Bountiful Garden

We've been enjoying the fruits of the garden and what a delightful surprise to see this beautiful flower from the turmeric plant. It's our first time to grow it and I can't wait to until we can have fresh turmeric. We discovered it at the farmer's market last year so decided to grow our own. I make a tonic with ginger, garlic, onion, turmeric, rosemary, pepper and sea-salt in apple-cider vinegar and it's so convenient adding it to bone broth or any dish really to liven it up. Another new plant that I'm loving in my salads is purslane--the leaves have a peppery taste.

Here's Michael amongst the ginger. I love ginger--my mother used to make a dried ginger candy that we kept in our pockets (she sewed pockets in all our dresses) and it was such a treat to find a forgotten one. Here we are celebrating another birthday! Dagny got him this lovely Viking mead inspired by Kristin Lavransdatter, which he just finished, and which I've begun and loving it (alas, it's too heavy to rest on the cat). I'm blessed to have a husband who can not only bring home the bacon, but cook it. If he could, he'd grow the bacon :)

St. Hildegard von Bingen and Encouragement for Writing

One of my favorite saints is Hildegard of Bingen (Feast Day Sept. 17th)--she was so very gifted. Music, medicine, writing, and so much more. So imagine my surprise when I learned how much encouragement she needed to write. She was a visionary and didn't tell anyone except her spiritual director and confessor. 

In A.D. 1141 God infused her with understanding of the religious texts and commanded her to write everything she would see in her visions, she hesitated due to her feelings of inadequacy. She writes: "And it came to pass...when I was 42 years and 7 months old, that the heavens were opened and a blinding light of exceptional brilliance flowed through my entire brain. And so it kindled my whole heart and breast like a flame, not burning but warming...and suddenly I understood of the meaning of expositions of the books... But although I heard and saw these things, because of doubt and low opinion of myself and because of diverse sayings of men, I refused for a long time a call to write, not out of stubbornness but out of humility, until weighed down by a scourge of god, I fell onto a bed of sickness."

She wrote to St. Bernard and he told the Pope, who exhorted Hildegard to finish her writing. Wow! Even the saints need encouragement. I've been turning to her for the same. Pray for us, St. Hildegard.

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

I learned about this beautiful Cross of Snow in Colorado and the poem that Longfellow wrote upon the death of his wife through a homily by Fr. Joseph Mary on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. I especially loved the quote from Fulton Sheen about the Cross without Jesus making it a burden, whereas, with our Savior, it becomes redemptive. 

It reminded me of another quote of his from his book Life of Christ: “The Western post-Christian civilization has picked up the Christ without His Cross. But a Christ without a sacrifice that reconciles the world to God is a cheap, colorless, itinerant preacher who deserves to be popular for His great Sermon on the Mount, but also merits unpopularity for what He said about His Divinity on the one hand, and divorce, judgment, and hell on the other. This sentimental Christ... Without His Cross, He becomes nothing more than a sultry precursor of democracy or a humanitarian who taught brotherhood without tears.” All this reminded me of another beautiful quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer on cheap grace. I can only hope and pray that Longfellow, at the end of his life received all the necessary graces to reach heaven. 

  

The Cross of Snow

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

In the long, sleepless watches of the night,

   A gentle face — the face of one long dead —

   Looks at me from the wall, where round its head

   The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light.

Here in this room she died; and soul more white

   Never through martyrdom of fire was led

   To its repose; nor can in books be read

   The legend of a life more benedight.

There is a mountain in the distant West

   That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines

   Displays a cross of snow upon its side.

Such is the cross I wear upon my breast

   These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes

   And seasons, changeless since the day she died.

Sing! Sing! Sing!

Choir practices have started up at Stella Maris and Sacred Heart and what a joy it is to sing the Mass!!! How perfect to begin this on the birthday of our dear Mother Mary! Oddly, the more I have on my plate to practice, the more I'm writing as well. Don't ask me how or why, but I'm so rejuvenated. Praise God! 

The picture is from the Mass of Dedication of St. Clare of Assisi Catholic Church last year. It was such an honor to be invited to sing with their choir and alongside the professionals. Some of my favorite people are in the picture so what a delight to receive it from the music director at St. Clare. She's recruiting! I've been happy with my own recruiting efforts for our two church choirs and barbershop chorus!

