Saturday morning

 He lay on the leather club style two seater brown polished sofa ....yeah, yeah, cut to the chase why don't you.

Ok so I've had COVID all week, doesn't feel like it has completely gone, might do a test tonight but don't see much point wasting $5 when symptoms still present.

On Monday I'll just have to wear a mask and stay in the background, which anyone who knows me will say that I do anyway at social gatherings.

I'm overwhelmed with all the love and kind wishes and calls from associates, family and friends. A huge thank you everyone.

I'm off to clean the Presbyterian church soon. It has to be done before the dance class at 9am.

I renewed my trout fishing license and intend to get out and do a bit more of that now, especially since I'll be travelling to Akatarawa often anyway. I believe the stretch above the bridge there is scenic and productive. Fishing the lower stretches doesn't appeal, there has to be ambience and a sense of adventure!

Basically just looking forward to getting back to work, life and a semblance of normality.

Have fun but don't sin.

Tuesday

The grey/white clouds clung to the distant Tararua Range obscuring its peaks like a blanket tossed carelessly over a sleeper. A single Norfolk pine climbed proudly passed the fifth floor as if penetrating the blue azure sky out of sight. 

He thought about his disturbed night. A bug incongruously picked up at hospital on the previous Sunday. Hospitals are a two edged sword; dishing out as much as they heal. He still had a tickle in his throat and a sniffle. Really he shouldn't be here. But it was needed. No, more than that, essential. As good as health professionals are, they are human.

 He'd witnessed the benefit of a close relative at the bedside. He'd witnessed first hand what could happen to patients on their own. Hours of pain that only terminates with a concerned word of a visitor. Suddenly there is action. Running feet. A drip, a catheter and a doss of pain relief. But not too much. He'd also seen the opposite. Too much relief to preserve the quiet in the early hours. Now all was as it should be. 

He walked out to the passageway to clear his throat. Remove the tickle for a second or two.

Ewww it's 'orrible

He swigged back the Turkish cherry extract as a drunk might toss a whiskey chaser. Like a sweet tooth child biting into an acid drop candy the acrid aftertaste detracted from the desired delight. Fusableinfernoflatitudexxxvinegarbitternessgulp.

The Cleanskin Sauvignon Blanc of cherry fruit brew.

He yearned for the elexia of yesterday comparable to a Swiss Cherrize liquor, sweet honeyed smoothnes a Haut Brion of beverages worthy of the first Adam before his fall.

In conclusion...

Pynchon, Kerouac or Zafon?

Pynchon is the undisputed heavyweight of obscurity, using dense, labyrinthine prose. His sentences are sprawling interconnected networks, each one a dead end leading to a new, bewildering passage.

Jack Kerouac dances across the page with a stream of consciousness style that's spontaneous, a whirlwind of sensory impressions, capturing the raw energy of youth and rebellion.

Carlos Zafon weaves intricate tales of love, his prose is as rich and layered as the ancient manuscripts that populate his novels.

So while Pynchon's dense convoluted prose can be a daunting challenge, it rewards patient readers. Kerouac is raw and poetic. Zafon is gothic and atmospheric  transporting the reader to a world of mystery and intrigue.

(Generated by Google's Gemini AI).

Thomas Pynchon

"one summer afternoon Mrs Oedipa Mass came home from a Tupperware party and put perhaps too much kersh in the fondoo and found that she had been named executer or executrix of the estate of one Invererity a California real estate mogul..."

He sounds like a real recluse, and very little is known about Mr Pynchon

Evidently he did say or write..

Any way back to ,The crying ...

