May 28 Bl Thomas Ford, John Shert, Robert Johnson d. 1582 beat 1886

Thommy and John

good morning
i love you

Memorial Day 2007
and we also have three martyrs of the Reformation, killed for their priesthood....
you, too, are priests forever in your baptism.....
you may avoid, even deny your priesthood, your Catholicism [lilke Peter's three time?]
another reason why we memorialize our fallen soldiers and our martyrs -
who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their faith, for their loyalty, to God-Family-Country....

John Shert, converted to Catholicism at Oxford [even at Oxford, so too maybe a reconversion at Greensboro College?].... he went to Douai to study for the priesthood [yes, you're likely to have to leave the home at 2502, the isle at GC, to find the education and incubator for your faith, to best fulfill your vocation, whatever that calling is - to learn to better discern, to leverage the grace to do God's will....].... John Shert was ordained in 1576 and returned to the English Mission [well, maybe you can go home again.... be converted, discern your vocation, and bring that renewed faith back to 2502, to gds, to gc].... and in 1582 he was arrested, tortured, and martyred because, just because, he was a priest [so you too beware, being a Catholic in the midst of antiCatholicism, even in your home places, risks similar tho hopefully only metaphorical arrest, torture, and martyrdom]


Thomas Ford, converted to Catholicism at Oxford. [he was a fellow, maybe even president of Trinity College, Oxford].... in 1570 he left to study for the priesthood at Douai, where he was ordained in 1573.... Thomas Ford returned to Oxfordshire and Berkshire in 1576 and labored in the mission field until his arrest six years later.... He was brought to Tyburn where he ws hung, drawn, and quartered.... Thomas Ford was a companion of, and was arrested with, st Edmund Campion on July 17, 1781. [yes it does matter with whom we hang out... we draw from our companions their strengths for good (as well as evil).... the charges against Thomas Ford were conspiracy at Rheims and Rome - on dates he was in England. the charges were irrelevant, of course. the faith is what frightened the english enough to put priests to death simply because they dared to be priests.... do you dare? i hope so - a priest from your baptism and confrimation; priestly in your vocation....


Robert Johnson also was an Englishman at Douai to study for the priesthood. He spent his first four years as a priest on the continent before returning for the English mission.... beginning in London in 1580 - and ending at Tyburn in 1582....


i love you
dad

May 28 William of Gellone b. 755 d. 812 c. 1066

Thommy and John

good morning
i love you

Memorial Day, 2007
and William of Gellone fits the bill to a t
[not only by his life, but, look at the year of his canonization.... :)
the year for another William.... :) ]]

a day to remember those who live, fought, and died for us
the american soldiers... our catholic saints
[the original purpose of memorial day included celebrating the eradication of slavery
what was the purpose of our saints, especially the martyrs, if not to free us from another kind of slavery?]

William of Gellone was the second count of Toulouse and the Duke of Aquitaine....
a member of the Court of Charlemagne ...
[Pippen, one of my favorite musicals (not to mention the story itself)
Ben Vereen, singing and dancing! i had to see it twice since an understudy did his role the first time]

William of Gellone was sent by Charlemagne against the Saracen invaders of Spain
and, William of Gellone defeated the Islam invaders at Orange
Throughout his military career he displayed exemplary chivalry
William of Gellone was honored as an ideal knight -
[though i doubt that was a sufficient credential for canonization]

with victory came a change of life for William of Gellone
in 804 he founded a Benedictine monastery [since called S. Guilhem le Desert, in his honor]
near and subject to the abbey under St Benedict of Aniane [it does matter into whose hands we place our lives]
in 806 Willilam of Gellone became a monk at 'his' monastery where he lived his remaining years

William of Gellone was also the subject of several medieval romances,
e.g., La Prised Orange and Aliseans....
imagine the heroism attributed to our namesake saint? :)
a man of the sword
a chivilrous knight in shing armour
a romantic hero
and
a saint dedicated to the promotion of the faith -
by sword, example, and monasticism....

so many lives within a lifetime
each dedicated to Lord and King
to be the best, because of that loyalty
love given and reciprocated....

et vous?

i love you,
dad

May 24 bl. John of Montfort d. 1711

John and Thommy


good morning
i love you


Montfort means 'God is gracious'. ...
do you know what John means? Kenneth? William? Thomas? :)
names given to you with familial meaning as well as meanings in faith.... thus the highlighting of namesake saints....

