St. Martin de Porres

                             
St. Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru on December 9, 1579. He was the illegitimate son to a Spanish gentleman and a freed slave from Panama. At a young age, Martin's father abandoned him, his mother, and his younger sister, leaving Martin to grow up in deep poverty. After spending just two years in primary school, Martin was placed with a barber/surgeon where he would learn to cut hair and the medical arts. As Martin grew older, he experienced a great deal of ridicule for being of mixed-race. In Peru, by law, all descendants of African or Indians were not allowed to become full members of religious orders. But Martin, who spent long hours in prayer, asked to be accepted as a volunteer who performed the most menial tasks in the monastery. In return, he would be allowed to wear the habit and live within the religious community. When Martin was 15, he asked for admission into the Dominican Convent of the Rosary in Lima and was received as a servant boy helping the poor. During his time in the Convent, Martin took on his old trades of barbering and healing. He also worked in the kitchen, did laundry, and cleaned. After eight more years, he was granted the privilege to take his vows as a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic. Still, Martin was called horrible names and mocked for being illegitimate and descending from slaves. Martin was assigned to the infirmary where he would remain in charge until his death. He carefully and patiently took care of the sick people, regardless of race or wealth. It is said he had many extraordinary abilities, including bilocation, instant cures, and an excellent relationship with animals. He would feed little mice who came into the kitchen. Martin also founded an orphanage for abandoned children and slaves and is known for raising dowry for young girls in short amounts of time. During an epidemic in Lima, many of the friars in the Convent of the Rosary became very ill and were locked away in a distant section of the convent. However, on more than one occasion, Martin passed through the locked doors to care for the sick, thinking that charity is more important than obedience. In 1639 when Martin was 60-years-old, he became very ill with chills, fevers, and tremors causing him agonizing pain. He would experience almost a year full of illness until he passed away on November 3, 1639. By the time he died, he was widely known and accepted. Talks of his miracles in medicine and caring for the sick were everywhere. 25 years after his death, his body was exhumed and exhaled a splendid fragrance and he was still intact. St. Martin de Porres was beatified by Pope Gregory XVI on October 29, 1837, and canonized by Pope John XXIII on May 6, 1962.  He has become the patron saint of people of mixed race, innkeepers, barbers, public health workers, and more.

Our Loved Ones

                        
The commemoration of All Souls is being observed today around the world, as people visit cemeteries to pay respect to their loved ones, place some flowers, light a candle, and say a prayer. There is a beautiful analogy of death which puts into perspective our departure from this earth. Imagine a large ship with sails leaving port, and as it sails away from you, you see it drifting away from you, getting smaller and smaller, until it appears like a tiny dot on the horizon. Then we say ‘There, – it’s gone!’ But gone only from our limited perspective, because on the other side of the horizon there is a group of people at another harbor waiting for her to arrive, and they see her as a tiny dot at first, then getting bigger and bigger, with its massive sails triumphantly in the wind. And as it reaches its destination, the people there greet her happily and rejoice in the reunion. Our death is similar to that ocean scene. Those whom we lose are gone only from our midst, but there are a great number of other people who will greet them into heaven and rejoice in their re-union with a big celebration. Our ancestors will joyfully welcome them to their new home with Jesus, Mary, and all the saints. "For those whom we love and lose are no longer where they were before, but they are now wherever we are, in our hearts, in our minds, in our souls." Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and may the perpetual light shine upon them. May our loved ones rest in peace.

All Saints – New Saints

As we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints today, I thought of sharing with you a short list of new saints about whom we may not know much. In my daily Masses, I always like to highlight the lives of our saints, which reminds me of a young girl in a former parish who had an excellent description of saints. When I asked them ‘who are the saints?’ she thought of the stained-glass windows we had in our church and the light shining through them, and her response was perfect: ‘a saint is one through whom the light of God shines through....’ Yes, the Light of God shines through these saints who have done something very ordinary, but in an extraordinary way.

Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin – the parents of St Therese of Lisieux, besides three other girls, who were also, Carmelite sisters.

St Josephine Bakhita – a Sudanese girl who was sold as a slave, ending up as a nanny in Italy and became a nun, beloved by everyone who knew her.

St. George Preca – the first official Maltese saint who started a program of teaching catechism to young boys and girls and young people, a program called MUSEUM.

