Little Update

I am finally back online after an extended absence, and most probably about to begin another. I do not have a computer, nor stable internet access as our dialup goes out for three days every time it rains. Highly inconvenient as there is an aweful lot of rain coming down these days.

This past weekend my sisters and I sang for a High Solemn Mass at our friends' wedding. Jiza and Mark had a traditional Latin Mass/Filipino wedding, which was not only a lovely experience but an extremely beautiful Mass. It was also nice to be part of a choir that knew what they were doing and had really practiced everything. Even though each individual messed up a lot, it would seem that the other voices covered up the mishap and nobody knew otherwise. Great experience. In addition to the actual liturgy, which was of course the best ever as the pinacle of beauty and creation, the church itself was lovely. Despite the fact that it is your typical ugly Naval Base construction job, the internal decorations, statues, and pictures were enough to make the place seem like heaven on earth. I am certain that if the faithful had a mind to, they could make any ugly delapidated building look fitting for a king.

The job search goes on, and I'm looking at as many options as I possibly can. Deborah is heading back to school with her roomate later this week. And our family embarks once more on a changing time.

There are a ton of posts I've been meaning to make, but I do not have frequent computer access and thus they never get typed. So, for all intensive purposes, my mind appears as blank as this blog. But you just can't tell all that goes on. How's that for being cryptic?

This Summer

The summer is almost over, and things have been a little difficult of late. My job search has thus not produced anything, but I have a place to live and food so it isn't a big deal. After one has been living independently but finds it necessary to move back home, there are bound to be certain irritations and frustrations, especially since one's freedom is essentially neutered. Well, maybe not quite, but very nearly so.

One of the most difficult situations for me personally has been having to share a room with my three little sisters...it's about 20x20 feet, so a modest size, but we are a all a bit slobbish. I've often been annoyed with clutter, with clothing everywhere, not being able to just relax and read if I want to, having to share my clothes (which was probably inevitable in the first place regardless of room situation), share my space...my, my, my, mine. Today, though, we watched "The Diary of Anne Frank," and I remembered all I had read about that time period: Bright Candles, The Borrowed House, The Hiding Place, Number the Stars, I Am David, Father Elijah, The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican, and all the others. Who am I to complain about having to share a small messy space with three sisters? Many of those people, most Jewish, shared similarly confined spaces with others in order that they might live one day longer. How much space does a person need anyway.

In the end, we don't need more than a 1.5x6 foot box in death. How much more do we need in life? An entire room? An apartment? A mansion.

My guess is that most of us can get by with much less room than we think.

By an Unknown Confederate Soldier

I didn't find this one on my own, but from a friend.

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve,
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do great things,
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy,
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men,
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing I asked for...but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am, among all men, most richly blessed.

Name that Patriotic Song/Speach/Document

Alright folks, see if you can! And all those Patriots out there may add their own if they so desire! I would have put more, but these are the only ones I could remember off the top of my head...so feel free to correct me if my memory was not quite up to par!

1.
"As the storm clouds gather far across the sea, let us swear allegiance to a land that's free. Let us all be grateful for a land so fair as we lift our voices in a solemn prayer."

2.
"In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, with a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me. As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free while God is marching on!"

3.
"Our flag's unfurled to every breeze from dawn to setting sun.
We have been to every climb and place where we could take a gun.
If the army and the navy ever look on heaven's scene,
they will find the streets are guarded by the United States Marines."

4.
"We the people of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense; promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity do ordain and establish this constitution for the United states of America."

5.
"There was Captain Washington upon a slappin' stallion a givin' orders to his men, I guess there was a million."

6.
"O thus be it ever when free men shall stand between their loved homes and the war's desolation. Blessed with victory and peace may the heaven rescued land praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
And then conquer we must when our cause it is just, and this be our motto: in God is Our trust!
And the flag of the free, forever may it wave, or the land of the free and the home of the brave."

7.
I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy, a Yankee-doodle do or die!
A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam, born on the fourth of July!
I've got a Yankee doodle sweatheart, she's my Yankee doodle joy.
Yankee doodle went to London just to ride the ponies,
I am my Yankee doodle Boy!

8.
Four-score and seven years ago, our Fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal...that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

9.
"Treason is a charge invented by the winners as an excuse for hanging the loosers"
(sorry, I couldn't resist)

10.
He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it’s most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.