John of Montfort, a benedictine of the Knights Templar of Jerusalem.
he was wounded fighting against the saracens,
taken to cyprus,
where he died....

the end.

not much of a story....
until you probe into the knights templar....
1118 Hughes de Payens and eight companions vowed to defend the newly recovered Christian Kingdom forever..... the Knights Templar adopted the rule of st benedict. [a motley and confounded combination - soldiers of st benedict?].... they adopted the white habit of the Cistercians, adding a red cross.... [recognize that? and not Monty Python, either :) ].... the Knights Templar grew by combining two great passions of the middle ages: religious fervor and martial prowness! [marines for the Pope].... the order was supressed about two hundred years later and resurrected and suppressed and again for hundreds of more years - the yin and yang of the Knights Templar is a worthy study of the strengths and powers as well as the venality of our Church and a way to heaven....

i love you
dad

May 24 John del Prado d. 1636 beat 1728

John and Thommy

good morning
i love you

Born in Leon Spain, we're not told when.... we can track him to the study of theology at Samamanca, one of the top notch universities of the time....

he joined the Barefooted Franciscans of the Strict Observance and
he chose to become a missionary to the muslims in morocco in 1613

John del Prado, in 1636, he was tortured and burned to death with two other friars [no pun]
by order of the ruler of marrakesh....

for about 23 years, John del Prado prosletyzed among the muslims in morocco....
as i write this on pentacost sunday, the admonition to Go Forth in the Spirit..... personified in John del Prado
to respond to his missionary calling... to go to the dangerous Islam world.... to persist on the edge of torture and grace for 23 years.... that's something, don't you think? how do you think he was able to do that? how is his experience a lesson for us?

how do you go forth?
how are you like John del Prado?
how are you dedicated to your charisms?
how do you discern the will of God for you?
how do you embrace the Spirit and Go Forth? bringing Jesus to all you encounter; by everything that you do?

i love you
dad

Venerable Bede May 25 b.673 d. 735 c. 1899

Thommy and John

good morning
i love you

Bede, born in Northumbria, England, was sent to the monastery at Wearmouth-Jarrow when he was seven... ...
about the same age we were when we started our Catholic educaton - i was a first grader at st patrick's in albany [6 i guess]; you started in kindergarten, with sister luke, at overbrook, [5]

Bede's abbot was saint benedict biscop.... it does matter who our teachers, mentors, leaders are - and where we are put, where we choose to go, with whom we decide to spend our time does matter....

in 703 Bede was received as a monk; at age 30 ordained a priest.... "i spent my whole life in the same monastery, and while attentive to the rule of my order and the service of the Church, my constant pleasure lay in learning or teaching or writing." .... faith and faithfulness are not incompatible with learning, teaching or writing...

Bede became the Father of English learning - author of 45 volumes, including his History of the English Church and People.... he wrote commentarie, text books, translations, grammatical and chronological workes, hymns, and verse, letters, and homilies..... he completed the first martyrology wtih historical notes - yes, our saintlilness is effected by our history.... as much as he made an impact on our Catholic learning, it is as the historian that he is famous.

to fulfill your gifts, your talents, look at Bede. like you, smarter than the average bear. ... like you, his education, his Catholic education, began early.... you got wrenched out of that tract early on; unfortunate ... ... more importantly, you have had to contend with an animosity toward the pursuit of perfection, the expectation that you fulfill your talents beyond your personal preference and into the realm of saintliness.... Bede is a model of such pursuit - he pursued his gifts to the max; as we are all called to do ....

