"Late at Night"

JMJ.  Ever since I retired almost 3 years ago now, I find myself staying up a little bit later than I was ever wont to do before.  The night seems so clean compared to the day--so few people out and about; so few distractions.  So, right before bed I walk the dog. 

Tully, one of our older ferrets, likes to help.  Well, let me explain that.  Tully loves to go outside.  He also has an adrenal tumour which has caused him to lose most of the hair in his coat which leaves him looking pretty naked.  He's beginning to grow some back, though, so he just looks like a ferret with a Mohawk of hair down his back and pinkish sueded skin elsewhere.  So, since it's starting to get a little warmer now, I let him help walk Linus.

Which means that I put Linus' collar and leash on him and tuck Tully under my arm under my jacket and he keeps me company while we're out for Linus' late-night constitutional.  Well, a couple of nights ago we had a full moon and a pretty clear sky.  Now, normally I associate the moon in any of its phases as a symbol of our Blessed Mother since the light She provides us is not Her own but Her reflection of the light provided by Her Son. 

That night however Linus, and Tully, and I were treated to a huge, resplendent orb hanging in the night sky with (thanks to the haze) an enormous halo around it.  It looked for all the world like a pale golden monstrance without a pedestal and Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament shone down upon the three of us!  Gotta take Tully out more often.  He loves this almost as much as I do.

"Enemy Territory"

JMJ.    You can always tell when you're in enemy territory, behind enemy lines.  Easy.  Most everyone you encounter is trying to kill you.  Usually, too, the enemy doesn't think like you, believe as you, nor often look like you do.  A goodly number of years ago, as an example, the U.S. was embroiled in an unfriendly situation in Southeast Asia.  The people shooting at us didn't look the least like us.  They were generally shorter, more slender, had darker hair and skin, and shot at us.  Simple.

I would not have wanted to be Vietnamese, though.  I mean you have a chance meeting with someone in the jungle who looks somewhat similar to you.  Now--do you shoot first or offer the guy a cigarette?  See what I mean?  Kind of an iffy situation and if you guess wrong you probably won't get a chance to guess again.

We've got a nasty, dirty, and dangerous situation going on in this country now.  We're at war with folks who look just like us and are all around us--they may be family members, neighbors, and the enemy most assuredly runs our government.  The good guys are surrounded by the enemy and we're behind their lines.  They think nothing like us, believe in nothing that we do, hold nothing that we do sacred, and will cheerfully stick a knife between our ribs if given half a chance.

How can you know him?  He will smile at you, he will say he has your best interests at heart.  He wants to keep you safe and warm and healthy.  You don't need your guns, there's nothing to fear, the nice doctor will make your baby go away.  If you feel a cold breath on the back of your neck there's nothing to fear--no need for prayers to a God who's of no value.  Is your spouse in a vegetative state?  Don't worry, we'll put him or her out of our misery.  Are your children acting up?  We'll deal with them, too. Do you feel too depressed to go on any more?  We've got a pill that will help you leave your mortal coils behind.  We are the Culture of Death and we want to help you.

Yes.  They've sold their souls for a crust of bread and a little bit of power.  They surround us, they are the slaves of the Evil One and most don't even know they're doing his will.  How do we fight back, how do we protect ourselves?  It'll seem counterintuitive for someone who's been in a hot war zone but here it is...Don't hide, don't blend in, don't keep your values to yourself.  Praise God every day.  Pray for all you're worth.  And whatever you do--don't despair.  Many will die; WE may die.  But we will triumph over them in the end.

You must know your enemy!  Be stealthy, be wise, be very cautious.  But rejoice.  The victory is eventually ours. 

"Welcoming an Angel?"

JMJ.

I had to run into the hospital today.  Just picked up a prescription, but I ran up to the endoscopy unit where I used to work to say "hi" to anyone still at work but everyone had gone home.  I passed a guy in the hall who was walking out.  Hobbling, actually.  He was probably about forty but looked sixty and was barely mobile with a cane.  He looked as if walking were the ultimate torture and I admit to wondering what had happened.

Well, some twenty minutes later I'd completed all I had to do and collected my car from the parking garage.  I hadn't gone more than a quarter mile from the hospital when I passed this poor guy making his painful way.  I had not but passed him when my dear guardian angel, Cornelius, kinda poked me in the ribs to get my attention so I turned the car around and headed back.

I don't normally make a point of picking up strangers but I doubted that even if he meant me ill that he could do anything serious.  Frankly, he looked like a good stiff wind could blow him over.  I hollered out the window to ask if he needed a ride and he nodded with apparent relief.  He labouriously got in and stuck out his hand and introduced himself as Kevin.  I asked how far he was going and it turned out to be right up the street.  Turns out he'd been involved in a bad accident 8 1/2 years ago and he said most of his spine was either fused or metal. 

