Don’t start…

Posted on January 29, 2023 by Perpetua

Don’t start what you can’t win. Make sure that you are protected from what will precipitate an ensuing puzzling behaviour.

In my daily walk, not only do I stop and smell the roses, but I also stop to make connections and conversations with people. Am I weird? You betcha.

On my way home, two young men approached me and asked:

“Sister, are you a Christian? Do you believe in Jesus Christ?”

Me thinks… Hmmm… These men are ordinary looking wearing jeans and a warm toque hat holding a thick book I assume is a Bible. Interesting opening line. I was thinking to respond facetiously by saying “yeah, I have a direct line with Jesus or we’re BFF.” I thought for a while and responded hesitatingly…

“Ehem… I am a catholic (with a small c. Let’s see if they are good with definitions.

“Catholic churches are corrupt.” said he.

Gong bell! Wrong answer.

“Nononono… I don’t discriminate” I smiled and turn my back.

This is my Sunday Snippet to celebrate the National Puzzle day that RDP precipitated.

Once again, it’s not a sin

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Perpetua

Do you ever confess your temptations to anybody willing to listen?

Once again, it’s not a sin.

60 Minutes report on Divine Intervention

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Perpetua

A recent episode of 60 Minutes saw correspondent Bill Whitaker visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. The footage offers inspiring views of the popular pilgrimage site, as well as interviews with faithful visitors seeking to be healed and even one nun whose sudden recovery after visiting Lourdes has been deemed miraculous.

Sr. Bernadette Moriau

The 60 Minutes report goes into great detail on how reported miracles are investigated and authenticated. Whitaker spoke with a team of physicians who examine each case under various criteria, in order to prove that a miracle occurred.The massive size of each case folder is a testament to how deeply they study their cases before coming to their conclusions.

Whitaker even had a chance to interview Sister Bernadette Moriau, the 83-year-old nun who is recognized as the recipient of the 70th miracle said to have occurred at the Lourdes Shrine. Sr. Moriau explained that she had a “dark diagnosis” of full paralysis that was completely healed within three days of visiting the shrine. Sr. Moriau explained that while she was at the shrine she heard a voice in her head:

“I really had that feeling that the Lord was walking with us. And I heard him giving me these words: ‘I see your suffering and that of your sick brothers and sisters. Just give me everything.’”

She said that when she returned home she was in debilitating pain for three days until she suddenly felt the strength to walk to the chapel to pray. While in prayer, she began to feel a great heat inside of her and suddenly she felt urged to remove her foot and back braces, which she previously needed to walk. Suddenly her foot was straightened and her back was no longer in pain.

In order to validate the miracle, Sr. Moriau subjected herself to rounds of testing, both physically and mentally, but no scientific or medical explanation of her sudden recovery was ever identified. Her case was eventually recognized as the 70th instance of a miraculous healing taking place at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.

There’s more packed into the 60 Minutes report than would be possible to cover here, and the expressions of St. Moriau as she explains her miracle are worth a watch on their own.

Source: Aleteia

I am only a man

Posted on January 15, 2023 by Perpetua

He is just another man, a real person that I would have very much wanted to meet personally. Unfortunately, he was born way ahead of me and died 20 years before I was born. If you ask him who he is, the response was “I am only a man, just like you.”

“It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the most exquisitely
beautiful pictures,” said St. André Bessette.

André Bessette is a native of Canada born frail in a poor family in Quebec. He became an orphan at the age of 12 and had hardly any education at all. In his early twenties, he entered the Holy Cross congregation in Montreal. Nobody wanted him. The main task given to him was menial as a porter, someone who opens the door and greets people who come to visit the Oratory. Yet he did his duty for 40 years accepting the little he had and turning it into a holy act.

One would not think that he lacks formal education when he is an effective teacher of faith by his action, love, kindness, and example. He used the simplest means. It is his complete trust with divine providence is what made him an exceptional person.

His dream was to build a church devoted to St. Joseph. He trusted that if he is really doing the Lord’s will the Lord would bring it to fruition. And it did happen.

How I would have wanted to see him open the door for me when I visited the Oratory in Mount Royal. I felt small as an ant standing at the first rung of the steps looking up at the Oratory.

In a world filled with educated minds and an era of countless celebrity, glitz, and glamour, I am amazed at what a simple man can do.

Brother André is what I call him and has left me a legacy to place my trust in Jesus.

Joy. That’s. It.

Posted on December 25, 2022 by Perpetua

Let me share this poem by Rilke posted by Robin Bates.