who was this man Bede? how do you get to know him?

i love you
dad

John Hoan b. 1789 d. 1861 beat 1901 c 1988

John and Thommy

good morning
i love you

John Hoan was a vietamnese priest beheaded during one of the many anti-Catholic persecutions in Vietnam qua indo China.... Fr Duc, the pastor now at St Bernard's, left Vietnam as a teenager on a boat, more like a skiff. he speaks of the martyrs of his homeland with even more passion than i dare express about our irish saints. his personal experience with the persecution of catholics - and he's younger than i am; his experience, his family's, his friend's....

he's another John.
another martyr.
so, what?
who is he to you, to us?
especially with such a short blurb....

who are your heroes?
how do you discover them?
how are they brought to you?
this is one way.... from father to sons
[especially since you were cut off from these stories behind the shroud ....]

John Hoan,
a man of faith in spite of the persecution against the faith
he is a person with whom to commune as you reconsider how it is you have been cut off from your faith....

i love you
dad

Becan 6th c

Thommy and John

good morning
i love you

Becan, an irish monk known for his sanctity....
i couldn't find any more after visiting a couple of sources...
this is alot, tho, ya think.
would you not want such an epigram on your tombstone?
or, better yet, a reputation for today....
known for your sanctity....

Becan is also thought to be a contemporary of Columba....
it is important with whom you are associated....
i hope you're picking people like Columba, altho gds and gc are not high probability places for such men

as the Venerable Bede said of Columba - we know for certain that Columba left successors distinguished for their purity of life, their love of God, and their loyalty to the rules of monastic life.... such a one was Becan.

and you?
distinguished for purity of life/
love of God?
loyalty, if not to the rules of monasticism, to Mother Church and the spirit of the 6th c. irish monks....?

i love you
dad

Pentacost 2007

John and Thommy

good morning
i love you

The birthday of The Church.
the Big day for Big Bird.....

coincident this year with memorial day weekend....
so, the church was not so full - in a wealthy parish as in a university newman center,
the usual suspects are out of town.....

andrew greeley's web site also has his sermon-ettes/stories for sundays.....
i don't quite get the applicability of the story for today, tho it is a fine story....

i have my own twist on the wind and fire,
the speaking in tongues
the being sent forth ....
did the apostles speak in tongues
or were the people too blessed with the Holy Spirit thus enabled to hear the Word?
both, of course

The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit
given at baptism
emblazoned on your soul at confirmation....
wisdom - to listen and hear the word
understanding - not so much smarts, as smart enough to embrace the word
counsel - to be humble enough to be advised, to receive counsel so as to then pass on the word
knowledge - to Know God? the knowing, the naming, the oneness with God, Father-Son-Spirit
piety - to worship God; to love God enough to worship Him, to give self to Him [what better experience of love? of love given as well as love received?]
fear of the lord - today's priest gave a different idea. this is the fear of the Lord like the fear a child has when in the grocery story he is separated from his parent, realizes the separation and is afraid....... maybe....
fortitude - the strength that real men not only wear pink but also are Catholic.....

Deo Gratias....

and, on Memorial Day, let us also give thanks for all those who died for us
gave their lives for us even long before your greatgrandparents arrived via ellis island....

i love you
dad

May 4 John Payne d. 1582 c. 1970

Thommy and John

good morning, i love you

here's a job to aspire to - - denouncing Catholics for fun and profit; or, as in 16th c. england, for the bounty. [a bit of a Judas job. the bounty, today, might not be cash. it's more likely to be social status; acceptance with a clique; protection by a potentate. when you denounce your own Catholicism, for any of these or other reasons, you're doing little different than john eliot did to john payne. and when you denounce your own Catholicism you're also dissing your family, your father, grandfather, uncle, aunt, cousin, the entire lineage of love given to you at birth....

