August 28 Happy Birthday Thommy and St Augustine

Thommy,



Happy Birthday

Good morning

I love you



You and St Augustine – some bigtime connection. I didn’t think of that connection when you were born – it was more than a few years later that I was back into my daily saints reading and praying, meditating and pondering. Nineteen years later, each year aligning you with Augustine, same age, comparing circumstances and growing up choices, actions, and accomplishments. One way for each of us to reflect on you, us, me, and our constellation of people, places, achievements, stumbles, - all in the context of God, faith, religion, church, family, community, and self….



College Freshman. Yours, mine, ours – like you, me, us: inseparable. UNC-G. A place chosen by you [without your assimilating all your resources] because of the math, because it’s close to your mother - - fortunately, the tugma I made for you will pay for it all; a college education for you and at the other end a degree, a better resume, and no debt [if you do right, no debt and a nest egg: both of which was my intention and hope in 1994 when I took a big chunk of my gratitude from HCA and put it in your future.]

Math is a great start. You’ve got a head for numbers; I hope you learn the discipline of the subject that’s necessary to fulfill your talent.

UNC-G is a good school, a big school, in a good city – each with the opportunities for you to lay the groundwork of your future as well as relish the chance to be all you can be. Being a student, especially without financial barriers to your immersing yourself in the student experience, is a blessing and a half. Deo Gratias. Good Luck. And, Happy Trails. Or, Happy Motoring. J



My nineteenth. 1968. whew, what a year! One year into the novitiate. In Fall River, MA when MLK was murdered and the country was inflamed and in flames – so, too, downtown Fall River; and so were the freshmen and sophomores at Bp Connelly H.S. where I was doing my novice thing…. Then RFK was assassinated. I was at the novitiate when that happened. Some of us had stayed up late to get the CA results: a bit of an exception to our regimen. Many RFK worshippers among the novices. Me, I thought him to be a carpetbagger and JFK’s hit man. [I was so proud of the Irish Catholic Kennedy running for and getting the presidency in 1960 – 11 years old – sixth grade – in the midst of the mostly protestant Longfellow elementary – in your face!

Then I turned 19 in July. The summer was a rejuvenating time at the novitiate – we second years welcomed the new class. Secundi had many responsibilities and some privilege of rank. And, come the fall semester, we had new focus on our first vows coming up in May. Latin and Philosophy classes at the novitiate with excursions to Boston College and Weston for some classes and communing with fellow Jesuits. Plus, more sophisticated and more serious spiritual training – for self and how to become a Jesuit, what it means to be a Jesuit.

I also went to my hospital experience – one of the few types of training that Ignatius required for novices – serving the sick. I suggest that you too volunteer for a significant period at a hospital and serve the sick. I got to be better friends with three novice-mates (two of whom are priests now, one a brother). I also got to be friends with a few nurses at Boston City Hospital – friendships that have lasted for a very long time. Plus, it was a place where I learned about hospitals, no longer was adverse to the smells of hospitals, no longer afraid of the tribulations of hospitals. Maybe that month helped me become a lot of who I am today? I surely got to love the hub of the universe more when I was there.

In the spring of 1969 we went to Berkshire community college as well as courses at the novitiate and BC. An opportunity to mingle with peers of all sizes shapes and types. I got involved in the student magazine and student politics – I love the forums of conflict and change [can’t have one without the other]. There I discovered psychology as an academic pursuit. The seed blossomed into a major and a degree or two which have led to my professional trajectory.

Also in the spring of 1969 I had my crisis of vocation. I confronted my difficulty with the vow of obedience. And one March day saw Denis Carter in the student lobby at BCC, with the 5 foot high fireplace keeping the room warm, and said to him, the merry go round has stopped. He knew immediately what I meant. That’s what friends can do – know immediately. It took me about a week to talk with my spiritual adviser about that and a couple more before talking with the novice master – by then I was already gone in my head. They let me stay to complete the academic courses – not telling anyone else until a little before I left.

Also, as a secundi, I was the leader of our foray over to Berkshire Farm for Boys – what we’d call a residential treatment center these days. Me, a street kid from NYC, me and another seven novices, went over every Wednesday night and every Sunday morning to be, what, big brothers, witnesses to our faith, the ones responsible for the liturgy – think about engaging those teens in their Catholicism and the liturgy when it was an option whether to attend mass or not! Another foundational experience for my life long vocation for children, especially those who need psychiatric care.

In the summer after I left the novitiate, I had to choose my next college. BC was an option and in hindsight, it would have been the best choice. I took Alabama because I was accepted there within two weeks of applying and come August, I’d not heard from any of the other half dozen to whom I’d applied. My choices: BC, BAMA, or be drafted. I figured fate had a hand in this so I headed south….

Between novitiate and bama I worked construction as a wire lather – my uncle Arch and Grandpa’s uncle Bill [a shop steward] got me the job. Fantastic money – paid for more than a year of school plus lots of playing. It also had some experiences that were formational – including the one that almost got me knocked off the 33rd floor – and there was no net over the side either. Or the fight that got started because somewhere in the past Uncle Bill had blocked some guys entrance into the union. Family does matter!

Oh yeh, one other important thing happened that summer. Over the fourth of July weekend, on a private island off the coast of Maine, I wrote my application for conscientious objector status in the draft. It was after July 27th when we had the hearing. Fr Bertrand came and testified – the novice master, how’s that for support?! The draft board denied my application. Oh well, I got lucky a few years later when my number came up way high….

19. look around. Immerse yourself in the now. Be all that you can be. Leverage all of your resources as well as talents. A pile of money is only one gift I have for you. Three boxes delivered to you today – with presents from Grandma, Grandpa, and me. And then there are the balloons on the bedroom floor, living room, kitchen…. Tradition. No gorilla but maybe the mobile billboard within a few weeks will be enough of a surprise….. think back on all of your birthdays. Add to your diary. Track your growth. And remember. Remember your start. Remember the soil from which you grew. Remember what you have done with what God’s given you. Good times and bad. And for this nineteenth year – LIVE! Just do it! Be that best that you were created to be.

I may have three times more experience than I did at 19, but those first nineteen years – that nineteenth year itself, probably have more formative value and influence than any others. Check with your brother and see what his feeloughts are about 19 and freshman year…. Leverage all of God’s gifts to you….



August 28

Augustine of Hippo

b. 354



[catholic encyclopedia on line; butler’s lives of saints]



November 13, 354 in Hippo, now Souk-Ahras. An African.

We don’t get much from him, his writing (which fill a library not to mention their powerful influence), nor his biographies (another libraryfull of manuscripts) the role his place of origin or his ethnicity played in his life. It certainly was important even in his day. That you are from Nashville, so far spent most of your life there, is important to who you are.

Monica, that would be St. Monica, a woman who might not have made the list of saints were it not for her son’s accomplishments – and her role in his Catholicism, the conversion of her husband/his father, and her place in the church as she followed her son around to ensure his salvation. A holy woman who shows you what a wife and mother should be like – an ideal of Catholic mothers ….



Patricius, Augustine’s father, a curiales of the city, and a pagan. Augustine, too, was born into a mixed marriage.



A family that was not rich but was respected in the community. A family that regardless of the deal breaking differences persisted as family, as husband-wife and son. A family that stayed on a trajectory toward fulfilling their collective and individual Catholic faith and vocations. I am sorry we did not give you such a family. However, you do have a Catholic parent not nearly as holy as Monica but as persistent for your faithfulness. Imagine Augustine’s early and youthful life and how he developed his faith while living a non-Catholic even an anti-Catholic life. I don’t recommend his path to sanctity, but when you see yourself on his same road, also see how he got back onto the right road so that you can short-circuit the time it takes to make such a jump; not to mention emulating his maximizing his talents and his accomplishments in his vocation.



Augustine’s Catholic parent signed him with the cross and enrolled him among the catechumens. Not unlike your Catholic parent’s signing you at birth, bringing you to the ‘family’s’ baptismal font, and ensuring you got a Catholic education. [that your not Catholic parent withdrew you from faith formation, never mind not providing a Catholic school education is an omission you will have to overcome.] Like his non-Catholic parent, Augustine deferred baptism, as was a convert’s practice at the time because they did not see how to best use the sacrament of reconciliation along with the sanctifying grace of baptism. You have the advantage of 1600 years of faith formation by Mother Church….



