The Highwaymen

For your listening pleasure: A Classic Song by some Classic Voices. Enjoy.

Yes...TGIF Cao!

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Of Course He Wants To

Today's Gospel : Matthew 8:1 - 4

After he had come down from the mountain large crowds followed him. A leper now came up and bowed low in front of him. ‘Sir,’ he said ‘if you want to, you can cure me.’ Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and said, ‘Of course I want to! Be cured!’ And his leprosy was cured at once. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Mind you do not tell anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest and make the offering prescribed by Moses, as evidence for them’.

God's nature is always that open and generous. Peace.

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Stop The ACLU Blogburst - The Head Of Christ

The ACLU sues school over Jesus painting:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Two civil liberties groups sued in federal court Wednesday to remove a picture of Jesus that has hung in a high school for more than 30 years.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the West Virginia American Civil Liberties Union say the painting, "Head of Christ," sends the message that Bridgeport High School endorses Christianity as its official religion.

"I frankly cannot understand why this school insists that it is doing nothing wrong," said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "This is pretty clear constitutional law. Public schools cannot promote specific religious ideas."

A vote by the Harrison County school board on removing the painting ended in a tie this month.

"At this point, it's a matter that's pretty much going to be up to the board," Superintendent Carl Friebel Jr. said. "It's just going to be very interesting for me to see what the board wants us to do with it."

The suit was filed on behalf of Harold Sklar and Jacqueline McKenzie, whose children attended or will attend the school.

There you have it again. The ACLU and others spatting over something that seems to be a harmless 30 year tradition. And what is Barry Lynn reverend of? The First Church of Evangelical Apostacy? Ever notice how Muslim demands sound so similar to this? Oh yeah you won't find a "Head Of Mohammed" painting, it's not allowed. You might find an occasional severed Christian head with Mohammed though.

So sue me...

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This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay or Gribbit. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 200 blogs already on-board.

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Here's To Your Health

For photo friday: health

Here's to yours...spiritual and otherwise...

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The Keys To The Kingdom

Today's Gospel : Matthew 16:13 - 19

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets’. ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said ‘the Son of the living God’. Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.’

Grace and Peace to you.

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Just Venting

News Flash: Check out my animated response to Ned Lamont's political attack ad on Joe Lieberman, today on Michelle Malkin's "Vent" at Hot Air.

That is unless I'm "circumvented" by breaking news. :)

UPDATE**:It (Hot)aired! You can watch it there in the Vent episode or right here by itself:

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Rain Must Fall

For Illustration Friday: rain.

Yes... and sometimes it feels just like that. It has been raining here in Delmarva. Rain is always good for getting into a contemplative mood. I think it may have been the same for Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. Here is "The Rain Song" by Led Zeppelin. Enjoy.

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Seen By Men Who Bear His Spirit

From Today's Office Of Readings:

From the treatise Against Heresies by Saint Irenaeus

Life in man is the glory of God; the life of man is the vision of God

The glory of God gives life; those who see God receive life. For this reason God, who cannot be grasped, comprehended or seen, allows himself to be seen, comprehended and grasped by men, that he may give life to those who see and receive him. It is impossible to live without life, and the actualisation of life comes from participation in God, while participation in God is to see God and enjoy his goodness.

Men will therefore see God if they are to live; through the vision of God they will become immortal and attain to God himself. As I have said, this was shown in symbols by the prophets: God will be seen by men who bear his Spirit and are always waiting for his coming. As Moses said in the Book of Deuteronomy: On that day we shall see, for God will speak to man, and man will live.

God is the source of all activity throughout creation. He cannot be seen or described in his own nature and in all his greatness by any of his creatures. Yet he is certainly not unknown. Through his Word the whole creation learns that there is one God the Father, who holds all things together and gives them their being. As it is written in the Gospel: No man has ever seen God, except the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father; he has revealed him.

From the beginning the Son is the one who teaches us about the Father; he is with the Father from the beginning. He was to reveal to the human race visions of prophecy, the diversity of spiritual gifts, his own ways of ministry, the glorification of the Father, all in due order and harmony, at the appointed time and for our instruction. where there is order, there is also harmony; where there is harmony, there is also correct timing; where there is correct timing, there is also advantage.

The Word became the steward of the Father’s grace for the advantage of men, for whose benefit he made such wonderful arrangements. He revealed God to men and presented men to God. He safeguarded the invisibility of the Father to prevent man from treating God with contempt and to set before him a constant goal toward which to make progress. On the other hand, he revealed God to men and made him visible in many ways to prevent man from being totally separated from God and so cease to be. Life in man is the glory of God; the life of man is the vision of God. If the revelation of God through creation gives life to all who live upon the earth, much more does the manifestation of the Father through the Word give life to those who see God.

Peace and Blessing...and vision of God.

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e-Can Read Your Mind

An interesting tech story from Reuters:

soon -- mind-reading computers

By Patricia Reaney

LONDON (Reuters) - A raised eyebrow, quizzical look or a nod of the head are just a few of the facial expressions computers could soon be using to read people's minds.

An "emotionally aware" computer being developed by British and American scientists will be able to read an individual's thoughts by analyzing a combination of facial movements that represent underlying feelings.

"The system we have developed allows a wide range of mental states to be identified just by pointing a video camera at someone," said Professor Peter Robinson, of the University of Cambridge in England.

He and his collaborators believe the mind-reading computer's applications could range from improving people's driving skills to helping companies tailor advertising to people's moods.

"Imagine a computer that could pick the right emotional moment to try to sell you something, a future where mobile phones, cars and Web sites could read our mind and react to our moods," he added.

The technology is already programmed to recognize different facial expressions generated by actors. Robinson hopes to get more data to determine whether someone is bored, interested, confused, or agrees or disagrees when it is unveiled at a science exhibition in London on Monday. read more...

Creepy...This is one relationship I'd rather not have with my PC. My wife reads my mind well enough... thank you. :)

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Is There Any Question?

If you are wondering why we must win the war against the Islamic Jihadists, well there are at least two more headless hostages from russia to add to the other two presumed killed, added to the three dead soldiers, two mutilated and one shot dead, added to...you get the picture. If not...this website does the math, while this one has the video.

Michelle Malkin reports on the statement by the beheaders:

The Mujahideen Shura Council defended the killings as an eye-for-an-eye measure, citing a verse of the Koran -- Islam's holy book -- which says: "Those who assault you, you shall assault with the same (form) of assault."

"Beggar scholars (affiliated with governments) will speak that slaughtering infidels is sacrilegious and so on. We tell them that this is the book of God, which will be the judge," its statement said.

Put on your stainless steel turtle necks, everybody, 'cause that's not all the Koran says!

Meanwhile, here's how I see it.

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Borne Out By Our Lives

From Today's Office Of Readings:

St Gregory of Nyssa on Christian Perfection

The Christian is another Christ

More than anyone, St Paul understood who Christ is and those requirements needed by the person named after him. Paul spoke of what he himself had accomplished and accurately imitated him in a manner to show the Lord expressed in his own person. By careful imitation Paul became a model so that it is no longer he who is perceived as living and speaking, but Christ who lives in him. Knowing his own blessings, that good man said You seek proof that Christ is speaking in me and, elsewhere, It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.

Paul’s words show us the significance of Christ’s name, when he said that Christ is the power and wisdom of God. But he also called Christ: peace; the inaccessible light where God dwells; our sanctification and redemption; the great high priest; our Passover and our sacrifice of expiation; the brightness of glory; the very image of God’s substance; the creator of the ages; our spiritual food and drink; the rock and the water; the foundation of faith; the chief cornerstone; the image of the great and invisible God; the head of his body, the Church; the first-born of the new creation and the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep; the first-born from the dead, the first-born among many brothers; the mediator between God and man; the only-begotten Son crowned with honour and glory; the Lord of glory; the beginning of all things; the King of justice, but not only of justice but also the King of peace and the King of all things, the King whose kingdom is boundless.

Paul gave all these names to Christ and many others too: so many that they cannot easily be counted. But they are all related, and if you understand the meaning of each of them on its own and put those meanings together then you will come to understand the full meaning of that one word “Christ” and that will show you – as far as the human soul is able to comprehend it – God’s inexpressible greatness.
The good Lord has granted us the privilege of sharing in this, the greatest, most divine and chief of all names, so that, honoured by the name of Christ, we are called “Christians”. So then we must ensure that in us are seen all the meanings of the name of Christ, so that our title is not false and meaningless but is borne out by our lives.

Be another Christ! You share His name! Peace and Blessing.

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Just In Passing

A few comments on my recent road trips.

