From our 'Bureaucracy is a Tool of the Devil" file

Cardinal Pell's reforms at the Vatican, and how the first round of resistance against him failed. (I hope he wears a Kevlar vest.)

But calumny, alas, is what happens when people who have long thought of the Church as their private property, and perhaps even their private piggy-bank, run into a determined and incorruptible reformer who understands that financial probity is essential to our being the “Church in permanent mission” to which Pope Francis has called us.

H/t Peter R on Facebook
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I am not crazy

Family Circus archives

I am not crazy. I am not talking to myself. I am a homeschooling mom, and I'm having a parent-teacher interview.

A blast from the past: here's one of the first articles I ever published about homeschooling. It first appeared in Nazareth: A Catholic Family Journal, oh, I'm going to guess 1998. I've had the odd request for this one, and since the now defunct NJ magazine is not archived online, here it is.

I agree with Simcha: Ditch the Prom

Classic Simcha. This is a great article, and you should pop over and read it for yourself, especially if you have kids in high school. (h/t Daria on FB)

The prom has long since ceased to be formal and dignified. It's a circus at best or (no apologies) a Slutstravaganza at worst. It's hard to believe that in some parts of the world, girls want to go to prom mostly naked and (so to speak) drop acid, and in other parts of the world, girls have to wear body bags in public, and sometimes get acid thrown in their faces, just for wanting to go to school.

Never give up on a dream

Follow your Dreams

Believe in Your Dreams

Don't Stop Believing...in Your Dreams

Dream for Tomorrow...Today

Today is the Tomorrow you Worried About Yesterday

Trust in Tomorrow 

Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life

...as a Quadriplegic if You're Foolish Enough to Drink and Drive

Word: homeschooling. My first three high school "seniors" (graduates) never wanted so much as a dinner or even a small family party to mark the occasion (which is a bit sad, but there you have it). #4 is having a grad party: along with the families of 3 other cousins, we rented a church hall and are having a by-invitation potluck dinner and an old-fashioned dance, with real music and real dancing. But you don't need to homeschool: any student and his family could do the same. And yes, I do realize that some schools are good, and have nice proms and graduation ceremonies on a relatively modest scale. 

I'm just not much for that sort of thing. When I graduated from high school, I was part of a rebel movement to have our theme be: "Another Brick in the Wall" (yes, we wanted the Pink Floyd ditty as our grad theme song). We had votes on our side, but the Principal vetoed it. He could not, however, stop me from wearing a Halloween costume to my graduation, which I did. (Relax, it was a gown, but I'd borrowed it from my sister, who had worn it as a Halloween costume, which I also did six months before I wore it to grad. It was a peach-coloured lacy pioneer-lady type gown. The material point is that I paid nothing for it, and was not the least bit freaked or ashamed that I had not kept it under wraps --like a wedding gown!-- as some folk apparently think is necessary.)

I guess I also have a thing about long, boring speeches. At my husband's convocation from Engineering, I slipped out as soon as I saw him receive his degree, and went shopping at a nearby mall. At my own convocation, as soon as I received my degree, I slipped out and went to play in a badminton tournament with Mrs. Beazly. Good times.
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Well, there's a surprise!

Not quite all of them, but you apprehend my meaning...

I'm treating this as good news, because it sounds as though it's starting to unravel from within, and why wouldn't it? A house divided against itself cannot stand. Best part: it's mainly the fault of the novel's "writer" because she's so difficult to work with. I can only imagine what a nightmare that poor screenwriter had, trying to make a script from the literary equivalent of a 500-page scam/porn email from "Bambi" in Nigeria. 

But don't take my word for it, because I haven't (and cannot and will not) read the book. But others have fallen on the sword, for the good of humanity and the written word.

Best review ever.

He had me at: "If Jane Austen (another bestselling female British author) came back to life and read this book, she would kill herself."

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Phoning it in for the Annunciation

Due once more to busy-ness and lack of time (Confession service tonight at church, early supper, so forth)... shamelessly cutting and pasting this prayer from my favourite Liturgy of the Hours site, Divine Office.org.

Now, let us say it together:
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
In you we contemplate
The splendour of true love,
We turn to you with confidence.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
Make our families, also,
Places of communion and cenacles of prayer,
Authentic schools of the Gospel,
And little domestic Churches.

Holy Family of Nazareth
May our families never more experience
Violence, isolation, and division:
May anyone who was wounded or scandalized
Rapidly experience consolation and healing.

