The hole in the boat

                            

A man owned a small boat.  Whenever spring came around, he would take his children out on the boat and went fishing in the lake nearby. One year at the end of the summer, he brought the boat in since he won’t be using it until next spring.  When he did, he noticed a small hole in the back of the boat but he thought he will fix it next year since he won’t be using it for a while.  However, he did call a painter to repaint the boat. The next spring came around when the man’s two sons wanted to ride the repainted boat.  So the man launched the boat with just two of his sons in it but he forgot about the hole in the boat. After a couple of hours later, he remembered about the hole.  Frantically he ran to the lake because not only they were inexperienced with the boat but they didn’t know how to swim. However, by the time he arrived at the lake, the boys were done boating and were about to head back home.  The man checked and saw the hole was fixed.  He wondered who might have fixed it and then, he remembered. The man took a nice present and went to visit the painter.  The painter was puzzled why he brought such a nice gift and said, “You have paid me already for the paint job.  What is this for?” The man said, “I have only asked you to paint the boat but you have fixed the hole which saved my two sons from drowning.  And for that, I cannot thank you enough.” Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount that if someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles (Matt. 5:41).  Doing, giving, serving, and going that “extra” mile can leave a huge impact on people.  Going above and beyond the call of duty is what Christians should be known for.  May God give us more caring and thoughtful painters in our lives.

The Archangels

Today is the feast of the Archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Michael - the angel of judgment - is known as the champion in the fight against Satan and the other devils as well as the guardian of the faithful especially at the time of death. Frequently he is portrayed crushing the devil’s head with a lance. Gabriel - the angel of mercy - is the messenger from God in St Luke’s gospel who foretold the birth of John the Baptist, “Be not afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall name him John.” Six months later it was Gabriel who appeared to Mary at the Annunciation saying, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.” Raphael  -  whose name means “God has healed” was sent by God to heal Tobias of his blindness and to deliver Sara from the devil in the book of Tobit. We tend to underestimate the presence of Angels in our lives. However, they are gaining popularity as we see many angel pins on people’s jackets, posters, and paintings of various angels are showing up at card stores. And of course, at Christmas, there are the angels on ornaments and hanging on nativity scenes. We sing about the angels in several of the Christmas hymns. Angels were also present at Jesus’ tomb when the women went to anoint his body and found the tomb empty. But we are reluctant to accept their actual existence. This is certainly a departure from our childhood when we prayed to our Guardian Angel at least daily. As children, we believed that there was truly one angel whose job was to look after us, who would always hover around us ready to protect us from all evil and to communicate our desires and needs to God. The feast of the Guardian Angels in fact is in 3 days, October 2.

Washington monuments

I’ve been to Washington DC twice. Once was a hair-raising experience as I was traveling with a Filipino priest who had a mini-stroke as he was driving back to our parish on Long Island. He ended up in Philadelphia, but I was able to lead him back towards New York, with the limited experience I had of the busy Northeast highways. But I enjoyed my visit there, seeing the Smithsonian Museum, walking through the historic streets and relishing the various monuments that highlight the almost 250 years of history of the United States. 

These are just 2 monuments close to the Capitol, taken with a regular camera as this was 1983, before the digital cameras came along. The first one is made of bronze, with the Capitol rotunda in the background, and the second one made of marble. Later on this week, we'll visit the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, a much-beloved church by all Catholics.

Steve Jobs - his last words.

                     

Many people may not know that Steve Jobs was born in war-torn Syria and soon after, his parents gave him up for adoption. He was adopted by an American family and raised with lots of love. We all know that he as the brain behind the iPhone, the iPod, and the iPad. Steve Jobs died a billionaire... with a fortune of $7 billion...at the age of 56 from pancreatic cancer...and here are some of his last words...“In others’ eyes... my life is the essence of success... but aside from work... I have little joy. And in the end.... wealth is just a fact of life to which I am accustomed. At this moment... lying on the bed... sick and remembering all my life... I realize that all my recognition and wealth that I have is meaningless in the face of imminent death. You can hire someone to drive a car for you... make money for you ... but you cannot rent someone to carry the disease for you. One can find material things.... but there is one thing that cannot be found when it is lost – “LIFE”.  Treat yourself well...and cherish others. As we get older we are smarter... and we slowly realize that the watch is worth $30 or $300 – both of which show the same time. Whether we drive a car worth $150,000, or a car worth $20,000 – the road and distance are the same... we reach the same destination. If we drink a bottle worth $300 or wine worth $10 – the “stroller” will be the same. If the house we live in is 300 square meters... or 3000 square meters – the loneliness is the same. Your true inner happiness does not come from the material things of this world.  Whether you’re flying first class...or economy class – if the plane crashes...you crash with it. So... I hope you understand that when you have friends or someone to talk to – this is true happiness!"