Passing Peta- I got the queerest look from the driver of a PETA van (people for the ethical treatment of animals) as I passed him. I guess it didn't help that I was delivering live crabs.

Monk in an SUV- I could have sworn I saw Fr. Groeshel of EWTN driving an Cadillac Escalade with New York plates. His Order is in the Bronx. What would St. Francis do?

Om Tat Sat Pat- In Salem NJ I saw a person who reminded me of SNL's Pat. HE/ She was skinny and was wearing very loose hindi style clothes and a very large Mala (prayer beads) and was very gender non-specific. I guess I knew right away what it without knowing exactly WHAT it was.

also- The Pennsville NJ McDonalds is out of catsup---how can that be?

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The Joys Of Summer

A short video in honor of summer. :)

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Rebuking The Sea

Today's Gospel : Mark 4:35 - 41

With the coming of evening that same day, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us cross over to the other side’. And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, ‘Master, do you not care? We are going down!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Then he said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?’ They were filled with awe and said to one another, ‘Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.’

Sometimes I wonder if the disciples didn't get a break in Jesus telling the wind and sea "Quiet now! Be calm!" . It seems they could have taken the same advice. Jesus seems to think they should have known better.

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The New York Crimes

My thoughts exactly! For more on this click here...

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I Don't Think He Said That

I'm posting this old video "I touched up" last Halloween. Over at youtube I continue to get comments on it.

My favorite?

I don't think that guy said "bring toilet paper" when he was running. I heard that he was saying "vengas guey." He is talking Spanish. This guy is probably a Mexican, because most Mexicans say " guey" a lot. "guey" means dude or friend in English and "vengas" means come here. He is saying "Come here dude!"

---funnyman2006

Obviously "funnyman" can use some lessons in humor...or perhaps the joke is on me.

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His Name Is John

Today's Gospel : Luke 1:57 - 80

Meanwhile the time came for Elizabeth to have her child, and she gave birth to a son; and when her neighbours and relations heard that the Lord had shown her so great a kindness, they shared her joy.

Now on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother spoke up. ‘No,’ she said ‘he is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘But no one in your family has that name’, and made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called. The father asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John’. And they were all astonished. At that instant his power of speech returned and he spoke and praised God. All their neighbours were filled with awe and the whole affair was talked about throughout the hill country of Judaea. All those who heard of it treasured it in their hearts. ‘What will this child turn out to be?’ they wondered. And indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.

Meanwhile the child grew up and his spirit matured. And he lived out in the wilderness until the day he appeared openly to Israel.

What did John turn out to be? Only the forebringer of Christ. It'd be great if they all turned out as well! Peace today.

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Committing Fraud to Commit Fraud

An interesting story from the Maryland GOP Week In Review.

State Dems apply serious pressure on Linda Lamone

The announcement to the press Wednesday by Lamone that the petition drive failed by 138 signatures is not only untrue but highlights exactly how far the state Democratic Party will go to fix the election at all costs. TheWBALChannel.com - News - Petition Campaign On Early Voting Law Apparently Fails The Marylanders for Fair Elections (MFFE) petition drive will go on, regardless of the fraud being perpetrated by state Democrats and State Board of Elections Administrator Linda Lamone. If you have not signed the petition yet, or know someone who hasn’t, please go to www.mffe.org and fill out the petition and send it in.

Here’s the real skinny: Linda Lamone announced to the press (not to MFFE though) on Monday that the petition drive met the first hurdle (Board OKs First Batch of Signatures on Petition, Washington Times.) Following the media reports, the state Democratic Party held a press conference denouncing the effort on Monday afternoon, at the same time it was announced to the public that the MFFE petition drive received more than 32 bins of signed petitions on that day alone. The petition drive was receiving extraordinary support from Republicans, Democrats, Independents and everyone wanting a fair and honest election. The volunteers were having great success and state Democrats knew that and got scared.

Mr. Roskelly read these reports from the press and began calling the State Board of Elections many times. No one would speak with him. On Tuesday, he finally spoke with someone there, not Lamone, that the drive was 138 signatures short, but that Anne Arundel and Harford Counties had not yet been counted. Roskelly continued to call the state board on Wednesday, but Lamone still would not speak with him. That same day, instead of speaking to Roskelly, the State Board told the press that the petition drive failed by 138 signatures.

So they told the press and public that before Anne Arundel and Harford Counties were counted, the drive was 138 short. Then after they were counted, the count did not change even by one signature! Truly unbelievable and evidence of fraud.

Here’s what we know: On Tuesday at the State Board’s monthly meeting, as of 1:30pm HB1386 (setting up early voting) had 17,238 signatures verified and had met threshold. SB 478 however only had only 16,924 verified signatures—138 short—and probably will not meet threshold, but the Counties are still counting and will be until 5pm. Lamone then apparently met with members of the Democratic leadership, who obviously applied great pressure on her to invalidate the effort. Following that, the announcement to the press on Wednesday by the State Board that the effort failed.

Another interesting note to this story: There are more than 1600 envelopes all postmarked BEFORE the May 30 deadline that were mysteriously “lost” at the post office until after the deadline had passed, but even without those, MFFE have submitted more than enough valid signatures to continue the petition drive.

All of this should inflame every voter in the state. This is fraud being committed to stop fraud! That’s why we need to keep collecting signatures.

The petition drive effort will continue and it will succeed. This is clearly the effort of state Democrats to take the wind out of the sails of our volunteers. We cannot let them win. That is why we must continue onward. This effort is based on an honest desire to have fairness and integrity in our electoral process. The state Democrats’ efforts are based on manipulation, fraud and ignoring the voters. In good vs. evil, good always wins out in the end. Keep up the great work! They’re really running scared.

Call or email the State Board of Elections as well. Tell Linda Lamone to either resign her position or stop committing fraud and allow the voters to decide early voting. We live in a democracy, not a totalitarian regime. Toll free, call 800-222-8683 or send an email to sep@elections.state.md.us.

I guess "counting all the votes" only mean something to Democrats when they actually want the office or proposal. I don't want to hear ANY Maryland Democrat whine about "stolen" elections after this.

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Life That Gives All Life

From Today's Office Of Readings : St Bonaventure

With you is the source of life

Take thought now, redeemed man, and consider how great and worthy is he who hangs on the cross for you. His death brings the dead to life, but at his passing heaven and earth are plunged into mourning and hard rocks are split asunder.

It was a divine decree that permitted one of the soldiers to open his sacred side with a lance. This was done so that the Church might be formed from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death on the cross, and so that the Scripture might be fulfilled: ‘They shall look on him whom they pierced’. The blood and water which poured out at that moment were the price of our salvation. Flowing from the secret abyss of our Lord’s heart as from a fountain, this stream gave the sacraments of the Church the power to confer the life of grace, while for those already living in Christ it became a spring of living water welling up to life everlasting.

Arise, then, beloved of Christ! Imitate the dove ‘that nests in a hole in the cliff’, keeping watch at the entrance ‘like the sparrow that finds a home’. There like the turtledove hide your little ones, the fruit of your chaste love. Press your lips to the fountain, ‘draw water from the wells of your Saviour; for this is the spring flowing out of the middle of paradise, dividing into four rivers’, inundating devout hearts, watering the whole earth and making it fertile.

Run with eager desire to this source of life and light, all you who are vowed to God’s service. Come, whoever you may be, and cry out to him with all the strength of your heart. “O indescribable beauty of the most high God and purest radiance of eternal light! Life that gives all life, light that is the source of every other light, preserving in everlasting splendour the myriad flames that have shone before the throne of your divinity from the dawn of time! Eternal and inaccessible fountain, clear and sweet stream flowing from a hidden spring, unseen by mortal eye! None can fathom your depths nor survey your boundaries, none can measure your breadth, nothing can sully your purity. From you flows ‘the river which gladdens the city of God’ and makes us cry out with joy and thanksgiving in hymns of praise to you, for we know by our own experience that ‘with you is the source of life, and in your light we see light’.

A beautiful expression of faith by Bonaventure. May your hearts be inundated with God's life and light.

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Do I Get Fries With That?

Ordering From The $100 Menu:

Fla. Restaurant Sells $100 Hamburger

BOCA RATON, Fla. - A hundred bucks might buy you more than six dozen burgers from McDonald's, but the swanky Old Homestead Steakhouse will sell you one brawny beef sandwich for the same price.

Boca Raton Mayor Steven Abrams could barely speak between bites as he devoured the 20-ounce, $100 hamburger billed as the "beluga caviar of sandwiches."

"Heaven on a bun," restaurant owner Marc Sherry said.

read more...

