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I've been distracted this week. Wednesday morning I got and started reading documents involved in setting up family property/estate/whatever arrangements for at least the next generation. I was part-way through the last document when a video conference with the lawyer started. Good news, we caught a misspelling of my name and clarified a few points. Surprising news, one of the documents was a health care directive.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Being a Catholic affects how I prepare my health care directive, particularly how and why I define palliative care.)

Fr Anthony Collier 20 June 1913 - 27 June 1950 Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand) Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India) Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel Matthew 21:28-32 (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India) Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’, but afterwards he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir’, but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors an...

Lala with Jordan who died in November 2023 I try to mark Lala's birthday every year, which is 27 September, the feast of St Vincent de Paul. That won't be celebrated this year as it falls on Sunday. So I'm posting it this year a little early. Fewer and fewer persons with Down Syndrome are being born in European countries. This is because more and more children with Down Syndrome are being aborted. Below, with some minor changes, is what I have posted over the last three years. +++ I first wrote this post in October 2008 and used it again in 2011 under the title Lala and Queen Elizabeth II . I have re-posted it a number of times, with variations, because Lala's story is one that should be told over and over again. This year I am re-posting what I have posted over the last three years, with a couple of updates on ages. I am posting the day before Lala's birthday in the Philippines, 27 September, the feast of St Vincent de Paul. No doubt, the occasion will be marked a...

    I was listening to a recitation of the  Gospel of Mark, Chapter 10 using ** Lectio Divina on the Parable of the Rich Man. You might remember the story where Jesus tells the rich man, " Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”  (Mk 10:21) Typically when I read this parable, I think very literally in terms of giving away stuff, the actual physical things we hold on to. The context of the retreat I was listening to talked about making space for Jesus, and this got me to thinking, "What if Jesus isn't asking us to give up stuff, but to give up what we are attached to?" What are you attached to?  Let me give you an example. Let's say you have developed the habit of scrolling or watching reels on your phone. "It's okay," you tell yourself. "I'm not hurting anyone by doing it, and it gives me a break." Let's say lately you have really coveted your time doing this, to...

Technology and culture change. Some things don't. ...I spent two decades of my life working for a small publishing house here in Sauk Centre, Vocational Biographies.... ...By the time I worked there, the old coach entrance was at ground level, with steps up to the floor a few paces inside. That's where I usually entered the building, particularly in winter when navigating the front entrance's outside steps could be tricky.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Remembering the time I helped fix a lock started me thinking about natural law and free will, among other things.)

The Grape-Picker Bernhard Keil [ Web Gallery of Art ] The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard (Matthew 20:1; Gospel). Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand) Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India) Gospel Matthew 20:1-16 (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India) At that time: Jesus told his disciples this parable, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market-place, and to them he said, “You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.” So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the ele...

    Finally, finally , we are starting to get our green grass back. We have been looking at patches of brown for so long, I was happy to see our yard come alive again after the rain the other day. We planted a second flower garden last spring and the flowers have really grown tall and colorful this fall, but they are just now starting to fade a bit. The tomato vines have been trimmed and we have one scraggly plant with a few tomatoes holding on for dear life. When I think of flowers, I think of St. Therese of Lisieux and this famous quote by her: "I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would lose its loveliness. And so it is in the world of souls, where each one has its own mission and is different from the others in its qualities and sanctity." If ...

Scenic, no. Good farmland, yes. Red River Valley, near the Goose River, looking south.   Change happens, which isn't a new idea. At all. "Everything changes and nothing stands still" ("πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει", quoted by Plato in " Cratylus " (ca. 360 B.C.)) ( Heraclitus , Wikiquote) This week I'll be talking about — mentioning, actually — some of my relatives, what Thomas Jefferson said about settling central North America, and why I like being an American. On the whole. Indian Cemetery Field Trip Republic, Republican Thomas Jefferson, Change, and Using Our Brains "Hundredth and Thousandth Generation" Attitudes and "The Call of Cthulhu" Words, Meanings, and Respect "Crafty Individuals" Family and Neighbors A Blanket Marrying Into an Older Family I Like It Here .... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Thomas Jefferson thought settling America would take centuries. I talk about that, a...

St Peter in Penitence El Greco [ Web Gallery of Art ]   Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand) Readings ( English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India) Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel Matthew 18:21-35 (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India) At that time: Peter came up and said to Jesus, ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. ‘Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay...

      I was out playing 18 holes of golf on a beautiful, sunny day and one of my teammates hit a hole-in-one! I suppose I should mention that it was an 18-hole putt-putt course and the "teammate" that got the hole-in-one was our oldest daughter. Truth is, I grew up kind of close to a golf course and I think I tried golfing, maybe once. I didn't get the attraction to it and I basically lobbed my ball down the fairway. Needless to say, I wasn't any good at golf, but both times we've played putt-putt this summer, I killed it, beating everyone--not that I'm bragging or anything; it's the truth. I may have to pull back on my bragging a bit, though, because I have learned that "Boasting or bragging is an offense against truth." (Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) 2481) Knowing that "A lie consists in speaking a falsehood with the intention of deceiving," (CCC 2482), I could be in trouble when trying to deceive you about playing an 18-roun...