We All Know the Solution to These Murders: Knife Control Laws!

Virginia woman accused of ramming into another car, stabbing driver in road rage incident

‘Terrified': Mother, daughter say man sideswiped them before 495 stabbing rampage

The world has gone crazy. Iryna Karutska is stabbed to death on a Charlotte, North Carolina subway (ironically it was a "blue" line train). Her murder shocked the whole country. This kind of thing is getting to be a daily headline. But usually it's far away from me.

My New Year's Resolution: I CHOOSE GRATITUDE!

My new year's resolution is to CHOOSE GRATITUDE for everything, every single thing in my life: not just the joys and the wonderful moments, but for the pain and sorrow, the grief and the laughter. The generosity and kindness of others, the insults and accusations. I CHOOSE it all!

God Has Not Abandoned Us by Fr. Bill Aitcheson

The wheat and the cockle will grow together until the harvest 

"For the time is, that judgment should begin at the house of God. But if first of us, what shall be the end of them that believe not in the gospel of God?" (1 Pt. 4:17)

Sunday Meditation: How God Provided Priests in Front Royal during the COVID Lockdowns and Led Them to Stay

It was all in God's providence: "Fifty accidents happened at the same time." Fr. Reuter showed up for "one Sunday only" to offer Mass in Virginia for the Marlboro chapel since Maryland had already shut down. Watch the video. It's amazing the number of providential events that led to the founding of the SSPX chapel in Linden. May God be praised!

 

A Honey of a Story

What are you thinking about right now? I'm thinking about harvesting honey. We didn't think we'd get any this year, but it looks like we will after all. What fun! Check it out and see one of the busy little workers in my garden. I commented to our mentor today that I can't imagine a beekeeper not believing in God. The design and plan of the honeybee colony sure affirm my wonderment at His divine providence! 

And our back yard is flowing with honey. This is the way the hive looked in June, but the population has exploded since then and we have girls flying everywhere. They must be downtown girls, because we see them flying toward Woodstock when they leave the hive. Right now nothing in the yard seems to appeal to their taste. They liked the lavender, but it's finished. I thought they'd go for the butterfly bush and the white clover, but they must like something else better because I haven't seen a single bee on any of those flowers.

Take a break from bad news! Matthew 6:26

With lots of people (including me) concerned over (take your choice - no limit): abortion, contraception, the economy, swine flu, global warming, the scandal at Notre Dame, (Sigh!) Arlen Specter's defection to the Democratic party, the upcoming filibuster-proof Senate, heretics in the Church, capital punishment, same-sex marriage, Georgetown and other wicked Catholic schools, (Whew!) the Vagina Monologues, pollution, teen suicide, homosexuals recruiting kids, hate speech used to deny free speech, Planned Parenthood promoting lust, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction. (Sheesh, time for a break.)

Bad news will always be with us until the second coming when the Lord returns to separate the sheep from the goats. In the meantime it's important to remember and ponder Matthew 6:26.

Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them....Learn a lesson from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work; they do not spin. Yet I assure you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was arrayed like one of these.

In the interests of practicing what I preach I've been watching the birds today (and doing a little gardening). A little brown wren was perched outside my office window before Mass singing his heart out. I studied him through binoculars and could see his little mouth moving up and down as he warbled - a Pavarotti of the bird world. And what a cheerful song - no Pagliacci for him. After this went on for about fifteen minutes another little wren joined him (Ah, it was a love song!) and they flew off together. Thank God for Spring!

Later in the morning when I was checking my email another pair of birds came to offer entertainment: an eastern bluebird couple. I have two birdhouses nailed to support posts left over from a fence demolished during a windstorm last winter. Every spring the bluebirds check out the larger house, but never stay. I thought when we were tearing down the fence that, perhaps, that would improve the chances of enticing the bluebirds. Maybe the fence rails offered a perch for larger predatory birds and scared them off. Indeed, that may have been the problem because all day the two have been going in and out of the house. I hope they are moving in and not just eying the property. I haven't seen them carrying building materials, but I remain optimistic.

My last sighting for the day was a brief one. A ruby-throated hummingbird came by to see whether the strawberry-shaped feeder was up yet. It isn't, but it will be just as soon as I can cook up some nectar and let it cool for my delightful little friend.

I hope you will take scripture literally today, like me, and "look at the birds in the sky" with a thankful heart. It will lower your blood pressure and bring a smile to your lips. How can it not?