May he rest in peace ...

We lost another good one down here this week. Les Gallagher was a friend of my Dad's. During high school I often played tennis with my Dad and Mr. Gallagher. I believe Mr. Gallagher was a daily Communicant. I know he was dedicated to the Faith and to achieving holiness. He will be missed by his wife and three children.

Just like my Dad's sudden death, here is another lesson in being prepared, story below (courtesy of the Sun-Sentinel):

The Florida Highway Patrol identified Lester Gallagher, 84, of Palm Beach Gardens, as the bicyclist who died after being struck by a car Sunday on State Road A1A, south of PGA Boulevard.Gallagher was riding south in the bike lane on A1A, when he was rear-ended by a 2006 Sonata driven by Joseph Shields, 77, of Delray Beach, according to the highway patrol report. Shields was suffering from a diabetic seizure, caused by low blood sugar, when he drove into the bicycle lane striking Gallagher's Diamondback 12-speed. Gallagher was knocked off the bicycle, hit the windshield and then the roof before landing on the road in front of the car, which then drove over him, the report said.

Eternal rest grant to him O Lord. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen

As you can see, postings have been either sparse, short, or both. The school year is in its final throes. Grading, making final exams, posting grades, etc. are taking much time.

But there is alot of other good stuff out there to read, so go to it.

In a week or two I will be spending more time on Requiem Press as well as other endeavors. By the way, I forgot to take the "Mother's Day Special" off the Chapel Veil booklet. So take advantage while it still lasts.

Don't think I will be teaching at our 'local' Catholic high school next year, so pray that we land on our feet again. I learned alot teaching in high school and about our Catholic schools. Some good, some bad. But all that is for another day-way down the road. Suffice to say, I like what we are doing here.

Oremus pro invicem!

Have you ever known someone who just seems to go around doing good for other people-I mean all the time, but in a totally natural (and humble) way. Not that these people are necessarily flawless, but that they always seem to be doing something for someone else; they always seem to be on hand to pick up the pieces, or do the favor, etc. We have been blessed to know several families like this in recent years.

Reminds me of the second half of Deus Caritas Est where Pope Benedict discusses the early Christian community.

Oremus pro invicem!

The Weekend

Update: It appears some of my car work did pay off over the weekend. I think the mini-van is back in action. Will have to see for sure tomorrow when I take it in to school.

Got the lawn mower fixed. Did a little car work-but didn't accomplish much. Only one of the cars is truly in good working order at the moment. I guess I will be spending a little more time underneath the hood...

Sunday, good friends came over for dinner-actually they brought most of it.

Spent some time talking to our 89 year old neighbor. He was reminincing about some of the changes he's seen in his life. One recent change is the price of corn. When he started farming at the end of WWII, price was about $3/bushel (I think it is per bushel). In recent years it has hovered between $2-$3 per bushel. This year it is pushing $4/bushel: ethanol. Rumor has it that an ethanol plant is slated for McBee (7 miles from here). I suppose this would boost the economy of the area (which is generally depressed) and rejuvanate the life of the farms around here.

We received a credit card offer in the mail the other day. The more we read the opening lines, the more we laughed:

You're pre-approved for a Platinum VISA card with a credit line of $200! Imagine shipping and dining at your favorite places in Bethune with the prestige of a Platinum VISA card.....

Just imagine, going into Mama's Kitchen or Dollar General, or the Exxon, or Trustworthy Hardware. (that's about the extent of shopping possibilities in Bethune), with the Platinum VISA-boy won't everyone be impressed.

Oremus pro invicem!

This is funny ...

From TS

You know you're way too much into blogging when you're in your boss's office and you have to stifle the impulse to ask him to repeat what he just said for bloggadocia purposes.

Mrs. Curley brought this faux antique sign back from Florida:

I'm thinking of bringing it to school tomorrow when I return the latest round of tests...

Need to get some work done. Oremus pro invicem!

Earlier today I treated you to a pic of my Henry .22 lever action rifle (here's another). Mr. Culbreath mentioned the other day at Stoney Creek Digest that he had a shotgun, but hadn't found much use for it. I tell you what, twice I could have used my Henry .22 on wild dogs who roamed in-two of which ate my chickens. I had to chase them off with the butt end of a BB-gun. Not anymore. A .22 will take down a dog (not to mention a deer if you're close enough and a good shot). But what I am really looking forward to is the fall: when it will be legal to hunt rabbit and squirrel.

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Prayers requested....As mentioned here before, I have been doing some teaching this year at the "local" (50 miles away) Catholic school. It has been more than 'some teaching'; I have been teaching full time since August. While the $ is certainly not making us rich, at least until the present gas woes, the job was stabilizing our economy here at Bethany, which had suffered a bit the last couple years when we were relying solely on Requiem Press (and the love of dear friends) for sustanance. This year has been a huge stress on the family, the long days and long commute-along with trying to keep Requiem Press' head above water in the meantime.

