Ignatian spirituality tries to find God in all things. Many take issue with that premise, especially when stuck knee deep in the mire of day-to-day problems. I don't claim to be Ignatian in my outlook (nor Franciscan, Benedictine, etc) on events or things. As a Catholic, I'm a little bit of all of those charisms, and more. But I do believe God works through the secular, just as I have faith that all things work for the good.
When I was a kid, I really enjoyed reading history. Usually, I wasn't reading the history that I was supposed to be reading in the classroom. I really didn't do that well in school until I served two hitches in the Marines and then decided to get out and go to college. Grade school and high school? Homework, schmomework!
Just heard the news and said a prayer for his soul, and for his family who will grieve his passing. He fought illness for a long time, yet never turned inward with his visionary gifts. Back in the summer, I happened upon this video of the commencement speech he gave at Stanford University.
It's hard to believe that a year has gone by, but it's the Little Flower's Feast Day again. This time last year, I shared a post in which Thérèse was likened to, and bettered, both Confucius and Lao Tzu. And now, as then, I turn to thoughts on her penned by my friend John C.H. Wu.
Today is the Feast of St. Michael and the Archangels, also known as Michaelmas. I like the sound of that calendar name for today's feast and the knowledge that this day used to be a huge festival marking the beginning of Autumn (which is my favorite season). I actually hope that this day is still celebrated extravagantly somewhere on the planet. Next year, send me an invitation, or some Michaelmas recipes (and history!) or something.
Why do I believe in angels? Because they are real. See, Our Lord said so, and he never told a fib. What follows is a brief poem penned by a favorite of mine to help me get into the spirit of this day.
St. Michael in Time of Peace, by G.K. Chesterton
Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning,
Michael of the Army of the Lord,
Stiffen thou the hand upon the still sword, Michael,
Folded and shut upon the sheathed sword, Michael,
Under the fullness of the white robes falling,
Gird us with the secret of the sword.
When the world cracked because of a sneer in heaven,
Leaving out for all time a scar upon the sky,
Thou didst rise up against the Horror in the highest,
Dragging down the highest that looked down on the Most High:
Rending from the seventh heaven the hell of exaltation
Down the seven heavens till the dark seas burn:
Thou that in thunder threwest down the Dragon
Knowest in what silence the Serpent can return.
Down through the universe the vast night falling
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning!)
Far down the universe the deep calms calling
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the Sword!)
Bid us not forget in the baths of all forgetfulness,
In the sigh long drawn from the frenzy and the fretfulness
In the huge holy sempiternal silence
In the beginning was the Word.
When from the deeps of dying God astounded
Angels and devils who do all but die
Seeing Him fallen where thou couldst not follow,
Seeing Him mounted where thou couldst not fly,
Hand on the hilt, thou hast halted all thy legions
Waiting the Tetelestai and the acclaim,
Swords that salute Him dead and everlasting
God beyond God and greater than His Name.
Round us and over us the cold thoughts creeping
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the battle-cry!)
Round us and under us the thronged world sleeping
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the Charge!)
Guard us the Word; the trysting and the trusting
Edge upon the honour and the blade unrusting
Fine as the hair and tauter than the harpstring
Ready as when it rang upon the targe.
He that giveth peace unto us; not as the world giveth:
He that giveth law unto us; not as the scribes:
Shall he be softened for the softening of the cities
Patient in usury; delicate in bribes?
They that come to quiet us, saying the sword is broken,
Break man with famine, fetter them with gold,
Sell them as sheep; and He shall know the selling
For He was more than murdered. He was sold.
Michael, Michael: Michael of the Mustering,
Michael of the marching on the mountains of the Lord,
Marshal the world and purge of rot and riot
Rule through the world till all the world be quiet:
Only establish when the world is broken
What is unbroken is the word.
Likes Michaelmas
Roast Goose!
That ol' Chesterton sure could wield a mighty pen.
Now, this feast day would not be complete without a prayer asking St. Michael the Archangel to pray for us and for the Church. Happily, I also found this excellent video presentation of Pope Leo XIII's original prayer to St. Michael. Composed sometime between 1884 -1898 (I couldn't find the definitive date), the original prayer is both longer and more soul satisfying than the short version that I am used to seeing.
I'd be much obliged if you would pray it along with me now with a special intention for my brother in Christ, Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani.
