Washington Nationals Champions

Today I’d like to congratulate the baseball team from Washington DC, the Nationals for winning the World Series for the first time in over 70 years. It was one of the most exciting series with each team winning all the games away from home. There goes the theory of having an advantage when playing at home. Unfortunately. I have no way of following baseball games live from Malta, but the best I could do was following it online, with just the calls of balls and strikes as well as base hits and home runs. And that’s what I did early this morning, between 3 AM and 5 AM, following the exciting finish of game 7 from my IPad, seeing the Nationals come from behind once again to beat the Houston Astros 6-2. My American friends know how passionate I am about baseball, and having given the blessing and invocation to the New York Mets in 1986, they eventually won the World Series that year. Of course not wanting to get all the credit, they had a great team that year, but everything I had prayed for, came to happen during that glorious season when they beat the Boston Red Sox, also coming from behind as the Nationals did this year. They were known as the Montreal Expos before the moved to Washington DC in 2005. The other Washington based team was the Washington Senators winning the World Series in 1925 and 1933. So hail to the Nationals who will celebrate with a huge ticker-tape parade on Saturday, and most probably an audience with President Trump.

Nails in the fence

There once was a little boy who had a very bad temper. His father decided to hand him a bag of nails and said that every time the boy lost his temper, he had to hammer a nail into the fence. On the first day, the boy hammered 37 nails into that fence. The boy gradually began to control his temper over the next few weeks, and the number of nails he was hammering into the fence slowly decreased. He discovered it was easier to control his temper than to hammer those nails into the fence. Finally, the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father the news and the father suggested that the boy should now pull out a nail every day he kept his temper under control. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. “you have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there.”

Moral of the story: Control your anger, and don’t say things to people in the heat of the moment, that you may later regret. Some things in life, you are unable to take back.

Julian the horse

It has been my target over the years to encourage parents to name their children Julian. I’ve been successful a few times in New York, besides having my nephew also named Julian, now a doctor. But when I went to Oregon, it was very difficult to convince parents to name their child Julian, also because we had fewer baptisms in my parishes. However, a few people were kind to me in naming some animals Julian or Juliana. One girl named her goat Juliana, and another boy named his piglet Julian. Then there was the Clark family who had a large number of beautiful quarterhorses, and in May 2005 named one of the newly born foals Julian. The above photo shows him just a few days after being born, and the other photo shows him just recently at the age of 14. I was told he’s one of their best-behaved horses.

A NYC masterpiece

One of the seven wonders of New York City for me has always been the reredos of St Thomas’ Episcopalian church on 5th Avenue. I used to stop by when I visited the city to just admire this masterpiece, the massive sculpture behind the main altar. The High Altar and Reredos of Saint Thomas Church were designed by architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue (1869–1924) and sculptor Lee Lawrie (1877–1963.)  The church was consecrated on 25 April 1916. The church design by Cram and Goodhue won an architectural competition to build the new Saint Thomas Church, winning over entries by George Post and Robert Gibson. Lee Lawrie designed many sculptures and decorations, most notably the 60 figures of the magnificent reredos, which is 80 feet (24 m) high, a stunning architectural display. Among the figures represented one can easily find George Washington, the first US President.

Praying in humility

Pope John Paul II praying alone at Rabat church, Malta, May 1990.

The parable of the Pharisee and the publican we read in today’s gospel at Mass reminds me of a historic moment that happened in 1990, right here in Malta. Jesus reprimands the Pharisee for praying to just show off, and praises the publican who prays in utmost humility and in private, in the back of the church. And this reminds me of what happened 29 years ago in May 1990, when Pope John Paul was visiting Malta. He had just arrived at the church in Rabat, and he had various commitments earlier, besides a few speeches he had to make, and undoubtedly he was tired. Thousands of people were waiting for him outside for another speech, but when he entered the church it was empty and sat down in one of the pews towards the back. And he stayed there for quite a while, praying alone,  himself and the Lord in the tabernacle. Indirectly he wanted to give a message to those who planned his itinerary and schedule. Yes, there were thousands of people waiting for him in the sun outside, but his priority was to talk with the Lord, in all humility, not on a comfortable chair draped in tapestry, or polished in gold, but on the same pew where Censa and Marinton sit, where Cikku and Peppi follow Mass daily. Pope St John Paul gave us all a lesson that day, in how we should pray, alone with the Lord, in humility.