Fortunately during the year I have also picked up a couple consulting gigs which look like they may continue through the summer. So it is time to decide whether to teach another year, look for a job back in industry, or to try to make a go of it here with RP and some consulting work.

Personally, I hate to leave the Bethany homestead on any day-it has been hard to do so every morning-even if I do enjoy teaching after a fashion. I don't know if the consulting will be regular enough to take the place of that regular paycheck though. After a year, I think Mrs. Curley and I have found the regular paycheck may relieve some worry, but it doesn't make you happy. (Of course worry doesn't make you happy either. We have our way to go in trusting God-who has always come through-by the way, although not always how we have expected it.)

I was interviewed for the school newspaper last week and asked what my dream job would be. I gave a short answer, but would answer it more completely here: I would live right here and make wooden toys and furniture, be a local handy man while working my small acreage (and of course maybe reprinting a book or two here and there), and doing a little writing myself. I could work and teach my children and eat 3 meals a day with my family.

Now that that is said, I pray that Mrs. Curley and I can recognize and then embrace God's will for the Curley's in the coming year. Please do say a prayer for us, and we will say some for you too. Oremus pro invicem!

I'm still here ...

Busy time with the end of the school year. Please pray for our discernment on our plans for the coming year....

Don't have much time this morning, but I will leave you with this picture of a Henry .22 lever action:

Goodbye baloney!

Mrs. Curley and children have been in Florida visiting relations all week. They returned last night. I am ever so grateful. I was getting tired of a diet of baloney sandwiches (sometimes without the bread) and bananas. It is not that I can't cook (a little) or that I had no food around, I just don't want to take the time if its just me.

Once again ...

Was not called for jury duty. Don't know if it how I answered the questionaire or that they just didn't want me. Just as well-as the school year is winding down, I don't have much "extra" time.

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A couple things y'all should read: Yesterday on Catholic Exchange was this article by (one of my favorites) Russell Shaw. Here's how it starts:

Like a zombie trailing grave cloths through the halls of Congress, the Equal Rights Amendment, dead and buried this quarter-century, has come back to scare the living daylights out of us all. An icon for secular feminists that's coming up on its 85th anniversary next year, the ERA would lock abortion and, some believe, same-sex marriage into the Constitution far into the future.

and ends:

Too bad the nation, with better things to do, must fight this settled issue over again. But have no doubt — we must.

Wasn't contemplating this fight-and you know time has passed, people get used to an idea they hated before, and the battle is quickly lost.

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And, there is some good conversation going on at Stony Creek Digest on killing (or my preferred term, smashing) the TV. When I read John Senior's "Restoration of Christian Culture" a couple years back, (see my comments here and here and here among other places) I discussed the TV smashing angle and other things. Time to get that book back in print....

Oremus pro invicem!

Now reading ...

"Christ is Passing By" (Scepter Publishers) by St. Josemaria Escriva. This was one of my birthday presents. I had read much of this back in high school-but those days are so far past it is liking reading it anew.

These are homilies for throughout the liturgical year. Thus I started in the middle and am reading the homily for Easter.

Here is a piece:

I want to review with you briefly how Christ is alive today-"Jesus Christ, yesterday and today, and yes, forever"-because this is the basis for all Christian living. If we look at the course of human history, we will see progress and advances. Science has made man more aware of his power. Technology controls the world much more than in the past, helping men to reach their dream of a greater level of culture, unity, and material well-being.

Some people are perhaps inclined to tone down this optimism, reminding us that men still suffer injustice and wars, at times worse than those in the past. They may well be right. But, above and beyond these considerations, I prefer to remember that in the religious sphere man is still man and God is still God. In this sphere, the peak of progress has already been reached. And that peak is Christ, the alpha and omega, the beginning of all things and their end.

In the spiritual life, there is no new era to come. Everything is already there, in Christ who died and rose again, who lives and stays with us always.

Good stuff to think about.

Oh yes, a note about one of our books. In the week coming up to Mother's Day (this week) we have "The Chapel Veil-symbol of the spouse of Christ" on special for quantity purchases. Check it out.

Finally, I read that Greencastle passed through our neck of the woods this weekend. I have been meaning to add some links to my sidebar-and this is one of them.

Oremus pro invicem!

A special day ...

Yesterday we took 2 cars to Mass as my nephew and my father- and mother-in-law are staying with us for a few days. Mrs. Curley was in rare form behind the wheel....

First, she hit and killed a dove. Actually, she almost go two in one blow, but one of them escaped.

