Manor House and Fields in Summer

Digital Art. "Manor House and Fields in Summer." I enjoyed working on this, and it took some time. The final result, moreover, caught me a little by surprise.

Neither freehand drawing nor simple photography, art made with digital tools has its own peculiar challenges. Occasionally, after many mistakes and much dissatisfaction, things fall into place. The flaws are not unbearable, and a few "happy mistakes" result in something that exceeds what you set out to do.

During a year of so much overwhelming change, so much "information," so many careless words, I experience more urgently than ever the need to see beauty in life, to craft beautiful things, to present and share beautiful things and places.

At least, I have to try...

"PLAY [safe, socially-distant] BALL!"⚠⚾️

Mid July 2020: Baseball “Summer [Training] Camp.” I'm watching an exhibition game between Nats and Orioles. Coming from an empty ballpark. With fake “fan sounds” playing in the background. 

It’s bizarre. 

It feels like the Nationals won the 2019 World Series a hundred years ago. It seems like ages since the 2020 Season started with Spring Training, back in February. 

I posted in February about my excitement for the new season. Coronavirus sounded like a remote problem for China and East Asia to worry about (wishful thinking in retrospect, insofar as there was any thinking at all). Now, in July, COVID-19 makes the rules.

It puts some perspective on the relative significance (or insignificance) of our "games" when measured against our more fundamental needs, such as life and health. We are continuing to learn lessons about priorities, the need to care for one another, and the common good.

Even though it looks a bit "twilight-zoney," I’m just glad to see baseball BACK! (The 60 game “Season” begins end of this week.⚾️) Maybe it's crazy even to try to salvage the 2020 Season, but I'm a "fan," and it must be remembered that "fan" is short for fanatic.😉 We have irrational hopes... up to a point. We can see the need for the precautions and accept the weird consequences that follow from them.

Let's Go Nats! Stay safe out there, guys. And WIN!!⚾👑

Saint Camillus and Our Times

Today is the memorial day for Saint Camillus (c. 1582) whose conversion story we saw in the May edition of Magnificat and also on this blog (see link HERE). 

He dedicated his life to caring for the sick, and founded a religious order (the Camillans, officially the "Order of Ministers to the Sick") that was in many ways the prototype of "the Red Cross" and that continues to work throughout the world today. But, of course, Saint Camillus is also the patron of all healthcare workers. These dedicated people always need our prayers in carrying out their professional commitment to works of mercy. It is especially urgent that we remember them now, as they continue to face great challenges during the ongoing pandemic. 

Saint Camillus, pray for our healthcare workers and first responders in these difficult times. May the Lord continue to give them strength and compassion.

God bless them all!

Jesus Wins the Final Victory

Speaking of Carmelites... 

This is a portion of a reflection from yesterday's Magnificat. Here is another of "God's girls," who was so young and so afflicted, but who proved that Christ's love endures all things and wins the final victory. We are "more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:37).

What a great life we have been given!.

Oh, of course, I have many fears and if things go crazy I'll become even more anxious and afraid. I am weak. But there is encouragement here. Jesus is my friend. He understands me better than I understand myself.

Here are the words of a young woman from Latin America 100 years ago, a girl who was heroic and human. They are words that challenge us but also reassure us:

"I want Jesus to be your intimate friend, to whom you may entrust your heart, tired and filled with sorrow. Who can fathom the intensity, the torrent of worries pouring over you as can our Lord who delves into our deepest hearts, and with delicate touch can touch those painful wounds whose depths even we ourselves don't understand? Oh how your life would be transformed if you went to him often as to a friend!" 

~Saint Teresa of the Andes (1900-1920), who professed final vows in her Carmelite monastery in Chile on her deathbed.

Our Mother Mary and Mount Carmel

On this great day we honor our Mother Mary with particular emphasis on her special solicitude for those who share in the immense ecclesial charism of the Carmelite Order.

Beginning with hermits at Mount Carmel in the Holy Land, who dedicated themselves — like Elijah the prophet — to listening in faith for the “still small voice” of the Spirit of God, this charism blossomed in the Western Church during the Middle Ages and bore tremendous fruit in more recent times.

Under Mary’s special protection and care (she who pondered the mysteries of her Son in her heart), the Holy Spirit led the great Carmelites — Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Therese of Lisieux, Edith Stein, and many others — to profound and genuine mystical experiences of God’s gratuitous love and a prophetic witness that continues to enrich the whole Church.