"Pierce had died back in the spring, she tried to think back if anything had happened... She wondered shuffling back through a fat deck fall of days...silence positive and thorough fell... The shadow waited a year before visiting...today was another defeat, he began...Moocho shaved his upper lip each morning three times, three times against the grain to remove any remotest breath of a mostache using two blades he drew blood invariably but kept  at it...on his hair used only water combing it like Jack Lemon to throw them further off. The sight of sawdust even pencil shavings made him whince... mechanics known to use it for hushing sick transmissions, He walked out of a party one night because someone used the word cream puff ..(is Thomas Pynchon describing himself? )...maliciously in his hearing, the man was a Hungarian pastry chef talking shop, but there was your Moocho, thin skinned. But at least he believed in the cars...people bringing in God awful trade-ins, motorized extensions of themselves..inside rags of old underwear so they could  wipe and  could see whatever...it made him sick to look...the endless rituals of trade-ins. Each shadow filing in to exchange an extension of himself for another just as if it was the most natural thing. To Moocho it was horrible, endless convoluted incest . If he had been in the war he might have forgotten about the lot. He had believed too much in the lot...yet to look at him now gliding like a bird in an updraft toward the shakerfull of booze smiling out of his fat vortex ringed centre, you would think all was flat calm, gold, serene , until he opened his mouth...."

Jack Kerouac. An over view.

Desolation Peak by Jack Kerouac is not so much a book as a diary of his experiences as a fire watcher atop a mountain on the border of Canada.

 An alcoholic with psychiatric illness he hopes to find the meaning of life by studying Buhdism while isolated for a month, high up in the mountain range living in a rodent infested hut. He does some writing but is bored and longs for the 'warm arms' of a Mexican acquaintance. He resorts to smoking coffee beans when his tobacco runs out.

"...last night all the insects seized in honour of the moon. I paced a long time in the bright silver stillness with pink horizons in the west wishing there was a personal god who would bring tears into my eyes when I learn the truth, the infinitude of the mercy of the everlasting eternity such that there is no need for compassion ".

He becomes disenchanted with the teachings of Buhda.

"The primordial essence is dreaming this up like a mind but it is not really a mind, the holy spirit is the eternal continuation. The only reason that we can concieve of nothingness is 

that we have already conceived of somethingness."

Kerouac definitely is a skilled writer of the free flow consciousness style, but do not expect edification. He is raw and somewhat gross. He fails to find the narrow road of Jesus and dies an alcoholic 10 years later.

Rubber toe?

 This is Roberto Rubber Toe. I found him on instagram.

RBB gave the name to me also as a play on my pseudonym Roberto. I don't know if he remembered that I have had a numb big toe for a few years too. My doctor didn't know why. I've since self diagnosed it as Neuro Pathology. It's accompanied by occasional intense pain in my feet.  Evidently alcohol can cause it.

I've been treating it successfully with Cherry Juice (and no alcohol). About 40mg of cherry extract before going to bed, as it is most bothersome then.  

Cherry juice from the chemist is very expensive. $35 for a 750 ml bottle. I've since found I could buy it direct from the New Zealand manufacturer for about $25. But then I found a Turkish import at Pak n Save for about $5. I've yet to try the import. If the symptoms return I'll go back to the NZ product direct, post free from the manufacturer.

Have fun but do not sin. 

Rob looked at the comments

"suggest that you read a lot of James Joyce and Jack Kerouac.
You’ll soon change you mind."

Rob was always up for a challenge       he opened everand     typing Jack KEROUAC

he hit download

he listened to the introduction about Jack Kerouac      he heard things like   a return to the spontaneous sketchings of the past five years.  He vowed to return writing in the present tense  and other excerpts.   Other things too    confusion and poetry     buhda and philosophy.     Worries no call from place of healing.   Priestess on phone.    Call not . Why not. 

punctuate?

Rbb often gave rob a hard time about punctuation

Rob read carefully rbbs own blog

the the Eye see that My creater The nun nun Curmudgeon is making the the jokes about thE people in WhynewEtomato. the the This means that hE thinks that tha people up north are funnier. the the For Petes sake! Its almost enough too make me want to say tHe rosery. the the. Eye wonder if He feels the same about MoreError! hE the the plans to move to Ellington soon. Witch suburb will bee deemed funny enouf four the the him to live on. Hahataitai? hes two old too live in New town. maybe hell have to just keep moving a round! the the Thyme will tell.

