Weep Before Your Father in Heaven

This is from A Song For Nagasaki by Paul Glynn, S.M. Takashi Nagaii is writing to his two young children:

"My death will leave you orphans, vulnerable and alone in the world. You will weep. Yes, you might even weep your hearts out, and that will be good--provided you weep before your father in heaven. We have it on the authority of his Son, and I have experienced the truth of it personally: 'Happy are those who weep, for they shall be comforted.' Spill your tears before him, and he will always dry them."

Dr. Nagaii was a pioneer in Japan in the use of X-rays, a convert to Catholicism, a survivor the the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, and revered in Japan as Gandhi is in India. The story is fascinating.

Wisdom from Padre Pio

I saw this on Pinterest:

You don't have to be worthy, you only have to be willing.

This quote came in an email from Loome Theological Booksellers. It is from Romano Guardini, who more often than not challenges me. The book is titled "The Last Things".

“The central position of man in Christianity confers on the Sacraments, especially on the Eucharist, a meaning wholly new. What did Christ mean when He said, ‘He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the last day’? (John 6:55). Why did He not say, He that attaches his spirit to My spirit, who undertakes to do My will? Because what matters is not ‘spirit,’ but the living, human-divine reality of Christ, which has its point of decision precisely in that which any spiritualizing tendency first relinquishes – namely, the body, or, in the precise language of St. John, ‘the flesh.’ Because in man it is the living whole that matters, not the soul. The point of decision is the physical act of ‘eating’ and ‘drinking,’ in contrast to any attempts at vaporizing this solid reality. The fruit of this sacred ‘eating’ and ‘drinking’ is the resurrection on the last day. Truly a ‘hard’ saying, for it involves the end and purpose of the Christian life. The doctrine of the Eucharist is guaranteed by the doctrine of the resurrection”.

I think I'll have to chew on this for a while.

Wisdom from Roman Catholic Spiritual Direction: Is there anything wrong with remaining childless?

This is worth reading> Here's a snippet:

Women won’t be liberated by “freedom” from children, for two reasons: children aren’t the problem, and self-centeredness isn’t freeing. The only liberator is Jesus Christ, who frees us from our prisons of selfishness through the love that He is. When our horizons are contracted to the limits of pleasure-seeking and comfort, He opens us up to the wide expanse of the Father’s plan of loving goodness.

and

Here’s the irony. The world thinks it’s cornered the market on sexual pleasure. But as Aquinas and Augustine both make a point of saying, sexual pleasure would have been far more intense before the Fall than it is now. Why? Because the sexiest thing of all is losing yourself in the intimate interiority of reality. And to get inside reality, we have to use our intellects: pay attention, ask questions, be ready to wonder. Intellect gives rise to the most intense delight.

and, finally,

For that, in the end, is what all that sexual desire in us is for. Why is it so strong? Because the Father just loves babies, billions and billions and billions of them. It’s that yearning for more persons, for more knowing and loving, for more wonder in the world that is the truth of the human sex drive. What an awesome Father we have!

Sayings from Billy Graham

In honor of Dr. Graham's birthday, The Anchoress has a nice little column that includes a few nice aphorisms, Here's a sample:

“Christ not only died for all: He died for each.”

and

Right now, Calah Alexander is giving a feisty, well-written smackdown to the phrase “God never gives you more than you can handle” but Graham says it differently: “The will of God will not take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us.”

and

he was the fellow, after all, who — when asked why he would attend a dinner for Bill Clinton after the Lewinsky story broke — said, “It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge, and my job to love.”

It's worth reading.

The True, the Good, and the Beautiful

There is a thought-provoking little article over at CatholicCulture.org. Here's a taste:

When we think of the transcendentals—of the good, the true, and the beautiful—we find that the intellect is profoundly engaged by the true, the will is profoundly engaged by the good, and the imagination is profoundly engaged by the beautiful. All three are party to our personal redemption, but too often in our particular culture, the imagination is associated merely with entertainment, and ignored as a very special conduit of, or connection with, being itself.

I am convinced that the art of Michelangelo and the music of Bach, for example, are time-release capsules that can touch many hearts who would not listen to any Christian speaker or read any Christian book under any circumstances.

To Want To Be a Saint

As she does so often, Julie Davis at Happy Catholic gets to the heart of the matter with this quote from Thomas Merton:

“What you should say”– he told me — ”what you should say is that you want to be a saint.” A saint! The thought struck me as a little weird. I said: “How do you expect me to become a saint?” “By wanting to,” said Lax, simply. “I can’t be a saint,” I said, “I can’t be a saint.” And my mind darkened with a confusion of realities and unrealities: the knowledge of my own sins, and the false humility which makes men say that they cannot do the things that they must do, cannot reach the level that they must reach: the cowardice that says: “I am satisfied to save my soul, to keep out of mortal sin,” but which means, by those words: “I do not want to give up my sins and my attachments.” Lax said: “All that is necessary to be a saint is to want to be one. Don’t you believe that God will make you what He created you to be, if you will consent to let him do it? [emphasis mine] All you have to do is desire it.” Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain

Read the whole thing here.

Imprisoned in Our Selfishness

This quote from Pope Francis hit home:

He tells the prison chaplains to deliver this message as well: “You can tell them this: The Lord is inside with them; He too is one imprisoned, even today, imprisoned by our selfishness, by our systems, by so many injustices. Because it is easy to punish the weakest ones, but the big fish swim freely in the water.”

This was from Gregorian Institute email newsletter. You can read the whole thing here.

The danger is...

Ooooh, this is good. From Happy Catholic's Quote Journal.

The danger is not lest the soul should doubt whether there is bread, but lest, by a lie, it should persuade itself it is not hungry. Simone Weil

Strange Times, Indeed!

