This is awesome!

This little fellow looks as if he is ready to take off running!

P.S. Please realize that this is probably an enhanced shot. There are so many tissues between fetus and the outside world, that this actually impossible. You would see a bump, but not the actual foot outline.

I think it is easy to feel that nothing good is going on this our beloved fatherland, the USA. Along with the rest of the developed nations of the world, she kills her own innocents in abortion, taxes the livin' daylights out of her people, disrespects women, permits various crimes against humanity, has elite classes of people who have special privileges, and endorses numerous other attrocities. I am ashamed to say that I am often too quick to complain about these and other things. It seems that one common divider amongst Americans is the war in Iraq, the War on Terrorism. Yes, there are evil things going on, and thousands of people have been killed unnecessarily (God have mercy on them!). Would this happen anyway, even if the US military were absent? Perhaps. We just wouldn't know about it. However, whether or not we approve of the war and it's ideas, we should not let that influence our opinion of the soldier and his sacrifice. I was shocked when I met someone a while back who did not support the war, and therefore refused to pray for the soldiers or the government. I don't support abortion, but I still pray for abortionists and their aids. They are sinners like everyone else in the world, for crying out loud!

Our soldiers give up an aweful lot of goods in order to protect their countrymen and other innocents. No soldier likes to leave his family, face death every day, find mutilated corpses in the streets, watch orphans hunt the streets for food, or see terrorism/hate victims so badly mangled that they are not recognizably human. He cannot stop to say a rosary at any moment; he cannot play ball with his budies; chances are he cannot even take a walk to self-reflect. These things tax a soldier and put an intense spiritual and emotional burden on him, to say nothing of physical difficulties. That burden may persist for the rest of his life, a shadow across his mind that he will never be rid of. It is very tempting to engaging in immorality of some sort just to get away from pain and lonliness for a few minutes. Please pray for our soldiers, especially those overseas and away from their dear ones. Being a true man, strong in his convictions and certain in his love for God is not always easy, but is even more difficult when surrounded by the discouragment and hardship of war.

Our Lady, help of Christians, pray for our servicemen and women.

My New Temporary Home, and The Faith of Children

Well, I'm all moved into my new appartment, and it is a funny appartment at that. An architect would love to come and laugh at the different time periods and styles in the house. The building was built in 1930s to house the steel mill executives in the Ohio Valley. My appartment includes 80s wood flooring, late '50s bathroom fixtures, '70s tiling, '40s oven/range and metal cupboards, and various odd peices of furniture and accesorys. The fuse box is funniest of all, with only 4 switches, one for each room and a main switch. It is cozy though, not suffy, and has plenty of windows. Since it is in the basement, my window looks right at the grass. I am fascinated by basements, since we don't have them in the Virginia tidewater. If we did, they would be flooded more times than not. Whenever I had little dreams and fantasies during my childhood, I would dream about basements. Almost until I went to college, I thought they only existed in books. =) Now I'm living in one, under the rest of the building. Here's hoping the 70 something year old hunk of steel and other materials doesn't decide to colapse just when I'm living under it! O Lord preserve me!

Naturally, I have not confided this rather insignificant fear in any of my family members. Joseph would probably go balistic. When I first went to college and he found out that I was sleeping on a top bunk without a rail, he prayed every night that "Lord, please don't let Naomi fall out of bed, and hit her head and be killed. But if she does, please let her go straight to heaven." Ah the practical and eternal faith of children.

"The Terrible Beauty of John Paul II"

This is a pretty good article about our late holy father, John Paul II.
It is long, and you do have to keep reading it once you start. She is a feminist, but shows that JPII touched many more people than the millions of faithful Catholics in the world today.

http://www.thescreamonline.com/commentary/comment5-1/johnpaul/PopeJohnPaulII2.html

Bliss Miss Kiss

This is the way all stories go, says my younger brother.

Bliss: the First Step. Two young adults get married, and it is the happiest time of their life, filled with bliss, bliss, and more bliss. They know this is the best time in their lives. Next is the second step: Miss. Husband goes off to war and is gone for a very long time. They miss each other very much. These are the unhappy times, when they each are dying to see each other but don't even know if their spouse is still alive. Next comes the third step: Kiss. This happens when the husband comes home from the war. they are very happy and they kiss. These are by far even happier times than the "bliss" period. And then, as all stories end, they live happily for the rest of their lives.