Rob wondered why we do not write as we speak    no capitals or fullstops   just letters and spaces               like music

he smiled as he thought if the amusing skit in the comedy film aeroplane

airplane : vector victor

The chair.

He sat in his high backed green vinyl  chair.

The cushion had been his idea. A remnant of a wheel chair. It had hollows in the rubber casting that allowed greater circulation. A sign behind him read "Stop pressure injuries your skin matters". He had always felt comfortable in his own skin. It mattered.

The chair also had little wheels at the back. Maybe they were left over from when it had been a full blown wheel chair. Never used, it had lost this ability and now were adapted for not scratching hard floors. 

He rested his head on the raised back rest. A useful adaptation for long night stay overs. 

Tuesday

He slept in but there was no rush. The green digital clock was blurred to his eyes. He blinked away the sleep and looked again. "4:10". That'll do, he thought and walked out through the three doors to the kitchen. Coffee. 

There was a lot that needed doing this morning. Dishes, dinner, breakfast and washing if clothes were just some. As he walked into the laundry with clothing from the back of his wife's chair he saw the blood soaked flannel in the laundry tub. He would have to deal with that too!

The sun was just rising at 6.20 as he drove the short distance to the hospital. It was to be a sunny day. 

At the hospital he sat quietly beside her sleeping, head bent forward. He started to blog....

About noon the bed opposite became empty. The aging lady and friend were free after a two week stay. 

He reclined, feet up on the air bed. Last night when S had been moved from triage the nurse had arranged a special bed and mattress. It had an inflated mattress design to prevent bed sores; unlike the rubber type in the photo. But S had immediately complained of discomfort. It had partially deflated and S's bottom was in contact with the cold, hard steel frame. "I'll be alright " she had said stoically in the manner of the tougher fairer sex. But he was having nothing if it, he'd get to the bottom of it or find a replacement. Soon he realized that the bed had its own electric air pump. So what was wrong? He followed the electric cord to the wall socket. The plug had not been fully inserted. He did so. An electric motor started to run. The bed inflated. 

There was no shortage of food in the hospital. He decided if he ever became destitute and homeless he would spend his time visiting patients. "Would you like a cup of tea or a sandwich sir?". Not to mention the left overs from the patient. 

"...others shall be in everlasting horror and disgrace". Daniel 12,1-3

 

The readings last evening reflected the mood of the letter read instead of a sermon.

'...and then he will send out his angels and gather his elect from the four winds".

I suppose the first step in recompensing people who have suffered wrong is for the perpetrator to apologise. When this is not possible due to the length of time elapsed the organization for whom they worked can do so on their behalf.

"We were wrong and have made amends to remedy this so it will never happen again".

Last evening I listened to the entire letter by the Bishops on behalf of the Catholic church.

Of course this will not appease all. Those that are still angry can take some comfort in knowing that the God we worship is just. There will be eternal damnation for the unrepentant or long suffering for some in purgatory! The worst thing about hell will be the disgrace and humiliation of sins on earth. There will be no sympathy from others there.

Be Catholic anyway

"Bashing Catholics is the new, in-vogue blood sport. The world will ridicule you for being Catholic.

Be Catholic anyway.

Your friends will ask, "How can you stay in a Church like that? You should not be Catholic!"

Be Catholic anyway.

Your family (many of whom have left the faith) will tell you leave the Church and join them.

Be Catholic anyway.

The media will proclaim that priests are all pedophiles and that the Church is dying (both untrue).

Be Catholic anyway.

You see, the Church is not defined by the sins of Her members - clergy or laity. She is holy because of who She is the bride of Christ. In the end, many will walk away because they never understood the true teachings of the Church in the first place. They expect you to abandon the Church, which would be to abandon Christ. Don't do it.

Be Catholic anyway.'

Author unknown

why would God create Bob if He knew he was going to hell?

Jimmy Akin gives some interesting  explanations why God might create someone who might go to hell.