11.
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teaming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed, to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

12.
RESOLVED, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be totally dissolved.

13.
When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a people to advance from that subordination in which they have hitherto remained, & to assume among the powers of the earth the equal & independant station to which the laws of nature & of nature’s god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the change.

Favorite Pictures

One day towards the culmination of my final semester, I found myself without much to do and a camera in my hand. Actually, there was probably plenty to do, but I couldn't think of anything better at the time. You know when you are always saying to yourself "if I had time, I would do x, y, and z" or "goodness, will I ever find the time to finish that?" and then one day, you find yourself with nothing but time on your hands and you can't remember a thing that you wanted to do? Well, this was one of those times. I finally got a chance to play with the camera, and several things lying on my counter top crying to be preserved for posterity. I always like looking at artistically pleasing photographs, and taking them is even more enjoyable.



Bananas and Bread and Peppers:
some very happy things...especially for poverty stricken students who happened to find them on sale at Aldis and needed a spike in nutritional well being. They also looked amazing in color. Lotsa vitamin C, Beta carotene, water, and endorphines (released by happy things).





Great-granny's copper teapot and the cast iron skillet my mother gave me were staples to make it through the the extreme cold of the Ohio winter weather.

"Green besprings Ohio Valley..." well, at least part of it...the buds were just coming in and I have no idea why the grass was so very green that early.

Graduation and a few word.

It has been a long time since I posted anything personal up here. My goodness! I am very lazy, and that's probably the worst thing about me. now that that is out in the open, I shall commence updating my worthy readers on my life.


Nothing of note has happened.


Just kidding =D.


I finally graduated from Franciscan University in the Nursing Class of 2009. When our class was called we rang cowbells, threw confetti and streamers into the air, and squirted out 60cc syringes of saline solution! Oddly enough, I don't feel any differently than when I was an undergrad. Odd, huh? Just like I said. Perhaps it was compounded by the stress of my entire family living in my apartment with me. Nothing like family bonding time. My three younger sisters remained with me in my apartment after the graduation, and everyone else has gone back to Virginia.

Funny the changes graduation brings about. As a college student, one has credibility, status, and worth. I am now unemployed for the most part...or at least i will be as soon as I quite my student work job. I also have gobs and gobs to study, for I cannot become a nurse until I pass the NCLEX.

Thus is the beginning of my mundane little summer...and life post graduate.

Morning Reflection

Beginning this year, I have been trying to pray more, so I have been attempting the liturgy of the hours in the morning and evening. Success has been minimal, but I'm just gonna keep going on this. This morning while praying the office, I was struck by a phrase in the second psalmody, a canticle from Isaiah:

On Zion sinners are in dread,
trembling grips the impious;
"Who of us can live with the consuming fire?
Who of us can live with the everlasting flames?"

He who practices virtue and speaks honestly,
who spurns what is gained by oppression,
brushing his hands
free of contact with a bribe,
stopping his ears lest he hear of bloodshed,
closing his eyes lest he look on evil.

What captured my attention was the description of the one who practices virtue. Though the virtuous person is above evil, he does not allow himself to be exposed to it. This flies in the face of the opinion many Christians and Catholics alike hold: "I can watch immoral stuff in movies cause it doesn't affect me. I would never do that. I'm tough, I can take it." The difference between a wise man and a foolish one may be said to be determined by one thing only. That is, that the one knows his weakness and avoids it. The other denies his weakness and thinks he will become strong by exposing himself to as many evils/dangers as possible.

I'm thinking that this would be hard to live. Personally, I love murder mysteries. Closing my eyes against evil is definitely something to work on, because my curiosity may be my downfall in that. Greater vigilance is needed in the Church and in personal life.

Declining Notre Dame: A Letter from Mary Ann Glendon

Hooray for her! I encourage all my fellow Catholics to stand up against lukewarmness and to take appropriate action against such outrages as an upstanding Catholic University inviting a pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia, pro-embryonic stem cell research politician to speak at it's commencement. I am listing this letter because I think it is well written and gets the point across respectfully but without any wishy-washy dillydallying.

April 27, 2009
The Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
President
University of Notre Dame

Dear Father Jenkins,

When you informed me in December 2008 that I had been selected to receive Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal, I was profoundly moved. I treasure the memory of receiving an honorary degree from Notre Dame in 1996, and I have always felt honored that the commencement speech I gave that year was included in the anthology of Notre Dame’s most memorable commencement speeches. So I immediately began working on an acceptance speech that I hoped would be worthy of the occasion, of the honor of the medal, and of your students and faculty.