Retired License plate

                       

Continuing my review of flashbacks from my past, this license plate struck me one day, and of course, took the picture which I saved for close to 40 years. I never thought of myself as a retired person, and probably will never officially retire completely, because I hope to be always able to celebrate Mass and help in parishes whenever I am needed. Even though I am not assigned to any particular parish, I do take care of the spiritual needs of a Retirement Home as I visit the residents to give them communion and celebrate daily Mass in my chapel, which they can also follow on a closed-circuit TV in their own rooms. And this has been very beneficial in the present Covid-19 situation, which means that it is actually more work for me as I spend 2 hours going from room to room to bring Jesus to the residents, plus confessions, some counseling, and just my presence, which consoles them and lifts their spirit. I say 2 Masses on Saturday and 2 more on Sunday, besides an extra Mass on Sunday in the local Naxxar parish. They also look forward to my playing the flute for them, often after communion, and frequently during lunch in the dining room. I also present occasional PowerPoint talks on various religious subjects, which they enjoy. So, as you can see I am far from a retired person, although I have no fixed address since I live here most of the time. I have a phone which is not one of my favorite gizmos, unlike our young and not-so-young people who seem to have their cell-phone connected to their bodies. My clock is always going and I still follow my customary hibernation routine, early to bed (by 10PM) and early to rise (around 5:30 AM.) And since I do everything here on a voluntary basis, money has never been a priority for me, although you need the basics to buy the daily necessities.

Pumpkins

Everybody in the USA, at least the people that knew me, were all aware that I disliked pumpkin pie. It is a specialty that appears around Thanksgiving Day, and yet, I always preferred apple pie or strawberry pie, or mince pie, my all-time favorite. But still, I know what an important role pumpkin has in the lives of Americans, especially as September leads into October, and people start decorating their thresholds and entrances with pumpkins, decorative gourds, and foliage that turns annually from green to brown, to orange and red.

Children especially enjoy hayrides in fields, and picking their own pumpkin is a tradition that children are introduced into at an early age. Just like decorating the Christmas Tree, and the setting up of the Nativity for Christmas, putting doily snowflakes on windows and hearts in February and shamrocks in March and Easter eggs in Easter, the presence of a pumpkins heralds the arrival of Fall or Autumn. In Malta, pumpkins are not that popular, but we do have marrows that are used for soups, especially any kind of minestrone or vegetable soup. But nonetheless, as I continue my flashbacks from the 1980s, enjoy these nostalgic pumpkin photos from my years in New York.

Feeding the birds

Malta unfortunately has a bad reputation about bird hunting and bird trapping. There is a brief hunting season in April and another one in October, when the birds are migrating from Africa to Europe and vice-versa, but the European Union regulations have minimized the opportunity for bird hunting. As a result, we are having many more birds stopping over in Malta, like flamingoes, swans and other unusual birds that normally do not even think of slowing down on Malta. Good for them, because there are always hunters ready with their shotguns to kill whatever flutters and moves. Understandably, many anti-hunting groups do protests against the cruelty of animals and birds. And respect for birds has increased over the last few years, but nevertheless, you’ll always find some hunter who shows no respect. Even more, turtles have been nesting on Maltese shores, three of them this past summer, each with close to 80 babies hatching and head to the sea, waddling away as their instinct tells them to do. Well, as I continue my flashbacks browsing through my collection,  I took this photo you see today near a lake where someone was feeding these bunch of sparrows. They were so friendly, since there were no shotguns aimed at them, that they would come and eat from your hand, literally, as you can see. May we always respect nature in all its forms, and admire all animals, except for mosquitoes, especially those that buzz annoyingly by your ears at 2 in the morning.

Padre Pio

Today we celebrate the liturgical feast of St. Pio of Pietralcina, known as Padre Pio. He was a holy man who received the stigmata in 1918, and they disappeared the moment he died in 1968, suffering with bleeding all through his life. Padre Pio saw Jesus in all the sick and suffering. A fine hospital was built on nearby Mount Gargano in the 1940s, known as "House for the Alleviation of Suffering" and has 350 beds. A number of people have reported cures they believe were received through the intercession of Padre Pio. He died on September 23, 1968, was beatified in 1999 and made a saint in 2002. While Padre Pio never visited the United States, the famous stigmatist did have some interesting interactions with US servicemen during and after World War II. During the Allied aerial bombing campaign in Italy, the Nazis had placed one of their ammo dumps close to San Giovanni Rotondo, Padre Pio’s monastery, and the nearby town and the people of the town begged the pious monk to save them from the bombs. From that point, whenever an Allied bombing mission targeted the Nazi base, the American planes would develop malfunctions of various sorts that prevented them from dropping their payloads or would encounter unexpected bad weather right over the target. Eventually, pilots began reporting seeing a ‘little man with a brown robe’ flying through the air, waving their planes off. After the Allies liberated Italy, some of the pilots visited the monastery and recognized Padre Pio as the little man in the air.