John Payne [aka john paine] was probably a convert - and for him, unlike others whom you might know, for John Payne, the coversion was real and it stuck.

in 1574, John Payne went to Douai, where he was ordained in 1576. each of us has our vocation. esconced in our faith, we seek God's will. and, as much as we pray like Jesus did at gesthemene, please father let this cup pass, but not my will, your will be done, whatever our vocation is, we know we have the grace and God's other gifts to pursue and achieve that vocation. for John Payne, his vocation included the priesthood, the living his faith in public, in front of the congregation, standing out and standing up for God, Father, Jesus, Spirit, and for the church. and such a vocation in sixteenth century england meant an exile for education and the risk of martyrdom....

John Payne, newly ordained priest, was sent back to England. that's why he went away to become a priest, so he'd be sent home to be a priest at home, for those he loved the most, to serve those who said they loved him dearly.... John Payne, and his companion st cuthbert mayne [yes it matters with whom we pair up!] were successful in the service of the Catholics in england.

it took the english authorities only a year to capture Jon Payne, the papist priest.[yep, whom you represent, whom you support, whose word you deliver can, and often when your right, will, invite the wrath of the nearest potentate.... ya know? ].... he was released with the condition he get out of dodge and get off the island. the better part of valor, to live and preach another day.... he went back to england in 1579. persist in your faith - go beyond the believing and do..... it did not take long this time to get caught.... as time goes on, the tolerance from the anti-catholics is less and their response more fierce. when you persist in our faith, the reaction from the anti catholics crescendos quickly.

John Payne was imprisoned and tortured in the Tower ... for NINE MONTHS! it would have been longer but the authorities ran out of patience, acknowledged John Payne's power of faith, maybe they were running out of prison space or torturers - - whatever, John Payne was condemned to die: to be hung, drawn, and quartered.... how are you imprisoned by and tortured by the anti catholics in your life. call on John Payne or John Houghton or any of the hundreds of english martyrs who withstood much more and witnessed wtih the grace God also gives you. yielding to the unbelievers, submitting to the tortures of the anti catholics is not why God created you and gave you his only son, and imbued in you the grace of baptism and the spirit of confirmation.....

be a better Catholic, not a john eliot .....

i love you
dad

May 4 John Haughton b. 1487 d. 1535 beat 1886 c. 1970

John and Thommy

good morning, i love you

John Houghton graduated from Cambridge - from that you can know more than a little about the man and his family. a bit more than if i told you a man graduated from the university of alabama in 1972 - tho there are generalizations about that man that are likely to be right on the mark....

John Houghton served as a parish priest for four years after Cambridge. then he joined the Carthusians.... our faith, our religion, our pursuit of our vocation/God's will never stops, we are always growing, listening, following God's word [the Word, inspired of the Spirit]. for John Houghton that took him to Cambridge then to the parish priesthood and then to the most cloistered and more disciplined and, at the time, among the most influential of Catholic priests in England....

John Houghton was elected prior first in Northhampton and then to the top dog at the top house in London.
and from the 'safety' of the cloister in london, the king's men came to the prior and his aid, bl humphry middlemore, and demanded that they, as the leaders, accept, swear by, the act of succession [which, you remember your english history, legitimized Anne Boleyn's children by henry viii. henry viii created a persecution of catholics that continues to this day. if we would simply accept the secular rule of law to be right and sovereign in every circumstance life would be easy and we could get along and we would be [more] accepted. henry's violation of the law of marriage, and creating his own [secular, convenient] law, is not unlike what surrounds you even to this day. Marriage is not an act of state. Marriage is a sacrament of and a covenant with God. to treat it any other way is to not only bring insufficient grace to the relationship but to also create a fissure in the foundation of family and society. when a person reneges on the vow to God of 'til death do us part.... what God has brought together, no one can tear asunder', when a person replaces the sacred church vow/covenant/sacrament with the civil contract, then that person not only severs their relationship with God but creates a life for self and children and extended family that is beyond the grace of God, living in an island relationshp without God, without the Commandments [whether two or ten].... when you study what henry viii did and why he did it, look also at those with multiple "marriages" and see if there's any substantive difference in motive or modus vivandi....]