Writing about the new law in California allowing abortions to be performed by nurses, midwives, and physician's assistants, Chuck Donovan over at The Corner says (emphasis mine):

We live in extraordinary times. Bearing a child has never been safer; never have its processes been more dramatically presented to the human eye than they are now through advanced ultrasound; and medical miracles are happening on the frontiers of perinatology with dazzling regularity. In the midst of all this, our governing overseers offer women and girls less time and less care with less-accomplished medical professionals, no public health tracking, and precious little follow-up. By what standard of civilization does this make sense – or constitute justice?

Amen, brother!

“Men settle down when they get married: if they fail to get married they fail to settle down.” Read more here.

"Don't Assume That Everyone Knows That God Loves Them"

This is turning into quote day. I am passing this along from The Anchoress, who is quoting another blogger, Rebecca Ryskind Teti. Anyway, here's the quote:

Now the tears came to my eyes, too. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Here was a beloved daughter of God who did not know how much God loves her: who had no inkling of the beauty and value of her own soul, no notion of God’s infinite mercy – his power to draw good from evil circumstances, to “make all things new.” How it must have ached her fragile heart to sit in this class hearing about the beauty of the relationship with Christ, but with no understanding that it was available to her, too. She thought she had “blown it” and must forever look wistfully in at the windows of Christianity, never to be allowed inside.

This reminds me of the saying, "Be kind, for everyone is fighting a great battle." We never know what wounds and burdens others are carrying.

The Cross and Colonoscopies

I haven't posted anything from Happy Catholic recently, so there is no time like the present. She is reflecting on the Catholic practice of "Offering it Up", as she had a chance to do with her coloscopy. Actually, this is a quote of a quote. She found this in Magnificat magazine.

Crosses are the great means God employs to deny self-love in us and to increase and purify his love within us. While we, on our side, labor for these two ends by the means which he has placed at our disposal. The crosses finish the work; without them it would be imperfect. The reason of this is clear. Self cannot kill itself; the blow must be struck from elsewhere and self must rest passive in receiving it. As long as I act I live; I shall mortify myself in vain, I shall not succeed in dying spiritually by my own efforts. God must do this for me. He must act within me, and the fire of love must consume the victim. There are so many different kinds of crosses that it is impossible to enumerate them all; and the same crosses are capable of infinite variety. They change according to different characters, different circumstances, different degrees. Some are simply painful, others are humiliating, others unite humiliation to pain. Some assail a man in his worldly possessions, in those who are dear to him in his health, in his honor, even in his life. Others assail him in his spiritual interests, in that which touches his conscience, in that which concerns his eternal salvation; and these are undoubtedly the most frequent, the most destructive, and the most difficult to bear ... All have an effect upon us which inward mortification is unable to produce, and without them we cannot expect to attain to an eminent degree of holiness. Father Jean-Nicholas Gage

Good stuff!

Head and Heart

I read this over at Catholic Culture.org:

The conservative or traditional Catholic, on the other hand, sees in such a “preferential option for the affective” a direct challenge to the Faith itself, such that love becomes unmoored from meaning, and we are doomed to love in ways which do not, in fact, really seek the other’s good. Consequently he spends the bulk of his “spiritual” time fortifying his own understanding of the content of the Faith and explaining why those who do not accept the whole content are not truly Catholic at all. As this becomes habitual, the conservative gains a reputation for being doctrinaire; he becomes increasingly dismissive of those who resist the full authority of Catholic teaching. His acid test for the Christian life becomes orthodoxy. What is important is the head, not the heart.

It hits home. Guilty, O Lord!

From A Man For All Seasons

I ran across this quote, looking for the quote about Wales to send to Caroline:
Sir Thomas More: I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.

A reminder of C S Lewis' greatness

I found this article aslo over at Catholic Spiritual Direction:  The Authority of C.S. Lewis
I just have to share this:

Here’s an example from the last Screwtape Letter as Screwtape describes the death of the “patient.” He chastises, with lamentation, that his underling devil has let a soul slip through his fingers. “How well I know what happened at the instant when they snatched him from you!,” writes Screwtape. “There was a sudden clearing of his eyes (was there not?) as he saw you for the first time, and recognized the part you had had in him and knew that you had it no longer. Just think (and let it be the beginning of your agony) what he felt at that moment; as if a scab had fallen from an old sore… as if he shuffled off for good and all a defiled, wet, clinging garment.”

Screwtape mourns the relative ease with which the patient died. “Did you mark how naturally — as if he’d been born for it – the earth-born vermin entered the new life? How all his doubts became, in the twinkling of an eye, ridiculous?… The extraction hurt more and more and then the tooth was out. The dream became a nightmare and then you woke. You die and die and then you are beyond death.” Then the patient sees the Beings of Heaven and “he knew that he had always known them and realized what part each one of them had played at many an hour in his life when he had supposed himself alone, so that now he could say to them, one by one, not ‘Who are you?’ but ‘So it was you all the time.’”

Finally, the patient sees Him. “This animal, this thing begotten in a bed, could look on Him,” Screwtape whines. “What is blinding, suffocating fire to you, is now cool light to him, is clarity itself, and wears the form of a Man.” Everything the patient might have considered important is now “in comparison but as the half nauseous attractions of a raddled harlot would seem to a man who hears that his true beloved whom he has loved all his life and whom he had believed to be dead is alive and even now at his door.”

Wonderful stuff.

"Nothing creates a vacuum like wanting to be loved."

The control freak's guide to happiness
Find this over at Catholic Spiritual Direction:

Venerable Fulton Sheen commented many years ago that “Nothing creates a vacuum like wanting to be loved. To demand love is to lose love. A selfish heart creates its own vacuum.” By insisting on someone treating us in a certain way, we almost guarantee our own unhappiness, because we’re setting up an artificial standard that we do not have control over.

Embrace the future!

From Julie Davis over at Happy Catholic:

To have a child is to embrace a future you can't control.