St. Junipero Serra – a Franciscan monk who started the missions in California, thereby bringing the faith to the west coast of the USA, establishing various Missions all along the California coast.

St. John XXIII – the Pope who convened the Vatican Council II, and changed the way we celebrate Mass.

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity – a discalced Carmelite nun who was a mystic and spiritual writer, besides being an accomplished pianist.

St. Jose Sanchez del Rio – a young Mexican Cristero who was martyred for not renouncing his faith during the Mexican revolution of the 1920s.

St. Antonio Primaldo – along with 812 residents of Otranto, in Southern Italy, who resisted the cruel Ottoman Empire in 1480 and were martyred for their faith.

St. Gianna Beretta Molla – she gave her life for her unborn daughter, instead of doing an abortion to save her own life for a cure for cancer.

The Cherokee Indian

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of passage? His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him, and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience because each lad must come into manhood on his own. The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man! Finally, after a horrific night, the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on another stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm. 

We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, our Heavenly Father is watching over us, sitting on the stump (or bench) beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.  
Moral of the Story: Just because you can't see God, doesn't mean He is not there.

The Mango Tree

                      
There was a king who wanted to discourage his four sons from making rash judgments.  At his command, the eldest son made a winter journey to see a mango tree across the valley.  When spring came, the next oldest was sent on the same journey. Summer followed, and the king sent his third son.  After the youngest made his visit to the mango tree in the autumn, the king called them together and asked each son to describe the tree. The first son said it looked like an ugly, old stump.  The second disagreed, describing it as lovely - large and green.  The third son declared its blossoms were as beautiful as roses. The fourth son said that they were all wrong.  To him, it was a tree filled with fruit - luscious, juicy fruit, like pears.  

"Well, each of you is right," the old king said. Seeing the puzzled look in their eyes, the king went on to explain. "You see, each of you saw the mango tree in a different season; thus you all correctly described what you saw.  The lesson," said the king, "is to withhold your judgment until you have seen the tree in all its seasons." Like the mango tree, our lives go through seasons.  Some life-seasons seem barren and unfruitful.  During these times of unproductiveness and obscurity, we may be tempted to judge our lives as failures.  Family and job responsibilities may frustrate us from reaching career and education goals.  But we must withhold judgment until we have passed through all of life's seasons.  All four seasons of a tree are necessary.  The lonely months of winter prepare it for the fruitfulness of summer.  So do not lose heart. The season of fruitfulness will come to us just as it comes to the tree. The Scripture says, "To every thing there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to reap; ... a time to gain and a time to lose (Ecclesiastes 3:1,6)

The 8 L’s of parenting

                    
LOVE your family and tell them. Spend time hugging, listening, and affirming. When you give your attention, it should be undivided.

LOOK for opportunities to find the good in your family and make comments about the good traits in the other parent and your children.

LISTEN to your children when they need to express their thoughts and feelings and model expressing your thoughts in an appropriate manner.

LAUGH with your children. A sense of humor goes a long way in dealing with the issues of life. Play together, each day is a gift you only get once.

LABOR diligently and with pride in what you do and expect the same of your children.

LEARN, learn, and learn. A good motto is, “Every day the thing to do is learn something new”. Have good books, periodicals, and information in your home. Read to your children, and for yourself, and instill a love of learning in them.

LEAVE TV and other media off. Have conversation and play be the noise in your homes, interact with one another.

LIVE life to its fullest. Take pleasure in the little things, ice-cream, the sunshine, the enthusiasm of your little ones, and the innocence of their sleep. Have candlelight family suppers – even if it is a hamburger. Sing even if you do not carry a tune, remember to encourage dreams and be thankful.

Use these 8 L’s of parenting as a guide to remember what is important in life and how you can express Love with your children every day!

The Treasures in You

                

There are treasures in life, but owners are few
Of money and power to buy things brand new.

Yet you can be wealthy and feel regal too,
If you will just look for the treasures in you.

These treasures in life are not hard to find
When you look in your heart, your soul, and your mind.

For when you are willing to share what's within,
Your fervent search for riches will end.

The joy and the laughter, the smile that you bring;
The heart unafraid to love and to sing;

The hand always willing to help those in need;
Ones quick to reach out, to labor and feed.

So thank you for sharing these great gifts inside;
The caring, the cheering, the hug when one cried.

