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A "Special Thank" you to everyone who helped us in any and every way. God bless you.


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Let us Shop!

Advent doesn’t start until Sunday but for consumers today is the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season. Stores — both brick-and-mortar and on-line — are ready for an onslaught. Hoping for one. And, in some cases, praying for one. This is the day, this is the weekend, that makes a huge difference in retailers’ bottom lines.

It’s easy to grumble about the commercialization of Christmas (or “the holiday season”) but there’s still something wonderful about considering what to get a loved one and then finding it in stock. On sale. (The best things in life are free; second best are those with a hefty discount.) Shopping for a loved one, or with a loved one, can be a wonderful part of preparing for Christmas, even when that shopping begins at . . . yawn! . . . five a.m.!


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Faith-ful Words:

"Sometimes the most urgent thing you can possibly do is take a complete rest."
Ashleigh Brilliant

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Happy Thanksgiving

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Lord, we thank You
for the goodness of our people
and for the spirit of justice
that fills this nation.
We thank You for the beauty and fullness of the
land and the challenge of the cities.
We thank You for our work and our rest,
for one another, and for our homes.
We thank You, Lord:
accept our thanksgiving on this day.

We pray and give thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.


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Faith-ful Words:

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."
Desmond Tutu

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Faith-ful Words:

If I survive, I will spend my whole life at the oven door seeing that no one is denied bread and, so as to give a lesson of charity, especially those who did not bring flour."
Jose Marti

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Wednesday, November 23 ...The Cold, Blunt Truth

Few thoughts on topday's Scripture:
Today’s Gospel offers further proof that Jesus never tried to trick anyone into following Him. Never sugar-coated His message. Never did some fast talking so the poor listener wouldn’t notice the contract’s fine print. “They will seize you and persecute you, they will hand you over to synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors in my name.” This is what can happen if you follow. This is what does happen, to one degree or another, if you follow.

“You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, sisters, relatives, and friends.” In our own time, that part may strike a little closer to home. You’re not going to be “handed over” when the extended family gathers tomorrow for Thanksgiving but you may have to take some heat because of your beliefs.

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Faith-ful words:

"A painter paints pictures on a canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence."
Leopold Stokowski

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple

I am always free to choose:

One of Our Lord’s greatest gifts to us is free will. Rather than make us puppets, He chose to give us freedom to make our own decisions. Everyone — even the destitute, the sick and the imprisoned — have choices they make daily.

In today’s first reading, Daniel and three friends were offered food and wine from King Nebuchadnezzar’s royal table. After 10 days, they and others were to be tested. Daniel, however, chose to refuse the royal food, asking instead that he and his friends be fed a vegetarian diet. When they were tested 10 days later, they were superior both physically and mentally to those who had dined royally. If I make choices like Daniel, if I do God’s will for me, my life will better glorify Him. What peace and joy would follow!


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Crowd awaits Pope Benedict's arrival in Benin, Africa

Crowd, holding their oil lamps, waitng outside of Notre Dame Cathedral:




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Here he comes!

Occupy Pensacola taking a break?

This morning, my Occuy Pensacola neighbors have moved elsewhere. Only four people on site.




Their message to our Mayor:



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Visiting New York City

This week my niece, Casey Stout, is visitng New York City. She lived there a few years ago and has returned to visit a friend. Casey now lives in Jackson Hole, WY

St. Patrick's Cathedral:



Casey waiting for Jimmy Fallon?


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Even the (Pensacola) sea creatures give God glory!

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May the seas and all that is in them, praise the Lord!

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What could this be ?

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Actually, it's the "sign" that was at our property exit (onto Spring Street). However somone decided to destroy it.
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The sign used to read: Have a Blessed Day - - -



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Somone needs our prayers.

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November 18: Feast day of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

A Life Serving God


Today’s saint, the founding nun of the Society of the Sacred Heart and an American missionary, proves middle age is no excuse. Born in France in 1769, St. Rose Philippine Duchesne lived through the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution and, even when all convents were closed, quietly served God by serving others. She saved the lives of priests by hiding them, cared for the sick, and ran a school for poor and orphaned children. At age 49, with only her faith and four sisters, she sailed to America to begin missionary work there.

She’d longed to serve the Native Americans, so finally at age 71, she fulfilled that wish by working with tribes in the Midwest and Rocky Mountains. There she was known as “Woman-Who-Prays-Always.” She died in 1852.

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Today is the Feast day of St. Elizabeth of Hungary

Brief and Eternal Radiance

Elizabeth of Hungary, who walked this earth for only 24 years, devoted her brief life to acts of charity, which flowed from her fierce love of God. A princess, she was sent from home in 1211 at the age of four to live with her future husband. When she was six her mother was murdered. Three years later, her intended husband died. At 14, she was married to his brother and by the age of 20 she was a mother of three and a widow.

Through all of the tumult and loss, Elizabeth maintained piety and purpose. She felt called to serve the poor and sick, often tending to their needs. In 1226 she built a hospital and regularly visited the patients. Elizabeth's short life radiated love.
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Today's Saint: St. Albert the Great

It is by the path of love, which is charity, that God draws near to man, and man to God. But where charity is not found, God cannot dwell. If, then, we possess charity, we possess God, for "God is Charity."
– St. Albert the Great

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St. Albert the Great (1206-1280)
Albert was a Dominican philosopher, theologian, and scientist. He taught at Cologne and Paris, where he had Thomas Aquinas among his pupils, and compiled an encyclopedia of the learning of his day. His study of the natural sciences was far ahead of his time.