John Houghton was imprisoned for not accepting the marriage of henry and anne as legit. [what happens to you when you do not accept marriages contrary to church law as legit?] the civil authorities allowed, initially, John Houghton's accepting the Act 'as far as the law of God allows'..... [how are you treated when you look at a marriage and say 'i accept this marriage, as far as the law of God allows? how do you make clear to yourself and to those in your life that the law of God takes precedence?].... it was only a year later that John Houghton was arrested again, this time the people in charge would not allow any equivocation - accept the Act, acknowledge the marriage as legit, or suffer the consequences. how do you find the strenth of faith and fidelity to maintain the primacy of God's law not people's whims and preferences or the civil version of henry viii's version of the meaning of marriage? how to you witness to right and good, encourage the violators of the sacrament and the faith, when you say 'i will accept this marriage as the law of God permits.'?

John Houghton and three Carthusian friars were treated savagely - teach them and the rest of you Catholics a lesson! - dragged through the streets. When the sentence to be hung, drawn, and quartered was read, John Houghton prayed "and what will you do with my heart, O Christ?" . John Houghton's body was chopped into pieces and hung in various parts of London. no subtle message that! how will you use God's grace to withstand much less torture and still proclaim what is right? it's not what happens to your body or your status or your comfy relationships that is crucial. it's what you do with your heart. do you sacrifice your own heart and soul, your own relationship with God, your own grace and good standing, in order to accommodate a potentate in your life who's marriage violates God's law but you are expected to accept, acknowledge, and comply with....?

John Houghton is a saint for our age, no doubt about it.....

i love you
dad

p.s.
try this link for an article about the Cathusian martyrs
http://soli.inav.net/~jfischer/jun99/barrybossa.html

May 5 John Haile d. 1535 beat 1886

John and Thommy

good morning, i love you

We have the briefest of blurbs about this elderly priest, vicar of Isleworth, Middlesex.

arrested by henry viii's men and executed at Tyburn [a companion in death with John Houghton].

martyr. simply because he was a priest and thus anathama to the king.
maybe being catholic is anathama in your environs?
these Johns are a suggestion to you that no matter how you are threatened, subtly or with 'death' - it is in you to sustain your faith, to pair up with other catholics and strenghten yourself and your faith to withstand the myriad of onslaughts against your living your faith fully and rightly....

i love you
dad





Bl. John Haile
Feastday: May 51535
Martyr of England, a companion in death of St. John Houghton at Tyburn. He was an elderly secular priest, the vicar of Isleworth, Middlesex, when he was arrested by King Henry VIII’s men. John was executed at Tyburn. He was beatified in 1886.

May 5 bl Edmund Ignatius Rice b. 1762, d. 1844 b. 1996

Thommy and John,

good morning, i love you

Edmund Ignatius Rice - almost a contemporary :) and only 150 years to his beatification [moving JPII in five years is super extraordinary]

Found of the Christian Brothers [not John Baptist de la Salle's Brothers of the Christian Schools].... Fr Johnston, of st henry's, his brother is the american [maybe world] leader of the Christian Brothers. i remember well fr johnston's making a big deal of his brother's order and the beatificaiton..... [we won't mention ole fr johnston's role/absencethereof in the saga of your parents' divorce and the subsequent overbrook efforts at exiling your father]

Edmund Rice's parents were prosperous farmers - not many of those in ireland in the 19th century.

