Ascension of our Lord

Happy Feast of the Ascension!!! Where our Lord is, there we hope to be too! It is the second Glorious Mystery and we pray for the virtue of Hope. What's been lost in the new liturgy are the three Rogation days prior to Ascension Thursday. It's when we pray for blessings upon our crops, for a bountiful fruit. With the industrial food system, we don't think about these things, but when you consider how unnatural it is, how detrimental it is to have pesticides and hormones contaminating our food (no wonder an increasing number of people have chronic health problems), think about supporting your local farmers. Since the Covid crap began, we began buying our meat, eggs, raw milk, and whatever vegetables we didn't grow ourselves from local farmers. Our health is so much better and it feels good to know where our food is coming from. 

We'll also begin the world's oldest and original novena in preparation for Pentecost! That's one of the reasons I don't like that Ascension has been shifted to Sunday. It's Ascension Thursday for a reason: 40 days after Easter. Plus novena = nine days of prayer. Yeah, the numbers matter to me. Le sigh. 

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy Love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth. O God, Who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

It's hard to believe that it was only last year Dagny graduated from Ave Maria.

Christmas Letter

Bouguereau (1825-1905) Song of the Angels (1881 A.D.) 

Dear Family and Friends,

I pray this letter finds you in good health and cheer and in readiness to welcome our Savior Jesus Christ. Oh, He loves you so much! And it’s for you and me, our family and friends, our enemies even, that Christ was born. It’s this plan of God becoming Man—the Incarnation—that Satan hated. Non serviam. I will not serve. We can never forget that Satan hates us and will do anything—witness the chaos and divisions—to keep us from our dear Savior. Let us be like Mary, who crushes the head of the serpent with her humility. Fiat mihi. Let it be done unto me. It must really rankle Satan to be defeated by a mere creature, and a woman at that. But she is full of grace and happy to supply what we lack. This is why the Hail Mary is such a perfect prayer: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. 

This time last year, I was in Texas with my brother Mohan. You all will be happy to know he is doing fine. I tell you, he’s a cat with nine lives! Mohan’s illness has brought our family closer to one another. I especially enjoyed getting to know my grown niece Anjali—she has all the best qualities from each of her parents, Mohan’s analytical mind, Sujata’s artistic bent. Praise God for all He’s doing.

I am thankful to be home with Michael—we are like hobbits with our creature comforts. After a lifetime of setting up home in different continents, countries, states, and cities, it is good to finally put down roots. I remember the first Mass we heard at Stella Maris Catholic Church 12 years ago on our 17th wedding anniversary. I wept because I was home. No other place has had this effect. We are blessed here. This year, the biggest blessing was the completion of St. Clare of Assisi Catholic Church, the jewel of Daniel Island. We often walk or bike to church for Adoration or to hear Mass and that itself is meditative. It was an honor to be invited to sing at the Mass of Dedication in April. JOY!

Music has taken over our lives. We continue to sing in the Latin Mass choir at both Stella Maris and Sacred Heart but we receive more than double blessings with double dose of Scripture :) We love how Sundays are truly set apart for worship. We enjoy socializing after Mass and are often the last ones to leave :) When my sister Suman came for a visit, she was happy to hear daily Mass and sing with us. She called it a spiritual retreat.

My health has improved significantly by relying on local farmers for meat, eggs, fruits, and vegetables. We’re moving away bit by bit from the medical/industrial food system. Clean living is allowing us to participate more in community life. Michael and I joined a recorder group; it’s a lot easier than singing or playing the piano! It’s such fun to make music together, harkening back to olden days when music-making was a communal affair. I’ve also joined a women’s barbershop that’s very challenging. Good for the brain! We’ve had our first concerts in these new groups and it has brought the same joy as bringing a book to publication. In the beginning, writing is a gift for yourself, then upon publication, it becomes a gift for others. Alas, I’m not writing much but I hope that as I become more proficient in music, I will have the mental space for creative writing. Michael is eager to retire and devote more time to his monkish pursuits—religion, brewing, gardening. He is such a good provider—look at the bounty from our garden (that’s still producing despite the cold).