Yeah, or hell on the arteries. I wonder if the $10 dollar donation to the Make A Wish Foundation counts as penance.

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Crisfield Maryland's Clean Sweep

The unofficial election results are in...with all incumbents losing their seats.

CRISFIELD - Voters in Crisfield elect to go in a new direction. Three city council seats and the position of mayor are in new hands tonight.

In the race for mayor Councilman Percy Purnell beat 16-year incumbent Richard Scott.

Percy Purnell, 640 Votes

Richard Scott, 171 Votes

In the city council incumbents lose-out as well.

Here are the leading vote getters:

Raymond Anderson (500 votes)

Mr. Kim Lawson (461)

Barry Dize (451)

LaVerne Johnson takes the seat vacated by Purnell with 309 votes.
Incumbents Catherine Brown and Daniel Thompson received 232 and 156 votes, respectively.

These results are unofficial. About 80 absentee votes remain.

The moral of this story may just be: Let the citizens give input in city council or they will out-put you in the voting booth. Congrats winners.

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Your Father Knows What You Need

Today's Gospel : Matthew 6:7 - 15

Jesus said, ‘In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So you should pray like this:

‘Our Father in heaven,

may your name be held holy,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.

And do not put us to the test,

but save us from the evil one.

‘Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.’

The Father knows what you need before you ask...He even knows about those whom you do not forgive. Too much information? I'm glad God is a know-it-all! Blessings today! :)

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World Of Good Wednesday - Ripken Baseball

Summer is here and the great Cal Ripken Jr has baseball camps are available. Known for being the player with the longest attendence record in baseball, Ripken's role model status is unquestioned. Now his service to sports lovers extends to passing on his expertise to youth in the form of a week long baseball camp called "The Ripken Experience". click here for more info...

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I salute the Ripken Baseball family in todays World Of Good Wednesday post because, In a time where most pro atheletes are playing down the "role" model title, the Ripkens have embraced it.

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The Divine Goodness Is A Shoreless Ocean

From Today's Office Of Readings:

A letter from St Aloysius Gonzaga to his mother

God's mercies shall be my song for ever

May the comfort and grace of the Holy Spirit be yours for ever, most honoured lady. Your letter found me lingering still in this region of the dead, but now I must rouse myself to make my way on to heaven at last and to praise God for ever in the land of the living; indeed I had hoped that before this time my journey there would have been over. If charity, as Saint Paul says, means to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who are glad, then, dearest mother, you shall rejoice exceedingly that God in his grace and his love for you is showing me the path to true happiness, and assuring me that I shall never lose him.

The divine goodness, most honoured lady, is a fathomless and shoreless ocean, and I confess that when I plunge my mind into thought of this it is carried away by the immensity and feels quite lost and bewildered there. In return for my short and feeble labours, God is calling me to eternal rest; his voice from heaven invites me to the infinite bliss I have sought so languidly, and promises me this reward for the tears I have so seldom shed.

Take care above all things, most honoured lady, not to insult God’s boundless loving kindness; you would certainly do this if you mourned as dead one living face to face with God, one whose prayers can bring you in your troubles more powerful aid than they ever could on earth. And our parting will not be for long; we shall see each other again in heaven; we shall be united with our Saviour; there we shall praise him with heart and soul, sing of his mercies for ever, and enjoy eternal happiness. When he takes away what he once lent us, his purpose is to store our treasure elsewhere more safely and bestow on us those very blessings that we ourselves would most choose to have.

I write all this with the one desire that you and all my family may consider my departure a joy and favour and that you especially may speed with a mother’s blessing my passage across the waters till I reach the shore to which all hopes belong. I write the more willingly because I have no clearer way of expressing the love and respect I owe you as your son.

May we live that our dying might anticipate such blessing and joy!

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Crisfield Elections June 21

Finally an article is published which explains the position of Crisfield's city council and mayoral candidates in the Somerset Herald.

Growth, waterfront addressed
Candidates face voters at forum

By Deborah Gates

Staff Writer, Somerset Herald


CRISFIELD -- Most of the nine city council or mayoral candidates at a public forum this week said they supported growth sweeping the rural waterman's town, but with a caveat that change should embrace opportunities for jobs and affordable housing and save what's left of the waterfront.

"Losing our heritage as a city and ... the waterfront," City Council candidate Laverne Johnson, a McCready Found-ation admissions supervisor, cited as potential negative impacts of massive construction in the community of sprouting waterfront, high-rise condominiums. "The marina should be available to all citizens."

Daniel Thompson, vying for a third consecutive City Council term, wants to attract industry that could provide better wages.

"We need financial and technical jobs. That is critical," he said, adding that growth spawns tax revenue that ultimately could lower property taxes. "With the extra revenue, we can reduce taxes. The pot would be larger."

There was division among candidates, though, about the municipal involvement by Crisfield Associates, a development group contracted by the city in March to direct much of the growth planned for the town of about 2,500 residents.

Thompson and incumbent Catherine Brown told the audience of about 300 people they stood by their vote for Crisfield Associates. "The strength of our proposal to get a Priority Places designation was entering into a partnership," Thompson said, referring to state perks afforded to designated communities.

Most new hopefuls disagreed, including City Council-man Percy "P.J." Purnell, who is vying for mayor.

"I'm not against ... working with a partnership," said Purnell, who argued the deal was too expensive. "I think we've been duped, guys. This is a $1 million plan to tell the city how to utilize land. Suppose we don't want to utilize it that way?"

Jim Dodson, former Captain's Galley Restaurant owner, reminded the audience that "the city has final say over whatever Crisfield Associates comes up with."

"If the council disapproves, it can be null and void," he said.

Absent from the forum at Crisfield High School was candidate and Mayor Richard Scott, who has served a total of 16 years.

Valerie Mason, executive director at the Crisfield Chamber of Commerce, the forum sponsor, said Scott declined an invitation to participate, stating in a letter that it was "in (Scott's) best interest to let my 16 successful years as mayor ... reflect my position on matters now facing our community."

Other forum participants vying for one of three council seats on the June 21 election ballot are Raymond Anderson, Barry Dize, former City Councilmember Kim Lawson and Mary Ann Wandell.

All candidates said they opposed a proposal by the Handy Seafood company to acquire surplus, waterfront property owned by the city on Collins Street.

Said Lawson: "It's complicated, but I'm not in favor of it."

Moderator Frank Urban, a certified mediator from Onancock, characterized the Chamber-sponsored forum as "unusual."

"It is the first time to have a Chamber doing something civic," he said during the introduction. "Usually, (they) are business oriented."

Also read the Crisfield Times article...note the affordable housing quote

This helps to see where people land on the issue of the Crisfield Associates take over of the city council and city property. The Election is June 21.

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One Should Pray For All

From Today's Office Of Readings:

St Cyprian's treatise on the Lord's Prayer

Our prayer is public and communal

Above all, the Teacher of peace and Master of unity did not want prayer to be made singly and privately, so that whoever prayed would pray for himself alone. We do not say My Father, who art in heaven or Give me this day my daily bread; nor does each one ask that only his own debt should be forgiven him; nor does he request for himself alone that he may not be led into temptation but delivered from evil. Our prayer is public and common, and when we pray, we pray not for one person but for the whole people, since we, the whole people, are one.

The God of peace and the Master of concord, who taught unity, willed that one should pray for all, just as he himself, being one, carried us all. The three children observed this law when they were shut into the fiery furnace, praying with one voice and with one heart: thus our faith in divine Scripture teaches us, and, as it teaches us how such people prayed, gives us an example that we should follow in our own prayers, so that we may become like them: Then these three sang a hymn as if with one mouth, and blessed the Lord. They spoke as if with one mouth, even though Christ had not yet taught them how to pray.

And therefore, as they prayed, their prayers were heard and were fruitful, because a peaceful, sincere, and spiritual prayer deserved well from the Lord. Thus, too, we find the Apostles and the disciples praying after the ascension of the Lord: They all continued with one accord in prayer, with the women and with Mary who was the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. They continued with one accord in prayer, showing, by the urgency and the unanimity of their praying, that God, who makes the inhabitants of a house to be of one mind, only admits to his divine and eternal home those among whom prayer is unanimous.

But, dear brethren – what deep blessings are contained in the Lord’s prayer! How many they are, and how great, collected in so few words but so rich in spiritual power! There is nothing at all that is not to be found in these our prayers and petitions, as it were a compendium of heavenly doctrine. Thus, he said, you must pray: Our Father, who art in heaven.

