Within the next couple of hours, I'll be leaving for Besancon, France.  I'm going for the beatification of Pere Marie Jean Joseph Lataste, OP., as the Apostle of Prison.  I'm not taking my lap top with me.  So there will be no blogging until I come back.  I'll be gone for a total of two weeks.  Then I'll chronicle the event and my prayers, poetry, and thoughts, from the retreat at St. Niklausen.

I’m very excited.  This is an adventure.  I even feel like Mary in this morning’s gospel, “My soul magnifies the Lord.    My spirit rejoices.  He has looked with favor upon me.”  That’s how I feel.  Wowza!

 

I was blessed beginning with Morning Mass at the Abbey.  An old friend was there—Deacon Dick.  He was never my spiritual director-- he was better!  I would go and tell him what my SD said and we’d discuss it.  It was perfect for me.  He always helped me put things in perspective.  Dick lives in Virginia now, and was just by coincidence visiting friends around here.  See—I feel so blessed.

All day friends and family have been calling and tweeting and texting their good wishes and love.  I am very blessed.

Last night, Fr. Frank Campo said a beautiful blessing over me.  My parish prayer group prayed over me.  Before that, my Dominican Study Group prayed for me.

My soul really rejoices in the goodness of God.  I’ll tell you all about it when I return home, after June 14^th.

Within the next couple of hours, I'll be leaving for Besancon, France.  I'm going for the beatification of Pere Marie Jean Joseph Lataste, OP., as the Apostle of Prison.  I'm not taking my lap top with me.  So there will be no blogging until I come back.  I'll be gone for a total of two weeks.  Then I'll chronicle the event and my prayers, poetry, and thoughts, from the retreat at St. Niklausen.

The Apostle of Prisons Mimics St. Dominic

Pere Marie Jean-Joseph will be beatified in four days--June 3, 2012.  In reading Hope Beyond Hope, by Sister Emmanuelle-Marie, O.P., I can see that Pere Lataste is following the example of St. Dominic.  Page 61, asserts that the religious foundation that Lataste wished to be begin had to be Dominican.  Didn't Dominic begin the Order by creating a convent made up of women converted from the Cathar heresy, that permitted all kinds of sexual abuse, in the name of some kind of sadomasochistic contempt of the human body?  Didn't he give these women the task of sustaining his preaching, and his future friars, through their prayers and contemplative life?

And so Pere Lataste would emulate St. Dominic.  The preacher of the prison of Cadillac wanted to entrust all victims of evil to the Dominicans of Bethany.  He wanted them to pray like St. Dominic, praying all night.  He wanted them to be like Mary Magdalene, apostles of the Resurrection.  He wanted them to be holy.

These are the Dominican Sisters of Bethany.

Two Year Olds and Mercy

She wouldn't come out of the shower.  My granddaughter is only 22 months and already she was throwing a temper tantrum.  I take her swimming once a week in a YMCA pool.  She loves it.  She loves to shower, also.

The problem was that she was tired.  Swimming wipes her out.  I told her it was time to go home--to see--Mommy and Daddy.  But she was screaming so loud she couldn't hear a word I said.  I shut the water off.  She screamed louder.  I tried to pull her out but she was slippery wet and backed away from me.  I offered her food and she took it and threw it at me.  I offered her a toy.  That was thrown at me, too.

She was uncontrollable.

I didn't know what to do.  She had to come out.  I wrapped her in a towel and took her out screaming, crying, kicking, slapping and also slippery wet.  I had a hard time drying her, never mind her resisting and hampering every article of clothing I put on her.

Everyone in the locker room looked at us disapprovingly.  Not one look of sympathy!  Not one offer of help.  In fact, the locker room emptied of people.

I got her dressed, enough...no socks nor shoes because she wasn't walking; she had to be carried out.  She still screamed bloody murder.  Her hair was a mess.  There was no way I could dry it, let alone comb it.  Forget barrettes!

She's about 30 pounds.  That's 30 pounds of resistance.  Besides kicking, punching, slapping, she was now biting.  Did I mention that I was carrying a backpack of wet towels and bathing suits?
I also had the diaper bag.  In addition, my pocketbook was a heavy burden.

I carried all.  But with her squirming and pushing, I had to keep stopping and adjusting my hold on her, so I wouldn't drop her.  It seemed an inordinate amount of time to traverse my way out of the locker room, down the corridor, through the foyer, out to the parking lot.  Meanwhile, trying to sheepishly smile away the hostile glares.  I was not a monster.  She was!

She kept it up as we painstakingly staggered to the car.  Damn!  Why did I park in the last row?

Finally, the car door was opened.  I resisted the urge to throw her in her car seat, and firmly placed her in a secure position.

Do you believe the volume of her screams never lessened?