The cocoon and the butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Until it suddenly stopped making any progress and looked like it was stuck. So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily, although it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man didn’t think anything of it and sat there waiting for the wings to enlarge to support the butterfly. But that didn’t happen. The butterfly spent the rest of its life unable to fly, crawling around with tiny wings and a swollen body. Despite the kind heart of the man, he didn’t understand that the restricting cocoon and the struggle needed by the butterfly to get itself through the small opening; were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings. To prepare itself for flying once it was out of the cocoon.

Moral of the story: Our struggles in life develop our strengths. Without struggles, we never grow and never get stronger, so it’s important for us to tackle challenges on our own, and not be relying on help from others.

The joy of saying Mass

Ever since I’ve been saying Mass at my chapel at Hilltop Gardens, I have not seen one empty pew, as the chapel is always packed with people. We’ve been having some minor confrontations as people can’t find a place, a situation which I try to resolve quickly. It is a blessing seeing the chapel filled with parishioners and residents of the retirement home. Since I preach at every daily Mass, people are used to staying longer, about 30 minutes for each daily Mass. I even say a special prayer after communion, related to the theme of the Mass, and of course, I play background music before Mass starts and during communion. I also try to coordinate alternate readers, so that everyone is involved in the beauty of the Mass. There was however one instance when a resident complained to me about the length of my Mass. She, of course, does not attend Mass, except for maybe Christmas and Easter, but when I go to give her communion in her room, she once told me...”Father Julian, your Masses are too long......where I used to go, we were in and out in 10 minutes!” Now I know that 10 minutes is an exaggeration, but her point was trying to justify her absence. Now understand that this is a person who is always sitting on a chair, looking at a blank wall, or watching TV. It’s such a shame when people cannot comprehend the blessings of attending Mass, and when they do, it’s an ‘in-and-out’ routine that becomes a habit and nothing else. I admire those people who come early, others stay to pray after Mass, and still, others stop by at the chapel during the day for private prayer. And I hope that priest who can celebrate Mass in 10 minutes or so, slows down so that people can appreciate more the benefits of what he is celebrating.

The Elephant Rope

A gentleman was walking through an elephant camp, and he spotted that the elephants weren’t being kept in cages or held by the use of chains. All that was holding them back from escaping the camp, was a small piece of rope tied to one of their legs. As the man gazed upon the elephants, he was completely confused as to why the elephants didn’t just use their strength to break the rope and escape the camp. They could easily have done so, but instead, they didn’t try to at all. Curious and wanting to know the answer, he asked a trainer nearby why the elephants were just standing there and never tried to escape. The trainer replied; “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.” The only reason that the elephants weren’t breaking free and escaping from the camp was that over time they adopted the belief that it just wasn’t possible.

Moral of the story: No matter how much the world tries to hold you back, always continue with the belief that what you want to achieve is possible. Believing you can become successful is the most important step in actually achieving it.

PS: A recent visitor to this blog enjoyed the post and biography of Pope John Paull II. He also asked for information about St George Preca, the Maltese saint canonized in 2007. Since I don't have an e-mail address of the person requesting this, one can find the biography of St George Preca in the entry of May 9, 2019, his liturgical feast-day. Or simply type 'St George Preca' in the 'Search this Blog' window at the very top on the right.

St John Capistrano

This lesser-known saint died precisely on October 23, 1456, at a time when the Catholic church was threatened by schisms and attacks from the Ottoman Empire of Turkey. St John Capistrano was canonized in 1630 and is quite popular in the USA, where one of the California missions is dedicated to him, and a popular tradition says that various sparrows return back to Capistrano on his feast-day.

John Capistrano was born in the village of Capistrano, close to Aquila in central Italy, from parents who most probably emigrated to Italy from a Scandinavian country. He studied law in Perugia and became Governor in 1412. He was caught and taken a prisoner when Malatesta di Rimini who attacked Perugia. But at that time, he had a vision of St Francis of Assisi encouraging him to become a Franciscan monk. That’s what he did and professed in 1418. His master was St Bernardine of Siena, and after his ordination to the priesthood in 1425, he dedicated his life to preaching in the Franciscan spirit.