Jetter to Jackie (Commander John J. Shea, U.S.N.)

Commander John Shea served aboard the U.S.S. Wasp, an aircraft carrier, during WWII. He wrote this letter to his young son, and it still stands as an example of honor, patriotism, and Catholicity.

June 19, 1942
Dear Jackie:
This is the first letter I ha e written directly to you my little son. I am thrilled to know you can read it all by yourself. If you miss some of the words, Mother will help you, I am sure.

I was certainly glad to hear your voice on the long-distance telephone. It sounded as if I were right in the living room with ou. You sounded as if you missed Daddy very much. I miss you too, more than anyone will ever know. It is too bad this war could not have been delayed a few years, so that I could grow up again with you and do all the things I planned, when you were older.

How nice it would have been to come home early in the afternoon and play ball and go mountain climing and see the trees and brooks, to learn all about woodcraft, hunting, fishing, swimming and other things like that. I suppose we must be brave and put these things off now for awhile.

When you are a little bigger, you will know why Daddy is not home so much any more. We have a big country, with ideals as to how people should live and enjoy its riches, how each is born with equal rights to life, freedom, and pursuit of happiness. Unfortunately, there are countries in the world wehre they don't have these ideals; where a boy can't grow up to what he wants to be -- such as a great priest, a statesman, a doctor, a soldier, or a businessman.

Because of these countries who want to change our nation, its ideals, its form of government and way of life, we must leave our homes and families to fight. Defending our country, ideals, homes, and honor is a duty which Daddy must do vefore he can come home to you and Mother. When it is done, he is coming home to be with you always and forever. So wait just a little while longer. I'm afraid it will be more than the two weeks you told me on the phone.

Meanwhile, take good care of Mother, be a good boy, and grow up to be a good young man. Study hard at school. Be a leader in everything good in life. Be a good Catholic, and you can't help being a good American. Play fair always. Strive to win; but if you lose, lose like a gentleman and a good sportsman. Don't ever be a quitter, either in sports or in your work when you grow up. Get all the education you can. Stay close to Mother and follow her advice. Obey her in everything, no matter how you may at times disagree. She knows what is the best and will never let you down or lead you away from the right and honerable things of life.

If I don't get back, you'll have to be Mother's protector because you will be the only one she has. You must grow up to take my place as well as your own in her life and heart. Love Grandmother and Grandad as long as they live. They, to, will never let you down. Love your aunts and see them often. Last of all, don't ever forget Daddy. Pray for him to come back; and if it is God's will that he does not, be the kind of boy and man Daddy wants you to be. Kiss Mother for me every night. Goodby for now. With all my love and debotion for Mother and you,
Your Daddy.

Commander Shea went down with his ship during the Battle of the Solomons in November 1942, just 5 months after writing to his son.

The One Thing Necessary

Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, one of the holiest men in the last century, spoke on prayer on many occasions. Regarding the difficulties facing the world today, someone asked him what was the greatest crisis in the present day. He did not mention wars, crimes against humanity, genocide, abortion, contraception, the lack of respect for the sacred, unfaithfulness, sexual promiscuity, materialism, or the breaking of the family. He responded that the single most regretable and dangerous evil of our day is the lack of prayer. It is so great, that the world is being lost to the Devil because of it. St. Pio went on to say that one who prays very much will be saved; those who pray little are in great danger; and those who do not pray are lost. (Yipe!)

There is and has been for many centuries an over-emphasis on works to the extent where prayer itself was left unfinished or completely done away with. Mother Teresa of Calcutta is known for her work and helping the poor, but she always spent several hours every day, at least two (not including communal prayer and Mass) in prayer. It is what allows us to do works, to merit for Christ.

May God bless us and guide us, and keep us safe. And may the souls of the Faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Excuses! Excuses!

My favorite is the fifth one =). Some of these you have to think about for a bit before they strike you as funny. Think about it in the context of what the person was really trying to say.

Coming home, I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don’t have.

The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intentions.

I thought my window was down, but found it was up when I put my hand through it.

A pedestrian hit me and went under my car.

The guy was all over the road! I had to swerve several times before I hit him.

I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law, and drove over the embankment.

In my attempt to kill a fly I drove into a telephone pole.