Augustine’s non-Catholic parent, proud of the son’s success in school, determined to send him to Carthage to prepare for a forensic career. It took the family a while to get the money for that. Augustine spent the time waiting, his 16th year, giving himself up to pleasure with total abandon. By the time he made it to Carthage, still 16, Augustine soaked up all of the offerings of the big city – the New Orleans of its time: half pagan, licentious, theatres, alcohol, and the intoxication of his literary success - - his drive to be first, to be best, in everything: good or bad.

Augustine became the unwed partner of a woman who bore him a son in 372 [he was 18].



NINETEEN. In 373, at 19, Augustine read Cicero’s “Hortensius” from which Augustine fell in love with wisdom, rhetoric, philosophy. This experience changed Augustine’s life. It does matter what you read: who you read. Probably much more importantly, it matters how you read – pursuing Truth, Faith, Love….



NINETEEN. Also in 373, when Augustine was 19, he fell head over teakettle for the Manichaean philosophy qua religion. He followed the Persian, Mani (215-276) into material dualism. A young, brilliant, eager student immersed himself in Mani’s work and left behind the foundation of his faith for the snazzy appeal of the hottest philosophy of the time.

I suggest you read up on the Manichaeans and Augustine’s experience with them. That convergence of philosophy and student is not unlike the vortex you’re in now. The Manichaeans sought a scientific explanation of nature and its most mysterious phenomena. Augustine embraced the natural sciences of his time, without the prism of faith and first principles.

Augustine, in his youth, his 19th year et al., was tortured by the problem of the origin of evil – and in his failure to solve it, he accepted the Manichaeans’ two principles – with the moral irresponsibility that followed from their doctrine which denied freedom and attributed committing sin/crimes to a foreign principle.

Augustine devoted himself to the Manichaean sect with fervent ardor. With his prodigious gifts, he read all their books, adopted and defended their opinions, and proselytized successfully his friends and associates. Taking them with him down the wrong road…. Possibly a St Paul quality. It does matter where you begin; more importantly it matters where you end up….



His Catholic parent stayed with him, prayed for him, cried for him – while deploring Augustine’s heresy and proselytizing. Monica sustaining support of her son was supported by her family the church – e.g., by the encouragement of the bishop who told her “the son of so many tears could not perish.” Amen. Augustine stayed mesmerized by Manichaeanism for nine years….



Augustine’s Confessions is worth your while – if only following the biography parallel to your growing up too. Keep your own diary. Make your own confessions.



At 29, in 383, Augustine went to Italy…. His Catholic parent followed.



In Milan, he visited Bishop (saint) Ambrose – fascinated by his kindness and enthralled by his preaching. It does matter where we lived and from whom we learn….



Beginning in 386 – at 32 - having passed through both conversion experiences and a few academic stages, Augustine devoted himself to the pursuit of true philosophy, i.e., Catholicism [in the 4th century, aka, Christianity].



Baptized, Easter, 387 - - at 32. by Bishop Ambrose.



Autumn 387, Monica died. How do you look to the death of your parents? Your place in that? Your preparation for that? Even at 19, now and forever, you have the obligation to honor your father and mother – in this life, at the time of death, and beyond….



In 391, at 36, Augustine was ordained a priest in Hippo.



In 396, at 41, Augustine became bishop of Hippo. His residence became a monastery and the clergy who lived with him took vows of religious poverty. Ten of his friends/disciples became bishops and formed similar monasteries. Thus, Augustine’s accolade: patriarch of the religious.



Augustine was, above all, the defender of truth and the shepherd of souls. As bishop, pursued the Manichaeans, by defeating and converting their philosophers in/with debate and compassion. In defense of free will – his writings against Manichaeanism is worth your time: to put into context today’s materialism and the scientific anti-faith writings of our time.

And much much more… a full life for a great saint, doctor of the church, son of Monica and Patricius.



Happy Birthday,

I love you,



Dad

August 19 Thomas Koyanangi; John Fovamon; John Nangata; John Yano; Peter Zuninga; Louis Flores; Joachim Firayama-Diz; d. 1622 bl. 1867

John and Thommy

Good morning
I love you

Today’s big event is the Irish tenors. I was so excited about seeing them yesterday I was a day early and if I hadn’t been talking with someone who knew the correct day I would have shown up at the concert hall and been there all by myself…. But, tonight’s the night!

Otherwise, it’s been an ordinary day so far. Nudging things along from ok to good in our pursuit of excellence. We are now entering into the area of conflict. With people being nudged [pushed? Shoved? (I hope not shoved.) into their area of challenge and discomfort. Including myself – the number of balls in the air and my talent for juggling result in some balls hitting the floor….

Everyone says they want things to get better. And few people jump up and down excited about the necessary corollary to that: having to change themselves! And even more of a challenge, change the way we fit and work together.

But today I’ve filled the walls with pictures. I guess that makes me officially moved in to the place. Our maintenance guy does a great job. And his secret – he does his work as if it were his home he is working on: a value he says was planted in him when he was 16 and a neighbor let him work at his house to earn some extra money. It does matter with whom you work, for whom you work. Some of it is the luck of the draw. Much of it comes from the choices your parents make: e.g., where to live, thus who your neighbors are – because you do encounter them, they are important in your values formation. Unfortunately, even good neighbors, well meaning neighbors, provide bad input [like reinforcing the dissolution of familial relationships] but, alas, I digress….

Pictures are up. I’m moved in. Jeff does great work with the best attitude; I wish we had five hundred of him! Or fifty in my area .




August 19

Thomas Koyanangi; John Fovamon; John Nangata; John Yano; Peter Zuninga; Louis Flores; Joachim Firayama-Diz; d. 1622 bl. 1867


It does matter with whom you work. On the 18th we had the example of the family who worked for a nobleman Japanese catechist – and they were martyred with him not only for their faith but for his. Today, we have a ship’s captain and his crew martyred for delivering to Japan Catholic missionaries. [How would you stand next to the passengers on your ship of life when their faith is rejected, persecuted….? Especially when it is your faith too?] It does matter with whom, for whom you work. It matters more how you live your faith in loyalty and service….



Thomas Koyanangi

Thomas Koyanangi was a passenger on the ship that was carrying the missionaries Bl Joachim Firayama-Diz and Peter Zuniga into Nagasaki. We don’t get any more of the story from Catholic on-line. We can interpolate that Bl Thomas Koyanangi was not a man who just happened to be on the ship that was intercepted by the Japanese warlord serving the emperor. [we can also bet that his birth name was not Thomas, which is more likely is baptism/confirmation anglicized name.] Thomas Koyanangi, a Catholic, got on the ship with the missionaries going into forbidden waters. He knew the risks of such companionship and, likely, being in the service of the missionaries.

Know, too, yourself, the rewards and the risks of any companionship. Your duties to your self, your principles, your faith. And that such duties obligate you in service and support to those with whom you keep company; to whom you give of your time, your talents, your treasure, your self….



John Fovamon

John Fovamon was a scribe on the ship carrying the missionaries Bl Joachim Firayama-Diz and Peter Zuniga into Nagasaki.

Being a scribe for the life and times of another – imagine the honor of being the recorder, the spokesperson for perpetuity of another person. And know, too, yourself, the rewards and the risks of any companionship. Your duties to your self, your principles, your faith. And that such duties obligate you in service and support to those with whom you keep company; to whom you give of your time, your talents, your treasure, your self….

It does matter for whom you work…. And why!




John Nangata

John Nangata was a sailor on the ship carrying the missionaries Bl Joachim Firayama-Diz and Peter Zuniga into Nagasaki. The ship was intercepted – alas someone knew the missionaries were on their way, on this ship, at this time, going to this place. And decided to feed the bottomless pit of persecution.

And know, too, yourself, the rewards and the risks of any companionship. Your duties to your self, your principles, your faith. And that such duties obligate you in service and support to those with whom you keep company; to whom you give of your time, your talents, your treasure, your self….

It does matter for whom you work…. And why!




John Yano

John Yano was also a a sailor on the ship carrying the missionaries Bl Joachim Firayama-Diz and Peter Zuniga into Nagasaki. The ship was intercepted – alas someone knew the missionaries were on their way, on this ship, at this time, going to this place. And decided to feed the bottomless pit of persecution.