Last month, when you called to tell me that the commencement speech was to be given by President Obama, I mentioned to you that I would have to rewrite my speech. Over the ensuing weeks, the task that once seemed so delightful has been complicated by a number of factors.

First, as a longtime consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, I could not help but be dismayed by the news that Notre Dame also planned to award the president an honorary degree. This, as you must know, was in disregard of the U.S. bishops’ express request of 2004 that Catholic institutions “should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles” and that such persons “should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” That request, which in no way seeks to control or interfere with an institution’s freedom to invite and engage in serious debate with whomever it wishes, seems to me so reasonable that I am at a loss to understand why a Catholic university should disrespect it.

Then I learned that “talking points” issued by Notre Dame in response to widespread criticism of its decision included two statements implying that my acceptance speech would somehow balance the event:

• “President Obama won’t be doing all the talking. Mary Ann Glendon, the former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, will be speaking as the recipient of the Laetare Medal.”

• “We think having the president come to Notre Dame, see our graduates, meet our leaders, and hear a talk from Mary Ann Glendon is a good thing for the president and for the causes we care about.”

A commencement, however, is supposed to be a joyous day for the graduates and their families. It is not the right place, nor is a brief acceptance speech the right vehicle, for engagement with the very serious problems raised by Notre Dame’s decision—in disregard of the settled position of the U.S. bishops—to honor a prominent and uncompromising opponent of the Church’s position on issues involving fundamental principles of justice.

Finally, with recent news reports that other Catholic schools are similarly choosing to disregard the bishops’ guidelines, I am concerned that Notre Dame’s example could have an unfortunate ripple effect.

It is with great sadness, therefore, that I have concluded that I cannot accept the Laetare Medal or participate in the May 17 graduation ceremony.

In order to avoid the inevitable speculation about the reasons for my decision, I will release this letter to the press, but I do not plan to make any further comment on the matter at this time.

Yours Very Truly,

Mary Ann Glendon

Taken from a post by a member of Phatmass discussion board: http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?showtopic=93928

Plunket poems

Joseph Mary Plunkett, one of my favorite poets, was born in Dublin at the end of the 19th century. He was an amazing scholar, and apparently had an attraction for the works of Saint John of the Cross, St. Theresa of Avila, and Francis DeSales, which definitely comes out in his writings. They themselves are not only patterned after the mystics, but seem to be somewhat mystical in themselves. He joined the Easter Rebellion against the tyranny of the English, was apprehended and condemned to death. On the morning of his execution, May 4, 1916, he married his fiance, Grace Gifford. He was executed that day at the age of 28. This is one of my favorite poems he writes, so evident of the wonder and glory of God.

I See His Blood Upon the Rose

I see his blood upon the rose
And in the stars the glory of his eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.

I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds
Are but his voice—and carven by his power
Rocks are his written words.

All pathways by his feet are worn,
His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea,
His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,
His cross is every tree.


Another favorite:
The Splendour of God

The drunken stars stagger across the sky,
The moon wavers and sways like a wind-blown bud,
Beneath my feet the earth like drifting scud
Lapses and slides, wallows and shoots on high;
Immovable things start suddenly flying by,
The city shakes and quavers, a city of mud
And ooze—a brawling cataract is my blood
Of molten metal and fire—like God am I.

When God crushes his passion-fruit for our thirst
And the universe totters—I have burst the grape
Of the world, and let its powerful blood escape
Untasted—crying whether my vision durst
See God’s high glory in a girl’s soft shape—
God! Is my worship blessed or accurst?


My Lady has the Grace of Death

My lady has the grace of Death
Whose charity is quick to save,
Her heart is broad as heaven’s breath,
Deep as the grave.

She found me fainting by the way
And fed me from her babeless breast
Then played with me as children play,
Rocked me to rest.