He was asked by Pope Martin V to intervene between some Franciscans known as Fraticelli and later took part in the Council of Florence. Then he was sent as an Apostolic Nuncio to Sicily, and later as a papal legate to France. He also took part in many of the crusades, preaching in Germany, Austria, Poland and Hungary, and often his sermons were against the Turkish Empire. After they conquered Constantinople, the Turks attacked a fortress in Belgrade, but with the prayers and hard work of St John Capistrano, they could not conquer it. He died at the age of 70, and left behind 70 volumes of his writings, besides over 700 letters, through which he consoled and comforted many people.

Pope St John Paul II

We celebrate today the liturgical feast of the ‘Man of the 20th century,’ Pope Saint John Paul II. He 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. 

'Habemus Papam' -  John Paul II on October 16, 1978.

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 Europe. John Paul II significantly improved the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. 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 in general held firm to orthodox Catholic teaching.

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.

Anyone seen God?

A young boy once went to ask his older sister: “Hey sis, did anyone ever seen God?” She brushed him off by saying “Of course not, God lives so far away, somewhere up there, that no one can ever see Him!” The boy was left disappointed by did not give up. He went to ask his mother the same question and she kindly told him “My son, God is a spirit. He is in our hearts, but we cannot see Him in person.” The little boy was somewhat consoled by this, but the same question kept coming to his head. He was close to his grandfather, and once grandpa took the boy with him fishing. The sea was still, the sun was setting, the sky had turned from deep blue to orange and yellow. As they sat in the boat with hardly a ripple on the sea, the grandfather had forgotten the fishing rod and the fish jumping around him and stood up to admire the beauty around him. The boy was amazed at his grandpa’s face as it was lit up with an astonishingly bright light, reflecting the setting sun. At that moment the boy remembered that question and asked his grandpa, “Hey grandpa, have you ever seen God?” Grandpa did not move, but after a long silence, he uttered ever so softly, “My little boy, right now I am seeing nothing but God himself!”

Sister Dulce, now a Saint.

Last Sunday, 5 new saints were canonized, and among them was  the first Brazilian-born female saint, Maria Rita Lopes Pontes, known to Catholics around Brazil as Sister Dulce who is known as the Brazilian Mother Teresa.  Dulce means ‘sweet.’ Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho disclosed, through social networks, that he donated more than $244,000 to Sister Dulce Social Works. In a recent interview, Coelho said he regularly helps the entity named for a nun, who was there in his hour of need. “I was begging in Bahia, I had run away from home, and she fed me,” he said.

Born in 1914 in the northeastern state of Bahia, Sister Dulce is revered for having given up the comforts that come with being brought up in a middle-class family to devote herself to the homeless and the sick. She was a member of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. She founded the first Catholic workers’ organization in the state of Bahia, but she is best known for her work with the sick and disabled. Catholics said it was common to see Sister Dulce in Bahia’s capital, Salvador, dressed in her blue and white habit, with her hand outstretched, asking for “help for my poor.” With donations, the religious opened a hospital, an orphanage and care centers for the elderly and disabled. One of the most popular religious figures in Brazil, she is still seen today by many as “the mother of the poor.” In 1988, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. St. John Paul II, who called her work “an example for humanity,” met her in 1980 during his first trip to Brazil and, returning in 1991, he visited her in the hospital. She died in 1992 at the age of 77, with tens of thousands attending her funeral and even more gathering for her beatification in 2011. Sister Dulce is the second Brazilian religious to be canonized. The first Brazilian-born saint to be canonized was Friar Galvao in May 2007, by then-Pope Benedict XVI.

2016-2019 – A Toyota Vitz

Ever since I started my role as chaplain at Hilltop Gardens in May 2016, they started to pick me up every day from home, but then they realized it would be better if they leased a car for me, and drive myself back and forth.  That’s how I ended up with a Toyota Vitz to use for my daily trip. This past year I’ve been using it only twice a week, between Sunday and Tuesday as I stay on campus the rest of the week. But being unfamiliar with Maltese roads, and being nervous driving in front of a shiny red sports car who wants to go at 60 miles an hour, after my last birthday, I decided to stop driving and use public transportation, with which I am very familiar and find pretty convenient. It was only a 5-mile trip jostling through busy bumper to bumper traffic, in our Maltese crowded streets. But I never really got attached to the Toyota Vitz, and never felt it as my own, as the other 4 have been. The 4 US cars were all like brothers and sisters to me, but this one was like a long distant third cousin. So there were no hard feelings when I had to say goodbye. Besides now I enjoy walking much more, putting on three miles a day, sometimes more, which of course, is good exercise. But looking back at my 37 year driving career, I have great memories, and miss the most driving to my Mission churches in Eastern Oregon, taking my time, and with my camera close by to shoot any wildlife scenes and animals, which were abundantly common, from bald eagles to chipmunks, from deer to wild rabbit, from suicidal squirrels to groundhogs. I always described my camera as the wife I never had, always in my passenger seat and always hanging around my neck. And always quite and silent. 