And know, too, yourself, the rewards and the risks of any companionship. Your duties to your self, your principles, your faith. And that such duties obligate you in service and support to those with whom you keep company; to whom you give of your time, your talents, your treasure, your self….

It does matter for whom you work…. And why!


Each of these were bystanders, servants to the missionaries in some planned or happenstantial way. Who were the men who created these martyrric circumstances? [a neologism! I do like the word. Do you? Martyrric.



Joachim Firayama Diz

This is the man who became a linchpin in the life of his crew. The ship’s captain, Joachim Firayama Diz, took the consignment of the missionaries and promised to deliver them to Nagasaki. He knew that the Japanese emperor forbade the immigration of Catholics, missionaries in particular: at peril of their death. He also knew that the fate of the captain and the crew, should they get caught trying to deliver the missionaries, and undermine the essence of the Japanese way of life, that they would not be treated kindly either. But Joachim Firayama Diz and his crew were cut from a special cloth - the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary. So they took the missionaries from the Philippines to their heart felt destination.

Now get what was happening in the ocean off the island of Japan in the seventeenth century. The Dutch – merchants par excellence and with a nave to support the globalization of their way of life. It was the Dutch who intercepted captain Joachim Firayama Diz’s ship and handed them over to the Japanese! How many more than thirty pieces of silver do you think they got for this kind of treachery/mercenaryism? Some quid pro quo. [do be aware of with whom you are doing business….]




Peter Zuniga

Peter Zuniga’s father was the Spanish sixth Viceroy of Mexico – having brought his family from Seville to the new lands.

Peter Zuniga returned to Spain. Sent to continue his education? Sent to pursue his vocation to the priesthood? Whatever the reason, Peter Zuniga became an Augustinian.

Possibly having caught a missionary zeal while in his father’s adoptive Mexico; maybe he learned to desire to serve others from his advantages also from his father? Peter Zuniga asked to be sent as a missionary to Japan. Mid seventeenth century. Maybe he was among the many Spanish men inspired by Francis Xavier?

In 1610, Peter Zuniga was sent to the Philippines. COL does not explain why he got this assignment – maybe that’s as close as the Augustinians could get him. Maybe that’s as far as they were willing to send him – they knew how the emperor of Japan wanted any foreigners dealt with; especially Catholic missionary. Maybe we should know more about the closed island nation state and our 17th century efforts to Christianize it….

In 1612, Peter Zuniga set off on the fateful journey to his passionate dreamland – to Japan with other missionaries – such quest taking them to martyrdom instead….

The crew and passengers with the missionaries were treated differently, more leniently than the missionaries. They burned the missionaries to death. They chopped off the heads of the others. Choose your preference – once you choose to love God, serve Him, and to do so in the service of missionaries; know that you ride in the same boat as these ‘Japan’s martyrs’.



Louis Flores

Louis Flores went with his family to Mexico from Antwerp, Belgium. Louis Flores became a Dominican and was sent to the Philippines in 1602 – out in front of Peter Zuniga, whom he probably did not know until they met up in Philippines: imagine the men aflame with missionary zeal; probably with a desire to go to Japan. Then they met and their passions synergized?....

Louis Flores hooked up with Peter Zuniga and headed off to Japan… on a dark and stormy night…. It does matter with whom you pair up, join in vocation, collaborate in work, choose for your friends, and pick for your employees….

It’s all connected 

I love you
Dad

Thomas, Mary, & James Guengoro August 18

Thommy and John

Good morning
I love you

John, it was good seeing you yesterday [8-17]. There are certain traits of your father that you’d be better served learning to use much more wisely: like ignoring. If you’ve not had the right psychology course yet, I suggest you look up on line how the extinction paradigm works. That will also help you understand the billboard about the blog. I may try the index card and push pin method too but it looks like the billboard is the only viable alternative – unless y’all have an different proposal….

Thommy, I looked for you over the weekend at SOAR – Spartans means Michigan State to me. I guess I have to learn a new referent. UNCG campus, the quiet before the students arrive – even the library was closed, one last time before Christmas I guess….

From Friday night until this morning [8-18-08], it’s been a settling in weekend. Friday was the feast of the assumption. Maybe you know that on your own by now. I remember one early in greensboro August 15th, 2003 actually, when I came to pick y’all up and not only had your mother “forgotten” that you were suppose to be with me that weekend, she had also neglected to arrange for y’all to attend Mass. And her live in knew nothing about either of those things – ignorance is bliss; except when you are responsible for doing things right and doing the right things…. So, ignorance about holy days of obligation isn’t a line you can use any more….

I celebrated the Feast at the Immaculate Conception – the evening Mass was less that 1/3 of the church full; I heard the place was overflowing for lunch Mass. This priest is not one I’d recommend for liturgy or for preaching. The liturgy has music and the deacon has a beautiful voice – except the pace of the singing is more like a funeral dirge and way far from uplifting. Father’s sermons are cerebral – and this is not a cerebral audience: if we were we’d be throwing tomatoes from the cheap seats. If we were a seminar maybe it’d be worth sitting there with him for twenty minutes. … oh well, enough of that rant.

Saturday was a good day! Glorious weather. Early up and OUT! A light and casual breakfast. At the ‘town square’ – the local hang out…. And then a round of golf. Yep, real life golf. My putting was ok – about one in two or one in three from close in got sunk; any other club I actually hit the ball about half the time. But the walk, the camaraderie, that made the morning. And the Knights do a hole at the Wyndam, like we’ve done since about when the Chrysler open started. This is a fun way to serve and get to see another game that’s played by the pros – what I do is not the same game as what they do…. And Saturday night we had a beauty contest to raise money for Relay for Life - She-men doing beauty pageant stuff! A bit too much for my taste but good family entertainment and about $15,000 raised in one evening. Talk about being part of the community!

Sunday there was SOAR [Saturday too], campus visits to let you know about the blog, and an afternoon at the golf thing, walking watching enjoying an overcast day and real live golf. I even hit a few balls…..
The rest of Sunday evening and night and into the wee hours was spent either writing – I’ve got two long stories/qua novellas or even novel length writings going on – or picking out birthday presents. 8-28, 9-9, 9-14,, 9-15 a very busy birthday few weeks…. It’s the fun part of birthdays, getting stuff to give for fun….

And back to work today – spent most of it reading one record. But, I may not have had the brain power to do much else because of the no sleep thing…. I gotta fix that.

Census is full – that’s a very good thing. Too bad I can’t take credit…. We gotta get a steady referral flow. And stay full…. Oremus….

And you? What’s up? What ya doing? What do you hear about the blog?
And all the Dad questions – remember the secret of a father’s love, my love, The Father’s Love.

I love you
dad



August 18
Thomas, Mary, and James Guengoro. d. 1620 bl. 1867

Each one of these Catholics were arrested and crucified, including 2 year old James. You’d think the English had the corner market on the horrific. Not so.

Imagine the family, the husband and wife, the wife and husband, two made one at marriage, with faith, and in their home, their community, their extended family. That oneness requires all of that. A personal relationship with God that understands, that experiences! love, the essential oneness of love, the I exist for you no matter what love. With any luck you get/got introduced to that in childhood, in the womb of your family; and find the experience synergized with your personal love affair with God. Then when you discover your vocation to be spouse, one with another, you expand your relationship with God to that woman and become one in three, now and forever, bringing all that has come before and the anticipation of what will come from ahead, love, Oneness, no matter what [like the secret of a father’s love]. In addition to being wrapped into one by the love of God, marriage is reinforced and guarded by the love and respect from your extended family, from your community. To the degree that is absent or, worse, oppositional, to that degree, marriage becomes more difficult. Anyone who in any way makes it easier or even reinforced for one of the spouses [spice?] to act against the marriage, such a person is undermining, violating, sinning against the crux of the married people’s being and well being.

Thomas and Mary Guengoro [I wonder what their birth names were; certainly not these anglicized baptismal names] had such a marriage to which they brought their faith, their family, and their community.

And they brought all of this to the living of our Catholicism in a time and place that was opposed to, actively suppressed the expression of the one true faith.

Bl Simon Kiyota Bokusai was a Japanese nobleman. After serving in the military, he founded a catechetical school. The pagan Japanese emperor ordered Bl Simon Kiyota Bokusai to close the school. Well, this noble warrior knew that this day would come when he decided to open his life and his home to the teaching of Jesus, to our Catholic faith. And disobeyed the emperor. Ignoring any order, especially a legal one, from a person of authority, does have its consequences. The emperor condemned Bl Simon Kiyota Bokussai, his family, and anyone living in his household. Thomas, Mary, and James Guengoro were not only Bl Simon Kiyota Bokussai’s servants but also students and teachers with him.