I told him that my wife has M.S. and that I try to be aware of others with disabilities which was why I picked him up.  As he was getting out of the car he told me how much he appreciated the lift and said, "I'm sorry about your wife."  Now the reason for this story is not to make myself out to be someone I'm not but to point out how sometimes heaven puts folks in our paths as an opportunity for us to do something nice for others.  Was he an angel I ministered to?  I doubt it.  I'm not that fortunate.  But he COULD have been.  I remember thinking how heavy his cross seemed to be and how heavy my wife's is.  And then I thought, "If I want to see heavy, all I have to do is look at a crucifix."

"Walking the Dog"

JMJ. 

Every night I do the same things--I give our boy Tully (the ferret) his medication, I put him in a carry-sack around my neck, and then he and I walk Linus.  Linus gets to smell other dogs and water the trees, Tully gets a ride and the smell of the outdoors in his nose, and I get a little exercise.  At midnight it's a peaceful and serene time. 

It's been cloudy here in Berea the last few nights and generally rainy, too.  Imagine my surprise when I exited the garage and was met with a comparatively well-lit neighborhood.  I had completely forgotten the imminence of a full moon!  There she was, hanging brightly above the branches of a nearby maple.  The moon was so bright that the night was a supernal indigo.  Like a lens will focus and burn a hole in a piece of paper during the day, the majesty of our Blessed Mother seemed to have burnt a huge hole in the very fabric of the sky.

From where She might be seated next to Her Son, She had focused and reflected His Divine Light upon a hushed world.  Wow!

"It's Simple Arithmetic"

JMJ. 


      Pro-Choice
      Pro-Gay Marriage
      Pro-Euthanasia
      Pro-Fetal Stem Cell Research
  + Pro-Infanticide
________________________
      Anti-Christ

"The True Presence Revisited"

JMJ.  I was involved in something the other day and in the course thereof I had a thought.  (I do that from time to time when I've nothing better to do.  I try not to do it too often because it sometimes leaves a funny odour.  Besides, I don't want my wife thinking I'm trying to get above myself.) 

Anyway, since I was reading the Beginning Apologetics booklet dealing with explaining the True Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament I imagined myself talking to a hypothetical Protestant about that topic.  In my head I said something like, "Well, Mr. Protestant, you've told me that the words of our Lord at the Last Supper, 'Take, eat.  This is my body which will be given up for you...this is the chalice of My Blood, the Blood, etc.' were only meant symbolically.  I'm really not sure how you know this because Christ's words seem to be quite emphatic.  You leave me in a pickle.  I either believe you--or Jesus.  There is no other choice really.  Hmmm.  I'm sorry, Mr. Protestant.  I'm gonna have to go with the Lord on this one."

"Another Lent"

JMJ.  Ash Wednesday.  Another Lent is upon us.  I'm reading a great book called Biblical Evidence For the Communion of Saints by Dave Armstrong.  (Don't worry, I'll tie this all together in just a minute.)  Anyway, not only does it discuss the doctrine itself, it also shows how efficacious it is to make use of our relations to those who are now either in heaven or purgatory. 

For some reason known only to themselves, Protestants believe in praying for each other and to God but leave out those who have "fallen asleep in the Lord" and now are either with Him and seeing Him face to face or who are darned close to that blessed state.   Go figure.
Sure, we can still pray directly to God, but just think about how much extra clout we gain by going to those closest to Him for their help.

St. James in his epistle tells us that the prayer of a righteous person is very effective.  It stands to reason, doesn't it, that the more righteous that intercessor is, the more effective their prayer is, too.  That's the whole idea behind prayers to our holy guardian angels and to the Blessed Mother.  Who could possibly be more righteous than she?  Taking that a step further, prayers to St Joseph and to the Blessed Apostles would be a great idea.

Ok.  Here's the tie-in with Lent.  God chose the Blessed Virgin out of millions of women to carry God Incarnate and to bring Him to us.  Thus, She's the prime intercessor.  And then He chose St. Joseph to be Her spouse and Jesus' adoptive father.  (And don't forget that in Jewish society adoption carried the same strength that blood ties did.)  Out of millions of men He chose Joseph, surely a supremely righteous man to guard them both. 

Who else was chosen for a unique relationship with our Lord?  Simon of Cyrene.  Out of untold men, the Roman soldiers, guided I'm sure by the hand of the Holy Spirit, chose St. Simon of Cyrene.  He (in my humble opinion) epitomises mankind's coming face to face with Divinity.  Afraid, frightened...and finally awestruck. 

Unfortunately I still have somewhat of the Protestant hidden in my genes.  It's hard to over-come built-in habits.  But I'm trying.  That's why I have just a few favourite intercessors--our Blessed Mother (of course), St. Joseph, St. James, St. Martin de Porres, and Pope St. Pius X.
And St. Simon of Cyrene who stood in for me when He helped our Lord carry His cross.  Pray for us, holy one!