The new man, re-born and brought back to God by his grace, says Father at the very beginning, for he has just begun to be God’s son. He came to his own, and his own did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name. Whoever believes in God’s name and has become his son, should start here so that he can give thanks and profess himself to be God’s son, by calling God his Father in heaven.

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Paul Is "NOT" Dead

He's 64. Happy Birthday, Sir Paul McCartney...And thanks for the great tunes!

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Like Father Like Clone

Or how to REALLLLLLLY irritate Scott. Happy Father's Day! :)

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What The Kingdom Of God Is Like

Today's Gospel : Mark 4:26 - 34

Jesus said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man throws seed on the land. Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, he does not know. Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the crop is ready, he loses no time: he starts to reap because the harvest has come.’
He also said, ‘What can we say the kingdom of God is like? What parable can we find for it? It is like a mustard seed which at the time of its sowing in the soil is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.’
Using many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, so far as they were capable of understanding it. He would not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything to his disciples when they were alone.

Amen. Peace.

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Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Mitzi. Thank you for 17 amazing years!

xoxoxo

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Misspelling Bee

Billboard Misspells Bee Contestant's Name

The Associated Press

Jun 17, 2006 4:16 AM (4 hrs ago)

AMARILLO, Texas - Caitlin Campbell couldn't spell collyrium but someone couldn't spell her last name. A billboard went up in this Panhandle city to honor Caitlin's eighth-place finish in the national spelling bee. It reads: "Congratulations! Caitlin Cambell for making Amarillo proud."

Lamar Outdoor Advertising, which donated the space, said it plans to replace the downtown sign with the correct spelling.

Caitlin, 14, made it to the ninth round of the first prime-time network broadcast of the Scripps National Spelling Bee earlier this month in Washington. She left the competition when she misspelled the word collyrium, a term for eye lotion.

I guess Caitlin was just represnt'n! ;)

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Yes or No

Today's Gospel : Matthew 5:33 - 37

Jesus said, ‘Again, you have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: You must not break your oath, but must fulfil your oaths to the Lord. But I say this to you: do not swear at all, either by heaven, since that is God’s throne; or by the earth, since that is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, since that is the city of the great king. Do not swear by your own head either, since you cannot turn a single hair white or black. All you need say is “Yes” if you mean yes, “No” if you mean no; anything more than this comes from the evil one.’

A little practical advice from God. Peace.

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72 Virgins

While we are on the subject...WARNING: This video can cause psychological damage...or convert you FROM Islam!

I apologize... sorta. :)

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Fight Sharia Law

Effort to accommodate Muslim women's modesty spurs debate

By Oren Dorell, USA TODAY

Muslim women in the USA have been asking the public to accommodate their religious beliefs about modesty, a trend that some Muslims worry will provoke a backlash.
In some recent examples:

•In Lincoln Park, Mich., Fitness USA relented when Muslim women demanded that the gym wall off a co-ed aerobic center from their women-only section because men could see them working out.

•In Bridgeview, Ill., a Muslim school says it wants its girls' basketball team to play road games against non-Muslim schools provided the public schools ban men and teenage boys from the game.

•In North Seattle, Wash., a public pool set up a swim time for Muslim women in which men, even male lifeguards, are banned.


In all of the examples, businesses and public facilities were asked to accommodate followers of one interpretation of Islamic law that says the sexes must be separate if women are not covered with headscarves and modest clothing.

Meeting such demands could create a backlash against Muslims, says Zuhdi Jasser, chairman of American Islamic Forum for Democracy, which advocates separation of religion and government.

"In the long term it does not serve to build friends and bridges with the Western community," says Jasser, a Muslim.

"You're not going to make your American, Christian and Jewish friends to feel comfortable ... which in the end could create a dislike for Muslims that is unnatural."

But other Muslims see the trend as an issue of civil rights.

Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of Muslim Public Affairs Council, says the right to petition for special accommodation based on religious beliefs is protected by the First Amendment.


"Whether a woman wants to cover her hair or not is her personal choice," he says. "As long as it's not imposed on the rest of society then I don't see any problem."


Walid Phares, a professor of Middle East studies at Florida Atlantic University, sees it as an early sign in the USA of a global Islamic movement to pressure Western society into abiding by Islamic laws.


"These demands exist because there is an ideology of a militant movement to slowly but surely demand more," Phares says. "They will be building on it."

Phares says the conservative Saudi branch of Islam, known as Wahhabism, is trying to assert itself as representation all Muslims in the USA and makes demands most Muslims disagree with.

But Ebrahim Moosa, professor of Islamic studies at Duke University, says the requests are attempts to integrate with U.S. culture. They show "that America can become their home," he says.

..."the requests are attempts to integrate with U.S. culture"? Well if you are going to integrate... then integrate. Do not demand special accomodations that NO OTHER religious group would ever have balls enough to demand. We've been here 200 plus years and know our way religiously. Muslims have alot to learn about American life and faith.

If you are uncomfortable with men in a fitness center then go somewhere else. How about Curves? Or maybe the Ramadan Inn can open one for you. And there is no way Muslims would ever prevent me from seeing my daughters play basketball. THIS IS AMERICA. If you live here...be American first...be ridiculous later.

The time is now. Fight Sharia Law. Or be conquered by it.

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Other Prophets Spoke In Riddles

From Todays' Office Of Readings:

St Ambrose's commentaries on the psalms

The delightful book of the psalms

Although the whole of Scripture breathes God’s grace upon us, this is especially true of that delightful book, the book of the psalms. Moses, when he related the deeds of the patriarchs, did so in a plain and unadorned style. But when he had miraculously led the people of Israel across the Red Sea, when he had seen King Pharaoh drowned with all his army, he transcended his own skills (just as the miracle had transcended his own powers) and he sang a triumphal song to the Lord. Miriam the prophetess herself took up a timbrel and led the others in the refrain: Sing to the Lord: he has covered himself in glory, horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.

History instructs us, the law teaches us, prophecy foretells, correction punishes, morality persuades; but the book of psalms goes further than all these. It is medicine for our spiritual health. Whoever reads it will find in it a medicine to cure the wounds caused by his own particular passions. Whoever studies it deeply will find it a kind of gymnasium open for all souls to use, where the different psalms are like different exercises set out before him. In that gymnasium, in that stadium of virtue, he can choose the exercises that will train him best to win the victor’s crown.

If someone wants to study the deeds of our ancestors and imitate the best of them, he can find a single psalm that contains the whole of their history, a complete treasury of past memories in just one short reading.

If someone wants to study the law and find out what gives it its force (it is the bond of love, for whoever loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law) let him read in the psalms how love led one man to undergo great dangers to wipe out the shame of his entire people; and this triumph of virtue will lead him to recognise the great things that love can do.

And as for the power of prophecy – what can I say? Other prophets spoke in riddles. To the psalmist alone, it seems, God promised openly and clearly that the Lord Jesus would be born of his seed: I promise that your own son will succeed you on the throne.

Thus in the book of psalms Jesus is not only born for us: he also accepts his saving passion, he dies, he rises from the dead, he ascends into heaven, he sits at the Father’s right hand. The Psalmist announced what no other prophet had dared to say, that which was later preached by the Lord himself in the Gospel.

So what's you favorite psalm? Peace.

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Nancy Pelosi's New Direction - Veer Left!

Pelosi, Democrats release details of agenda
BY JILL ZUCKMAN

Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON - Trying to promote Democrats as belonging to a party of ideas, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is pushing a laundry list of domestic proposals she says Congress will immediately pass if Democrats regain the majority next year.

The ideas range from lowering prescription drug prices to raising the minimum wage and eliminating billions of dollars in federal subsidies to the oil and gas companies, as well as allowing parents to deduct the cost of college tuition from their taxes.

Long caricatured as divided, adrift and in disarray, Democrats in the House and Senate put together their to-do list and were set to unveil it Wednesday until President Bush summoned congressional leaders to the White House to hear a report on his trip to Iraq.

Nevertheless, Pelosi and other lawmakers released details of the plan and promised to present them in a more public forum later.

"Democrats want to take America in a new direction for all Americans,'' Pelosi, of California, said in an interview Wednesday. "For the past five years, the Bush administration and the Republican Congress have taken us in the wrong direction.''

Pelosi described the ideas as "nothing magical" or surprising coming from Democrats who have long championed most of the proposals.

"It's something we can do in the first week of Congress,'' she said, though she rejected the inevitable comparison to Republicans' Contract with America, which was unveiled weeks before the GOP won control of the House in 1994.

Not surprisingly, Republicans scoffed at the Democratic manifesto, portraying their Democratic counterparts as a bunch of squabblers who wouldn't know a good idea if it hit them in the face.