Thomas Guengoro could have taken his family out of harm’s way. Left the home. Left the church. Rejected his faith. But chose instead, husband and wife and, therefore their son, chose to stand and witness. Yes, God gave you parents to decide for you. To teach you to decide for yourself. To forever shape and guide you.

The emperor ordered that they all be crucified. At Kokura, Japan.

August 8 Dominic b. 1170 d. 1221 c. 1234

John and Thommy

good morning
i love you


8-7-8 1526 [getting started… I have a call coming in soon then off for a haircut]

8-8-8 1219 [continuing. 8/8/8 is really lucky if you’re Chinese. Like sevens are for us I suppose?]




August 8
St. Dominic b. 1170 d. 1221 c. 1234

The life of St. Dominic was one of tireless effort in the, service of god. While he journeyed from place to place he prayed and preached almost uninterruptedly. His penances were of such a nature as to cause the brethren, who accidentally discovered them, to fear the effect upon his life. While his charity was boundless he never permitted it to interfere with the stern sense of duty that guided every action of his life. If he abominated heresy and labored untiringly for its extirpation it was because he loved truth and loved the souls of those among whom he labored. He never failed to distinguish between sin and the sinner. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, if this athlete of Christ, who had conquered himself before attempting the reformation of others, was more than once chosen to show forth the power of God.

Dominical Sisters of St Cecelia in Nashville. Overbrook School. Starting with Sister Luke and moving through to the eighth/sixth grade. The Catholic school in Nashville. [and these sisters lead several other schools around the country; including our plan B in Nashville, St Henry’s. we would have saved almost a hundred grand if we’d chosen St Henry’s. but, alas, the road not taken….] I’m still writing a contributory check to the mother house every once in a while. As much as you owe them, you too should be making at least an annual contribution. Heck, I’m giving more to them than to either the Jesuits or to Molloy. Maybe I should fix that?....

WWJD? Cute. Trite. But a hint about how to live, how to approach our challenges, how to embrace experiences highs and lows, goods and bads…..
Well, it’s the same in our relationship with our saints. What would Dominic do? Certainly all of the various Dominican orders are based on that fundamental – what would Dominic do; how would he want us to respond…? It’s also the same with anyone you respect, honor, love. These people become the benchmark, the model, the criteria for choosing, deciding, doing….

We have Dominic. We have the good sisters at Overbrook. We have the milieu of Overbrook School. We have the other Dominicans in our lives – e.g., they have St Patrick’s parish in Columbus OH. And if you’re looking for maximally conservative, traditional that’s a parish to go to. Used to be we went to the parish in our neighborhood. Of course, even the smallest parishes had two and three priests so we had variety of pastoral and liturgical opportunities. And our neighborhoods were sufficiently homogenous to attract most everyone and not really put a barrier for eating at our table for anyone. And there was the simple expectation that we all bought into – you go to your parish, not go parish hopping. I changed that mentality when I was in Tuscaloosa. I had my own challenges with the Newman Center and the ancient Franciscan priest who was our chaplain. So, a student hunting around town for the right parish…. Holy Spirit was a good alternative for the Jesuit experienced plebe whom I was.

Not many parish choices for you in Greensboro. No Newman Center. Our lady of Grace has the pastoral responsibility for GC and UNCG – but the curate [qua associate pastor] is a nerd and a half and the pastor, a truly saintly man, a down to earth man, a wise man is also a Latino man and the Latinos in the parish swell the ranks of the church and draw down his time and energy. Try the Spanish mass one Sunday. And then figure out why the majority of the people at the mass do not go to communion!?. I don’t get it either - although it was common in my childhood that not everyone went to communion. And in the other Puerto Rican or other Latino Masses/parishes I’ve attended, it is fairly common for most/many of the people at mass that they don’t go to communion. I’ve not asked anyone – way too intrusive a question for me to ask a person, even close friends….



What’s up with you today? And all the dad questions? And pump primers….?





St. Dominic

Son of Felix Guzman and Bl. Joan of Aza (August 2 feastday beat. 1828). The father was a warden of Calaruega in Burgos – a middling public servant with a fine reputation. Joan of Aza was born in Castile. Not quite down the street from her future husband but somehow God brought them together …. Who woulda thunk, in 1979, that a new your city boy and a divorcee from Montgomery AL would not only meet in Bidgood Hall at the University of Alabama but actually overlap in the same office and subsequently have a wedding and two sons et al. So, if that crossing of the stars can happen, why not a man from Calaruega and a woman from Castile? Unfortunately the modern version of intersecting trajectories did not serve you well – I am sorry for all that. However, Felix and Joan are a couple to learn from, to pray to, to relish the blessing of their son, their fourth and last son, Dominic.

Dominic’s brothers Anthony and Bl Mannes (August 18 feastday) also were priests. Mannes was with Dominic in the founding of the Order of Preachers The Guzman’s boys were on their way to manhood when they got pregnant with another child. Given the span, and the daughter in between, and the reality of the times, how many other pregnancies did they have and lose. Such a common occurrence that they didn’t much bother to keep the records of miscarriages or sometimes infant deaths….

Dominic did come along later in their lives. Joan’s famous dream - - she saw a dog with a torch in its mouth circling the world, setting it ablaze. She was told that it was an omen that the child she was carrying would be great. And you would interpret the dream how? Try a dream interpretation book for the entertainment value. No predictive validity, of course. But no doubt that the dream as interpreted to the faithful and religious parents became part of the raising of the child – be someone who will set the world ablaze!

Did Jane become a Blessed because of our canonization of her son? Why not Felix? God gave them three sons and they gave each of them to the Church. Saintly influences. Jane herself was known for her generosity, with her family’s, i.e., her and Felix’s, i.e., Felix’s assets – giving generously to the poor of time and treasure. Of course this was doable only with his consent, his blessing, his direct or indirect acquiescence or participation. One of the miracles we hear about came about because Jane gave away a cask of wine to the poor. Felix comes home with friends and asks for some wine. Jane goes to the cellar and prays "Lord Jesus Christ, even if I am not worthy to be heard by reason of my merits, hear me for the sake of your servant, my son, whom I have placed at your service." Well, how could God refuse!?.
So what’s with slighting the father/husband?

Dominic was born at Calaruega, Spain. From seven to fourteen, Dominic studied under his uncle, arch priest of a nearby town. In 1184 Dominic went to the Univ. at Palencia and was probably ordained there. One time, Dominic sold all of his books to give money for the starving poor of the city. [A family tradition of sorts. And how is it you give of your treasure?] Dominic applied his not inconsequential talents so arduously that to this day he is held forth as an exemplary scholar of the university. [and you, will you be recalled as having applied all your gifts, talents resources – with ardor?]

Dominic started out as a canon at Osma in 1199. This group adhered to the rule of St. Benedict and among whom he was raised to prior superior. A man who was drawn to the religious life and strict adherence to its rule. A man who became a leader among the religious of his community at an early age. A man grounded in his faith who leveraged the talents God gave him. A man who knew that he was given parents, faith, community and talents with the accompanying duties – knew and fulfilled his promise and his grace. As a canon of Osma, Dominic spent nine years of his life within the confines of the chapter house in prayer and contemplation. Solidifying his foundation for building himself into a house for as well as of God. …. And you?

In 1203, Dominic accompanied the bishop of Osma to Languedoc where Dominic preached against the Albigensians –ok look up the heresy and know the taking his life in his hands risk Dominic took by publicly opposing and castigating them. The bishop also gave him the job of reforming the Cistercians there.

Early in his apostolate around Prouille, Dominic saint realized the necessity of an institution that would protect the women from the influence of the heretics. Many of them had already embraced Albigensianism and were its most active propagandists. The Albigensian women erected convents, to which the children of the Catholic nobility were often sent - for want of something better - to receive an education, and, in effect, if not on purpose, to be tainted with the spirit of heresy. Dominic sought to also protect women converted from heresy against the evil influence of their own homes. With the permission of the Bishop of Toulouse, Dominic established a convent at Prouille in 1206.

