Random Thoughts

We have hot water again...but not without our tribulations and plumbing woes. Let's just say that when you buy a water heater from one of the those home improvement superstores, don't be too surprised if they recommend the wrong pieces to hook it up with. In the end, we have hot water-Praise God!

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The lady bugs made started their first incursion yesterday. I don't know why, but they always seek out my office to invade first.

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From this morning's liturgy of the hours:

To you all flesh will come
with its burden of sin.
Too heavy for us,
our offenses,
but you wipe them away.
--Psalm 65

How true-but so often we try to carry them ourselves. The lessons from thousands of years ago are continually be re-learned.

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Look in the comment box of my last post. It contains one of my absolute favorite poems by Long-Skirts.

Check out this article on CatholicExchange this morning. You can find out what it means to be "nice".

Have been missing alot of discussions on music in the liturgy and the imminent(?) universal indult.

I did note TS O'Rama's mention of the film Flags of our Fathers. It turns out that I won a gift certificate to our school bookfair and decided on this book after reading the referenced post. Good thing I did cause there wasn't a whole lot to choose from.

Speaking of books, I recently read Frank McCourt's (author of Angela's Ashes-which I never read-although it was recommended to me.) Teacher Man. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. It does hold your interest and isn't too long, but it also doesn't seem to have a real direction. Mr. McCourt has some problems with the Church-which I gather I would get more detail about if I read his previous books. Yet the Church seems to still be reflected in his thought and lighten his path whether he realizes it or not.

Back to work. Hope to have some good things to say soon. Until then...Oremus pro invicem!

This week I am having each of my students teach a problem to the rest of the class. The idea being that you learn something more thoroughly if you have to explain it to others. After class yesterday, when one of the students had just finished teaching his problem, he says to me, "Mr. Curley, this is hard."

The weekend is looming-and with it the prospect of a water heater installed! Winter is coming early this year (nights in the low 30's has been the norm this week). Hot water will be a welcome addition to the family.

When I was a kid in Catholic schools, we got Holy Days of obligation off. (Catholic schools shouldn't make a teacher work on a Holy Day. This, it seems would violate the precepts of the Church.) The school I teach at does not give the November 1st off. So I am hoping to find a substitute teacher and take it off so I can celebrate All Saints Day with my family and parish.

I have been thwarted

Was trying to post something meaty this morning, but then a breaker flipped and I lost the time to do it as I tried to figure what happened.

With only moments left to post, I will just remind everyone that November is closing in on us rapidly. You can start a devotion to praying for the holy souls in purgatory during November and keep it up year round. This is one (of many) books that may help you do this. Of course available from Requeim Press . It is not too late to get for November. Single copies (!.85 + shipping) go out 1st class. And of course there are discounts for quantity purchaes (larger quantities are shipped Media Mail).

This simple book, which fits in purse or pocket, has a short prayer for everyday of the week:

Sunday - for the soul most destitute of prayers;
Monday - for the soul nearest to entrance into Heaven;
Tuesday - for the soul who is last to issue from Purgatory;
Wednesday - for the soul richest in merits;
Thursday - for the soul who was most devoted to the Holy Eucharist;
Friday - for the soul for whom you are most bound to pray for; and
Saturday - for the soul who was most devoted to our Lady.

It is coming .... the unveiling...

A little late, but within a few weeks you can get hands on our newest release. And sometime this week you will be able to pre-order it on our website.

Of course, you all voted on the cover. So I unveil the final version here with some comments....

Someone suggested colors similar to the Vatican website-We were curious and tried a few more color schemes. You see what we came up with.

Someone suggested working on the photo to leave just Dr. May, his wife, then-Cardinal Ratzinger, and John-Paul II. -Done.

We also slanted the newsprint (I know some of you didn't like it to begin with, but we have our reasons) so that the title didn't seem to be part of the newspaper. The newsprint is readable, but in the background.

You'll be hearing much more about this book in the coming days/weeks. Thanks for all your input on the cover. It did help us fine tune it.

New Floor...er.... old floor

As reported here earlier, our water heater sprung a leak this week. The previous owners, or maybe the ones previous to them, didn't want to drain the water heater the last time a kitchen floor was laid. (We don't have basements in our part of the country. Waterheaters are sometimes outside; sometimes those short stubby ones under the house; sometimes hidden in a closet; ours is in the kitchen next to the washing machine.)

So the previous owners have the water heater directly on the particle board subfloor and cut the vinyl flooring around the water heater. Thus when the water leaks-as it did, the water goes under the vinyl, and of course the particle board sucks it up like a sponge. Time for a new floor.