"Their inability to craft a positive message isn't an accident, but is a direct result of misguided proposals that would send America in exactly the wrong direction,'' said House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. "The American people do not want more tax hikes, more spending and retreat-and-defeat on national security and border security issues, but that's exactly the direction in which Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat friends want to take this country."

House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said the plan sounded like "more taxes, more spending and more government-funded programs."

But part of the Democrats' plan is a call to require fiscal responsibility, following pay-as-you-go rules that prevent deficit spending. And they note that it is under a Republican president and Congress that the federal deficit has soared to new levels.

"This is the path we were on when President Clinton was president, and we would have been debt free as a nation if we had stayed on that course of pay-as-you-go, no deficit spending, debt free as a nation in 2008,'' Pelosi said. "Instead, we have a debt ceiling of $9 trillion.''

The stakes for both parties this year are particularly high. Democrats need a 15-seat gain to take back control of the House. In the Senate, they need a six-seat net gain to win control.

One of the Democratic proposals, to raise the minimum wage for the first time since 1997, has already shown signs of support beyond the Democrats. On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee voted to raise the wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 hourly and attach it to the Labor, Health and Human Services spending bill. Seven Republicans joined committee Democrats in supporting the measure.

But Boehner has said he is opposed to the idea, which is expected to draw a floor fight next week.

Meanwhile, Pelosi has made clear that the minimum wage is a "premier issue" for the Democrats, and said Republicans will oppose it at their peril.

Rep. Charles Taylor, R-N.C., for example, voted against the minimum wage increase this week and he faces a difficult re-election battle against former NFL quarterback Health Shuler.

"Imagine," Pelosi said. "He's a multimillionaire and he voted for a cost of living increase for himself (as a member of Congress) and voted against an increase in the minimum wage for his constituents.''

Yeah blah blah blah Nancy. You vote and rant against anything the republicans do, supporting invented wrongdoings of a cleared Karl Rove and yet your party still demands an apology. How about an apology for William Jefferson, or Joe Wilson, Cynthia Mckinney, Pat Kennedy, TED KENNEDY or (heaven forbid) Bill Clinton's cigar!

Two Points: One, this has been a messed up two weeks for Democrats and the left, basically NOT getting anything they want. Apparently, as has been noted elsewhere, what's good for America is not good for Democrats and the Media. Second, there are lots of funny lines in this article especially the "Democrats are a bunch of squabblers who wouldn't know a good idea if it hit them in the face" one...

"The American people do not want more tax hikes, more spending and retreat-and-defeat on national security and border security issues, but that's exactly the direction in which Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat friends want to take this country."

Something to remember! Actions speak louder than words.

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He Brings A New Covenant

Today's Second Reading: Hebrews 9:11 - 15

Now Christ has come, as the high priest of all the blessings which were to come. He has passed through the greater, the more perfect tent, which is better than the one made by men’s hands because it is not of this created order; and he has entered the sanctuary once and for all, taking with him not the blood of goats and bull calves, but his own blood, having won an eternal redemption for us. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer are sprinkled on those who have incurred defilement and they restore the holiness of their outward lives; how much more effectively the blood of Christ, who offered himself as the perfect sacrifice to God through the eternal Spirit, can purify our inner self from dead actions so that we do our service to the living God.

He brings a new covenant, as the mediator, only so that the people who were called to an eternal inheritance may actually receive what was promised: his death took place to cancel the sins that infringed the earlier covenant.

Praises to Jesus on Corpus Christi. Peace.

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World of Good Wednesday - Movie Mission Possible

This is an older article but I thought it worthy of mention.

Bay Bridge-Tunnel stars in latest 'Mission Impossible' film
By Jay Diem

BELLE HAVEN -- The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel got its 15 minutes of fame this weekend as hundreds of thousands flocked to theaters around the country to see Paramount Pictures' summer blockbuster, "Mission: Impossible III."

A special part of the premier was a local opening for employees and guests of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, where part of the movie was filmed.

"Overall, working with Paramount was very positive and working with the Virginia Film Company was also positive," said Jeff Holland, executive director of the bridge-tunnel. "The economic ramifications were very positive for the Commonwealth."

Holland estimated that nearly 900 bridge-tunnel employees and their families attended three special premieres at the Idle Hour Theater here on Saturday.

"We certainly appreciate the opportunity that Paramount provided with the special showings on Saturday," he said.

When the bridge first appeared on screen, "everybody cheered," Holland said.

No mention of the facility's two underwater tunnels made their way into the film, nor were they ever filmed because of an agreement with the studio, said Holland.

"We didn't want any accolades," Holland said, referring to publicity about the bridge-tunnel. Officials didn't want to broadcast too much about the span and its composition because of ever-present terrorism threats.

The partnership was also a windfall for local charity work after Paramount reimbursed the bridge-tunnel for the cost of the production at the facility.

In all, $30,000 was directed by the commission to be donated to the Eastern Shore United Way Campaign.

Holland said the commission was trying to be a good steward and a good neighbor in allowing Paramount to film portions of the facility for the movie. Read the whole article...

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Today, my WOG post salutes Paramount Picturesa and the CBBT commission for their good work for the United Way. If you'd like to participate in the World Of Good Wednesday blogburst, e-mail Hoe at worldofgoodblogroll@yahoo.com.

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Alfredo Hits The Coast

Well, I'm driving today and unfortunately for me it will be through the remnants of tropical storm Alberto, which Harry Reid, the Democratic leader called "Alfredo" during a speech at a "Take Back America" rally recently.

Sorry Harry, but I think I'll keep America...thank you...at least until you lay off Patrick Kennedy's meds.

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The Greatest In Heaven

Today's Gospel:Matthew 5:17 - 19

Jesus said, ‘Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved. Therefore, the man who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the kingdom of heaven; but the man who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven."

I know we must all try to keep the commandments...but how many really consider teaching them? Have a blessed day.

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Why You Can Trust the Media (wink)...

Michelle Malkin has an eye for news. Or should I say propaganda. In an article regarding the Haditha investigation, titled "The Lie Lives On", she notes:

On June 3, I called attention to a false photo in the Times of London that purported to show victims of Haditha slaughtered by US Marines. The photo was of fishermen executed in a Haditha stadium by terrorists six months before the Nov. 19 incident under investigation by the US military.

On June 6, I called attention to the use of that same false photo by the Chicago Sun-Times.

On June 7, I reported that the Sun-Times had apologized.

But as I said of the London Times' apology, "some smears aren't so easy to take back--especially when the image is as searing and damning as the bloody image the Times wrongly attributed to our Marines. Despite the correction, the image has been burned into the public memory."

Read the article...WARNING: This photo is GRAPHIC.

The Al-jazeera website, run out of Dubai, is showing this false "marine" photo on it's site. Oh well, we know who our friends are. They don't include the United Arab Emirates OR the mainstream media.

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Just A' Swinging

I admit it! I've got some cute progeny!

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Salt and Light

Today's Gospel Matthew 5:13 - 16

Jesus said, ‘You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by men.

‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven'.

Be salt, light, and an instrument of peace.

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If Only I May Gain Jesus Christ

From Today's Office Of Readings:

The letter of St Ignatius of Antioch to the Romans

Let me not only be called a Christian, but prove to be one

You have never begrudged the martyrs their triumph but rather trained them for it. And so I am asking you to be consistent with the lessons you teach them. Just beg for me the courage and endurance not only to speak but also to will what is right, so that I may not only be called a Christian, but prove to be one. For if I prove myself to be a Christian by martyrdom, then people will call me one, and my loyalty to Christ will be apparent when the world sees me no more. Nothing you can see is truly good. For our Lord Jesus Christ, now that he has returned to his Father, has revealed himself more clearly. Our task is not one of producing persuasive propaganda; Christianity shows its greatness when it is hated by the world.

I am writing to all the churches to declare to them all that I am glad to die for God, provided you do not hinder me. I beg you not to show me a misplaced kindness. Let me be the food of beasts that I may come to God. I am his wheat, and I shall be ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may become Christ’s pure bread.

I would rather that you coaxed the beasts to become my tomb and to leave no scrap of me behind; then when I have died I will be a burden to no one. I shall be a true disciple of Christ when the world no longer sees my body. Pray to Christ for me that by these means I may become a sacrifice to God. I do not give you orders like Peter and Paul. They were apostles, I am a condemned criminal; they were free, I am still a slave. But if I suffer, I shall become the freedman of Jesus Christ and I shall rise again to freedom in him.