Edmund Rice married and had a daughter.... not the usual route to the founding of a religious order [though, Elizabeth Ann Seton comes to mind....] after four years of marriage, his wife died. [how canonizable was he at that point? was his wife's untimely death that was the catalyst for Edmund Rice's enhanced generosity and his tuning in to a religous vocation? a priori we cannot know the meaning and value and purpose of an event in our lives. each experience is meant to bring us closer to know-love-serve God in ths world and live with him forever in heaven. how the death of a young wife plays out in God's plan is, well, known ahead of time, only to God. the rest of us must take the blows and the crosses and discern God's will, thy-will-be-done. sure, pray along with Jesus... Father, if this cup can pass, please take it from me; but, thy will be done.... the extensive prayer and education in the catechism based on the Pater Noster is worth your taking to prayer yourself - pray and study; meditate and contemplate, the Lord's Prayer....

Edmund Rice was a notworthy man of affluence and generosity in Waterford... more importantly, he was an example of the lay Catholic. what is our role, what is our place, how do we contribute to our saintliness and the salvation of those in our lives - whether son or daughter, husband or wife, lay or consecrated....

Edmund Rice focused his vocation on the premise that affordable education was the key to opportunity - - a value deeply ingrained in the irish/celtic soul since Patrick and brought to NYC by my four grandparents and inculcated by my parents - - you two also benefitted from this in an educatonal opportunity way beyond affordable which through the grace of God your parents could afford for you.

Edmund Rice saw education as a key to opportunity for the poor [and poor in spirit.... ever wonder why your mother opposed a Catholic education for you?].

Edmund Rice saw education as the best counter to the weight of anti Catholic legislation, the anti Catholic zeitgeist, the anti Catholic community... once your Catholic education was ended, what counter weight beyond 4901 did you receive, did you pursue in the midst of your anti Catholic environs?

Edmund Rice opened his first school in Waterford in 1803. Edmund Rice started his endeavor with the encouragement of the bishop and the pope. [the man did have the status and the moxie to start with the A--Team support. it is important whom you obtain as your benefactors and your mentors....]

As Edmund Rice developed his schools and his vocation evolved, he began with a nucleus of men... a religious order in the making. first he tried one set of rules and then another - by the 19th century, many Catholic groups had started and evloved their rules. no doubt, given his middle name, Edmund Rice studied the Jesuits' rule as well. he finally opted for a near contemporary's, a group doing similar work - la Salle's Brothers of the Christian School. [why he didn't just join up with them... oh well, we each have our vocation and it seems that Edmund Rice's was to start a religious order similar to but different enough from la Salle's.

The Irish Christian Brothers got started in 1821, with Edmund Rice as the first Superior General. Today there are over 300 house of ICBs throughout the world.

The Christian Brothers pioneered schools for delilnquents. [the movies don't tell the half of the challenges and the regrettable brutalilty. still, the started something for children others would just assume let rot on the street or dump in the gaols and let rot away.....

The Christian Brothers are especially active in educating Irish Boys in grammar and high schools....

i love you

dad

May 6 Colman Mac Ui Cluasigh d. 7th c.

Thommy and John

good morning, i love you

Colman, a seventh century professor....
try the book, How the Irish Saved Civilization....
our monks and monestaries preserved and proletyzed our faith and religion...
monks qua professors [and a professor is not a teacher.... know the difference, in college look for professors....]

Coleman's prayer in verse [i.e., a lorica] seeking protection from the yellow plague is still extant [see Kathleen Hoagland's 1000 years of irish poetry.

Colman rescued his students from the plague that wiped out about 1/3 of ireland's population, by taking them to an island the emarld isle.... the chanted the prayer enroute to their safety.

part of my blogging is my praying too.
i'm not much at making up prayers - or even of coversing with God
i know lots of prayers
i read prayers - and scripture, which is much made up of prayers
i listen - meditate, even contemplate
but i'm not much one for writing or coming up with oral [even silent] prayers.
tho i do try every now and then.
try it yourself....
write a prayer
try your hand at a lorica....

pray....

i love you
dad

May 6 Eadbert d. 698

Thommy and John

good morning, i love you

what's in a name? especially how you spell it?
Eadbert, also known as Edbert....
could be Jack now known as John [since kindergarten, actually]
Thommy, not bill, altho a junior; and not Tommy either [i'd met a Thom Savage in the novitiate, mades sense to me.]