So, Mrs. Curley gets the new kitchen floor she's always wanted, (I usually don't put in floors until forced to when selling a house.) Although, as I dug down through the floors, the last floor is a wooden floor-it seems in good condition for the most part. Thus the new floor may be an old floor-which means labor is all it will cost. (Oh yes, we may have to polyeurathane it, but no major expenses.)

Of course, that labor is not so cheap. I am not as young as I used to be, and my back not as strong. But between me and the boys, I am hoping Mrs. Curley can at least have a vision of her new floor by mid-week. Which is imperative anyway, because without hot water and a washing machine (also in the kitchen), we can't survive too long anyway. (Cold showers may be fine for Lent, but this is ordinary time....)

I am just taking a break right now. It isn't going as fast as I hoped. But having the right tools helps. We would be almost done if they hadn't put so many nails in the floor. I don't do enough physical labor I fear. So this will be good for me. And, with any luck, Mrs. Curley will have a beautiful kitchen floor with barely any expense except for a thinner and meaner Mr. Curley.

Irish Shiites?

I just read somewhere that the name "Bethune Catholic" is akin to saying "Irish Shiite". I never thought of it that way-but it is true. We don't have many Catholics out here. Since moving to Bethune, I have only met two Catholics in town. One came from New York and lives in Hartsville (are large town about 30 miles away) and works locally. The other lives in Camden (a small town-but not as small as Bethune, about 25 miles away) and was in town for a political rally.

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I am getting tired of having to spend the first 5-10 minutes every time I open my email sorting through spam. I guess every one else is too.

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Is it my imagination, or are the 'News' reporters on NPR salivating about the possible turnover of the control of Congress to the Democrats in the next election? I don't recall so much coverage years ago when the Republicans wrested control of the House and Senate from the Democrats, (after many more years of Democratic control, I might add.)

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You may have read (see here for example) about the chapel roof/ceiling coming down in Marytown. As you may be aware, Brother Charles Madden OFM Conv. (author of Requiem Press' Giving Up Stealing for Lent! and The Mini-Catechism) is from Marytown. They could use your prayers (and I am sure, your financial support.)

Auriesville

How could I let today pass without mentioning Sts. Issac Jogues, John De Brebeuf, Rene Goupil, et. al. One of our happiest trips (the inspiration of number one son) was to visit the Auriesville Shrine in upstate NY where Isaac Jogues and Rene Goupil were martyred.

It is few places in the US where you can walk and pray on the same ground where martyrs bled. Here are some photos of the Ravine from the shrine website.

We have gone back to Auriesville once and hope to do so again someday. The grounds are simple and (the last time we were there) in need of care. But this only adds to the spiritual pilgrimage.

Here is my original entry on Auriesville from 2 years ago-much better written than today's effort.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

There was a time when I thought (when considering my family and the budget) that I should have been a doctor. No more. I should be a plumber.

Plumbing, as stated before on this blog, is not my favorite home repair area. I can do it, but it usually requires bending to get in cramped places and doesn't allow for too much slop unless you don't mind leaky pipes. (Thank God for this wonderful self-fusing tape I have. It take sthe precision out of plumbing.)

Yet I constantly have plumbing jobs in the que. Since the weekend I have been working (in my spare time-Ha!) on putting in a new drain field for the washing machine line. More digging than plumbing-but it is certainly related. And last night as we get home from CCD, we find the kitchen floor flooded-oh yes the water heater has sprung a leak.

I really had something substantial and thought-provoking to say this morning-but because of the late night last night draining what was left in the old water heater, I am at a loss.

The only thing that comes to mind (and this is because we have just finished a quick 'survey' of the book of Job in CCD) is the quite appropriate and very true:

"The Lord giveth and the Lord hath taketh away. Blessed by the name of the
Lord" (Job 1:21)

From Bethany, the small holding in Bethune...Oremus pro invicem!

Two Year Anniversary!!!!!!

How can I let my 2 year anniversary blogging go by without an entry? Yes two years ago today, I started Bethune Catholic and was welcomed with my first comment from Mr. Culbreath. I will not reveiw the highs and lows-but simply push forward.

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In my youth I read alot of mysteries. Somehow, I had never read any Ellery Queen. Well that changed last month. I had a book sitting around here for years called The Wrightsville Murders by Ellery Queen. (EQ is the pen name for the 2 authors who write the book and for the detective in the book.) Overall, I was not impressed. The solutions to the crimes seemed a little forced, and in one case (this book had three books in one) the solution actually was pretty unrealistic. That all being said, I found one very interesting revelation. Let's step aside for a moment.