Flashbacks

I’d like to share with you over the next few weeks a few old photos I took while in the USA. With no particular order or choice, here are the first two from my time in New Hyde Park, New York, where I spent 10 glorious years between 1981 and 1991. The first one shows an unusual globe that was wrapped in various American flags. Since I’m always looking for the unusual and strange, this globe caught my attention and I took a photo of it. 

The second photo was of a car wrapped up in a cover made up of different flags. Now this is something that is common in Malta, where the sun is very hot, and car aficionados like their cars to remain cool, and so they create cloth covers for them. But it was very unusual to come across a similar car on Long Island in the USA. Well, someone in the early 1980s was fond of his car and covered it with a very attractive car cover. Notice in the background some other older models of cars, which were quite big in the 1980s, as well as a Diner and a Delicatessen, popular stores that saw many people frequent them, and which undoubtedly they still do.

Malta’s Independence Day

Malta was ruled over the past 2 millennia by the Romans, the Arabs, the Normans, the Spanish, the Knights of St John, the French and the British. Following a Maltese constitutional referendum in 1964, approved by 54.5% of voters, on September 21st, 1964, Malta became an independent state as a Constitutional Monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as its Head of State.  So September 21st every year is celebrated as Independence Day or Jum l-Indipendenza in Maltese, this year being the 56th anniversary. One can say that both Labour Leader Dom Mintoff, as well as Nationalist Leader and Prime Minister George Borg Olivier contributed towards the attainment of Independence. On December 1st 1964, Malta was admitted to the United Nations. In 1965 Malta joined the Council of Europe, and in 1970, Malta signed an Association Treaty with the European Community. Malta was declared a republic on December 13th, 1974, and on May 1st, 2004, Malta finally became the 25th nation to join the European Union.

Forgiveness

As a widow in Colorado, Mrs. Hanna was filled with hate and bitterness toward the man who had just killed her daughter. She found it absolutely impossible to forgive him after he was captured, found guilty, and sent to prison. She wrote, “All that seemed alive was the hate burning within me.....consuming everything in me that had once responded to love, beauty and laughter.” Eventually, she realized that she was being consumed by hate even though she believed in a forgiving God. She arranged to have a Bible sent to the prisoner with her personal message of love and forgiveness. Previously sullen and morose, the imprisoned man asked the intermediary to tell “Mrs. Hanna that she had given me a gift such as I have never had before....If she could show me such forgiveness, I have hope and faith that God could do the same.” The experience changed his life, and he ended up ministering to other prisoners. Reflecting on the change, Mrs. Hanna observed: “No one had ever told him that he was loved.” Mrs. Hanna herself felt that a great burden has been lifted from her.  Yes....it is in pardoning that we are pardoned.

Our Lady of the Milk

In Bethlehem there is a shrine known as the Milk Grotto, where thousands upon thousands of conceptions and births were a direct answer to prayers offered there. Now, it’s interesting to note that in Florida, there is a pilgrimage site known as the Shrine of Our Lady of the Milk, (La Leche) in the historic city of St. Augustine. Because of the singular graces associated with the La Leche shrine, flooded with requests, by email or message, people from all over the world request prayers for family members, co-workers, and friends or for themselves. Stories abound from the Grotto in the Holy Land, and the shrine in St. Augustine, about children born to parents who had struggled for years to conceive or had been told there was no hope. Why do Mary’s prayers facilitate such a grace for couples? Perhaps Mary’s life provides the answer.

According to some traditions, Mary’s parents Joachim and Anne were themselves struggling to conceive. They turned to God in prayer, and in time, that prayer was answered by Mary’s nativity. Not only did God hear their prayer, but he also did something even more extraordinary: God chose to preserve her, from the very first moments of her existence, from original sin. In her conception, she was immaculate. Many couples make the pilgrimage to the grotto, or the shrine, and earnestly pray, but yet do not conceive. The reality is that God answers prayer, but sometimes differently, and perhaps some are given the grace to become open to adoption, or to foster-parenthood, or something else. While praying at the shrine, couples can experience a sense of Mary’s consoling and comforting love for them.

The new chapel of Our Lady of the Milk in St. Augustine, Florida.