Thanks for the energy, encouragement too,
And thank you for sharing the treasures in you.

History Photo

                     

I share with you today a historic photo which you may call very anachronistic and impossible to see in real life. It is of course a painting of various known people placed together in a scene that spans over 2000 years, maybe even more. You have to enlarge it as much as possible to see each person, but I’m sure you’ll be able to spot some of these characters in no particular order. They include heroes as well as villains, great leaders as well as characters we all would like to forget. Enlarge and see how many can you find.....among them, you can surely spot:

Beethoven, Mozart, Dante, Pele, Einstein, Hitler, Charlie Chaplin, Vladimir Putin, Stalin, Lenin, Bill Clinton, Saddam Hussein, Winston Churchill, Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln, Mao Tze Tung, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Prince Charles, Michael Jordan, Salvador Dali, Queen Elizabeth, Moses, Shirley Temple, Mother Teresa, Karl Marx, Elvis Presley, Audrey Hepburn, Eisenhower, Bill Gates, Bruce Lee, Charles DeGaul, Picasso, Napoleon, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Maggie Thatcher, Yasser Arafat, Ferdinand Marcos, Mussolini, Pavarotti, Gandhi, Mike Tyson, and many others which I could not recognize.

A new Maltese Cardinal

It is an honor to announce that we have a new Maltese Cardinal, announced yesterday by Pope Francis. He will be the third Cardinal of the Maltese Islands throughout history. Mons. Mario Grech has been appointed as the Secretary to the Synod of Bishops, starting his role in August, and he was listed as one of 13 new Cardinals which Pope Francis will install in a consistory on November 28th.  He was born February 20, 1957, in Qala, Gozo, but grew up in Kerċem. He studied at the Seminary in Gozo and was ordained on May 22, 1984. After his ordination, he went to Rome to study further Canon Law at the Lateran University, and receiving the doctorate at the St Thomas Aquinas University. He helped in various Diocesan roles, and was also for a short while the parish priest of Kerċem, until he was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Gozo, being consecrated on January 22, 2006. All through his episcopacy, he showed strong allegiance to the Catholic teaching of the church, defending various issues that were under attack. He showed great pastoral care towards his flock, and was known for his sermons and love of vocations. On October 2, 2019, he was appointed Pro-Secretary of the Synod for Bishops, and became officially the Synod Secretary in August 2020. The first Maltese Cardinal was Mons. Fabrizio Sceberras Testaferrata (1757-1843) and the second one was Mons. Prospero Grech, OSA (24 December 1925 – 30 December 2019.) Mons Mario Grech’s parents are still alive and live in their home at Kerċem, Gozo. Ad Multos Annos, your Eminence.

All you need is Love

Today’s Gospel reading is truly the essence of Christianity and our whole existence – to love one another and love our God, who created us. Love means sacrifice. Jesus gave us the greatest act of love when He died for us on the cross. And many still imitate Him, in stories we never read in our newspapers and websites.

Love is what Lenny Skutnik did in January 1982 when he jumped into the frozen waters of the Potomac River in Washington DC to save various people from a plane that had crashed in the river.

Love is what St Maximilian Kolbe did in a concentration camp in Auschwitz in 1944 when he offered his life instead of another family man.

Love is what thousands of people do with their blood donations, as well as organ donors, so that other people can live with a new heart, a kidney, a lung, a cornea, or a simple pint of blood.

Love is what Sonny Melton did in Las Vegas, when he heard the shooting and covered his wife Heather with his body, dying in the process while she survived.

Love is what one of my former parishioners, Jessica Ellis, 20 years old, when in 2008 became a paramedic to help the US soldiers in Iraq, and ended up being killed by the enemy, when she could have stayed in the luxury of her home with her family.

Love is what journalists like Daphne Caruana Galizia, the murdered Maltese journalist showed when she gave her life when she tried to reveal irregularities and heinous actions of some criminals and culprits.

Yes, love is possible – but let us start with the small simple things, those we see as insignificant – and as the Beatles used to tell us “All we need is LOVE!” True, authentic, sincere, and reciprocal. LOVE.

