Dear Readers,
I was away for a week and then catch up, so this is a long time from the last Blog.
I was away for a week and then catch up, so this is a long time from the last Blog.
Lots of various things to ruminate about:
A visitor who had not been to Arkansas where I now live was upset to see Confederate flags. Someone said, well just because someone was for the South in the Civil War doesn’t mean that he/she is for slavery of blacks!
A visitor who had not been to Arkansas where I now live was upset to see Confederate flags. Someone said, well just because someone was for the South in the Civil War doesn’t mean that he/she is for slavery of blacks!
An analogy occurred to me about this. We deplore that Jews in some places in Europe used to be subjected to looting and worse on Good Friday by Catholics who thought – the Jews killed Jesus, so we should take revenge.
Even though the issues are different I think the principle of blaming members of a group for something done centuries ago by some members of their group for terrible reasons,
is awful in itself.
is awful in itself.
On my present living situation with my wonderful granddaughter and family, because Sean is a convert and Jen a revert they are big into penance for their sins of the past. (See the booklet by Sean Hurt in the series of goodbooksmedia here, to check out their spectacular story.)
My little joke is that whenever I am asking for a pesky favor I say “Heh, Jen or Sean, I have a cool penance for you to do!”
Heh, Arkansas feels like such a safe place that being in the boarding area for a small flight on a small plane of Southern Airways with only 5 passengers awaiting boarding, they all were so friendly I felt safe leaving my purse on the seat while sallying over to the Ladies’ Room.
The talks I gave were at a conference run by the Marianist Brothers in Long Island, New York – they have a Jr. High and High School which has 2,700 young people all getting Magisterial teaching! I told them I thought their name should be changed from Kellenberg High to “The Gates of Hell will not Prevail School.”
What a sign of hope.
I had the same feeling seeing again Holy Apostles College and Seminary where I taught last for 8 years! It is full of Vietnamese seminarians, priests, and Sisters. I was visiting just to see old friends from the past, but at the end of my little visit I asked to speak for 3 minutes at the end of Evening prayer.
Here is what I said:
I am the daughter of Communist parents who left the party when they saw how evil it was. How could I ever think that one day I could be teaching Vietnamese victims of Communism! Now Communists tell people that the Church is evil with rich priests and poor lay people. I became a Catholic at 21 and I think that we don’t think of the Church as belonging to the priests – we see it as our heavenly living room with Father priests who lay down their lives to give us our heavenly bread.
Thank you, Fr. Mosey, for your vision and your heart!”
A lovely little “miracle.” I was so tired after the 12 hour trip with a 4 hour lay over in the middle to get from Hartford back to Hot Springs, Arkansas, I was feeling like “death warmed over.” I happened to look out a big picture window in the airport at Dallas and there was the same sun phenomena that I saw at Medjugorje where the sun seems to turn into a huge Eucharistic host and throb with purple clouds around it. Sometimes I see this here in the US. Sometimes others see it also, but usually they don’t. So I asked a young man what he saw out the window with the sun and he didn’t see anything, so I think that Mary wanted to cheer me up!
What a sign of hope.
I had the same feeling seeing again Holy Apostles College and Seminary where I taught last for 8 years! It is full of Vietnamese seminarians, priests, and Sisters. I was visiting just to see old friends from the past, but at the end of my little visit I asked to speak for 3 minutes at the end of Evening prayer.
Here is what I said:
I am the daughter of Communist parents who left the party when they saw how evil it was. How could I ever think that one day I could be teaching Vietnamese victims of Communism! Now Communists tell people that the Church is evil with rich priests and poor lay people. I became a Catholic at 21 and I think that we don’t think of the Church as belonging to the priests – we see it as our heavenly living room with Father priests who lay down their lives to give us our heavenly bread.
Thank you, Fr. Mosey, for your vision and your heart!”
A lovely little “miracle.” I was so tired after the 12 hour trip with a 4 hour lay over in the middle to get from Hartford back to Hot Springs, Arkansas, I was feeling like “death warmed over.” I happened to look out a big picture window in the airport at Dallas and there was the same sun phenomena that I saw at Medjugorje where the sun seems to turn into a huge Eucharistic host and throb with purple clouds around it. Sometimes I see this here in the US. Sometimes others see it also, but usually they don’t. So I asked a young man what he saw out the window with the sun and he didn’t see anything, so I think that Mary wanted to cheer me up!
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