1208-1214, Dominic attached himself to the papal army who were sent to suppress the Albigensians. Dominic preached to the heretics - - unsuccessfully. What if Dominic had gotten caught in the crossfire of one of the battles and died in the field with this record? Was he a saint already? Would he have been canonized without his subsequent success and the formation of the OPs? Probably not canonized but likely quite saintly…. And you? You just might create a legacy similar to Dominic but that doesn’t happen per chance later on. It starts now [yesterdays actually but you have only now to start from, to build on, improve on, do better with….]

Just before the battle of Muret, 12 September, 1213, the saint is again found in the council that preceded the battle. [The role and place of the confessor/advisor priest? The place for the influence of the church? Offering prayers for victory: that my army will wipe out your army? Who’s side is God on, anyway?] During the conflict, Dominic prayed for the triumph of the Catholic army. So remarkable was the victory of the crusaders at Muret that Simon de Montfort regarded it as a miracle. The general attributed the victory to the prayers of Saint Dominic. In gratitude to God for this decisive victory, the crusader erected a chapel in the church of Saint-Jacques, which he dedicated, it is said, to Our Lady of the Rosary. It would appear, therefore, that the devotion of the Rosary, which tradition says was revealed to Saint Dominic, had come into general use about this time. [Attaching the revelation or even the popularity of the Rosary to battle/crusades is a bit disconcerting. But the power of prayer, the intercession of God or Mary, the influence of our belief in and service to Right does matter. I don’t remember learning about Dominic’s role in the rosary before my Overbrook experience. It is an essential prayer in my armamentarium of religiosity: right up there with Patrick’s Breastplate prayer. Whatever prayer brings you closer to God, return to it over and over. And expand your prayerfulness with meditation, contemplation, mantras, centering prayer, etc et al.]

In 1214 Dominic and six followers received a castle at Casseneuil. They founded an order devoted to the conversion of the Albigensians. Their mission was the propagation of true doctrine and good morals, and the extirpation of heresy. The order was canonically approved by the bishop of Toulouse the following year. Theological disputations played a prominent part in the propaganda of the heretics. Dominic and his companions, therefore, engaged their opponents in this kind of theological exposition. Whenever the opportunity offered, they accepted theological battle. Like in any war, you have to have your army prepared – ok, this is more a Jesuit metaphor. Dominic saw the inroads the effective heretical proselytizers were making with their way of life [austere v. the Cistercians’ pomp and excess] and their theological savvy – albeit wrongheadedness. So, Dominic took them on mano a mano: a disciplined religiosity and better theology better preached. The same approach you should take in learning, defending, and spreading our faith.

Dominic’s congregation was at best but a diocesan congregation, and Saint Dominic had dreamed of a world-order that would carry its apostolate to the ends of the earth. He failed to gain approval for his order of preachers at the fourth General Council of the Lateran in 1215. Okay, stop the tape. What if the tape is stopped here? Dominic is still not making headway against the Albegensians. The head of the papal army gave him a home base, he’s picked up a few followers, he’s focused on one thing only, not so successfully, and the Pope is not interested in approving his new order. Now what? Go home and live on the benefits of being a canon?

On 22 December, 1216, the Bull of confirmation was issued by Pope Honorius III. It was at this time that he received the office and title of Master of the Sacred Palace, or Pope's Theologian, as it is more commonly called. This office has been held uninterruptedly by members of the order from the founder's time to the present day. [success is how much perspiration? Persistence? Or as Yogi Berra may have said, 90% of winning is showing up… again and again…. One lesson baseball teaches - - a 300 hitter is a great hitter and is one who makes an out 7 of 10 at bats….

Towards the end of 1219, soon after the close of the chapter of Bologna, Honorius III called upon Saint Dominic to lead a preaching crusade in Lombardy, where heresy had developed alarming proportions. It is said that 100,000 unbelievers were converted by the preaching and the miracles of the saint. It was during his preaching in Lombardy that the saint instituted the Militia of Jesus Christ, or the third order, as it is commonly called, consisting of men and women living in the world, to protect the rights and property of the Church.

Dominic spent the last years of this life organizing the order, traveling all over Italy, Spain and France preaching and attracting new members and establishing new houses. The new order was phenomenally successful in conversion work as it applied Dominic's concept of harmonizing the intellectual life with popular needs.

He convoked the first general council of the order at Bologna in 1220 and died there the following year on August 6, after being forced by illness to return from a preaching tour in Hungary. In a Bull dated at Spoleto, 13 July, 1234, Gregory IX made his cult obligatory throughout the Church. He is the patron saint of astronomers.

The life of St. Dominic was one of tireless effort in the, service of god. While he journeyed from place to place he prayed and preached almost uninterruptedly. His penances were of such a nature as to cause the brethren, who accidentally discovered them, to fear the effect upon his life. While his charity was boundless he never permitted it to interfere with the stern sense of duty that guided every action of his life. If he abominated heresy and labored untiringly for its extirpation it was because he loved truth and loved the souls of those among whom he labored. He never failed to distinguish between sin and the sinner. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, if this athlete of Christ, who had conquered himself before attempting the reformation of others, was more than once chosen to show forth the power of God.


Even if he is a Dominican, Dominic is a man to know well, be thankful to, and emulate.

I love you
dad


Catholic online saints and angels
Catholic Encyclopedia on line.
http://dominicancooperatorbrother.blogspot.com/2008/08/memorial-of-blessed-jane-of-aza-mother.html

August 8 John Felton d. 1570 bl. 1886

John and Thommy

Good morning
I love you

8-7-8
1424

I didn’t see a saint for today that meets our criteria. And since tomorrow has Dominic, I figured I’d reach ahead and pull up John Felton today and probably get to Dominic too….

Last night I sat outside on a patio for dinner - and had a couple of guys on guitar and vocals singing until about eleven. Salmon is not a fish I’d have said a few years ago would be on my eat list. Pink fish – no thank you. But, I was wrong then. This pink fish is tasty and has a mighty fine texture and very nicely carries several ways to cook it. Yum and a half. That plus three gin and tonics made for a relaxing evening eating and listening. Then I got home and took my pain med and was zonked until almost seven. [pain med for continuing residual from root canal. More tender than on Monday before the dentist was seen. But this afternoon, it’s ok. I may even try chewing on that side tonight?]


And you?
What’s up? What are you doing? Whom with? Fun? Challenges? Sorrows? Pride? Worries? Excitements? And all the dad questions. Summer is coming to a close very fast. You’ll see the blog sign probably the last week of august. Unless you’ve got a response that’ll change my mind? A better way to be present and communicative and … honorable….

I love you
Dad




August 8

Saints and angels on line
Catholic encyclopedia online


Bl. John Felton d. 1570 beat. 1886

This is another name and date that should give you a picture of the man and his ascendancy to sainthood. England in the sixteenth century – not a place to be Catholic, especially a visible Catholic, one who stood up for the Papacy. 1570 England and Queen Elizabeth I – anti Catholic place lorded [ladied] over by the anti-Catholic queen. But, hey, being a visible Catholic in Greensboro, especially on a college campus or in an other anti Catholic arena, especially being a Catholic who stands up for our Papacy with yourself, your homemates, your classmates, …. Definitely a challenge to be who you are wherever you are….

John Felton was born in London [Bermondsey]. John Felton was born into a wealthy family so we can assume he was no fool, well positioned, well educated – and a Catholic who stood publicly for his faith and religion and the personification of those, the Pope – Pius V at that time.

Pius Vth had had about enough of dear Queen Elizabeth and her suppression of Catholicism and absconding with Catholics’ land and money and her persecution of Catholics…. But what is a Pope to do against the monarch of one of the, if not the, most powerful country on earth? Without a papal army or papal navy, what could he do to insist the minimally allow coexistence. What can today’s Pope do against secularism, materialism, relativism? Or against those people who not only proselytize their own solipsistic faith but suppress/persecute ours? See what Bernard is doing. Read what he is writing as Pope – then try some of his Ratsinger writings.
Pius couldn’t persuade Elizabeth nor could he find some other levers among the Catholic principalities. So he played his trump card. He excommunicated her. If Catholicism weren’t right; if Catholicism weren’t important to her, essential to her, then her being excommunicated should not have mattered one whit! But it really ticked her off – who is anyone to tell her what is right or wrong, what is truth and what is not? [ever ponder such questions?] ….