Jimmy argues that maybe God doesn't know what will happen to a yet uncreated soul (Bob).

Does God have the knowledge of what an uncreated soul might do or choose? God may know what will happen in the actual world. If God doesn't create Bob he knows that he might choose salvation, but does He know for sure. This is called Middle Knowledge. Are there limits to God's omnipotence. God couldn't make a nonsensical thing like a square circle. If Bob is never made, how will God know the outcome of a decision Bob makes with free will. God will only know what Bob would actually do if he creates Bob! God takes a chance. 

I like this possible solution. You?

Seven verses every Catholic should know.

I've been thinking about how to give Scriptural references to prove the validity of Catholism. TC says christians should all get along. There is a splash of truth to this but what if some christians interpret the Bible wrongly and leave to form their own group. There comes a point where Catholics say good luck but we are not following you down that rabbit warren.

I was pleased to stumble across a video by an ex protestant, Dr John Bergsma who is now Catholic, who turns their professency with quoting scripture back on them.

Here is the link to the entire video.

I have summarized it below.

1 Timothy 3:15

St Paul identifies the Church as" the pillar and bullwork of the truth".

No protestant would say this. A protestant would say instead that the bible is! A bullwork is a defense. If you want the truth go to a Church. There can only be one Church therefore. If there were many then how would we know which one tells the truth. To protestants, the Church is invisible and known only to God. This is Catholic ecliasology. Catholic teaching.

2. 2 Thessalonians 2:15 "Hold fast to your traditions ..Greek ( protestants replace it erroneously with  "teachings") that were taught to us by word of mouth or by letter".

The bible is not enough then. That is why Catholics include Tradition.

3 .2 Peter 1:20 ":no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation."

Protestants interpret the Bible themselves. Every interpretation is by individual protestants. Every protestant is his own arbiter of the truth, their own pope. Catholics have a chain of leadership starting with the apostles and proceeding down through their descendents. 

4. John 20:23 Jesus breathed in them and said receive the Holy Spirit, whoevers sin you forgive..."

Protestants twist this ( isogessis) and say it means teach. After the apostles preach the sins are forgiven. But this is adding to the original text. Catholics use exogessus and extract the truth. In the old testament people went to the priest for the forgiveness of sin. With an appropriate animal sacrifice. Likewise in the new testament it is a priestly function. 

5.   Rev 12, 1 and 2 and 5.

This woman is clothed with the sun and moon at her feet, she's in heaven...wearing a crown..  brings forth a child....Jesus. A heavenly queen who gives birth to Jesus! She struggles against a red dragon (Satan). So this describes Mary, the Blessed Mother. This is not symbolic. These are real individuals. Satan, Jesus and Mary.

6 2 kings ch 13...on relics.

Man touches bones of Elija and is healed. So the practice of relics in the Catholic church is justified.

7 John 6:53

"Unless you eat the flesh of the son of man you will have no life in you". This is not a metaphor nor the way the first readers interpreted it They took it at face value in AD 90s. John knew how his readers would interpret it.

"One bible verse destroys the Catholic Church"

Trent Horn's latest video

"The society of hell consists of lost souls and the devils. Both of these are countless in number. The society of the devil's is so detestable that it may be considered the worst penalty of the lost in hell. The place of torment would be less deserving of this name if there were no devils in it. On account of the the multitude of demons there, such grief, misery and terror prevails that it's heart breaking even to think of it. We humans have no worse enemy than the devil who hates are so much that he longs to hurl us down into the abyss of perdition ... All the envy and hatred that he has for God he vents upon the damned". Fr Martin Von Cochem.

"After death we will realize that God is the highest Good, and then such a desire will take upon our souls to gaze upon God that our souls will be irrestably drawn to God and will want to contemplate His beauty. The devil himself says that God's beauty is beyond description."