Novena Prayer to Our Lady of La Leche

Lovely Lady of La Leche, most loving Mother of Jesus, and my mother, listen to my humble prayer.  Your motherly heart knows my every wish, my every need. To you only, His spotless Virgin Mother, has your Divine Son given to understand the sentiments which fill my soul. Yours was the sacred privilege of being the Mother of the Savior. Intercede with him now, my loving mother, that in accordance with his will (your request here). This I ask, O Lady of the Milk, in the name of your Divine Son, my Lord, and Savior. Amen. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you. Our Lady of La Leche, pray for us.

Cardinal Jaworski

Cardinal Marian Jaworski, retired archbishop of Lviv of the Latin Rite Catholics of Ukraine, died on September 5 at the age of 94. He was a close friend of Pope St. John Paul II, and administered the last sacraments to the Polish Pope on his deathbed in 2005. Jaworski was born in 1926 and entered the major seminary of Lviv in 1945. Following the occupation of the territory by Soviet troops, he was sent to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Poland. Ordained a priest in 1950, he continued his studies at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow (Poland) and then at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Catholic University of Lublin (Poland). It was during this period that he met the future Polish pope. At his death, various commentators recalled how John Paul II thought his life and the life of Cardinal Jaworksi were intertwined not just in their friendship and physical proximity, but in a mystical way. Cardinal Jaworski lost his hand because of a train accident. But he was on the train because of the future John Paul II. It was June of 1967 and Karol Wojtyla (the future John Paul II) had been called to Rome to be made a cardinal. Wojtyla already had had something on his schedule for the date of the consistory — a trip to Olsztyn, Poland — and he asked Jaworski to take his place. It was during this trip that an unfortunate accident occurred, which led to the amputation of Jaworski’s hand.

He later taught at the Catholic Academy of Theology in Warsaw, and then became full professor at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Krakow in 1976. He was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Lubaczów (Poland) in 1984 by John Paul II, who appointed him Archbishop of the Latin Archdiocese of Lviv in 1991. Upon his return to his native country, he worked patiently to rebuild the diocese, which had been destroyed by the Communist regime. The Ukrainian high prelate was himself made a cardinal by the Polish pope in 1998, though his elevation wasn’t made public until 2001. He participated in the conclave of 2005 that elected Benedict XVI. He resigned his office in 2008 at the age of 82.

Miracles still happen

Azita and Christian meeting after 20 years (video further down)

I feel honored to share with you a touching story of love and joy, as we see miracles happening all around us, which unfortunately are never reported. This is an incredible story of a woman who found an abandoned baby in the woods and now they are re-uniting after 20 years. Watch this dramatic encounter and her story of how Azita Milanian found this baby, thanks to her dogs who were in a place they were not supposed to be, back in 1998. All she could say was “Thank you for coming into my life; you’ve changed my life. The day I found you, my faith grew stronger. God sent us here for a purpose.” Azita bursts into tears at the sight of the man whom she first met as an abandoned baby. It was May 1998, in Pasadena, California. Azita Milanian turned down a friend who invited her for a salsa class. She did not know why, but that evening she wanted to go for a jog with her Labradors in the nearby mountains. In addition, she had parked her car one block closer than she had in the past 8 years. And she was wearing a T-shirt about helping orphans. All of this continues to assure her that there are no coincidences in life.

That evening in the mountains something caught her dogs’ attention. Distracted, they stopped in the bushes and didn’t react to her calling them. Milanian locked them in the car and returned to that spot. Suddenly she saw two small feet sticking out of the ground and heard barely audible cries. It was a baby boy who had been born just hours before. He was wrapped in a blue towel, laid in a hollow in the ground and covered with dirt. An umbilical cord was still attached to his belly. Milanian immediately cleared his mouth and nose and called 911. Waiting for the ambulance, Milanian tried to calm the baby. She hugged him and repeated: “Don’t die, please, don’t die. I will never leave you. I love you.” A few days later, in an interview, she recalls: “He grabbed my wrist and stopped crying. This was so emotional. What sick person could possibly do such a thing?”

The child was rushed to the hospital and quickly recovered, which the then-director of the neonatology department of Huntington Memorial Hospital calls a miracle. Media outlets, following the hospital staff, named the newborn “Baby Christian,” and people moved by the story start donating toys, clothes, and money. Within a few months, adoptive parents were found for the little boy, and Milanian lost touch with him. At first, she tried to fight for being able to know his whereabouts, but she was turned down and eventually gave up. She was convinced that one day she’d find him.Baby Christian, now named Matthew Christian Whitaker learned in 2017 about what happened to him right after he was born. On May 18, 2018, Azita Milanian and Matthew were invited to be guests on the show On Air with Ryan Seacrest. Hugging Matthew, with tears streaking down her cheeks, 58-year-old Milanian says: ”This day is the fulfilment of my dreams. I’ve been waiting for it for 20 years. You are exactly the way I imagined. I guessed your size, everything. Thank you for coming to my life; you changed my life.”

