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  Shrine of St Valentine Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Whitefriar St, Dublin [ Source ] This post includes material I used on 12 February 2009. The core of the stories about St Valentine is that this young Roman priest, who was what we would now call a diocesan priest, was martyred for officiating at weddings when Emperor Claudius II, ‘the Cruel’, forbade them because he was engaged in so many wars and needed the young men to fight in them. Please continue at Bangor to Bobbio .

  In case you didn't know it, our cars have a little arrow next to the gas pump icon on our dashboard to tell us which side of the car to pump our gas from.  This handy little arrow is helpful for all of you who pull into a gas station, in an unfamiliar car, and have to drive yourself around to the proper side.  This is also handy if you rent a car, borrow someone's car, or just plain can't remember how you gassed up the last time in your own car. I mention this because it got me to thinking about God.  I don't suppose most people would make this connection, but you know me, I see an arrow pointing and it naturally makes me think about how nice it would be if we had a giant arrow directing us through life.  Go this way.  Turn around.  Wrong way. If we did have an arrow, it would point us to God.  It would come in handy especially for those times when we forget which direction we should be going.  For those times we get off track, a nice big arrow might be

We've found two new worlds, GJ 1002 b and c, that could be habitable. They're the right size and most likely around the right temperature. Actually, make that three new worlds. Another one, Wolf 1069 b, showed up in my news feed as I was writing this. 1 But Wolf 1069 b will wait for another time. What with one thing and another — including an unexpected visit from a daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter — I didn't ramble on as much as usual this week. So I'll take a brief, for me, look at GJ 1002 b and c. And I'll talk about literally cool data from the JWST: a look at ingredients for "the building blocks of life" in the Chamaeleon I dark molecular cloud. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (GJ 1002 b and c may be habitable worlds orbiting a nearby red dwarf. JWST gives us new data about CHONS: key elements in the building blocks of life.)

  Sophie Scholl in 1942  (9 May 1921 - 22 February 1943)  [ Wikipedia ;  photo ] For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified (I Cor 2:2; Second Reading). Reading   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Matthew 5:13-16  ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India)     Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Léachtaí i nGaeilge   A

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    We can go through life--and many do--without thinking about God.  Your life is running relatively smoothly, you have what you want out of life--fun, prosperity, health, freedom--so why, you wonder, would you even need to give any thought to God?  That religion stuff is for other people.  I'm doing fine just the way things are.  I'm not so sure I even believe what all of those church-going people believe anyway. This thought trail, while popular, especially among Millennials, can be a trap that is very limiting.  They would be wise to open their minds, just a bit, to entertain the possibility that Boomers, who run just ahead of them, might have learned something along the way that is worth listening to. Of course, this is true at any age. I have always tried to listen carefully to those who are older and wiser than me.  I appreciate that someone who is 70+ has a perspective that I don't have.  If you are 90 years old, I can learn a lot from you.  I was thi

I was reading a scripture reflection from RegnumChristi.org through the Laudate App. "On the Way There" (January 28, 2023) and a point was made that I hadn't considered before. Referring to the account of Jesus sleeping in a boat that was getting tossed around by a storm, where his disciples woke him up in a bit of panic, we learn of Jesus' power to calm the sea.  He says to the sea, "Quiet! Be Still" and it immediately calms down.  ( Mark 4:39 ) I never really considered that Jesus was directing what happens, rather than simply responding to a situation.  The reflection raises the question we should be asking ourselves: "Do I take Christ into my boat and let him indicate what I must do in my life?" "When life hurts and it makes no sense, we need to deepen our faith in the One who has conquered sin and death.  He will write the final chapter in our life.  He will bring us to the safe harbor."   Like the disciples in the boat,