Tom French, RadioLab, 23 Days 6 Weeks episode

Julie keeps a quote journal and  comes up with some wonderful stuff.  I like this quote better than the similar "To have child is to give a hostage to fate."  More trusting in the future.  To trust in God's providence is to know that even the hard times lead to untold wonders.

Principle of Biblical Interpretation

I don't want to forget this:

St. Augustine is credited with this famous interpretation principle: “The New is in the Old concealed and the Old is in the New revealed.”

I couldn't have said it better myself.  Smart guy, that Augustine

Wounded by Beauty

I was reading this review of the Benedictine Sisters Of Ephesus new album, Angels and Saints, and found thiw quote:

Earlier, I mentioned a speech on beauty given by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI during his time as a Cardinal. In was in that speech, “Wounded By the Arrow of Beauty,” [available in this book] that he spoke these famous words:

I have often said that I am convinced that the true apologetics for the Christian message, the most persuasive proof of its truth, offsetting everything that may appear negative, are the saints, on the one hand, and the beauty that the faith has generated, on the other. For faith to grow today, we must lead ourselves and the persons we meet to encounter the saints and to come in contact with the beautiful.

I have often thought that the beauty of the Church's music, architecture, and religious art is a sort of Trojan Horse in the modern world, because it still is appreciated, precisely for its beauty, even by those who have no use for religion or Christianity.  Yet beauty speaks to us of God, and this beauty keeps the doors open for those who in intellectual argument would never consider a Christian point of view as reasonable or appealing.

Words of Wisdom

Tom Connor shared this with me over lunch today:

"Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future." ~ ~ ~ Oscar Wilde

So I shared this with him:

"Trust the past entirely to God’s mercy,
The present to his tender love,
And the future to His providence and care over you." ~ ~ ~ St. Augustine of Hippo

Discuss amongst yourselves.

"Ten Things to Do Instead of Wallowing"

I got to this thanks to Julie from Happy Catholic:
Ten Things to Do Instead of Wallowing



by Simcha Fisher Thursday, April 25, 2013 10:53 AM Comments (40)

As Catholics and as citizens, we have a responsibility to be well-informed about the news, because we have a responsibility to do the right things: write to our congressmen, elect the right (or the least disastrous) candidates, make the right choices for our kids' education, maybe boycott or support the right corporations, and of course pray for the right things. But keeping up with the news most certainly falls under the law of diminishing returns. After a while, reading the headlines stops informing you and starts deflating you. You think you're filling your brain with information so you can be spurred to action, but you're really just filling your heart with despair until you feel like there's no point in even trying to act.

What to do?

There are lots of things you can do which are more valuable than listening to the news: you can volunteer at a soup kitchen, or organize a singalong for nursing home residents, or get qualified as a hospice volunteer, and so on. But these are projects that take time and organization. What can you do right now, when you're sitting in your kitchen and you know you're making yourself miserable by obsessively reading and forwarding every last update about Gosnell and the Boy Scouts and Bangladesh and gay marriage and the HHS mandate and Monsanto, but you don't know how to break away.

Turn it all off -- the radio, the TV, and anything with internet. A day would be nice, but try it just for an hour -- and try to choose the hour when you know you tend to get bogged down (for me, it's around 4:30 PM). Your life won't fall apart if you miss the latest dire forwards.

Clean something. On the day Obama was elected, my entire kitchen got scoured within inches of its life (and I discovered my sisters' kitchens all did, too). It was just an instinctive response, so I could feel like I was back in control of something; but I really did feel more hopeful, energized and encouraged once it was done. Just pick one spot in the house, car, or office that always drags at you when you see it, and give it twenty minutes of focussed attention.

Fix something. Same principle as cleaning: just getting control of one little thing makes the whole world seem more hopeful. Tighten up that wobbly doorknob, change that light bulb, or finally finish sanding that spackling job in the hall, and see if the world doesn't take on a more hopeful tone.

Go outside. Fresh air and sunshine are still free! Go get some.

Say "yes" to the next person who asks you for something. You can't make the world stop saying "No, no, no" to everything good. But that doesn't mean you have to be part of the chorus.

Read to someone. If you don't have little kids, older kids and other adults still enjoy being read to. Or if there's no one at all, you could even make a recording of yourself and send it to a niece or nephew or grandchild. Reading out loud to another person is a wonderful way to feel connected, especially if you're passing on a favorite book or story to someone who hasn't discovered it yet.

Plant something. Even if you only have a cruddy little corner of soil in a dirty old yard, try cosmos. They thrive in even poor soil with only sporadic watering, and some varieties get to be several feet high, and the blossoms are brilliant and glossy. Or if you have no land at all, plant a sprouting potato or onion in a pot on a windowsill.

Write someone a letter with pen and ink. Email is stale. Put your words down on a page and get it in the mail next time you leave the house. Reaching out to other people is a great way to get out of the dank little prison of self-pity and despair.

Take the long view. Think the news is bad? It's been this bad before -- just pick up a history book. Or do you think the American Church is in terrible shape? Maybe, but the Church is bigger than the United States, and it's flourishing in other countries. Evil waxes and wanes, and always has done so -- but as Catholics, we already know that this story has a happy ending.

And of course pray. Just don't fall into the trap of thinking that you can singlehandedly turn around whatever catastrophic situation you see on TV by saying the right number of rosaries. It's the quality of our faith and trust in God, and not the amount of hand-wringing or fretting you do, that makes prayers worthy and effective. Remember, you're praying because you're putting the situation in God's hands, not because you're trying to strong-arm Him into changing the course of history.

Feeling miserable about bad things is not the same as being on the side of good. Take a break from the bad news. That's not escapism, that's reminding yourself of something true: life is still good.


Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/simcha-fisher/ten-things-to-do-instead-of-wallowing/#ixzz2RrNPd2v9

Reflections for Lent from Happy Catholic

Found here.  I especially like the line, 'All other loves will enslave us if they are not ordered to Him."