Grab a tissue, and watch the emotional reunion here. Just copy this link and watch the video further down in the article:

https://aleteia.org/2020/09/07/she-found-a-baby-buried-alive-they-reunited-20-years-later/

Oregon fires

I ask for your prayers for my former beloved state of Oregon as they are experiencing the most devastating fires in history. California and Washington are facing the same fate as hundreds of homes have been destroyed, over 35 lives lost as all these fires created apocalyptic scenes with smoke-filled air settling over the Bay Area in California and Central Oregon with smoke visible from space and flames that produced an ominous orange glow. The destructive fire in Oregon was driven by 45-mile-an-hour wind gusts that tore through two towns, destroying more than a thousand homes and raising fears that some people had not been able to escape. The towns of Idanha, Detroit, Mill City and further down in Talent are very familiar to me, as I drove through them annually for our retreat at Mount Angel. Very often I used to stop by to take photos of the ponderosa pine trees that cradle each town, as well as rivers and reservoirs and scenic spots, which photographers like myself look forward to. 

Map of Oregon showing where the fires are burning

While the foothills of Oregon's Cascade Mountains have been ablaze, creating red ominous skies and leaving five small towns in ashes, most of the churches in the Archdiocese of Portland have not burned and many have offered shelter to thousands of evacuees. The director for Catholic Community Services of Lane County, said in his 39 years in the area, he has never seen fires and air quality this bad. He said Catholic Community Services, which provides a range of emergency services, will remain open. "We are in the middle of a hotly contested election, we have social justice issues that need attention, there's a pandemic that's taking lives every day. Then to have this apocalyptic scene — people are feeling tired. But at the same time, it's encouraging to see how much people are capable of collaborating and how important it is to work together."

The Sorrowful Mother

The liturgical feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is celebrated a day after the feast of the Cross, and even though we are far from the Lenten season, the church asks us to reflect on the 7 sorrows that Mary experienced, as beautifully depicted in this image by Adriaen Isenbrant from the 16th century, a panel visible in Bruges, Belgium. The 7 sorrows that Mary had to face were these, as described in each of the panels surrounding the image of the Sorrowful Mother:

1. Jesus’ circumcision.
2. The escape into Egypt.
3. Jesus lost and found in the temple.
4. Seeing Jesus carrying the cross and meeting him on the way to Calvary.
5. The crucifixion of Jesus.
6. The Pieta, as the dead body of Jesus, is laid on her lap.
7. The burial of Jesus.
 
The beautiful hymn Stabat Mater Dolorosa is sung frequently during Lent, especially during the Stations of the Cross. The first three words mean Stood the mournful Mother weeping, and the poem was written by Jacopone de Todi in the 13th century, and was set to music by various composers including  Palestrina, Pergolesi, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Haydn, Rossini, Dvorák and Arvo Pärt. Here are the first 2 verses:
 
At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to her Son to the last.

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
all His bitter anguish bearing,
now at length, the sword has passed.

Feast of the Cross

Painting showing St Helena discovering the cross of Jesus.

Today the church commemorates the day when St Helena found the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Being the mother of Emperor Constantine, who ended the persecutions in 313AD, Helena was determined to find the abandoned cross on which Jesus was crucified. The excavations actually found three crosses buried in Jerusalem close to Mount Calvary. To verify which was the actual cross of Christ, they asked a sick person to touch each cross.  When she touched the third one, the person was completely healed, and thereby they concluded which was Jesus' cross. The Cross of Christ dominates our lives in many ways. So many of us start meetings, classes, trips, and gatherings with the sign of the cross. Passing by a cemetery, you see hundreds of crosses lining up the entire area. If you’re in Arlington Cemetery in Washington DC, the crosses number in the thousands. This feast is also called the Finding of the Cross, the Exaltation of the Cross, or the Triumph of the Cross. We all have crosses to carry, but when we are given a cross, we are also given the strength to carry them through our lives. And if we feel it’s too heavy a cross to carry,  Jesus is close to us to help us carry its weight.

16 needs for today

These are 16 practical needs the world needs today:

A need for permanence in a civilization of transience.
A need for God when all else is becoming relative.
A need for silence in the midst of noise.
A need for gratitude in the face of unbelievable greed.
A need for poverty amid the flaunting of wealth.
A need for contemplation a century of action, for without contemplation, action risks becoming mere agitation.
A need for communication in a universe content with entertainment and sensationalism.
A need for peace amid today’s universal outbursts of violence.
A need for quality to counterbalance the increasingly prevalent response to quantity.
A need for humility to counteract the arrogance of power and science.
A need for human warmth when everything is being rationalized or computerized.
A need to belong to a small group rather than to be a part of the crowd.
A need to slowness to compensate for the present eagerness for speed.
A need for truth when the real meaning of words is distorted in political speeches and sometimes even in religious discourses.
A need for transparency when everything seems opaque.
A need for the interior life, when you can discover God inside of you.