Why I fear for Greg's soul is because he appeals to Jesus but rejects the Church. The damned souls in hell look up at Jesus and ask his mercy. But the time for mercy has passed, it is now the turn of justice. Greg could  receive Christ's mercy through the sacraments and Mass; especially that of the sacrament of Penance but he has rejected  this grace and may die in his sins. 

I feel that protestants are often a greater threat than atheists are to Catholics. The former have enough knowledge of scripture to sway the weaker members of Christ's real church. How many Catholics are damned due to  false apostasies.

In the 1940s Mary appeared in  a dream. She showed the dreamer himself holding whole stone tablets. All around yelling and shouting were men holding pieces of tablets. The later were protestants each with only a piece of the truth.

The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.

 If you add today's date you get a significant number 9+11+24 =44.

This isn't Adam's joke answer of 42. But it is an angel number. Google says:

When you see this number, it's a message from your guardian angels and the divine realm to pay attention. It's a reminder to stay focused, continue your hard work, and build a strong foundation for your future endeavours

Today it is no accident that I happened to add up these numbers. My guardian angel is reminding me to stick with my convictions and to put Jesus/God first. Being Catholic this is much easier. I have all the graces and avenues that Jesus promised to help me along the road. There's Mary His mother, the Mass, the Eucharist, the sacrament of Penance... to name just a fraction. I feel sorry for poor Protestants who say "I don't want this, this and this" and finish up in an empty hall reading just some of the Bible! I find it ironic that they also insist on interpreting the Bible for themselves but finish up listening to how another has interpreted it. Hence you finish up with lots of groups like "The Assembly of God" founded in 1912 and based on just someone's reading of scripture. Then the authority becomes whatever pastor happens to be employed. I'd sooner have the Magisterium of Rome than some dude who felt he was called by the Holy Spirit. 

Then there is the amount of money such leaders expect. I know members of that group who give as much as I pay in tax. The Catholic church never asks for a penny. It's just never mentioned. We give what we can reasonably afford. 

All is quiet from the 47th Pdus (that's MI5 speak for D. Trump (another might still be "Mogul")). Europe is nervously biting its finger nails hoping that the States don't become isolationist again. Putin will be trying to cosy up to him. 

I hear Russia though, is using gas in the Frontline to drive the Ukrainians out of their trenches. The last time they did that in the Middle East the 47th Pdus used Cruise missiles to take out Syria's military assets, to Russia's surprise. Trump can lean in any direction, especially if his reputation as a tough guy looks threatened.

Time for breakfast... be good and don't sin.

Friday am

 A quiet week despite it being Guy Fawkes day on the 5th. Actually I didn't hear a single explosion on that day. Hopefully it is a sign that this ridiculous event is finally finished. 

I dropped my lawn mower in for a service yesterday. An aluminium bodied Briggs and Stratton. It always starts and runs well. Mainly I hit something and the blade needs readjusting or replacing.

I'm taking S to the hospital this morning for a routine check up.  I don't expect I'll need any counters to liberal arguments there. I'll just try to keep out of the way.

The air temperature is slowly creeping up. 20C today and 22C later next week. As we keep our air pump on 22C 24/7 this will mean some power savings for us. It will also mean flies. Though I have a terrarium ready packed with insect eating plants and the trusty electric fly zapper. 

It was mother's birthday yesterday. She'd be 102 now, presuming time still works the same in Heaven. RBB will no doubt say that she didn't want to go there if Mr Lynford was there. But that was really just her little joke. She is very witty. I still find myself saying things and words she invented.

Have fun but avoid sin.

Younger brother Rod at the refurbished Erskine Chapel.

Trent Horn on answering liberal questions.

Trent Horn gives some interesting definitions...here

1. What does the term socialism mean?

It is when the means of production are socially controlled. This means that the government is in control. It tries to make government the foundation of society instead of the family.

2. What is marriage?

That which unites men and women to one another and what (may) proceed from that union.

3. What is sex for?

Sex is for the expression of marital love.

It is two souls having one body.

4. What is a woman?

A member of the human species naturally ordered toward ovum production.

