me. You will not change me into yourself like bodily food; but you will be changed into me”.



Accordingly I looked for a way to gain the strength I needed to enjoy you, but I did not find it until I embraced the mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who is also God, supreme over all things and blessed for ever. He called out, proclaiming I am the Way and Truth and the Life, nor had I known him as the food which, though I was not yet strong enough to eat it, he had mingled with our flesh, for the Word became flesh so that your Wisdom, through whom you created all things, might become for us the milk adapted to our infancy.

Tuesday, August 27, 2002

This is a continuation of the 73 Steps to Spiritual Communion with God. The previous posts are found in the archives. This is step # 69:



(69) To honor the aged.




Life that has been lived long has acquired wisdom that can not be learned in books. The idealism of youth often finds quick solutions to problems that the person with wisdom will merely smile at. They have seen it all and have grown to appreciate what is of the utmost importance and what is trivial in a way that those of us who are still learning have not.



There is nothing more valuable in a culture than those who have been around for a long time and can provide this perspective to life. I was blessed to live near my grandparents and to enjoy their wisdom as I was growing up. There is a perspective to life that they can give that younger parents can not.



Benedict's counsel encourages us to honor the gift of life that has been bestowed upon our elders; to hold them in high esteem, to seek their counsel. To learn from them when we disagree with them.



Our culture unfortunately has not followed this counsel of late. We present youth as the ideal. Older people are made to feel that their time is past. This is a tragedy and the lasting effects are yet to manifest themselves in our culture.



Honoring anyone is a sign that we recognize the value that they possess not only to us but also to all. Honor the older people you encounter today. Take time to say hello, take time to learn from them. Allow yourself to receive their blessing.

This reminds me of a Mother Teresa story



From The Sun Newspaper Online:



The sickening champagne and caviar lifestyle being enjoyed by Earth Summit delegates was exposed yesterday.



They are gorging on mountains of lobster, oysters and fillet steak at the Johannesburg conference — aimed at ending FAMINE.




Mother Teresa was supposed to speak at such an event but upon her arrival at the convention hall she found a starving man near the entrance. She took him home and fed him. She ended up never speaking at the event.

Monday, August 26, 2002

What's a couple of hours?



Fisherman Reels In Human Head



A Fort Pierce man out fishing with his son and a friend made a gruesome discovery in the waters of the Atlantic: a human head.

Paul Trabulsy found the dismembered body part about 22 miles east of Fort Pierce Inlet.



The men used a gaff to fish the head out of the water and placed it in a garbage bag. Then they kept right on fishing.



"We didn't want to come in right away, so we just put it in a bag in a bucket. It'd been out there awhile. What's a couple of hours?" Trabulsy said.


Friday, August 23, 2002

Top Five NASCAR crashes of all time



The one that is on the news today ranks second. The worst ever according to McGee is the Craftsman Truck accident of Geoff Bodine at Daytona.



FOXSports.com | McGEE: Totally NASCAR's top five crashes