Stress Level

                         

Back in the 1970s, two psychiatrists at the University of Washington Medical School, Drs. Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe developed a scale that rates the stress caused by many changes in life – major and minor, pleasant and unpleasant. This is their scale, with minor changes in wording. The bigger the number the bigger the stress level:

100 – death of a spouse.

73 – divorce.

65 – marital separation.

63 – jail term.

53 – personal injury or sickness.

50 – marriage.

47 – fired from job.

45 – reconcile marriage.

45 – retirement.

40 – pregnancy.

39 – gain new family member.

39 – change in business.

37 – death of a close friend.

36  - change of  job.

29 – grown child leaves home.

29 – in-law troubles.

28 – gaining an outstanding achievement.

26 – wife begins or stops work.

23 – trouble with your boss.

20 – move to a new home.

20 – change schools.

19 – change church or social activities.

15 – eating habits change.

13 – vacation or holiday.

12 – Christmas.

11 – minor violations of the law.

19 years ago

Commemorating today the tragic death of close to 3000 victims of September 11, 2001, in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania. I was there in the midst of this tragedy and since I lost one of my parishioners, Peter Klein, I share with you today photos that are very meaningful to me. The first one shows Ruth Klein, the mother of Peter next to a quilt she made in his memory, and which we used at his funeral which I led a few weeks later. Peter was one of the first victims since he was working at his 83rd floor in one of the Twin Towers, when the first plane hit right into his office. He had been married for just about a year, and was a former altar boy, a scout, and active in the community. 

The second photo shows a short quote I wrote on a tarp in Ground Zero, where people memorialized their loved ones with personal memories, teddy bears, photos, knick-knacks, or just a quote in all kinds of languages. I wrote mine in Maltese which says ‘Il-Bambin jiftakar fikom u l-Maltin jitolbu għalikom.’ (God remembers you and the Maltese pray for you.) Next year we’ll commemorate 20 years since this horrific tragedy, and it’s hard to believe that all the children born since then are now 19 and younger. Unfortunately, some of them never met their fathers. Let us pray and remember. 

More Malta’s summer fruits

These are two more of my childhood fruits which I used to miss quite a lot, although the first one shows up in American stores once a year. The pomegranate, also called the Punica granatum is an edible berry and is between a lemon and a grapefruit in size, with a rounded hexagonal shape, and has thick reddish skin. The exact number of seeds in a pomegranate can vary from 200 to about 1400 seeds, contrary to some beliefs that all pomegranates have exactly the same number of seeds. Each seed has a surrounding water-laden pulp ranging in color from white to deep red or purple. The seeds are embedded in a white, spongy, astringent pulp. They grow in abundance in the Middle East and warm European countries. The pomegranate has been mentioned in the book of Exodus and has many benefits, even though some people find them annoying as every berry has a seed, which is edible, and as we said about the prickly pear, we then let nature take care of the rest. In Maltese, the pomegranate is called a Rummiena.

The loquat also known as Eriobotrya japonica, is a fruit tree in the family Rosaceae, indigenous to central China.  It was formerly thought to be closely related to the genus Mespilus, (thus the Maltese word, Naspli) and is still sometimes known as the Japanese medlar. Loquat fruits, growing in clusters, are oval, rounded or pear-shaped, the size of a plum, with a smooth yellow or orange skin. The succulent, tangy flesh is white, yellow or orange and very sweet, and with a brown pit. The skin, though thin, can be peeled off manually if the fruit is ripe. The fruits are the sweetest when soft and orange. The flavor is a mix of peach, citrus, and mild mango.

Malta’s summer fruits

Among the things I miss from Malta are some of the fruits that grow in abundance on the Maltese islands, especially in the hot summer months. In particular, I love figs, which I can never find in the USA, other than the dried variety.  When I was a young boy, one of my duties was to collect as many figs as possible from my grandmother’s huge fig tree she had in her garden. I would fill three to four bucketfuls of large figs, with another bucketful going into my stomach, while perched on one of the branches or strong limbs, hiding among the leaves so that no one will see me eating away. 