Holy Family of Nazareth,
May the upcoming Synod of Bishops
Re-awaken in all an awareness
Of the sacred character and inviolability of the family,
Its beauty in the project of God.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Hear and answer our prayer. Amen.
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Happy birthday, Mom

Fun fact (well, terribly tragic, in Marilyn's case): What do my mom and Marilyn Monroe have in common? (Besides both being beautiful and knowing how to rock a 50s frock)

Answer: they were both pregnant 13 times. Marilyn (reportedly) had 12 abortions and 1 miscarriage. Mom had 13 babies...and 50-something grandchildren (some of whom are already in heaven)...and more great-grandchildren than I have time to count (though I'm sure to get around to it when I'm feeing less lazy).
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Home stretch of Lent: Peace be with you

In an effort to share some inspiration (hopefully), but without too much effort on my part (cuz I have school to catch up on, and so forth), I offer you my column on "peace", which was published in The Record, in May, 2012. As is entirely their prerogative, they declined to post it in the online archive of my columns. And so I offer it here, slightly edited.

"He studied corn oil..."

In other words, Woman, put on your reading glasses, or magnify the typeface! From the saint of the day, Liturgy of the Hours.

"Today we honor St. Turibio of Mogrovejo, a Spanish bishop born in 1538. The son of noble parents, he studied canon and civil law..."

With apologies for not blogging these last few days. We were on a little family holiday, and what with relaxing, having fun, working on a writing project, watching movies, going for walks, sitting in the condo and drinking tea and gazing out at the snow and majestic pines, I didn't get much blogging done. Will rectify.

Wishing you a blessed and fruitful home stretch of Lent.

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Another reason to love Kenneth Branagh: UPDATE

As if you needed one.

Fr. Barron on the new Cinderella:

the director manages to tells the familiar fairy tale without irony, hyper-feminist sub-plots, Marxist insinuations, deconstructionist cynicism, or arch condescension.

And thus the Christian allegory shines through. I chuckled at the 'SPOILER ALERT'! near the beginning of Fr. Barron's article. Um, we all pretty much know how Cinderella ends.

UPDATE: Mr. Branagh allows the criticism to roll off his back:

In an era of revisionist fairytales such as Frozen and Maleficent, it might be a surprise to find that Branagh’s take on the story of Cinders and her glass slipper is determinedly traditionalist. “I don’t find myself so exercised by a desperation to be new,” he says...

Good on ya, buddy! If anything is getting excruciatingly stale, it's feminist/revisionist fairy tales. (PS. Little girls don't like "Frozen" because the girls are 'powerful' but because they're pretty and sing catchy songs and they have long hair and nice dresses and they're pretty.)
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Due to lack of time

A St. Paddy's Day greeting and prayer, shamelessly stolen from Aunty Jerann's feed on Facebook.
Top o the mornin to ye!

Can't they BOTH lose?

The Clintons vs the Obamas. Could also be filed under "The Left eats its own." I don't know whom to cheer for, but I wish they could both lose. And "top aide" Valerie Jarrett? BWAHAHAHAHA. That's like saying Jim Henson was Kermit the Frog's top aide.

What's so Laetare about it?

Pope-Emeritus Benedict

wearing the traditional rose-coloured vestments

 for Laetare Sunday 

(not a recent photo, of course)

Today, the 4th Sunday of Lent is traditionally known as Laetare Sunday, or "Rejoicing Sunday" (and also by some other names). There is a nice explanation at Fathers for Good, an initiative of the Knights of Columbus.

Our parish priest who is (rejoice!) finally well enough to say Mass gave a very beautiful homily today. The central message of Christianity, he said (and I paraphrase, because I did not --regrettably-- have a recording device handy. The homily was that good) is that we are "forever loved by God." 

Wow, just let that sink in for a minute. We are FOREVER loved by God. That means always and everywhere. We always have been loved, even before we were conceived, all through every moment of our lives; all through our sins and failings--past, present and future. We are loved now, today, at this moment; we will always be loved. How much? This is how much (from the Gospel reading for today):

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 

Yeah, I don't have to give you that citation; you know it (John 3:16), the one bible verse that everyone on the planet knows. We know it so well, we almost treat it as a cliche. But don't. It's pretty mind-blowing that God would give up his only Son for us. It's amazing enough that God would love us (as He does) despite all our sins and failings, but even more amazing that he cares enough to want to TAKE ALL THAT NEGATIVE CRAP AWAY FROM OUR LIVES.