Now as a prisoner I am learning to give up my own wishes. All the way from Syria to Rome I am fighting wild beasts, by land and by sea, by day and by night, chained as I am to ten leopards, I mean the detachment of soldiers who guard me; the better you treat them, the worse they become. I am more and more trained in discipleship by their ill usage of me, but I am not therefore justified. How happy I will be with the beasts which are prepared for me! I hope that they will make short work of me. I shall even coax them to devour me quickly and not to be afraid of touching me, as sometimes happens; in fact, if they hold back, I shall force them to it. Bear with me, for I know what is good for me. Now I am beginning to be a disciple. May nothing visible or invisible rob me of my prize, which is Jesus Christ! The fire, the cross, packs of wild beasts, lacerations, rendings, wrenching of bones, mangling of limbs, crushing of the whole body, the horrible tortures of the devil – let all these things come upon me, if only I may gain Jesus Christ!

I believe most people do not see dying for Christ as gain. We are in a sort of comfort zone where real gain appears in the number of souls saved and discipled, cell groups and mega-churchs with multiple pastors and services. For Ignatius and his contemporaries, "the fire, the cross, packs of wild beasts, lacerations, rendings, wrenching of bones, mangling of limbs, crushing of the whole body..." were desired, not because the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church, but because suffering and death were the hallmark of Christ--and now also for his followers. It seems odd to me that the early christians identified with Christ in that way. It makes me wonder how I will identify with Christ today-- acting as a "persuasive propagandist" or living as a follower willing to follow even to death.

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Gone Fishing

...with Jadon on his birthday.

Hope I catch my limit...not my personal "karmic" limit of one...but the DNR limit.:)

Have a great Sunday ....and happy birthday Jadon!

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MD Muslims Seek School Ban on Jewish Holidays

They are calling it "racial profiling."

A Muslim group is demanding that the Baltimore County school system remove Jewish holidays from the 2006-07 school calendar.

The demand comes after a nearly three-year battle between the Baltimore Muslim Council and the school system over adding two Islamic holy days, Id al-Fitre and Id al-Adha, to the school calendar.

Next school year's calendar, proposed May 10 and due to be voted on by the school board June 13, does not include the two holy days. But the calendar does list the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, meaning schools are closed those days.

Dr. Bash Pharoan, president of the Muslim council, said it is not fair for the county to recognize one religion while ignoring others. He said if the school board does not vote to allow the two Muslim holidays, then the Jewish holidays should be dropped.

"This issue is about equality, about equity," he said.

Read More...

Go figure...from those who seek to eliminate Christianity and Judaism (I'm talking about Muslims not the ACLU...this time), do you expect less. Hang tight...these are the first steps toward Sharia Law, first in the state of MD, then the rest of the USA.

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Light, Radiance And Grace

From Today's Office Of Readings

A letter by St Athanasius

Light, radiance and grace are in the Trinity and from the Trinity

It will not be out of place to consider the ancient tradition, teaching and faith of the Catholic Church, which was revealed by the Lord, proclaimed by the apostles and guarded by the fathers. For upon this faith the Church is built, and if anyone were to lapse from it, he would no longer be a Christian either in fact or in name.
We acknowledge the Trinity, holy and perfect, to consist of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In this Trinity there is no intrusion of any alien element or of anything from outside, nor is the Trinity a blend of creative and created being. It is a wholly creative and energising reality, self-consistent and undivided in its active power, for the Father makes all things through the Word and in the Holy Spirit, and in this way the unity of the holy Trinity is preserved. Accordingly, in the Church, one God is preached, one God who is above all things and through all things and in all things. God is above all things as Father, for he is principle and source; he is through all things through the Word; and he is in all things in the Holy Spirit.

Writing to the Corinthians about spiritual matters, Paul traces all reality back to one God, the Father, saying: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of service but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone.

Even the gifts that the Spirit dispenses to individuals are given by the Father through the Word. For all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the Son, and so the graces given by the Son in the Spirit are true gifts of the Father. Similarly, when the Spirit dwells in us, the Word who bestows the Spirit is in us too, and the Father is present in the Word. This is the meaning of the text: My Father and I will come to him and make our home with him. For where the light is, there also is the radiance; and where the radiance is, there too are its power and its resplendent grace.

This is also Paul’s teaching in his second letter to the Corinthians: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. For grace and the gift of the Trinity are given by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Just as grace is given from the Father through the Son, so there could be no communication of the gift to us except in the Holy Spirit. But when we share in the Spirit, we possess the love of the Father, the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Spirit himself.

Blessings through the Most Holy Trinity. :)

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Random Saturday Music Video - Held by Natalie Grant

I've written before about Contemporary Christian Music's tendency to sound like secular artists. Maybe it's me, but Natalie Grant remind's me alot of Kate Bush as far as her vocal style. Here is her song "Held". Enjoy!

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The Best of the Maryland GOP Week In Review

From the Maryland GOP Week In Review newsletter:

Quote of the Week: "It's not my job to think."

-- State Elections Administrator Linda Lamone, when asked by Comptroller Schaefer whether she thought the liberal monopoly's early voting law was bad policy. Lamone's supposedly nonpartisan staff was implicated in secretly helping liberal lawmakers override the governor's veto of the partisan early voting law.

Oh Brother!!!

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Everything We Possess

Today's Gospel:Mark 12:38 - 44

In his teaching Jesus said, ‘Beware of the scribes who like to walk about in long robes, to be greeted obsequiously in the market squares, to take the front seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets; these are the men who swallow the property of widows, while making a show of lengthy prayers. The more severe will be the sentence they receive.’

He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the treasury, and many of the rich put in a great deal. A poor widow came and put in two small coins, the equivalent of a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘I tell you solemnly, this poor widow has put more in than all who have contributed to the treasury; for they have all put in money they had over, but she from the little she had has put in everything she possessed, all she had to live on’.

I am always intrigued with this scripture. It is often used in talks about tithing. I know for a fact it is easier to find the "first tenth" in prosperity. But for most the tithe IS putting in everything from the little. May God grant you His joy and His prosperity today.

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The Truth And the Qurans

The Examiner is reporting on the attempted suicides at Gitmo that resulted in our soldiers being attacked...

Gitmo Detainee Says Clash Involved Qurans
A.P.--SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A Guantanamo Bay detainee who participated in a clash with U.S. military guards last month said it was sparked when guards tried to search prisoners' Qurans, contradicting the military's account of the melee, his defense attorney said Wednesday.

The detainee also denied the contention by military officials that prisoners in the May 18 clash in Guantanamo Bay lured guards into a cell by staging a suicide attempt, defense attorney Kristin Wilhelm told The Associated Press.

The military, in its account soon after the clash occurred at the prison in southeast Cuba, said 10 prisoners used makeshift weapons to battle 10 guards. It was one of the most violent incidents at Guantanamo Bay, where the U.S. holds about 460 men on suspicion of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Wilhelm said the detainee, a Yemeni whom she could not further identify because of Pentagon rules, told her the guards demanded that prisoners turn over their Qurans so they could be searched for hoarded medicine, which the military said had been used in two suicide attempts earlier in the day elsewhere at the prison camp.

One detainee offered to collect the Qurans and search them in front of the guards, but the military guards refused and entered the cell block, setting off the fight, she said. She said the prisoners used only a floor lamp against the guards and that it quickly ended when one detainee succumbed to pepper spray used by military police.

"There was no mention of a suicide attempt and there was no mention of luring a guard into the cell block," the attorney said of her conversations with her detainee client.

Wilhelm and another lawyer from her firm, John Chandler, met with the detainee on May 26. Their notes from the meeting were declassified by the military on Wednesday. Their firm represents five prisoners from Yemen.

Wilhelm and Chandler were among the first defense lawyers to visit Guantanamo after the May 18 clash and provided the first detainee account of the incident.

Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand, a base spokesman, said he would respond "soon" to the detainee's allegations. Durand earlier said that officials from the military's Joint-Detention Task Force and an interagency task force were conducting an internal review of the incident.

Former detainees at Guantanamo have alleged in the past that military personnel at Guantanamo have desecrated the Quran by stepping on the book and throwing it into a toilet. U.S. military officials said no Guantanamo Bay guard had tossed a detainee's Quran into a toilet, but acknowledged there were instances in which Qurans were abused by guards, intentionally or accidentally. U.S. officials have said that all troops at the prison are instructed to handle the Quran with respect.

Ok...you are free to accept this story on whatever merits you wish... but remember, it is the teaching of Islam for it's followers to use deceit (taqiyya) to further "Allah's" aims.