The Narrow Path (original post June 26)

I heard a sermon this morning (6-26-07) that struck me very deeply. It was on Matt 7:13-14
“Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

The path to heaven is narrow, and few find it. The road to hell is wide, easy to find, and many choose it. Father (meaning the priest) pointed out that everyone knows the wide road, the path of least resistance. No matter what culture, religion, or education a person has, the wide road is easily accessible and readily available at all times. The choice is so very easy that people don’t even have to think about it or deliberate their choices. I know the wide road, the road of materialism, selfishness, license, envy, discontent, ingratitude, pride, etc. I engage in them so often without even realizing it. Our Lord says in today’s gospel (6-25-07) that it is the road to hell, and is much traveled.

The Narrow Path, on the other hand, is difficult to find. Father said this means one must make a conscious effort to search for it, must persevere and stick it out for the long haul because this path takes a while to find. Furthermore, when one finds it and begins to travel the road of righteousness, he discovers many times along the way how he is still desiring to travel the wide road, and perhaps he is actually following it though he thought he was on the narrow road. Few find it, and even fewer decide to follow it. Few? Ack! I’m in trouble!

Father’s homily today led me to thinking, about whether I am on actually on the wide path. Do I just find comfort and satisfaction thinking I’m on the narrow when I’m only tricking myself? The choices I make everyday, to disagree with someone on account of my pride, even if only inwardly, are ultimately what leads to one road or another. The choice to talk or think ill of someone; the choice to continue to ruminate over things that have passed; the choice to read an “inspirational story” instead of praying or reading the Scriptures; the choice to take a second helping when I don’t need it and could very well offer it up for poor sinners; forgetting to pray for our priests, an end to abortion, those on death row, the poor, the pope, the Holy Souls in Purgatory; I choose to make some disrespectful gesture, such as rolling my eyes; inwardly seething about a rude customer; thinking disrespect or judging those who deserve my respect by virtue of their stature in my life; omitting my prayers in order to sleep, listen to music, etc.; gossiping, or even if not engaging in gossip myself, listening to it. The little things of every day are ultimately the choice of the narrow or wide.

Perhaps it is a coincidence, but today is also the feast of St. Josemarie Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei. The society’s main focus is to encourage its members to live the Life in Christ, to live their Catholic Faith, out every day in their every thought, word, and deed. St. Paul said that you must “pray without ceasing,” but I have met very few people who think that those words were to be taken literally, or even could be. After careful deliberation and many experiences to the converse, I submit that we are to pray always and it is possible. When I am driving to work, I’ve an entire 15 minutes by myself, time to talk to God instead of listening to music. Or, when I’m doing the laundry, I could very well be praying instead of thinking about the latest thing that has come along to irritate my all too touchy sensitivities. Opus Dei, like the Little Way of St. Therese, encourages people to make each act of the day into a prayer, a little act of love for God and His people. Making your bed (if you do that every day ;-)), rinsing dishes, cleaning the toilet, setting the table, waiting at a red light, giving up extra portions and curbing road rage (you know, little words and feelings you let out when other drivers do something stupid or dangerous), and actually offering a compliment or encouragement to family members are all times when a good may be offered to God that will contribute to someone’s salvation. One of the most difficult of sacrifices is to forgo fighting back. Someone gets angry at you, and you choose to remain calm and not get angry, even internally. I have never yet succeeded at this one (sigh).

The Narrow road is the shortest road and in a certain sense the easiest. It is direct, and also ensures that once begun, you will continue to see more and more things which keep you from following Our Lord with your entire being. Once you start down the wide road, it takes a long time to find the narrow again, and it is very difficult to stop sinful behaviors because they become addictive, especially judging, gossip, sexual sins, gluttony, and falsehoods.

Thank God for a universal Church! All of our elder brothers and sisters in the faith, the Saints and the Holy Souls in Purgatory, testify that we can definitely make it to heaven, and they want us. They never tire night or day, guarding us, praying for us, and seeking to guide us in any way possible. God did not stop there in His efforts to get us to heaven! He gave us the Crown of Creation, Our Lady Mary, as our own mother. The most perfect of all things created by Our Lord, she is the model and the fascination of all virtues. Since He cannot refuse her requests, I would highly recommend taking anything and everything to her Immaculate Heart. Further, there are the guardian angels, a holy and pure being assigned to care for and watch over you and only you! Just you, and your angel, together in the battle blessed by the Lord.