Max is the opposite of a hobbit. I get tired just listening to him talk about his hectic schedule travelling for work and play. But I really appreciate the time he takes to be present to family and friends. This year, in addition to visits home, we ended up meeting in Chicago. I was visiting my father to celebrate his 95th birthday and Max was visiting some friends for July 4th celebration. So he spent some time with my parents as well. Such a wonderful God-cidence!

Max is happy living and working in DC. He and his housemate Chris continue to host marvelous Thursday night dinners. They remind me of my thesis advisor and mentor Lin, who’d prepare seven course meals for her black-tie dinner parties. She taught me a great deal—good science, good art, good cooking—and I carry those principles with me. This spring, Jerry arranged a wonderful 50th year celebration of their Membrane Group. Of course, Lin prepared a delicious buffet for all 50+ of us. It was lovely to catch up with old friends and colleagues, some whom I’d lost touch with. To see Lin and Jerry again was a great joy! The last time was 25 years ago at their restaurant Combray, in Pullman, WA, when we were driving from Purdue Univ. to Redmond, WA. Max was just an embryo!

How time flies! Dagny too has flown the nest but we see her weekly for Mass and choir practice. She tells Max to move down to Charleston and become a wedding planner :) I think he’d be very good at it and we’re enlisting his help… because Dagny is engaged to be married to Ian Jacobs, the handsome boy down the street! Save the date: Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. Come celebrate their Holy Matrimony with us.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. After graduating last Dec. from Ave Maria Univ., Dagny worked at Firefly distillery on the production team. It’s been so interesting to learn more about spirits from her, though I’ve not yet developed a taste for them. However, she makes flavorful mixed drinks. She recently left Firefly to work for SC Dept. of Water. She’s enjoying having a desk job, making more $$$, and not having to wear steel-toed boots. She’ll keep our water clean for drinking, fishing, and playing. Her interests align with Ian’s; he’s studying civil engineering and will graduate next Dec. He’s already studied one of my father’s textbooks!

We took a family vacation in Ave Maria for Dagny’s graduation ceremony in May. We had a wonderful time listening to the inspiring sermons and speeches, meeting professors, parents, friends. Our Lady truly took our children under her mantle and formed them in virtue. Deo gratias! The best part was having downtime at the farmhouse that had kittens not even a month old. Such delight to pick them up whenever we wanted. Made it a purrfect and peaceful retreat. May you also have pockets of peace!

Closing with love and prayers for a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthful New Year. Pax Christi!

 

Celebrations

Ascension
from the Egmont Breviary
Dutch (Utrecht), 1435-1445

Happy Feast of the Ascension!!! Forty days after our Lord's Resurrection, He ascends to heaven and He will return in the same manner! I was looking for pictures and stumbled across Ad Imaginem Dei: Iconography of the Ascension, Part III of IV -- The Disappearing Feet. Can you see the footprints left behind? I don't have a foot fetish (except for babies' feet that I love to nibble on), but what delight to seeing His Feet. We follow in His footsteps and where He is, there I will go! And I want to bring as many people with me as possible :) We begin our novena to the Holy Ghost in preparation for Pentecost!

 

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who have taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant that in the same Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in his consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. 

I simply cannot get over all the graces that have been pouring down upon us this Easter season. God is so good to us. We have much to celebrate--Dagny's graduation (magna cum laude) from Ave Maria University, reunions, birthdays, feast days. The Baccalaureate Mass was so lovely. The bishop reminded us the purpose of Catholic education, which is to declare the Lordship of Christ. Our lives are to be Christ-centered, to let Him reign in our homes, our work, our communities, but especially in our hearts, minds, souls. We are to be light and salt. The world today rejects Christ, thinking Him as a myth. They challenge the Resurrection. But it really happened. The Apostles were startled, but they couldn't deny the truth. They knew Him, they loved Him, and they died for Him, following Him, in imitation of Him. The bishop exhorted us to continue developing our gifts from God, using them in all the spheres of our lives, and to sanctify the world. May God be praised.  