2008-2016 – My Chevy Equinox

Next to the Baker City Cathedral, where I spent 8 years.

This was my last car I had in the USA between Baker City and Bend in Oregon. It was very hard to part from it when I returned to Malta, as it was in pretty good shape and had great memories of some of my long trips which I started to do every year in early September. This way I was able to discover more of the northwest of the USA, from British Columbia to Northern California, from the Pacific Coast to Wyoming and Montana. I used to cover between 1,500 miles to over 2,000 within a 5-day trip, stopping a thousand times for photos. That was the real reason for my trips, to discover new territory and come back with lots of photos. I remember various trips, including one along the Oregon coast, one towards the Canadian Rockies, a range of mountains I could not see because it turned out to be a cloudy few days. I also headed east through the heart of Idaho, towards Yellowstone Park into Glacier National Park, reaching Missoula, and coming back through the scenic, desolate and meandering Lochsa River. I had only one disappointment through all my travels. I was given an unfair ticket in Pacific City on the Oregon coast.  The officer told me I had not slowed down at the zebra-crossing as a pedestrian wanted to cross. Well, I remember well that the person was a tourist just looking around and I did slow down as I was used to these crossings in my parish. I appealed the infraction and was given an online course on safety driving instead, and my license remained untarnished and unblemished. But all in all, the Equinox was an excellent car which I truly enjoyed. This was the only car that had a CD player instead of a cassette player, and so I always filled my car with plenty of CDs, especially on my long trips. The best music in the world was heard in that burgundy car, the same color as the Geo Metro. My last car tomorrow....

1998-2008 – My Honda CR-V

My first automatic car, the Honda CR-V was probably my favorite car, although I loved my next one too, which I had to part from in 2016 when I returned to Malta. It was the first time I also had to use studded tires when I eventually went to Oregon. Studded tires had to be used between November 1 and April 1, to help with driving in the snow and on packed ice. The tires had a series of tiny nails all around the rubber and it helped a lot with traction.  And believe me, I drove through a lot of snow and ice, but was always careful and cautious, especially in long distances, which were common for me. Every weekend for the first three years, I had to drive 150 miles to reach two mission churches, with only a handful of people in attendance. When I was in the Cathedral of Baker City, I had a 110-mile round-trip every weekend, and I missed only once in 8 years. It was Christmas Day, and the parishioners called me to tell me they had so much snow that they could not even get out of their homes. Of course, the Honda also made a solitary trip from New York to Oregon as I had to ship all my boxes in a container as well as the car on a trailer. It was so good to see her arrive safely, just a few days after my own arrival. But I truly enjoyed driving the Honda, with its jeep-like appearance, giving you a steady control on the road. I had only one sad event which turned out good. It was May 3, 2007. I was in Lakeview, close to the California border visiting some friends I had married a year earlier and was encouraged to drive up a mountain and come down the other side. It was a scenic drive and I had a feast with my camera as I was climbing up there. I was told there could be a little snow left at the peak. And sure enough I was stuck in the deep snow, very close to a precipice. Trying to restart my car was useless as it kept spinning and turning closer to the edge of the precipice. Digging some snow from around the wheels did not help either. My only option was to start walking down the mountain and hopefully ask for help. It was a 10-mile walk, thankfully all downhill, and the people I was staying with brought me back up to my car and pulled it out safely, no damage done. Incidentally, the place where I was stuck was between three peaks, called Razorback Ridge, Cougar Peak, and Grizzly Peak. Thank God I did not encounter any grizzly bears or cougars or even razorbacks. A young parishioner died in 2008, and she left me her car, a big jeep. So I traded my Honda and this jeep for another second-hand car, which was in mint condition. Tomorrow I’ll share my recollections of my last American car.