The charism of Carmel is shared in various ways: by professed religious men and women, lay ‘third order’ members, and (in the broadest and most accessible way) all who are devoted to the “brown scapular” — the small cloth squares worn under the shirt as a symbolic “link” to the Carmelite religious habit (i.e. the special garment they wear, which, according to a venerable tradition, was given to them by Mary with the promise of her protection and special help in attaining eternal life). 

The celebration of "Our Lady of Mount Carmel" is a day of religious processions and festivals in many parts of the world, and I know that it was close to the hearts of my Italian immigrant ancestors. (My paternal grandfather, who I never knew in this life, was born on July 16, 1905, and one of his middle names was “Carmelo.” So Happy Birthday no. 115 to my father's father, my "Papa"! — I hope and pray that the whole family is celebrating this day with the Lord in eternal glory.) 

This is a joyful and colorful day for various peoples. To be clear: the many devotions to Mary in the Church are not superstitions (though, obviously, some people might have a superstitious attitude toward Mary and the saints, just as others might have a superstitious attitude about the Bible). Rather, they emerge from the vitality of Mary's very particular, very human ways of caring for the people who have been entrusted to her (who are each of us, and all of us).

The Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior reaches out to touch us physically, concretely, through many gifts she has given and inspired throughout the history of the Church. There are first of all her outstanding icons, some of which have long been regarded by the Christian people as miraculous in their origin or in other circumstances related to them; in certain cases (e.g. Guadalupe or the healings at Lourdes) popular traditions and contemporary accounts of Mary's presence and power remain inexplicable even after vigorous and careful scientific analysis. Mary is pervasively "present" in the Christian life, and has become intimate to a great spectrum of diverse peoples and cultures through a multitude of particular titles and iconographic styles that enable people all over the world to draw close to her and call her "our Mother."

Mary also enriches and give particular beauty and tenderness to Christian experience through the abundant fruits of her ongoing maternal care for all of God's children. We recognise this in the ancient hymns and liturgical services of the East (such as the Akathist or the Paraklesis), in the many religious communities specially dedicated to her (today we remember the Carmelites), in her “visitations” approved by the Church and established as places of pilgrimage for the Christian people (Guadalupe, Lourdes, Fatima, and others), and in her many tokens of love and invitations to be united with her in prayer (the Rosary, the brown scapular and other scapulars related to different religious families, religious medals worn not out of superstition but in faith and love, etc).

Ultimately, it's a simple reality. If we are the brothers and sisters of Jesus, then we are the children of Mary. Her motherhood of all of us is the very special task entrusted to her along with the Person who is the Son of the Father, who takes our flesh in her womb, who is born of her in Bethlehem, and who dies on the Cross accompanied by her on the hill of Golgotha.

Having a mother, depending on a mother, flourishing and growing under the specific love and tenderness of a mother: these are fundamental human experiences even if they are often imperfect or broken in this fallen world. It is a wonderful fact, however, that God — in redeeming the world, calling us to be born again, and to grow to maturity in the Spirit as a new creation — has given us a redeemed motherhood through a Mother who will never fail us, who is always there for us, who already cares for us even if we don't realize it. Though, of course, she wants us to know her love. It means so much for our happiness, our confidence, the maturation of our humanity in Christ her Son. 

Mary is our Mother. She cares for us, accompanies us, clothes us, teaches us to pray, loves us, and carries us through trials so that we can attain the fullness of our destiny as God's children, as the little brothers and little sisters of Jesus. 

Saint Bonaventure on the Kindness of Christ's Heart

On this Feast of Saint Bonaventure - who was not only one of the greatest theologians of the Middle Ages but also one of the most devoted followers of Saint Francis of Assisi - let's take the opportunity to benefit from his inspired counsel.

Here, from one of his brief treatises "On Holiness of Life," he presents a concrete meditation that deserves the attention of our minds and hearts especially in times of great need.

"If ever anything sad befalls you, or anything grieves you, or...causes you weariness or bitterness of heart," Saint Bonaventure advises, "lift up immediately your eyes to your Lord hanging nailed to the Cross. 

"Look upon Him, His head crowned with thorns! Gaze upon the nails, the iron nails which fasten Him to the Cross, and upon the lance piercing His sacred side. In all trying moments, picture and contemplate the wounds in His hands and feet, picture to yourself the wounds in His most blessed head, the wound in His sacred side, the wounds of His whole body. 