A couple miles later, she hit a squirrel.

If that wasn't enough, on the way home she hit ... a turtle? She dragged the turtle under the car several yards before spitting it out. After this, she pulled over and said "I'm done." My father-in-law drove the rest of the way home.

More importantly, yesterday my youngest son (along with 5 others) received his 1st Holy Communion.

And then the parish celebrated together. Oremus pro invicem!

Yesterday I took the day off from school to celebrate a very important event: my father-and mother-in-law were renewing their vows at 1st Friday Mass at St. Catherine's. It was truly a joyous event and celebration afterward. Usually there is a breakfast after 1st Friday Mass-but yesterday it was enhanced with more than a few extras. The best part was all our friends joining us in the celebrating. Deo Gratias!

Today, now that the honeymoon period is over, father-in-law and I may take down a dead tree or two, and we certainly will do some car work-this time not critical for operation, but critical for comfort on long trips (window motors and AC).

Feast of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales

Let me start with yesterday....it had a foreboding beginning. I am driving to school along Route 1. For about 15 miles I drove behind a large truck carrying hogs. For 15 miles the hogs' mess splattered the front end of my car. I should have known to just turn around and go home. Actually the day wasn't that bad: a day of minor annoyances and hurt pride-the kind of day which provides several opportunities to offer our sufferings up without too much strain as the sufferings aren't that bad. But the day ended well with my brother saying he and family would be coming for a visit soon and my in-laws actually arriving for a visit.

Today of course is one of my favorite saint feast days. I first knew of these martyrs when reading a biography of St. John Fisher by Michael Davies (Neumann Press). I read of the Carthusian martyrs and for some reason was fascinated-and wondered why I had never heard of the them before. This began a quest for information which one day, unexpectedly, resulted in Requiem Press . In fact, the day I began editing "Witnesses to the Holy Mass", our first book, I looked at the calendar half way through the day and realized that it was 4 May.

One of my fellow parishioners is a descendant of the family of St. John Kemble, "the grand old man of the English and Welsh martyrs, who cheerfully laid down his life at the age of 80..." (the custom-for those who smoke a pipe-of calling the last pipe of a sitting "the Kemble pipe" comes from his last request before being brought to the gallows.)

What really struck me about the tales fo the English & Welsh martyrs was the suddeness and unexpectedness of their call to martyrdom. Some were religious and some lay, but at least at the beginning, martyrdom in England for the Faith would have been considered unthinkable-so stalwart was England for Catholicity. Yet in just a handful of years monks were being brutally killed, all kinds of religious turned out of their monasteries, the Mass outlawed, and violation of these laws: treason. This turn of events and fortunes have many precedants, but we never think it can happen to us. Although our trial may not be so dramatic-it will come never-the-less.

It got me contemplating on how prepared was I for a tribulation. Would I be the John Houghton or the Maurice Chauncy, or abandon the Faith altogether. It was a start of a new spiritual journey for me.

So on this day, ask these 40 martyrs-who represent countless more who weren't formerly reconized-to assist you in your spiritual journey so that you may be ready for the trials and tribulations which will surely come your way in one form or another.

Oremus pro invicem!

Passion Play 2007 ...

This year's installment which took place on Holy Saturday. We had some new players this year, many of whom came with great costumes. As every year, this is a kids only production. It is a walking play, that is, the audience follows the action around our 2 acres.

(Dont forgot "our" Novena. I will put it back on top later. And don't forget the special on "Witnesses to the Holy Mass". Feast of the 40 martyrs of England and Wales is tomorrow.)

Now, without further ado, Passion Play at Bethany 2007:

Behold the Man!

The scourging.

Carrying the cross....

On the cross!

Novena

I don't know whether or how much I will be posting the next few days. (Although I will try to post on 4 May, the feast of the 40 martyrs of England and Wales-remember our special mentioned below.) But I do invite you to join in a novena I will be doing for the next nine days. Technically this particular novena should be done for an 'urgent cause' over nine hours in one day. But I am sure God won't reject the prayers just because of the timing.

Join with me for my intention, or your own.

INFANT OF PRAGUE NOVENA PRAYER

O Jesus, Who has said, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened," through the intercession of Mary, Your Most Holy Mother, I knock, I seek, I ask that my prayer be granted.

(Make your request)

O Jesus, Who has said, "All that you ask of the Father in My Name, He will grant you," through the intercession of Mary Your Most Holy Mother, I humbly and urgently ask your Father in your name that my prayer will be granted.

(Make your request)

O Jesus, Who has said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away but My word shall not pass away," through the intercession of Mary Your Most Holy Mother, I feel confident that my prayer will be granted.

(Make your request)

Oremus pro invicem!