1993-1998 – My Geo Metro

My second car was a fun car to have when I was in my Rocky Point parish. Since I was doing much more traveling all over Long Island, and getting familiar with the many roads and expressways, I was encouraged to change my Japanese Tercel for an American car. I made sure that all my cars were hatchbacks, with a large space in the back so that I can place boxes and other stuff, especially if I had to move from parish to parish, which I did twice in 1996 and 1998. My favorite part of any car was the cassette or CD player. The first three had cassette players, which worked fine with me since I had a lot of cassettes, which I enjoyed listening to in my travels. I did not doubt the reliability of the Geo Metro, until I arrived in upstate New York, in Pleasant Valley. Someone in the parish asked me what kind of car I had and when I told him that it was a Geo Metro, he told me, “I’m sorry to tell you Father Julian, but my lawn-mower is more powerful than your car! You need something better up here, as we get much more snow than Long Island.” Within a few days, I was at the Poughkeepsie Honda dealer looking for a sturdier car and I was introduced to the Honda CR-V. I realized that it was a much stronger car, and since I would probably make many trips to visit my friends in former parishes, all on Long Island, its acronym was well suited for my needs, a CR-V, a Comfortable Run-around Vehicle. It turned out that the Geo Metro had three cylinders, while a lawn-mower has 4 cylinders! But what would a Maltese priest in New York know about car cylinders? More about my travels with the Honda tomorrow, as I traded my beloved Geo to a CR-V.

1982-1993 – My Toyota Tercel

My first car was a white Toyota Tercel, a stick-shift car which I loved and cherished as if it was my first baby. Just before my driver's test I attended two 2-hour classes on drivers' safety and there I received what will always be the best safety advice I ever heard of. It was the concept of ’periscope driving.’ The teacher taught us how to use the periscope mentality to predict what’s coming from your right and left, keep track of what’s going on behind you, through the rear-view mirror, and of course, keep your eyes in front. It’s a simple technique to be aware of what’s going on around you,  all the time. My first ever drive in my Toyota with my friend Fr John Heinlein was as historic as it was nerve-wracking, as he wanted me to experience expressway driving in the rain, and boy was it scary, driving in pounding rain on the Meadowbrook Parkway, late at night. I don’t ever remember so much rain in a span of 5 minutes, but it was a baptism of fire, let alone water. Then my first solo ride was also quite interesting as well as disappointing. It was a short ride to a local store and I parked the car where there were a lot of garbage cans on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, I did not see the fire-hydrant in their midst and within 3 minutes, I got a ticket for illegal parking (close to a fire hydrant.) I was pretty upset until I got back to the Rectory and my pastor Fr John calmed me down and convinced me it was just a minor infraction which everybody gets once in a while. It would take another 30 years for me to get my second and only other ticket in my stellar driving career. More on that on another day. 

But all in all my Toyota Tercel gave me a lot of driving pleasure, as I remember driving 60 miles at a stretch for the first time ever, from New Hyde Park to Riverhead on Long Island. My biggest trips were for upstate New York, and even into Canada through the Adirondack’s.  Looking back I realize how brave I was to drive through the bizarre neighborhoods of Queens and Brooklyn, over the Verrazzano Bridge, all over Long Island, and over many bridges to head upstate New York, where traffic was much less hectic, and the scenery spectacular, especially between October and November, with the colorful foliage that is so prevalent at this time of the year. Stay tuned for my second car tomorrow.

My 5 cars

With our reliable jeep on which I learned how to drive.

I did something good to help the environment. With global warming and all the talk about the future of our world with pollution menacing our survival, I decided to give up driving. After driving close to a million miles in the USA, both in New York and Oregon, as well as neighboring states, my driver's license expired on my birthday and I finally decided to stop driving. Here in Malta I had a small car which I used simply to drive from my home at St. Julian’s to Hilltop Gardens at Naxxar, twice a week, 5 miles each way, through bumpy roads and potholes, tail gators and bumper to bumper traffic, besides annoying motorcycles who break all possible rules to get their way. Since I am fairly comfortable with the local buses, even though they may be late at times, or never show up at all, it saves the anxiety of fighting through horrible traffic and trying to find a place to park, which has become quite a Herculean task just about everywhere on our crowded island. There is also the benefit of waiting at the bus stop while a friend or a parishioner is driving by and they usually stop give me a ride, which has happened quite a few times so far, especially if I’m not wearing my baseball hat, as people will never recognize me with a hat on.

Spending St Patrick's Day in 1982, painting the jeep in green.