"Call to mind that He was wounded for your sake, that he suffered for you and that His sufferings were so great because He loved you beyond compare."

Bonaventure assures us that turning to the Lord in this way will bring us renewal and strength. Remembering Christ's sufferings and His love for us will "change your sadness into joy. What was heavy to bear will become light. What causes your weariness will become something to love."

The incomparable love of Jesus Christ crucified gives meaning to our sufferings and transforms them. Discovering how greatly we have been loved, how compassionate and complete is God's drawing close to us, will enkindle our love for Him in whatever circumstances we face, whatever burdens we bear. Saint Bonaventure always recalls us to the Cross, where God redeems us, expresses the fathomless depths of His love for us, and raises us up by calling us and empowering us to respond and enter into a relationship with Him.

"Christ accepted these sufferings and death to gain your devoted love. Through thought on these sufferings and out of gratitude, He wishes you to love Him. He desires you to love Him with your whole heart, with your whole mind, and with your whole soul. To save a slave He became a slave. What could prove better His kindness of heart?...  

"In spite of our worthlessness, though we deserve punishment, He laid down His life for us. His kindness reached such depths and such heights that it is impossible to imagine anything more tender, more kind or more lovable. The greatness of His love becomes more evident the more we realize the abject and terrible nature of Christ's sufferings... 

"This is the way God has loved us, and has invited us to love Him and to imitate Him in His love for us."

The Elders Dream, and the Young See Visions

I'm at a time in my life in which I appreciate very much the Pope's frequent remarks on the importance of inter-generational communication. Concretely, Eileen and I still find ourselves "in the middle" of three generations of family, though this position has begun to shift in recent years.

The events of my father's illness and death initiated this shift in a rather abrupt way for me. Not only had he been my father since "forever;" he was also well established as "Papa" to his five grandchildren. I will always be grateful that he was able to be a presence in their lives, and that he received so much joy from them.

I still miss him. If anything, I miss him more, though I do believe that "the relationship continues" and that he still "helps me" and keeps me grounded.

And now, the shift also continues - at least in the sense of establishing the proximate environment for a new generation to come into the world - as our son John Paul is getting married next month. ( ! )

Above: Papa playing baseball with his six year old
grandson. Below: Papa & high school age John Paul.

Eileen and I will be one step closer to being grandparents ourselves, to seeing the fulfillment of one of the blessings bestowed upon us on our own wedding day: "May they see their children's children" (a matter that seemed - on that day many years ago - only a little less remote than "traveling to other planets," as in "O yeah, maybe, way way waaay in the future...").

These relationships shape us and challenge us. I always assumed that, by the time I became "one of the elders," I would feel... well... old! And yet, as it approaches, I don't feel much older. I've been sick. I've been tired. But, no, this is a different thing. I suppose that - like most things in life - it's something you learn by going through it.

But as I said at the start of this post, "Papa" Francis often has insightful guidance on just this point. He insists on a crucial factor: the elderly are not just helpless or hindered people who need care from the younger, stronger generations. They have an essential and profound role for the future, for the fruitful movement of history. The different generations need one another, and when they are alienated from one another, society becomes dysfunctional and humanly impoverished.

Here is one recent quotation, that follows and comments on the Scripture text immediately below:

I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions (Joel 3:1).

"The elderly continue to be our roots. And they must speak to the young. This tension between young and old must always be resolved in the encounter with each other. Because the young person is bud and foliage, but without roots they cannot bear fruit. The elderly are the roots. I would say to them, today: I know you feel death is close, and you are afraid, but look elsewhere, remember your children, and do not stop dreaming. This is what God asks of you: to dream" (Joel 3:1).

"What would I say to the young people? Have the courage to look ahead, and to be prophetic. May the dreams of the old correspond to your prophecies" (also Joel 3:1).

~Pope Francis (from The Tablet interview with Austin Ivereigh, 04/08/2020)

"Return to the Right Path"

O God, who show the light of your truth 
to those who go astray, 
so that they may return to the right path, 
give all who for the faith they profess are accounted 
  Christians
the grace to reject whatever is contrary to the name
  of Christ 
and to strive after all that does it honor. 
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, 
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 
one God, for ever and ever.