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The Feast of All Saints

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I, John, saw another angel come up from the East,
holding the seal of the living God.
He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels
who were given power to damage the land and the sea,
“Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees
until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal,
one hundred and forty-four thousand marked
from every tribe of the children of Israel.
After this I had a vision of a great multitude,
which no one could count,
from every nation, race, people, and tongue.
They stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
They cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne,
and from the Lamb.”
All the angels stood around the throne
and around the elders and the four living creatures.
They prostrated themselves before the throne,
worshiped God, and exclaimed:
“Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving,
honor, power, and might
be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me,
“Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”
I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.”
He said to me,
“These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress;
they have washed their robes
and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”

the Book of Revelation
Chapter 7
verses 2-4 and 9-14


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Happy Halloween

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love that halloween candy.. yr round!


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The Neighborhood Returns

It was like neighborhood reunion Sunday this past weekend at St. Joseph's. Seems like each year the girls get together for a week to celebrate their friendships and this year they stopped by St. Joseph's.

Sue Garman, the one in the red hat (top photo), has been recovering from a critical life threatening illness and the desire was to have every come to the old homestead (pcola) to be togethter for a while.


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Thanks be to God for bringing us together.

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Sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico:

is there a more famous site at Pcola Bch?







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Priests' Retreat: 2011

Church of the Assumption on Pensacola Beach:





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This Mission Church of St. Ann in Gulf Breeze is where our conferences were held and our meals were eaten in the church hall.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski, the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, celebrated Mass with us on Wednesday afternoon and joined us for dinner.

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Prayer is easier than you think:

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Benedictine Sisters visit St. Joseph:

First, there is (l-r)Sr. Barbara, Sr. Maureen and Sr. Ellen, ah hum,
then: (not in this order): Sr. Bertha, Sr. Eleanor, Sr. Mary Ruth, and Sr. Regina:







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Sacrament Prep: outdoor style -

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Listening to First Communion Candidate recite his prayers:




Listening to Confirmation candidate recite his prayers:




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A Nebraska elementary school has ruled that a 6th-grade girl will not be allowed to wear a Rosary around her neck, because the beads are identified as a gang symbol.

Father Joseph Taphorn, the chancellor of the Omaha archdiocese, commented: “I don’t think Christians should have to forfeit what is the symbol for the love of Christ because a few people want to misuse that symbol.”

and it continues!

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Sunday: October 2, 2011

The Lord planted a Vineyard.

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How is your portion of the Vineyard today?

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In our second Scripture reading for today, St. Paul writes: "Have no anxiety at all". That's a tall order don't you think? But faith, especially the faith expressed in prayer really can move us beyond all anxiety to the supreme peace God offers.
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Think about the sources of anxiety in your life and how faith can help you get through them.
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What has been or should be the way you turn back?

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To be spiritually weeded means to have renounced the love of material things and attachment to possessions ... freed from the profitless burden of earthly aspirations, that persoon can breathe again.
St. Basil the Great
330-379

Eat at Chili's Today: Monday Sept. 26

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All the profits made through the

Chili's franchise

today will be donated to St. Jude's Children Hospital.
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A delicious way to help children.


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Today is the feast of Saint Matthew

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St. Matthew, one of the twelve Apostles

is the author of the first Gospel. This has been the constant tradition of the Church and is confirmed by the Gospel itself. He was the son of Alpheus and was called to be an Apostle while sitting in the tax collectors place at Capernaum. Before his conversion he was a publican, i.e., a tax collector by profession. He is to be identified with the "Levi" of Mark and Luke.

His apostolic activity was at first restricted to the communities of Palestine. Nothing definite is known about his later life. There is a tradition that points to Ethiopia as his field of labor; other traditions mention of Parthia and Persia. It is uncertain whether he died a natural death or received the crown of martyrdom.

St. Matthew's Gospel was written to fill a sorely-felt want for his fellow countrymen, both believers and unbelievers. For the former, it served as a token of his regard and as an encouragement in the trial to come, especially the danger of falling back to Judaism; for the latter, it was designed to convince them that the Messiah had come in the person of Jesus, our Lord, in Whom all the promises of the Messianic Kingdom embracing all people had been fulfilled in a spiritual rather than in a carnal way: "My Kingdom is not of this world." His Gospel, then, answered the question put by the disciples of St. John the Baptist, "Are You He Who is to come, or shall we look for another?"

Writing for his countrymen of Palestine, St. Matthew composed his Gospel in his native Aramaic, the "Hebrew tongue" mentioned in the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Soon afterward, about the time of the persecution of Herod Agrippa I in 42 AD, he took his departure for other lands. Another tradition places the composition of his Gospel either between the time of this departure and the Council of Jerusalem, i.e., between 42 AD and 50 AD or even later. Definitely, however, the Gospel, depicting the Holy City with its altar and temple as still existing, and without any reference to the fulfillment of our Lord's prophecy, shows that it was written before the destruction of the city by the Romans in 70 AD, and this internal evidence confirms the early traditions.


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We Remember: God Bless America

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The first recorded death at the Trade Center:

Catholic Priest: Father Mychal Judge:

Pictures taken in July, 2011, of the rebuilding:

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Let's return to work.

Sunday, September 4 ... ... Are You Wicked?

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One of the most successful musicals playing on Broadway these days is a prequel based on what happened before the events of the movie: The Wizard of Oz. The name of the musical is Wicked.

It's a great title reminding us of the Wicked Witch of the West. It is both foreboding and nostalgic.

We don't use the adjective "wicked" to describe anyone very often. Rarely do we call politicians or felons or tyrants "wicked". And when we do it sounds vaguely archaic.

SO .... who are the "wicked ones"?

They are the ones who choose not to love.

To keep ourselves from a fate far worse then melting like the Wicked Witch of the West, we need to love more often, care more often, be there more often. All for others.

The forces of love and faith are far greater than any wickedness that may be around us.

This is both comforting and challenging.
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