So over the next few weeks, I will be reviewing my 5 cars and share some anecdotes that I remember driving each one of them from 1982 till 2019. The pictures seen today are of a jeep we had at New Hyde Park, and after painting it in white and green, I practiced driving it, mainly to plow snow in our parking lot. That was a lot of shifting the gear, and driving back and forth, raising and lowering the plow - it was excellent practice for me. I never drove in Malta before I went to the USA, and I only got my license in 1982 after 2 memorable classes which I still remember very well. More about that as I review my first car tomorrow.....

St John Henry Newman

Cardinal Newman towards the end of his life.

St John Henry Newman was born on February 21, 1801, in London. He was baptized as an Episcopalian and became a priest of the Church of England on May 29, 1825. He was a well-known academic both of Oxford University and Birmingham Oratory. He converted to the Catholic church and became a Catholic priest on May 30, 1847. The personal consequences for Newman of his conversion were great: he suffered broken relationships with family and friends. Besides, many of his Oxford friends deserted him. He was elevated to a Cardinal on May 12, 1879 by Pope Leo XIII. He wrote his religious autobiography in ‘Apologia pro vita sua.’ From the latter half of 1886, Newman's health began to fail, and he celebrated Mass for the last time on Christmas Day in 1889. On August 11, 1890, he died of pneumonia at the Birmingham Oratory. He will be canonized on October 13, 2019 by Pope Francis at the Vatican. This is a well-known prayer written by St. John Newman:

God has created me to do Him some definite service.

He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.

I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.

He has not created me for naught.

I shall do good; I shall do his work. I shall be an angel of peace,

A preacher of truth in my own place.

Therefore I will trust Him.

Whatever I am, I can never be thrown away.

If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him.

In perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him.

If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.

He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about.

He may take away my friends.

He may throw me among strangers.

He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink,

Hide my future from me.

Still.....He knows what He is about.

Canadian Geese

We have so much to learn from the Canadian Geese, which are of course very popular in Canada and the United States. During the second year of their lives, Canadian geese find a mate. They are monogamous and most couples stay together all of their lives. If one dies, the other may find a new mate. The female lays from two to nine eggs with an average of five, and both parents protect the nest while the eggs incubate, but the female spends more time at the nest than the male. The incubation period lasts between 24 and 32 days. As soon as the goslings hatch, they are immediately capable of walking, swimming, and finding their own food (a diet similar to the adult geese). Parents are often seen leading their goslings in a line, usually with one adult at the front, and the other at the back. While protecting their goslings, parents often violently chase away nearby creatures, from small blackbirds to lone humans who approach. Canada geese are especially protective animals, and will sometimes attack any animal nearing its territory or offspring, including humans. 

The lifespan in the wild of geese that survive to adulthood ranges from 10 to 24 years. Canada geese fly in a distinctive V-shaped flight formation, with an altitude of 1 km (3,000 feet) for migration flight. The maximum flight ceiling of Canada geese is unknown, but they have been reported at 9 km (29,000 feet.) I have taken quite a few photos of Canadian geese, especially with their goslings, and the two presented in this post clearly shows the affection and protectiveness parents have towards their children, something we can all learn from.

Pope St John XXIII

This is the first time that the liturgical feast is being celebrated to honor Pope Saint John XXIII. Although few people had as great an impact on the 20th century as Pope John XXIII, he avoided the limelight as much as possible. The firstborn son of a farming family in Sotto il Monte, near Bergamo in northern Italy, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was always proud of his down-to-earth roots. After his ordination in 1904, Angelo returned to Rome for canon law studies. He soon worked as his bishop’s secretary, Church history teacher in the seminary, and as publisher of the diocesan paper.

His service as a stretcher-bearer for the Italian army during World War I gave him firsthand knowledge of war. In 1921 he was made the national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. He also found time to teach patristics at a seminary in the Eternal City. In 1925 he became a papal diplomat, serving first in Bulgaria, then in Turkey, and finally in France (1944-53). During World War II, with the help of Germany’s ambassador to Turkey, Archbishop Roncalli helped save an estimated 24,000 Jewish people.
Named a cardinal and appointed patriarch of Venice in 1953, he was finally a residential bishop. A month short of entering his 78th year, he was elected pope, taking the name John after his father and the two patrons of Rome’s cathedral, St. John Lateran. He took his work very seriously but not himself. His wit soon became proverbial, and he began meeting with political and religious leaders from around the world. In 1962 he was deeply involved in efforts to resolve the Cuban missile crisis. His most famous encyclicals were Mother and Teacher (1961) and Peace on Earth (1963). Pope John XXIII enlarged the membership in the College of Cardinals and made it more international. In 1962 he convened the Second Vatican Council where all the bishops gathered in Rome to discuss many issues facing the church, and this led to great reform, especially in the way we celebrate the liturgy. "Good Pope John" died on June 3, 1963. St. John Paul II beatified him in 2000, and Pope Francis canonized him in 2014, together with Pope St John Paul II.