~Collect for Sunday, July 12, 2020

      [Detail from a mosaic by Marko Rupnik at Saint John Paul II Shrine, Washington DC, USA]

Why I Want to "Spend Time" With Christina Grimmie

I think I am beginning to understand why I do this, month after month. I make a graphic or sometimes write an article, virtually every month, on the 10th day (sometimes it spills over a day or two beyond that). Eventually, I post and share what I come up with, and some months the result is bigger and/or better than others. But ultimately the whole process is a kind of personal thing.

Once a month, over the past four years, I spend some time "visiting" with Christina Grimmie.

I go on a "journey" into the immense digital realm that still bears so many impressions and resonances of all the ways she offered herself and endeavored to be present to people all over the world. I watch, I listen, I read some words, and then - taking my own impressions or using fragments of media (words, lyrics, screenshots of momentary frames of video) as a basis for work with my own creative tools - I put together my own presentation. I hope that it has some value for others, but it always has value for me. The value above all is in the time itself, where I find that I receive so much more than I have given.

But why do I make this effort? Why do I revisit the "virtual remains" of a young woman who was taken from this world four years and one month ago - someone who I had no connection with nor even a particularly attentive interest in before she died? I don't think I can really fully explain why she matters to me, why I want to "be with her" in some meaningful way.

I have lots of other projects, ongoing research, interests, responsibilities. But I make time for Christina. The rest of the month, I might not think much about her or even listen to her music. But here's what matters: somehow Christina has worked her way into a significant place in my life. She has become "familiar" to me, in the sense that I care about her "like family." She is a reality in my life, with dimensions beyond anything I could construct by imagining or willing it myself. This would not be possible if it weren't for the fact that she is a real person. And over the past four years I have come to love this person.

Okay, I said I was "beginning to understand" what I'm doing each month. The "analogy" to family has shed a bit of light on it recently.

Since my father's death last year, I have discovered that the gesture of "spending time" with him is a very real and personal act (in this case, it includes actually visiting his grave, but also the many moments that come through so many other particular things that bring him to mind).

With my father, of course, I'm working through the mysterious experience of grief, but it's not simply a psychological exercise. It's spending time with a person. Because death - even with all its obscurity and strangeness and "distance" - is simply not the end of an interpersonal relationship. The relationship endures, not through weird conjuring tricks, but precisely the opposite: it remains woven into the course of "ordinary" life.

Part of the endurance of grief, and perhaps the way we begin to "make peace" with grief, is our growing "accustomed" (though never entirely) to this hidden continuation of the relationship with the one who has passed on - to the continuation of LOVE - which we express through simple gestures and which (occasionally) "surprises us" as something we receive from the other, something more than a past memory.

Companionship remains, and sometimes this makes it harder, but we want to bear it nonetheless. Grief does not terminate with forgetfulness of the other; it grows, slowly, into a kind of peace and humility in front of the great mystery of life and the particular mystery of that person we love. I am learning this road with my father.

But why does Christina Grimmie matter to me?

As you can see, I have been doing these posts and graphics for awhile.

I never met her, and didn't have any particular interest in her during her life or career. It was only when she died that I was really drawn to learn more about her. In time, I began to appreciate and be inspired by the beauty of her life, especially its "extraordinary-within-the-ordinary" character. I began to look upon her with a particular admiration, and I could say that I loved this young person. As everyone will say who learns about her life, it's hard not to love her. But what "surprised me" was the impression that I, myself, was being loved.

The most important thing to me about Christina is that she has befriended me. I really think this goes beyond general theological categories (such as "the communion of saints") or psychological phenomena related to her personal style of communicating which is still accessible on the Internet.

Those are all factors, certainly, but they do not satisfy me as sufficient to account for a very personal experience. I don't think I'm imagining this, because there are many other people who have only discovered Christina after her death who speak in similar terms. Others may have been frands during her lifetime, but now find (even in the midst of their sorrows) that she has become more important to them and more intimate to their lives.

Then, of course, those who knew and loved her best during her life on this earth have a different kind of experience, with a weight and depth that I can't begin to fathom. I wonder, perhaps, as time goes on whether they find some unexpected heights in the midst of the depths. Or perhaps some other ground where in some moments she walks with them, in a way we don't have words to describe.

In any case, it's personal. Even for myself, very much a latecomer to Team Grimmie, there is something personal, there is someone with whom I want to spend time. Though this friendship is very concrete, it is the opposite of exclusive! More than anything, that's why I'm moved to share it. I'm sure that other people who read this will recognize that the same kind of thing has happened for them.

I think Christina will continue to make new friends, and become more accessible to everyone even as she continues to be personally and "specially" available to each of us.