Here is an example:

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Test The Spirits

From Today's Office Of Readings:

A treatise of Bishop Baldwin of Canterbury

The Lord sees our thoughts and the intentions of our hearts

The Lord knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. Without a doubt, every one of them is known to him, while we know only those which he lets us read by the grace of discernment. The spirit of man does not know all that is in man, nor all of the thoughts which he has, willingly or unwillingly. Man does not always perceive his thoughts as they really are. Having clouded vision, he does not discern them clearly with his mind’s eye.

Often under the guise of devotion a suggestion occurs to our mind – coming from our own thoughts or from another person or from the tempter – and in God’s eyes we do not deserve any reward for our virtue. For there are certain imitations of true virtues as also of vices which play tricks with the heart and bedazzle the mind’s vision. As a result, the appearance of goodness often seems to be in something which is evil, and equally the appearance of evil seems to be in something good. This is part of our wretchedness and ignorance, causing us anguish and anxiety.

It has been written: There are paths which seem to man to be right, but which in the end lead him to hell. To avoid this peril, Saint John gives us these words of advice: Test the spirits to see if they are from God. Now no one can test the spirits to see if they are from God unless God has given him discernment of spirits to enable him to investigate spiritual thoughts, inclinations and intentions with honest and true judgement. Discernment is the mother of all the virtues; everyone needs it either to guide the lives of others or to direct and reform his own life.

In the sphere of action, a right thought is one ruled by the will of God, and intentions are holy when directed single-mindedly toward him. In a word, we could see clearly through any action of ours, or into our entire lives, if we had a simple eye. A simple eye is an eye, and it is simple. This means that we see by right thinking what is to be done, and by our good intention we carry it out with simple honesty, because deceitful action is wrong. Right thinking does not permit mistakes; a good intention rules out pretence. This then is true discernment, a combination of right thinking and good intention.

Therefore, we must do all our actions in the light of discernment as if in God and in his presence.

Thoughts to keep in mind. Peace.

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Zarqawi Bombs

Ok I wasn't going to comment on this but after reviewing the reactions from left and right I decided to throw my hat into the ring.

Here is "Zarqawi Bombs":

Any questions?

Ok just to be fair, let's hear from the family set:

The brother of Al Qaeda terrorist Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, who was eliminated along with seven aides, said that "we expected that he would be martyred," according to the Al Jazeera news site.

The brother of a Briton beheaded by the Zarqawi's terrorist band hopes he "rots in hell."

I'm certain martyrdom works both ways and that Zarqawi is indeed with both Allah and his prophet Mohammed. Click here to see--I think the one in the back getting scalped is Zarqawi.

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Happy Birthday Mitzi!

Well, Sweety, I had to leave early to drive this am. I wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday! Just be thankful I didn't wake you up with something like this!

...although the hair is pretty much right on!

MWWWWWAAAAHHHHH! xoxoxo :)

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Stop The ACLU Blogburst - Opposing The Will Of The People

Cross Posted from Gribbit's Word

The post was written by Gribbit and published by Jay. There seemed to be some kind of issue in publishing.

A central theme of the 2004 elections coinciding with the Presidential election was state amendments to their individual Constitutions defining marriage or banning same sex marriages. The ACLU has been successful in overturning these laws passed by the popular vote of the people in 2 states. Now, the ACLU is challenging another such law this time in the Volunteer State and the case is now coming before the state Supreme Court.

Several state representatives held a news conference to urge the Tennessee Supreme Court to reject an ACLU challenge on the constitutionality of the marriage amendment and let it go before a voter referendum.

They cited a survey by RealMarriage.org, a Brentwood, Tenn.-based group trying to get the amendment passed, that indicates most Tennesseans want to be able to vote on defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

"It'll be a sad day when queers and lesbians are allowed to get married ... and kiss in front of the courthouse," Rep. Eric Watson, R-Cleveland, said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate rejected a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The 49-48 procedural vote was 18 short of the 67 needed for the Senate to amend the constitution. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., criticized this week for bringing the matter to the floor in an election year, said those who favor the amendment will not give up.

"We must continue fighting to ensure the Constitution is amended by the will of the people rather than by judicial activism," he said. SOURCE

So what are we to do? States are passing these measures by popular vote and those pushing the depravity of same sex marriage cannot prevent it from happening using the ballot so they resort to the judicial system. They bank on the activism of jurists to side with the minority. I'm sorry, but the way I was taught, majority rules is the democratic way.

The people in Tennessee want this law. But the ACLU and the gay lobby is doing all that they can to keep us from having our will and force us to accept unnatural coupling as health and normal. Where does it end?

End taxpayer funding of the ACLU. Sign our online petition and call, write, and email your Senators and Congressman. Let's put this to an end.

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay or Gribbit. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 200 blogs already on-board.

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Politicians are always opposing the will of the people on EVERY LEVEL...From the immigration issue nationally to the "Crisfield Associates" issue locally (more on that later). One should not be suprised but one SHOULD be outraged.

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He Is Always Faithful

Today's First Reading : 2 Timothy 2:8 - 15

Remember the Good News that I carry, ‘Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David’; it is on account of this that I have my own hardships to bear, even to being chained like a criminal – but they cannot chain up God’s news. So I bear it all for the sake of those who are chosen, so that in the end they may have the salvation that is in Christ Jesus and the eternal glory that comes with it.
Here is a saying that you rely on:

If we have died with him, then we shall live with him.

If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him.

If we disown him, then he will disown us.

We may be unfaithful, but he is always faithful,

for he cannot disown his own self.



Remind them of this; and tell them in the name of God that there is to be no wrangling about words: all that this ever achieves is the destruction of those who are listening. Do all you can to present yourself in front of God as a man who has come through his trials, and a man who has no cause to be ashamed of his life’s work and has kept a straight course with the message of the truth.

Amen! Peace to you and keep a straight course.

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World Of Good Wednesday - The Krieger Eye Institute

"The Divine Presence is in the healing." - The Torah (in the lobby at Sinai hospital)

I'm posting this because I had to take my son to the The Krieger Eye Institute to check on having eye surgery. The clinic is on the campus of Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, so after a long drive we got there and were treated so nicely. Our Dr. was aware of how far we had driven and had catered to us all as a family. I was extremely impressed and to be honest I felt a "Divine Presence" in the entire visit.

Today I salute The Krieger Eye Institute and all of it's donors who make a great place of healing possible.

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If you'd like to participate in the World Of Good Wednesday Blogburst please email Joe at worldofgoodblogroll@yahoo.com.

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The God Of The Living

Today's Gospel : Mark 12:18 - 27

Then some Sadducees – who deny that there is a resurrection – came to him and they put this question to him, ‘Master, we have it from Moses in writing, if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, the man must marry the widow to raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first married a wife and then died leaving no children. The second married the widow, and he too died leaving no children; with the third it was the same, and none of the seven left any children. Last of all the woman herself died. Now at the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be, since she had been married to all seven?’

Jesus said to them, ‘Is not the reason why you go wrong, that you understand neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, men and women do not marry; no, they are like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising again, have you never read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the Bush, how God spoke to him and said: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is God, not of the dead, but of the living. You are very much mistaken.’

I pray today for more understanding of the scriptures and the power of God. I'm sure there are many things that God will point out to me where I have gotten it wrong. Things tho I've I think I've gotten right: My family, my faith, and my future. All alive and all with God! Peace.

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Guard The Borders Blogburst - Reconquista

Foreword by Heidi at Euphoric Reality

From Spanish-speaking illegal workers, to angry tenured professors and arrogant politicians, we are hearing more and more tenets and demands from a movement called Reconquista. The movement, once dismissed as extreme racist rhetoric, has rapidly gained traction and momentum among millions of ill-educated illegal aliens and well-established Mexicans alike. Reconquista gives voice to the angry demands of present-day Mexicans who mistakenly think they have indigenous rights to the land of the Southwestern United States - which they claim was "stolen" by an imperialist American government. The centerpiece of their agenda is the mythical Aztlan.

In the spirit of a new people that is conscious not only of its proud historical heritage but also of the brutal "gringo" invasion of our territories, we, the Chicano inhabitants and civilizers of the northern land of Aztlan from whence came our forefathers, reclaiming the land of their birth and consecrating the determination of our people of the sun, declare that the call of our blood is our power, our responsibility, and our inevitable destiny.

"From whence came our forefathers...?" Nothing could be further from the truth - not that the facts matter much in their efforts to further "La Raza" - or The Race. Using racially-charged arguments to batter at the traditional guilt mentality of Americans, proponents of Aztlan aim to "reconquer" the Southwestern United States as their due. Apparently, they fail to understand that the tribes of present-day Mexico never inhabited the Southwest U.S., nor for the most part did Mexicans themselves - it was mostly open land [frontier] except for northern Native Americans (as you will see below).