The Angelus

Painted by Jean Francoise Millet, “The Angelus” is a famous painting from 1859, much revered by the French peasantry. Millet lived between 1814 and 1875, wretchedly poor, but with a great ambition to paint. And as he painted he also became a great teacher by the subjects he chose to paint. These two peasants pictured have spent a whole day at hard labor, but still went along without complaint, going about their tasks gladly and cheerfully. Then as evening comes, they pause in their work for silent prayer. We can almost hear the sounds of the bell in the distant church steeple and feel the solemnity of the occasion. At 6 PM, they pause to pray the Angelus and thank God for none of the worldly goods, but for love, health, and life. How happy people must be when they focus on these three gifts.

An Internet minute

Every day, millions of people take photos, make videos and send texts. Across the globe, businesses collect data on consumer preferences, purchases and trends. We are increasingly being surrounded by new devices and sensors that empower us to measure and record the world around us with increasing precision. The abilities provided by these technologies affect us deeply and broadly, including in the way we communicate and socialize. The more we can connect and share, the more data we create. The deluge of data is growing fast. The total amount of data in the world was 4.4 zettabytes in 2013. This is set to rise steeply to 44 zettabytes by 2020. To put that in perspective, one zettabyte is equivalent to 44 trillion gigabytes. 

This is what happens in one minute on the Internet in 2019:
1 million people logging in on Facebook.
18.1 million texts sent.
4.5 million videos are being viewed on YouTube.
390,030 apps are being downloaded.
347,222 scrolling Instagrams.
3.8 million search queries on Google.
694,444 hours watched on Netflix.
$996,956 spent on-line shopping.
87,000 people tweeting.
2.1 million snaps created.
41.6 million messages sent by whatsapp.
188 million e-mails are sent.

Forgiveness in the Courtroom

Brandt hugging his brother's killer, Amber Guyger.

The world saw God in a Dallas Courtroom last Wednesday afternoon. Botham Jean had been minding his own business, when a distracted off-duty white police officer, Amber Guyger, was returning home to her apartment in the same building as his. Mistakenly she entered the 28-year old man’s apartment, just above her own, thinking it was her own, and discovered who she thought was an intruder. She drew her firearm and killed him in his own home. Last week she was sentenced to a 10-year prison term. 

At the sentencing, Botham’s 18-year old brother, Brandt, took the witness stand to be heard. He spoke in the name of his family, “I hope you go to God with all that guilt,” he proceeded. “If you truly are sorry…I forgive you.” He pushed quickly past his own forgiveness, and back to God. “I know if you go to God and ask Him, He will forgive you.”

Brandt Jean speaking in the name of his family.

He also wanted her to know that though she took the life of his beloved big brother, that he also loved her. “I love you just like anyone else…I personally want the best for you…I don’t even want you to go to jail. I want the best for you, because I know that’s exactly what Botham would want…And the best would be to give your life to Christ. Giving your life to Christ is the best thing Botham would want you to do. Again, I love you as a person, and I don’t wish anything bad on you.” Turning to the Judge, Brandt almost begged, “I don’t know if this is possible, but can I give her a hug please? Please?” The Judge conceded to the request, and Amber wept in Brandt’s arms. A little later, the judge herself also gave her a hug while handing Amber a Bible. Brandt looked upon Amber as someone loved by God. In the midst of so much darkness, the world saw a great light — we saw charity in a Dallas courtroom, and in seeing charity, we see God.