A lot of people don't think they can't sing Gregorian chant, so here's a crash course in a little over half hour from Floriani/Gregorian Chant Academy. 

Singing, like writing, or any other creative pursuit, is so good for our mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. See: Choir singing improves health, happiness – and is the perfect icebreaker | University of Oxford   I can personally attest to its healing power--my migraines are much diminished when I sing or write. So I wish upon you much creative work, good health, and abundant blessings.  

September Saints

How quickly this year is going--it's back to school for my future son-in-law (his last semester, yay!)--and the rest of it is going to fly! We begin celebrating High Masses again with the Nativity of Mary. Only three birthdays on earth are celebrated in the Catholic Church: The birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Dec. 25th, the birth of Mary, His most Holy Mother on Sep. 8th, and the birth of St. John the Baptist on June 24th. All three were sinless. Jesus, by virtue of being the Son of Man; Mary, for being conceived without Original Sin (by the foreseen merits of our Lord's Sacrifice on the Cross); and John the Baptist, sanctified in his mother's womb at the Visitation. All other saints worked out their sanctification with fear and trembling, as we should too. (Phil 2:12) 

September is also the month of Mary under her title of Our Lady of Sorrows. “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow…” ~ Lamentations 1:12 You can see the prayers and promises our Lady promises to those who remember her sorrow here: Know The 7 Sorrows and Promises of Our Lady of Sorrows (goodcatholic.com)

1. The Prophecy of Simeon. ~ Luke 2:34–35
2. The Flight into Egypt. ~Matthew 2:13
3. The loss of the child Jesus in the Temple. ~Luke 2:43–45
4. Mary meets Jesus on the way to Calvary.
5. Jesus dies on the cross. ~John 19:25
6. The piercing of the side of Jesus, and Mary's receiving the body of Jesus in her arms. ~Matthew 27:57–59
7. The body of Jesus is placed in the tomb. ~John 19:40–42

Happy Feast of St. Augustine of Hippo

"Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace." ~ St. Augustine of Hippo. 

I love this saint so very much because he converted in middle age, like we did. I marvel at how much he accomplished in his second half of his life! Oh, that we could attain the heights of sanctity as he did. Oh, that we could redeem lost time. And luckily, St. Teresa de Avila, wrote a prayer just for that. How blessed are we to have examples of these great saints:

O my God! Source of all mercy! I acknowledge Your sovereign power. While recalling the wasted years that are past, I believe that You, Lord, can in an instant turn this loss to gain. Miserable as I am, yet I firmly believe that You can do all things. Please restore to me the time lost, giving me Your grace, both now and in the future, that I may appear before You in "wedding garments." Amen. 

Writing with Migraines

I'm so pleased to share some thoughts with you on my friend Carolyn's substack: Writing with Migraines - by Carolyn B Fraiser (substack.com) or her WordPress Acct. Writing with Migraines – CAROLYN BENNETT FRAISER (carolynbfraiser.com). I think it may be a beginning of a book :)

The Texas trip was hard on my head...but I'm recovering. Reading, writing, making music, and beach time are all part of my therapy. 

Wedding Anniversary

Michael and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary with a renewal of our vows in our beloved Stella Maris. I cried again saying those vows. I believe the next 30 years will be even better with Christ at the center of our marriage. Our pastor bestowed many blessings upon us. So much grace! God poured it out on us even while we didn't acknowledge Him, believe in Him, or give Him thanks. I am filled with awe at His generosity at what He's accomplishing in our lives. Ah, He will bring to perfection what He has started! Deo gratias!!!

We celebrated at Dunleavy's pub afterwards with our witnesses. 

Yesterday, we went out to celebrate at Lost Isle on John's Island. Lovely ambience and wonderful food! We take most of our meals on the porch so it was great to be seated outdoors in the shade, smelling the wood smoked meat as it was being prepared, and enjoying a cooling spray from the fan. Much like home, without dishes to wash :)  

I love that our anniversary falls on the Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe and the Vigil of Assumption of Mary. Both speak powerfully to the married life and its sanctification. Michael and I are reading Preparation for Death: Consideration of Eternal Truths by St. Alphonsus Ligouri and such rich meditations on leading a good Christian life so that we may be assured of a happy death. Our Lord, by his horrible death, has opened the doors of heaven for those who love Him. I will forever be grateful that our Lord never stopped chasing us and brought us to Himself.  Now we pray for the final perseverance so that we're never ever separated from Him. On this Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, we can never assume that we'll go to heaven but pray for the grace.