When soon I rose and cried to heaven
Moaning for sins I could not weep,
She told me of her sorrows seven
Kissed me to sleep

And when the morn rose bright and ruddy
And sweet birds sang on the branch above
She took my sword from her side all bloody
And died for love

Old Glory

As I began to study this morning in the computer lab here at school, I looked out the window to the bright gray-blue spring sky, cloudy but bright, up through the branches of new-budding trees...and there is the old flag pole, with Old Glory fluttering in the light breeze. Rather limp looking, sure, but glorious nevertheless, right? I immediately remember a poem from my elementery school days (acutally, I guess 6th grade isn't considered elementary or primary school anymore, eh) which I had memorized purely for my own enjoyment. It spoke so well of patriotism, that virtue which I love. So, I thought I share the poem with you.

An intesting sidenote is that my Catholic reader (published in the earlier half of the last century) did not list the second stanza. I guess you can see why ;-)

The Name of Old Glory

by James Whitcomb Riley

Old Glory! say, who,

By the ships and the crew,

And the long, blended ranks of the gray and the blue,

Who gave you, Old Glory, the name that you bear

With such pride everywhere

As you cast yourself free to the rapturous air

And leap out full-length, as we're wanting you to?

Who gave you that name, with the ring of the same,

And the honor and fame so becoming to you?

Your stripes stroked in ripples of white and of red,

With your stars at their glittering best overhead

By day or by nightTheir delightfulest light

Laughing down from their little square heaven of blue!

Who gave you the name of Old Glory? - say, who

Who gave you the name of Old Glory?

The old banner lifted, and altering then

In vague lisps and whispers fell silent again.

Old Glory,--speak out!--we are asking about

How you happened to "favor" a name, so to say,

That sounds so familiar and careless and gay

As we cheer it and shout in our wild breezy way

We-the crowd, every man of us, calling you that

We-Tom, Dick, and Harry-each swinging his hat

And hurrahing "Old Glory!" like you were our kin,

When-Lord!-we all know we're as common as sin!

And yet it just seems like you humor us all

And waft us your thanks, as we hail you and fall

Into line, with you over us, waving us on

Where our glorified, sanctified betters have gone,

And this is the reason we're wanting to know

(And we're wanting it so!

Where our own fathers went we are willing to go.)

Who gave you the name of Old Glory O-ho!

Who gave you the name of Old Glory?

The old flag unfurled with a billowy thrill

For an instant, then wistfully sighed and was still.

Old Glory: the story we're wanting to hear

Is what the plain facts of your christening were,

For your name--just to hear it.

Repeat it, and cheer it, 's a tang to the spirit

As salty as a tear;

And seeing you fly, and the boys marching by,

There's a shout in the throat and a blur in the eye

And an aching to live for you always-or die,

If, dying, we still keep you waving on high.

And so, by our love

For you, floating above,

And the scars of all wars and the sorrows thereof,

Who gave you the name of Old Glory, and why

Are we thrilled at the name of Old Glory?

Then the old banner leaped, like a sail in the blast,

And fluttered an audible answer at last.

And it spake, with a shake of the voice, and it said:

By the driven snow-white and the living blood-red

Of my bars, and their heaven of stars overhead

By the symbol conjoined of them all, skyward cast,

As I float from the steeple, or flap at the mast,

Or droop o'er the sod where the long grasses nod,

My name is as old as the glory of God....

So I came by the name of Old Glory.

http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/#8444211410698345695

The revised translation of the Latin-English Liturgy of the Hours and the English Mass are both coming out soon! I have long desired to buy a Missal, and have decided to continue to wait until I graduate and have enough money. That is, that perhaps it would please God a bit more if I put the credit card on the shelf for a bit.

Aging well or not

Does attitude, ability, diet, and habit really affect aging and whether or not the mind deteriorates as the body ages? Or is it all determined by genetics?

The argument of nature versus nurture is as old as the hills, to use a phrase of similar age. But in reality, they most probably go hand in hand, having substantial effects on the individual. Regardless of your healthy habits, in some things you simply cannot outrun your genes. You are going to die. This study was brought up in my research class today, and I think it very interesting. The Nun Study, which is termed exactly that, was described by my professor as a researcher's dream because about 600 nuns, who have had all nurture variables removed, donated their time and brains to science. Some of them are getting alzhiemers, but most of them are not. Statistically, they are mentally sharper and much more active in their 80s and 90s than most people are in the 60s and 70s. Many of the sisters are living into their 90s and a few into their hundreds, but their quality of life is astounding. They still get up every morning, do various tasks, and exercise. Few are bedridden or confined to wheel chairs.