Memories and Dreams

I had the most unusual dream this morning. We were visiting someone, and, in the way of dreams, I have no idea whom or where. Your mom asked me to come into our room with her, and she began going through her suitcase. I don’t know if she was going to show me something she’d gotten as a surprise for one of you girls, or what. I was beginning to wonder what was going on. Then the door to our bedroom is slowly pushed open, and there stands Caroline, aged 3 or so. She came in and gave me a big smile, she may have said Hi, Dad, I’m not sure. I asked her how old she was (since I was in a dream, I didn’t know what age of Caroline was visiting me) and she said 5, proudly. (She looked more like 3 or so).  I picked her up and held her and asked her when she was going to get rid of that pacifier, gently teasing her. She smiled and made some comment like 'Never mind'. That was it. I got to see one of my little girls again, and to hold her. It was very sweet, and also made me a little sad. Those days only exist now in memories and dreams.

Last Wednesday morning was equally odd. I woke up about 1:30 a.m., thinking about the games I played in my childhood. These were the games we played in our little front yard on Humphrey Street, like Swinging Statues or Freeze Tag, or out in the alley, like Spud. My childhood days were more like those you’ll see on The Little Rascals than to that of my daughters. I lay there, contentedly enjoying the reverie. And then I wondered, bemusedly, if this flood of childhood memories meant I was dying! Apparently not… This dream, and this reverie, I consider gifts from God. Why He decided to bless me with these now, I don’t know. But thank you, Lord!

The Unworthy Servant

Luke 17: 6-10:

And the Lord said, "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, 'Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you. Will any one of you, who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep, say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down at table'? Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and gird yourself and serve me, till I eat and drink; and afterward you shall eat and drink'? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"

I'm feeling very much like the unworthy servant. And Peter's answer is resonating too. When Jesus asked the disciples if they too would leave him, Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" Amen!

Feast of St. Francis De Sales

In honor of today's saint, I am making an effort once again to read An Introduction to the Devout Life, his classic work. It took me several tries to get through St. Sugustine's Confessions. I think it might just be picking up the book at the right time, so maybe now's the time... I found this quote in the USCCB People of Life 9-days of Prayer series of emails:

"All that we do must be motivated by love and not force. We must love to obey rather than fear to disobey."

Good stuff!

Erstein Birth, Marriage, and Death records

can be found here. Simply check the box for "J'accepte ces conditions", then click on "Accéder à la version graphique". Click on the letter E, scroll down to Erstein, and hunt away! M is for marraige records, PM for publication of Marriage (must be like Banns of marriage in church), N for birth (naissance) and D is for death records. What could be easier?!

We have not yet reached the Lord...

From today's Office of Readings (St Augustine's tractates on St John ):

By loving your neighbour, by having care for your neighbour, you are travelling on a journey. Where are you journeying, except to the Lord God, whom we must love with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind? We have not yet reached the Lord, but our neighbour is with us already. So support your neighbour, who is travelling with you, so that you may reach him with whom you long to dwell.

Emphasis mine.

The Landfill Harmonic

You would think that a movie about children of families who scavenge in landfills who play instruments made from trash would be depressing, but if this trailer is any indication, this won't be depressing at all!

the true comfort that remained for men

Thanks to Mr. Timothy Kieras, S.J. of the Magis Institute's Daily Ignatian Reflection for this quote:

"...the true comfort that remained for men [after the fall], and that embodied and gave reality to their conquering struggle against every despair, was surely Song."  ---Hilaire Belloc

So, Sing!

A Prayer in Time of Need, (and two helpful quotes)

I came across this prayer at Happy Catholic (of course) and I think it is worth captruing and sharing:

IN TIME OF NEED

Heavenly Father,
in my present need,
help me to believe that you are aware of my anxiety
and will do what is best for me.
Give me the strength to trust you
and put the present and future in your hands.
Grant this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

There is also a quote, not really a prayer, that  I have on my cubby wall, from St. Augustine:

Trust the past entirely to the mercy of God,
The present to His tender love,
And the future to His providence and care over you.

These are reminders that we are not in this alone, that God is with us at all times.  And how about a closing quote from Paul Claudel:

Jesus did not come to do away with suffering or to remove it.  He came to fill it with His presence.

Peace!

Have you asked God what it is He wants?

Here’s a short little essay entitled “Have you asked God what it is He wants?” It’s a nice little meditation on Divine Providence, and quotes one of my favorites, Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de
Cassaude. I especially like the part about the Sacrament of the Present Moment!

Here's a good quote from de Caussade:

Everything has a supernatural quality, something divine about it that can lead us onward to holiness. Everything is part of that completeness which is Jesus Christ

Yes, Caroline, it is indeed a slow day here at work today!

Natural law

Here is as good a nutshell explanation of natural law as you are likely to find:

Once again, let me emphasize that the natural law is not a specifically Catholic thing. Astonishingly, each time I have mentioned the natural law, some have insisted that it is unfair to expect others to conform to Catholic doctrine! Truly, the mind boggles, for the whole point of the natural law is that it is universal and, well, natural. The critic’s very appeal to lack of fairness is in fact an appeal to the natural law. All rational moral argument appeals to the natural law, even when it erroneously uses one part of the natural law against another. Confusion, passion and self-interest may at times cause us to make mistakes in interpreting and applying the natural law, but the inescapable fact remains that the natural law is the only way we have of knowing when the positive law is immoral. Without it, there can be no concept of “right” apart from the concept of “power”.

Thanks to Dr. Jeff Mirus from CatholicCulture.org

Lord, Thou knowest better than I myself that I am growing older

Today is the feast day of St. Teresa of Avila, the first woman named Doctor of the Church, a mystic, and one who was not afraid to speak bluntly. Once, when she had fallen off her horse on a journey, she is said to have scolded God with, “it is no wonder you have so few friends, considering how you treat the ones you have!” (I’ve always loved that quote!)