But this is John Felton’s story. John Felton’s wife had been Queen Mary’s maid of honor [Queen Mary, the Catholic Queen] and Queen Elizabeth’s playmate. John Felton knew the Queen; this was a personal matter moreso I would think than one of loyalty to Pope conflicting with loyalty to one’s Queen….

Remember what Martin Luther did when he wanted to make his point? Or was it 95 points? He didn’t blog it nor facebook it…. But posted it on the door of the castle church, the town’s bulletin board. John Felton wanted to make his point and the Pope’s point in a similar fashion. He nailed a copy of the Bull of Pope St Pius V’s excommunicating Queen Elizabeth on the doors/gate of the bishop of London’s residence! Not a subtle message to the Queen or the Bishop or more importantly to the Catholics of London and most importantly the apostates of the church of England – if the queen would be excommunicated, just think what will happen to the peons!

John Felton was arrested and racked three times even though he proudly confessed to the dastardly deed… then he was martyred in St Paul’s churchyard. Sounds so sterile. Imagine being hung, in the churchyard! Cut down while still alive. Quartered (guts splayed onto the dirt) – still alive. And the hangman taking your heart from your chest…. We are each threatened with martyrdom for our faith – from scorn to ostracization to emotional blackmail to to to …. Maybe John Felton’s reveling in the rack is an image to hold on to when it feels difficult to be who you are, Catholic….

I love you
dad

July 21 John with Benignus 7th c. and John of Edessa 6th c.

John and Thommy,

Not much on the saints for today, 7-21: except the biggie, Lawrence of Brindisi, but he’s not a Jesuit or a William, Thomas, John, Kenneth, or Uriel….

The St. John, companion of Benignus, was a seventh century Benedictine: d. 707 Their bio in the sites I’ve scanned is about two or three short sentences, each including the fact that they were trained by St Hiduiphus [another saint I don’t know but obviously an important seventh century Benedictine teacher. Look him up or wait for his day to pop him up for you….].

St John of Edessa, a sixth century Syrian Hermit has the claim to fame of being a companion of St Simeon Salus: hanging out together at Sinai on the Red Sea at Edessa.

So we are known by our place of birth, our place of settling and making our mark, by our teachers, and by our companions - - our own holiness, our austerities, our contributions all gain traction, noteworthiness, impact even not in and of themselves but the circumstantial factors….

Think about it when you decide where to be, whom to be with, who are your mentors and models and inspirations….

I love you
Dad

July 21 John of Pulsano d. 1139

John and Thommy

Good morning
I love you

Happy Monday! 7-21 [I’m sending you cards as a hint… 7-27-49….]

After a weekend of doing nothing – reading a novel and grocery shopping is in the nothing list; tho I did do some writing, not nearly any of my better stuff but it’s a time filler – I gotta get out more….

John of Pulsano d. 1139

Born in Matera, in the Kingdom of Naples, thus properly known also as John of Matera. The Pulsano came later…. (duh)

John of Pulsano became a hermit then a Benedictine monk at Taranto. And, go figure, the monks there were opposed to John’s austerities – hard to imagine, even in the 12th century a person entering a Benedictine monastery and being too austere for the friars there…. However, when you are at the peak of your game, when your personal and professional discipline are at the best and getting better, then it will not be unlikely for you to be the odd man out. Like in class, if you’re doing the study necessary not only to get your A but also reading and studying and pondering enough to not only carry the discussion in class but to bust the curve on the test, it is likely you’ll be pressured to cool it and get with it, i.e., be like the group and not make people look bad or work harder or be better etc…. Even our religious institutions, whether twelfth or twenty-first centuries, act like other human organizations. So, what did John of Pulsano do?

He joined another Benedictine community. He did not give up on his vocation nor his austerities, his own calling. He sought a place, a group of people, where he could be assimilated, be all that he could be and have a positive influence on those around him. The community led by William of Vecelli [a John and a William come together for their mutual edification and the improvement of our family the church] took John of Pulsano in and nurtured his religiosity….

John of Pulsano preached at Ban then spent time as a Hermit in Sicily, where he was imprisoned [I don’t know why. I can only guess that his preaching and his exhortations and his leveraging the power of the church over people who would not straighten out probably put him cross wise with the powers that be, both secular and canonical. Piss off a bishop or a mother superior or a mayor or a governor by your righteousness, be prepared for being squashed, imprisoned, ostracized,…. ]

John of Pulsano escaped from prison and wound up first in Capua. [Which Shakespearean play does that remind you of?]

As he ended his missionary years, John of Pulsano founded an abbey in [guess where!]. He was their first abbot. This branch of the Benedictines did not thrive, maybe because of the austerities expected by John of Pulsano.

Lead or follow but always be true to your vocation, God’s calling you in our faith and family….

I love you
Dad

July 19 John Plessington

Thommy and John

Good morning
I love you

7-19-08, 1131, R., NC. I’ve decided to be here, work for D., wherever they may send me, but here looks like a good place to settle for the duration…. Our GSO apartment is now more storage and I’m very slowly making small boxes with labels/lists on the outside – for sons, niece, grandchildren: to be passed on. Some things of significant financial value – stuff; all things that get boxed have some personal and family value… ora pro nobis….


John Plessington
July 19 b. 1637 d. 1697 bl. 1929 c. 1970

[sources: Catholic online and ‘Spital Bouthton’s Litany of Death and Martyrdom, by Tony Cummings with photographs and additions by Steve Howe. – it is common to read several versions of a saint’s bio and there be the same sentences, paragraphs, even pages but no quotes – and using quotes just slows down the process… still, and but….

Canonized as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Any saint John with a d. date in the seventeenth century can easily be guessed to be the handiwork of our beloved British crown. My gut churns and my blood boils reflexively through my collective unconscious at the thought of England. Even the journey there with John and your mother was hard enough to swallow. And being there, not only was it foreign to everything in my being, there was something at the essence of my being that objected. An Irish and a Catholic reaction. Thought there are and were many Catholics who are loyal to the crown and their country for good reasons. And to the degree that we might find a buried heart at Wounded Knee, we Americans, Catholic and otherwise, have some basis for humiliation and sorrow and the greater need for forgiveness…. And maybe it’s uniquely American for us to publicly apologize for the sins of generations past. It does not [yet] seem to be in the nature of our British brethren to do the same….

John Plessington was born in Dimples, Lancashire. And his family, Catholics in a land viciously anti-Catholic [anti-Catholic seems a benign way to say it. Like saying the Nazis were anti-Semitic.], his family were royalist: and wealthy.

We pick up his story with his education pedigree – first his familial pedigree then his education lineage. Not only do they tell us about the person and his family, they shape the person and influence the potential. Catholic Schools-Portland 6th-8th public schools-Cheverus-Molloy-Shadowbrook-UA…. And where a person teaches speaks to who the person is and shapes who he becomes: UA-UAB-Tulane-Vanderbilt-WakeForest, sites of convenience…. Same as for you. Aborted catholic education after eighth grade; now Greensboro College and UNC-G [independently unloosened from the umbilical cord qua apron strings….????] Education is a forever process of increasing personal choice – having been planted in Catholic schools then uprooted and sent onto an anti-Catholic road, college is the beginning of the rest of your lives’ determining how you will be educated, what kind of educated person are you and will you become? The oasis of the college campus is an opportunity that is not likely to be ever provided again – four years to immerse in the minds, knowledge, wisdom, questions of our history, to shape and stimulate your questions and the way you pursue the answers, the answer, veritas splendor.

John Plessington was sent to Valladolid Spain and St Omer’s in France – not only to get a worldly education, a view of the world from a view not British nor Protestant but to get a Catholic education – which was not readily available in such a way in Protestant England. It is true, it is not unlikely necessary to leave one’s homeland [personal turf even] to get the proper education. An option for which you have received the tugma of opportunity.

The rest of John Plessington’s story, in a couple of lines, is well known to each of us. He was ordained, in Segovia [duh, not England!] and went home to minister and to teach. “He became a tutor at Puddington Hall near Chester until his arrest and martyrdom by hanging at Barrowshill, Boughton.” Hung, drawn and quartered, to be exact: a barbarous practice the English practiced with particular relish for centuries…. [and today they howl about abu grab?]