That's what struck we about Father's homily today. He repeated that phrase a couple of times: "He takes it away..." He takes away all our pain, sin, suffering. He takes it away. Ponder on that the next time you say the Lamb of God at Mass. He takes it away. By his suffering, death and resurrection, Jesus gives us the gift of eternal life. All we have to do is believe in him and follow him.

And that's worth rejoicing over. Have a blessed remainder of the Lenten season, as we enter the final weeks before Easter.
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Does this mean I'm crunchy?

Last Wednesday, after many months of kids' begging for it, I made granola. (Frankly, it didn't seem fair to make it until Miss P#5 had her braces removed; I'm sure the seeds would not be fun to clean out of braces.)

Before baking

I've been making infinite variations of this recipe for as long as I've been a mom. It comes from the La Leche League Whole Foods for the Whole Family cookbook (first edition). And yes, my copy is held together by pink duct tape. 

This recipe is limited only by your imagination:

No wonder my prayer life seems to yield so little at times

I'm sometimes rather selective about how I pray. And St. Peter Chrysologus rather lays it out: you can't pick and choose; you have to go for the full meal deal.

(from the Office of Readings for yesterday, March 10.)


From a sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop
Prayer knocks, fasting obtains, mercy receives

This is not new: it was once called "the extended family"

But it's still great to see, and in the Netherlands, of all places (where you'd kind of expect mandatory euthanasia instead).

Dutch students choose to live in nursing homes rent-free (as long as they keep the residents company)

So-called “intergenerational” projects are also springing up elsewhere in Europe...

which is great to hear. Maybe one day, Europe will even rediscover the "family." Sounds like a model well worth copying.

h/t End of your arm
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I don't have an inner goddess; I have an inner geek

And he's an adolescent boy. The cast of Napoleon Dynamite, then and now. (Pedro looks like Johnny Depp, as if you actually needed any more incentive to click the link.) The Fun Facts are, well...fun.

The next time you have a bad day

Or if you ever feel dissatisfied with your figure, face, hair, arthritic hands, or even (as I did the other day) whine that you don't like having to wear reading glasses... pray for the courage that this woman has.

Nash jokes about sometimes feeling like a science project.

But the 61-year-old daughter of an Air Force veteran said she gets real satisfaction out of letting the doctors use her for research, and sees it as an opportunity to help wounded soldiers and 'do something good out of all of this bad.'

God bless her, and the amazing medical team who continues to help her. 

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I honestly don't know where to file this

Under which DOH category does this story belong? 

Killer Headlines?
Beyond Satire?
Too Sad?
Dear Lord Jesus Come and End the World Because We're Mostly Nuts?

We don't (yet) have that last category, but I do actually pray it as a prayer sometimes when I am overcome by the evil and foolishness in the world, and this story has both. Ye gods, talk about First World problems.

US woman convicted of buttock-injection death (BBC News, hence "tyres")

These types of convictions are rare - the number of fatalities from backstreet buttocks injections is still low. But more people are opting for cheap, yet unregulated procedures in their quest for a bigger behind.

It can lead to horrific consequences. Some victims have been left maimed and disfigured after they put their trust in fake doctors who injected them with all kinds of substances including Krazy Glue, tyre sealant and silicone.

[...]
Many people are too embarrassed to come forward when things go wrong - there's still a huge stigma when it comes to admitting you've had enhancement on your behind.

If you want a swollen behind, there are probably a lot of people out there who would give you a good kick in the pants for free.
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The problem with not blogging for months

Is that there is so much to catch up on. So much has happened in the last year or so, I could probably fill a book (and I haven't ruled out the possibility of writing one, but we shall see).

In the vintage kitchen department, I've been moderately successful at finding some sweet deals. I'm glad that "thrifting" is now in vogue, because it makes me unashamed of trolling (trawling? strolling?) through second-hand stores looking for neat stuff. (Shopping for used stuff was absolutely verboten in the 70s and 80s, but then, what did we know? We wore our hair like this, for pity's sake).

  

But I digress.

When in Saskatoon, I often nip into Value Village. Last spring, both Mr. P and I were there (our van was getting an oil change at the Honda dealership next door, and we literally had nowhere else to go within walking distance). I found this sweet little sugar bowl that more or less matches a creamer I'd bought a very long time ago. What luck!

Then came Mr. P's voice from the next aisle: "Hey, isn't this like yours?" And when I turned round, I saw a real, live, vintage, actual RÖMERTOPF^® CLAY BAKER.