Prayer of Consecration to Mary

                        
Most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, you are the fairest fruit of God’s redeeming love; you sing of the Father’s mercy and accompany us with a mother’s love. In this time of pandemic, we come to you, our sign of sure hope and comfort. Today we renew the act of consecration and entrustment carried out by those who have gone before us. With the love of a Mother and Handmaid, embrace our nation which we entrust and consecrate once again to you, together with ourselves and our families. In a special way, we commend to you those particularly in need of your maternal care.

Mary, Health of the Sick, sign of health, of healing, and of divine hope for the sick, we entrust to you all who are infected with the coronavirus.

Mary, Mother of Consolation, who console with a mother’s love all who turn to you, we entrust to you all those who have lost loved ones in the pandemic.

Mary, Help of Christians, who come to our rescue in every trial, we entrust to your loving protection all caregivers.

Mary, Queen and Mother of Mercy, who embrace all those who call upon your help in their distress, we entrust to you all who are suffering in any way from the pandemic.

Mary, Seat of Wisdom, who was so wonderfully filled with the light of truth, we entrust to you all who are working to find a cure to this pandemic.

Mary, Mother of Good Counsel, who gave yourself wholeheartedly to God’s plan for the renewing of all things in Christ, we entrust to you all leaders and policymakers.

Accept with the benevolence of a Mother the act of consecration that we make today with confidence, and help us to be your Son’s instruments for the healing and salvation of our country and the world. Mary, Mother of the Church, you are enthroned as queen at your Son’s right hand: we ask your intercession for the needs of our country, that every desire for good may be blessed and strengthened, that faith may be revived and nourished, hope sustained and enlightened, charity awakened and animated; guide us, we pray, along the path of holiness. Mary our Mother, bring everyone under your protection and entrust everyone to your beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Ferrari and Lamborghini

These are the names of two famous cars that cost thousands of dollars and euros. Two brand names that place Italy as one of the best countries in the world of car-racing and Formula One. But one would not be around if it weren’t for the other. Not because of help, motivation, or assistance, as one would expect, but because of sheer jealousy and competition. The Ferrari was developed by Enzo Ferrari in 1947, although he had started the Scuderia Ferrari racing cars in 1929. Now Ferruccio Lamborghini was very talented, and even though his family was famous for their vineyards, he was not interested to help with wines. On the other hand, during World War II, he served in the Air Force, and soon after the end of the war, he started to change old military machines into agricultural tractors. He was also interested in racing cars, and one day, while observing a Ferrari car, he noticed some difficulties with their clutch and noticed they made a lot of noise when they were driven. So one day in 1962, he asked if he could meet Enzo Ferrari to point out to him these issues. Lamborghini praised the Ferrari cars but hinted at the problems he noticed. An incensed Ferrari responded angrily“The clutch is not the problem. The problem is you don’t know how to drive a Ferrari and you break the clutch.” So he told Ferruccio to mind his own business and keep working on tractors, as he was good-for-nothing! Ferruccio Lamborghini was not offended, though deeply hurt by the jealous remark of Enzo Ferrari. And he decided to start working on creating his own sports car, and in spite of many ups and downs he encountered, he was able to build the empire of the Lamborghini cars which now are as popular as the Ferraris. And so, if Enzo Ferrari was not offended by Lamborghini’s courteous and humble correction, nowadays we would not have any Lamborghinis, but only Ferraris. Ferruccio met a challenge with courage and created a car that is just as beautiful as any other sports car.

St John Paul II

Certainly the Man of the 20th century, Pope Saint John Paul II was born Karol Wojtyla on May 18th, 1920 in Poland and became the first non-Italian Pope in almost 400 years. Also known as John Paul the Great, he reigned from October 16th, 1978 until his death on April 2nd, 2005. He was the second longest-serving Pope in modern history after Pope Pius IX who served for nearly 32 years from 1846 to 1878. As a young boy, he lost his mother at the age of 8 and his father when he was 21. He even had to work at a limestone quarry, but then started his studies at the underground seminary run by Cardinal Sapieha in Krakow. He was ordained a priest on November 1, 1946, and after further studies, he ended up teaching at the Jagiellonian University. He was made a bishop on July 4, 1958, and later became Archbishop of Krakow on June 26, 1967. He remained very staunch to his faith in Poland, even when he became a Cardinal 3 years later. His election as Pope was a big surprise as Pope John Paul I died suddenly after 33 days, and the trend was to elect Italian Popes, but the white smoke showed that a new Pope was chosen on October 16, 1978, aged 58, relatively young for a Pope.