            En estos tiempos la cultura moderna nos quiere convencer de que no existe una realidad, que no existe la verdad y que todo es subjetivo y relativo. Y va más allá , hace alarde de llevar la bandera de la “libertad” de hacer lo que nos plazca y de “ser” lo que nos plazca. La moral, por supuesto, es presentada como un yugo impuesto por la religión, sobre todo la católica, y la creencia de la existencia del mal ya se ha superado. No hay nada “malo”. Todo es relativo. Por otro lado, las escrituras nos hablan de cómo Dios ha escrito su ley, que el pueblo elegido rompió muchas veces, en el corazón del hombre. (Jeremías 31,33)(Ezequiel 36,27)(Hebreos 10,16).   ¿Cómo saber si es cierto que dentro del hombre hay un espíritu que le hace ver la diferencia entre el mal y el bien?  ¿Podríamos hablar de una conciencia que, hoy en día, es denigrada y minimizada?  …o......... vivimos en una matrix en donde todo vives tu perspectiva del mundo y tú decides que está bien y qué está mal

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Caligula is currently famous, or infamous, for being a stark-raving-mad monster with no redeeming qualities. Although scholars have been acknowledging that we don't actually know much about him. I'm not about to try rehabilitating Caligula's image. But I've got suspicions about what the third Roman emperor was really like. I'll get back to that. But first, I'll take a brisk slog through some of what Tacitus and Suetonius had to say about Caligula; followed by a bit about statues, art and post-Renaissance preferences. And finally, what folks like Caligula and Nero were doing in the Pax Romana. That's the idea, at any rate. Caligula: Little Boots and Rumors Ancient Sculptures: In Living Color Analysis of a Caligula Bust Scrubbing Statues, Chromophobia, Beeldenstorm Tiberius Gracchus and Caligula: Enemies of the Status Quo Julius Caesar, Caligula and Nero: a Possible Pattern Good Intentions: Julius Caesar and Caligula Pax Romana: A Durable

  Jesus gives the Beatitudes from  The Chosen Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Matthew 5:1-12a [or 4:12-17]  ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India)     Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom o

As a Lay Dominican, one of my favorite things to do is give talks (contact me if your church/group is interested).  If and when I get the opportunity, I take it, because, well, it's just fun.   Don't get me wrong, it is a lot of work, but it's work I don't mind doing.  It is a great feeling to sense the Holy Spirit coming over you, igniting the passion within to talk about Jesus.  I suppose that's because faith is such a wondrous thing and it is hard to resist the urge to share it. Obviously, sometimes people go too far in the sharing department.  In-your-face Christians of any denomination who yell scripture at you or push, push, push against your thoughts and beliefs, are just irritating, even to a devout Catholic like myself. Nobody is listening to you.  Nobody is going to be converted by you being obnoxious.  At least that's what I think. We were in Chicago visiting "the bean" at Cloud Park (click the link to see what I'm talking a

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  Don't judge me.  That's all I ask. A thousand years ago when my husband and I were youngish, we stopped at an estate sale.  Now, admittedly, we rarely do this anymore since we are more inclined to get rid of things, but so it goes. A little background . . . growing up, I always saw my mom doing cross-stitch embroidery.  I grew to love it as well, and did my fair share of pillowcases and so forth, until they shrunk the patterns and it got harder to read them, ha ha. While my mom would tackle a bedspread, it was far too big a project for me, so I stuck to smaller things.  Sometimes though, when my grandma came over, we would all work on it together. Anyway, so there we were, my husband and I, at this estate sale, and lo and behold, there was an entire dish set of everyday-china with a pretty pink-flowered cross stitch pattern right in the middle of the gold-rimmed plates!  I didn't care that it was used; it was so pretty, and it was only like $5.00 for the whol

  Wild Writing                                                                       21st January 2023      It was because I had a few hours to myself this morning that I found I was able to get to sit down and think, "What do I want to do?" Don't misunderstand me, as I looked around the house there was plenty of "jobs" that called to me and which I could have happily occupied myself with.  But today I wanted to spend some time playing.  I wanted to spend some time playing with words. Interestingly, last week I randomly found a free five day "Wild Writing Course", which I thought I'd like to do. Just as quickly as I had that thought I put it out of my mind, because, you know, how would I fit in these zoom sessions.       Although I didn't consciously think about it over the next few days, it was obviously fluttering about somewhere inside me and, with time to spare this morning I now went looking for it.  Luckily for me, not only did I find the