Anyway, this morning on the radio I heard this prayer attributed to her. I had seen the prayer before, but never heard that it was hers. Be that as it may, it’s a great prayer:

Lord, Thou knowest better than I myself that I am growing older and will someday be old. Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.
Release me from craving to straighten out everybody's affairs. Make me thoughtful but not moody; helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all; but Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end. Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point. Seal my lips on my aches and pains; they are increasing, and love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by.
I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessening cock-sureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.

Keep me reasonably sweet**, for a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil. Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places and talents in unexpected people; and give, O Lord, the grace to tell them so.

Amen.

** in some versions, I have seen this phrase added: “I do not want to be a saint - some of them are so hard to live with” . I’ve never agreed with that, because I don’t think most saints are unpleasant. Truly holy people I’ve met are gracious and charming!

Cards 2011 Game 6 video

This video still gives me chills!

From Therese of Lisieux..

...whose feast day is Monday.  This is from Kathryn Jean Lopez over at Patheos portal:

Is This Ironic or All too Appropriate for the Internets?
From St. Therese of Lisieux:

We have only short moments of this life to work for God’s glory. The devil knows this and this is why he tries to make us waste time in useless things. O, let us not waste our time! Let us save souls!

Now, get back to work!

A meditation on youth

... and Strat-O-Matic baseball.  Here's an excerpt:

And somewhere along the line, what seems to slip away is time—the time to have time for losing yourself in such things as baseball seasons played out with dice rolls. The world intrudes, the boy grows, and the games prove less enthralling. Still, the lessons of Strat-O-Matic were real and vital, in their day. A realization of the interplay of order and randomness, for instance. A grasp of the sheer reality of the past, the truth that others lived before us. The civilizing of boys by appealing to their impulses to forget themselves in the mathematics of the world and the inner secrets of a game like baseball.

Read it all if you know anyone who was once an adolescent boy.  Even if he didn't get his Strat-O-Matic game until 1985.

The Wisdom of Nero Wolfe

I actually found someone else who remembers this:

One of my favourite quotes is from the fictional detective Nero Wolfe: “To me the relationship between the host and guest is sacred. The guest is a jewel resting on a cushion of hospitality”. I think that’s the golden rule of entertaining. Whether you style is barbecue or dinner at eight, you’ll never go wrong if you keep it in mind.

A consolation

The Anchoress posts a quote used by Julie Davis (Happy Catholic) at last weeks' Catholic New Media Conference in Dallas:

“Sometimes it may seem to us that there is no purpose in our lives, that going day after day for years to this office or that school or factory is nothing else but waste and weariness. But it may be that God has sent us there because but for us Christ would not be there. If our being there means that Christ is there, that alone makes it worthwhile.”


— Caryll Houselander, Reed of God, Page 60

For those of us with jobs as opposed to "careers", this is a consoling thought.

How's this for an intense prayer?

From the days when people really knew how to pray!

The holy Body of Christ Jesu be my salvation of body and soul. Amen. The Glorious blood of Christ Jesu bring my soul and body into the everlasting bliss. Amen. I cry God mercy; I cry God mercy; I cry God mercy; welcome my maker; welcome my redeemer; welcome my Saviour; I cry thee mercy with heart contrite of my great unkindness that I have had unto thee.

"This is an extract from the first work of Catholic spirituality printed in the English language,..." Read more here.
I am busy coveting the book he reviews, but right now it is $65.00 on Amazon.  But it is going on my wish list!

On a long hot summer day!

More Friday Fun: Bouncing Ball

Play Bouncing Ball.  See if you can beat my high score of 40,000 points!

Friday Fun: Piano Playing Dogs!

So long, Tom and Ray!

This is almost like losing a member of the family.  Tom and Ray Magliozzi have been entertaining me for so long that I've just taken them for granted.  To be honest, the thought had never occurred to me that the show would end some day.  Saturday's on NPR just won't be the same without them.

Jeffrey Overstreet at Looking Closer has a list of 7 reasons they are a joy to listen to.  I concur on all seven. At the end he has three short observations about their infectious joy, the last of which is: 

What can I do so that... my presence brings more of this kind of thing into the world?

Which got me thinking...when I was about 25 years old, I was busy taking myself super-seriously.  I'd left Kenrick Seminary a year or so earlier, and was struglling with what I should do with my life.  Having been so recently in school, most of my thoughts were on things like philosophy, theology, psychology--some kind of academic pursuit--as being the really important work in the world.  What would I do with my life.  What wonderful work would I accomplish for God?  (I wonder if God realized back then houw much He needed my help?)

Somewhere along the way God tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Look at your Uncle Louie."  One of my mom's many older brothers, he had worked as a custodian at St. Cecelia's church.  After retiring, he spent his days helping his neighbors, giving the older ladies rides to the store or the doctor, helping in any way he could.  He was the farthest thing from a martyr.  He always had a smile on his face, and somehow he made me feel like I was doing him a favor just by being me.  He brightenend any room, shoot, he brightened the world.  If I could bring that kind of happiness and peace to the world, I'd be doing the Lord's work just fine.

Some lessons take a lifetime to learn.  I have a thick head, a bit of a melancholy streak, and I still take myself too seriously.  I get gloomy thinking about all the Great and Important Things I could  have accomplished in my life and didn't.  When I am at my gloomiest, God will once again tap me on the shoulder and say, "Remember Uncle Louie!  Go and do likewise."  His memory, and his example, still brighten any room.

A different take on those payouts in Milwaukee

This from Kathryn Lopez at National Review.

Don't believe everything you hear fron the N Y Times and SNAP!

Like Judas or like John?

"For you will certainly carry out God's purpose, however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John"
C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain.

TV's 25 best catch phrases

Courtesy of Jonah Goldberg

My favorite:  Yabba Dabba Do!

What's yours?