Psst...I finished reading Evelyn Waugh's novel Helena. I think it is fantastic and I enjoyed it immensely. Reading it makes we want to head with my family to the Holy Land on pilgrimage, bankrupting us in the process. St. Helena, as the empress dowager, never faced that particular financial aspect of her own journey to Palestine.
And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set down, his disciples came unto him. And opening his mouth, he taught them, saying:
Thank you YIMCatholic Readers! On the last day of this past August, I shared a post about helping to make the movie All That Remains.When completed, it will be a docu-drama about the life of Dr. Takashi Nagai, survivor of the aftermath of the atomic bombing of the city of Nagasaki. I called it "rattling the tin cup" for a good cause, and I shared the post with you all. I threw a few shekels in myself and prayed that others would respond too.
I came pretty close to spending an entire lifetime on planet Earth without knowing that it's Our Mother's birthday today. The painting above reflects this event from the perspective of a contemporary Russian artist named Vasili Nesterenko, who painted this in the year of Our Lord, 2002. Here's a little something else I found in the old Roman Breviary over on the YIMCatholic Bookshelf. Genealogists might get a kick out of it.
For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in.
I hear that you lost a few coins yesterday in the maelstrom.
I am sorry for your loss.
Perhaps you follow the financial markets too closely.
Or the latest budget crisis.
Or political football contests.
In recollection, news and vain gossip have no appeal, nor do we like to hear anything that does not advise us to withdraw further into our hearts...for their (the recollected) only wish is to see God with their hearts.
No, this isn't about Uncle Sam, patriotism, or anything like that. This is part two of a series on the work of on-going personal conversion that I started yesterday. Milk drinkers beware, because meat and potatoes are coming your way. Bring your knives and forks and spoons. Napkins are optional.
Today we pray for protection from the storms of life, both natural and man-made. It seems to me that the most devastating storms are those of the man-made variety. They rob us spiritually more than materially.
So our prayers are turned especially to storms of this type today. Let us learn to not let the noise of the gale blot out the signal calling us to life. Let us call on God for the fruits of the Holy Spirit instead of the fruits of this world. For,
Saints be praised, we can put this to bed! Raquel Maria Dillion of the AP has the scoop,
Police recovered the relic of St. Anthony of Padua on Thursday at the Long Beach home of Maria Solis, 41, and Solis was arrested on suspicion of commercial burglary, Long Beach Deputy Police Chief Robert Luna said Thursday evening.
Parishioners applauded when a police officer placed the delicate gold and silver reliquary containing a tiny shard of bone on a table at the news conference in front of the church.
Did I miss something? Why is this on the YIM page?
What is “this?” Nothing much, just a little video that I shared on the Facebook page. Unfortunately, only those who “like” the Facebook page or follow YIMCatholic on Twitter got to see the video. My bad. From now on, I’ll just do a post. That way, see, none of you will be left out when I have something I think is brilliant enough to share with you.
Thanks to having low friends in high places, I can share this with you. You used to have to be an operative of the CIA, or MI-5, to be able to pull up stuff like this on your computer screen. Nowadays, you can do so from your investment house's Bloomberg machines. By doing so, you can even pretend that having this kind of knowledge at your finger tips will give you an investing edge. It won't, but that is another story.
Sounds like a case for G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown. AP reporter Raquel Maria Dillon has the story,
A 780-year-old religious relic of St. Anthony of Padua has been stolen, and parishioners at a Southern California Catholic church are praying to the patron saint of lost causes and missing objects for its speedy return.
The relic was stolen from inside a cabinet beside the altar at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Long Beach on Monday, the feast day of the church's namesake.
Back in January, I asked you to pray for the people of Egypt. Remember those heady days when revolution was in the air? And then the domino effect started rippling through the entire Middle East.
Will it all end in tolerant and freedom nurturing democratic republics? Where the rule-of-law supercedes the tyranny of authoritarian dictatorship? I pray it does, especially for the peace-loving people of Egypt.
Hey, look at the calendar. The election cycle is coming around again! Time to check our brains at the door and just go with our gut feelings. Embrace fuzzy math concepts like 1 + 1 = 3.18275. Stuff like that.
Forget the real substantive issues we can actually do something about, like fixing Social Security's looming bankruptcy, and instead focus on bankrupting ourselves by bombing Yemen. Sweet!