Seen here with Card Jorge Bergoglio, the future Pope Francis

At the balcony, he waved to the thousands gathered in the Piazza and said “the cardinals have called for a new bishop of Rome. They called him from a faraway land — far and yet always close because of our communion in faith and Christian traditions. I was afraid to accept that responsibility, yet I do so in a spirit of obedience to the Lord and total faithfulness to Mary, our Most Holy Mother.” John Paul II is recognized as helping to end Communist rule in his native Poland and eventually all of Eastern Europe. John Paul II significantly improved the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Community. He upheld the Church's teachings against artificial contraception and the ordination of women, supported the Church's Second Vatican Council and its reform, and generally held firm to orthodox Catholic stances.

He was one of the most traveled world leaders in history, visiting 129 countries during his pontificate. As part of his special emphasis on the universal call to holiness, he beatified 1,340 people and canonized 483 saints, more than the combined tally of his predecessors during the preceding five centuries. He was very much devoted to the Blessed Mother, well respected in his native Poland, especially with the famous Black Madonna, and he even chose his motto as Totus Tuus, “Totally Yours,” even with the letter M on his coat-of-arms. John Paul II's cause for canonization commenced in 2005 one month after his death with the traditional five-year waiting period waived. His successor Pope Benedict XVI beatified him on May 1st, 2011 after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints attributed one miracle to him, the healing of a French nun from Parkinson's disease. A second miracle, attributed to the late Pope, was approved and confirmed by Pope Francis two days later. John Paul II was canonized on 27 April 2014, alongside Pope St John XXIII.

The Billionaires

                       

I’ve been reading the encyclical ‘Fratelli Tutti’ by Pope Francis, and there is so much to digest in it. As a whole, it indicates the way to build a better, more just, and peaceful world, with the contribution of all. A few days after signing it, the Pope spoke to the representatives of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (Cash Bank of Deposits and Loans) where he said that the economic impact of the coronavirus requires a generous and ethical response on the part of governments, policy and decision-makers, and businesses. The emphasis is on Governments to ensure that economic wealth is fairly distributed. Last week it was reported that the world’s few billionaires increased their wealth by 27 % at the height of the coronavirus between April and July, while many millions of people around the world lost their income and managed to get by only thanks to government schemes. The wealth of a billionaire is such that even if one were to live for the next 1000 years, it would be impossible to spend it all. It is therefore unacceptable from a moral perspective that the few continue to accumulate their riches while the many lose even the little they have. Let us pray that no more people will suffer, both in their health as well as their financial stability.

Procrastination? – No Way !

There is one word that does not show up in my personal dictionary. That is definitely ‘procrastination.’ Being late for something is a big mortal sin for me. On the other hand, I am obsessed with being on time, and finishing a project on time. Don’t call me obsessive or a punctuality freak. It’s just that I always like to be on time and help those who ask me for any assistance, right away. Of course, such a person expects everyone to be on time, and any procrastinator in his vicinity tends to irritate him. But I assure you that I’m not that extreme type of a person, but I respect and appreciate punctuality and promptness. I like to check my watch with Big Ben of the BBC, especially when starting Mass. If anyone asks me for an article, you are assured that you have it within 24 hours. If anyone asks me for a reference letter, you are guaranteed to have it in your in-box within a few hours. I am pretty fast in responding to e-mails, and honestly get annoyed when friends do not reciprocate, but I show patience because I understand they may be busy with other priorities. When I place my post in my blog, I do my utmost that it will be soon after 9:01 am, Malta time, so that in the USA (on the west coast), it will show the same date, since they are 9 hours after us. And anyone who asks me for a photo or some kind of reference about a book, a religion question, or other information, I go right away to the source and have it ready within a few hours. I am not saying I am perfect, but where punctuality and respect are concerned, I do my very best to oblige with consideration, politeness, and simple courtesy.