I already had a clay baker at home, but (lovely though it was) it wasn't a Romertopf, and it wasn't actually mine (it was borrowed from one of my sisters).  I said to him, "You realize I can't leave this here." And not just because these things run into the hundred$ (you can occasionally get them on sale, but they are rarely below $50 a pop), and the one at Value Village was priced at a ridiculous $7.99.

It was in nearly pristine condition (which meant it had been rarely, if ever, used) and it was old (predated the fall of the Berlin Wall). Major score. More on clay bakers later.

Today's Gospel

John 2:13-25: where Jesus unexpectedly shows up at the  annual diocesan $300 a plate fundraising banquet temple. We were reminded this week to take part in Share Lent (though now--quelle surprise!-- Development and Peace has expanded it to Share Year Round. They despise rich captialists, but are always happy to take their money). A letter was read that quoted a Brazilian bishop who used "root causes" and "solidarity" in the same paragraph. He lost me at "root causes."

The bishop from Brazil lauded his local Pastoral Land Commission, which is “acting against hunger, violence and the concentration of ownership of land, all of which oppose God’s plans for a more just and compassionate world.”

I'm curious to know how that 'concentration of ownership of land' comment went over with the ladies and gentlemen in the pews who would be considered "big farmers." I'll bet they had no idea that they were opposing God's plans for a more just and compassionate world. Oh well, they can make it all better by giving generously to D&P. (I'm glad the Church stopped selling Indulgences.) 

I am all for peace, justice and development, but the path to that is not via socialism and/or bureaucracy. 

Besides, when it comes to D&P, I'm still not quite over this. I prefer to donate to Catholic charities that have not, do not, and will not, ignore church teaching.
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Lenten retreats: plus ça change

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Wacky retreats and workshops are still going on in church circles, and probably always will.

(h/t for the link: Peter Rosengren on Facebook).

“He would tell parishioners to close their eyes, relax their muscles and imagine a blue light going through their whole body and even into their organs. I sat in my pew and thought it was very odd,” said Paul Annee, an 18-year-old Catholic high-school student

 Like, this blue light? Well, okay then.

It reminds me of the column below, which I published over a decade ago in Alberta Report. It prompted Ms Shaidle (on her now defunct Relapsed Catholic blog) to call me "a brunette, Saskatoonian [sic] Ann Coulter." Heh.

The piece is archived online, but if you read it here, you don't have to pay, or even register. You're welcome.

Are you sure that's spelled correctly?

Maybe it should be spelled "Goebbels" 

Ontario doctors lose their conscience rights. 

“No rights are absolute,” said Gabel. “We may at times have to reconcile competing rights… It is to me a very Canadian place where we have come down.”

Canadian, eh? In my view, it reeks a little more of Germany, circa 1939. 

Yes, by gum, you can buy them on Amazon. 

Must have been produced at the request of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons. 

Maybe in time, they'll muster the effrontery to replace the maple leaf with the symbol they really want.

Oh, to have the faith of Abraham

So here we are, nearing the end of another week of Lent. Let us hearken back to the First Reading from last Sunday, the Second Sunday of Lent:

  1After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." 2He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Mori'ah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." 

(taken from EWTN daily Mass Readings)

And of course we all know the end of the story: Abraham obeyed and was rewarded for his obedience. It seems like such a simple and logical lesson: God is good. God can be trusted. We should not find it difficult to obey a good and trustworthy God. And yet...

We could certainly envision/rewrite many scenes from Scripture to mirror our own lives:

After these things God tested Mrs. Pinkerton, and said to her, "Mrs. Pinkerton!" And she said, "Sheesh Lord, can't you see I'm busy... what do you want now?" He said, "Take your ______,  your only ______, which you love, and go to the land of Wherever, and offer him/her/it/them there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. And Mrs. Pinkerton replied: Do I have to?" 

How would I fill in the blanks? What do I love? Too many things, as it turns out: 

food

booze
period dramas

shopping

clothes (SHOES)

new kitchen stuff

cocktails
my DVD collection

fan mail

FreeCell (substitute your own pointless time-wasting online/phone/app game here)

wine

cool furniture

coffee
watching TV

flowers

vintage kitchen stuff

sleeping in

food

alcohol

books

antique furniture

carnal pleasure

music

the esteem of others

pretensions to a writing career

people (to be sure)

but not all people

food

rum & vodka coolers

wasting time online (Facebook, reading blogs, etc)

my Breville kitchen mixer
money

a certain type of body image

liquor

food

As the homilist said at last Sunday's Mass, the point is not to live in fear that God will ask us to do something intrinsically evil (such as killing our children), but simply to ask ourselves how quick we are to be obedient to the many ordinary sacrifices, large and small, that God may ask of us. Lent is such a great time to take stock and rearrange one's priorities. May the Lord bless your day, give you strength, and reward your sacrifices. 