Summer Flowers "Up Close"

Summer Flowers UP CLOSE: Hibiscus bushes showed their buds less than a week ago (picture 1, top) and now they have already begun to bloom (picture 2). This matches the somewhat more "tropical" weather we've been having recently. 🌴🌸⛅

What Kind of House Can We Build For Him?

"Doubting Thomas" and the Real Humanity of Jesus

Today we celebrate Saint Thomas the Apostle. It's time for the famous painting (one of them) by an Italian fellow named Michelangelo Merici da Caravaggio (1571-1610). Among other things, Caravaggio was the inventor of "HD" (😉joke). The Gospel tells us that the risen Jesus said to 'Doubting Thomas': “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe” (John 20:27).

Caravaggio's 1602 painting The Incredulity of Saint Thomas assures us that Jesus was speaking quite literally... for some people it "assures them" to the point of making them uncomfortable. Not everybody likes the Caravaggio style. He remains a great painter of historic significance, but few people are enthusiastic about every great painter. And people have their own tastes and preferences in art. Nevertheless, the jolting realism of Caravaggio has a point, and maybe we're right to feel "discomfort" in one sense. Ultimately, real Christianity is "uncomfortable" because it's not a collection of stories, ideas, and rules that we can finally master and control by our own power (though people always try).

Real Christianity is a Person; real Christianity is A MAN, a particular man from a particular place and time, a real man of flesh and blood and bones, of spirit and intelligence and freedom.

Real Christianity is the Word who became flesh to dwell with us; God the Infinite Mystery, the Source of all things, for whom the depths of our hearts yearn - whom we long to know and love - but who is always beyond our power, who cannot be grasped, to whom we cry out for a fulfillment we seek without really understanding it: the Infinite became a man so that he could be with us as our brother.

The Mystery became flesh so that as a man he could enter human history and heal and transform it "from the inside," through his human life, death, and resurrection that initiate a New Creation beginning with his risen humanity. Still he remains a real man (Thomas is invited to verify this with his fingers that touch the transformed but still "open" wounds in his now-immortal but still human flesh).

This man, Jesus of Nazareth, is deeply involved in every person's life whether they know it or not. He calls us to a relationship with him. He is all wise, all good, entirely trustworthy and (if I may put it this way) madly in love with each one of us, with our particular humanity, our flesh and blood, our soul, our reason, our freedom. He loves me, he loves you right now, even if our lives are totally messed up, even if we've done terrible things, even if we have been running away from him.

He calls us to a real relationship, which is going to be mysterious and difficult and better than anything we could do alone: it is an adventure in which we are not the ones who are "in control" (even as it engages all our intelligence, creativity, co-operation, and responsibility). "Blessed are they who have not seen, but still believe" (John 20:29). Believers are called "blessed" by Jesus. They are not called "comfortable." Living a relationship with Jesus Christ takes us way outside our boxes and way beyond our comfort zones. It's a "love story," after all.

And Jesus never said "Do not be uncomfortable." He said, "Do not be afraid" (see e.g. Matthew 14:27, Luke 5:10, John 14:27).

Do not be afraid. Trust in Jesus Christ, always!

Despite All Its Frailties, The World Still Belongs To God

Christians are called to pray for everyone, and — in union with Jesus the Savior — “to intercede for the world, to remember that despite all its frailties, it still belongs to God...

"Everyone belongs to God. The worst sinners, the most wicked people, the most corrupt leaders, are children of God, and Jesus intercedes for everyone. And the world lives and thrives thanks to the blessing of the righteous, to the prayer for mercy: this prayer for mercy that the holy, the just, the intercessor, the priest, the bishop, the Pope, the lay person — any baptized person — unceasingly raises for humanity, everywhere and in every place and time in history..."

Therefore, "when we want to condemn someone and we become angry inside — getting angry can do good, but condemning does no good — let us intercede for him or her; this will help us a lot."

~Pope Francis

Hong Kong: The "Security Law" Takes Effect

As of this day — July 1, 2020 — Hong Kong is subject to the completed and officially decreed “National Security Law” imposed by the Chinese Communist PartyState.

With demonstrations all over the city today, we will soon see the new “security” apparatus in action — or maybe we won't see it, since foreign press are also being threatened.

The CCP and its local supporters may impose “order” for a period of time, but Hong Kong’s young protestors will not give up. They will “be water,” and perhaps will appear to be diminished, but really they will have time to clarify their thinking on the future of their city. Some may do it from jail. Others may go into exile. But they have more commitment, more energy, and more human depth than their persecutors.