Without your simplicity, how could this
have happened — what shines now in the dark of night?
The God who thundered over the nations
makes himself mild and through you enters the world

Were you expecting something greater?

What is greatness? He moves straight through
all measurements we know, dissolving them away. Even the path of a star is not like that.

Behold: these kings standing here are great
and drag into your lap rare treasures
that each believes to be the greatest.

Perhaps you are astonished at their gifts.
But look into the blanket in your arms,
how He already surpasses all of them.

Amber that is traded near and far,
rings of gold and costly spices
that drift for a moment on the air:
these are quickly fading pleasures
and leave behind a vague regret.

The gift He brings — as you will see — is joy.

Nativity Scene. Carved by Arnolfo di Cambio in the late 13th century on display in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Image by Catholic Traveler

I can taste that lasting sweetness what Joy brings. Joy to you all.

How do you plea?

Posted on September 19, 2021 by Perpetua

Plea the Fifth Amendment. I refuse to answer for this might incriminate me. In Canada, we call it Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Self-Incrimination.

“Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God.” And then I swore on the Bible. This was my experience as part of a Jury for 10 days. A priest once told me when he is called on to swear on the Bible he refuses because he has already taken the Oath when he decided to serve God and mankind. Of course, I forgot about this when I was asked. I placed my hand on the Bible, and I said:“I swear.”

It was quite an experience and an honour to serve Canada being selected as a Jury. It made me think that the future of this man lies on my hand should I decided against the other jurors. I was Number 8. Mind you, we were given a manual on pointers on how to become a jury and how to make a decision based on just law. No bias, no discrimination. The jurors came from all walks of life. One juror, in my opinion, was very fashionable. She made sure that she is well dressed for the public and for the Judge. This is not a criticism. It’s important that we are dressed properly. But once we deliberate behind closed doors, we have to divest ourselves. Not our clothing, but our just minds. We have to have an open mind without the probability of a doubt.

We did reach a verdict. NOT GUILTY. Whew. I was glad we came to a conclusion. What was the case, you asked? Joe vs. the People. Joe was accused of killing his brother. Just like in the Bible, Cane killed Abel. But Cane was guilty; Joe was not.

Back to swearing on the Bible to tell the whole truth; when I was a child, my Mother always reminded me to tell the truth. That is so plain and simple. Should you ask me WHY, the answer my friend is blowing in the wind. (click to play the song)

Tell the truth, try, you might like it. Nothing adversarial.

One Minute Meditation:

“Why is everyone here so happy except me?” “Because they have learned to see goodness and beauty everywhere,” said the Master. “Why don’t I see goodness and beauty everywhere?” “Because you cannot see outside of you what you fail to see inside.” || Anthony de Mello, SJ

Sunday Snippet

Posted on September 5, 2021 by Perpetua

This is supposed to be a reblog but I am having difficulty doing it in my second generation iPad.

The source is from friarmusing, I call him FrG as a term of endearment, short for Fr. George.

His writings are enjoyable to read and exceptionally good reads. This post is about a list of reading materials.

This post is by no means complete, thorough, or makes any claim to being the last word. It is just a slice of what is out there on September 4th that caught my eye, looked interesting, and so I gave it a read. Maybe you will too.

▪Worried About Breakthrough Infections? Here’s How to Navigate This Phase of the Pandemic – New York Times.

▪Long-Haulers Are Fighting for Their Future – The Atlantic

▪Six Important Questions About Booster Shots Answered – Smithsonian

▪The Coronavirus Could Get Worse – The Atlantic

▪Pandemic Psychology – The Guardian

The Pandemic Psychology from The Guardian surprised me. As I dig deeper, a Canadian Psychiatrist from UBC Department of Psychiatry published an article that I never encountered in our news media written by Steven Taylor in 2018 pre-covid era. I have so much respect for this department because they helped me reshape my faulty thinking due to brain disorder.

He interpreted that pandemics “are essentially a psychological phenomenon and about the behaviors, attitudes and emotions of people” and that “the psychological footprint is bigger than the medical footprint”.

That, Taylor says, is not to downplay the significance of the disease to those that have become sick or died, but that many more people have been psychologically affected. The analysis was fleshed out in another academic paper, published in Canadian Psychology, in which he wrote that “pandemics are not simply events in which some harmful microbe ‘goes viral’”.

He wrote: “Psychology plays a central role in pandemics, influencing the spreading and containment of diseases, and shaping pandemic-related distress and socially disruptive, divisive and potentially harmful phenomena such as panic buying, racism and protests against pandemic mitigation restrictions.”

Lesson learned: Sunday sermon is not all about the Gospel.

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Sr. Bernadette Moriau

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