Good stuff I found yesterday:

The Best Walking Playlists

Wallking for weight loss playlist

and one more goodie:

Homeschooling families should love this article:

Here’s a sample:

I wish that as I was growing up, the role of wife and mother had been more fully present as a respectable and important option that also needs time and training, not just an afterthought that automatically tacks on to a career. Much of the skill set I acquired in university is not very useful in the home. Although I know how to write legal briefs, I wish I knew how to sew, play family songs on the piano and cook without a cookbook, and even that I was more familiar with caring for little ones and for a busy household. All the chores I was protected from in order to enable me to study as I was growing up – maybe I should have done them after all,
including some babysitting. I want to give these experiences to my daughter, so that she will be better equipped not just for a career, but also for motherhood.

Aren’t you glad we didn’t shield you from all those chores?

Here are some Father's Day ideas for your favorite Dad:

• Gillian Welch's cd Revival
• St. Philip Neri - A Portrait
• Mystic Monk Iced Coffee Blend

That's all for now.  Candy, Ding Dongs, and golf balls are alwys welcome as well!

Wonder

“Ideas lead to idols; only wondering leads to knowing.” --St. Gregory of Nyssa

I just saw this on my facebook page:

Faith in God includes faith in his timing

                              ~~~Neal A. Maxwell

Thanks to Dana Kopff.

I found this at Egregious Twaddle, via Happy Catholic, who sent me there:

Praying

It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

Joanne at Egregious twaddle tells us that this poem is "from Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver. This is from her 2006 collection, Thirst, and a big H/T to Julie at Happy Catholic, who posted it some time ago."

Today's Quote

Courtesy of Happy Catholic:

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.

Henry Van Dyke

From Archbishop Charles Chaput

This is good stuff:

The great Green Bay Packer theologian, Vince Lombardi, liked to say that real glory consists in getting knocked flat on the ground, again and again and again, and getting back up – just one more time than the other guy. That’s real glory. And there’s no better metaphor for the Christian life. Don’t give up. Your prolife witness gives glory to God. Be the best Catholics you can be. Pour your love for Jesus Christ into building and struggling for a culture of life. By your words and by your actions, be an apostle to your friends and colleagues. Speak up for what you believe. Love the Church. Defend her teaching. Trust in God. Believe in the Gospel. And don’t be afraid. Fear is beneath your dignity as sons and daughters of the God of life.

You can read his whole talk at the link above.

Lenten reading suggestion

The Imitation of Christ

I was reading along in The Imitation of Christ, thinking, “Boy, this is just not speaking to me.  It seems like so much pious prattle.”  The very next thing I read was this:

“At times you will be forsaken by God, at times troubled by those about you and, what is worse, you will often grow weary of yourself. You cannot escape, you cannot be relieved by any remedy or comfort but must bear with it as long as God wills. For He wishes you to learn to bear trial without consolation, to submit yourself wholly to Him that you may become more humble through suffering. No one understands the passion of Christ so thoroughly or heartily as the man whose lot it is to suffer the like himself.”  (Book 2 Chapter 12, THE ROYAL ROAD OF THE HOLY CROSS)

Further on in the same chapter he says, “The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself. Turn where you will -- above, below, without, or within -- you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you would have peace within and merit an eternal crown.”

How does he do this?  How does he know me so well?    A few days earlier, I was reading along, my mind wandering, when this jumped out at me:

“The devil does not sleep, nor is the flesh yet dead; therefore, you must never cease your preparation for battle, because on the right and on the left are enemies who never rest.”   ((Book 2 Chapter 9, WANTING NO SHARE IN COMFORT).

If you are looking for some Lenten reading, try a chapter a day.  Sometimes the chapter seem like a collection of brief sayings, sometimes they are extended reflections on a theme.  Most are short, a page or two, and they are aimed at common folk like us.  You don’t need to be a monk or a scholar to profit from this.  There is a reason this is the second best-selling book of all time, after the Bible!  You can find an online version here.

Tough way to get a beer

Birthday Greetings!

Happy 18th birthday, Caroline!

Declare

I finished reading Declare by Tim Powers a couple of days ago.  It is a meaty novel, long, a slow read for me, but one I could not walk away from.  At first it seems to be simply a novel of intrigue, and this it is, quite well.  But it adds an element of the supernatural, and does it so well that it does not feel like a fantasy novel, or anything of the sort.  It becomes believable.  I found myself thinking, Maybe that could really be what happened.  It could even be considered a Catholic novel.  I recommend it  highly.

Just do it...

Writing is not a performance, but a generosity.
                                        ---Brenda Uehland, If You Want to Write

Bearing with the faults of others...

From Book One of the Imitation of Christ, the 16th Chapter, Bearing with the Faults of Others:

Until God ordains otherwise, a man ought to bear patiently whatever he cannot correct in himself and others. Consider it better thus—perhaps to try your patience and to test you, for without such patience and trial your merits are of little account. Nevertheless, under such difficulties you should pray that God will consent to help you bear them calmly. …


If all were perfect, what should we have to suffer from others for God’s sake? But God has so ordained, that we may learn to bear with one another’s burdens, for there is no man without fault, no man without burden, no man sufficient to himself nor wise enough. Hence we must support one another, console one another, mutually help, counsel, and advise, for the measure of every man’s virtue is best revealed in time of adversity—adversity does not weaken a man but rather shows what he is.

I was touched by how compassionate this advice is, and by the admonition to be patient with yourself as well as others.

Words of Wisdom

From Riparians at the Gate (courtesy of Happy Catholic, of course!)

Girls, even if you aren’t super gorgeous, guys are THAT interested in you, just because you are a girl. You! Yes, you! You don’t need to “sell” yourself. You don’t need to put your every asset on display. Be a kind, friendly person who cares about others. That’s what real men are looking for in a wife.

As a former single guy, I can vouch for this

And, just so you know:
ri·par·i·an   /rɪˈpɛəriən, raɪ-/ Show Spelled[ri-pair-ee-uhn, rahy-]
adjective

1. of, pertaining to, or situated or dwelling on the bank of a river or other body of water: riparian villas.