We continue to stand with Hong Kong!

Peter and Paul: Pillars of Christ's Church

Happy Feast of Saints Peter and Paul!

These are the two great apostles, martyrs, and patron saints of the Church of Rome. The bishops of Rome through the ages and even to the present day have received from Saint Peter the special authority and ministry entrusted to him by Jesus (see Matthew 16:13-19).

Today it is particularly important to pray for Pope Francis (indeed, Pope Francis constantly reminds us of his need for our prayers, always asking us to remember him and ask God to sustain him). We need to pray for him, the successor of Saint Peter in our time, that he might have strength to fulfill and persevere in his office as "the servant of the servants of God."

Jesus said to Peter, "'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' He said to him, 'Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.' He said to him, 'Tend my sheep'" (John 21:16).

Let us adhere to the Lord with trust, no matter what, as did Peter when he said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of God" (John 6:68-69).

We also honor especially, and aspire to imitate, the great faith of these two men who endured many trials and finally shed their blood as witnesses of Christ. The great Pope (and Saint) John Paul II helps us to appreciate this in all its radical depth: "If the witness of faith and the arduous struggle which the Apostles Peter and Paul had to undertake for the cause of the Gospel are considered in merely human terms, they ended in defeat. In this too they faithfully followed Christ’s example. Indeed, humanly speaking the mission of Christ, who was condemned to death and crucified, ended in defeat. However, both the Apostles, with their gaze fixed on the Paschal Mystery, did not doubt that precisely what to the eyes of the world seemed a defeat, was in fact the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s plan. It was the victory over the forces of evil won first by Christ and then by his disciples through faith" (from his homily on June 29, 1997).

Here too we have the testimonies of Peter and Paul themselves. Peter encourages believers: "Beloved, rejoice in the measure that you share Christ’s sufferings. When his glory is revealed, you will rejoice exultantly. Happy are you when you are insulted for the sake of Christ, for then God’s Spirit in its glory has come to rest on you" (1 Peter 4:13-14). And Paul expresses this in a very personal way to Timothy: "I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance" (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

This is a day of joy and hope for us, for Jesus remains among us through the essential service of the successors of Saint Peter, who hold “the keys to the kingdom of heaven,” and the apostolic heritage of Saint Paul, who opened the riches of the Gospel to the “Gentiles,” the peoples of all the earth and all of history.

A "Bee's Eye View" of the Wildflowers

Let’s pretend we’re bees!🐝 You've got to admit that not many blogs out there offer adventures like this. But we can do it here on JJ's blog! We're going to buzz right up to these cool wildflowers!😉

We've got "a bee's eye view" of this teeny tiny flower. You can almost smell the aroma of the nectar, amiright?

"That's it. He's finally gone crazy!" 

No, that's not true. I have always been... like this, haha haha ha heh heh... ummm hmmm... 😐

But anyway, I have been taking a close look at some of the different varieties of clover in grassy places these days. The first picture (above) might be of a “strawberry clover” (which I don’t think necessarily indicates that it will eventually become a strawberry🍓for eating😋😞). 

The two in the second picture (below) are “burr clover,” which means they WILL eventually become burrs that will stick to your socks or pant legs in a few months.😜😉

"Digital Scriptorum" (Settings For Scripture Texts)

Here are some more recent efforts of tinkering with colors, filters, fonts, backgrounds, etc., in order to create settings for Scripture verses.

My intent is to present these texts in an artistic form while also experimenting with digital tools, and using a different part of my brain for a change.

The Birth of Saint John the Baptist

Since ancient times, the Church has celebrated the Birth of Saint John the Baptist on June 24.

Six months from now it will be Christmas Eve, and that may seem far away, but today's feast reminds us that the joy of Christmas is always with us. Saint John the Baptist is honored as the “Forerunner” who proclaimed the coming of Christ: “John testified to him and cried out, 'This was he of whom I said, "He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me"'" (John 1:15). In giving him his name, Zechariah said: “You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins" (Luke 1:76-77).

Zechariah and Elizabeth, those two elders of Israel, were both "upright according to the Law," faithful to God's covenant, grown old in the observance of its signs, and in the hope and expectation engendered by its mysterious promises. Now they are filled with joy as they welcome their own miraculous child at his birth. They already know that he is the herald of the fulfillment soon to come, the light who illuminates all things, the One who brings peace: "In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us" (Luke 1:78).