John Plessington is no biggie so the tertiary sources don’t give us much detail about his life. Chasing elaboration via the internet gets us a few secondary sources and hardly ever primary resources. In my skimming, I am hardly talented enough to surf, the net, the ‘Spital Boughton’s Litany of Death and Martyrdom’ provided a few tidbits and lots of local flavor – some of which I may have known once upon a time but came to me new when I read them today….

16th century England was not at all receptive to the penetration of their religious veil by Lutherans: a very Catholic England at the time. Bishop “George Cotes, only the second bishop of Chester, became a self appointed, vigorous defender of the established faith.” Truly, we are never self appointed to such a role. We are appointed prophet at baptism; it is each of our responsibility to defend the one true faith – and the established part is irrelevant, then as well as now.

“It came to [Bishop Cotes’] notice, in 1555, that a clergyman in Lancaster, one George Marsh, was preaching Luther's doctrine. Marsh, a 40-year-old widower with children, was summoned to Chester. There, in the Lady Chapel of the Cathedral, which was then used as the Consistory Court of the Diocese, he was charged with having ‘preached and openly published most heretically and blasphemously..... directly against Pope's authority and the Catholic Church of Rome.’ He was condemned to death and led through the streets of Chester on his way to Spital Boughton, reading his Bible. There, on Gallows Hill, he was burned at the stake, his immolation (by all accounts an inefficient and drawn-out affair) being officially witnessed by the Sheriff of Chester. He was buried in St Giles' Cemetery or, as the Official History of Chester more graphically puts it, ‘in it are deposited such of the ashes of the martyr, George Marsh, as could be collected’.” [Note. The ‘official history’ must have been written in the Protestent era. George Marsh was not a martyr but a heretical blasphemer! 

By the seventeenth century, the reformation had swept England; and turn about became fair play – and the English play with such viciousness…. In Chester, the crown’s encouragement to convict the Papists in their midst was more followed in the ignoring of the order. Until Titus Oats’ stirred up the masses with his story of the ‘Popish Plot’! And here’s one tidbit I learned today – Titus joined the Jesuits. But, the Jesuits soon turned him out as unsuitable for their order. That vein of inquiry would be worth a thesis I bet; especially since some might attribute this rejection as a source of the malfeasance, the maliciousness Oats promulgated.
Now to the luckless, but unrepentant clerics. When the spread of Lutheran protest was gaining momentum on the continent in the 16th century, and encroaching across the Channel, George Cotes, only the second Bishop of Chester, became a self-appointed, vigorous defender of the established faith. “In revenge [Oats] contacted influential Protestants in London and, with their aid, spread the rumour that the Jesuits were plotting to assassinate King Charles II. A nationwide panic ensued, followed by a pogrom against the Catholics.”

A pogrom against the Catholics – visions of Fiddler on the Roof? The Diaspora? The Holocaust? Pogrom, a Russian/Yiddish derivation – destruction of a town, e.g.; to slaughter, to inflict butchery….

In Chester, John Plessington was swept up in the ‘Popish Plot’. He was convicted of High Treason because he was a Catholic Priest, ordained under the auspices of the Pope’s bishops…. From the gallows, in his last word John Plessington defiantly declared: "But I know it will be said that a priest ordayned by authority derived from the See of Rome is, by the Law of the Nation, to die as a Traytor, but if that be so what must become of all the Clergymen of the Church of England, for the first Protestant Bishops had their Ordination from those of the Church of Rome, or not at all, as appears by their own writers so that Ordination comes derivatively from those now living." Logic was never meant to dissuade irrational beliefs – the irrationality being the antithesis to logic and a defense against it.

As an aside – as we are asked to meditate on Jesus’ suffering on the cross – let me suggest that you ponder the martyrdom John Plessington endured for our sakes, for the righteousness of our faith…. He “was hanged, drawn and quartered. (This most horrible and barbaric of punishments prevailed for hundreds of years in England for the most serious of crimes- most notably High Treason. It involved the unfortunate criminal being dragged around the town, and from there to the place of execution on a wooden sledge or pallet, being there hung for a short period, but cut down while still conscious, then having his private parts cut off and burned before his eyes, followed by his belly being slit open and his bowels similarly burned. Trouble was taken to ensure the victim remained conscious and observant throughout the process, which was witnessed by large crowds. Finally, he was beheaded and his torso roughly chopped into four pieces which, together with his head, would be publicly displayed- after being sprinkled with certain spices to prevent the birds pecking at it- in prominent positions around the town, such as upon the city gates- or even in different cities throughout the country).

George Marsh and John Plessington never met. However, the trajectories of their lives continued to shape the people of Chester. In 1898, Nessie Brown persuaded the City Council to erect a memorial to George Marsh on Gallows Hill. The furious entries by the Catholics – ya think there was passionate objection, vehement protests, to such an affront? “The base of the frontispiece states that George Marsh was buried a martyr, ‘who was burned for the truth's sake April 24th 1555.’ On the memorial itself is engraved, ‘I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and the testimony which they held.’

Ten years after John Plessington was canonized, “the memorial was temporarily taken down to allow for the adjacent road to be widened. During this interlude it was taken to stonemasons to be renovated, and the suggestion was made that Plessington's name should be appended to it, as both had been martyred on Gallows Hill for their respective faiths. The City Council gave its consent, as did Stephen Brown, nephew of the donor, Nessie Brown. Restored to its original site, the plinth now bears the inscription "John Plessington Catholic Priest, martyred here on 19th July 1679. Canonised Saint 25th October 1970."

There are not two truths. Is it possible, therefore, that each of these men are martyrs? And how are you building the edifice of your faith?

I love you
Dad

August 6 Transfiguration

John and Thommy

Good morning
I love you

August 6th doesn’t have any saint who meets our criteria but it’s a biggie nonetheless….

Unfortunately, I planned on going to the seven p.m. Mass
Nevertheless, I missed Mass today. On a feast day that has startling revelations and penetrating readings – a good feast to immerse into as well as one to be at church for, to ponder the extraordinary events of our savior, brother, God….


Transfiguration of our lord
August 6

Reading 1
Dn 7:9-10, 13-14


As I watched:

Thrones were set up and the Ancient One took his throne.
His clothing was bright as snow, and the hair on his head as white as wool;
his throne was flames of fire, with wheels of burning fire.
A surging stream of fire flowed out from where he sat;
Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him,
and myriads upon myriads attended him.
The court was convened and the books were opened.

As the visions during the night continued, I saw:

One like a Son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven;
When he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him,
The one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship;
all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away,
his kingship shall not be destroyed.


A vision of our God. We each are privy to God, revealed by God to us, in our unique fashion. And from the very beginning, at the time of Deuteronomy to now, the visions are similar, across centuries, millennia – it cannot be a mass psychosis or the deception of an Elmer Gantry or a koolaidjuicedupmodernsavior. Our God, the Ancient One, the One from before forever and until beyond forever, our God and the symbols He uses for us to see Him, to grasp Him, to understand Him, the Infinite beyond all sight or understanding…. Ancient…. Upon The throne…. White as snow clothing…. Throne aflame in fire…. Fire flows from His Throne…. Thousand/myriads attend Him, minister to Him… not only symbols of Him, but visions of our relationship to him….

And then there is One like the Son of Man, on Clouds, coming to the Ancient One - - even in Deuteronomy the author had a vision of the Persons of Godness, a Trinity more clearly revealed in Jesus and His teaching us about The Father and The spirit….
The one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship
all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.

How is it that Deuteronomy saw Jesus before he could possibly have an inkling? The Ancient One gave The Son of Man dominion…. Glory…. Kingship…. So that we all might serve Him – people of all ages, people of all nations, people of all languages, all people, catholic, privileged to serve Him. Have you yet had the experience of deep gratitude for the opportunity to work for some one, to learn from some one? Imagine how greater should be our gratitude for being in the presence of God and having the grace to serve Him, learn from Him, work for Him????
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away,
his kingship shall not be destroyed.

There is nothing you, anyone everyone could possibly do to put a detrimental dent in God’s dominion. You cannot take it away. You cannot destroy God’s kingdom nor His dominion over you. Not unlike the two year old who closes his eyes and sticks his fingers in his ears and wails ‘I can’t hear you! I can’t see you!’ implying that ‘you’ do not exist, that you are there does not matter, that what you say is not relevant. That’s the best anyone can do to ‘take away’ God’s dominion, His Kingship. Try to block Him, deny Him, ignore Him does not change Him. Not unlike the Gauls who pishawed Caesar’s foray into their country; or the French who centuries later build the marginot line…. You can run but you cannot hide from God’s loving dominion over you, God’s gift of selecting you, creating you, to be His servants….. oremus….