Another fruit that grows in abundance are prickly pears, growing on cactus leaves in fields with no irrigation or water at all. They just pop out every year and many people do not even bother to pick them up and let them decay or rot. Some people do pick them and sell them, after peeling off the skin, which is covered with thorns. There are as many as 20 to 30 pears on each leaf at times, as you can see from this photo I took in the summer of 2006, where I counted 28 pears on just one leaf! They usually grow as yellow, green, and red, and of course, children always prefer red ones. Some people dislike them because they have a lot of pits, but then again, it’s better to just close your eyes, eat them, and let nature take care of the rest. Tomorrow I will share with you two other fruits that grow in Malta and which are not very popular in other countries, loquat and pomegranates.

Mary’s Birthday

Today we celebrate the birthday of the Blessed Mother, an event the church celebrates exactly 9 months after her Immaculate Conception, to emphasize the duration of the human pregnancy. But today I’d like to focus on her infancy – what was Mary like as a toddler, a young girl, a teenager?

I imagine Mary as a two-year-old, jumping and running here, there and everywhere, as do all two-year-olds. As every mother and father can testify, that’s the age when you can’t keep children sit still for even a few seconds because they have extraordinary energy. And I am pretty sure that that Mary used to keep Joachim and Anne on their toes for every shenanigan she got herself into. I imagine her also as a 7 or 8-year-old playing with her dolls along with her friends and trying to help her mother with household chores, possibly at times messing things up instead of helping out. Now many of you may be thinking that I’m criticizing Mary – that is not the case for sure. Because like every young girl, we cannot imagine her always as we see her in holy pictures, with a serene face and angelic disposition. I am pretty sure she had her moments too, as did little Jesus when he was growing up at Nazareth. I am not saying they were naughty or misbehaving kids, but let’s say they were impish, mischievous, and playful, as are all children that age, after all.

The last phase is when I see Mary as a 13 or 14-year-old, who like every other teenager felt the physical changes in her body, and maybe even had a crush on some neighborhood boy. These are normal feelings that everyone experiences, and Mary certainly was no exception. We know that at the age of 14 or 15 her life changed completely when the Angel Gabriel chose her as the mother of the Messiah and encouraged her to take Joseph as her husband. And we know the rest of the story. So when we think of young Mary, let’s not imagine her as we see her in the statues, but as a normal young healthy, pretty girl, maybe without a cell-phone glued to their ears, and texting her friends.

Sunrise, Sunset

A popular song from the musical ‘The Fiddler on the Roof’ is the popular ‘Sunrise, Sunset.’ Over the years I’ve taken hundreds of photos of both morning sunrises, when most people are usually still sleeping, as well as spectacular sunsets, when people are oblivious of the beauty God can paint, day after day. I share with you today three glorious photos of 2 sunsets and a sunrise. The first one is a photo I just received from a friend of mine who lives on a horse ranch, the Clark Quarterhorse Ranch in Mount Vernon, a hamlet close to one of my parishes in John Day, Oregon. This sunset was  just 2 days ago during a day that was scorching with 106 degrees Fahrenheit, (41 degrees Celsius.) I am sure they will experience cold days in the near future, not to mention that at night the temperature can dip by 50 degrees, since they are in the high desert of Central-Eastern Oregon. 

The second photo was one I took in Bend Oregon in 2014, one morning where I was arriving at the parish office earlier than anyone else, probably around 6 AM. The third photo is one I took with my old camera on January 4, 2002, just a few hours before my father passed away, and I felt that God was reaching out to him from the havens, as the rays from the sun created a peaceful atmosphere for my father to leave the earth after 76 years of hard work, dedication and love for this family.

A prayer for today’s woman

This prayer was written by Catherine de Vinck, and printed in the Christopher’s News Notes in June 1988. It applies to today’s women as it did to those who lived 32 years ago, and maybe even 320 years ago.

Lord God, Show me the inherent goodness and beauty in my womanhood, and teach me to rejoice in all its aspects. Let me see the dignity of my sex so that I shall never permit anyone to abuse, debase, or ridicule it. Show me the wonder of my role as a life-bearer which is not limited to my biological function as a mother, but extends to other aspects and situations of my presence in the world. Let me recognize my power to nurture, comfort, inspire, and guide others as part of the creative process of my life.   Fill me with the desire to build up rather than to tear down, to heal rather than to wound, to reconcile rather than polarize, to risk rather than to seek compromise and security. Help me to see what is of everlasting value in cultural and religious traditions. Help me to forge ahead and to be true to my own nature without being hindered by false assumptions of the past or by passing fads of the present day. Let me understand that my femininity is a gift of God to be acknowledged with gratitude and delight. Let me know that my womanhood is not a situation in conflict with manhood but that both are created equal for the purpose of mutual love and support. Help me to grow according to my own nature so that I may be able to fulfill my destiny according to Your will. I pray for all my sisters in the world - may they live as Your children in freedom and peace.