5. What is a person?

An individual member of a rational kind.

6. What is death with dignity?

There is no where to draw the line. Every human being has a right to life and should be protected.

7. Would Jesus do that?

Ask.."Do you agree Jesus is God?".

Of the top of my head...What do I think?

1. Agree.

2. Ok if you want exclude same sex marriages. Marriages can also be valid or invalid. 

3. He's trying to tie sex to marriage. I prefer for procreation.

4. I like ovum production.

5. I struggle with defining rational.

6. A bit vague. I go with whatever the magisterium says.

7. Yes , this one is so annoying.  Weak christians say it often. Just don't ok.

Around the world

 America votes to pollute the North Pole with oil exploration and pump more coal smoke into the atmosphere. They'll also continue to build a big wall to stop poor people getting into their country. Putin will be smiling knowing that another egotistical dictator, like himself, is in charge of the most powerful country in the world. 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy won't be in a good mood this morning. He was counting on 50 billion from the USA. "Damn it, I'm going to use those Storm Shadows, Russia's nuclear arsenal is rusted and rundown anyway" he'll tell his wife. 

Xi Jinping will be thinking about clawing back Manchuria from the Russians and invading Taiwan while the world is distracted looking at America. "Who knows" he muses "might even reopen the Silk Road" and smiles as he sips his tea.

Kim Jong Un will be opening a can of stewed dog for breakfast and counting his earnings from his mercenary army. Maybe Iran needs my help he thinks. He downs another spoonful of dog; the spirit of the beast surges through his body and he feels uplifted.

TC will be sitting on the floor in the dining room wishing he hadn't taken the table to the tip. He offered it to the bull dozer driver but he had declined. "Already got a mahogany, Edwardian claw foot table with reapholstered chairs mate". TC had watched sadly as his white designer near new dining table had gone under the tracks of the huge machine, smashed to pieces.

RBB is standing looking at the grass, already with six inches of growth. If God really loved us he wouldn't make grass grow so fast in the spring he mused. He decides to take his lawn mower to the repair shop however. A pavng stone had bent a blade back 90 degrees on Tuesday. 

The war against babies ...

Trent Horn has produced a new video. But all is not good in the American womb. Pro choicers are gaining. Both presidential candidates seem to have it in for babies too. 

England has passed a law banning silent prayer outside abortion clinics.

It's a very sad world that has no time for the most defenceless. More babies die in abortions than any war; there are even more abortions a day than Russians dying on the Ukraine front! 200,000 world wide , and 1500 to 2000 in the USA alone per day! A scenario for a movie could be the war against babies. Millions of little children are killed, and the final scene is the last man standing alone in an empty world saying "We, no I won".

I don't see a great dichotomy between sexes either. There are a few minor physiological differences, but not enough to speak as if  there are two species, as many women centric persons do. I often hear women, as in Trent's video, say that "no man should tell a woman what to do with her body".  Yet is it right that women are saying this of other women!  What right have you ( a woman) then to tell another woman what to do with her body. It just sounds bizzare to me..what do you think?

Oh and for those who use the risk to the mother as justification here's an interesting statistic

"The PMMRC¹⁷ reports that there were 66 direct maternal and 44 indirect maternal deaths over 2006–2017 inclusive. The single largest cause of maternal death in New Zealand is suicide, with 30 deaths during this time (45 percent)."

On Church development

It's interesting to consider how the Church developed a lot of the key teachings many of which are compulsory for Catholics. Immaculate conception of Mary, the real presence in the Eucharist....

The Catholic church procedes...

"God –> Christ –> Peter+Apostles –> Pope+Bishop 

Others procede...

God –> Christ –> Apostles –> every Christian writer from late antiquity through to the middle ages.