Though the Narrow road be hard to find and difficult to travel, Our Lord has, in my opinion, given us many helps along the way. All we’ve got to do is snatch them up. Go ahead, be greedy! These assets are there just so you can find heaven. Don’t think that you are the only one having difficulty on the Narrow, because I certainly am! We’ve got to pray for each other on the way. If you sanctify yourself, and you will sanctify your families, your workplaces, our society and our country.

Riverdance: American Wake

In the deep night, in a dark place, I hear voices calling out in heartache;
They are wounded, they are broken, but their spirit rises when awoken.

Chorus
Yes, they may be poor in birth, but, yes, how great each one is worth!
Heal their hearts! Feed their souls! Their lives can be golden if Your love enfolds.

In their dream times, in their visions how they always hunger after freedom,
Every heart, Lord, every dark road, leads them on to reach a new horizon.

Chorus

Lord, where is our freedom?
When will our hope begin
Lord what of the promise you made; when will it come?
We have waited for the time for the truth to live, when justice will shine.
Too long those hands of freed held on and made us bleed!
When will your people breathe? Lord will it come?

Lord what of our children?
Will they always depend on You?
Lord why are they scattered and torn, and their young hearts in chains?
How they hunger for liberty, feel their hatred of poverty.
Let their spirits rise soaring free!
Lord let it come!Our day will come!

Lord where is our freedom?
When will our hope begin?
Lord what of the promise you made; when will it come?
We have waited for the time for the truth to live, when justice will shine.
Too long, those hands of freed held on and made us bleed!
When will your people breathe? Lord will it come?
When will your people breathe? Lord let it come!

I did pass the test! I passed my CNA exam, both parts! Thank God. When I took the woman's pulse, I got a 51, and thought that it was definitely not right, so I just wrote down 58. apparently, the 58 was within two marks of the tester's reading, so I passed! Hurrah! God is truly good.

I am working at a home for severely disabled children for the summer as an activities assistant. I'm going to be posting a few posts on the kids later.

Decaloug for Drivers (copied from Catholic.org)

In a June 19 release of the document "Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road" in the Holy See Press Officer here, the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People focused on pastoral care of road users, street children and the homeless and pastoral ministry for the liberation of street women.

The document notes that driving can be a positive spiritual endeavor if drivers accept their responsibilities of living their faith behind the wheel.

“Those who know Jesus Christ are careful on the roads...They don’t only think about themselves, and are not always worried about getting to their destination in a great hurry,” it adds. “They see the people who ‘accompany’ them on the road, each of whom has their own life, their own desire to reach a destination and their own problems. They see everyone as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of God. This is the attitude that characterizes a Christian driver.”

While acknowledging that “road vehicles give us many advantages” as rapid means of transport, the Vatican document they “may also be abused.”

It points to the some 35 million people who lost their lives in road accidents and to the about 1½ billion who were injured in the 20th century, adding that in 2000 alone there were more than 1.2 million deaths, with 90 percent of accidents estimated to be due to human error.

“The harm caused to the families of those involved in accidents, as well as the protracted consequences for the injured, who all too often are permanently disabled, should also be borne in mind,” it says. “In addition to harm to persons, the enormous damage to material goods should also be taken into account.”

Among unhealthy actions and “unbalanced behavior” that lead to potential accidents, injury and death and certain physical and spiritual danger include: disregard for road signs as “almost a curtailment” of supposed rights; “domination” of other drivers through reckless passing, over-acceleration and/or excessive speed; showing off; driving when physically or mentally incapacitated, under the influence of alcohol and/or other drugs or in a state of exhaustion; reckless use of motorbikes and motorcycles; road rage; cursing and rudeness.

“For some drivers,” the document says, “the unbalanced behavior is expressed in insignificant ways, whilst in others it may produce serious excesses that depend on character, level of education, an incapacity for self-control and the lack of a sense of responsibility.”

Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, said that the document’s aim "is to guide and coordinate all the ecclesial bodies in the world of the pastoral care of the road, and to encourage and stimulate episcopal conferences of countries in which this form of pastoral care does not exist, to organize it."

"Church and state, each in its own field, must work to create a generalized public awareness on the question of road safety and promote, using all possible means."
Referring to the evangelization of the road, the president of the pontifical council recalled that the church also aims at "the religious formation of car drivers, professional transporters, passengers and all those people who, in one way or another, are associated with roads and railways." In this context, he recalled the fact that in many countries there are "fixed or mobile highway chapels, and pastoral workers who visit motorway service areas and periodically celebrate liturgies there."