St Teresa of Calcutta

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the tiny woman recognized throughout the world for her work among the poorest of the poor, was canonized on September 4, 2016. Among those present were hundreds of Missionaries of Charity, the order she founded in 1950 as a diocesan religious community. Today the congregation also includes contemplative sisters and brothers and an order of priests. Born on August 27, 1910, to Albanian parents in what is now Skopje, Macedonia (then part of the Ottoman Empire), Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was the youngest of the three children who survived. For a time, the family lived comfortably, and her father's construction business thrived. But life changed overnight following his unexpected death. During her years in public school, Agnes participated in a Catholic sodality and showed a strong interest in the foreign missions. At age 18 she entered the Loreto Sisters of Dublin, Ireland. It was 1928 when she said goodbye to her mother for the final time and made her way to a new land and a new life. The following year she was sent to the Loreto novitiate in Darjeeling, India. There she chose the name Teresa and prepared for a life of service. She was assigned to a high school for girls in Calcutta, where she taught history and geography to the daughters of the wealthy. But she could not escape the realities around her—the poverty, the suffering, the overwhelming numbers of destitute people.

In 1946, while riding a train to Darjeeling to make a retreat, Sister Teresa heard what she later explained as “a call within a call. The message was clear. I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them.” She also heard a call to give up her life with the Sisters of Loreto and, instead, to “follow Christ into the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor.”
After receiving permission to leave Loreto, establish a new religious community, and undertake her new work, she took a nursing course for several months. She returned to Calcutta, where she lived in the slums and opened a school for poor children. Dressed in a white sari and sandals (the ordinary dress of an Indian woman) she soon began getting to know her neighbors—especially the poor and sick—and getting to know their needs through visits. The work was exhausting, but she was not alone for long. Volunteers who came to join her in the work, some of them former students, became the core of the Missionaries of Charity. Others helped by donating food, clothing, supplies, the use of buildings. In 1952 the city of Calcutta gave Mother Teresa a former hostel, which became a home for the dying and the destitute. As the order expanded, services were also offered to orphans, abandoned children, alcoholics, the aging, and street people. For the next four decades, Mother Teresa worked tirelessly on behalf of the poor. Her love knew no bounds. Nor did her energy, as she crisscrossed the globe pleading for support and inviting others to see the face of Jesus in the poorest of the poor. In 1979 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On September 5, 1997, God called her home.

Charity from Marcus Rashford

Besides scoring important goals for his famous team Manchester United, 22 year-old Marcus Rashford has become a model example of charitable contributions, especially to help poor and hungry children. Together with the British charity FareShare, they have reached their financial target to supply three million meals to vulnerable people across the UK. He had initially set a goal of raising £100,000 and feeding 400,000 children after partnering with the food poverty and waste charity back in April. The England international football star has since vastly surpassed that target, however, with over £20 million raised. In May he was recognized by the High Sheriff of Greater Manchester, Eamonn O’Neal, for "outstanding activity and contribution to the community". On his Twitter account, he wrote “And whilst I’m celebrating this, there is SO much more to do. Trust me when I say, I will keep fighting until no child in the UK has to worry about where their next meal is coming from.” When asked how he was able to do it, Marcus said he simply asked food companies with a surplus of product to donate it, and the call was answered. Rashford, who announced he grew up on free school meals, humbly stated “I am just trying to impact the next generation in a positive way.” 

Saint Gregory

The Monks of Solesmes in France chanting the Mass

St. Gregory, born at Rome about the year 540, was the son of Gordianus, a wealthy senator, who later renounced the world and became one of the seven deacons of Rome. His mother was St Silvia. After Gregory had acquired the usual thorough education, Emperor Justin the Younger appointed him, in 574, Chief Magistrate of Rome, though he was only thirty-four years of age. After the death of his father, he built six monasteries in Sicily and founded a seventh in his own house in Rome, which became the Benedictine Monastery of St. Andrew. Here, he himself assumed the monastic habit in 575, at the age of thirty-five. After the death of Pelagius, St. Gregory was chosen Pope by the unanimous consent of priests and people. Now began those labors which merited for him the title of Great. His zeal extended over the entire known world, he was in contact with all the Churches of Christendom and, in spite of his bodily sufferings, and innumerable labors, he found time to compose a great number of works. He is known above all for his magnificent contributions to the Liturgy of the Mass and Office. The mainstream form of Western plainchant, standardized in the late 9th century, was attributed to Pope Gregory I and so took the name of Gregorian chant. Gregory wrote over 850 letters in the last 13 years of his life (590–604) that give us an accurate picture of his work. He is one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church. He died on March 12, 604. St Gregory is the patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers.

I am happy to share the first video in the new Blog format. One can hear the famous monks of the Abbey of St. Peter in Solesmes chanting the Mass in Gregorian Chant.