I was too far from the Altar but my attention alternated between the Crucifix and and the Tenth Station of the Cross, where Jesus is stripped of His garments. And in the quiet, I remembered St. Alphonsus Ligouri's prayer: My innocent Jesus, / by the torment You suffered in being stripped of Your garments, / help me to strip myself of all attachment for the things of earth / that I may place all my love in You who are so worthy of my love. / I love You, O Jesus, with all my heart; / I am sorry for ever having offended You. / Never let me offend You again. / Grant that I may love You always; and then do with me as You will. Amen.

Tom Monaghan, the founder of Ave Maria University, gave the closing remark to the kids: Hear Mass as often as you can; pray the rosary daily; go to confession monthly. And if you don't know why, you've wasted four years here. His story is so inspiring.

  

 

At the dinner afterwards, there were awards and one of the recipients from the previous year, Begonia Avila, spoke so honestly about the challenges of living in a world that's opposed to Christ. She said to embrace the discomfort and uncertainty, to trust in God. When He is the center of one's life, everything else falls into place. There is power and peace that comes from an ordered life. I loved that she spoke about pursuing Him and allowing Him to pursue you--indeed Christian life is a love affair. She closed with the sentiment that her time at Ave as a foretaste of heaven (truly it is, even the short time we were there).

Dr. Maria Fedoryka, chosen by the graduates to represent them, closed the celebration with a lecture: Against Modern Secularism. It was so beautiful to partake in her joy and hope, which are supernatural gifts from heaven; however, she focused her lecture on natural joy that modern secularism strives to rob us of. She encouraged us to exercise our imaginations with poetry and art, to allow ourselves to be enchanted with beauty, even in our humdrum, ordinary lives. She's such a marvelous teacher--Dagny's favorite--and how I wish I could've been a student in Maria's class. By the way, her husband, Roy Schoeman, wrote the brilliant book: Salvation is from the Jews: the Role of Judaism in Salvation History from Abraham to the Second Coming. I had a chance to personally thank him because this book was, and continues to be, instrumental in our ongoing conversion and he said he was compelled to write it. If he put it aside, he'd fall into darkness and depression. Deo gratias!

We stayed at a farmhouse and what a blessing to be outdoors with the animals, esp. the kittens--just 2 wks old. Mama cat was very relaxed and enjoyed being petted while she nursed her kittens. I especially enjoyed giving the runts extra time with their mama. Michael and the kids enjoyed the fresh eggs. I had a taste of my childhood when our host offered us fresh sugarcane. So without any apology, numerous kitten pictures follow, and who knows, I just might have to post a random kitten picture on my blog for no reason except for the joy it brings. Enjoy! I was also delighted by some of the artwork and a working record player. Remember those?

Graduation day was HOT! A breeze kept us comfortable during commencement exercises. The new President, Mark Middendorf, opened with the exhortation to spend time in Adoration. This is what friends do; they spend time together. Jesus asked for this, on the night before He died. He didn't ask us to fast for 40 days or pray all night like He did. He asked us, "Could you not spend an hour with Me?"

Patrick Lencioni gave the keynote address and he exhorted the students to be afraid. Be very afraid! Because of how easy it is to get choked by the pleasures and cares of the world (remember the Parable of the Sower). Even good things can keep us away from Christ. How well he knows it. We might assume that he was invited to speak because of his worldly success, but it is in spite of it. He led a lukewarm life, chasing the next thing, but he wasn't happy. The day he chose God changed his life. The strings that had turned into chains were broken. He was free. So he encouraged us to all to stand firm in Truth. Ask for the grace to want only God. To do His will. Amen! How I will miss visiting Ave Maria--from that first time when I smelled the orange blossoms during spring break to the chant workshop, Max's graduation and now Dagny's graduation, may our Lord see it fit for me to return again to Ave Maria. What a gift to see our children grow in their studies and their faith at a time when they still had doubts. Our Lady took them under her wing--they belong to her and she always leads them to her Son. Deo gratias. Alleluia!

Sunday was Dagny's birthday and we heard Mass at St. Agnes. And who should be celebrating the beautiful High Mass but Ave Maria's own recent graduate--Fr. Joseph Lugalambi--who received his Ph.D. in Theology. I remembered how all the kids and faculty gave him a standing ovation when he was hooded the day before. It's clear he's made a huge impact at Ave Maria. Today is our sweet old dog's birthday--she's 15 years old.