Feasts Days During Lent

Whew! What a week! What a weekend! We had two High Masses, one on Friday to celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation and one for Laetare Sunday--because we're more than halfway through Lent. And last week was also the choir's turn to provide soup and sandwiches for after Stations of the Cross so there's been a LOT of socializing. But it's been lovely. And I could not believe it's the 10th anniversary of my total consecration of Jesus through Mary. JOY! 

I was also finishing up a writing project (secret for now) so it was a great relief to have the writing finished on Thursday before choir practice! Our choir director brought in an original vellum of the chant we'd be singing, penned in the late 15th century. It's only slightly different from what we sang. It's quite large and in medieval times the monks would gather around to sing.  

There was also consecration of Russia and Ukraine. I can't help but think of the Fatima seer, Sister Lucia, who said that Mary told her that by the time the consecration happens, it'll be too late. Pope St. John Paul II had made a consecration that was accepted in heaven but Russia had already spread her errors. And we're already in a war. So I don't know what the most recent consecration will mean. Then there's the little matter of Biden and Obama establishing bioweapons labs in the Ukraine and the never-ending covid crap that continues to be used to usher in a new era of health dictatorship even as the authorities backtrack and say they made mistakes. What a bunch of liars. Everything was done with malice. And this is why I pray because what can a person like me can do? I have no power except in Christ Jesus. 

I had an interesting conversation with Dagny, who's taking a class in Mariology, and who said that until the fifth dogma is proclaimed--that she's the Mediatrix of all graces--we'll never have peace. It's such a strange thing that our Lord will not do anything without our cooperation. The Virgin Mary had to give her fiat for the Incarnation to happen. Jesus comes to us through Mary and He wills that all graces pass through her hands. This comes up over and over IN SINU JESU. I tell you, this book is a love letter! We simply cannot comprehend a love so great. But BELIEVE!!!

I close with a picture of the girls at Ave Maria celebrating the Feast of the Annunciation!  

Antidote to Chaos

Does anybody think that the same people who advanced Covid theater are now promoting war? Have we learned nothing from the bloodiest century? I'm retreating more into prayer. Beauty will indeed save the world. On Valentine's Day, this copper spire went up on St. Clare of Assisi Catholic Church on Daniel Island. Watch: 

Spire Lift Video - YouTube

The church will be finished next year and I have a feeling there will be many conversions because it's so beautiful to worship in a space set apart for worship. It's one of the things I love about the traditional Latin Mass. It's set apart from the ordinary. It has a way instantly orienting my thoughts to the Almighty. The antidote to chaos. Yesterday at choir practice, the pastor was meeting with cadets from the Citadel who are in RCIA and I was flooded with memories of our time in RCIA. I still can't believe it sometimes, how I've grown in love. But when you're drinking from the very Source of all Love, how can it not? I pray this Lent will be the best ever, bearing much fruit for the Kingdom of God.

When we first moved here and I saw the lacrosse field across Bishop England High School, I knew it'd be the perfect place to have a church. And it is. Deo gratias!

 

November Tidbits

It's been so beautiful with hurricane season gone, the temperature dropping off enough to send the mosquitoes packing, and some of our annual traditions--Faure Requiem Mass for All Souls, potluck, the upcoming Marian Eucharistic conference. And this year is the 100th anniversary of the Armistice so Stella Maris will be commemorating a couple of our own fallen--Alexander Izlar and Marion Keenan--on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Our bell ringing tower room is named in honor of the Keenan family! He was only five years old and one of the "sponsors" of the first bell (installed in 1894). I love learning all these interesting tidbits.

 

I took some pictures while Father read the names of the people who died this year. You can see Michael ready to sing and our organist, Steve Collins, who loves ringing bells whenever he can, and our wonderful new choir director, Huey Waldon, and a couple of the amazing soloists. We are so very blessed to have a reverent and beautiful Requiem Mass.

These were the last of the okra and peppers. Doesn't it look like a family of okra in my hand? Michael has become the expert at food processing. He pickled the peppers. This is our second batch! He's also master brewer. In the background you can see the kombucha bubbling.

It's always nice to see Dagny engaged in making art. I hope she always makes time for it. To really see things. I realize how few pictures I have of our outdoors. I should make more effort to remember to bring my phone on my walks. I've seen gators sunning themselves, turtles, herons, pelicans, egrets, too, and the ever-present squirrels who taunt Sunny. I find even the beetles, spiders, and ants fascinating. What interesting homes they make! Which reminds me, I have a little book I want to write. Kitties will help! Ah, life here is good! Very good! I hope you all are having a beautiful and blessed autumn.

 

 

 

Tough As They Come

I don’t typically gravitate towards books about the actual fighting in a war but the few I’ve read have stayed with me. And TOUGH AS THEY COME by SSG Travis Mills will too. He begins the book with the day he goes out on a routine mission that nearly killed him. I cannot even imagine living through something like this, but he not only survived (a great miracle), but is now helping other veterans who’ve been severely wounded to live theirs. I enjoyed getting to know this small-town young man; I have always loved small towns and he captures all the fun and closeness of living in one where football rules and boys grow up to be men. And become brothers in arms. The thing that impressed me most was how seriously he takes his role as a man, as a husband, as a father, and as a soldier. He is a leader through and through.

The fact that he was wounded so severely does not make him pitiful. Of course, he wishes he still had all his limbs, but he is moving forward, pushing himself. His courage and determination are infectious. I loved how he encouraged other soldiers who’d arrive at Walter Reed. And this memoir inspires me to never give up.

The bulk of the book describes his three deployments to Afghanistan with the famous 82^nd Airborne Division. Until I read this book, I had no idea the how very dangerous it’s been for our men to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan where you couldn’t necessarily trust the Afghanis either. But here they were, fighting to give them a better life. And today we “sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.” Thank you SSG Mills and all the others who have served our country so fearlessly so that we might sleep in peace. God bless you!

Thanks to Blogging for Books for a review copy of TOUGH AS THEY COME. I highly recommend it to all who are 14 years or older.

 

When I read this book, I remembered Trent Reedy’s WORDS IN THE DUST, based upon his experiences serving in Afghanistan. He paints a picture of what it’s like to be an Afghani girl. I’m reading another one of his books, IF YOU’RE READING THIS, that I am enjoying immensely. And he has a new series of books of what it would be like if America were divided.

Right before I picked up TOUGH, I’d read Padma Venkatraman’s free-verse novel A TIME TO DANCE. The two books are completely different but what they have in common is the indomitable spirit of people who face tragedy with courage.

Happy reading, say Benny and Jules :)