Eadbert, abbot bishop of Lindisfarne, successor of st cuthbert in 687.... i wonder what's with the 'bert'?
must be familial or tribal, ya think?
abbot bishop - those who do are asked to do more; are needed to do more.
are you in the 80 or the 20? how do you get into and stay in the 20?

Eadbert was renowned for his learning and his knowledge of scripture.
and you?
how's with your learning?
you have the talents, grace, and resources to be in the A zone.
anything less would be in the category of the servant who got the 1,000 talents and buried them.
and the scripture part?
we catholics aren't usually known for our scripture knowledge - tho kelly's excursion to a protestant church gave her a leg us on the learing/memorizing parts.
with a theologian pope, scripture and tradition and church history/fathers are all getting more play.
personally, that's one reason i go to mass as close to daily as i can get my carcus outta the bed....
the liturgy of the word - two scripture passages plus the various antiphons
[the sermon during the week, if any good, is lagniappe]
the prayer of the scriptures...

Eadbert also got kudos for his generosity and his obedience to God's commandments.
the generosity for an abbot and a bishop, for a leader with access to great resouces,
well, he wasn't the church mouse giving from his last two pence....
still, our generosity - time, talent, treasure - is measured not by the number on the check or the hours on the clock; instead generosity is our giving beyond our daily bread, giving more 'than we can afford', and giving without expectaton of any return, any recognition, anything at all....
obedience to God's commandments - the foundation of our efforts to do right and good.
i asked a leader at the hospital, a person asking me to tell her what her priorities are,
'upon what do you base your decision about your priorities?'
she was stumped, absolutely clueless of the foundation from which to build one's priorities in our hospital -
we have mission/vision/values
we have Key Result Areas [the dashboard framework for expected results] - for our hospital and our network
we have KRAs for each individual
we have even the job description, the basis for last year's evaluation, which had for her two measurable goals.
[not to mention the circuit breakers like follow the law, comply with regulations, meet accreditaton standards]
for us, the commandments would be a good start in answering the question "what should i be doing?"
if you're not using all ten, the underpinning of your foundation is at great risk of collapsing....
to excel at the basics puts you in line to lead as model as well as teacher/mentor
without excellence in the commandments, well, it's difficult to identify your own priorities, never mind lead others.

how do you prepare yourself to be the abbot bishop of your profession, your class, your self....

i love you
dad

April 30 Forannan d. 982

John and Thommy
good morning
i love you

talk about 'follow your dream'! here's an irish monk, minding his business, catching some rem sleep and kaboom! he has a drean. [too much mead?] an angel showed him a beautiful valley that was to be his home.... this bishop/abbot, joyfully esconced in his homelad, sitting high on the hog, has a dream - maybe not unlike the dreams that Joseph had? certainly, Foranan knew an angel when he dreamed one! and the message was clear. and, Foranne had long since vowed to follow the word of God, the Word ... so, he was prepared and followed.

along with 12 companions - of course, the irish are telling the story, how better to enrich a holy man's autobiography than making parallel's to Jeus' life.... he left ireland and in 962 he arrived in belgium and joined the community at the abbey of Waulsort on the Meuse.... soon elected abbot.... the irish pol qua monk.... or, because Otto I had chartered the place as an Irish abbey, to have an irish abbot forever - and Frannnan was the right man at the right time - i can't imagine many irish monks meandering about belgium in the tenth cnetury. .... so, it does matter who you are, where you come from, and where you are at the moment....

Forannan first improved the practice of the monks.... in a build it and they will come approach.... he built a community that many men wanted to join... and he expanded the monestary to better serve the men who came and the community they served.

in addition to being the typical hub of the region, the monestary became also a waystation for pilgrims....

build it and they will come... grow.... do more.... and better.....

i love you
dad

May 1 Ceallach of Killala 5th c.