On the other hand, is it really so astounding? The old saying "if you don't use it, you loose it" holds true for most skills and competencies. why not for mental capacity? My great-grandmother was 96 when she died and retained her full mental competence until her death. Is this genetics? Well, she read books incessantly and sang from morning to dusk. When she was in her 70s, she had stopped working and got board over the summer, so she memorized the Latin names of all the plants in her garden. She hardly ever engaged in passive intellectual activity, i.e. watching television. She never smoked, always ate whatever she grew in her backyard, and she worked day in and day out, always doing something.

Exercising the brain and the body together are known to help. Keeping the brain active and working it out every day can and will definitely aid in recall, memory, and intact faculty. Just how much of an influence has always been the debate. The first website listed is fairly solid and simply summarizes the facts involved int he study. Enjoy. =)

http://www.stpt.usf.edu/~jsokolov/agealzh2.htm

http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101010514/

Country Roads by John Denver

One of my favorite songs ever!!! The family got a 4 volume set of John Denver music this Christmas, and this is our universal favorite.

Almost heaven, west virginia
Blue ridge mountains
Shenandoah river
Life is old there
Older than the trees
Younger than the mountains
Growin like a breeze

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

All my memories gathered round her
Miners lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine
Teardrops in my eye

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

I hear her voice
In the mornin hour she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
drivin down the road I get a feelin
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads
Take me home, now country roads

"The Privileged Planet"

This documentary offers a scientific look into just how small a chance it is there there should be a world like our own that can sustain complex life. It is not explicitly for or against any particular creation theory, but simply looks at the facts and the chances of our existence as a planet. I've never really thought about this aspect of my life before, and it is very moving...sort of makes one feel like their life hangs in the balance all the time, but then he remembers that he has successfully defied the odds thus far. Despite a certain number of high thinking persons, it does disprove the theory of a disordered universe in chaos making such things as the cosmos by chance. Can such a thing logically and possibly come about merely by chance? I personally think that any person who holds this view is something of an idiot, but you'll have to check it out for yourself. ;-)




Part 2



Part 3



Part 4



Part 5



Part 6

Prayers after Communion

(taken from the Red Book and Fr. Lasance's Catholic Girls Guide)

Prayer before a Crucifix
Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, while before Thy face I humbly kneel, and with burning soul pray and beseech Thee to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope, and charity, true contrition for my sins, and a firm purpose of amendment; and whilst I contemplate with great love and tender pity Thy five most precious Wounds, pondering over them in within my heart and calling to mind the words which David, thy servant, said of Thee, my Jesus: "They have pierced My hands and My feet; they have numbered all My bones."


A Prayer to Our Lady
O Mary, most holy Virgin Mother, lo, I have received thy well-beloved Son, whom thou didst conceive in thy stainless womb, didst bring forth and suckle, and enfold in thy sweet embraces. See, humbly and lovingly I give back to thee the Son Whom it was all rapture and delight for thee to look upon; I orffer Him to be clasped in thy arms, to be loved with all thy heart, and to be offered up to the Holy Trinity in the supreme homage of adoration, for thy hnor and glory, and for my needs and those of all mankind. Most loving Mother, I beg thee to obtain for me forgiveness of all my sins, grace in abundance to serve Him more faithfully from now onward, and lastly, final perseverance, so that I may praise Him with thee forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer of Saint Thomas Aquinas

I give thee thanks, O Holy Lord, Father Almighty, eternal God, who has vouchsafed not for any merits of mine but solely out of the condescension of Thy mercy, to satisfy me a sinner, Thine unworthy servant, with the precious Body and Blood of Thy Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

I pray that this holy Communion be not to be a condemnation unto punishment, but a saving plea unto forgiveness. May it be unto me the armor of faith and the shield of good will. May it be the emptying out of my vices, the extinction of all concupiscence and lust, the increae of charity and patience, of humility and obedience, and all of the virtues; a strong defense against the snares of all enemies, visible and invisible; the perfect quieting fo alll my evil impulses, both fleshly and ghostly; a firm cleaving unto Thee, the one true God; and a pledge of a blessed destiny.

And I beseech Thee, that Thou would vouchsafe to bring me, a sinner, to that ineffable banquet whereThou, with Thy Son and the Holy Ghost, art to Thy saints true light, fullness of content, eternal joy, gladness without alloy and perfect bliss. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.