The Pumpkin Prayer

Dear Jesus, as I carve my pumpkin, help me pray this prayer:

Open my mind so I can learn about You (cut the top of the pumpkin)

Take all my sins away and forgive the wrong that I do (clean out the inside, yucky stuff means serious sins, every seed means every “No” we said)

Open my eyes so that I can see Your love for me (carve two hearts for the two eyes)

I’m sorry for the times I’ve turned up my nose at what you’ve given to me.
(cut a nose in the shape of a cross)

Open my ears so Your word I will hear. (cut ears shaped like a Bible – square)

Open my mouth to tell others You’re near. (cut the mouth in the shape of a fish)

Let your light shine in all I say and do. AMEN (Place a candle inside and light it)

Ask God to fill you up so He can shine brightly through you. Share your faith with your friends and neighbors as you tell them about your special pumpkin. 

Motivation

Jane Goodall is well-known for her interest in chimpanzees, having spent decades living with them and studying their behavior. She tells the story of how she started in her interest in wildlife and the life of chimps. As a young child, she used to bring in her bed earthworms and earth with bugs of all kinds. Instead of scolding her, her patient mother gently told her to take the earthworms and bugs back to their natural habitat where they can continue living. As a four-year-old she once spent four hours in a henhouse, waiting silently to see where the egg comes out. Her family searched all over for her and even called the police. She finally came out of the henhouse beaming with joy and excitement, and they all had to sit down and listen to Jane explain excitedly the wonder of that moment when the egg fell to the ground from the chicken’s behind. Jane Goodall would spend 60 years of her life living at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, for her studies about the social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees.  She claims that in 1900 there were an estimated 1 million chimpanzees living in the world. Today there are about 340,000. As a child, as an alternative to a teddy bear, Goodall's father gave her a stuffed chimpanzee named Jubilee. Goodall has said her fondness for this figure started her early love of animals, commenting, "My mother's friends were horrified by this toy, thinking it would frighten me and give me nightmares." On the contrary, it opened up for her a fascinating world of study and intense observation as a primatologist and anthropologist. Today, Jubilee still sits on Goodall's dresser in London. 

Gothic sculpture

                        
One of the most impressive styles of architecture is Gothic. We marvel when we see those tall spires, arched hallways, flying buttresses, the incorporated glass windows, and the intricate sculpture at the doors and other strategic places in the facade of the building. I have seen quite a few of them in England especially, and I love particularly the series of saints sculpted at the main entrance to the Gothic Cathedral. This particular photo was taken somewhere in England, most probably in London. It features a few prelates or saints, mostly of British descent, like St. Edward the Confessor, St. Thomas More, St. John Fisher,  St. Augustine of Canterbury and others. One can admire the craftsmanship in carving these elaborate statues, and the detail in their vestments and clothing. This is a feature that is found in many churches as the people enter through the main door, being welcomed by saints and prelates who have lived holy lives in the past centuries.

So long Sugar!

Just like the donkey that carried the Blessed Mother to Bethlehem, and the  horse Bucephalus that carried Alexander the Great, as well as the 4 white stallion horses that carried Ben Hur on his famous chariot race against Messala, the horse that once carried me, is no more. Named Sugar, the mare was 30 years old, and she was 15 when I rode her at the Clark’s Quarterhorse Ranch, owned by  Jim and Colleen Clark of Mount Vernon, Oregon. Sugar was of course very gentle, as she was chosen from among around 100 horses they owned back in 2005, to carry me for a brief stroll on their property. 

As her owners told me, "It's always sad to lose a beloved animal, whether it is a horse, a dog, or a cat.  She had a good life here roaming around on the pasture and hillside. Now she’s in horse Heaven along with so many others that we have lost." The day I rode her I was given a grey hat, since the one that I had bought was black. I figured it will match my black outfit, but my parishioners started to laugh when I showed them my new cowboy hat one day during Mass. I asked them why they were laughing, and the collective response was ‘only the bad guys wear black hats!’ There and then I decided to start learning about cowboys and horses and ranches. And I ended up with 13 years of classical equine and ranching education, which I cherish to this very day. 

St Teresa of Avila

'St Teresa' by Manuel Farrugia in St Teresa church, Cospicua, Malta

A great Carmelite mystic and nun, today we celebrate the feast of St Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church, author of Way of Perfection, Interior Castle, and Meditations on the Canticle. A great reformer of the Carmelite Order, she was born in 1515 and died in 1582. This is a famous quote of this great saint:

May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received,
and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones,
and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.

Christ has no body now but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which He looks Compassion on this world.
Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good.
Yours are the hands with which He blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands; Yours are the feet.
Yours are the eyes; You are His body.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away: God never changes.
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.