Lessons Learned from a Five Year Old

JB: Don't mow the grass tonight.
Me: Don't worry, I just mowed it yesterday. But why?
JB: Because I have a sunflower growing that I planted.
Me: Really?
JB: Yeah and I didn't even open the seed, but it came out anyway.

This conversation stuck with me all night even becoming the subject of a vivid dream where I was giving an unsuccessful talk and then I used this conversation as an illustration and it worked. Then at Mass yesterday:

I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.
Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything,
but only God, who causes the growth.
He who plants and he who waters are one,

Lesson: Plant the seed and don't mow down the results.

The Miracle Marlins

Two World Series...

Four No-hitters....

Twelve fans (including me)...


From The Chicago Sun-Times:

Anibal Sanchez stood behind the mound when the scoreboard caught his eye, confirming what he already knew: He was one out from a no-hitter.

He froze. For a couple of seconds, the Florida Marlins' rookie didn't move.

''I said, 'Wow. This hitter is the last one,''' Sanchez said.

Then he collected himself and, in this year of sensational rookies, finished the greatest performance yet.

Big News of the Day--Fashion at the Vatican

Not Katie Couric's performance on CBS evening news but this...




The Pope and his "hats"...this one is called a saturno after the Planet Saturn.

It actually reminds me of one of those little boy cowboy hats...I think the pectoral cross chain adds to that feel.

Around our house we call shadows "road people" given that they usually are seen on the surface of a parking lot we are walking across...here then is the road pope:



Attendees got a real show of style today as these Austrian women wear their finery for the audience:

Wednesday Catechesis-Philip the Apostle

"Come and See" "Show us the Father"

From Asia News Italy:

Benedict XVI started out from the gospel episode in which Philip exhorted the hesitant Nathaniel to get to know Jesus, telling him: “’Come and see!’ (Jn 1:46). In this reply, dry but clear, Philip shows the marks of a true witness: he is not content with making his announcement, rather he appeals directly to the interlocutor, suggesting that he himself undergoes the personal experience announced.” The pope continued: “We could imagine it is to us that Philip is addressing these two verbs, which presuppose a personal involvement. The apostle urges us to get to know Jesus close at hand. In effect, friendship requires closeness; in fact, it partly lives from this. Besides, we must not forget that, according to what Mark wrote, Jesus chose the Twelve with the primary scope that they should ‘be with him’; (Mk 3:14), that is, they should share his life and learn directly from him, not only his way of behaving but above all, who he was. Later, the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians would say that the important thing is to ‘learn Christ’ (4:20), that is, not only and not so much to listen to his teachings as much as to recognize him in person, his humanity and divinity, his mystery and his beauty. He is in fact not only a Teacher, but a Friend, no, a Brother. How could we get to know him deeply while keeping a distance? Intimacy, familiarity, habit lead us to discover the true identity of Jesus Christ. There: this is exactly what the apostle Philip is reminding us of.”

Benedict XVI then recalled the reply that Jesus gave to Philip when, during the Last Supper, he had asked him to show them the Father. ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? ... Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me’ (Jn 14:9-11). Jesus refers to himself thus, implying that it is possible to understand him not only through what he says, but even more simply through who he is. To express ourselves through the paradox of the Incarnation, we could well say that God gave himself a human face, that of Jesus, and consequently, from that moment on, if we really want to know the face of God, we need to do nothing else other than contemplate the face of Jesus!”

Feast of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

The Mother Teresa Center

The Mother Teresa Cause for Canonization

From the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal Site and Father Groeschel:

Today, although the world will hardly notice it, the Missionaries of Charity and their friends will be celebrating the new feast day of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. September 5th is the anniversary of her death, and at present is acknowledged as her feast day. What a beautiful commemoration. Father Andrew and I had the great privilege of offering Mass for Mother Teresa the day before she went back to India. We knew when we said goodbye to her that we would not see her again in this world.

It was one of the most remarkable and memorable events of my life. Mother Teresa was filled with joy and happiness and even laughter. She was telling us how many convents and how many sisters and Missionaries of Charity fathers and brothers there were. It was a simple direct rejoicing. Always before that I had noticed that Mother Teresa was quite somber. I always thought she was thinking of the troubles of the world. I found out later that her soul was in spiritual darkness for many years, which others did not know.

Please join the Missionaries of Charity and the Franciscans of the Renewal in commemorating the passing of this holy woman, who is not only a saint in my eyes, but a prophetess. She has so much to teach us now.

Tropical Depression #6 Forms in Atlantic

Could become named storm by the end of the day...Florence

From Yahoo News:

At 5 a.m. EDT, the sixth depression of the season had top sustained winds near 35 mph and was moving toward the northwest near 12 mph, forecasters said.

The depression would be named Florence if it reaches tropical storm strength with winds of at least 39 mph. Forecasters said it could become a tropical storm by Monday or Tuesday

House of Mary

Based on Anne Catherine Emerich's visions this house was found in the 1900's by Germans. It since has become a shrine to the Blessed Virgin that includes a small Moslem prayer area. I visited the shrine in 1979 (I lived in Turkey from 1978-1979) and at that time Italian religious were in charge and covered up two of the women in our group who were wearing shorts.
This house in the last week was threatened by fire, but the fire stoppped when it reached the house. Miracle of Mary’s House in Ephesus, spared from the flames
Of course the visions of Anne Catherine Emerich were the basis for Mel Gibson's screenplay The Passion (I've always wondered how many evagelical Christians realized that?).

From the New York Times:

Whether this spot in Turkey was ever Mary’s house is indeed a matter of some controversy. It wasn’t until the early 19th century that anyone in the Church had any notion that Mary had once lived near Ephesus, and even then the first reports of the house came from a dubious source: the feverish visions of a bedridden German nun named Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich.

During her illness, Clemens von Brentano, a Romantic poet, began a vigil at her bedside and transcribed her visions and sayings, including a vision of Mary’s house near Ephesus. His notebooks remained unpublished for more than half a century. When they were finally made public in the 1880’s, a French abbot, Father Julien Gouyet, read them and found Sister Emmerich’s vision so compelling that he traveled to Turkey soon after to see if he could find it. With the help of local villagers, he found a small stone house that fit the poet’s description, geographically and architecturally.

It wasn’t until 1950, however, that the Church proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption of Mary into heaven and that the house on Nightingale Hill became an official shrine for pilgrims, although there are still scholars who doubt that Mary ever lived there. Over the years, stories have circulated that water from the well on the site has healing powers. At the entrance to the house there is a place for pilgrims to leave their crutches behind.