Thommy and John

good morning
i love you

Ceallach of Killala, a disciple of St Kiernan of Clonmacnoise - we are known by our mentors; we are the product of 'pass it forward' - from whom do you want to be passed forward? with whom do you identify?

Ceallach, bishop and, probably, martyr. not much else is available about him.... still, after 1500 years, that we still celebrate his saintliness is, well, sumthin'.

i love you
dad

May 1 Joseph, the worker

John and Thommy

good morning
i love you

May oneth was an important day in my life long before 1982. Joseph is my confirmation name [i couldn't spell christopher; i didn't want anyone to know that AND i did not want the teacher to know i hadn't gotten my parents to ok the name i'd chosen]. Joseph, Mary's husband. Joseph, father of Jesus [step father? the man of the house - the man who raised Jesus] one of the few with more than one feast day in the year. there he was in every church; front right, holding Jesus in his arms - a message of fatherliness imprinted on our souls as well as on our minds. i got to know him much better as i began to consider marriage as a possibility [maybe late grad school; though even then it was a conceptual possiblitiy, Bill a husband, yeah, an idea i did not reject out of hand. and after the engagement, my becoming maybe someday a father brought Joseph into my life big time, major presence, model, inspiration, personificatoin of expectatoins and how to fulfill them. get to know joseph; every man should know him, imitate him, aspire to be like him.... husband, father.... and, for today, a special reminder that he too, husband and father, is a, The, worker....

Jesus, is he not the carpenter's son? we are known by the work of our father. we are known by our own work - how we do our work, the effects of our work, the results we achieve.... Joseph worked ad majorem Dei gloriam - - take the time to read the encyclicals and the church documents and our teachings about work - the glory, the honor, the dignity of work; because of our being created in the image of God, what we do, our work, our own creativity/creating in first praise of God, a gesture of thanksgiving to God, an imitation of God for others to see who God is for them.... Joseph was a good man - and we mean that very differently than is meant when a gds spokesperson says you are a good boy, though it would be a blessing if he meaning were applicable. a good man, a man who lives the motto, thy will be done: seeking to discern God's will and doing that; doing 'the Lord's work'....

Joseph worked for his wife, for his family, for his son. the purpose of work is best kown in our heart so it will be at the core, in the essance of what we do, how we do it, why we do it....get to know Joseph's work, the why and the how as well as the what. as grandpa says 'we do alright in this country' - referring as he sat at the dinner table, to the fruits of his labor - 'three squares a day and a roof over our heads'. why did he work? you still have a chance to ask him, better take advantage of that gift because tomorrow you don't know; he hasn't bought a green banana for a long time now.... i believe that what i do is my vocation. [occasionally since 1994 i've felt imprisoned in a particular job but always 'doing the lord's work', called to do this work - for the children, for a better life for each of them, for better institutions/society, culture for them.

1955 pope pius xii wstblished this feast to counteract the communist celebration of the worker. we've yet to get to a Joseph day parade to match the May Day parade. we do, however, have a better understanding of "the worker" because of Joseph.

1982, 25 yeares ago, a glorious saturday in tuscaloosa, look it up, we had a wedding, uncle ken in a tux, your jones-girl cousins and ginger in peach dresses matching your mother's.... too bad, way too bad, a wedding ceremony, even wrapped in a Mass, does not a marriage make - your mother's not getting her marriage to rick redmon annulled as she promised kaboshed the sacrament even though we did not discover her deception until 1994. i can imagine how we would all be better if she had done that day right. i even imagine how we would be if she had righted that day afterwards, after, e.g., her convrsion and confirmation. alas, none of those sacraments were sacramental for her. so today, y'all are this year 20 and 18, sans pater materque, the product of a marriage that never was. i am sorry for the cause(s) and the outcome so far.... oro pro nobis....

get to know Joseph the Worker. speak with him. listen to him. follow his lessons.

i love you
xxxooo
dad