I backed out of the parking space.  I put the car in gear and proceeded out of the parking lot.

All of a sudden, it was quiet.  I looked in the rear view mirror.  Could she be asleep, already?  I stopped the car and looked at her.

She was sound asleep.

No she didn't look like an angel.  Her expression showed that she was asleep under protest.

So be it.  And she stayed asleep, as her mother carried her to her crib.  She napped for three hours.

I was upset and angry.  I thought of God's providence.  Hmpf.   Then I thought of Father Lataste's message of love and mercy.  Hmpf.

Yes, she's my granddaughter and I do love her.  I'm upset but not angry.  She's not even two, so who can I be angry at.  God?  Well, who else?

So OK, there's nobody to be angry at.  I have to forgive her because she's only a baby and doesn't understand.  She can't articulate her feelings any other way.

Do you think God feels the same way about us?  We sin because were human.  We upset Him but He has to forgive us because we don't know any better.  Is this what Father Lataste was trying to tell the women in Cadillac?

God is all merciful, full of love.

Hmpf.  But I'm not divine.

I will never take her into a shower, again.  Never.  From now on, we come out of the pool, and walk by the showers, and go to the dressing rooms.  No more showers.  Never.  At least until she out of the terrible two's.

God Bless America

Today is Memorial Day.  Daily Mass was so crowded that I wondered whether people thought Memorial Day was a Holy Day of Obligation.  Then I thought again.  What better way to honor our dead veterans and other loved ones, than by celebrating Mass?

Memorial Day is a time for people to remember and honor veterans.  Fr. Moy related a story about his friend, the military chaplain.  When his friend became too old to serve in the military, he would still remember all servicemen at his Masses.  He would remember them, individually.  What he did the was cut out the obituaries from the Armed Services newspapers.  Then he brought the newspaper cutouts to Mass.  He'd announce before Mass began that Mass was being said for .....  He'd read the name, rank, branch of service, where they came from, dates, and where they died.  He does this every day.

The recessional after the Mass was the organ playing God Bless America--just the organ music.

Guess what.

We people spontaneously broke out singing God Bless America.

I was very moved.  I had a flashback from my childhood.  As a petulant child trying to avoid going to bed, I would often beg for more stories, prayers, songs, etc., from my babysitter--my great aunt.  She was my grandmother's sister.  She never married, and more or less adopted us as her own children.  I loved her very much.  She never learned to speak much English, but she was a patriotic American.  She only knew one song in English--God Bless America.

Let me tell you.  No one sings God Bless America, as heartfelt as an immigrant American, with broken English.

I love you, Auntie.  Requiescat in pace et in amore.

Happy Birthday Catholics

Summer is here.  At least my own official summer on the Cape has arrived.  At Mass this morning, I had a pleasant surprise.  St. Anthony's is my summer parish.  I found that the tabernacle had been moved.  It is in the center of the sanctuary.  I like it better because now no matter where I sit I can see it.  Today I sat under this window.

It is Pentecost.

The parish was having a festival for the Holy Spirit.  This is a Cape Verdean parish and the Portuguese Club is the place to go.  That's where the action is.

I also feel like I've been infused by the Holy Spirit.  I'm starting to get hyper over my trip to France for the beatification.  I'm leaving in four days!!! The beatification of Pere Lataste is in a week.  

Just think, Father Lataste beatification really started when he witnesses the conversion of women prisoners.  They were touched by the Holy Spirit.  He was blessed by the Holy Spirit.  His work was guided by the Holy Spirit.  Father Lataste's beatification is the work of the Holy Spirit.  You can't hold back the Holy Spirit.  Deo Gratias.

Fortnight for Freedom

 

CNA/EWTN News is promoting the USCCB's initiative "Fortnight for Freedom" June 21-July 4, to encourage prayer, education, and action in regards to religious freedom.

This is in response to the Obama Administrations efforts that threaten our Catholic consciences.  The Health and Human services mandate is the perfect example.  This mandate requires employers to cover birth control and other services that Catholics find morally reprehensible.

“Religious liberty is not only about our ability to go to Mass on Sunday or to pray the Rosary at home. It is about whether we can continue to make our contribution to the common good of all Americans without violating our deeply-held moral beliefs,” Bishop Malone said. “This issue affects all Americans — it is not a Catholic issue, a Jewish issue, an Orthodox, Mormon, or Muslim issue. It is an American issue.”

In an April 12 statement, the U.S. Bishops’ ad hoc committee for religious liberty called for a “fortnight of freedom” from June 21 to July 4. The period includes a series of feasts of “great martyrs” who faced political oppression. Their statement was an “urgent summons” to U.S. Catholics, stressing the need for prayer, fasting, and public action for religious freedom.