Warfare to the last breath...

"The brethren also asked [Abba Agathon], 'Amongst all good works, which is the virtue that requires the greatest effort?' He answered, 'Forgive me, but I think there is no labour greater than that of prayer to God. For every time a [person] wants to pray, his enemies, the demons, want to prevent him, for they know that it is only by turning him from prayer that they can hinder his journey. Whatever good work a [person] undertakes, if [she] perseveres in it, [she] will attain rest. But prayer is warfare to the last breath.'" The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection (Cistercian Publications, 1975), pp. 21-22.

True dat!

Today's Comic

The Imitation of Christ

I have a new resolution:  I am going to read The Imitation of Christ, a chapter a day.  Ihave made several attempts to read this classic but have never succeeded in getting very far.  I am too, impatient, I think.  It isn't meant to be read like C. S. Lewis or Frank Sheed, chapters at a time.  I believe it is meant to be read slowly, a little at a time, to give our souls time to marinate in its wisdom.  Or so I hope!  Here are two quotes I like from Chapter One, "Imitating Christ and Despising All Vanities on Earth":

I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it. For what would it profit us to know the whole Bible by heart and the principles of all the philosophers if we live without grace and the love of God?

It is vanity to wish for long-life and care little for a well-spent life.

Happy Monday, y'all!

Another good quote from Happy Catholic

Well Said: Do you worry or do you watch for God?


From my quote journal.

When you find yourself facing an issue in your life, the purpose or reason or good thing that might come out of it being completely hidden from you -- what do you do? Do you worry and fret, become preoccupied with the problem? Do you ignore it or avoid it? Do you complain about it, do you want to run away from it? Or do you see it as a situation in which you might be able to experience the power and grace of God at work? Do you watch for the work of God that is to be done in this situation?                                                          ...Father John Yates

Jule at Happy Catholic has a real knack for finding great quotes, and luckily for us she shares them.  This one struck me because I've often thought that our job, so to speak, no matter what situation we are in, is to be an instance of God's love, compassion, caring, and mercy.  So if we are in a place of suffering, show compassion to those around us.  If we are in a place of joy, enjoy and give thanks.  If we are in a place of struggle, pray for guidance and the grace to endure faithfully.  And if we are in a place of tedium, especially, remember to do our duty as if we are doing it for the Lord.  Because we are.

Faithfully

For all you Journey fans out there!

Lyrics

Journey lyrics - Faithfully lyrics

"The Lord is my strength and my shield"

Julie over at Happy Catholic posted one of my favorite quotes last Saturday. I had it on my cubby wall for years until the recent move:

Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations,

That's where the card I had on my wall ended.  Julie's version is better.  It continues:

and say continually; "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart has trusted in Him and I am helped. He is not only with me but in me and I in Him."

St. Francis de Sales

Comel Thou Font of Every Blessing

This gets better every time I watch it.

Another quote (I hope you don't mind)

For some reason, this quote speaks to my better self:

Be pleas­ing to Him for Whom you are sol­diers, Him from Whom you will receive your reward. None of you must be a deserter.

Let your bap­tism serve as a shield, faith as a hel­met, love as a spear, endurance as full armor. Your works are your deposits so that you may receive the full sum due you.

–- St. Igna­tius of Antioch

I found this at a blog by an Orthodox woman entitled This Side of Glory. You can also check out her The good Orthodox girl’s guide to getting rid of ants.

Enjoy!

Today's quote:

"If you are what you ought to be,
you will set the whole world on fire."

--St. Catherine of Siena

The Inner Life of my Daughters

I have found it quite enlightening to discover that two of my daughters are putting their thoughts on blogs these days. As my daughters have gotten older, it seems like I know less and less what goes on in their hearts. I think this is natural, but still unfortunate. I miss the days when they were like open books. So I am happy to have a chance to read Amanda's and Emily's blogs. Good stuff! Keep up the good work, girls! I hope you don't mind my reading over your shoulders...

Favorite Quote Friday

I have some quotes for you today:

Jesus did not come to do away with suffering or to remove it. He came to fill it with His presence

- Paul Claudel

Man has places in his heart which do ot yet exist, and into them enters suffering, in order that ehy may have existence

- Leon Bloy

Trust the past entirely to the mercy of God,
the present to His tender love,
and the future to His providence and care over you.

- St. Augustine

My Blog

Hi, all!!

I just wanted to let you all know that I now have a blog of my own.  Here's the link:

amkopff.blogspot.com

If I had all day

I could spend it just following a daisy-chain of links. I end up places and it becomes a real challenge to figure out how I got there. Here, for example, is an interesting blog called, simply, Betty Duffy. I think I got here from Happy Catholic, but I'm not positive. Well, best get back to work even though it is Friday...

Change is...

Change is that mysterious wedding between my willingness and God's grace.
I really believe that even my willingness is a grace, too.

From the blog A Song not Scored for Breathing

Lines and Colors

This looks like a website Caroline would like. It describes itself as "a blog about drawing, sketching, painting, comics, cartoons, webcomics, illustration, digital art, concept art, gallery art, artist tools and techniques, motion graphics, animation, sci-fi and fantasy illustration, paleo art, storyboards, matte painting, 3d graphics and anything else I find visually interesting. "

Seven Favorite Christmas Carols

Seven of my favorite carols, chosen at random:
1. Hey for Christmas Baltimore Consort, Bright Day Star Custer LaRue: What a name. what a voice!
2. While Shepherds watched Sherburne If you've never heard this shapenote version—do yourself a favor--marvelous!
3. Silent night , Johnny Cash -- just listen
4. Il est ne , The Bells of Dublin, The Chieftains. I used to imagine my daughters doing a circle dance to this, as they sweetly sang! never happened...I love this album because it sounds like a bunch of friends getting together and making music and having fun!
5. Daquin’s Noel (for organ) I would love to hear this before Midnight Mass some year.
6. Lo how a Rose e'er blooming
7. Christmas is Coming A Christmas Together, John Denver and the Muppets. This whole album is fun---this song gives you a taste.