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I like it when I accidentally say the same thing as a smart person

In fact, I feel downright affirmed. 

I eat donuts and do not feel guilty.

I eat quinoa salad and do not feel righteous. 
I generally dislike the saying, but in this case, it applies: "It's all good"

Mr. Warren weighs in (pardon the usage) on the evils of the diet and food-research/health industries:

What [researchers] have done is far more evil than this, however: for they have been exploiting the human propensity to guilt, which serves an irreplaceable purpose in the moral order. Compunction about sin and wrongdoing is distracted to meaningless dietary issues. The success of the nannying public health authorities has helped the principalities and powers to accomplish a complete moral inversion — in which abstinence and fasting to a spiritual end is now dismissed as silly, yet dieting for health is done with insufferably morbid gravity. We have, as a consequence, a society of obsessive dieters, deluded fitness fanatics, and low-calorie muffin eaters, who are utterly shameless in committing crimes contra naturam: that Culture of Death which Saint John-Paul identified with such harrowing accuracy.

Mr. Warren describes most "health" related research as "bullsh**", and I am inclined to agree. In the last few years, I've had two health scares, neither of which (thankfully) turned out to be anything serious, but in both cases, I was advised to alter my diet. What made life more difficult was not adjusting to eating (or avoiding) certain stuff, but rather constantly reading conflicting and contradictory information about various foods.

 It would seem that grocery science isn't any more settled than climate science. I more or less gave up worrying about food, and wrote about it for The Record. Mind you, I am not judging people on special diets; eat what you choose, but for pity's sake, don't make it a religion.
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A lovely evening prayer

O Christ, who art the Light and Day,
Thou drivest darksome night away!
We know Thee as the Light of light
Illuminating mortal sight.


All holy Lord, we pray to Thee,
Keep us tonight from danger free;
Grant us, dear Lord, in Thee to rest,
So be our sleep in quiet blest.


Let not the tempter round us creep
With thoughts of evil while we sleep,
Nor with his wiles the flesh allure
And make us in Thy sight impure.


And while the eyes soft slumber take,
Still be the heart to Thee awake,
Be Thy right hand upheld above
Thy servants resting in Thy love.


Yea, our Defender, be Thou nigh,
To bid the powers of darkness fly;
Keep us from sin, and guide for good
Thy servants purchased by Thy blood.


Remember us, dear Lord, we pray,
While in this mortal flesh we stay:
’Tis Thou Who dost the soul defend—
Be present with us to the end.


Blest Thee in One and One in Three,
Almighty God, we pray to Thee,
That Thou wouldst now vouchsafe to bless
Our fast with fruits of righteousness.

found at DivineOffice.org, Office of Readings for today.
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Get fit this Lent on the 20-40-60 plan

Just do it.

OK, first of all, I must admit that this post is not really about fitness--or at least, solely about fitness. Besides, there are many definitions of "fitness" and we should aspire to most of them, not just the one concerning our waistlines. But the sad fact is, more people will click on the link if they think the post is about dieting and losing weight. Admit it, you might not have come here if my title had been: "Get holy this Lent on the 20-40-60 plan!" and the accompanying photo had been this:

It's like drinking cookies

But I guess you'd have to like spicy cookies. On second thought, it's still too much of a treat for Lent.

My thought for the day is that if Lenten fasting is turning your mind incessantly towards food, rather than towards God, you still have a lot of spiritual work to do. Mea Culpa.
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OK, so March has come in like a lion

We woke this morning to -24C with a -35C wind chill. I'm waiting patiently for the temperature to start turning more lambish. In the meantime, the warmists claim that the "pause" may last for 20 more years. And THEN we'll finally get some global warming. Twenty years is a long time to continue fleecing taxpayers and coercing us to buy curly light bulbs. On a related note, the Prophet Steyn (PBUH), continues to be eerily prescient. And he probably thought he was making a far-fetched joke when he compared climate "scientists" to sex offenders.

Update: Talk about eerie. Mrs. Beazly and I, with NO collusion, and living thousands of km apart, actually each posted about Mark Steyn and climate change within minutes of each other. Brain-sharing, what?
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Weather or not, YOU AGREE.