The "Ten Commandments" for drivers, as listed in the document, are:

I. You shall not kill.

II. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

III. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

IV. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.

V. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination and an occasion of sin.

VI. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

VII. Support the families of accident victims.

VIII. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.

IX. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

X. Feel responsible toward others.

I just got back from taking the Virginia State Board of Nursing Certified Nurses Aid examination. I hate pulses. I can't find radials on anybody, and when I do, the pulses goes away. Darn! I really hope that pulse actually was 58BPM. Sigh.

Other than that, life is pretty dull, with a few high points. Yesterday I got home from work and was greeted by Daniel knocking on my door before I could open it. The big eyed kid was eager to tell me "something horrible happened while you were gone." Peter broke his hand. Today, Bernadette stepped on a bee and her foot has swelled up. I have been coerced into watching Freaky Friday (the old one) so more update later.

Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears

(this song is beautiful, and offers an adventure for the heart into the history of your ancestors if they, like mine, are from Ireland.>




On the first day of January Eighteen Ninety-two,
They opened Ellis Island and they let the people through.
And the first to cross the threshold of the Isle of hope and tears
Was Annie Moore from Ireland who was all of fifteen years.

Chorus
Isle of hope, Isle of tears, Isle of Freedom, Isle of fears,
But it's not the Isle I left behind;
That Isle of hunger, Isle of pain, Isle you'll never see again,
But the Isle of home is always on your mind

In her little bag she carried all her past and history
And her dreams for the future in the Land of Liberty.
And courage is the passport when your old world disappears,
'cause there's no future in the past when you're fifteen years.

When they closed down Ellis Island in nineteen forty-three
Seventeen million people had come there for sanctuary.
And in the springtime when I came here and stepped onto its piers,
I thought of how it must have felt when you're only fifteen years.



The Isle of home is always on your mind.

Loneliness

“At times (more often than I’d like to admit) I get a feeling that I’m totally cut off from the world, that there is no one out in the great big world who cares about me, and no one would miss me if I were to suddenly vanish. I want them to miss me. I want someone to talk to, with whom to share my deeper feelings, but I have no such friend. They would probably be glad not to have to send an extra Christmas card…”

Well, that sort of thinking is a little extreme toward the end, but, it expresses a certain sentiment which all social beings experience at one time or other: loneliness, the feeling that one is alone and has no one to turn to… and not by choice. Loneliness is a kennan knowledge, a knowledge which cannot be known definitions and study, but by experience. It is subjective, hence the word meaning of Lone=alone. Certain persons, by virtue of their unique temperaments, are more prone to loneliness than others, and these temperaments therefore face more difficulties in that they must be careful not to wallow in self-pity, and must make a conscious effort to prevent these thoughts from controlling them.

These persons who are particularly beset by loneliness often forget that the reason behind the loneliness is usually their own doing, is a severely self-centered feeling. Furthermore, loneliness is usually brought on by cutting the self off from one’s fellow men, either in actuality or in the mind. This is not to say that loneliness can be unavoidable, say for instance, in the case that several of his dearest friends have double crossed a certain man and then abandoned him. He is very like to feel not only sadness at the loss of friendships (or that which was perceived as such) but also loneliness, precisely because he finds himself alone. Therefore, loneliness is at times unavoidable and legitimate. At other times, though, it is one of those battles for mastery over one’s failings.

I was in one of my very lonely bouts during a difficult time in school and emotional health (they seem to affect each other overmuch for some strange reason), and my sister called me on the phone. She didn’t know what I was going through, but was excited to offer a reflection that she had recently read. “The basic cause of loneliness is the excessive desire to be loved, for this creates an atmosphere of lovelessness. The more we seek to be loved, the less we are loved. The less we are loved, the less lovable we become. And the less lovable we become, the less capable we become of loving anyone else. Like a bird caught in a net, we deepen our tragedy.” Sort of made a lot of sense, and made me feel sort of, shall me say, ashamed? =D

Cures for loneliness? I submit performing acts of charity, constant mental prayer, and focusing on doing things for other specifically because it helps others and not because you are seeking any reward or returned feelings.