The peaceable kingdom!

I’ve been thinking about this prayer because the opening line was quoted several times during the Pope’s recent visit to Great Britain. Fr. Larry had it printed up on his ordination cards, and I’ve always liked it, but had forgotten about it:

The Mission of My Life
God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments. Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about.

As one who often feels perplexed, I especially like the reference to how my perplexity may serve Him.

This and more of Newman’s prayers can be found here.

"Is Kristin a Brat?"

I was reading this post about Kristin Lavransdatter, (one of my all-time favorite books, highly recommended), which I got to from here (another post about KL) when I read this quote from KL's author Sigrid Undset:

Is there something we ought to have known but weren’t told, and is that why we do such terribly stupid things with our lives?

Boy, can I relate to that! It so often seems like I'm wandering around in the dark...

Be Bold!!!

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"To write is to think, and to write well is to think well," David McCullough once said in conversation. - - read this morning in an article by Peggy Noonan

Words to live by...

Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
.....Howard Thurman

Thanks to Happy Catholic!

just for fun...

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    alt="Wordle: Untitled"
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Words to ponder...

Dame Gertrude More, Spiritual Exercises

O lett me sitt alone, silent to all the world and it to me, that I may learn the song of Love.

Dame Gertrude More was the great-great-granddaughter of St. Thomas More.

Thought for the Day

Feeling is the tentacle we stretch out to the world of things

---Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism, ch. 3

Words to Ponder

I heard this today on EWTN:

Jump and the Lord will catch you.

This was Dr. Douglas Grandon talking about his journey from Anglicanism to Catholicism. You can listen to the interview on "The Journey Home" . I don't think this means we act irresponsibly, but rather that if we are seeking to follow the Lord, don't let our fear stop us.

I ran across this at The Anchoress. It's long, but worth reading:


I love this simple definition of grace from Dom Augustin Guillerand, O. Cart, a French Carthusian.

This is the secret of peace, after committing a fault. What is past is past. And if we accept the consequences, while bracing our will, we can be sure that God will know how to draw glory even from our faults. Not to be downcast after committing a fault is one of the marks of true sanctity, for the saint knows how to find God in everything, in spite of human appearances. Once your will is sincerely “good,” then don’t worry…
In all that we do, and at every moment, God has ordained an exact balance between what we have to do and the necessary strength to do it; and this we call grace. Our part is to bring ourselves into line with grace.
God uses all the horrors of this world for an infinitely perfect end, and always with an infinite calm. It is part of his plan that we should feel the blows and experience the wounds of life: but more than anything else he wants us to dominate them by virtues of faith, hope and charity, and so live on his level. It is these latter which will raise us up to him, and then we shall share in his calm, and in the highest part of our being.

If anyone in my family reads this, a copy of Dom Guillerand's book (link above) would be wonderful Father's Day or birthday present!

What's your score?

You are 100% educated in Catholic truths!

 

Wow! You are totally educated in the Catholic faith. A real genius! Have you thought of teaching the faith to others? Be sure to share your wealth of knowledge with those who need it.

Catholic Truths
Take More Quizzes

Miracles

Miracles are nothing other than God's ordinary truth seen with surprised eyes.
---Gerald G. May, M.D. Addiction and Grace

Some sobering thoughts for us procrastinators...

I just found this quote at a website called The Seanachai:

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.” — Goethe

So stop worrying about all those reasons it won't work or you can't do it---get started!!!

Check out The Seanachai while you are at it. His most recent podcast is a short reflection on the benefits of writing longhand.

A prayer for family

PRAYER FOR HOME AND FAMILY - Robert Louis Stevenson

Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope with which we expect the morrow; for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth.

Let peace abound in our small company. Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge. Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Offenders, give us the grace to accept and to forgive offenders. Forgetful ourselves, help us to bear cheerfully the forgetfulness of others.

Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind. Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavors. If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we may be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving to one another.

As the clay to the potter, as the windmill to the wind, as children of their sire, we beseech of Thee this help and mercy for Christ's sake.

I just did!

I could survive for 1 minute, 47 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

Created by Bunk Beds.net

Can you beat this?

I could survive for 1 minute, 6 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

Created by Bunk Beds.net

Another Quiz!

You Are 36% Nerdy

You're a little nerdy, but no one would ever call you a nerd. You sometimes get into nerdy things, but only after they've become a part of mainstream culture.

How Nerdy Are You?

What condiment are you?

Here's mine:

You Are Ketchup

You are easy going and very measured in your approach to life. Popular and well liked, you get along with everyone. Seriously, everyone loves you! Your taste tends to be pretty mainstream American. You go for the classic favorites: burgers, fries, and apple pie. You get along best with mustard and mayonnaise personalities.

What Condiment Are You?

Click here to take the quiz!

What color should your eyes be?

Your Eyes Should Be Brown

Your eyes reflect: Depth and wisdom What's hidden behind your eyes: A tender heart

What Color Should Your Eyes Be?

I'm a cashew

You Are a Cashew

You are laid back, friendly, and easy going. Compared to most people, you have a very mild temperament. You blend in well. You're often the last person to get noticed. But whenever you're gone, people seem to notice right away!

What Nut Are You?

The meaning of life...

I found a couple of nice quotes at The Quote Garden :

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. ~Friedrich Nietzsche


Life has meaning only if one barters it day by day for something other than itself. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

What children need...

I ran across this on Barbara Nicolosi’s blog, Church of the Masses, and I pass it along because I think it is absolutely true:

As an old nun told me once, "There are certain things that little kids need from Mommy and Daddy. When they don't get them, they spend the rest of their lives searching for them. "

Discuss among yourselves