Several years ago at a talk (probably given by Steve Wood) I learned about how a father impresses upon his child the image a child has of God. Because God is also called 'Father', a child will attribute some of his earthly father's attributes to God, and this (a child's relationship with their father) will affect the child's relationship with God. At the time this was new stuff for me. And I thought it was new stuff for most people.

However, I read in Ellery Queen's book "Ten Days Wonder", written in 1948, the following (Ellery Queen is speaking to the murderer):

I attempted last year.....to explain that Howard's choice of the Ten Commandments weaon-breaking the Father-Image of God in breaking the father image of you-must have been rooted in his environment as a child.....But how about your boyhood environment Mr. Van Horn?-the environment you were raised ... Howard loved (you) his father, but you hated yours. And its out of that hatred that your Ten Commandments idea was born....

I guess this is just another case of each generation re-learning what the previous one already knew.

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Busy day. Hopefully Bethune Catholic will rebound soon from a once a week to a more regular endeavor. Until then-Oremus pro invicem!

I am alive...

I think this has been my longest blog-siesta since I started this thing two years ago (anniversary coming up next week). So what have I been doing? Moving from crisis to crisis to crisis at school, at work and at home with no perceivable end in sight. (Even now there are several things I should be doing instead of posting a blog entry.) I won't belabor y'all with details-just that I have been busy and not getting everything done that I should be doing.

I know I have been missing some good and or provocative posts around st. blogs, because I do sneak a peak here or there every so often. There was at least one good one on liturgy and music at last week. There is a current thread which I haven't even finished reading the main post of on 'youth ministry' here ; and that is just to name two I have been missing.

Yesterday I walked into the school library and was aimlessly looking at a dolly full of books when the head librarian came up and said, "Take any you want. These were donated and are of no use here." First reaction? Yahoooooo!!!!. Second reaction: How can you say that "Fifteen Decisive Battles in History" or "The Birth of the Modern" by Paul Johnson, or a little book on the art of Grunewald won't be used in the school library. If you can't use them in your school library-I can use them in my homeschool library." And so I came home yesterday with a small treasure trove. (Of course I have all the time in the world to read them all....) Here's a sample from the Grunewald book ('the mocking of Christ').

Well I suppose I can't let my vast array of readers get to used to my presence here - I do have lots of work to do. But just wanted to let you know that I am still alive an kicking.... Oh yes, and that Requiem Press still has books for sale and a few late ones which should be out shortly.

Oremus pro invicem!

More advice...

From morning prayer...

In your will is our peace Lord.

Advice for the day

As related to a few of my recent posts below, I was given this advice:

"Don't turn on the radio in the car. If you do, you might miss something."

The Peace

NPR has an “I believe” segment on Mondays in the afternoon news program where a guest reads an essay on what he or she beliefs. Yesterday the lady (wife, mother, nurse) reading her essay said that everyday she needed to block off all the daily voices in her life so she could listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. She does this by taking a daily walk by herself and in the quiet listening to God.

Finding this quiet has been difficult for me lately. The most accessible time for me these days is on my ride into the city – but praying and driving have never been a great combination for me. And when your car has a working radio, it is even tougher to resist the temptation to put on the noise. And the morning news (forget about the music) is really noise in your life. Yes, you need to know what is going on in the world, but replacing prayer with the depressing state of affairs in the world is surely not the way to start a day.

I am searching for a place of quiet and peace again. We really need to appreciate what we have when we have it-because it is fleeting.

You can’t make Heaven on earth-but you can recognize heavenly moments-those you can cherish and be thankful to God for His blessings and His consolations. Those moments, or even periods in your life (although never without some distractions and hardships), must be recognized as God’s consolation-prodding you forward to your final home.

It seems I am always apologizing these days for neglecting this blog. I am working on a decent post in my mind-but you must be patient and I must find more quiet to realize it.

Went shrimping and fishing this weekend with one of the boys and two friends-with one their boys. Caught some shrimp and crabs Friday night, and then went fishing on the ocean on Saturday. We caught several sharks, an octopus, and a stingray-none of which we kept. My son hooked something, and I fought it for almost 2 hours, then the line snapped. It was probably another stingray (that one took 45 minutes to bring to surface), but we'll never know. We also came home with flounder, sea mullet, and black sea bass. My friend's son caught a nice pompano. Said the rosary for all kinds of intentions there on the boat. What a great day! And what a great feast Sunday night!

So now, back to deleting spam and all those other things which keep me from posting things few people read anyway.

From Bethany, the small holding in Bethune...Oremus pro invicem!