A manifest destiny has been embraced by many within mainstreamed advocacy groups in America such as La Raza, LULAC, and most commonly MECHa, the radical student organization which has specifically embraced the tenets of Atzlan. "Por La Raza todo, Fuera de La Raza nada," is translated as "For the Race, everything, for those outside of the Race, nothing." Though that singular statement seems to sum up the demands of today's angry illegal Mexican aliens, there is much more to their Plan to restore Aztlan:

Aztlan belongs to those who plant the seeds, water the fields, and gather the crops and not to the foreign Europeans. We do not recognize capricious frontiers on the bronze continent.

Love for our brothers makes us a people whose time has come and who struggles against the foreigner "gabacho" who exploits our riches and destroys our culture ... Economic control of our lives and our communities can only come about by driving the exploiter out of our communities, our pueblos, and our lands and by controlling and developing our own talents, sweat, and resources.

Education must be relative to our people, i.e., history, culture, bilingual education, contributions, etc.

Self-defense of the community must rely on the combined strength of the people ... For the very young there will no longer be acts of juvenile delinquency, but revolutionary acts.

A nation autonomous and free - culturally, socially, economically, and politically- will make its own decisions on the usage of our lands, the taxation of our goods, the utilization of our bodies for war, the determination of justice (reward and punishment), and the profit of our sweat.

So there is a Plan for Reconquista. But do these emotional and racial claims have any historical basis?

Clearing Up A Misconception About Reconquista
by Loma Alta

Introduction.

Spain conquered what was to become modern Mexico and part of the southwestern United States in 1521. Spanish rule lasted 300 years until 1821 when Mexico gained independence. Mexico ruled what is now part of the southwestern United States for a very, very short time. Mexico ruled Texas from 1821 until 1836, some 16 years. Mexico ruled California from 1821 until 1846, 26 years. Mexico ruled most of New Mexico from 1821 until 1848, 28 years, and the southern most portions of Arizona and New Mexico until purchased by the United States in 1853, 33 years. The United States began ownership of these territories in 1845 (Texas), 1846 (California), and 1848-1853 (New Mexico and Arizona). Thus the United States has owned this land since 1845-1853, 153-162 years.

The ownership has thus been: Spanish 1521-1821 or 300 years; Mexican 1821-36 to 1853 or 16 to 33 years; and American 1845-1853 or 154 to 162 years. Almost all development and modernization came under United States ownership. Please see Spain, Mexico, Texas, California, and New Mexico-Arizona for more details.

Comparison of Ownership Time and Development.

Spain owned the area for 300 years and operated it as a colony. The central area, and most developed part was around Mexico City with much of the current southwestern United States being the frontier, relatively undeveloped, and subject to Indian raids and predations. The situation was much the same in the very, very short period, 16-33 years, of Mexican ownership. With the United States ownership, 154 to 162 years, beginning as territories, exploration and development proceeded rapidly and modern civilization came with, or shortly after, statehood.

The Absurdity of Reconquista.

Whether by time of ownership or degree of development and civilization, Mexico had virtually no temporal or civil weight of authority in the southwestern United States. Mexico never really established military or civil control over the area and it was never really a normal part of Mexico, but was always the frontier with vast expanses of nearly unexplored and lightly inhabited regions far from Mexican rule and authority. So tenuous, unpopular, and corrupt was Mexico’s presence and claim to the areas, and the Mexican government so hated by American and Mexican pioneers alike, that they only lasted from 16 to 33 years.

Thus, Reconquista is another myth, promulgated for racist reasons (it is the spawn of Mexican supremacist groups such as La Raza - literally “the Race”) much as the Germans’ “Lebensraum”, or living space, was for the master race. And, Reconquista is equally racist and equally the deranged product of irrational hate groups.

Therefore, we can dismiss the concept of “Reconquista” as a racist, hate group concept that has no place in America, or in any other just and tolerant society or country. There is no need to give any credence whatsoever to the false and meritless claims of any moral attachment to territory by radical, racist groups. They are as phony as last year's bird's nest.

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This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It is syndicated by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we’re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration in our country, join the Blogburst! Send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.

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WOMEN DRIVERS of the YEAR Awards !!!

No offense ladies but...be sure you buckle up! :)

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To Keep Her On Her Course

From today's Office Of Readings:

A letter by St Boniface

The careful shepherd watches over Christ's flock

In her voyage across the ocean of this world, the Church is like a great ship being pounded by the waves of life's different stresses. Our duty is not to abandon ship but to keep her on her course.

The ancient fathers showed us how we should carry out this duty: Clement, Cornelius and many others in the city of Rome, Cyprian at Carthage, Athanasius at Alexandria. They all lived under emperors who were pagans; they all steered Christ's ship -- or rather his most dear spouse, the Church. This they did by teaching and defending her, by their labours and sufferings, even to the shedding of blood.

I am terrified when I think of all this. Fear and trembling came upon me and the darkness of my sins almost covered me. I would gladly give up the task of guiding the Church which I have accepted if I could find such an action warranted by the example of the fathers or by holy Scripture.

Since this is the case, and since the truth can be assaulted but never defeated or falsified, with our tired mind let us turn to the words of Solomon: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own prudence. Think on him in all your ways, and he will guide your steps. In another place he says: The name of the Lord is an impregnable tower. The just man seeks refuge in it and he will be saved.

Let us stand fast in what is right and prepare our souls for trial. Let us wait upon God's strengthening aid and say to him: O Lord, you have been our refuge in all generations.

Let us trust in him who has placed this burden upon us. What we ourselves cannot bear let us bear with the help of Christ. For he is all-powerful and he tells us: My yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Let us continue the fight on the day of the Lord. The days of anguish and of tribulation have overtaken us; if God so wills, let us die for the holy laws of our fathers, so that we may deserve to obtain an eternal inheritance with them.

Let us be neither dogs that do not bark nor silent onlookers nor paid servants who run away before the wolf. Instead let us be careful shepherds watching over Christ's flock. Let us preach the whole of God's plan to the powerful and to the humble, to rich and to poor, to men of every rank and age, as far as God gives us the strength, in season and out of season, as Saint Gregory writes in his book of Pastoral Instruction.

Pray for our pastors and priests that they be diligent and wise in the care of Christ's sheep.

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Pentecost Sunday - The Dew Of God

When Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.

Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled, each one bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and astonished. ‘Surely’ they said ‘all these men speaking are Galileans? How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; as well as visitors from Rome – Jews and proselytes alike – Cretans and Arabs; we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.’ Acts 2:1 -11

From The Office Of Readings:

A treatise "Against the Heresies" by St Irenaeus

The sending of the Holy Spirit

When the Lord told his disciples to go and teach all nations and baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, he conferred on them the power of giving men new life in God.

He had promised through the prophets that in these last days he would pour out his Spirit on his servants and handmaids, and that they would prophesy. So when the Son of God became the Son of Man, the Spirit also descended upon him, becoming accustomed in this way to dwelling with the human race, to living in men and to inhabiting God's creation. The Spirit accomplished the Father's will in men who had grown old in sin, and gave them new life in Christ.

Luke says that the Spirit came down on the disciples at Pentecost, after the Lord's ascension, with power to open the gates of life to all nations and to make known to them the new covenant. So it was that men of every language joined in singing one song of praise to God, and scattered tribes, restored to unity by the Spirit, were offered to the Father as the first-fruits of all the nations.

This was why the Lord had promised to send the Advocate: he was to prepare us as an offering to God. Like dry flour, which cannot become one lump of dough, one loaf of broad, without moisture, we who are many could not become one in Christ Jesus without the water that comes down from heaven. And like parched ground, which yields no harvest unless it receives moisture, we who were once like a waterless tree could never have lived and borne fruit without this abundant rainfall from above. Through the baptism that liberates us from change and decay we have become one in body; through the Spirit we have become one in soul.

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of God came down upon the Lord, and the Lord in turn gave this Spirit to his Church, sending the Advocate from heaven into all the world into which, according to his own words, the devil too had been cast down like lightning.

If we are not to be scorched and made unfruitful, we need the dew of God. Since we have our accuser, we need an advocate as well. And so the Lord in his pity for man, who had fallen into the hands of brigands, having himself bound up his wounds and left for his care two coins bearing the royal image, entrusted him to the Holy Spirit. Now, through the Spirit, the image and inscription of the Father and the Son have been given to us, and it is our duty to use the coin committed to our charge and make it yield a rich profit for the Lord.

Peace to you through the Holy Spirit of God. Have a blessed Sunday!

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