Our Wedding Anniversary: Going "Out For Dinner," 2020 Style

A rose!

I always give Eileen roses for our Anniversary. I make that dashing, bold, romantic trip to the supermarket and I get some roses in the flower section and pay my money! This is the 21st century, after all, the epoch of cheap convenience for everything. Right!?

O wait... actually, it's 2020. Heh heh, things are done a bit differently now...

Going to the store is more of a project, with masks, and social distancing, and all that. And who knows whether there will be any nice flowers? Really, "convenience" is more of a crap shoot in these days of the "phased reopening" of our state. And there are no guarantees about "cheap" either (unless you're getting gasoline!). Of course, these problems are minor, and in fact we've been too spoiled in the past. The larger rupture in the overall infrastructure of the economy, however, has done more serious damage to people's lives, in addition to the many painful, serious illnesses and deaths caused by virus itself. 

In any case, I'm not going to stores or many other public places right now. I'm a high risk person in anybody's book. Even people who believe that coronavirus is overhyped fake news, or a scam to distract us while space aliens come to take over the world, would tell me that I should probably "lay low" right now.

Ironically, I have been out and about plenty all through the Spring. I live in an area where it's possible to walk (or climb or scramble) in many directions for miles without coming within six feet of any human being. Sure, there are people here and there, doing their own stuff, and you wave and they wave back from their garden or their tractor or even passing by on the road (we don't have sidewalks, and there's plenty of room on the road for people to pass by). This environment hasn't changed much. Meanwhile, I can get close to hills, streams, trees, flowers, and other beautiful things (that are "safe" according to the current focus of that term).

The range of my lifestyle was limited long before COVID-19. I learned years ago that adventures are waiting for me right outside my front door. Even if, because of my health condition, they are relatively short (and inordinately tiring) adventures.

Getting roses "in the wild" would have to be an adventure this year. There are rose bushes in the neighborhood. Most of the roses I saw were way past their bloom, but I found a few good ones (see above). And the old proverb is true: roses have thorns. Ouch!!

We also like to "go out for dinner" on our Anniversary. The restaurants in town are all available... for TAKEOUT or delivery. Part of the fun of a restaurant is the "ambiance" - but we were going to have to make our own ambiance. At least we could get some really good food, special food, cooked by someone else.

The Thai restaurant in town on Main Street offers everything on their menu (even the red snapper, yum!) - but we kept it simple: some small dishes of things to dip, and a "Pad Thai" and a "Sweet and Sour Beef" (with the fresh pineapples in the sauce, yum) and then, of course, I got a "small" bowl of my favorite "Tom Kha Gai" (chicken coconut milk soup). And Mango Sticky Rice for dessert.

Like I said, we kept it simple.

It would have looked nicer in their lovely restaurant. But it still tasted great! And we still went "out" to eat, right out into the front yard, with a lovely tablecloth on the picnic table and our own regular (non-plastic) tableware and utensils (fun fact: Thai people don't eat with chopsticks; they use spoons and forks - and we use knives too because some of the meat chunks in these dishes are pretty big).

The evening air was cool. The mosquitos mostly stayed away. They haven't gotten too bad (yet). It was delightful!

We definitely made our own ambiance, and it was very comfortable and casual. We didn't have the fun of "dressing up" fancy. We could have worn formal attire for this "intimate garden dinner party," I suppose. We might have done something like that 20 years ago, and we will get a chance to dress our best in a couple of months, as "mother and father of the groom" at John Paul's wedding. (Oh wow, that's coming up really soon!)

But we kept the dress code really laid-back for our 24th Anniversary Picnic Dinner. Eileen still looked beautiful. She is such a beautiful lady. I am so blessed to have her as the companion of my life.

The only other "problem"😉 with "dinner out" in the front yard is that "uninvited guests" can easily appear. They're just curious. If you give them some food, they'll usually go away! Actually we only have one "kid" left who would do something like that...

Happy Anniversary number 24, my dear Eileen. I love you!

"Apocalypse in Slow Motion" - More Thoughts (Part 2)

Who is this masked man?

Is he scared? He looks scared. Maybe he's a germophobe. Or maybe his eyes are bugged out because the thing is wrapped so tightly on his face. Or, maybe he's just goofing around.

Most likely, it's goofing around. The expression, that is. He did seriously go out in public dressed like this.