Therefore, the continuity-of-doctrine is not to be looked for, first and foremost, in the scattered commentaries of individual Christians. Rather, the continuity-of-doctrine should be found in the teaching exercises of the Teaching Office of the Pope+Bishops. The “Magisterium” just means “Teaching Office”" ...Ybarra

All Protestants churches are in schism with the Catholics. Somewhere along the line they have disagreed with a core teaching. Often this results from a picking and choosing of the sayings of the fathers. The fathers were often trying to work through difficult concepts (Trinity) and made claims for and against these in their lives. It's relatively easy to find comments that seem at variance with their final decision. 

Most importantly not everything will be found written. This is why non Catholics who use an archaeological approach, looking back, and trying to put together the pieces that have survived will often miss the target. The Catholic church is more like an old aunty that remembers the family history.   Once she is gone there is no more a witness but what she has said is remembered by her nephews. Looking back at the first few centuries we see practises but no longer have the written explanations. We have to assume these explanations exist.

The Old Testament was probably put together in a similar way. Parts were probably handed down by word of mouth for centuries until someone wrote them down. 

Sunday Gospel

 Some bigoted anti-Catholics get tied up worrying about who is going to heaven or hell. I suppose it is a Catholic belief that some will be saved and others will not.  Some Protestants believe in a thing called predestination. I've never been able to get my head around it. I can understand that God knows who will be saved, but I doubt if He has planned it that way. I feel that anyone can be saved and that God is rooting for all mankind to choose to be with Him. 

Another problem I perceive with bigoted anti-catholics is a renouncement of reality. It's as if they can make up their own religion. Nobody invented Christianity. It is the truth as revealed by the Creator. You can moan and bitch about it as much as you like, but it will not change a thing. 

Finally, as today's Gospel shows, Christianity draws us to love. Love God and love mankind. Some BAC* will say that sending people to hell isn't love. The Catholic belief is that such people make a choice. This is not just after we die, but every moment of our lives. The call to be saints means encapsulating everything Jesus has taught and applying it in everyday circumstances. 

From the Gospel according to Mark
Mk 12:28b-34

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
"Which is the first of all the commandments?"
Jesus replied, "The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
'He is One and there is no other than he.'
And 'to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself'
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
"You are not far from the kingdom of God."
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Have fun but don't sin.

* bigoted anti-Catholics 

All Souls pm

Mass was well attended this morning. As we waited in the confessional que M and I politely waved the other in first. Finally I went promising to be quick. He smiled.

After catching up on a few groceries I got out my gumboots and mowed the lawns. There is a nice display of Rotodandrims at the front, all blooming with an orange Azellia (foreground).

Dinner was NZ caught crumbed Snapper  with baby lettuce leaves and tomato marinated with one thousand island  and coleslaw sauces. With a generous helping of freshly squeezed lemon. (No smells of leather,  soil or minerals here).

Have fun and do not sin.

Happy all souls day

 All souls day follows hard on the heels of all saints day. Catholic Answers explains it ...

All Souls Day, celebrated on November 2, is a day set aside in the Roman Catholic Church to pray for the souls in purgatory. (Eastern Catholics celebrate five All Souls Saturdays, which occur before and during Lent, and on the Saturday before Pentecost.) The Church teaches that purgatory is a temporary state of purification for those who have died in God’s grace but still carry the effects of venial sins (forgiven and unforgiven) and forgiven mortal sins. The faithful on earth are called to offer prayers, sacrifices, and Masses to help these souls attain the beatific vision—eternal life with God in heaven. This day emphasizes the doctrine that many of the souls of the faithful departed need our prayers as they complete their purification.

All souls day is a good day to visit a relatives grave and say prayers for them and lay a flower by it. Though probably the most efficacious practise is to attend the Holy Mass and offer it up for them. 

walking in the foot steps of a saint

What better thing is there to do on All Saints day than to visit where a saint might have walked.

All saints day

Here are some prayer ideas for your All Saints Day party:

• Incorporate Mass. In the United States, All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation. ...
• Pray the litany of the saints. ...
• Pray a rosary for the poor souls. ...
• Make a candlelight procession of the saints. ...
• Visit the church graveyard. ...
• Pray for the dead.