Adoration Chapel

It was so lovely to pray in the Adoration Chapel, which is behind the main Altar of St. Clare of Assisi. The stained glass windows are beautiful--we have St. Joseph, St. Francis, St. Elizabeth with child St. John the Baptist; St. Anne with the child Mary; King David and St. Peter. And up above, there's the pelican, a symbol of Christ, who gives His own self as food.

Despite the torrential rain from Debby, our first 40 hours of prayer in preparation for the Feast of St. Clare of Assisi, in the chapel was able to proceed as planned. She loved Jesus in the Eucharist so I know she's praying along with us to have Perpetual Adoration! Deo gratias! 

 

 

A Road Trip and a Reunion

Michael and I made a wonderful road trip to Texas for a family reunion in July and we also made a pilgrimage to several shrines along the way. We prayed and talked and listened to several audiobooks, all available on Formed: The Lighthouse by Michael O'Brien was my favorite, followed by The Sabbatical, also by O'Brien. We also enjoyed Sohrab Ahmari's journey to the Catholic faith in his memoir From Fire, by Water. We listened to the first few chapters of A Priest is Not His Own by Ap. Fulton Sheen. It's so good I had to buy a hard copy, which I will enjoy reading and re-reading.   

First stop was the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament. It was so lovely to make a Holy Hour there, hear Mass with the angelic singing of the cloistered nuns, and spend time in this beautiful area. If we ever had to leave our home, this is the place I'd want to be. Since we're not allowed to take pictures in the shrine, I was grateful that they had a photobook with some commentary for purchase in the gift shop.  

Near this shrine was another monastery, St. Bernard Abbey, where the public is free to wander the Ave Maria Grotto, or Little Jerusalem, original miniatures built by Brother Joseph Zoettl (1878-1961). I was completely enchanted and I am amazed that he'd never seen any of the beautiful shrines that he built so perfectly in miniature. You'll notice broken glass, bottle caps, shells, marbles, and other discarded items. Given my travelling days are numbered, it was such a delight to see these wonders, along with a friendly kitty :)

The family reunion was so special. My sister and sister-in-law cooked all the delicious Indian food. The cousins planned games and outings. This is the first time they were all together at the same time. How I wish our family weren't so scattered all over the US but I'm grateful for all the letters, the time we do have together, and for transportation--the very thing that has separated families. A double-edged sword for sure. My father understands. It was his 96th birthday but wasn't able to travel for the festivities. Still we all sang to him on the phone, in harmony! We missed our mom--how proud she'd be of her growing family. Today is my eldest brother's birthday who died as a child. Oh, how I long for heaven!!! Heaven!!!

We were lucky to get out of Texas with the first bands of hurricane Beryl slowing our drive. We spent a couple of nights in New Orleans and heard Sunday Mass at St. Patrick's church, which was being renovated. Just beautiful!   

The Museum of WWII is a must. Such an important piece of our history--we can never forget the crimes against humanity and the sacrifices so many made to protect the innocent. I feel it most urgently, esp. as our current administration has taken us to the brink of WWIII. Only God can save us now. I especially enjoyed reading the little-known stories of the men and women who served. And always, I learn something new--the history of the Merchant Marines. 

We visited a couple more shrines. Our pastor had introduced me to Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos several years ago. He's known for his many miracles, so I was grateful to have this opportunity to pray at his shrine. It's right next to St. Mary's Assumption Church and what a beautiful and peaceful place of worship. Our last shrine to visit was that of Our Lady of Prompt Succor. If you need help quickly, she's the one to invoke! 

This was such a wonderful trip, being strengthened in faith and family, and our friendship with the saints. I think about all the people who made sacrifices to build these beautiful churches. What a gift it is to us. And always, I was fascinated by the clouds. They are such a reminder of God's presence, His watch over us, His infinite love for us. May you always feel secure in His Love and Mercy.