Flee the Cities and Experience Authentic Culture

Main and Court St. Woodstock, VA

What do I mean when I use the term "authentic culture?" It's pretty easy to explain. It means friendship, community, and shared life. Many times we experience that kind of community in our churches, although even there, some are so large you know only a fraction of the members who attend. But what about the secular community?

When I lived in Alexandria, I knew my neighbors. We lived on Lisbon Lane for almost thirty years and we had a number of neighborhood picnics and other events that helped us get to know one another. So we can all experience community on a small scale even in highly populated areas.

But after we moved to Woodstock, community and culture took on a much more personal aspect. We got to know more people in the community whom we see on many occasions: at the polls, at the grocery store, at the post office, at the ice cream parlor and restaurants. That rarely happened in Alexandria.

Sunday Meditation: Baking Bread and Reflecting on the Bread of Life

One of my sisters (I have five) has sourdough mania. (That's actually the name of a book.) She came for a visit and brought us a loaf of her sourdough bread, which we enjoyed - delicious and beautiful. She experiments with making all kinds of recipes with both the sourdough starter and the sourdough discard.

If you are like me, you never heard of sourdough discard and perhaps have never experimented with making sourdough bread, so let me explain. When you first make the starter, you simply combine unbleached flour and filtered water in equal parts. You add the same amount every twelve hours for seven days leaving the mixture covered with a napkin or towel in a warm place. (I put it in the oven with the light on.) Each time you add the flour and water, you mix vigorously to add air. The starter picks up natural yeast from the air and ferments. On day seven your starter should be bubbly, doubled in bulk, with a sour smell. You "discard" all but half a cup and continue adding more flour and water once a day.

Remembering My Dad with Gratitude

Yesterday was my dad's birthday. He was born in 1917, the first of five children born to Raymond Michael Schneider and Marie Zurlinden Schneider in Cleveland, Ohio. His dad, my grandfather, was an organist who played in vaudeville for the silent movies and later was organist at St. James Catholic Church in Lakewood where his men and boys' choirs became well known. He taught his own children to play and Daddy played the organ later for the Catholic community at the Naval Academy when he was student there and for St. Augustine's in Elkridge, MD after he retired.

In 2009 my brother, Ray Jr. (now deceased), posted this on his blog:

Raymond John Schneider — Dad

Ray's first ship was USS DETROIT, which was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. DETROIT subsequently transported the Philippine Government's gold and silver monetary reserve, which had been removed from Corregidor by submarine, from Honolulu to San Francisco.

Thought for the Day: The Scourge of Our Time is Nihilism

From Merriam-Webster

The answer to nihilism: faith, hope, & the example of the saints

Nihilism:

1.  a : a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless

Nihilism is a condition in which all ultimate values lose their value.
—Ronald H. Nash
     

 b : a doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and especially of moral truths

2.  a: a doctrine or belief that conditions in the social organization are so bad as to make destruction desirable for its own sake independent of any constructive program or possibility
     

b: capitalized : the program of a 19th century Russian party advocating revolutionary reform and using terrorism and assassination

Monday of Holy Week: St. Francis de Sales on Humility and Obedience

I continue to read St. Francis de Sales' Sermons on Lent. On Palm Sunday, the focus was on humility

and obedience. St. Francis is a master of the spiritual life and we can certainly benefit from meditating on his writing during this Holy Week:

Everything in the world has two faces, because everything has two principles. The first is God, the first cause of everything that exists. The second is the nothingness from which everything has been drawn. Now, since God is the first principle of every being, there is nothing that does not contain something beautiful and lovable in it. But since very created things is drawn out of nothingness, each contains some imperfection.

Today is the Anniversary of My Dad's Death, May He Rest in Peace

As I was writing out a birthday card for one of my children whose birthday is tomorrow, I reflected on where we were the year she was turning six. My parents always had a 4th of July pool party at their home in Elkridge and we were all gathered there in 1985 as usual. In fact, more people were on hand than usual. Two of my aunts and uncles came and several of my cousins -- to say good-bye to my dad who was dying of cancer.

I had been camping out on the sofa for a few days so I could help Mom care for Daddy and, as I sat with him, I was sewing the details on the fabric body of my little girl's birthday present, a "Cabbage Patch" look-alike doll. She was blonde haired like my daughter and a much-longed for gift.

Daddy was on a lot of painkillers so he slept a lot while I sewed at his bedside. We would chit chat infrequently about nothing when he was awake. I think he commented on the doll and I showed it to him. I was sculpting the fingers and toes and belly button. I really don't remember anything specific except being there, just being present in case he needed anything. At one point Daddy thought death was imminent and we called the parish and Father came. Then Daddy apologized profusely for not dying and sending out a false alarm. It was touchingly funny. We kept having to assure him that it was okay. Father did not mind.

When Daddy died the next day, it was quietly. We had convinced my mom to go out to dinner with my aunts and uncles. Daddy was still alert enough to be up. In fact, he was sitting in a chair at the side of the bed with his head resting on the bedside. My sister Peggy and I were sitting on either side of him rubbing his back gently and talking quietly. And then we realized he wasn't breathing. When we lifted him up, the blood had already begun to pool at the contact point on his forehead. We called the hospice nurse who came over and helped us arrange his body in the bed and we called all my local siblings. When mom returned from dinner we were praying the rosary together gathered in a circle around Daddy. We had to reassure my mom that it was okay not to be there, that the dying often wait to go until the person closest to them is not there - to spare them perhaps.

So many memories of that time crowd in on me: my nine-year-old niece stroking Daddy's head shortly after he died saying, "Grandpa looks so peaceful," my sisters and I all snipping off bits of Daddy's hair at the wake, the funeral at the Naval Academy on that brilliant, hot July day, two dear family friends concelebrating Mass with the Academy chaplain, the pain of the last good-bye to a dearly loved father.

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of good parents who pass on the faith.

Please pray for the repose of the soul of my dad, Raymond John, today. May he rest in peace.

Worldwide Rosary Crusade

An international movement inviting people all over the world to pray the rosary simultaneously takes place this year on Sunday, August 16 at 5:00 PM Paris time (11:00 AM Eastern Time). Larry and I will be praying our rosary in the car on the way to see my brother John who had a stroke a few weeks ago and is in a stroke rehabilitation center in Baltimore. Won't you join as well praying the Glorious Myseries asking the Blessed Mother's intercession for our troubled world? Life's short, pray hard!

You don't need to be Catholic to pray the rosary which is a scriptural prayer made up of the Creed, the Our Father, Hail Marys, and the Glory Be. I invite Protestants to join us as well. Jesus honored his mother and he invites all of His followers to honor her as well. Remember the fourth commandment? Can anyone seriously believe that the Lord did not fulfill this commandment to perfection? Mary is a powerful intercessor and prayer partner. Let us not neglect her because she cares for all her children as a good mother and wants to bring us home.