Our Lady of the Rosary

'Our Lady of the Rosary' by Vicente Lopez

Even though the Rosary is a daily devotion which most Catholics pray every day, the month of October has always been connected in a special way to the Rosary. The origin of the Rosary has been attributed to a Marian apparition to Saint Dominic in 1208 in the church of Prouille, France. People wanted a devotional of sorts to pray, since the priests were able to pray the Office and read the 150 psalms in Latin, while most of the people could not read. So the devotion was started to pray 150 Hail Marys, later divided into decades and divided into three Mysteries, while more recently in 2002, the Luminous Mysteries were added. Many people, however, had abandoned the devotion to the Rosary and it was only revived after plagues, a schism and other calamities hit most of Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries. The Blessed Mother appeared to Blessed Alan de la Roche to revive this devotion, also reviving the ancient Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary. Blessed Alan was one of the Dominican Fathers from the monastery at Dinan, in Brittany. Our Lady chose him because it was most fitting that a Dominican from the very same province, should have the honor of re-establishing this feast.
In 1571 Pope St Pius V instituted "Our Lady of Victory" as an annual feast to commemorate the victory of the Christians against the Turks in Lepanto. The victory was attributed to Our Lady, as a rosary procession was offered on that day in St. Peter's Square in Rome for the success of the mission of the Holy League to hold back Muslim forces from overrunning Western Europe. In 1565, the Turks had already tried to take over Malta in the Great Siege, but the Maltese people, with the help of the Knights of Malta, were able to defend the island from the attack of the Ottoman Empire. In 1573 Pope Gregory XIII changed the title of this feast day to "Feast of the Holy Rosary". This feast was extended by Pope Clement XII to the whole of the Latin rite, inserting it into the Roman calendar of saints in 1716, and assigning it to the first Sunday in October. Pope St Pius X changed the date to October 7th in 1913. In 1969, Pope Paul VI changed the name of the feast to "Our Lady of the Rosary".

Wi-Fi is 20 years old

It has become automatic for us to log on to the Internet through W-Fi. Wherever we go, through airports, restaurants, and hotels, it is common that Wi-Fi is available for free to the customers and visitors. Wi-Fi has made life easier in general and it has made it much easier to communicate. It has certainly changed our social and personal lives. With the popularity of tablets and Ipads, it has become so common to connect to Wi-Fi rather than the conventional dial-up Internet connection. Compatible devices can connect to each other over Wi-Fi through a wireless access point as well as to connected Ethernet devices and may use it to access the Internet. Such an access point (or hotspot) has a range of about 20 meters (66 feet) indoors and a greater range outdoors. Hotspot coverage can be as small as a single room with walls that block radio waves, or as large as many square kilometers achieved by using overlapping access points. In 1999, the Wi-Fi Alliance was formed as a trade association to hold the Wi-Fi trademark. Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity. uses a large number of patents held by many different organizations. In April 2009, 14 technology companies agreed to pay CSIRO $1 billion for infringements on CSIRO patents. This led to Australia labeling Wi-Fi as an Australian invention. The name Wi-Fi was commercially used at least as early as August 1999, and officially launched in early October 1999, precisely 20 years ago.

Saint Faustina Kowalska

Saint Faustina was born Helena Kowalska in a small village west of Lodz, Poland on August 25, 1905. She was the third of ten children. When she was almost twenty, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, whose members devote themselves to the care and education of troubled young women. The following year she received her religious habit and was given the name Sister Maria Faustina, to which she added, "of the Most Blessed Sacrament", as was permitted by her congregation's custom. In the 1930's, Sister Faustina received from the Lord a message of mercy that she was told to spread throughout the world. She was asked to become the apostle and secretary of God's mercy, a model of how to be merciful to others, and an instrument for reemphasizing God's plan of mercy for the world. It was not a glamorous prospect.
Her entire life, in imitation of Christ's, was to be a sacrifice - a life lived for others. She wrote and suffered in secret, with only her spiritual director Fr Michael Sopocko, and some of her superiors aware that anything special was taking place in her life. After her death from tuberculosis in 1938, even her closest associates were amazed as they began to discover what great sufferings and deep mystical experiences had been given to this Sister of theirs, who had always been so cheerful and humble. She had taken deeply into her heart, God's gospel command to "be merciful even as your heavenly Father is merciful" as well as her confessor's directive that she should act in such a way that everyone who came in contact with her would go away joyful. The message of mercy that Sister Faustina received is now being spread throughout the world; her diary, Divine Mercy in my Soul, has become the handbook for devotion to the Divine Mercy. However, until Pope St John Paul II was elected Pope, her writings and her devotion were condemned by the church, and were only recognized by her compatriot Pope, who eventually canonized here in April 2000, on the same day when Divine Mercy Sunday was instituted to be celebrated on the Sunday after Easter.