Responsorial Psalm
Ps 97:1-2, 5-6, 9

R. (1a and 9a) The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth.
The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be glad.
Clouds and darkness are round about him, justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne.
R. The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth.
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the LORD of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice, and all peoples see his glory.
R. The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth.
Because you, O LORD, are the Most High over all the earth,
exalted far above all gods.
R. The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth.


The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be glad.
Clouds and darkness are round about him, justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne
Immerse yourself in the imagery, the effort of psalmist to express his relationship with the lord his God, his King. We have so many kings in our lives, so many people who claim sovereignty over us, to whom we choose to offer submission to [or not]. And our choosing God as our Lord and King brings us joy, gladness because, in part, we know that He is in the midst of everything created and His relationship with us, the foundation of his throne is Justice and Judgement….

The heavens proclaim his justice, and all peoples see his glory.
The psalmist knows he is not alone in seeing and serving God. Not only do the heavens, the being of God’s natural habitat, proclaim him to be Just [try Paradise Lost once again] but All Peoples see, SEE, genuinely authentically SEE God’s Glory. And if you don’t, then you should know you are missing not only the boat but the Truth…. [ok, you’ll retort, there is not Truth, only truths. And you say that tautologically. You assert this premise as not ‘a truth’ but the foundational Truth – thus in the saying there is no Truth you are demonstrating that our natural pursuit of Truth [because we are created in the image and likeness of God who is Truth] is in part based on our acknowledgement that we know there is Truth.


Reading II
2 Pt 1:16-19

Beloved:
We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you
the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.
For he received honor and glory from God the Father
when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory,
“This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven
while we were with him on the holy mountain.
Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable.
You will do well to be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place,
until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.


Peter speaks from personal experience. We find the Truth of our faith in Scripture and Tradition. And here Peter gives us both. He was there! He brings you there in the telling of his experience. Listen to his witnessing – ole denying Peter has surrendered to his love of Jesus and embraced the infusion of the Spirit. Peter is telling his story so that you too can love his friend, his Lord, his God, the Son of God, the Son of The Father…. Just like Andrew rushed off to find his brother Simon to come hear this man, obviously the Messiah, whom John had pointed to… so too does Peter tell you his story so you too can, may, should believe with all your heart and soul, overwhelming the intellectual temptation to reject this man’s eye witness….

“This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
You are my beloved sons with whom I am well pleased [even acknowledging the with whom I am deeply disappointed]. Well pleased in God’s gift to me, your mother, our families, each other, and the world we have been placed in…. Deo Gratias.

Peter makes a much superior recognition of the Voice of God the Father declaring for us his Son! Peter didn’t ask to put his fingers in the wound, he’d seen the transfigured Christ and recognized him in the resurrected Jesus [we’ll skip over the interlude before the cock crowed three times…. We each have our disbeliefs, concupiscence is a powerful force; but not stronger than grace. Peter had his period of denial but could not deny his own experience with the loving Jesus. Your experiences of Jesus, Father, Spirit are not deniable either…. Embrace the Transfigured, Risen Jesus as the light shining in the darkness, as the morning star rising in your heart….


Gospel
Mt 17:1-9

Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother, John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here.
If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them,
then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid.
But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.”
And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone.

As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them,
“Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Meditate upon this scene. Weave in Peter’s testimony to his experience. Put it in the framework of the Deuteronomy visionary. See God. See Jesus. In your life. In you. In all those around you – transfigured but always present to you in all others….

Listen to Him. God is not known for His subtlety. We, mankind, had not listened to the Father. We had not listened to His messengers, the angels. Not had we listened to the prophets. So He sent His only begotten Son. Listen to Him. Be also transfigured like Him, Elijah and Moses. The Law and the Prophets, be transfigured by them to be like Jesus.

And when we hear the admonition to Listen to Him, we are afraid. When your father tells you to Listen to Him, you are afraid. Afraid of the consequences of Love? Afraid of the embracing of His Word, e.g., the sermon on the mount or the commandments or the our Father or or or???

Do Not Be Afraid…. Listen to Him and do not be afraid. Eliminate your fear so that you might Listen to Him!

The Son of Man has raised from the dead so do not hesitate to tell others what you have seen….



History:
The feast of the Transfiguration of Christ celebrates the revelation of Christ’s divine glory on Mount Tabor in Galilee
Three gospels report this scene. Not only did it happen but it was so important to our early church to the evangelists that three of them tell us the story.

St. Matthew writes, "he was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun: and his garments became white as snow." Do you think this is a direct allusion to Deuteronomy? As the csi-ny guy says, it’s all connected…. Follow the connections. Give yourself the blessing of reading and meditating and following the bouncing revelations….

As Christ was transfigured, two others appeared with Him: Moses, representing the Old Testament Law, and Elijah, representing the prophets.

These representational interpretations help us fathom the miracle of Jesus’ revealing His essence and see that He is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. But try to put your heads around the essence of this revelation on Tabor….

Matthew liked the “this is my beloved Son” line – he used it twice: also at the baptism by John. The Son of God as well as the Son of Man. Listen to Him….
Thus Christ, Who stood between the two and spoke with them, appeared to the disciples as the fulfillment of both the Law and the prophets.

Despite the importance of this event, the Feast of the Transfiguration was not among the earliest of the Christian feasts. It was celebrated in Asia starting in the fourth or fifth century and spread throughout the Christian East in the centuries following. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that it wasn't commonly celebrated in the West until the tenth century. To celebrate the great Christian victory at the Siege of Belgrade in 1456, during which the Muslim Turks were routed and the Islamic advance into Europe was halted, Pope Callixtus III elevated the Transfiguration to a feast of the universal Church and established August 6 as the date of its celebration.



From the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of US website:
Icon of the Feast - - you'll have to go to the site to see the icon....

In the icon of the Feast of the Transfiguration, Christ is the central figure (1.), appearing in a dominant position within a circular mandorla. He is clearly at the visual and theological center of the icon. His right hand is raised in blessing, and his left hand contains a scroll. The mandorla with its brilliant colors of white, gold, and blue represent the divine glory and light. The halo around the head of Christ is inscribed with the Greek words O on, meaning "The One Who is".


1. Christ appears in the center of the icon blessing with His right hand
and dressed in bright white robes (detail).
Elijah (2.) and Moses (3.) stand at the top of separate mountain peaks to the left and right of Christ. They are bowing toward Christ with their right hands raised in a gesture of intercession towards Him. Saint John Chrysostom explains the presence of these two fathers of the faith from the Old Testament in three ways. He states that they represent the Law and the Prophets (Moses received the Law from God, and Elijah was a great prophet); they both experienced visions of God (Moses on Mount Sinai and Elijah on Mount Carmel); and they represent the living and the dead (Elijah, the living, because he was taken up into heaven by a chariot of fire, and Moses, the dead, because he did experience death).

2. The Prophet Elijah, appears on Christ's right-hand side (detail).

3. Moses, who is seen holding the Ten Commandments, appears on Christ's left-hand side (detail).

Below Christ are the three Apostles, who by their posture in the icon show their response to the transfiguration of Christ (4.). James has fallen over backwards with his hands over his eyes. John in the center has fallen prostrate. Peter is kneeling and raises his right hand toward Christ in a gesture expressing his desire to build the three booths. The garments of the Apostles are in a state of disarray as to indicate the dramatic impact the vision has had on them.

4. The three Apostles who accompanied Christ to the moutain, Peter, John, and James, react to the vision of Christ's Transfiguration.

5. The garments of the Apostles are in state of disarray (detail). 6. The Apostle James reacts to the vision by falling to the ground and attempting to cover his eyes (detail).

The feast points to the great and glorious Second Coming of our Lord and the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God when all of creation will be transfigured and filled with light.


My roommate in college is Greek Orthodox. Growing up I had a couple of friends who were Greek Orthodox. There’s a lot about their rites and rituals and the stuff of their churches that are foreign to me, even in their majesty. But the icons, stylized renditions of events and people, the icons are worthy of not only your admiration but to be used as they are intended – to help you bring your full senses to the experience of, in this case, the Transfigured Christ….

Go for it….

I love you
Dad