He tries to be decent fellow, to keep the public good in mind, and he has no compelling reason to protest against the current law requiring masks in public places. It won't last forever, and for now it seems like a sensible and not excessively onerous precaution. So he has covered his face.

But with what?

What is he actually wearing? The fact is that he lives in a fairly rural area and doesn't go out in public very often these days. He goes out open-faced when he's alone, walking and enjoying the local scenery (and did quite a bit of that during the Spring) but he has only gone out to public gatherings a few times since March, only on Sundays since the churches reopened.

Being both too distracted and too cheap to buy a mask, he has made his rare sojourns wearing a clean dish towel. It seemed humorous to him, going to church looking like a bandit or a bank robber.

But now, Summer has arrived, and, man, this thing makes you get hot! So, it appears that the dish towel is not so clever after all. It looks like it's time to buy a mask.

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I was born in 1963. The population of the world that year was about 3.1 billion people (which was more than double the population at the beginning of the century).

Now in this year of 2020, the world's population is about 7.8 billion.

In my lifetime so far (I do hope I have some time yet ahead, God willing) the global population has increased by 4.7 billion people!!

I'm not citing this fact in a negative way, nor do I advocate using unnatural means to "control" (i.e. suppress, suffocate) "population growth." I am in favor of people. I believe that the creativity of people — working in an integral ecological harmony with the resources, energies, and fruitfulness of the natural world — will make it possible for many more to thrive on this earth.

If we live with wisdom and generosity, we can flourish in a world of beauty and multitudinous diversity. It's not numbers of people who threaten the earth. The threat comes from material cupidity, that drives some people (they need not be many) to do violence to the world and foolishly strip its resources in an insatiable lust for power and possessions.

Size of population doesn't really increase this danger, because the vast majority of the population — whatever its size — is poor. And whatever may be their particular incoherence in relation to their immediate environments, the poor are inevitably subject to the few who actively possess power to manipulate material reality. What is crucial is that power be used with wisdom. A genuine ecological wisdom recognizes the world as a dwelling place (and even a "garden" — visions and echoes of that primal reality still inspire imitation in our present fractured milieu). It is the dwelling place of human persons and all the rest of the multifaceted creation that has been entrusted to them.

Wisdom, love, reverence, and gratitude will enable us to "grow" in our human capacities in a way that is proportionate and therefore enduring. We will cultivate our understanding and creativity, and use our technological powers to render our environment more hospitable, more pedagogical, and more tranquil — more of a "home." Without fear, we will be free to foster new generations in harmony with the "human ecosystem" of our bodies and the organic (but also interpersonal) relationships they perpetuate. Then we will also appreciate the gift of the whole creation, contemplate its beauty, care for it responsibly, and use gently and appropriately what it provides for our needs. Above all, a wise, grateful, integral ecology means engaging in the ongoing history of the world with a fundamental trust in the transcendent, pervasive, provident Mystery (the Mystery of Goodness) that sustains all things in being and brings them to fulfillment.

It makes a difference for how you view ecology when you acknowledge the radical dependence of every created being on God. You're not afraid of people as such. People are central to the meaning and fulfillment of the whole created universe. It is sin that ruptures the ecosystem. People, as people, are beautiful. Through the hearts of people, the whole of creation is destined to find the language to express its gratitude.

All of that being said, I want to just marvel at this stunning fact of my own lifetime: 4.7 billion more people on earth today than when I was born! Wow!! It's another feature of the truly epochal historical period we are passing through.

Today there are 7.8 billion people in the world. And every one of them a person, unrepeatable, precious, infinitely loved, created in the image of God, possessing inestimable value.

Up with people!

The ecological measure for the human community (and along with it the whole earth) is justice and love, wisdom, self-restraint, and generosity. This is an ecology that uses all of our reason, understanding, and creativity, but that hopes in God.

What is the alternative? That the few continue to rape and pillage the earth in order to indulge their lust for power while the multitudes are sterilized?

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Another "Father's Day" has come. I had a good day with the family. But I miss my own father, and have fond thoughts of my youth - indeed of the days when he was quite a bit younger than I am now.

This is my Dad and Mom and their boys, circa... oh, I'm guessing 1977-1978. So he's 42 and she's 39 and we're teenagers. (I needed a haircut!😉) This is the Dad I remember when I was growing up in Pittsburgh. I'm more grateful to him than I can ever express.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD!❤➕ Rest in Peace.