That seems to be the slogan in some circles of climate science (and government) these days: it doesn't matter what the weather's actually doing because  WE ALL AGREE THAT THE SCIENCE IS SETTLED, and anyone who engages in unwarmthink will be made to regret it.
Mark Steyn on the latest climate craziness.
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A Cultural Intro-Spock-tive

 I never got into the later "Star Trek" series past the first couple of seasons of "Next Generation". I don't think I've even seen the older movies. I do believe I've seen almost every episode of the original TV show, thanks to reruns and DVDs from my library. Mr. B. and I remain fans of a certain genre of Sci-Fi to this day, and still refer to our orange and black afghan as "The Horta".  Steven Greydanus puts his finger on what Spock and "Star Trek" meant.
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Easy and tasty Greek ribs recipe

But, as is my wont, I altered it for various reasons. I had never made Greek ribs before, but decided to give these a try. I made them last Sunday, which I should hardly be admitting. Even though every Sunday is a "little Easter", I still think this kind of fare is too fancy for the Lenten season. However, I justified it because I forgot to take anything out of the freezer Saturday night, and ribs were the only thing that would thaw in time for me to cook Sunday supper.  (Mr. P. is a dyed-in-the-wool carnivore, if you'll forgive my clashing metaphor, and, like Mrs. Mawmsey and her strengthening medicine, he must have his meat.) Someday I'd like to try giving up meat for the entirety of Lent, but I doubt I could convince anyone else in my family to try that.

And no, I did not take a photo. I suppose I should have, but that would not necessarily convince anyone that this tastes good. The recipe comes from Food.com, and it was contributed by someone named "Karen," though it is not any Karen that I know. I used about 5 pounds of ribs, and doubled the sauce/marinade recipe, because I used a rather large roasting pan. My additional notes will appear in red. 

Greek Ribs

I am soooo getting one of these

Or else my legions of fans can chip together and buy* one. Let's see, there should be at least nine of you out there, at a couple of bucks a pop... But oh, what colour???!!!! (1-Hot pink 2-Turquoise blue 3-Red 4-Purple 5-Bright Green 6-Black) I want them all. I note that bright orange is available only in the men's style. I should order one of those just in case... ("She could never be a saint, but she thought she could be a martyr if they killed her quick." I never thought I'd live to see the day when those words might actually come true, but we live in frightening times.)

Mrs. Beazly, what colour do you want? (Your belated birthday present is still not in the mail.)

And oh my, it also comes in a coffee mug. I wonder if these items are customizable, insofar as you can have a favourite Flannery quotation printed on the back. That would be the icing on the cake.

A big hat tip to Mrs. Sockey for alerting me to this item on Facebook.

(*just kidding)
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There's hardly any point in having a blog

If you don't promote your work. I published this piece twice before, in slightly different incarnations: about a hundred years ago in the Catholic Family Ministries newsletter, and also in the Australian Catholic newspaper, The Record (back in April of 2012, when it was still a real pulp and print newspaper. It is entirely online now). 

Today's Gospel reading was about the Transfiguration, which reminded me of this column. If you choose to read it (thank you), I hope it blesses you in some way. 

Overcoming the Post-Transfiguration Blues

Like that guy St. Paul said

In today's Second Reading (Romans 8:31-39)

[31] What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who is against us? [32] He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how hath he not also, with him, given us all things? [33] Who shall accuse against the elect of God? God that justifieth. [34] Who is he that shall condemn? Christ Jesus that died, yea that is risen also again; who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. [35] Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or the sword?[36]  (As it is written: For thy sake we are put to death all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) [37] But in all these things we overcome, because of him that hath loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, [39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 1. Milad Makeen Zaky 2. Abanub Ayad Atiya 3. Maged Solaiman Shehata 4. Yusuf Shukry Yunan 5. Kirollos Shokry Fawzy 6. Bishoy Astafanus Kamel 7. Somaily Astafanus Kamel 8. Malak Ibrahim Sinweet 9. Tawadros Yusuf Tawadros 10. Girgis Milad Sinweet 11. Mina Fayez Aziz 12. Hany Abdelmesih Salib 13. Bishoy Adel Khalaf 14. Samuel Alham Wilson 15. Worker from Awr village 16. Ezat Bishri Naseef 17. Loqa Nagaty 18. Gaber Munir Adly 19. Esam Badir Samir 20. Malak Farag Abram 21. Sameh Salah Faruq Pray for us .